Australian Talk.

[melking]

Glad you are back safe Jilleroo. Suzie, do you typically haul to the dump or do you usually burn. When we move out to our little paradise, I want to start composting but it really does have to wait as there are many other projects ahead of it. Ken, is it too cold to go fishing?

[Suzie Q]

I don't burn Melking. I do what you over there call 'Lasagne Gardening' or what we here call 'No dig Gardening'.

Anything that can burn - paper, junk mail, etc, etc, etc. Can be put down in a layer on the garden. We throw out plastic which is not organic and metal like tins and that is it. That goes in a garbage bag and hubby takes it with him to work and puts it in a bin on the way. Cardboard boxes, newspaper, egg cartons, junk mail, go in the garden as a layer. Hang on I will show you a few layers. Because we are warmer than you. If you go back a year later you can not find one bit of paper, or egg cartons. Don't start too big as you will not be able to feed it.

This can be done on anything or in anything. On a bitumen carpark, on concrete, in pots whatever. No soil is used. You only ever add - you never take away.

This is before. No weeding, no tilling. Just stamp down the 3 foot grass.



First layer Newspapers if you are putting on the ground. I now don't open them or wet them. The thicker the better. The paper stops weeds, cause earthworms to come underneath and the ground underneath will improve.



2nd layer

Horsemanure



Third layer Egg Cartons



Next layer cow manure



You can use shredded paper and I can not tell you enough how much plants LOVE shredded paper



Leaves that I raked from my Mum's which she loved as she could get to her front door. I put them in chaff bags and brought them back here.



Put as many layers as you like. Alternate them. The more you put the more raised the garden and you don't have to bend to tend to the garden.

Make the last layer hay with no manure, this stops anything blowing away and stops light getting through for weeds to grow.



The best thing now is to put in potting mix and a seedling and you can grow whatever you like.

This is an instant garden. The last layer on this one is silage instead of hay and seedlings I bought from Bunnings for free from doing surveys online



When I say you can grow anything. I have found I can grow anything I have tried.

Rununculus



Bromelaids



Dianthus



Strawberries



Spider lillies



Fruit trees



Coloured Silverbeet

[jilleroo]

Good pics Suzie. I'll have to try and do that one day, too lazy! Went around the waters this arve and found the new bull. I posed a pic of him in the Breeds Board. I like him but sometimes my judgment is off (apparently), according to the boys, but they do like this bull. The grass is still green and the cattle look good so all is well. Here is a pic of the "halfway house" hubby made for me between the house and sheds, now that the plants have grown a bit.

[wbvs58]

Gee Suzie, you must eat a lot of eggs going by those cartons.
Thats a nice half way house Jilleroo. Is it a bit like a dog house, you go there when your in strife. They are lovely trees around around your garden. I don't know when you get time to maintain that garden, it all looks very tidy.
I can't pick cattle to pieces, but when I see something I like, I usually know it. That new bull of yours certainly does grab my attention. By the sound of it you must have got him close to the upstart price.
Your judgement can't be too far out, those photos of your cows reflect the bulls you have purchased in the past and to me they look like top quality.
I like these short days, you blink and they are gone. By the time I filled up the bulls feeder, shifted the heifers supplement feeder and checked on the cows, it was virtually lunch time. This arvo I went around the shed and finished off the stays for my neighbour. I finished off by having a look around the paddock behind the bulls, and the bluddy pigs have been in, Bo disappeared into the bush behind and I went back and got the bike and rifle but did not find any pigs. The wind was not in Bo's favour and we ran out of light. In the morning we will track around behind and come back into the wind. The pigs will hang around a bit, I think they are coming up to the bulls feeder.
We ended up with 19mm rain all told, and now there is a cool SWer blowing, nice and snug in the house.
Mel I was talking to a bloke yesterday who does a bit of fishing around here. He reckons the yellowbelly go a bit quiet over the colder weather, but it is peak time to catch the big Murray Cod. They grow to over a metre long, but they don't get to that size by being dumb and jumping onto to the end of any old line that is thrown at them.
Ken

[Suzie Q]

Nah not a lot of eggs Ken. I used to have hens and people would give me egg cartons. But no hens anymore and I kept them for someone who had chickens and would like the egg cartons. Anyone with hens I mentioned the cartons to said they would love to have them so I kept them for ages, but no one was interested in coming and getting them, only if I took them there. I got sick of attracting cockroaches, etc. So out into the garden they went.

It is also called the Lazy Gardeners Way, Jilleroo. I love your halfway house.

