a nest among the prickles

A week or so after we got back from our winter break up north I had a mega tantrum.

I think it started when I went down to check the asparagus patch only to find it waist high in prickly weeds. The very same thing happened in the raspberries and the strawberries. After that I was a mess. I wandered around the farm with tears streaming down my face for hours. I felt overwhelmed, out of control and completely hopeless.

It felt like we had left this place in the depths of winter and while we'd been gone the sun had come out, warmed the earth and everything had shot up and taken over. It felt like in another few months we would be like Sleeping Beauty in that fairy tale where she goes to sleep in her castle and the vines and creepers grow up and cover her home until no one knows there is anyone or anything there at all. It felt like it would take us weeks and months to get on top of all the vines and thistles and that was precious time we didn't have considering it was the start of spring and things needed to be planted.

So I wandered and wept. And I wept and wandered.

And after a while my farmer boy came and wandered with me and tried to console me and make practical plans for mowing and slashing. He would put in a few days on his tractor and I would follow behind with the brush cutter. It would be hard work but he promised we would see results quickly.

But the truth is that I knew then that we were having the same conversation but thinking two different things.

In my head I was planning a war on weeds. I would spend as much time as it took to get this place in order. I would slash from sun-up to sun-down. I would prioritise it and I would be super proud when in a few months or weeks time I would stand back and look at our manicured farm.

On the other hand I knew that my farmer boy was thinking a very different thought. He would happily mow the orchards and clean up a bit around the place, but he didn't see the horror story that I did. To him weeds aren't the sworn enemy but another part of the farm's ecosystem. He certainly doesn't want them to take over and bury us, but he doesn't want to eradicate them all together either.

So we did as we planned, we spent a few days mowing and cleaning up this place and almost immediately I felt better. I felt like I could breathe. I felt like I could cope.





But then this morning as we were walking from the house down to the bottom garden to gather some rhubarb and asparagus and broad beans for lunch, we decided to check in on the hazelnut orchard to check for fruit set. And there, under a tree, tucked into the prickliest blackberry bush there ever was, was the most beautiful little nest. A nest for a tiny bird. A nest for a bird that needs undergrowth for it's habitat and undergrowth is not really something that our local forests, having been disturbed over many years, provide.

And as we walked down and then back up the hill for lunch I opened my eyes further and saw this place differently all over again. Not so much overgrown but biodiverse.

We're thinking the nest we found is probably a fantail nest and I'm thinking good thoughts about that fantail family living happily in our hazelnut orchard. I'm also thinking about picking those hazelnuts and eating those hazelnuts and cooking with those hazelnuts come autumn-time, fingers crossed for a good harvest.

Fingers crossed I can keep seeing the habitat and move onto other pressing farm jobs.


I hope your fairy tale castle has a clear way in my friends.


Love Kate xx

One fish, two fish...150 fish!

Yesterday we woke our girls early for an adventure. They weren't super impressed at being woken on a Saturday, but we were going somewhere that would close early because of the grand final. So we hurried them along and set off.

Our morning excursion was all about tiny little, fingerling fish. And we were excited.

We were excited because we would be stopping at the interesting looking building and grounds we have driven past and wondered about so many times over the years. We were excited about visiting and exploring and supporting a part of local Ballarat history, The Ballarat Trout Hatchery. We were excited to chat with some of the volunteers who work there.

And most importantly, we were excited about taking home 50 brown trout and100 rainbow trout with us.

And while the hatchery proved to be a dark, modest little set-up, it also felt quite magical and filled to the brim with history. And we spent our time there walking up and down the fish ponds, admiring all the fishery relics, trying to take photos on the lowest aperture I could hand hold, admiring all the fishies and chatting and asking questions of the lovely, volunteers working there and running the joint.

Yesterday afternoon we brought two big bags of fingerling trout home with us to Daylesford Organics. We left them them in their plastic bags in the house dam to acclimatise. And then after a while we opened those bags and let them swim free. And as they did we wished them safety, growth and told them we hoped we would see them soon.

Adding 150 trout to our house dam is about introducing a species who will eat all the tiny insects, larvae, plankton, yabbies and other dam life that clog the irrigation filters. It is about creating another level in our dam's food chain. It is about adding to the bio-diversity of the house dam. And it was about  spending time together, learning about another species and having fun.

And of course it was about adding to our self sufficiency.

Give a family a fish and they'll eat for a day - fill their dam with fish and they'll eat for ages.

If everything goes to plan, this time next year you'll find us in the boat on the dam with a fishing rod.

Yippee!!

Some parts of farming really make me quite emotional. The responsibility, the life cycle stuff, the lessons we learn along the way, the working in partnership with mother nature and the way our girls are growing up surrounded by all this stuff. Yesterday was one of these emotional times. It just felt really big and exciting.

Welcome to our place little guys.

So how about you?
Are you a fan of the fishy?
To catch or to eat?
Have you explored behind any new-to-you doors lately?
Is it as freezing there as it is here?

Happy Sunday y'all.
Farewell fishies. x

PS. Blogger, you and your layout issues are killing me.