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Him and his father were born farmers, working the same land that was bought by his great grandfather, and now full of history. Many of the techniques that he's passed on to us have been around since the 1930s, and many of the implements and tools are still around, somewhere. He (and his father) made this place very much a part of them, and it's fitting that his last hours were on the farm, with his family all nearby.
One thing that I've been learning this year is the art of mending fences. I've got a few tools and bits and pieces, but I do need a bit of practice. The Aussie youtube videos show them tying a high tensile fence wire like it's a shoelace. I need to use a bit of ingenuity to achieve anything remotely like it! But now we have 8kV around much of the farm, and the cows no longer roam free. Well, not until they smash the gate again.
After all these years, it still seems odd having Christmas trees up in the blazing sunshine. We had our first supermarket playout on Thursday, two rehearsals for the Waitakere junior band (plus my regular Saturday lesson), the Kumeu Parade and a quick rehearsal to go over the music I'd written for a carol session later in the month. The next couple of weeks will be action packed, and then it will all go quiet. And just as it's starting to get busy again, it's our turn to pack up and spend a week in an isolated paddock with every excuse to turn off the phone!
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( 0 / 0 )Sarah has a car! We've been looking for one for months, and finally settled on one that's the same model as Rachael's, and the same age as Sarah. It's a Hyundai Getz, and a rather nice cornflower blue. Sarah has been driving it as often as possible, and has been looking up decals in order to decorate it to the same level as Rachael's.
Only 12 lambs this year. We've been winding down the herd in order to move over to cows. It's not really economic; the wool costs more to shear than we get from selling it. And sheep need a bit more looking after than cows. Although the fences definitely need more looking after when the cows have been in!
There's 9 ducklings on our pond now, and they're getting big. They're also quite tame, and will get within two metres of me when I'm feeding them. Plus a few others that wait until I'm gone, and the two big muscovy ducks that come so close they've nearly ended up in the chicken coop.
Alas, we've just had to say goodbye to an old horse. We're left with just the one now. They were retired racehorses, running in the trotting races, and for several decades they've had the run of the farm, generally making their own decisions when someone foolishly opens a gate. It's the end of an era.
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( 2.9 / 271 )So Allan put up the electric tape across the paddock and let the cows in. It took them about a day to get past the tape. So we just let them stay. Now we have a paddock of much less grass, covered in mud and holes.
I found a tennis ball! It happened to be sitting in one of the holes, covered in mud but still circular. There's about three more out there somewhere; I guess some distant archaeologist may marvel at the ancient artifact, and ponder its ceremonial burial.
We've acquired some geese. They probably came from a neighbour up on the hill, and five of them flew over and landed in our paddock. OK, three in the paddock, one in the driveway and one in a paddock on the other side. The one in the driveway eventually worked out how to cross the fence, but the fifth goose must have got fed up honking, and presumably flew back home. So we now have four geese in the paddock, and the sheep are attempting to make friends with them.
Sarah somehow passed the maths! So chemistry is back on. So are the trips fighting through the traffic to get her to the bus stop. Got held up last week by a festival of traffic cones; each one placed by hand by someone clinging to the side of a truck. Took 25 minutes to crawl along behind. In the end, we gave up on the bus stop and I decided it was faster to take her to the university direct!
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( 3.1 / 436 )Sarah hasn't got the results for her maths yet, but she got 80% for psychology. Once she gets past the maths, she can finally get on with chemistry again. Meanwhile, Rach has decided against doing her Masters thesis because they are trying to steer her into studies that have already been covered. But she's really keen to get onto an Emergency Medical Technician course, which is the first step towards becoming a paramedic. It'll be several months down south, but she'll get paid for it. There's several hundred applying for 26 places though, so we'll just have to wait and see.
One of our chickens went missing. It was probably over 8 years old, and we just assumed that it had quietly died somewhere. We searched around but couldn't see it. It was missing for about four weeks, and then just turned up last week as if nothing had happened. It's probably laid some eggs somewhere and was quietly sitting on them, and eventually gave up. Pity, we haven't seen any eggs for a while either.
While chaos reigns around the world, it's been relatively peaceful here. No sign of a frost yet, although we did have some localised flooding. The grass is still long, and getting longer. Two more tennis balls missing. The plan is to section off the paddock so that the cows don't eat it all at once. It's not the flattest of paddocks, so we'll need some careful fencing. And we still have the cow that destroyed a five barred gate and an eight inch fence post. Plus now another section of fence, and probably two since we found her out on the road this week. We're planning to buy some young calves to boost the herd. And probably sell one too.
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( 2.9 / 467 )Sarah is now 20, Rachael is 25, and Bronwyn is officially a BAppTheo. Or something along those lines. We've got through a lot of cake and flowers.
Mothers'day here was 11th March. Sarah had asked me to get a card and some flowers for Bronwyn. There's a house not far away with a large and productive garden, and an woman who sells flowers, along with jams, pickles, eggs and assorted pot plants. So I dropped by and got the last remaining bunch, and handed them to Sarah, along with a card. Sarah then presented them to Bronwyn in the morning. Later that day, I had a text from Rachael - "Father. Mum will be home between 5-6. You will have something for mothers day when you get back, yes?" I'm not sure why the requirement fell on me... I didn't actually get a chance to phone my mum that week!
Sarah was working a shift at the supermarket on her birthday. Bronwyn came in with some helium baloons and loudly wished her HAPPY BIRTHDAY, and then put a post on the community facebook page so everyone within five miles knew too. Fortunately Sarah is still talking to us.
Yesterday was Rachael's 25th, and Bronwyn's graduation, And the Matamata Festival Of Music, at which the brass band was contesting. I couldn't do all three, so I informed the conductor that my life might be in danger, and she roped in a spare trombone. Just as well; they got a trophy and a gold award! Must definitely sound better when I'm not playing; last time we only got a silver.
Sarah got me to drop by and get another bunch of flowers, and we headed off to the graduation. Bronwyn now has her Batchelors degree in applied theology. She also got an award. There was a trophy for excellence in understanding and practice of mission. I'm thinking; that's got Bronwyn written all over it. So were quite a few others apparently. Indeed, the admin staff had already guessed by the presence of a bar of 86% cocao chocolate next to is. It was quite an emotional moment when they called out her name and described her work on the streets and the hospital, reaching the vulnerable and those that society had rejected. We had quite a few things to carry home.
And then straight out again for Rachael's birthday dinner, which she'd wanted back in the village at the old dairy factory, which has been turned into quite a popular wedding venue. Very nice dinner, plus a pile more presents for Rach to take home!
After a few months of dry summer, after which everything was looking very brown and dusty, we had a few weeks of heavy rain. Everything is now green. Very green. I've had to be careful when throwing tennis balls for the dog. There are two out on the paddock, and I can't find them even though I know within a metre where they are. I'll just have to wait until the sheep return...
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