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

Pippa!

After losing our Jack last Christmas it has taken a while to get another dog.  We wanted another Jack Russell but his time I wanted a female and a wire-haired one that wouldn't remind me so much of Jack.  Farmer Phil wanted one exactly the same as Jack!!

So in August I found an advertisement in the local paper and went to check out the litter of puppies.  I came home with Pippa - she was 8 weeks old and tiny!

She has a naughty streak in her!

She joined me on the header a few times during harvest!

Emma is 17!!!!

On March 14th Emma turned 17!!  I can't believe my baby is almost an adult!!

 

She had a singing lesson the night before her birthday so we had a small celebration and cake for her before getting her back to boarding school the next morning.

 

Emma passed her driving test on her birthday so she is now mobile and can drive herself to all her singing lessons etc!  It will make my life so much easier!!

 

 

Emma and Farmer Phil (who turned 47, 11 days before!!)

 

A rainbow cake which turned out pretty great!

Another 5 Weeks Go By...................

............... and not a single blog posting!!!  How slack am I?!

We had a shocking end to 2012, so it's taken a while to get back into the swing of things!! 

First off Farmer Phil's 74 year old dad broke his leg in 4 places stepping down off a tractor!  Then we lost our beautiful Jack to a snake bite.  Someone backed into our new ute while I was doing the Christmas grocery shopping and broke the tail light.  Then Christmas Eve there was a short, sharp storm hit our house with howling winds and rain resulting in uprooted hedge plants, a smashed bird house, rainwater coming underneath the roof tiles and into the house via light fittings, a blown in garage roller door, and a 40kg pool cover reel picked up and tossed like it weighed nothing.  I know it's nothing compared to the devastation that has hit the whole of Australia in the last month with bushfires and now flooding, but we thought we must have "kicked a Chinaman" or something for so many things to go wrong in the space of 7 days!!

Anyway, here is what's been happening since my last post!

Christmas Day was at our house with Farmer Phil's family.  My brother in law's 5 children had a great time utilising the pool for the afternoon!

Christmas lunch was outside on the deck

New Year's Eve Farmer Phil and I went to the most beautiful beach wedding ever!!  It was at Moonta Bay in SA.  Congratulations Murray and Nicki!!

Farmer Phil and I in our NYE Glam - minus stilettos on the beach!!

We then had our annual 2 week waterskiing/camping holiday at Renmark, SA where not a single photo was taken but a great time was had by all!  First week the weather was all over 40 degrees with a top of 46!!

Last April I booked tickets for Farmer Phil and I to see Cirque Du Soleil's OVO in Melbourne during January.  Everytime we go to Melbourne and walk past The Hotel Windsor I always comment how I'd love to stay there sometime.  Well we did this time!  It was only for 1 night but sooooo worth it!

The dining room where breakfast was served.

A Superior Room very similar to the one we stayed in complete with huge dressing room, marble bathroom and old world class!! 

The 3 clowns of OVO - "Ladybug, the Foreigner and Master Flipo"!

"Ant" acrobats were absolutely perfect in their synchronisation of kiwifruit!

The "Firefly" diabolo juggler was amazing!

"Spider" Contortionists were unbelievable!

Love duet of the "Butterflies" rope adagio!

The "Flea" acrobatic troupe were amazing!

And now we're back to the reality of getting Emma organised and back to school this week for her very last year of school ever!!!!!  Year 12 and the Higher School Certificate here we come!

Emma has also been busy rehearsing since early November for a show she is performing in during February/March in Wagga Wagga.  It's called "Life in the Spotlight" and is an all singing, all dancing show featuring songs from Glee, Hairspray, The Jersey Boys, Rock of Ages etc with all proceeds going to Telstra Childflight.  She started out having 3 Solo's as well as being the Lead Backing Vocalist, but now she has been given 3 more Solo's to do.  So she's been a very busy girl trying to learn all the songs as well as the choreography and staging!

