Time to do the small things at home....

The past few weeks have been hectic. A lot of time has been spent with family ( which is always good) and seasonal farm work. Yesterday and today have been the first full days I have had at home with time to myself for over two weeks. DH Farmer has been out on the farm during the day working, giving me some quiet time . I am not complaining but I am really loving the chance to catch up at home and to be able to spend time on a few things I love to do - sewing, baking and gardening. I have even managed to start baking our own bread everyday again. There is also the usual housework and farm chores to do.

Baking homemade bread every day.

Route 66 Quilt progress.

The book club I belong to is reading  Harper Lee's classic "To Kill a Mockingbird". I borrowed an unabridged audio version from our local library and have been listening to it whilst I quilt. I remember reading this book in high school and loved it all those years ago as I do now. I will have to borrow a DVD and catch up with the movie. I recently discovered that audio books and quilting go well together, as do music and quilting.
Until next time.....
Carol

Safe food in our country - solution "Buy Australian".

Being producers of milk and beef we were very interested in the unfolding of the recent frozen raspberry hepatitis A situation in Australia. As producers of food in this country we are under very strict regulations enforced by our state government through Safe Foods NSW. We are required to fill out a National Vendor Declaration form (like a statutory declaration) every time we sell cattle either through the sale yards or directly to the abattoirs declaring that the cattle are chemical, antibiotic and growth hormone free and free of several other products which have withholding periods. We, the producer, are responsible to be honest and are held accountable if we are not.
Similarly, we have a contract with our milk processor to supply milk free of chemicals, antibiotics and of a high quality regarding milk fats and proteins. We also have to pass a Safe Food NSW audit on many aspects of our milk production and pay a licence fee every year to be a registered dairy farm in NSW. All this ensures that the consumer in our country can be sure that they are purchasing safe and secure food when they buy Australian beef and Australian milk products.
 It is obvious the same cannot be said for some of the food product which is being imported and sold in our country. All of this food security for you, the consumer, costs us, the producer, a lot of money to ensure that these regulations and standards are met with the products we produce. This is why Australian food products often cost more than the imported food product. Sometimes we, the consumers, have to pay more for not only quality but for food consumer safety in this country. Isn't it sometimes worth paying a little more for your food to know that you and your families health is not being put at risk?
 My questions are simply these.  Why can food from overseas countries be sold cheaply and at the expense of Australian produced products when many obviously are not tested and cleared safe to Australian standards for human consumption in our country?  Who is going to be held accountable for and pay the cost of this latest health scare? What are our government regulations and laws on the testing of all imported food into our country? If we, the Australian food producer, have to follow strict safety and health laws in producing food in Australia, shouldn't other countries have to pass and follow the same level of regulations and standards before their food is allowed to be imported into our country for human consumption?
I have a simple solution to the problem - buy Australian, buy local and as often as possible buy fresh! Support your Australian food products as much as possible.
 I am well aware that there are fewer and fewer Australian food products in our supermarkets and shops - the reason being that consumers have been sucked into believing that cheap is best regardless of where that food has come from. I am also well aware that food labelling is a huge area of confusion when making your choice. Buy Australian Made and Produced!
This sounds like a rant and I guess it is - but this is one of my pet peeves. Buy Australian food and support our country and its agricultural sector as much as possible! There will be no agriculture and Australian produced food in the future unless we all do.

This week...

Sometimes people ask you - "what have you been up to this week?" and on reflection you know you have been busy but it is difficult to tell them just exactly what you have been doing. I actually love weeks like this where you realise you have spent a fair bit of time at home doing the normal day to day living things to run a household, a farm and connecting with family.
 On Mondays I always look after my 3 year old grand daughter. It is a wonderful and tiring day. I took Claire on an outing to Newcastle to visit my eldest daughter  who is on holidays. We visited Blackbutt Reserve for an hour or so to see native animals and birds.

