It's been quite a good week. Oh, I only have Sunday to write about, cool...
On Sunday, since I had the chainsaw back, the main plan of the day was cleaning up the felled tree, and tanning the bunnies. Well plans are great but there wasn't much wind so I thought whilst I had the chance, I would fire off a few rounds into milk cartons and try and get some practice with the rifle. 35 rounds later, and a few holes in the milk carton, it was no surprise that the previous hunting trip was unsuccessful! Oh well, hopefully this weekend I'll get it sighted back in.
After that, I decided that I really should get on with the chainsawing, so with a nice sharp chain, and started carving chunks out of the big pile of branches, a few hours later, there were a few (but large) piles of branches, and some other timber for burning, which I gave to our neighbors.
After a lunch of bacon sandwiches (hmm yumm), we decided that it would be fun to fell one of the gums. So, tractor, bike, dogs and trailer all went down to the bottom paddock where we picked which of the dead gums was going to fall. We quickly noticed that the electric fence was going to get in the way, so I pinned it down, and Alex went up to the house to turn it off.
Once it was safe, I started chainsawing though to 2/3. As I got to 2/3's I heard this almight crack (loud enough to be heard over the chainsaw, and through ear defenders!). As you can imagine I got out of there very fast! But the tree didn't move!
So back I went, and put the chainsaw in and cut out a nice wedge, and started on the felling cut, and just as I got the chainsaw about 1/2 in, a just of wind blew the tree backyards and it pinched the bar. Bugger!
So, armed with the tractor and a bit of rope, I put the rope around the tree as high I could, and got Andy to give it a good tug whilst I nipped in behind the tree and grabbed the saw..such fun playing with trees. Anyway, the tree moved enough for the chainsaw to be recovered, and a few cuts later the tree dropped, the only problem was it went the wrong way and fell into our neighbors paddock! Bugger again!
Anyway, a few hours of chopping saw the tree deminish to a few big trunks and a trailer load of firewood. A good day!
Other news of the day was that Snowwhite kindled on Saturday night, so we've got another litter of bunnies coming on.
Other major news of the week was that Connor had his first jabs on Tuesday, and his tongue-tie snipped, not a happy chappy.
Oh and the goat is making a huge improvement, she is finally mobile, only via her back legs (still using her knees on the front legs), but she's getting there.
Till this weekend.
Friday, June 29, 2007
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Bit of a catch up
It's been a couple of weeks since I last gave you a full update, and whilst it's only Saturday, I've just managed to get Connor to lie down for a bit (it's amazing what 80's music can do when it's louder than his crying!, but saying that he is now fast asleep).
He's currently enjoying Harold Faltermeyer and Axel F, a true classic.
As you can see from the previous photo, he's doing well and has mastered smiling and making cute noises, hopefully soon I'll catch some on video. He was weighed the other day (finally got a plunket nurse), and just before the 6 week mark he was 11lb and something, or 5.12Kg. Despite the amount that comes out the far end, going by that weight gain, some of it must be staying around!.
Thankfully he's still sticking to his night time routine of only waking once around 2am.
Anyway, what else is happening down on the farm...The goat is still alive, she's eating well, slowly getting motor functions in her back legs, but the front is taking a bit longer.
Last week, as we're so desperate for grass, I fenced off all around the arena, and we're now grazing all the way around except for near the flaxes, hopefully that will hold the sheep and alpacas out for a few more days.
The rest of the goats are still out the back, and very low on grass, we're having to feed out hay every night, and it's the first time ever we've had to do this, bloody dry summers!
I've finally started tanning the rabbit hides, I've just got 9 hides out of the pickle and will flesh them after writing this, so hopefully they will be drying for Wednesday, when I'll kick the rest off. Not sure what I'm going to do, maybe make a bedspread or a coat for Steph, we'll see.
Today was quite productive, this morning Connor was having a bad morning (read Steph was having a bad morning), so I took Connor into Masterton when I went to pick up the chainsaw, he slept all the way in and back thankfully.
