It’s been an action-packed weekend here at the farm. It started with new shoes for the horses on Friday; and while I was distracted with that one of the beagles escaped to chase some Roos (luckily she has returned). Our pet wild galah reappeared – with a girlfriend in tow! – and we’re eagerly awaiting the birth of our lambs. So the small herd of alpacas have been roaming to keep the foxes at bay while the cows are in season and giving the bull a run for his money. The two donkeys that were supposed to be transported last weekend are still refusing to get in the float; the lavender plantation was extended; the wombat is back in the big paddock digging holes everywhere and the kangaroos have been tormenting the dogs all weekend, coming right up to the back fence. Phew!
But in case none of this makes sense, I’ll go back to the beginning and fill you in, so you can come on the journey of a lifetime with me.
So the beginning is this: once we’d made the decision to buy a farm, the hunt began. We finally decided on “Spring Creek” – so called because of the permanent (or so we thought!) spring that runs into a waterhole and supplies the houseyard and stables with water all year round. This was important because we are self sufficient with water – the spring, along with the dams in each paddock and a large rainwater tank, are all we have for personal and farming purposes.
What we didn’t count on was the worst drought in Australian history. At the peak of the drought, the spring dried up along with 2 of the 5 dams on the property. We were buying in feed because nothing would grow and hand watering the animals. But that’s another property.
But aside from the drought, Spring Creek has everything we needed in a farm – good fencing, cleared land and bushland, a horse arena and stables, machinery sheds and a small cottage. There wasn’t much garden to speak of, due to the drought, but the cottage itself had everything we needed – including a wood burning fire for winter.
We were off and racing now… all we needed was the stock and crops to follow. As you can tell from the start of this post, they did indeed follow. And each one has a story – stay tuned to hear how they all came together!
