looking backwards looking forwards....

today the bulk of FP's commercial beef herd is being sold at auction in bega (these ones are the few remaining - they will leave the place at the end of january).... the trucks started rolling in yesterday morning - and the last loads (the young calves and their mums.... and one of our lovely limousin bulls) left this morning.....


it's hard not to feel a little sad....

progress...

 Things are moving along over at 'alanbar' farm..... the main structure of the new dairy is up - the roof is on.....

 the lower section of the walls are being formed ......

 decisions are being finalised....

on the weekend FP started organising his beef herd for sale..... all the cows have to be correctly paired to their calves then have their matching ear tages attached (NOT a fun and easy task....) 

today the milking pit was formed....

maybe as early as next week the main interior slab will start to be prepared.... 




.....

and now for the new beginnings.....

After a small delay - we're away!

Yep the giant building works have begun this week on the site of the old dairy at Alanbar (aka 'phil's farm')

the site has been prepared (not leveled mind you - its important that there is a slight slope to this ground...)

the footings have been prepared (and poured not long after these shots)..... yes the trench is THAT long - its a mighty BIG site

 a serious sized auger for a serious sized footing!

going up! the first structural steels are already in place ..... its a mighty mighty big beastie (with a mighty mighty big final price tag.....) it should take no more than about 6-8 weeks to get this bad boy up and ready for action (well that's the plan - myself I don't think this will see action before the new year.....) - you'll notice that the structure is going up before the slab...... ahhh yes it's a tricky little devil - but it will all make sense shortly.


stay tuned for updates (details will be revealed soon)


.....

pretty much gone....

I've had some old Bowie blaring out of the i-pod over the past week - and one tune seems especially fitting at the moment....   'ch-ch-ch-ch-changes....' as demolition of the dairy has progressed as full speed.....

one day the roof was coming down...

 then before you knew it.....

it was all a pile of rubble - being carted off to fill some eroded bits on one of the dams....

a bit of an unceremonious end to the old girl I think!


I was hoping to snaffle the old very primitive 'water cooler' tower (basically a circle of corrugated iron) - but it seems FP has other plans for it (mostly I think his plan is to keep it away from me and any of my arty intentions)

 well - we've got a further bit of clean up and site preparation ..... then the very very big work begins


(GULP GULP!)

going... going....

A huge change is in the wind for all of us down on the farm... the old dairy on FPs property is about to come down....

The old milking shed has been out of action for the past decade when the farm shifted over to beef production.... so it's already looking a little tired and forlorn and now all the old milking machines, pipes, feeders and what-nots have been stripped out of the shed....

here's the last of them being carted away.....

Yesterday FP and his brother (who we affectionately refer to as 'unkle-simple-simon') started pulling of the roof iron..... as the old structure is a-coming down!

over the next 10 days the boys hope to have the whole site leveled ready for the next ENORMOUS undertaking..... it's going to mean a radical change to all our lives and despite having many months to contemplate the change, I'm still shaking in my boots!

I'll post some more pics as the old girl comes down..... and share more as we take the leap into the great beyond - the new stage in our life here on the farm.....



GULP


...

TWIG - 26

We've had the first very big frosts of the winter season (complete with -6C temps.....thanks goodness I was hundreds of kilometres away that morning!) so the zucchini and eggplant and capsicum that had somehow been hanging in since late summer have finally been totally zapped!

I've struggled to get enough time to do much of anything in the garden (arty and family commitments have conspired to keep me elsewhere) and I hope to get some things done over the next few weeks.....


But other things have been in the works - FP has been hard at it - building a lean-to (soon to be 2 vehicle car port) beside out shed.....

My man is a clever critter - its not a simple affair this carpost - it is designed so that our vehicles will drive in on an angle - and park semi-parallel to the shed and drive out the other end (at the other oblique angle) - and the roof reflects this.... oooo and of course FP milled his own redgum timber (from a tree on the wandella property - mixed his own cement - with sand from sams creek property), welded his own steel uprights (which required precise weird angles....)

and of course it goes without saying he is erecting it all single handedly - you should see how he man-handled the beams into position.... (hint - it involved a tractor and faith!)



As for the rest of us here at sams creek - now that its school holidays we are taking walks around the farm - finding all manner of interesting things to amuse us....

down by the creek there are all sorts of interesting tracks (these are the marks of a rock wallaby...)

In the coming days I'm going to get on top of all the garden jobs..... I hope!



Picking/eating
tuscan kale, baby ruby silverbeet, baby dignams special silverbeet, gold bullion zucchini, curly endive, pontiac potatoes, butternut pumpkin, tangelo, meyer lemon, eureka lemon, japanese mandarin, orange, lemonade fruit.

TWIG -25

gerbera - in the lower decorative garden

Don't let the pretty flower pic lead you astray - last weekend we had days of WILD WEATHER - the highway just outside our place was weirdly quiet - it was closed for more than 2 whole days as there were trees over the road EVERYWHERE.... well we did experience category 2 cyclone conditions.....

as I looked outside out place I could see many large and small trees felled all over the place.... in my little garden my darling beloved banksia baxterii what snapped off at the base

I'm so disappointed - it has been a favourite of mine....

the passionfruit vine that covered the western side of my studio (and a fair amount of the roof) also took a battering - but with a trim it should come back ok

the vege garden came through it all without a hitch - in fact it positively reveled the miserable conditions!

(chinese - or wombok - cabbage seedlings under movable protection)

and our citrus trees are having their very best season

(looking down the line of citrus trees -
the tangelo are so laden with fruit -
but all the trees are looking great!)

To Do
move bean support to become a pea support (ooops haven't done this yet!)
plant more onion seedlings
prepare site for bare root trees (order bare root trees!)


Completed
onion, spring onion, leek, pak choy, hebe, erigeron, chinese cabbage, lettuce seedlings planted
old tomato vines removed to the compost
vege garden weeded (again!)
spent watermelon and cucumber vines composted


Picking/eating
baby tuscan kale, baby ruby silverbeet, baby dignams special silverbeet, gold bullion zucchini, curly endive, late season sugar baby watermelon, pontiac potatoes, butternut pumpkin, capsicum, thai eggplant, tangelo, meyer lemon, eureka lemon, japanese mandarin, orange, lemonade fruit.