WHERE ARE MY WORDS?
I have loaded my pictures but I can’t find my words. 
The Winter Wheats are coming through beautifully. I am so used to harvest at this time of year so having wheat shooting feels topsy turvy still.
The manure spreader we found has been brought home with its new wheels and some boards replaced. There are two compost piles waiting to be spread- we just need to work out which fields will get the treats! 
Look at these fat plonkers. They are in their tween stage but very strong shiny pigs. Their outside fields are well picked over. There has been so much to eat in those pig fields that they have barely dug in there at all.
We have started closing Aunty Del up on the concrete at night to begin cutting down on her groceries which will result in less milk. The grass is still quite plentiful which is not helping our efforts to reduce her production. 
Ducks. 
I do all the farming on a Sunday so I can keep well in the loop. Twice this week I left in the morning dark and returned home in the afternoon dark. That is no good for a farmer. I like my work and like to work 6 days a week but on the 7th I must get into all the corners of the farms and make sure we are maintaining the balance and health of the animals. And that balance and health is all about staying a couple of steps ahead.
I will make sure to have my phone with me so I can collect more images for you. Get us all topped up before another work week rushes into place.
It looks like the weather will be kind!
But before I go out this morning I am going to do more research on my new farm jacket. I am looking for one that is made in America which spreads my hard earned cash a little closer to home. Everything else I buy or receive second hand – except my knickers and wool socks of course – the clothing/fashion industry is responsible for a lot of this crisis in the climate and I am no longer supporting that level of pollution.
It’s pretty easy out here. Everyone has piles of clothes to give away! But no farm jackets. Farmers are notorious for wearing their jackets until they are rags – which is a good thing! And no wool. Americans don’t wear a lot of wool. So I will buy a wooly jersey when I get back to NZ for my annual visit and continue my search for a locally made farm jacket.
I hope you also have a good day
Love love
Celi
39 Comments on “WHERE ARE MY WORDS?”
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Your farm looks so clean and orderly. I know that farming life is hard, and oh so unpredictable, but it must give you the happiest, most hopeful feeling to see those tiny, yet confident wheat sprouts rising up.
It really does make me happy! I have never felt involved with the fields before. It is wonderful and terrifying!!
You have certainly set up a large challenge for yourself in getting a coat made in the USA, much less more local to your region.
I think Carhartt only makes one jacket anymore that is entirely made in the US. And I’m wondering if we can guarantee all the bits and bobs on it are? Almost all good zippers are made in China, I believe. Buttons? thread? So many bits. It’s made for hard working though.
https://north40.com/carhartt-men-s-quilted-flannel-lined-duck-active-jacket
They have what is called a made in USA union something . But you are right about the bits and bobs- China makes the worlds zippers!
YOU NEVER TOLD US ABOUT THE MAMA DUCK THAT WAS SITTING ON THOSE EGGS, DID SHE HATCH THEM?
I am sorry jana but I have answered you every single time you have asked. I am not sure why you can’t see my answers. She hatched no ducklings.
Actually, I’m thankful she asked again, because I had managed to have missed seeing the comment and answer every time until just now. Poor Momma to have worked so hard and faithfully for naught! Fingers crossed she’ll have better luck with sitting next year.
Yes “Union-Made in the USA”, I could see that logo as soon as you mentioned it!
good zippers made in China…..I disagree. I find items made there do not hold up. I wish manufacturing would return .
Love the plonkers photo- they are good at devouring !
It all looks fantastically lush and you spreader refurb is fantastic!
Isn’t it great!
Isn’t it great? I am looking forward to the trial run
I bet you are!
LOL, I suddenly had a flashback of the scene from ‘Madagascar’, DreamWorks Animation: “If you have any poo, fling it now!” But it is so good to see yours all fitted up and ready to go! (These days there are so many just sitting out in the fields with grass growing up between the boards… :/)
I am looking forward to cleaning out the chook house this year!
Good on you for REALLY feeding the soil as it should be done! (No wonder The Farmy looks so lovely and lush: )
The farm and animals all look SO good. I don’t know how you manage a full time job as well. I hope you get lots of help. Have a good week.
The farm has very well tried systems that my co- worker can follow. They have been running for years. So it is fairly easy to direct as long as things run smoothly. It is when we have an issue that the two jobs get difficult.
Thanks for bringing up this urgent issue! The fast fashion industry has us in its destructive grip. Most of these “cheap” clothes are made in appalling sweat shops abroad and in the US that pay ridiculously low wages for long long hours and that endanger the health of their workers. Brands like Zara, TopShop, Benetton, Gap, Forever 21 (which just declared bankruptcy), Express, Old Navy, etc. should be avoided. Many of them don’t even follow their supply line enough to understand under what conditions their clothing is being produced, other simply don’t care. In addition, polyester is plastic that never biodegrades. Rayon and Viscose are made of cellulose from trees–contributing to deforestation. Very harmful “fabrics” for the earth. We need to go back to natural fibers, buy much less, and shop at resale stores that recycle. Once again, you are leading the way! Let’s stop choking our landfills with mountains of discarded clothes that will be there for centuries.
