We've been dang busy of late down on the farm, and now when i lift my head to check the calendar realise it's been 4 months since last I visited this little blog. It's not been for the lack of stories either, we've just been head down bum up and waiting for that moment when we can catch our breath.
We took on an additional 5 acres in late April, which has meant long hours plowing, planting, picking and selling. We also took off to a new market in Parramatta which saw us working all weekend to make a few bob. The new market proved to be a dismal failure, mostly because of the guy operating the show, and not through any fault of our own. So after another quick trip to Tonga to check on progress over there, we're back now and down to one market again for a while.
You'd think with it being spring that the world of farm fresh veg would be going crazy, but sadly this isn't the case. With people all around us forecasting the new recession, it appears that people tighten their belts first by not eating fresh veg. Go figure! We always knew though that our first year would be the one where we do a lot of learning from experience, and that hopefully our second year we can build on our experiences and knowledge and find things a tad more successful.
Our animal population grows and shrinks at an alarming rate. One day we're nearing 100 animals and then the next we're back to 50. We've had several large massacres, particularly of the chickens. The geese have been very successful at hatching eggs, but then we lost quite a few babies one day to chicken hawks. The ducks are as dozey as ever, laying eggs all over the yard. The clucky geese then come along and steal the duck eggs for their own nests. The foxes have also had quite a time with the ducks too. Thankfully the sheep and the lambs keep growing with no problems at all.
Our staffing situation changes just as rapidly as the animal population. It is soooooo hard to get someone on board that is prepared to do a little hard work for a few bob. We left the house in what we thought were reasonably capable hands while we were away only to come home to an enormous lack of care and interest. In two weeks, this guy did a maximum of eight hours work, and managed to leave the house in a stinking mess for us to come home to as well. The lure of all day television sports obviously was too much to resist! Having let him go on the spot he now keeps ringing asking if he can work for us!
On the design side of things I'm now sitting in my first real and proper office. Having a place to come to for work has been quite delightful, and even more so, finishing work at the end of the day and heading home to a totally computerless household has been even more delightful.
Condensed down to a few short paras, it feels like nothing has happened since June, and yet we haven't stopped. Whoever decided this year was to be the year of the Rat wasn't wrong - that's exactly how i feel - like a rat in a wheel scurrying madly around and around and getting nowhere fast!
