As I write this it’s a sunny t-shirt weather day outside, even though it’s the first week of winter. Not quite the end-of-Autumn deluge that we experienced when we managed to get to the farm last week.
We took advantage of Chris’s pre-chemo ‘wellness’ (he’s back to minimal neutrophils again now) and headed to the farm for a couple of glorious days. It felt so good to be up at dawn moving the cattle to fresh pasture (even in the cold and rain) and getting some more multi-person jobs done.
Between giving the sheep their worm prevention, and planting fifty native gum trees along the hillside we got a decent workout, not to mention the whole day that Chris and Shane spent reconstructing the stock yards in their new position and resurrecting posts to be reused as windbreak fencing for our greenhouse and pig paddocks. You would think they’d need a rest at the end of the day… And yet, despite all this, when I casually said “we could use those cupboard doors we don’t want and turn them into an office desk” – well, they only went ahead and built the thing there and then. A huge table made out of fully recycled materials (including the screws!).
Recycling and reusing materials where possible has been a personal goal for both of us throughout our lives, and is something we want reflected in our farming. Reducing waste, reducing our environmental impact, reducing unnecessary production of newly manufactured items – it not only fits into our mission, but it also saves a lot of money. By taking the time to recycle what was already lying around on the farm we’ve saved thousands of dollars. If we can keep that up our budget AND our consciences will be pretty happy.
Now we’re back to daydreaming about our farm for a while until we can travel there again… Chris contemplating scythes, chicken tractors and heritage geese, me contemplating work horses, organic parasite control and heritage cattle… to name just a few things… There’s always something to think about on the farm, even if you can’t physically be there to make it happen.
We like to brighten up the hospital room with our own colourful things from home.