Once I got home, I got into the trees on the back lawn, I've only got a few boughs left to chop up, and now it's much better, I'll post photos tomorrow, it's a bit dark now. It's going to be one massive bonfire, the pile of branches is about 2m high, 2m wide, about 5m long, and that's only 1 of them, there is another pile about 3x2x2m and another collection too! Might have to start that burn in the morning, but we can't burn that until I've got the 3 wire electric fence done down in the 3 tree paddock (our only paddock with grass left in at the moment). Hopefully tomorrow I'll sink a few posts and get the fence up so we can strip grass it with the alpacas, goats and sheep! I'll be glad once we get rid of the alpacas; last night I even considered if they would taste good!
Anyway, time to flesh some bunnies.
He's currently enjoying Harold Faltermeyer and Axel F, a true classic.
As you can see from the previous photo, he's doing well and has mastered smiling and making cute noises, hopefully soon I'll catch some on video. He was weighed the other day (finally got a plunket nurse), and just before the 6 week mark he was 11lb and something, or 5.12Kg. Despite the amount that comes out the far end, going by that weight gain, some of it must be staying around!.
Thankfully he's still sticking to his night time routine of only waking once around 2am.
Anyway, what else is happening down on the farm...The goat is still alive, she's eating well, slowly getting motor functions in her back legs, but the front is taking a bit longer.
Last week, as we're so desperate for grass, I fenced off all around the arena, and we're now grazing all the way around except for near the flaxes, hopefully that will hold the sheep and alpacas out for a few more days.
The rest of the goats are still out the back, and very low on grass, we're having to feed out hay every night, and it's the first time ever we've had to do this, bloody dry summers!
I've finally started tanning the rabbit hides, I've just got 9 hides out of the pickle and will flesh them after writing this, so hopefully they will be drying for Wednesday, when I'll kick the rest off. Not sure what I'm going to do, maybe make a bedspread or a coat for Steph, we'll see.
Today was quite productive, this morning Connor was having a bad morning (read Steph was having a bad morning), so I took Connor into Masterton when I went to pick up the chainsaw, he slept all the way in and back thankfully.
Once I got home, I got into the trees on the back lawn, I've only got a few boughs left to chop up, and now it's much better, I'll post photos tomorrow, it's a bit dark now. It's going to be one massive bonfire, the pile of branches is about 2m high, 2m wide, about 5m long, and that's only 1 of them, there is another pile about 3x2x2m and another collection too! Might have to start that burn in the morning, but we can't burn that until I've got the 3 wire electric fence done down in the 3 tree paddock (our only paddock with grass left in at the moment). Hopefully tomorrow I'll sink a few posts and get the fence up so we can strip grass it with the alpacas, goats and sheep! I'll be glad once we get rid of the alpacas; last night I even considered if they would taste good!
Anyway, time to flesh some bunnies.
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Friday, June 22, 2007
Sunday, June 10, 2007
Blah day
This morning there was a wicked frost, man was it cold! Seemed like a good day to stay inside and make cat food and sausages. Well when the air temperature is so low, things don't defrost so well, so the cat food production was off, but sausage making was all on.
I decided on a wild rabbit sausage, a made up recipe:
800g Rabbit meat
1 onion
4 slices bread (white)
ts fresh sage
ts pepper leaf
100g Lard
mince meat
crumb bread
mix
sausageify
Really simple, and they taste yummy!
That chewed up a good hour or so, and then we decided that the sheep needed weighing, so I went across to Jule's and Andy's and after a cup of tea we all headed back (sheep aswell) to give them a quick weigh. Turns out that they are a few weeks off, hopefully they'll start piling the weight on soon.
Once we weighed them, I and took a poo sample from the ram with a really runny bum, and set the microscope up, we had a coffee and waited for the eggs to float. Ended up finding a couple of eggs so we drenched all of them.
