Ag n Chat Overnighter

Last Wednesday and Thursday saw 7 Ag n Chat ladies embark on an overnight trip taking in the sights of Narrandera, Hay, and Deniliquin. Our first stop was Lavande Aromatiques at Narrandera to hear about Joanne's passion for lavender.

The gardens smelt absolutely amazing with all the lavender plants there.

"Wyreema " Kelpie Stud was our next stop to visit Gordie McMaster and his dogs. The stud was established in 1882 and is the oldest stud of it's kind in the world.

This is Seanie, Gordon's best dog and one of the top sire's in Australia. We watched Seanie work and he showed us just how intelligent he is - it was amazing to watch!

The homes of Gordie's dogs - under the shade of ancient pepper trees - perfect!!

Gordie ready to show us a demonstration of his beautiful, intelligent dogs.

Our next stop was Shear Outback at Hay to take a look at the history of shearing in Australia. I think these sheep are fake??!!

Blade shear and hand piece display at Shear Outback.

Kim, Jan, Me, Wendy, Carol, and Barb at the famous Peppin Merino at Wanganella, near Deniliquin - Anne is taking the photo.

We were very lucky to visit North Tuppal shearing shed where a recent re-enactment of the famous Tom Roberts painting "Shearing of the Rams" took place. The manager of the property, Bernard showed us around and gave us the history of this famous shed.

The catching pens behind the board.

This is the 72 stand board measuring a staggering 88 metres long!

Bernard, the manager giving us some history around one of the wool tables.

This is the massive wool room with the original Humble woolpress.

Small Town

The following is something I found on David's Farm Blog - I hope he doesn't mind me borrowing it, but I thought it was very clever and oh so true!!! I changed a few of the entries to suit my "small town" which only has a population of about 590! Our town has a pub, a cafe, a post office, a fuel station, a grain receival depot, footy ground, netball court, 4 tennis courts, a small primary school, a couple of churches, a community hall and that's about it! But more importantly we also have lots of wonderful country folk who live in the town or nearby on farms!!

You Know You’re From A Small Town When:

• The local phone book has only one yellow page.

• Third Street is on the edge of town.

• The “road hog” in front of you on Main Street is a farmer’s tractor.

• You leave your jacket on the back of the chair in the cafe, and when you go back the next day, it’s still there on the same chair.

• You don’t signal turns because everyone knows where you’re going anyway.

• No social events can be scheduled when the hall floor is being varnished.

• You call a wrong number and they supply you with the correct one.

• Everyone knows all the news before it’s published; they just read the hometown paper to see whether the publisher got it right.

• A “Night on the Town” takes only 2 minutes.

• You have to name six surrounding towns to explain to people where you’re from.

• Headline news is who grew the biggest vegetable this year.

• You can name everyone you went to school with.

• Anyone you want can be found at the pub.

• Directions are given out using the pub as reference.

Rising Waters

Yesterday evening Farmer Phil and I took a quick trip into Wagga to have a look at the rising waters of the Murrumbidgee River (Aboriginal for "big water" or "plenty water"). The river was to get to a peak depth of 7.3m at midnight after a lot of rain in the catchment area over the weekend - we received 30mm.


Here is Farmer Phil at Wagga's iconic Hampden Bridge. It's been a long time since the river has seen a large volume of water come down it. The river last flooded in 1993 with a peak of 8.8m at Wagga. Wagga has a levee bank system built in the 1960's to protect the city from flooding. The depth indicator is showing 6.7m, so it still had another 60cm to reach last night's expected peak.

We had a look at Wagga's "beach" that the famous "5 o'clock wave" goes past. Everyone in Wagga must have thought the same as us because there were car loads of people coming to have a look at the river. All the kids had never seen the river with so much water in it.

Sydney

While Emma was rehearsing for the concerts I saw a few things in Sydney which I've never seen before. The weather was perfect so walking was very pleasant. I snapped some nice pics of the Opera House from Circular Quay.


Of course the Harbour Bridge looked fabulous.

Farmer Phil, Emma and I had a nice meal at Peter Doyle @ the Quay before the show on Tuesday night. You can't beat the view we had!

Sydney Tower.

I went to Hyde Park Barracks Museum too and discovered my families original convict who was transported to Australia in 1837 from England. On his details it said that he could read and write, his trade was listed as a butcher, he was 23 years old and he weighed 10 stone 6 pounds when he arrived.

Most of the convicts at Hyde Park Barracks had been charged with property crimes and were sentenced to life, 7 or 14 year terms. The convicts were housed and fed at the barracks and then during the day they would go out to work places in Sydney. The photo below is how the convicts slept - there were 600 men living in the building at one time in 12 rooms, so their conditions would have been very cramped.

I also did some shopping while in Sydney and had to visit the Queen Victoria Building - even just to look at it's beauty! Here is the clock on the top level.

