- Linhda bought an awesome automatic chicken plucker! It’s surprisingly large and heavy. My cold-drug addled mind came to the conclusion that it’s a big steel box with a couple of little people who do all the plucking for you. Ahhhh, little people….
- I have the habit of putting things in my mouth while building/fixing fences – staples, nails, the bits of wire I use to tie mesh to star droppers. Today I found that fixing fencing in pig runs after an inch-and-a-half of rain is a good way to break yourself of that habit. We all, as a family, also tested our agility all day. It was like ballet-in-gumboots in there today.
- So, there’s a slight chance our baconer, Bertha, is pregnant. This could be our first teenage pregnancy, and would also be our first real husbandry fail. Linhda has come across all mummy about, and is blaming the father. She says that he needs to step up and take responsibility. The problem is that if Bertha is pregnant then the dad is one of her brothers, all of whom are being eaten by people who can read this status. That’s a little awkward…
- Tonight Linhda wants steak, chips, and egg for dinner. For some reason she sees that as the epitome of English cooking, and thinks it’s exotic food. I’m just happy that 2 of those 3 things came off of my property… In unrelated news, today I got to use an angle grinder, a chainsaw, and a welder. It was a good farm day.
- We built a stand today for 2 giant rainwater tanks. Linhda was raking sand for the base when she said “I think having a Zen garden would make me really angry”. I had absolutely no idea what to say to that, and so just snuck away quietly…
- Most people formulate a plan. On the farm we planulate. This morning we’re planulating how to easily level 8 tonnes of sand for two separate rainwater tanks across an area that slopes two ways. That’s actually the easy part. The hard part is going to be shovelling 8 tonnes of sand.
I made this from scratch. “Scratch” being a pallet and a bit of twine to tie it upright.
One of our good friends came bearing gifts! 🙂
The Atherton Farm Blog 