The upside for the start of 2013 is that we've had no Summer rain here so that means no spraying of weeds over the 5,000ac for Farmer Phil.  Ryan has been busy with his tournament waterskiing events and doing lots of training.  Farmer Phil is happy to have some spare time to go along and help out at the tournaments and do lots of boat driving!

It's been back to our little shop "Kindrawares" for me over the past 2 weeks.  After a very busy Christmas period, it's very quiet at the moment with lots of people still away on holidays.  Hopefully once the kids are all settled back into school routine, then the shop will be buzzing again!!



My Favourite Cookbook

It's turned freezing cold here the last few days with today being miserable and drizzling with rain!  We should've finished cropping yesterday but it came in and rained from lunchtime on - we're not complaining because we haven't had any rain for the past 6 weeks so the 25mm we received yesterday was very welcome! 

With the cold weather here to stay I've been craving comfort food, so I dug out Julie Goodwin's "The Heart of the Home" cookbook my sister gave me for Christmas last year.  Every recipe in it is exactly what my family loves to eat - simple and tasty country food.  This week I've already made Monterey Chicken, Slow-Cooked Lamb Shanks, Quiche Lorraine, and her BBQ Rack of Lamb. 

Playing with Fire!

One day during the week I was sick off looking out at my untidy outer yard with weeds killed by Roundup weeks ago, left to become dry and ratty looking around all the mossy rocks there.  I had the bright idea to burn off and make it look a bit tidier.  I then decided to call our local earthmoving man Duncan to come and have a look at my work and see if he could move all the rocks and smooth the yard over so it's easier to mow with the ride-on.  He has assured me that he'll be able to move them and if his machine won't budge some of the big rocks, he'll just bring in a bigger machine! 

I'm a bit of a pyro I think because I just love playing with fire!



The end result with the rocks actually being seen!

I know a lot of you love the look of mossy rocks in a paddock, and I do too, but just not where I want to mow and have it looking all nice and neat.  Our house is surrounded on three sides with retaining walls of mossy rocks so I think we've got enough at the moment!

Back Again!

Well, 2011 is done and dusted and 2012 is almost 1/12 finished!! Can you believe it?!

We had a quiet family Christmas with Farmer Phil trying to get as much stubble sprayed as possible before we headed away on our annual 2 week water skiing holiday to Renmark, SA. The rain from late Spring and early Summer has meant that lots of unwanted weeds have grown and need to be controlled quickly.

Our New Years Eve incorporated a 50th birthday party for a good friend and neighbour and I finally met a fellow "farmers wife" blogger in Polly from Duality.

I do not have a single photo of our holiday this year - the camera never came out of it's cover! We spent the whole two weeks very relaxed just skiing, chatting, having a few drinks, eating ourselves silly and generally chillin' with our friends Andrew, Michelle, Lucy and Hannah. We had a rather large camp this year with Daniel and Ange visiting for the first week, Ryan stayed only for the first week too and then went to a water ski training camp. Emma had her friend Hannah stay with us for the whole two weeks which was very entertaining! And Andrew's brother and family visited for a weekend too! We've also made friends with some fellow campers from Victoria who we catch up with each year at Renmark. So, we're home now and getting back to some normality! Although we're off to Port Macquarie tomorrow for Ryan to compete in the Australian Junior Masters Water Ski Tournament! No rest for the wicked as they say!

I thought I'd share with you a few of the Christmas presents I received this year. I was very impressed that my family have actually listened to me when I've dropped hints over the last 12 months!

First of all I wanted a silver balls necklace and I did receive! Yeah!! Now to get the matching bracelet?!


A few new cookbooks were also unwrapped so it either means I'm a terrible cook and the family wants me to get inspired, or they think I love to cook?!

And this is a picture of one of my bookcases absolutely chocked with books - I'm an avid reader and can get through a large number of books quickly when I've got my reading mojo on!

