The Donkey Project....... Day 1

Welcome to a new era in my blogiverse, I have tried to be a good blogger and I usually end up doing a few random posts every few months but yesterday we picked up the 2 newest members of our farm and it's my little project so I am going to blog about it to keep a record of what goes on.
I am going to call it (please forgive my long winded story but the background is just as important).......

The Donkey Project......

It all started with an interview I heard part of on ABC Radio about 18 months ago, the lady was talking about using Donkeys as protection animals and weed control on farms.  I thought it sounded like a great idea and told my husband about it, he agreed it sounded like something we might try but that was about as far as it went.

My mother in law and I talked about it on and off over the next 8 or so months and I tired to get more information on getting a Donkey for our farm but I just couldn't seem to find the right information.

Enter Mic McFarlae from the Hume LHPA (Livestock, Health & Pest Authority, he decided to run a trail project in our area using Donkeys to protect sheep from wild dogs and foxes.

Now this may sound a little odd to alot of you out there... Why do sheep need protecting? What harm can wild dogs do, poor little foxes they are just so cute what harm can they possibly do??????

Lots of questions you may ask like this but to many sheep farmers these 2 pests can literally break your heart and put you out of business.  To many people their sheep are their livelihood and a Wild Dog can devastate a herd of full grown sheep in a matter of a few nights especially then when you have lambs around and they are your next generation of income and you cannot afford for them to be killed.

Foxes too may not be a large animal but they can kill many lambs and have a significant impact on a farmers livelihood.

Around 3 years ago we had our first Wild Dog attacks in our sheep, the first ever that we know of in the history of the family farm, it's not a pleasant thing to happen, the dogs are cruel and more often than not the sheep are left in a very horrible state that requires being put down.  Then the foxes are something we battle all the time especially at Lambing season.

There are many ways that farmers try to combat these 2 problems,  We are lucky to have some very good wild dog trappers in our area and a baiting program that we hope helps with foxes but it's not foolproof.

There are also things like Alpaca's, Llama's, Marema Dogs and then there are Donkeys.

All of these animals are used by farmers by putting them out with their sheep hers and they are supposed to bond with the herd and protect against predators.  There is success stories with all of the above animals being used with sheep but it seems that the humble donkey is the next big thing.

We were lucky to be offered 2 donkeys to have on our farm to be part of the project put together by the wonderful Mic who is a superman and very hands on when it comes to helping out the farmers in his area.

So without further ado please meet................

FLIP & CHIP

The kids chose the names, I have no idea where they got them from.

Flip - lighter colour on the left is a de-sexed male

Chip - darker colour on the right is a female who is going to be a mother soon.

They are super smart and they are going to be my project, I will be getting to know them and hopefully in a week or 2 they will be ready to go out into a herd of sheep after a gradual introduction to the herd.

Winter on the Farm

So after lots of sewing chat lately I thought I would show you a few things that we see/do around the farm during the Winter months.

Let's start off with this little guy who was crossing the road when we were on our way out to the main road last  weekend.

Echidna's are very shy creatures, this little guy heard me coming, hunched his back and dug his claws into the earth so all I could see what his spines, I just crouched quietly and waited for him to stick his nose out for me, can you see it there?????

Some more cuteness for you, we have LOTS of these running around at the moment.

The Lambs are so funny, we have the feed cart on the vehicle and it runs a line of pellets out and the sheep just run stupidly from place to place getting pellets, the Lambs all run into a big group sometimes, like a playgroup and they run around, together jumping and playing, very cute indeed.

This little guy got a bit close so got captured for a quick pat.

 And last of all I thought I would show you why I could never go back to living in the city, especially now that I have kids.
Who wouldn't want this playground for their kids.  Sam takes his football everywhere and practices kicking every chance he gets and Jessie just likes to run around after him.

Can you see them all the way down there????

Running and taking a bounce......

Kicking for goal....... and he scores!!!!!!!

It was a perfect Winter day, the sun was out but it was still quite cool and because the grass is shooting green it's quite pretty to look at, a beautiful July day.

Busy living liffe

Once again (if there is anyone left reading this blog this is for you) life has gotten in the way of blogging.

Here is a little pictorial of what we have been up to.

A Quilt for a Queensland Wedding
I am so proud of this quilt, it was tough to finish
in the time that I had available but it's lovely
plus the bride and groom love it.

