Christmas 2013

Daniel and Ange moved into their brand new house the week before Christmas.  We made the trek to Deniliquin to spend Christmas day with the extended family.  

It's a beautiful home and I'm sure they'll be extremely happy in it!  Although there is still a lot of work to do - lawn, gardens, fence, shed to be built etc, etc!!

Daniel just had the keys to the new house handed over!  Excited!!

Harvest 2013!

Harvest 2013 was a mixed bag - after a very significant frost event in late October the yields on both the canola and wheat were down from previous years.  The low lying paddocks were badly affected but the more hilly paddocks were fine.

Due to Ryan being away waterski training it was my job to drive the header for a large part of harvest.  We employed a driver for the semi and another bloke to man the tractor and chaser bin.  Daniel helped out for a week or so as well.  It all went smoothly with only a few minor breakdowns.

Anyway, it's all done and dusted for another year and we'll do it all again next year!!

Wheat

Unloading on the run

Canola windrows

Daniel and Ange - Exciting Times Ahead!!

Daniel is 24 1/2 years old, so it is time for him and Ange his partner of 5 years to build their first home!  We had a look at the display home which was in Shepparton, Victoria a few weeks before we went on holidays.  I must say it's a gorgeous home and much flasher than the first home Farmer Phil and I purchased!!  They have bought a beautiful 1 acre block of land near the Edwards River at Deniliquin.  The slab is to be poured in the next few weeks, then it'll be full steam ahead from there.  Hopefully they will be in their new home by Christmas.

 

 

The Chelsea by Metricon

 

Fabulous entertaining area

 

Gorgeous kitchen with a walk through pantry

Harvest 2012 - This Is How We Do It.......

Harvest 2012

It's our second last day of harvest 2012 so I thought I should at least do one post on the subject!!

We bought a new header this year and there's a fight on each day between Farmer Phil, Daniel and Ryan about who gets to drive it for the day!!  I've had minimal input with this year's harvest due to my involvement with the new shop, but I have still managed a few hours of header driving!

Harvest has unexpectedly been quite good after receiving absolutely no rain for the whole month of September when the crops are really singing out for a good drink!!

The canola yielded well and had high oil content, and the wheat has yielded well also so no complaints about this year's harvest!

Picking up wheat on the run!

The header is fully controlled by GPS so you only have to steer at the end of each run or around an obstacle in the paddock!

Harvesting at 10km per hour

45ft Draper front gets across the paddocks very quick!

Floordrobe??

Our almost 23yo son Daniel has been home helping us with the harvest for the past few weeks. He is occupying his old bedroom which has been converted to my sewing/ironing/spare bedroom ever since he left home almost 5 years ago.

I thought I'd show you all a photo of the whirlwind he has created...... he calls it his "floordrobe"!! Arrgghhh! All I can do is close the door so I don't have to look at it!

PS - Harvest is on hold again after receiving another 12mm of rain. We still have 1500ac of wheat to go - it's been a frustrating harvest with breakdowns and wet weather. The yield is down a little from last year but the quality of the wheat has been very high which is great!

Harvest 2011

We started harvesting last week, but we've now been stopped for 3 days after receiving 15mls of rain on Saturday and Sunday!

The canola is yielding really well with the oil content up to 45% - it should be at least 42%. For every % above 42 we receive a bonus premium.

We bought a second header during the year so that we can hopefully complete harvest a bit quicker before the receival handling sites become full.

I am driving one of the headers with Daniel and Ryan sharing the other one and chaser bin duties. Farmer Phil is driving the semi delivering all the grain.

Daniel is home from Deniliquin just to help with harvest, and Ryan is now a full time employee of ours after leaving school at the end of Term 3 when he finished Year 11. He turned 17 at the same time and got his Provisional driving licence so he's been a helping hand for us. Emma is our housekeeper as she's basically finished school for the year - no more lessons, just work experience and a leadership camp to attend.

We should be finished harvest in another 4 weeks - all going well weather wise, breakdown wise and sanity wise!!

Henty Machinery Field Days and a Birthday

Farmer Phil and Ryan have gone for a day out at the Henty Machinery Field Days today. It's Ryan's 17th birthday today so Farmer Phil has been instructed to purchase a present for him while at the field days - a motorbike workstand and some tools! Daniel is coming over from Denilqiuin and they'll all meet up together for the day.

I decided to stay home and get some jobs done as next week we are all away at the water ski training camp we attend every year. I need to cook some biscuits and slice and maybe get some housework done which has sadly gone by the wayside this past month!

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.

2010 - A Year in Review!

Fiona over at Cattle, Kids and Chaos has inspired me to post about our 2010. So here goes:

JANUARY 2010 - Holiday time at Renmark, SA for 2 blissful weeks of camping and water skiing, I celebrated my 41st birthday.


FEBRUARY 2010 - the farm receives 180mm of rain for the month which resulted in some flash flooding, Ryan and Emma are back to school for another year.

