October update

This week we turned off two sheep: a ewe and a wether.  For less than $400 (purchase price, supplementary feed and the cost of slaughter and butchering) we now have over 50kg of prime organic lamb in the freezer plus enough bones to do the dogs for the next few weeks and enough trimmings for sausages.
Sue has been in and out of hospital in Ipswich, while visiting Leah, and she has found she has kidney stones.  She has also found out that opioids are good gear when you are in serious pain.
The bees are working overtime, and it is possible to smell the honey from 20 metres away from the hives.  The 4 remaining colonies are all very strong so we might get a split or two this season as well as a good supply of honey.
I managed to get a good report from the oncologist last week, so that's a blessing.
On the down side: the batteries have died so we are relying on running fridge and freezer in daylight hours with the generator for backup on heavily overcast days.  We're looking at replacement batteries and have found a good source at a good price, but will still have to wait until early next year to get them.  There is enough residual power in the current bank at the end of the day to run the internet and our LED lights during the evening.  Fortunately, the footy season is over, so the lack of evening TV is not  problem.
The batteries died the week before the Grand Final (Rugby League) but I was still able to watch it live online.  Unfortunately, the Canberra Raiders lost - but only just.
We're giving eggs away at present, and selling some to friends, as we're getting more than we can use.
We have spinach and lettuce planted and potatoes are up in the old potato patch.  We just need to keep the wallabies and possums away from them.
We have temporary fencing around half of the orchard but wallaby wire is very expensive, so the rest will have to wait.

Further progress.

The first coat of render is almost complete on the house.

Duncan put in huge hours on the render when he was home over July, and I've been able to continue  since.  The really high stuff is a pain to get on as we don't have access to decent scaffolding, but we're getting there.

The heifer (Poppy) seems to be progressing well with her pregnancy, with the battle being to keep the weight off her so she doesn't have calving issues.  Complaining about too much good feed is not a bad problem to have, I guess.

..and as part of the preparation for Spring, Alex (my granddaughter) has started painting hive boxes.  

The copa hanging with the prosciutto.

 The view out the kitchen window this morning as I made breakfast.

11.5.19

 The 12kg prosciutto hanging in the homemade meatsafe.

Only a year or two to go

and then - yummo!

I've also hung a 2.2kg copacolla today.

Will upload a photo shortly.

Spectacular double rainbow from a few days ago.

Poppy, the heifer, went out to a nearby farm on Thursday to spend some time with a little Dexter bull.  He was immediately very interested in her and she seems rather appreciative of the attention, so we hope they get down to business so we can have a fresh supply of dairy products in about 10 months, and another beast for the freezer in about 2 years.

We have been told that we only have 2 years to have the house completed, so the pressure is on now to get everything done and dusted.  Plumbing, electrics, rendering and roadworks to be done.  Most of the rest is either completed or almost so.