We have shelter on the farm!

We have finally seen some positive progress on the farm. Every farm needs a shed, and we finally have ours. We decided to have the shed company only erect the framework for the shed, and that we would do the cladding ourselves. In addition to providing us with the satisfaction of building our own facilities, we managed to save ourselves a bucketload of cash.

We took a three day weekend to start cladding the shed, and got most of it complete. The roller doors posed a bit of a problem, and we had a false start on one of them when it unrolled on us! They say that practice makes perfect. It certainly did in this case, with the first roller door taking almost four hours to put up before it immediately unrolled. By the time we came around to rehanging the first door, it only took us about twenty minutes.

The shed is 6m x 12 m, which has induced a bit of shed envy amongst our friends. Realistically, it might when we finish putting the roof on. I am looking forward to being able to camp in the shed, even if Jane isn't too sure. Maybe if we build a mattress of straw bales she might be a little more excited. Have to see once we get there!

We also took the opportunity to have a geotech survey done, to determine the soil quality and types for building. We might have a problem for some of our plans, as we hit a pretty solid granite shelf at about 50cm. Lucky we were never planning an underground cellar… although it might have given me the excuse to play with dynamite!

We did have a major stroke of luck, with Leigh and Clare being in the area on Saturday. We very gladly used Leigh's help to put up the roller doors, and they stayed overnight on the farm. I hope they had fun, because we can see that there will be elements of our future build that we will need to lean on Leigh for. The man is a magician, and has the practical experience to mean that our roadblocks are pretty easily worked through.

When we went up to the farm, we stayed with our future next door neighbours. They are winemakers (Rosnay Organic) who also grow olives and figs. We took up sourdough bread, duck breast prosciutto (our own) and a range of meals for the weekend. The figs are being processed two ways, both of which are insanely good. I can’t decide which of the end products I enjoy most. They do a dried fig, which ends up like a hard, chewy candy. As good as it is, the glace figs are – wow! We had them sliced with good cheese and duck prosciutto, and I reckon they would be equally good with vanilla ice cream. MacK had a great time playing with Floyd and the girls, and spent part of Saturday dressed as a clown. We think he looks pretty cute!

Just clowning around...

See below a photo essay of our progress this far:

Nothing exciting - just a little geotech...

This was what we found when we rocked up to the farm

The walls start to go up

Bazinga! - Jane the screw guru

MacK showing me how its done

The first end wall goes up

And so does part of the roof. Note the safety equipment on top of the scaffold

This was where we finished up at the end of day one

Clare's help was fantastic

This is what we get to look at every night we are up on the farm. Who needs reality TV, when you can simply have reality?

I was in the shed before dawn each day, and the sunrises were almost as good as the sunset.

Leigh, Mark, Clare and I trying to work out the instructions. Can I say that what they contained was less than underwhelming!

We are two smart men. Surely we can work this out!

This was the state of play when we walked away on Sunday. Hopefully this Saturday will see most of the rest finished.

Taranaki Farm

We recently had the pleasure of travelling to Taranaki Farm, just north of Melbourne. Ben Falloon is a fourth generation farmer, who practices ‘beyond organic’ farming in the mould of Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms in America. I urge you to google Polyface Farms, as what Joel has been able to accomplish is nothing short of extraordinary. He is also one of  the stars of the excellent documentary “Food, Inc”. Again, if you have any interest in the food you put in front of your children, I urge you to seek this documentary out.

My Kiwi friends and family will no doubt think I am a nutter for driving 3½ hours (each way) just to take part in a two hour farm tour. However, distance in Australia is a notional concept, and the prospect of the tour was too good to miss. We were part of an 80 strong group who braved a cold and wet day to walk around the farm. The major attraction for us was the opportunity to see a farm operating the way we intend to farm in Canowindra.

On arrival, MacK was excited to see Gypsy (the Maremma dog) and a cat whom he chased across the parking area. Ben started the tour by telling us that he was a fourth generation farmer, with a singular regret being that his grandfather (Jack) had passed away before he came back to the farm. In front of the group, and very loudly, MacK said “Oh no! Jack’s dead”, before following that up with “How did he die, Mummy?”. To his credit, Ben just kept rolling with the commentary.

Ben runs a couple of thousand chickens, Wiltshire horned sheep, Berkshire pigs, and cows. There are also a number of ducks who marauder around the farm in a dodgy manner, although I am sure that their extreme free range diet will make them all the more lovely on the plate!

MacK was in heaven!

We looked at the 1100!! Point of lay pullets, and the three types of homes they will inhabit, dependent on their jobs on the farm (the chickens are used for pasture sanitisation and manuring, and others are fattened for meat). From there we walked through the extremely muddy puddles and pathways to the forest to see the beautiful herd of pigs. Most of the kids (MacK being no exception) ended up on their backs, having a bundle of fun! The pigs were all carrying litters, and have enlarged teats. MacK, being as observant (and loud) as he is felt the need to call out “Mummy, how come they have so many doodles hanging down?”

 Ben demonstrating the benefits of his A Frame chicken house - 5 star hotel chicken living

The egg mobile - brilliant concept

  Don't the ladies look happy?

Ben waxing lyrical about his Berkshire pigs - I think the feeling is mutual.

 Jane getting up close and personal with the Berkshire ladies

We had a brilliant time on the farm, and picked up a lot of really good ideas for our own piece of paradise. From the farm tour, we drove to Trentham, where I got to tick off another ‘bucket list’ item. We lunched at Red Beard Bakery, which is a fantastic sourdough bakery. The bread is baked in a century old wood fired scotch style oven. The oven deck is so large that two VW Beetles could sit side by side, and the bread is just spectacular.

We saw this on a shop in Trentham. Jane thinks this is her justification for putting our pigs in gumboots… Didn't she just see those beautiful pigs at Taranaki Farm?

We overnighted in Bendigo, where we caught up with Tim and Sharon. I worked with Tim several years ago, and we have a very similar philosophy to food. He and Sharon now run a very successful café called Twenty2 in Bendigo. Well worth checking out if you are ever in that part of the world.

MacK was a little excited about the breakfast Tim cooked for him

We did take the opportunity to do a little sightseeing before we left, and visited the Catholic Cathedral. It is a stunning old building, and Mack was very excited. He kept calling out ‘It’s a castle. Where’s Mike and the white knight?!”

It was a lovely weekend away, and something we should do more often. We have had the opportunity to get to Beechworth a couple of times this year. They have a fantastic brewery with an in-house pizza kitchen. It is a wonderful places for a quick and very good meal. The picture below is a mid meal selfie- 

We can't always get away as often as we would like, but it is lovely that MacK likes to spend time in the kitchen with us. He doesn't quite get why bread has to be kneaded for as long as it does, but he does attack the task with a great deal of energy!