Crop Update

Farmer Phil and I re-sowed about 900ac of canola after the mice decimated the first sowing. Farmer Phil has been spreading bait across the wheat and canola crops constantly in the past few weeks. We think that we are finally on top of the problem but must still be vigilant.

The photo of the canola above shows one large canola plant which has survived from the first sowing, and 2 smaller plants which have emerged after the second sowing. So you can see how behind in development the plants are after being sown late. Hopefully with a wet Spring the canola will not show any effects of the mice problem.

This is the wheat crop in the paddock just north of our house. As you can see it's coming along nicely although Farmer Phil has baited it twice for mice and you can still see some activity scattered across the paddock from them.

Silo

Farmer Phil has told me that I'm not blogging enough and to get my act together!! His best friend Farmer Andrew is also of the same opinion so these next posts are for their benefit - updates on what's happening here on the farm!

The new 300T silo was finished a few weeks ago so here is a photo of it. Apparently there are 2,000 nuts and bolts in the cone alone! It took the builders Grant and Willy 4 1/2 days to build it. We're thinking of ordering another one to be built before harvest so that we have our own small grain storage facility if the big local one we deliver to is filled before we finish our harvest which is what happened last year when we had to fill 10 grain bags.

I'd like to climb to the top of it and get some photos of the farm but it's blowing a howling wind so I wasn't about to do it today!

Fiestaware ♥

5 Piece Place setting in Scarlet

When I saw this post on The Pioneer Woman I knew that I had to get my hands on some Fiestaware.

Pitcher in Shamrock

Salt and Pepper Shakers in Scarlet

After researching on the net I discovered that Fiestaware is not available in Australia - bummer! I decided to bite the bullet and order it direct from the factory and pay the ridiculously expensive postage from the USA. I reasoned that with the Australian dollar better than the US dollar at the moment then it wouldn't be so bad.

Sugar Bowl and Creamer Set in Sunflower

The boxes arrived last week and I couldn't wait to unpack them and display them in my kitchen. I bought a place setting in almost every colour - scarlet, paprika, tangerine, sunflower, lemongrass, shamrock, turquoise, peacock, cobalt and plum.

All farmer Phil said was I'm glad you like them!! And I do!!!!

Ange is 21!!

We've just arrived home after a night away in Deniliquin to help Daniel's girlfriend Ange celebrate her 21st birthday. The party was at her parents house under the brand new pergola just finished the day before especially for Ange. I racked my brain trying to think of something special for Ange as a present that she would remember. Ange is a big tea drinker, so I finally settled on a lovely tea set from T2. I told her she had to use it everyday to enjoy her tea!

Daniel and Ange

Ange cutting her cake.

The tea set we bought her from T2.

Google is a Wonderful Thing!

Have you ever "googled" your name to see what results would be revealed?

Well a few years ago I googled my maiden surname which is Newbound. I discovered that during the Depression years of the 1930's the Imperial Glass Co. in the USA manufactured a beautiful double candle holder in a pattern they called "Newbound".

After some more research I found a really pretty pink pair in the USA which I bought for my sister for her birthday. I've always wanted a set for myself but never got around to looking again. They came in light green, pink, cobalt blue, light blue, amber, milk glass, clear and steigel green (my favourite). Not sure why they were called "Newbound", but my guess is they were named after their designer.

2 months ago I googled Newbound again and discovered that not only was there candle holders in the Newbound pattern but there was also a lovely fruit bowl to match. I found a beautiful 3 piece set in cobalt blue on eBay, so I decided to buy it. It arrived yesterday and I must say they really are very special!

Building a Silo

Progress so far on our new 300T grain storage silo. The builders have only been working on it for 2 days and this is how much they've got done - almost finished!

Daisy!

Media Star!!

Yesterday Farmer Phil was asked by our local TV news reporters if he would mind if they came out to the farm to interview him about the mouse plague. He reluctantly said okay and here is the story which was played on our local news tonight.

http://wagga.iprime.com.au/index.php/news/prime-news/mice-invade-local-farms-video

PS - That's me driving the tractor and seeder!!

Fame

Last night Emma received a call from the casting director of the theatre group who are putting on Fame the Musical at the Wagga Civic Theatre in October. She had a singing audition a couple of weeks ago and she's very excited to have been chosen as part of the ensemble. Looks like more driving for me getting her to the many rehearsals scheduled!

Calculations

We are still re-sowing paddocks of canola eaten by mice. Today I re-sowed this paddock that I posted about a few weeks ago when I finished sowing it the first time. I commented at the end of the post that a week or so after this photo was taken that we should see little canola plants popping their heads through!

Well today I saw not one canola plant!! So that means that the mice ate every single canola seed I planted!!

A few weeks ago the Nerd Farmer did a post about their canola planting. He did some calculations about how many canola seeds he planted. If I use his maths skills then I planted approximately 30,832,000 seeds in this one paddock AND the mice ate 30,832,000 seeds! You can only guess how many mice there must have been that lived in this paddock!

Hopefully Farmer Phil's baiting has eliminated a large percentage of them!