Then this afternoon, I slaughtered the rabbits and put them in the freeze, not bad really, 5 rabbits and 7.5Kg of carcases.
Sorry, no photos today!
I decided on a wild rabbit sausage, a made up recipe:
800g Rabbit meat
1 onion
4 slices bread (white)
ts fresh sage
ts pepper leaf
100g Lard
mince meat
crumb bread
mix
sausageify
Really simple, and they taste yummy!
That chewed up a good hour or so, and then we decided that the sheep needed weighing, so I went across to Jule's and Andy's and after a cup of tea we all headed back (sheep aswell) to give them a quick weigh. Turns out that they are a few weeks off, hopefully they'll start piling the weight on soon.
Once we weighed them, I and took a poo sample from the ram with a really runny bum, and set the microscope up, we had a coffee and waited for the eggs to float. Ended up finding a couple of eggs so we drenched all of them.
Then this afternoon, I slaughtered the rabbits and put them in the freeze, not bad really, 5 rabbits and 7.5Kg of carcases.
Sorry, no photos today!
Saturday, June 09, 2007
Bye, baby bunting, Daddy's gone a-hunting
Bye, baby bunting,
Father's gone a-hunting,
Mother's gone a-milking,
Sister's gone a-silking,
Brother's gone to buy a skin
To wrap the baby bunting in.
Well, that's todays poetry lesson! So apart from finding old nursery rhymes, what have I done today.
One thing Steph and I are noticing is that having a baby has caused us to be lazy, yep this morning it was pushing 8:30, and we were both still in bed! Last week we didn't have breakfast till 11am! Anyway, after dragging our backsides out of bed, I gave Joe a ring (a shepherd friend) to see if I could jack up a hunting trip on his farm, that all sounded good for the late afternoon, so I headed over to Andy's to check that he was keen too (all good), and then whilst I was over there shooting the breeze, we got a phonecall from Steph asking us to go up to the other neighbors to help move a lounge suite. After that I headed into Masterton for some milk and fencing stuff; nothing major thankfully.
After lunch I attempted to clean the barn whilst Steph worked Markissa, and Connor slept in the workshop, but he got bored of that and I ended up taking him for a walk around our place, down the drive and then into the farm behind us. The boys loved that, a good chance for a high speed run.
Once Steph finished working Markissa, and Andy got home, we headed down to Joe's place, after a quick chat and directing us where to go, we headed off in the truck. When we pulled up against the marcocarpas from where we were supposed to walk from, a baby rabbit was hopping in front of the truck, and just jumped into the wood lot, we decided that, hey why not, so Andy had first shots, unfortunatly he missed, oh well! We then walked bloody miles up hill and down dale (didn't see much else though, a hare and a feral cat (which in future we've been told to take out too)). Once the light started fading, we started heading back along the track using the lamp to try and spot bunnies. We managed to find one, at a range of about 75 to 100 metres. 4 shots later (first one missed, second one destroyed a front leg at the elbow,third one hit dirt infront and the forth one went through the ribcage and took out the internal organs (that's the sort of shot you're after)) the rabbit was ours, a bloody big one too, more like a hare in size. We gutted it there, and boned it once I got home, 800g of meat, not too bad. I'm going to make wabbit-wieners tomorrow (yep bunny sausages).
And then it's now, and thats bed time...so till tomorrow...maybe some photos.
Father's gone a-hunting,
Mother's gone a-milking,
Sister's gone a-silking,
Brother's gone to buy a skin
To wrap the baby bunting in.
Well, that's todays poetry lesson! So apart from finding old nursery rhymes, what have I done today.