Claire and Nicky at Blackbutt Reserve

On Tuesday I went to our local town doing farm jobs and some food shopping, a book club meeting and then home to spend several hours working on the computer doing farm accountancy and then  mowing the lawn in the cooler part of the day. Wednesday was general house cleaning day - all that boring but necessary stuff like washing, vacuuming, washing the car and so on. I also went to Maitland to pick up bulk meat from our butcher who cut up one of our vealers to fill our freezer for the next few months. On Wednesday night my son, daughter in law and grand daughter, and daughter came for dinner. Thursday is my day. For years now I have visited a close friend and we quilt, stitch, chat and drink coffee and tea and eat. It is a day we solve the world problems, laugh and natter of family things. It is a day where I don't think about the farm and feel relaxed and sort out how to move forward on any issues bothering me. It is a day to spend with a very dear friend. And now it is Friday - I need to get ready to leave the farm for a few days next week. I am visiting with my son, his wife and new baby as my son is returning to work after the birth of their new baby.
 None of this is overly exciting but it is a wonderful way to spend your life. It is about being busy and feeling fulfilled and happy with how you spend your days! Being contented with your day to day living is calming. It allows you an equilibrium so you can relish the highs and exciting times and also to cope with the lows that life throws to us all at times.
On farm the usual has happened - milking twice a day, cows have been sold, silage is again in the process of being made, cattle have been moved, spraying of weeds and numerous other tasks have been undertaken.
 One day I will write a blog on how DH Farmer spends his week. It puts my week to shame with his hours of hardwork and dedication that he has for a farming life . But I know he feels the same as me - life on the land is mostly  happy and fulfilling and one we would not choose to change.

Putting away for a rainy, or rather, a not so rainy day!

Since the rain began falling again in December last year we have experienced one of the best summer seasons on the farm that we can ever remember.  The pay off for the wonderful season we are having is that we can make and store feed and fodder from the excess pasture we currently have on farm. This feed can then be fed to our cattle when there is a lack of feed in the paddocks. This is not only  when there is a lack of rain and therefore little natural grass growing for the cattle to feed on but also in the transition period between summer pastures to sown winter pastures. We can also feed our dairy herd late winter and early spring to produce more milk when milk payments are at their highest for us on farm.
So last week on returning home from visiting our new grandson, DH Farmer turned his attention to the weather to decide on the optimum time to cut our pasture for silage. As an aside here - it is true to say that one of a farmers favourite topics for discussion is the weather. In our house we listen to the weather on the radio early every morning prior to starting the day, check on various weather sites on the internet throughout the day and then watch several different TV channel weather segments every evening. When your entire livelihood is so reliant on weather and what work is going to be done that day, it is easy to understand why it is like this.
DH Farmer decided that the end of last week was a good window to cut and make silage. Silage has a high moisture content whereas hay has minimal moisture content. Silage, unlike hay, can be cut one day then raked the next and baled and wrapped that same day. Silage can also take a good shower of rain on it once cut without destroying the quality of the feed. Hay on the other hand requires dry, sunny weather to dry out the pasture prior to baling. Hay shed fires are caused by hay being baled with too high a moisture content or from being rained on once baled. Whilst we own our own mower and rake we do not own a baler or wrapper and so contract out this work. Some machinery is just not economical to own. Late last week we managed to bale 92 large round bales to be fed out to our cattle when needed. We intend to cut more pasture to be baled for silage at the end of this week again. Silage and hay is as good as, if not better than, money in the bank to a farmer. It is like an insurance policy for a farmer!

Mown pasture being raked into rows prior to baling.

Round baler .

Bales of silage prior to wrapping.

The wait is over and new life....

Finally our new grandchild has safely arrived into the world. A very healthy and quite large baby boy named Wyatt Thomas. He weighed in at 9 lb 8 ounces or 4500 grams and is 55cm in length. Mum Kate, baby and dad Chris are all doing very well.  With baby arriving very late at night we travelled the next morning 3 1/2 hours for our first cuddles and to visit the new family.  DH Farmer of course milked first and with the help of our eldest daughter we managed to get away at a fairly early hour.

Baby Wyatt with very proud grandparents.

There isn't anything more special in life than the arrival of a new family member to love and watch grow up. Watching one of your own children become a parent for the first time is a memorable moment and a milestone in any parents life. Seeing our son care and cuddle and love this newborn and his darling wife Kate makes us sit back with pride. We even dare to think that we played some part in making this man such a loving and gentle father and husband.

So after two days away from the farm we have had to return home to get on with farm life. Today the silage has finally been cut ready for baling tomorrow afternoon and if the weather holds out there will be more to cut and bale next week. Cows have been milked, new calves have been born and as for me, well I have been keeping in touch with the new family and happily receiving photos of baby several times a day with the  hope to visit the new family again very soon.