Hubby said we were supposed to get wind over the weekend. So far outside looks like a lovely day so lets hope it doesn't come.

I spent my day off in the garden. I pulled up the little yellow chrysanthemums and put them over near the water garden where the Cosmos were. On top of them I put a barrow of horse manure and a barrow of cow manure and two wheel barrows of old hay from the cattle yard.

I also put a barrow of cow manure where the chrysanthemums were and a barrow of hay on top and a barrow of horse manure on the new garden that only had grass down and hay on top.

Today I might go and get worm castings and put them around. It will be the first time I have ever done it if I do.

Other than that I did a load of washing and went to my friends and showed her how to fill out her own will Kit.

Hubby is still working on the yard attached to the cattle yard. He had concrete in the posts as it was too rocky to dig down far. He has taken the fence down while he does that so I am unable to use the cattle yards to separate cattle at the moment.

I had porridge for breaky and a big plate of left over chicken pieces and rice for lunch and an arrow root biscuit at my friends and hubby and I both fell asleep without tea.

This morning I am 89.3 kg so have broken the next barrier of 90 kg. I am now down 1.2 kilos for the week and 30.7 kg all up.

For my American friends that is 2.6 pounds for the week and 67.5 pounds all up.

[wbvs58]

Well this morning went according to plan. We headed East then circled up towards the border, then came back down heading South into a light breeze. Just down towards my gate the girls got very interested, Bo headed off into some thick scrub to the West. I could just hear her barking or calling me about 200m away. She had a large sow baled up and I dispatched it with the .22 . We were all very happy.
Here is the result.


Suzie, this spring I might have another go at a veggie garden. I like the words Lazy gardener, I might have a go at your way. I have a couple of old tractor tires around at the other place. I might use them to contain it all. Last time I did a veggie garden I OD on zuchini and ended up in hospital, it sort of took the edge off vegie gardens. I'm just about ready to have another go.
Ken

[3waycross]

Nice hog Ken. Looks like you may have killed 10 or 11 pigs with one shot!

[Suzie Q]

OMG Ken, why. Were you allergic to it. I will have to tell hubby that he is always trying to get me to eat veggies LOL!!!! Yes tyres are very good for potatoes, you use a method where you add another tyre on top once they start growing, you might want to google it to see why and when.

Do you feed the pig meat to your dogs?

I also spent yesterday in the garden. I brought over more cow manure and old hay and put it around the plants in the garden which is a tiny bit harder than putting it in a layer. Then in the afternoon I took the bottom tray off the worm farm and scattered the castings around. I put quite a bit under the strawberries so lets see if that makes any difference. It was so easy with the canofworms worm garden, and is the first time I have put castings around.

In the middle of the day I washed my hair and watched a movie and we invited a friend for tea so had company at tea time, oh and fed some round bales out to the cattle as well.

My friend brought a water lily with him. I have put it in the water garden but will have to go down the paddock and get some mud for it.

[wbvs58]

3way, I take the pigs around to my mate to boil up for his dogs. He likes to have them bled as sometimes he will dress them for himself.
Ken

[wbvs58]

I was at a bit of a loose end today. I don't want to really start anything that I can't finish before I go away next week. I made a carpeted platform for the dinghy so Bo has something to stand on. She had a bit of trouble getting her claws to dig into the aluminium when I took her out the other day.
This arvo I went around and located all the cattle and so took a few pictures.
First off the cows in the scrub in the tin mine, the light was a bit poor but you can see they are not short of a bit of feed.

This is one of my smaller commercial cows, she will probably be going after this calf. She is a pretty good little cow, but to keep the calves uniform, she and another couple like her will go.

This is one of my heifers from last year. She produced a terrific heifer calf and I am now looking forward to her next calf.

Another of my commercial cows.

This is what is left of the cow that died of bloat last October. The scavengers make short work of it.

Some of my heifers coming down to the waterhole in the creek.

One of my heifers, just on a month to calving.

One of the sale bulls.

This is the bull with the bent leg. You can see the scar across his knee. When he was a calf and I tagged him, after I let him go Jamie chased him into a fence splitting his knee open. It healed well and all was ok until after I picked him up from neighbour in March and the deviation was then apparent. I think the growth plate on the inside has closed before the outside resulting in the deviation. My neighbour is buying for his heifers at virtually meat prices. I think he will get a few more years out of him. If he gives trouble he will just cash him in.