One thing Steph and I are noticing is that having a baby has caused us to be lazy, yep this morning it was pushing 8:30, and we were both still in bed! Last week we didn't have breakfast till 11am! Anyway, after dragging our backsides out of bed, I gave Joe a ring (a shepherd friend) to see if I could jack up a hunting trip on his farm, that all sounded good for the late afternoon, so I headed over to Andy's to check that he was keen too (all good), and then whilst I was over there shooting the breeze, we got a phonecall from Steph asking us to go up to the other neighbors to help move a lounge suite. After that I headed into Masterton for some milk and fencing stuff; nothing major thankfully.
After lunch I attempted to clean the barn whilst Steph worked Markissa, and Connor slept in the workshop, but he got bored of that and I ended up taking him for a walk around our place, down the drive and then into the farm behind us. The boys loved that, a good chance for a high speed run.
Once Steph finished working Markissa, and Andy got home, we headed down to Joe's place, after a quick chat and directing us where to go, we headed off in the truck. When we pulled up against the marcocarpas from where we were supposed to walk from, a baby rabbit was hopping in front of the truck, and just jumped into the wood lot, we decided that, hey why not, so Andy had first shots, unfortunatly he missed, oh well! We then walked bloody miles up hill and down dale (didn't see much else though, a hare and a feral cat (which in future we've been told to take out too)). Once the light started fading, we started heading back along the track using the lamp to try and spot bunnies. We managed to find one, at a range of about 75 to 100 metres. 4 shots later (first one missed, second one destroyed a front leg at the elbow,third one hit dirt infront and the forth one went through the ribcage and took out the internal organs (that's the sort of shot you're after)) the rabbit was ours, a bloody big one too, more like a hare in size. We gutted it there, and boned it once I got home, 800g of meat, not too bad. I'm going to make wabbit-wieners tomorrow (yep bunny sausages).
And then it's now, and thats bed time...so till tomorrow...maybe some photos.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
QUeens Birthday weekend
Well, this weekend was a long one (three days), so Steph and I set out to get a few jobs done, as you can see from the first photo, I laid waste to another tree, a big plum tree (we never got the plums, it was too big), but now we have unfetered views of the hill behind us, and it really opens up the back garden (to the tune of a few hundred acres, shame it isn't ours).
The only down side was that the chainsaw decided to break 1/2 way through, so I ended up limbing the plum tree with a small pruning saw (and will continue to do so, until next pay day, damn these three fortnight months).
Sunday, I decided to rediscover the garage, wow, what a mamoth effort, after an entire day, and a full trailer of rubbish and recycling, we can now see the floor. The rat I caught in the live trap on Monday, turned out to be a mum of 3, which is good, that's 3 more for the price of 1.
On Monday morning, I dismantled an ewe for cat food, and then around 2pm headed down to the coast for a spot of kite fishing, since it's been a while, only caught 2 red cod, but they will go nicely into the cat food too.
Oh, on the goat front, it was suspected that it was Johnes disease which is fatal, and contagous to all ruminant. After a blood test, it turns out that she is negative for Johnes (phew). She just had a high worm burden, she and the rest of the flock has been drenched, and hopefully will make a full recovery.
I've been pestered a bit for some photos of Connor, so here are a few.
The only down side was that the chainsaw decided to break 1/2 way through, so I ended up limbing the plum tree with a small pruning saw (and will continue to do so, until next pay day, damn these three fortnight months).
Sunday, I decided to rediscover the garage, wow, what a mamoth effort, after an entire day, and a full trailer of rubbish and recycling, we can now see the floor. The rat I caught in the live trap on Monday, turned out to be a mum of 3, which is good, that's 3 more for the price of 1.
On Monday morning, I dismantled an ewe for cat food, and then around 2pm headed down to the coast for a spot of kite fishing, since it's been a while, only caught 2 red cod, but they will go nicely into the cat food too.
Oh, on the goat front, it was suspected that it was Johnes disease which is fatal, and contagous to all ruminant. After a blood test, it turns out that she is negative for Johnes (phew). She just had a high worm burden, she and the rest of the flock has been drenched, and hopefully will make a full recovery.
I've been pestered a bit for some photos of Connor, so here are a few.
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