And I have been asked to be the first guest blogger whilst Celi is away.
I live in Australia but I was not born here. I grew up in the British countryside then spent many years in various cities (London, New York, Sydney) before settling here on the beautiful far North coast of NSW, back to being a country girl again. Here is the street I live on, that is my dog Rueben.
and
Here is my house,
I farm trees and pigs. There are a thousand Black Butt trees down in that forest very quietly going about their business, growing for nearly twenty years with probably another ten or so years to go before they amount to anything.
I also farm pigs in a small way. I started out with two male pigs that I grew to eat because I don’t agree with the way pigs are raised commercially in this country. I wanted to eat pigs that have lived a good life, digging and running around outside so I decided to raise my own.
My dad raised pigs so I thought I knew all about it, but I didn’t. I didn’t know for instance that uncastrated male pig meat tastes and smells bad if the pigs are left to mature so my two boys were quickly hustled off to the butcher before that could happen. The result was way too much meat for me so I started a business, Red Box Pigs, selling pork, ham and bacon to other likeminded folk.
Recently I tried my hand at breeding my own piglets, the 1st home grown litter resulted in eight piglets who are now 10 weeks old.
I am on thirty acres, the view is lovely from up here but the land is steep and hard to tame. I have to try and strike a balance between what is attainable with going to work and having a social life and sometimes I yearn for five flat acres!
This area of NSW is classified as sub tropical. This means that we can grow stuff that, despite being here for nearly 20 years, I still think of as exotic like bananas and avocados. I grow lots of citrus, lemons, limes, mandarins and ruby grapefruit.
Winter here is not that cold, this high up we are frost free so we are able to grow lots of stuff all year around. The down side of that is that there is never really a period of intense cold to kill off disease in the ground and it is way too warm for apples so I am deeply envious of all you bloggers who make cider. Summer is too hot for many veggies and I can actually grow more in the winter, stuff like beans and spinach and broccoli grow better in the cooler months. Normally this area get lots of storms and rain but this winter has been dry and spring has been unusually dry and hot. My water is collected in tanks and dams so I have to be careful what I use now as it has only rained twice since June.
Tonight it looked as though we were going to have a big storm but it turned out to be all effing and blinding and no actual tears. But then we got a double rainbow.
I feel obligated to leave you with some Australian fauna as we are known for our outsize creepy crawlies and scary reptiles like this Python which we call a carpet snake.
It has taken up residence in the pig pen just in time for me to blog this photo, for three days now he has been right on the table where I sort out the feed.
Finally here is a bit of Aussie cuteness to give Boo and the Marmalade Kitten a run for their money.
This is Inez and her bub. My neighbour Joy, who also reads Celi’s blog (she is Two Engaging Goldens) is a koala carer. Inez came into Joy’s care as a “soft release” koala, this means she was orphaned as a wee baby, raised by an organisation called Friends of the Koala, then taken to Joy’s half way koala house before being released back into the wild.
The bub is evidence that her integration into the wild koala population has been hugely successful.
Well this was fun, see you in the comments lounge?
Sally
PS in the spirit of Celi’s blog all of these photos were taken in the last day or two, the exception is the photo above of Inez and her bub which was taken a few weeks ago but just too cute to leave out.
The Kitchen's Garden 
131 responses to “Hello I’m Sally, AKA Red Box Gal –”
Hi Sally, it’s lovely to know a little more about you…and your name! You live in a spectacular place. 🙂 I live in Vancouver Canada where it’s really mountainous and farms are rare but also in Oxfordshire UK where it’s a flat as a pancake and I’d love the rolling hills you have. It’s lovely to see your big dog and the piglets and the koalas. I didn’t know places like koala rescue centres existed but…duh…of course they would. So wonderful that people care enough about the wild critters that they give back to the world in this way. Nice for you to have your visitor snake. Here in Van I have visitor raccoons and they make a huge mess all over the lawn and patio. Yesterday they tore up and scattered a bag of 100 daffodil bulbs; which I now have to go pick up, (groan). Right from the back door too! I swear if I left the back door open after sunset they’d just walk in and sit at the table demanding supper. At least the snake just tries his best to quietly imitate a table cloth. 🙂
Hi Veronica
I so envy you living in two different places, I have some good friends who do the same thing, split their time between Aus and the UK. Initially all their friends thought they would end up settling in one place or another but it has been years now and they manage just fine, also they seem to manage more overseas holidays than the rest of us as well. Very clever, but they are very good planners.