Violet! You are right on. I also try to buy fabrics that I can throw on the compost heap – or in with the pigs for winter warmth – once I am done with them.
It is hard right?
Presently I am looking at finding an oilskin jacket made from cotton and soaked in linseed oil. My oilskin duster is almost twenty years old and still
Good.
This one is imported, and not sure about the linseed, but 100% cotton and not quite as dear as many oilskins. https://www.blair.com/p/171106.uts?cl=Y&productVariantId=6165583&src_code=209N&cid=pl_bl_google_pla_gen&scid=scplp9525444&sc_intid=9525444&cid=pl_bl_google_pla_gen_SC+Shopping+-+Prospects+-+Remnant&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI1tSSuJur5QIVDtvACh0ldQDhEAQYAyABEgIk5PD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds#
Thank you violet! Outback is who I am investigating right now! Snap! This is a great jacket within my budget! Perfect.
LLBean also- nothing made in the USA- all made in Chiina.
I love my Carhartt jacket. I believe it is made in the USA — very warm and rugged and comfortable.
My Carhartt lasted almost 6 years! And they do have a made in USA line.
Have you looked into Patagonia? I’m not sure on the farm jacket vs hiking/outdoors jacket, but they are a good company working hard to undo what others have done. They even repair their clothes when you need repairs vs selling you a new one all the time.
Wow! That’s great service indeed.
I love reading the comments as much as you probably do. 😉 I haven’t bought clothes for years. Like 15 or more. I’m wearing what I have until I don’t need clothes anymore. 😉 Clothes are made with fabrics that smell even after a wash so I make anything I need, which isn’t much, from the cotton I have here already. Good luck finding anything made here. I think that’s why I stopped shopping for clothes because everything was coming out of the sweatshops. Good luck finding your jacket. I’m not sure what one looks like so I’d be no help.
Wonderful farmy-life-as-art photos. Like you our clothes except underwear and sox are preloved, a lot of what we wear is our own prelived stuff that we’ve had for years. It’s the newer clothing that gets thin, holey, ripped seams and I mend what I can as long as I can. My life is not a fashion show. Good luck with the jacket. Australian Driza-Bone (oilskin jackets etc) still make a lot of items here, and there are a few other companies similarly but you certainly have to do the research to understand the provenance of most things these days.
I have one of those – the riding duster and expect it to outlast me!
You need a Swanndri! Unfortunately like most things in NZ now, these are also made in China 😦 They are still very good quality, but I understand about you preferring to support the local economy.
Is the norsewood shop still there? I hope to go there for a wooly Jersey.
Doesn’t seem to be, they seem to be based in Christchurch now, there is a shop there. Also one in Dressmart in Auckland, Dunedin and Queenstown, if you are going to any of those places. Otherwise, it looks like the Fonterra Farmsource stores (old RD1 stores) all stock Swanndri.
I love swanndris too! They last a life- time but Lordy they are expensive! You almost need to inherit them.
Words: I work with such from morn to night every day and get so angry with myself on days they just refuse to flow , . . usually when I need them most. Clothes: Unfortunately it is our generation(s) which both appreciates our responsibility to the planet and realizes that the old saying ‘clothes maketh man’ should and could surely be invalidated . . . the younger generations are hardly interested where their gladrags are made or what the final cost will be as long as they can preen in yet another ‘look’ when the weekend comes around . . .
I disagree. Many of the young people are leading the charge on climate change and environmental protections.
Fully agree and clap them for it. But the ‘many’ by no means means ‘all’ ! I doubt that reaches to thinking about clothes for the majority . . . and, I guess, I was thinking more about the busy but large number of processionals in the 25 – 40 age group . . . way younger than me 🙂 ! Have a number living close to me who wear something new every time seen . . .’Oh, Eha – it only cost twenty bucks, never mind if I only get a couple of wears out of it’ ! . . .
Good luck with your locally sourced jacket, Celi! Around here we always used to have something called a Jack Shirt/ Lumber-Jacket/ Jack Coat which was made of wool and usually done in a Red&Black check – Buffalo Plaid, it was called – twas really only a heavy shirt – and every family had at least one of hanging at the back door… I still have one, but it’s a very faded, black and green in a cotton, SpringSummer-weight ‘doe skin’ flannel instead of wool… All the Boys wore them, and this time of year they were also topped with a hunter’s cap worn with the fluorescent orange turned to the outside… (Out in the country one can never be too cautious once Deer Season opens:/).
Congratulations again, your wheat’s looking really good and those beautiful, healthy pigs are such a treat for the eyes (lol Do they always look like they’re ‘up to something’?
Love, love, LOVE that pic of the moss & lichen-covered gate-post with Curly Willow tendrils hanging o’er it!: ) And greens just seem so incredibly intense once the leaves start to turn colour and drop, don’t they?
Yes they do! We appreciate green at this time of year – in the spring too!