We live in a lovely valley but this is what happens
when we have a wet Autumn/Winter.
Some days we don't see the sun at all!!!
It's very peaceful and beautiful for a while
but not all day. That's Sam up the track!

I am very happy with how all  my fog photo's turned out!!!

We got a new Kitten. His name is Whiskers.
He is very friendly and follows us all
around the farm - seroiusly he comes out into
the paddocks if we are walking around!!!

We also had some beautiful sunny days in the early winter.
The kids love getting out in the Vege garden.
We didn't put any winter vege's in this garden
so lots of fun was had moving dirt around.

We also got a new puppy.
He is going to be a working dog eventually
But for now he is mad and wild and very funny.

Hopefully I will be back a bit sooner with a few more photo's

Terriffic Tuesday

Feeding Cows in the fog

It's green alright, we have had heaps and heaps of rain but it's too cold for the grass to grow







We have 2 tiny Poddy Lambs right now.
They are only 4 days old.
My mother-in-law makes the coats!!!

Adelaide's quilt is finished.

I machine embroidered it using a lovely butterfly alphabet.

I made it using a "Funny Babies" charm pack and the pale pink around the fabric is Polar Fleece.

It looks and feels pretty good, especially for a baby but I will neve be doing that again. It was a nightmare to sew and I am so proud that most of my points line up.

The pattern is acutally a Table Runner pattern that I lengthened and put 2 side by side.

It is from a book by Heather Mulder Petersen in her book "On the Run"

AND.... Drumroll please....

Here are 2 sneak peaks of my very first ever Mixed media canvas. I will show the completed thing at the end of the month after it has been in a small local Art Exhibition that is on in 2 weeks.

A catch up

I have been flat out lately so much has been happening.

I had 3 wins of wonderful prizes.
I won a yummy Flutterby charm pack from Ryan Walsh I can't wait to look through my patterns and use this.
I won a beautiful piece of sun dyed fabric from Delia which will be very carefully planned into something special
AND
I won a lovely book from Angela which is just very special as she originally won it from the author and it is signed too. It is really lovely of Angela to share the love once she was finished with this book and I will make sure that I do the same.













I received some amazing fabric that I have listed on my OTHER BLOG and in MY ETSY STORE












We had a couple of sunny days when the kids and I could get outside on the lovely green grass that we have at home.
This is how farm kids play...

Sam on his bouncy ball with the Rams looking on in surprise.








Jess with the kids best friend, Sophie is the most gentle kind dog you could ever imagine, she's not real good with the sheep or cattle but you could trust her with the kids lives.
And yes I do dress her like a boy on the farm because we have so many clothes from Sam that I am not going to ruin new good clothes.



This one because he is just quite angelic when he wants to be.







We have also had a stack of rain, which is good, it's still a bit cold for it to have any effect on making the grass grow and there is just mud everywhere but it's lovely


Visiting Cows







Let's take a walk Soph...








We have lots of lovely little lambs...very cute








Then on Saturday this happened. I was happy to be asked to play my 3rd game of netball for this season when they managed to find a fill in umpire for me but then I go and do this...
I don't think it's broken, I had some x-rays yesterday and am off to the doc tomorrow to find out what's up but I will need at least one weekend off.
Such a bummer, my umpiring is going really well and I was going to get to play some more games before the end of the season.
Now I think I will stick to umpiring for the rest of this year.

A Merry Clarke Christmas

Well the big day has come and gone.

The kids did very well but thank goodness not too well.

Jess scored some beautiful clothes in some larger sizes (thank goodness) along with some toys, books and other great gifts.

Sam got a couple of wonderful trucks, some books and so much great stuff.

Here is just a couple of quick photo's, it all happened too fast to get many photo's.
Jess is wishing she got a big yellow truck too. Her grandma Clarke got her the pretty pink dress with matching bloomers. Sam just couldn't share on Christmas day and I can't really blame him, another day maybe.

Here is Sam in the middle of 2 of my cousins children. Ben on the left and Oliver on they right. They had come down to the farm for christmas from Sydney. It was a massive family affair at my aunts place just up the road, but I was too busy trying eat my lunch in between chasing Sam and soothing Jess. I think it was a bit too much for both of them and we had to go home for them to have a sleep in the afternoon before we headed over to Husbands family at Cudgewa for dinner in the evening.