Ken

[wbvs58]

Most of those photos of the cows I put up yesterday were mainly to give you an idea of the scrub I have the cows in. They only go in there after weaning their calves and I think they do ok, the quality of feed is not real good but they have lots to select and forage from. I have on occaisions put them in there with their calves when I have been waiting for rain, the growth rate drops but they pick up again when they can resume the normal grazing. Initially my biggest worry was being able to get them out, there is not one bit of cleared area in the 400 odd acres apart from the road and the open cut mined area. I usually get them out when they are foraging close to the gate and they all know that my voice means better feed in the next paddock, any stragglers soon join up with the rest of the mob. I think I am very lucky having access to this paddock, it is sort of like a big hay shed, it gives me options and buys a bit of time. I feel that I can invest money in improving my herd and this block minimises the risk of having to sell them off in bad times.
I brought the bulls back up closer to the house today and put the heifers up in my western paddock. I'm getting things ready for going away next week. Having the bulls confined to the middle of the place with the heifers out of site. Hopefully all will be safe.
Ken

[Suzie Q]

We do the same thing with the creek, Ken. It is dangerous to have them down there if we flood and of course you never know when that is going to happen, but it help give them a feed when there is nothing left on this side and gives this side a rest.

I have booked in to get my hair cut on Thursday. It is over a year since it has been done. I have cut the fringe (bangs) a couple of times, but it is getting quite thick.

[wbvs58]

Overcast and occaisional drizzle today. Very cosy in the house tonight, the fire just dries the air out making it very snug.
With the forecast for showers and rain increasing during the week, I decided to go down to Killarney and pick up some more feed for the bulls. I tarped the load as there was drizzle on and off and seemed to get it home nice and dry.
Ken

[diana55]

Beautiful flowers Suzie-I must try the 'layered garden' as I have plenty of newspapers and manure and hay-just need the motivation.
Ken-Bo is a beauty and clever with the pigs too.I love the photo of her with the bike, pig and gun. She looks just like our kelpie bitches. Had to have my dear old kelpie put down last week-he was 14.5 years old and had been a fantastic mate and worker. The DTD buried him with my horse (died 1988) and another beloved kelpie whom I lost 16 years ago. Sad day -animals are just so loyal.

Hope your Mum is making progress Jilleroo. I have to have my knees replaced next month so I will find out what rehabilitation is all about. Don't think I'll be a great patient but fingers crossed.
Had 26mm rain last weekend, after almost 3 dry months. Warm, calm, sunny days this week (cool nights though) just perfect for working outdoors. DTD is frantically sowing couple hundred acres barley before more (forecast) rain this weekend. My offsider arrived in Canada today (after a week in Waikiki) for 2 weeks-she is visiting the Canadian girls who stayed with us in past year. The world seems a small place these days. She will be very busy here upon her return while I'm out of action so it is probably good she has a holiday now.

[jilleroo]

All the best for your knee replacements Diana - you're having them both done at once? That sounds daunting. Hope all goes very well for you and your recovery is uneventful.
We had our annual ladies' luncheon on Sunday - just for our area south of the railway line, but it was still a 200kms drive for me to where it was held. Friend and I were heading home just on dark when I received a call on the radio to hurry, hubby wanted me home quickly. He had severe chest pain, this happens occasionally, so I did a dash to town with him - he wont call the ambulance. A day or two in hospital, a "flip" on his ECG, and he's in having a stress test this morning. Shouldve gone with him but I've got a nasty chest infection. He does have an ulcer and hopefully it was that causing the pain. He's pretty fit otherwise.
Mum is progressing slowly, thanks Diana. She doesnt eat much, never has, so we have to encourage her to get some food down to build up her strength. She might go home in another two weeks. My lovely sister-in-law who looks after mum injured her hand, a ruptured tendon, and might have to have an operation - she did it shifting a table. She says not to worry, all will work out, but I feel I should be going down there to help when mum comes out of course. However - we are due to leave on our trip to the Kimberleys next Wednesday and no-one will hear of us not going - especially as hubby really needs the break.
We will need to be into cattlework as soon as we get back - we've got at least a 1200 head that needs to go pronto, they're piled up everywhere. Also the calves are getting huge and will be right ready to wean by then.
It's cold and cloudy and they're talking some sort of rain next couple of days.
Great photos you posted Ken, I don't think I've commented on them. Your cattle look magnificent - so big - bigger than our chars!
Bo certainly is a good pigger. There's plenty around here but I notice the sows are poor as wood. Was watching some in the backwater of a dam the other day, lots of stuff to eat, green grass etc etc but they were so skeletal they could hardly wobble along, their trail of piglets running behind. The boars and half-grown pigs are fat as mud though.