I also visited the Museum of Sydney which is built on the original site of the first Government House. It had a lot of excellent information about the first settlers and convicts of Australia, how they treated the Aboriginal people, the building of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House and lots more. I'd highly recommend a visit to this museum as I learned a lot from it.

Emma Sings at Sydney Opera House

We arrived home yesterday after 4 days visiting Sydney for Emma to sing as part of the NSW combined State Choir for high school students at the Sydney Opera House. She was part of the Argyle and Endeavour concerts held on Monday and Tuesday nights.

On Sunday the choir rehearsed from 9.30am to 4.30pm at Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Then on Monday they rehearsed all day at the Opera House. There were 75 students representing their schools from all over NSW.

We stayed at an apartment at Potts Point so it was only a 25 minute walk through the Botanical Gardens to both the Con and the Opera House. Farmer Phil couldn't come with us on Saturday when we left home because he had too much work to do on the farm so he flew to Sydney on Tuesday to watch the concert that night.

I'll have more photos tomorrow of what I did while waiting for Emma. I shopped and visited museums for 2 days - my feet are still sore!! I am very glad to be home now as I could never see me or any of my family living in Sydney. I was over the traffic, pollution and crowds by Sunday lunchtime!!

Ag n Chat

This morning we had our monthly Ag n Chat meeting. One of our members (Jo) is very creative with metal so she offered to teach us something very simple. Most of us made some sort of sign and we surprised ourselves by how great they all looked!

Here is Lyndal drawing out her wording - "hope".

Here is Cathy using the plasma cutter to cut out some flowers to go on her "parking" sign.

Here is Lyndal's finished "hope" sign with rusty corrugated iron behind it.

Kim powered through her morning making two rainy weather signs which will hopefully bring some luck for us farmers!

Kaftan Sewing

Today was windy, cold and miserable with rain so I decided not to go outside at all but sit and sew for the day - remember I'm still home alone with no distractions! I produced this "Shearwater Kaftan" from a "make it perfect" pattern. I bought the fabric yesterday at Spotlight for only $8/m so it ended up only costing $12 to make. It'll go nicely over a pair of swimmers and denim shorts when Summer finally arrives. It's really comfy and super easy to make.

Red Tractor

I bought these tea towels when I went to town yesterday. They're from Red Tractor Designs which has some wonderful Australian themed products for sale from mugs, greeting cards, books and Rachel's original paintings and prints. I had to have the one with red tractors all over it because it looks like my own red tractor from my blog banner.

First Aid from the Home and Farm Handbook

There is a section on first aid in the handbook which is very interesting. I'm quite sure that these methods aren't used now, but wouldn't it be interesting to see if they really worked! Remember the book was published in 1929 and they seemed to love brandy!!

"EARACHE - Fill a small flannel bag with common salt which has been warmed in an oven and press it gently on the affected ear. A hot onion can be used in the same way. Pour a few drops of warm olive oil or glycerine into the aching ear. Apply a poultice consisting of a piece of brown paper soaked in vinegar and then sprinkled freely with pepper or ground ginger, tie in position with a handkerchief. If pain continues to be violent, protect the ear from cold and see a doctor."

"CROUP - Soak a piece of flannel with methylated spirits and wrap around the throat. This gives immediate relief. Give patient a teaspoonful of olive oil and sugar in equal parts."

"GENERAL HINTS - In case of broken bones or dislocation leave the patient as he is, and where he is, until the doctor comes. Don't rush off for brandy when there is an accident - hot milk is better. Only give brandy when people are reviving after fainting from exhaustion, or foul air. NEVER give spirits when the face is flushed or the head injured."

Home and Farm Handbook

I found this 1929 issue of the "Ensign" Handbook for the Home and Farm in an antique shop a few years ago. It's got some really interesting information in it and some very imaginative recipes I've never heard of.

"Ensign" were a company that made baking powder, cocoa, tea, coffee and jelly crystals so the recipes all include these items. The recipes are very basic so you have to use some imagination as to how to make them. Here's an example:

"Paris Kisses - 1 C sugar, 2 C flour, 4 t cocoa essence, 3/4 C butter, 2 t baking powder, 3 eggs

Rub butter well together with the sugar and eggs well beaten; on no account add milk or water. Rub vigorously; patience is required, but the result is well worth it. Join together with jam - raspberry for preference."

It doesn't mention how long or at what temperature to cook them. I'm guessing that they must be some sort of biscuit?!

Here's another recipe I found interesting. There's no photos or pictures in the book so I might have to make this one to see what it looks like.

"Apple Snow Jelly - 1 packet strawberry jelly crystals, 1 pint hot water

Dissolve jelly crystals in hot water. When partly cold turn into sherbert glasses, filling three quarters full. When firm pile Apple Snow on top.

Apple Snow - 1/2 packet lemon jelly crystals, 1/2 pint hot water, 1 grated apple, 4 T sugar

Dissolve half packet of jelly crystals into hot water. When cool whip to consistency of thick cream. Then add grated apple and sugar."