The monthly update

I just realised the last two posts have no pictures from the cloud farm. So here is a monthly update in pictures. Photography by the littlest cloud farmer.

 We slaughtered the meat chooks. Here are two on their way to the plucker, (don't worry they are already dead).

 A photo of Dads bum, I have no idea why...

 Working the plucker. Made a few minor modifications and it now operates flawlessly. Most pleased.

 

Is this thing working?

 Morning feed for the layers. I think Rhode Island Reds are the most beautiful of any chook.

 Rufus' Dog house. Unfortunately he prefers to sleep under the house.

 

Shadows need to be photographed too.

Communing with the pigeons at the morning feed. They are becoming very tame.

 Waiting for the morning feed.

Tools maketh the man

A subject came up this week that is close to my heart, tools! Like any red blooded Aussie male I get all in a lather when the subject of tools comes up. Tool, by the way is simply an adult spelling of the word Toy. Well I think so anyway...
The question raised was what are the absolute essential tools for life on a farm? Obviously this is impossible to really answer properly as there will always be too many variables. But if I had to look at the question as "What are the ten most absolutely essential tools to run a small subsistence farm of mostly cropping and a small amount of livestock?" My answer would be something like:

1. A good knife
2. A good sharpening stone
3. An axe
4. A shovel
5. A hoe
6. A bucket
7. Rope
8. A large hammer
9. A Steel and flint 
10. A scythe

This would allow a sufficiently fit and knowledgeable individual to feed himself in a primitive fashion. Note that these are all, with the possible exception of the scythe, simple tools. No complex parts, very few moving parts, all man (or woman) powered and will all have a long lifespan with care. I have drawn on my experience both as a historian and a farmer to compile this list as it is simply an iron age farmers kit of tools and was proven to work for hundreds of years.

But the thing about tools is that in themselves they are utterly useless until coupled with a skilled user. Too often in this day and age I find people confusing power for skill. To explain- I have taught many people to work wood over the years* and before I will let an apprentice near the powered tools they must first gain competency with hand tools. Why? Because in skilled hands a hand operated tool will always be more versatile and accurate than a power tool**. Power tools tend to be fast and rough and not much else (and therefore the modern love of power tools speaks volumes...) but when true delicacy or accuracy is required a hand tool is the only solution.
Unfortunately most modern folks are under the impression that because a power tool is easier to use (or so the advertisements tell you) that they are therefore better. Consequently they will never learn the skills to use a hand tool and when they reach the limits of the power tools capacity they will stop, not knowing how to finish the job. This has suddenly created a dependency on electricity or oil as well as all the spare parts and sticky fluids required to make these things go. Very convenient for big business I am sure.
Anyway to get to the point, one day I was watching a new apprentice trying to figure out how to achieve a certain joint in a piece of timber. He fiddled about with the table saw trying to get the measurements set to the fine degree for the required cut. Eventually He retired to his workbench without turning the saw on and proceeded to make the cut with a hand saw and then clean it up with first chisels before a card scraper. When I asked him why he did this he said that he just could not be sure the table saw would be accurate enough and if it made a mess of the cut he would have to start this joint all over again. So even though it took him much longer, he opted to use a method he knew was going to work first time. In other words he would rather rely on his own skills when it really mattered. To say I was elated with his answer would be an understatement!



 *  I am a qualified cabinetmaker. I work in solid timber to make fine furniture (and one day I hope to do it as my sole income again).
** By hand tool I mean any tool powered through the user, a power tool refers to a tool large or small using an electric or internal combustion motor. In particular I am talking about woodworking tools as this is my area of expertise.

New age culture and irritating people

This may come as a surprise to some of you out there but I am sometimes known for my lack of tolerance for fools. Those who know me will not be surprised by this.
This weeks annoyance on my part comes from having to suffer folks who always need to reinvent the wheel. Case in point, I was breathlessly told about this "brand new and really efficient technology" called a Rocket stove. Apparently it will boil water from just a handful of wood chips and twigs and so forth. It was immediately obvious to me that the speaker, a young and fluffy new-age type, was actually referring to a chip heater. Once the speaker had paused for breath I asked if they were referring to a chip heater but was told that this was most definitely a new invention and had never been seen before! When I directed them to pictures of chip heaters and similar stoves from early last century it did not go down well.
Now I have absolutely no objection to people wanting to use this technology! In fact quite the opposite. However I DO object to this casual renaming of old technology so it can be touted as some new invention. I feel we need to show a little more respect to history and understand that most if not all of the technical answers to our problems lie in the past. Rather that sitting down to reinvent, usually badly, a solution to an old problem I prefer to start by doing a little research first. Almost always I find there is already a tried and true solution to the problem.
Ok, that is my grump for today.

Bluetop

 This is a weed locally called Blue top. It is also known as Billy goat weed due to the smell when crushed. When we moved in here the fields were very horse sick and rank with blue top.