6 Month Upadate

It's a bit overdue. I have had the pictures sitting in the Camera for a week or 2 but here they are.

It's just incredible how time goes way too fast.

I want it to slow down so I can enjoy this, but I don't think it's going to do that.

Jess decided to learn how to roll onto her tummy.

But wasn't very impressed when I dashed off to get the camera and she hadn't figured out how to get back over yet.

Look at how much she has grown since we first received this quilt from my lovely quilting friends. Look HERE to see her 6 months ago.
This is just to show our lovely green grassat the moment, we went up the paddock and saw the men this day while they were up in the sheep yards. The paddocks are all lovely and green with a bit of grass and the Dams are all full, we have had a excellent lateWinter/early spring for rain and we are hoping for a bit more before the really hot weather gets here.

4 months already

I have been very slack this week. I totally forgot to do this last friday.

Jess turned 4 months last friday and oh my goodness she has grown so much.
I tried to put her in the Bassinnette the other day for a little day sleep and she pretty much fits end to end, so I have to put her in the big cot for her day sleeps from now on. I have been using the bassinnette just during the day as it is out in the loungeroom next to the computer and I can hear her if she wakes up.

Here she is one her lovely quilt that we have actually been using on really cold nights, which we have had a few this month. It's so hard being a mum, you never stop worrying, I know this is not really a topic that people talk about but I constantly worry about SIDS. It's super cold here at night right now and I refuse to have a heater in the bedroom cause it's just not do-able to warm up that end of the house. So we have to have a few layers on us and the kids. They both wear sleeping bags and then we have to put a few blankets on. So I just worry and every time I get up I check them. Sam is a heavy breather so I can still just stand at the door to his room and lisen but Jess is so quiet and doesn't move all night so when I want to check I have to put my finger under her nose.

I know it's silly but I worry about things that you can't see or do anything about. So I will keep checkin for many months to come.

Enough of the morbid stuff. The farm is great. We have had some rain and things are green. We have had some lovely winter days too. On Wednesday it was so hot that I almost put a t-shirt on. The verandah is finished and we spend the afternoons out in the sun, Sam drives his truck around and I usually read or play too.

That's it for now.

3 Months already

My oh my how time flies. It has been 3 months since we had Jess and already I can't think of how life was without her.

Jess and Sam on their lovely EB Aunties Quilt click on the Jess label on the sidebar to see how much she has grown every month.

Sam is a pretty good big brother for a 2 year old, he just wants to play, but he loves to hold her hand and if she cries he asks if she's o.k. It's really very cute.

Speaking of Sam he can be very 2 at the moment but we still love him and it really must be hard not being able to do everything you want and not understanding why.

Everything else here on the farm is great, not enough rain as usual but we had a little in the Autumn which will hopefully keep us going for a while. Husband is doing well and their football (AFL) team has actually won lots of games this year and we are hoping they make it into the finals and he is playing really well too, I am not playing netball this year but am working on my Umpiring which I am loving.

I nearly forgot, I got a lovely parcel in the mail today it contained 6 beautiful coasters and a lovely bag to keep them in from my swap partner in Texas USA.

Thanks for visiting

Merry Christmas Update

As per usual I have been a very slack blogger. I have an excellent excuse though... in between having a very active toddler, a thriving soap business and a few other things I haven't had time to think about blogging.


Firstly I have some pictures of Sam that were taken this month. The first one is very cute and the picture I put on the 2 christmas cards that I sent out. Yes that's right I only sent 2 out this year, sorry everyone. I didn't even pose him for this, he just decided to get the hat out of his toybox one day and I managed to get some cute pictures.


























The 2nd and 3rd picture is Sam with Marcus and I in the Shearing shed. We did a bit of shearing at the start of the month. Sam loves to visit the shearers and try to sweep the floor.






























The last is something that happened when we had a super hot day a few weeks ago. I put some water in a bucket thinking he may just stand in it and get cool but I ended up having to take all his clothes off as all he wanted to do was sit in the bucket. I don't know how he fit in it but he managed and was quite happy to stay squashed up in the water for about 40 mins. He is just like me in that respect, loves the water.














So I am sorry to everyone that didn't get a christmas card. I know that I am slack but I am thinking of everyone and hoping that you are all safe and well.

Have a very wonderful Christmas and safe New Year.