September is almost over we are still waiting for the spring flush, despite the fact that spring should have been here over three weeks ago. Grass is still short for the cattle so we are feeding out bales of hay for the Friesians, the yearlings, the weaners and the calves too. It is a costly little operation I tell you! You just don't know how fast cattle can chew through a bale of hay! Hopefully when the weather warms up and we have some rain the grass will take off! Oh well!

      My second batch of calves have just been weaned and the third will be soon. Patty Pig is HUGE and the "Ratbags" (lambs) are getting big too. The girls are growing up faster than I keep track of but they still continue to give me so much pleasure and are a great source of pride. Our time is filled with an assortment of things to do, chores, learning, playing etc. Each day is different, each with it's own rewards.

      This winter I decided to try and learn a new skill or two and spinning and weaving won the toss :) With that in mind we bought 3 Romeny ewe lambs (the above mentioned Ratbags!) One day, hopefully not too far in the future, we will be shearing, spinning and weaving our own wool. However untill the lambs are bigger, I will content myself with learning to spin and weave someone elses fleece. Spinning is said to be relaxing and weaving is creative, two of my favourite things. Time will tell whether I will actually be any good at them though!
      I have bought the most beautiful spinning wheel! It is an Ashford Traditional. Even if I never become a highly proficient spinner, the wheel is so beautiful that it makes a wonderful "conversation piece" in the living room. I have only been spinning for a few days but I think I am getting the hang of it, in fact I think I am doing rather well! I am on my second bobbin and the yarn I am producing actually looks a lot like the "real thing".
      The fleece I am spinning is right off the sheep so I am learning the hard way, carding first then spinning. All the natural lanolin is putting back into my hands what farming takes out of them. The fleece is a lovely charcoal and silver romney fleece, I am thinking of dyeing some of it blue so that it resembles denim. Well, that's the idea anyway, I don't know if it will work!
      I have also bought a second hand floor loom. It is a 36", 4 shaft, 6 treadle one that will allow me some scope for weaving projects. A table or rigid heddle loom would have been cheaper but apparently they are very limiting. I still have a lot of spinning to do before I can start playing with my loom! I'll let you all know how I get on in my next update.

      Milking three cows, feeding eleven calves, 3 lambs, 5 yearlings, 3 weaners, 2 dogs, 3 cats, 2 kids, 2 adults, some chooks, ducks, geese and a pig is kinda time consuming! Keeping up with schoolwork, bookwork and housework in addition to the above doesn't leave a lot of time to "play" but it's rewarding work, work that I still enjoy, despite how tired I get. Candice is always a great help, as is Tarryn when she sets her mind to it!

      We finally got around to fencing off the 3.5 acre paddock into three smaller paddocks. Other than the new fencing we have also repaired and/or replaced some of the older fences too. What a job! I think Chris, the girls, and I could now hire ourselves out as fencers!

      Candi spends some of her free time, mostly weekends, at the Glenbrook Vintage Railway. She loves trains, and thrives on the smell of soot and grease and the sound of the whistle gets her all excited LOL! Tarryn, on the other hand, loves to be out and about with her friends. At the moment Tarryn is feeling miserable because she has a terribly inflamed thoat. It doesn't seem to be her tonsils, just the usual change of season cold/sore throat syndrome. I have her gargling 3 - 4 times a day and she claims this is worse than the sore throat! LOL a case of the cure being worse than the disease!As for me, well I am fine and fit. LOL not even being tossed on my butt by 450kgs of yearling steer could keep me down!

      It's hard to believe we have now been on our farm for more than a year. In so many ways it feels as though this has always been our home and our life, in other ways it seems like just the other day we were still unpacking and shifting in. I can tell how long we've been here by the age of the livestock. Molly is almost a year old now and I still have her pic on my webpage, taken when she was just 4 days old! As big as she is (weighing in at about 300 kgs)she still comes running over to me when I go into her paddock, she still loves to nudge and nuzzle me, her affection so intense it could be a serious health hazard LOL! Ox, the weaner, at 6 months weighs in excess of 250kgs and he too is a real "sook" (softy) he will follow me around like a puppy and still likes to suck on my fingers.

      I have been working on my fruit and vegetable garden. I have put in 20 berry canes, mostly raspberries and other soft berries with uniquely Kiwi names. I have also planted 2 lemon trees and have a huge vegetable garden underway. I am hoping to raise a few pennies by selling the excess or bottling them as jams, pickles or preserves, and freezing some too.

      I still have to scan the photographs of the birth of our first calf. That was an amazing experience! I will put up the photo's in my next journal page (LOL some are not for the faint hearted!) Well it's time for me to put away my editing tools and head outdoors. It's pouring with rain but the ratbags still need their breakfast, the eggs still need to be collected etc. No curling up in bed with a good book, not even for a toy farmer like me!

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