Farm Days from Dawn to Dusk

Did you ever see that movie Dusk ’til Dawn. Well, a day on the sustainable, self sufficient, old fashioned farm is Nothing LIKE that!!!

It starts at dawn. John leaves for work in the dark at 5am.  I talk to you guys and catch up with my messages until the sun comes up. I make bread and drink coffee. I watch the sunrise from my front porch.

After I  put the sour dough by the fire to rise for the day, I rug up and go outside.  I open the barn up, then the dogs and I go for a walk and check out the perimeter. Walking the fences.

I feed the cats, the dogs and the chickens. Then the dogs and cats and the chickens and I  feed the sheep and the cows.  I puddle about and do the mornings chores. Houdini is already out with her babies. Somebody is just not paying attention to her lessons.

Have you met  White Cat yet? He is a long haired Himalayan who thinks he is a barn cat, so he has to be  shaved two or three times a year! The mess this cat gets into is pathetic. Today he is looking quite respectable. A ridiculous cat to have in the country. Not my fault – he was here before me. White cat and The Big Dog are the original animals.

Just when you thought it was safe. Daisy is watching.

The chooks are thrilled that the corn  has been harvested. Good pickin’s for a chook out there. I never lock them up now. Not until next spring when we plant again. They take themselves in to roost at night.

This morning I am mowing and weeding the asparagus. Later in the afternoon I feed out again – hay and beet shreds with eggs and garlic. Baby Bobby and Queenie have their own wheelbarrow but Bobby likes to eat with Mama. Hairy McLairy has a thing or two to say about that but always loses.  The Bobby is growing.

Mary’s cat is wondering.. is it wine o’clock yet? He whines. No, Not yet.

I shoveled manure for the compost piles on and off today but have spared you the images. There is a lot of winterising to do.  Preparing the barn for the animals and preparing everything else for the freeze that will come. Bringing in all the big pots.   Daisy watches. And my hose has finally given up the ghost so I have started carrying buckets of water to the troughs today. It is not shopping week so we make do.

The sun goes down as I am out there finishing up. John will not be home for an hour or so yet.  So c’mon Kitty, must be time for a wee drinkie before making a lamb curry for dinner.  The bread is on its second rise. We can sit on the verandah and watch the sun go down.

After dinner I will put the sourdough loaf in the oven to cook. TonTon and I will go out with the torch and check that everyone is where they are meant to be. Then we tuck the Big Dog up in his blankets for the night. He sleeps in the barn and likes to be covered up completely, even his head, he will tuck his head under as I arrange the blankets and stays like that until I open the barn up again in the morning.

Many years ago, John found Big Dog beaten and wired by the neck to a fence, at a construction site, almost strangled. Just a pup. This must have been over ten years ago. Now he sleeps on a fleece of sheeps wool no less.  The Big Dog loathes having his photo taken. He hates the camera, and gives me the most baleful look before he turns his tail  and lopes off. He thinks dogs that sleep inside are sissys and refuses to come in except when a really nasty storm is coming, then he will condescend to go into the basement, that is how we know it is going to be bad.

And so another day .. yesterday..  gently passes.

c

This page is dedicated to our Mum on All Souls day.  Her name was Mary.