MARCH 2010 - Farmer Phil and I have a few nights in Melbourne where we see the musical Mamma Mia, Farmer Phil celebrated his 44th birthday and Emma turned 14, I am honoured to be named as one of Casella Wines Top Country women and win $1000 which goes towards a new BBQ for the family, the farm receives another 150mm of rain for the month so cropping is looking like having a very good start.

APRIL 2010 - cropping starts at the end of the month so machinery is being prepared in readiness, Ryan and Emma attend their final water ski tournament of the 09/10 season, Farmer Phil and I attend a friends beautiful wedding.

MAY 2010 - our house gets a facelift with a much anticipated pergola being built after a long 8 1/2 year wait, cropping continues with Farmer Phil and I working around the clock to get the crop sown on time.

JUNE 2010 - Ryan has another surgery to correct the overgrown bone graft in his jaw (I think this is about the 12th surgery!), Ag n Chat visits a dairy and none of us farmers wives wants to trade places with the dairy wife, we visit friends for a bonfire night to celebrate the Queens' birthday weekend.

JULY 2010 - we remember baby Brendan who was stillborn 17 years ago, Emma attends choral camp and performs in a production of Phantoms, Cats and Superstars, Ag n Chat enjoys Christmas in July.

AUGUST 2010 - Emma sings at the Sydney Opera House with the State Public Schools choir, Farmer Phil and I celebrate 22 years of married life, Ag n Chat reveal their artistic sides by attending a metalwork day, Emma sees "Wicked" the musical in Sydney.

SEPTEMBER 2010 - Ag n Chat visits Hay and Deniliquin for an overnight trip, Ryan turns 16 and attains his Learners Permit, the family has a week at Colombo Creek for a junior water ski training camp, Spring rain is falling.

OCTOBER 2010 - Wagga experiences it's first flood in 10 years, Farmer Phil and I get started paving around the pool, the farm experiences a wet Spring which hasn't happened in a very long time so hopes are high for a fabulous harvest!

NOVEMBER 2010 - Emma visits Tasmania for 6 days with her Year 9 school group, Ryan sits his School Certificate exams and then has 2 weeks of work experience to complete Year 10, Ryan and Emma attend a water ski training school for a week at Narrandera, harvest starts with hopes of it being a bumper one!

DECEMBER 2010 - harvest continues but under very trying wet conditions, Daniel comes home to help with harvest, Ryan and Emma finish school with floods enveloping YAHS, Ryan and Emma spend a week at Stoney Park near Port Macquarie for a water ski training camp, Daniel turns 22, we have a very quiet Christmas Day at home, and an even quieter New Years Eve with Farmer Phil and I on the header and chaser bin to see in 2011!

Farmer Phil

Farmer Phil would like me to tell you that we are not hopeless farmers who get their header and chaser bins bogged all the time! He said that in my previous posts it looked like we were a pack of dills who do dumb things! Of course we are not, it's just silly mistakes that happen when you're tired, busy and stressed. We've also never experienced a wet harvest like this one has been!

So here are a couple of photos of us looking much more professional!! That's Daniel on the header with Ryan on the chaser bin helping out.

Bogged!!!

Farmer Phil is on the header tonight trying to get a paddock of canola harvested. Ryan, who is 16 is driving the tractor and chaser bin helping out. This is what happens when we get unwanted rain at harvest time!

Ryan was driving the chaser bin which had about 25T of canola onboard and was on his way to empty it into a field bin when it flopped down into a wet spot on the track.

I received a call for help to bring a couple of shovels to dig the mud away from the bogged wheel.

Farmer Phil and Daniel on the shovels. Once the canola was emptied out of the bin and the mud shovelled away, the tractor walked the bin out easily. But we still lost an hour and a half of precious harvesting time.

This is the bog mark left in the track!

Daniel is 21!!!

Daniel turned 21 on Monday - I really can't believe it!! We had a small family BBQ with his grandparents on Monday night after a day of waterskiing. We are planning a 21st birthday party hopefully in February once we get the pool paved and fenced and a deck built.

Daniel and Ange.

Christmas Day

Here is the aftermath of present opening Christmas morning!

We gave Daniel and his girlfriend Ange, tickets to the AC/DC concert in Melbourne in February - he was impressed!

Ryan received a helmet for jump waterskiing, a DVD and some loud pyjamas - impressed with the helmet, not so much the pj's!

We gave Emma a new ipod after she lost hers at school during the year, the DVD to the P!nk concert we went to in August and some makeup now that she's 13.

Farmer Phil gave me 2 tickets to see Mamma Mia the Musical in Melbourne in March. Can't wait to see it as I loved the movie.

Surprise Visit

Daniel and Ange blew in on Sunday morning for a surprise visit after spending the night in Wagga. They came over for the Wagga Ag Races to celebrate their friend Trent's 21st birthday.

We had a Fire Brigade BBQ lunch at the shed for a presentation of long service and appreciation awards so Ryan, Emma, Ange and Daniel begrudgingly posed for a photo!