Your cabin that you sometimes mention sounds lovely, I would love to see pictures so I hope you are going to be a guest “un blogger” too?
Yeah, that’s us…10 years and doing juts fine switching countries, spending time apart and together. One day I suppose we’ll have to make some sort of choice. Once we deiced to look at half way but that ended up either Greenland or Guam…lol. Not happening! I don’t think Celi would have me because I don’t farm and do blog. If you like, you can see photos from the cabin on under the “my cabin” tag on my site it’s just under my name plus .com. 🙂
Greetings Sally!!!! So nice to meet you and to share a little bit of your world! We lived in Queensland for about a year and I am well acquainted with your carpet snakes (ugh) and geckos and toilet frogs. 🙂 And cane toads. Can’t forget those! Loved all your pictures and the chance to share with you today! Welcome!
Ugh, cane toads are much worse than carpets snakes and mice. Thankfully this dry weather means that they are not around much at the moment. When it is wet they come right up to the house looking for dogfood.
Your blog is very pretty, love the tree of life.
Thanks for stopping by my blog!!! I did love to read your post today! My husband managed 7 sugar mills so I had first hand knowledge of cane toads. Also the carpet snakes as there was one in the attic of the manager’s house at one of the mills where we stayed. I wished they had not told me that…..just saying.
G’day Sally from Northern Ireland, I am a regular visitor to the farmy. What serendipity, I spent the last 45 minutes talking to my brother in Melbourne catching up on news and his recent travels through NSW, I pop over here and find I am back on Australian soil! Those piglets sure look healthy and I am sure that they will taste scrumptious. Thanks for the tour of your little corner.
You know what, I have never been to Melbourne and it sound so nice, I hope your brother likes it there, have you visited him? Oh dear Granny I am having fun but I really think I have to take myself off to bed now, it is nearly the morning. Night Night.
My brother is well settled after thirty four years, his children are now grown up. I have made it as far as Australia, but who knows, maybe one day!
Hi Sally. How lovely of you to do a guest post for Celi while she is away. It is great to see another farmy and learn more. I always learn so much from Celi and I must say the koala’s definitely give our little Marmalade a run for his money.
Have a super day.
🙂 Mandy
Hi mandy, thanks for reading, doing the guest post has been great fun.
Love the photos! All except the one with the python on your feed sorting table! Yikes! I am terrified of snakes! I am fascinated by the adorable koalas! I have many friends who are involved with animal rescue and now I know that there are also koala caretakers! A half way Koala house! Imagine that! 😀 What an amazing feeling to send one off safely to their natural habitat! I love your neighborhood! 😉
Ah a double rainbow! We have them here too! I had never seen one before moving out here to the high plains! Did you find a pot of gold? Or two?
I could never castrate pigs. Hubby did it, but oh not me! Poor little things! I didn’t know that about the meat of an uncastrated pig!
Oh how I wish I could grow avocadoes and bananas!!! My favorites! Mmmmm…
Nice to meet you! Most interesting life you lead in a most interesting land!
Hi Mere, yes the koala carers and wildlife carers do an amazing job. Here in Australia you are not allowed to take an injured koala or wallaby and keep it at home. It has to go to an official carer. Joy tells me that Inez was a baby who was orphaned, not so tiny that she was still in her mums pouch, but big enough to ride on mums back. If you find wildlife in distress you call the wildlife carers and they look after them, then they go to other carers like Joy to be returned to the wild. I once found an owl that had got himself caught on a strand of barb wire, I carefully cut the wire from under his wings and took him to the wildlife carers. They said he would go to the vet and they would bring him back if he survived. They didn’t hold out too much hope for him surviving as he needed to be able to fly silently to have any hope of catching his prey and his wings were very damaged. Imagine my delight when they came back about three months later to return him to the area he already knew.
