Bats and foxes and water, oh my!

The mess left each morning by the bats

Living on the farm has been a huge learning curve for Mr Homespun and I. We are having to deal with many things we haven't had to in the past.

Like bats. They fly in each night and eat the fruit from our trees, a couple of months ago it was the persimmons, now it's the guavas. They smell and leave a terrible mess. I try and sneak out with a torch if I hear them but being deaf in one ear makes that a little difficult! I'm thinking of getting some solar lights to hang in the trees but if anyone has any other ideas (that work!), please let me know.

And foxes. Two of our chickens disappeared a couple of weeks ago. We suspected foxes but weren't entirely sure. Since then we have had a hen taken from the hen house which is only a few metres from the back door of the house. We had been lax with the security as we thought they were safe so close to the house. So we boarded up the hen house and they are locked up securely every night.

Then Friday morning I opened the run doors when it was light, around the same time I do every morning, when only minutes later I heard an awful ruckus. I dashed outside to find only two chickens in the yard and a fox running off. I found the other chickens still in the hen house, safe and sound. But this was again close to the house when it was almost full light. They certainly aren't very afraid of us, and we will be more vigilant.

We have also had some problems with flooding. We had a monumental amount of rain early Anzac Day morning and because of the poor set up here at the farm almost all the water from the top end of the farm all ends up in one place. The carport/flat area. An area where I unfortunately have quite a bit of the furniture stored that won't fit in the house.

So we are again considering what to do around the farm first. There are so many things that need fairly urgent attention but all require planning and, unfortunately, funds. The sooner our old house sells, the sooner we can make a start!

Cheers

Noro Silk Garden

Yesterday I was given two balls of the very delicious Noro Silk Garden from my mum. I have admired this yarn for quite some time but never gotten around to getting any (my local yarn store doesn't stock such exclusive yarns, only standard ones) so I have spent some time on Ravelry and found a pattern I hope works with it.

So this morning I am sitting on the front verandah, in the sunshine, spending a few hours knitting.

Lovely!

The Koi fish pond

As I mentioned in an earlier post we have a fish pond near the front door and Mr Homespun was quick to declare he would get rid of it as soon as we had moved in. As luck would have it a few days after we moved in we discovered there was a large Koi living in it so Mr H quickly changed his mind, the pond would stay.

Obviously, as it took us a few days to discover the fish, the pond was in a right awful state. I'm not sure how the fish was even alive it was so disgusting. Here is a glimpse of the colour of the water.

Yuck, right?

So we sought some advice and bought a pump and filter and had someone out who had a pond vacuum to give it a helping hand. Sooooo glad we did, the bottom of the pond was disgusting! Along with the many buckets of leaves and muck we also found an assortment of other things; cans, pots and this:

It appears to be some kind of pot but is made of some sort of metal and weighs a ton!

Anyhoo, the pump worked it's magic and the water quality started to improve quickly, looking like this after only one week.

And now? Well today it looks like this:

Even on an overcast day you can see how good it looks. The water is crystal clear! We were so happy with the result we bought some friends for Gobbles (Miss 11 named the original fish).

Cheers

Happenings

Good grief, where have I been?

I haven't posted in ages so here is a quick catch up on all that's been going on (or not going on) at Homespun Headquarters.

We just returned a couple of days ago from a few days in sunny Queensland, all theme parked out and happy to not eat another meal of junk food for at least six months!

One of the three cats left here by the previous owners had kittens (of course it did), six in fact! We arrived home from our holiday to find that one had disappeared and all that was left of it was a very small tail. The girls are quite heartbroken, it was the runt (and dare I say the favourite) of the litter and mama cat had been trying to get rid of it whilst we were away. I guess we shall never know what happened.

A few weeks back we did the farm tour at the Purple Pear Farm and got some great ideas on what we can implement here at Homespun Headquarters.

Subsequently we had Lachie from Tree Frog Permaculture visit to help us with a plan for the farm. We learnt so much, including the fact that our farm appears to be overrun with weeds! Slight exaggeration there, but still a lot of work to be done to clear them out.

Still battling my vertigo and dizziness issues, and it always seems worse after I have been on a computer, hence why I have been avoiding posting anything! I have an appointment with an ENT surgeon to discuss having the surgery I swore I would never have. Totally bummed about it but not able to see an alternative at the moment.

Working madly on our old house to get it ready for sale. It is now on the market. Just waiting impatiently for a buyer...

Summing it all up: not much has been going on over the past few weeks, but now we have our holiday out of the way we expect that to change. It has been almost three months since we moved to the farm and I am desperate to get some dirt under my fingernails!

New Addition

Meet Flynn!

Flynn is the new resident pony here at the new Homespun Headquarters. He belongs to my nephew's girlfriend Jen, but lives here with us. He is about 5 months old and so little, barely bigger than a large dog!

And the girls just love him!

xoxo

Vertigo

My first day back at work since the move turned out a bit more exciting and a whole lot more embarrassing than I had planned. I lasted only just over 3 hours before being taken to hospital by ambulance (but only after collapsing and later puking in a bin!), only to be told I was suffering from vertigo. I was mortified. Calling an ambulance for vertigo!

But in my defence I thought I was about to have a seizure. I had epilepsy as a child and the spinning sensation is identical to what I experience before an epileptic seizure. Only the seizure doesn't eventuate and the spinning doesn't stop. And my head hasn't stopped spinning since it started.

Now speaking from experience I can tell you, vertigo is bloody awful.

Since the first I have had another episode, ending up back in the emergency department. But a subsequent trip to the doctor and a new medication I now carry with me constantly will hopefully mean no more trips to hospital. I also have specific manoeuvres I have to carry out several times a day to assist in getting the bits in my ear back to normal.

My fingers are crossed.

And my toes just in case.

The new house tour - the land

The bottom paddock - this will probably become the vegie patch

Along with the house we have five acres. Five beautiful, albeit neglected, acres. This is where we are most excited to get started. We have big plans for vegie gardens and lots more fruit trees.

More of the lower paddocks

This fellow has visited most evenings.

Mr Homespun's first comment when he saw this at the front door was that it had to go as it was just a mosquito breeding ground. I sulked because I love Koi Carp and really wanted to put some in the pond.

Luckily the day after we moved in we spotted this:

A Koi! Just one lonely Koi who Miss 10 promptly named Gobbles. We dashed to an aquarium/nursery on the other side of the lake to get food and to discuss how best to clean the pond up. So we are now armed with a plan, but it will take us a little while to find the time to implement it.

The gardens have been woefully neglected and I can't wait to get my hands dirty!

We are also lucky to have numerous fruit trees on the property, a few plums and other stone fruits, but the rest could be considered quite exotic. Feijoas, pomegranates and persimmons as well as some we have yet to figure out.

So although the house has a considerable amount of work required, the land has just as much, if not more. We will be busy little vegemites for quite some time to come.

xoxo