So Emma remembered that I'd been looking at getting myself a Kindle a few years ago but that never eventuated, so I received one on Christmas day! It's the best thing - so easy and cheap to use (lots of free and 99c books to download! The funny thing is that my sister Lisa also received a Kindle from her family for Christmas without either family knowing! If you know either Lisa or myself then you'll know that we're very much alike - we hate coffee but love chocolate, we order the same food whether it's just a sandwich or a meal, and we have the same taste in home decor, clothes, shoes etc. It's very spooky sometimes!

Since receiving my Kindle on Christmas Day I have read:

Cocktails for Three by Sophie Kinsella/Madeleine Wickham

Dodge the Bullet by Christy Hayes

Girl & The Ghost Grey Mare by Rachael Treasure

How to Break Your Own Heart by Maggie Alderson

Six Geese a-Laying by Sophie Kinsella

Wedding Bell Blues by Ellie Ferguson

Territory by Judy Nunn - 16% read so far

I've also downloaded ready to read:

Campaign Ruby by Jessica Rudd

Ruby Blues by Jessica Rudd

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

So there's a really quick round-up of the last month or so here on the farm since harvest finished. More to follow later!

More Home Improvements

The builders have just packed up their tools and left after 3 days work installing a verandah across the south western side of our house and a covered walkway to the shed. All it needs now is some potted hydrangeas (one of my favourite plants) and maybe a staghorn or elkhorn on the wall to make it look even cooler. It'll be so good to kick off your workboots at the back door without fear of them getting drenched in a downpour!

ALDI Gingerbread House

I bought this gingerbread house kit from ALDI a few weeks ago and today Emma put it together. I think they only cost about $10 and they look really cute with the wicked witch and Hansel and Gretel already made out of marzipan. I know it's cheating but really who has time to make one from scratch anyway?

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!

The Deck

Jack thinks the new deck is pretty good. It'll look even better in another month when a couple of coats of oil are applied which will make it an even richer red colour. We love it!

This is the new outdoor setting I bought a few weeks ago. Farmer Phil and I spent the afternoon putting it together yesterday while the rain was pouring down!

Home Alone!

Yesterday and last night we had another 10mls of rain so this has really thrown a spanner in the harvest works!!

I'm home alone for the weekend as Farmer Phil and Ryan have gone to a water ski tournament in Albury and Emma is in Sydney performing in the Schools Spectacular.

I think I'd better head to town and do some Christmas shopping before we get busy with harvest again. I'm not really in the Christmas Spirit yet but I'd better get into it quick because I've got my first Christmas party tonight!

Ryan just back from a slalom ski

Deck Update

The deck building has been a very slow process with the builder busy with other jobs elsewhere. They will finish it today with the last boards about to be fixed down now. I'll show you the finished product this afternoon. We're really happy with the result and it'll look even better in a few weeks when we oil it.

Harvey Norman delivered my new timber/wicker outdoor setting this morning. It's in cardboard boxes all ready to be screwed together! Can't wait for Summer to really kick in and have some BBQ's with family and friends on the new deck!!

Guess What.........??

WE HAVE STEPS!!!! Yeah!!! Just a bit of cleaning up and push the mossy rocks back into place and we're in business!

We also have battens fixed down ready for the merbau decking boards to go on top!

And, the retaining wall around the pool filtration system is almost done! Just need to knock the boxing and formwork off and then the timber box creation can be fixed into place!

We can almost see the finished products - just a few more days work for the builders and they're done!

Another Deck Update

Our builders Graham and Kade concreted the deck area on Monday (steps at the front path will be done later so no photos to show there). Hopefully in a few weeks the merbau boards will be fixed on top and it will all look fantastic!


They also concreted around the pool filtration setup which will have a retaining wall and a large steel-frame box cladded in decking boards surrounding it with opening doors for access. It'll look much nicer than it has the past 2 1/2 years!