Howdy from Southwestern Oklahoma! I loved your photos and brief explanation of life in your area. I’m not too keen on that carpet snake! I love Reuben… what a handsome boy! Thanks for the lovely blog post and have a wonderful day!
I was just telling Rueben that he is an internet super star, he looked at me very intently for a moment and then burped, such a boy!
Interesting post! Let us know if you begin to blog regularly.
Err I dont think so, it is easy to make your life look vaguely interesting for one day, after that it gets much harder I should think.
Just reading about others’ lives IS so interesting!!
so lovely to catch a glimpse into your part of the world!
enjoyed reading your post….
Thank you, it was fun to write and even more fun to comment when I should be doing housework which is my usual saturday morning chore.
Hi Sally. I am the Postmaster from the little town where Celi calls home. Today’s blog is wonderful and your pictures are great too. Gives us all a look at another part of the world, I am not a fan of snakes. He would have to be relocated if he showed up at my place! I love Reuben tho. Thanks for filling in.
Hi Connie, the snake would have to be relocated somewhere far away not to come back, they have a big range, about ten kilometres I believe. He is only here from time to time, he likes to share himself with the whole neighbourhood.
Hi Sally! So nice to visit your piece of the world! Just love your dog and your koalas! Very special!!!
Thank you for commenting, the koalas are a lovely addition to our neighbourhood
Hello Sally and welcome to the blogside of the Farmy. That snake is scary. Do your piggies graze among your trees? I’ve heard tell that that’s the best way to keep down undergrowth. Those koala pix are so cute. My Australian uncle Peter used to call me Bub when he visited us beside the Thames a very long time ago. No-one could call me bub now!
Hi Viv, the piggies graze for about five minutes then they start to dig! As you say that is good for keeping down the weeds. It is very steep down in the forest, impossibe to fence, if the piglets went down there I am pretty sure they would survive just fine but I might not see them again.
Hello, Sally! Lovely post! Now I want to come see you in NSW as it sounds like the perfect climate for my temperment. Except maybe for the snakes but perhaps we could learn to get along.
Oh I think I am too far away from the sea for you. However Byron Bay is less than two hours away and it has amazing beaches although I am usually drawn to quieter beaches further down the coast. I love to camp at the beach.
I love your ambition to live in the Caribbean, a few years ago I went to Mexico and Central America, Belieze has some lovely beaches, particularly in the north, check out Sarteneja, looks just like your photos of the Bahamas but with Central American prices!
Hi Sally! Just love Rueban and the koalas, and of course, the pigs! Your place is a piece of paradise! Thanks for sharing it and yourself with us!
H’mm paradise eh, my idea of paradise would take much less time to maintain! Still we are having a wee break from the brushcutting for now as it has been so dry. Normally this area is wet and lush and you can watch the grass grow. Happy to not have to work so hard but we really need the rain now.
Thank you, Sally, and it’s lovely to meet you. Such an interesting post, and gosh, Inez is a sweety!
Isn’t she though, when I saw all the comments lamenting the lack of Marmalade Kitten and Boo photos whilst Celi is away I thought we can do something about this, enter Inez!
Thank you Sally for filling in so excellently! I love seeing your farm and those piggies, and as a farmer, learning about your growing season and what you can grow there. It is always exciting and educational to take an armchair journey to other lands. Not quite as wonderful as an in-person visit, but mighty fine in the absence of enough $$ for a plane ticket! LOL! Handsome dog, that Reuben. And as for the awww factor, koalas are without a doubt just about as cute as kittens. I expect the only different is we aren’t really allowed to cuddle with koalas that are being re-introduced to the wild.
You are right, cuddling koalas is definitely off the menu when they are being re-introduced to the wild. Perhaps Joy has something to say about all of that? I feel like I am stealing all of her koala thunder!