At first it really bugged me for some reason. I spent hours with the scythe cutting it down in great swathes. Over time it has slowly disappeared from the fields as the soil condition improved. Blue top and bracken are both good indicators of problem soil. The main solution was to ensure the soils were grazed properly, meaning get rid of the bloody horses. I now take care to spell the fields between grazing every few months and to allow time for the pasture to go to seed at least once every two years. 

 

The blue top does not worry me any more as I have come to realize it has its place even though it is a feral weed. It even has its uses, the cattle appear to use it as an occasional medicinal herb and the early settlers to this area also apparently used it as a poultice on wounds for its mild antiseptic qualities.

Feeding, fattening and economics

 Fattening stock for meat always requires special care to the feeding. You cannot simply throw a few handfuls of pellets to your piglets and expect to get good, or cheap, pork. Frankly the cost of shop bought fattening mixes would give you anything but cheap pork! We like our livestock to free range wherever possible but when fattening for meat we must also supply a lot of extra food.

In the case of our meat chickens we have been experimenting for several years with various mixes at various costs. For a while I was able to get some high-protein mix to mix in with millrun and cracked corn. It fattened the birds admirably when it was available, and there is the problem- because we could not always get it.
So this year we have been making this mix of:

2 parts millrun,
2 parts cracked corn,
1 part whole soy meal,
1 large handful of shell grit
1 big glug of vegetable oil.

Mix it all together and the chooks love it! Unfortunately it is still an added cost to the feed bill that we would rather do without. So I have determined that timing is the issue here.

For about one third of the year we have more milk than we can easily use. At the end of winter to mid summer the potato growers are processing their crop and I can get free discard potatoes by the tonne.
Milk and boiled potatoes is an old fattening recipe for both pigs and fowl! Boil a huge pot of potatoes overnight, enough for both feeding times the next day. In the morning add your leftover milk, buttermilk or whey to the cooled potatoes. Give it a bit of a stir-come-mush-up, dont be too fiddly about it and serve. Stand back as in my experience the livestock will take a flying tackle into the feed trough for this meal!
If I could I would also add boiled whole barley but alas this is not a barley growing district and it costs much more than I would care to pay. A little cracked corn serves well as a substitute. So with the next batch of pigs to fatten, we shall also fatten a batch of meat chooks at the same time and on the same diet. Make sure the pigs get to roam and dig in their paddocks and make sure the chooks get a great armload of greens each day also. The result is excellent meat at the cost of some labour and little else.

Seasons change- the spring update.

The weather is warming although we still have the doona on the bed. A bit early by my reckoning but the plants have all decided to get a go on so what would I know?

 

The peaches have all had a good winter and were thick with blossom for a week. Now they are covered with small green peaches. Each year we enter into a contest with the king parrots to see who gets the most fruit.  Last year we were soundly beaten. One day I will investigate netting tents for the trees.

 Bonnie, our soon to be cow, is heavily pregnant. She is in training getting ready for milking. I have always found that a first time milker is becomes easier to handle with good training *before* she calves. Bonnie has a very impatient nature. Here she is craning her neck over the fence and around the corner of the feed shed to see how her feed bucket is coming along.

 I fired up the incubator a while back in an effort to increase our flock of Rhode island reds. Normally I prefer to let a broody hen do the job but unfortunately none of the girls were in the mood. Egg fertility remains an issue with a very poor hatching rate of about one in ten. I may have to give the girls a cosmetic clipping in certain areas so the rooster has a better chance of hitting the target- if you get my drift. Makes for an undignified looking flock I must say.

 The next big project we are working on is the dreaded hothouse. A project that has been put aside for a year or so for various reasons, now back in the queue. I had the veggie garden shelved off a couple of years back. It has now been left fallow this season so I can begin getting the uprights in. Above you can see my survey pegs all measured out correctly, half a days work for two people. The end structure will consist of two fifteen meter tunnels side by side. Each tunnel is six meters wide and about four high or so. It will be quite a project.

 The pigeons are out and about. They are breeding well and appear to be quite confident fliers. So far no attacks by raptors or egg thieving by crows. The child bride has hung two CDs outside the entrance to the loft where they flicker and turn in the wind. It appears to be working, could it really be this simple?

My ever present doggie companion. Woof.

Winter chores

One of the winter chores I quite enjoy is cutting firewood. Once every couple of months we will go down to the dry lands and load the truck with fallen timber for the fire. I like to keep it in long lengths as it is a lot easier to tie down. It will also stay drier in the rain if it is left long. Blocked up (cut into short rounds) it will soak through quickly. Either way we prefer to store the cut timber undercover on the rack outside the kitchen door.

To save my back I like to use a saw horse when blocking the lengths. Made from timber it is kinder on the chainsaw blade if I slip. When it finally becomes a little too old for use it becomes firewood itself. The bolts are reused for the next 'horse. Most times I make one out of rough timber in the round, picked up when we get the firewood. This year I made one from sawn timber. It works just as well as the others but does not look as good in my opinion.
Once blocked and stacked, the timber is split with an axe or sometimes with a steel wedge and a sledge hammer. This is Australian hardwood we are using here! This can be a lot of work but on a cold winters day I find it quite enjoyable and a good workout for a somewhat tubby old guy.