tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63352550736580922512012-01-25T23:35:52.761+08:00Warragal Park is the farm of Roger and Caroline Telfer and their four children, Sophie, Bonnie, Odette and Hugh. Situated in the West Arthur Shire in the south west of Western Australia, Warragal Park produces beef cattle, merino sheep for wool and prime lambs.The Telfers at Warragal Parkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01010873750697957523noreply@blogger.comBlogger1481100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335255073658092251.post-84821205191090348272012-01-25T23:28:00.000+08:002012-01-25T23:35:52.811+08:00

The time came for our family holiday. Two weeks in my parents' holiday home at Bremer Bay on the south coast. But shearing was just finishing and harvest was under way. So there was no way that The Farmer could just pack up and go away on holidays. The kids on the other hand were champing at the bit and NO WAY were they going to miss their holiday. The fact is that we have never had two weeks

The Telfers at Warragal Parkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01010873750697957523noreply@blogger.com0Bremer Bay WA 6338, Australia-34.3926208 119.379376-35.2312723 118.11594849999999 -33.553969300000006 120.6428035tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335255073658092251.post-46285089001554765022012-01-09T23:09:00.000+08:002012-01-09T23:09:51.161+08:00

Many people think that farmers are always wanting rain, so when two inches (50mm) of rain fell in December we should have been ecstatic. In fact rain in December is disastrous on a farm like ours. We had so much pasture in the paddocks which had dried off, leaving dry feed which could have sustained livestock for many weeks. Rain on dry feed leaches out nutrients leaving little more than fibre,

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While Roger attended the fire on a nearby farm, the girls volunteered to get the sheep into the shed ready for shearing in the morning. I took Hugh for a long awaited frog hunting excursion to a little soak in a paddock near the house. We didn't even see a frog, but Hugh had fun "hunting" - until the cows came along to drink and scared us off. Then we went to help the girls and all ended up

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What we all fear most in summer is the smell of smoke. We regularly scan the horizon for any signs of fire on hot windy days. Yesterday it was not too hot, nor very windy, but the plume of smoke on the horizon still sent shivers up my spine. Smoke on the horizon Roger went with his fire ute (ute with water tank and pump with spray hose), about 15kms via the roads but less than that as the crow

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Our shearing contractor had promised us that our shearing would be done in December, leaving January free to get things tidied up and to head off on our annual holiday. I say our annual holiday, and every year we have two weeks on our calendar designated to a holiday by the beach in January. But in reality, we have never had two weeks away for a holiday. Last year shearing finished so late (and

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Happy 2012. In Australia this year has been designated "The Year of The Farmer". I have copied this information (below) from the Australian Year of The Farmer website About the Year Australian Year of the Farmer celebrates the hard work of everyone involved in producing, processing, handling and selling products from 136,000 farms across the country. Australian farms and the

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Sophie at the Esplanade Hotel in Fremantle for the Awards. The Shire of West Arthur is the proud winner of the Western Australian Tidy Town - Sustainable Communities Award. Tidy Towns - Sustainable Communties is an annual awards program that aims to encourage, motivate and celebrate the social, environmental and economic achievements of regional communities across Australia. On November

The Telfers at Warragal Parkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01010873750697957523noreply@blogger.com054 Marine Terrace, Fremantle WA 6160, Australia-32.05753626417338 115.74628829956055-32.05921826417338 115.74382079956055 -32.05585426417338 115.74875579956054tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335255073658092251.post-26584745227650433402011-12-01T20:32:00.001+08:002011-12-01T21:20:59.078+08:00

Last Sunday the children competed in their first triathlon. Actually Sophie didn't enter because she couldn't organise a team - originally she thought she could have a team with Bonnie and her friend Amelia, but both Bonnie and Amelia decided to do individual events. Hugh and Odette also competed as individuals, doing all three legs of the triathlon. The Narrogin Primary School P&C triathlon has

The Telfers at Warragal Parkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01010873750697957523noreply@blogger.com014 Clayton Rd, Narrogin WA 6312, Australia-32.92999401635564 117.17257976531982-32.93332601635564 117.16764426531982 -32.92666201635564 117.17751526531983tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335255073658092251.post-86729134345141033112011-10-06T23:13:00.000+08:002011-10-07T00:18:35.411+08:00

Because it is Odette's birthday next week (she will turn 9 on Monday) I took her for a birthday treat at the Perth Royal Show. She invited her friend Jen to go with us too. We went to Perth last night and caught some of the night time action at the show. We went on the big wheel, watched the fireworks, and saw some nerve-wracking FMX (freestyle moto cross) stunts in the arena. We stayed the night

The Telfers at Warragal Parkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01010873750697957523noreply@blogger.com0Showgrounds, Claremont WA 6010, Australia-31.975900609286892 115.78568458557129-31.979268109286892 115.78074908557129 -31.972533109286893 115.79062008557129tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6335255073658092251.post-21807608268270796972011-08-15T22:20:00.000+08:002011-08-15T22:20:51.506+08:00

Roger with Belle I am so glad that I wasn't there when Belle hurt herself. Apparently she chased a lamb that broke away from the mob, and in doing so she ran into a stick which stabbed her in the chest. Roger didn't think the injury was very serious, but he took her to the vet the next morning and had the wound cleaned and stitched. The vet put in a drain, which will have to be removed by

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Today Bonnie ran in the State Schools Cross Country event at McGillivray Oval in Mt Claremont, Perth. She ran 1.5km in the year 5 girls race. I was very proud of her, even though I thought she could have done some more training in the lead up to the race. (But I didn't want to be a pushy Mum, so she did it her way.) It is the fourth cross-country race Bonnie has competed in this year,

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A man with a chainsaw I was SO GLAD for mobile telephone reception last week. I was driving home one dark stormy evening and came across a tree branch over the road. It was too big for me to move, and I couldn't drive around it. I didn't know if I had enough fuel to drive back to the highway and try a different route home. Mobile telephone coverage is pretty patchy around here due to the

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The kids have been watching the BBC Earth DVDs of series two of "Orangutan Diary" during the school holidays. It is quite similar in format to the "Roo Gully Diaries", which is another of their favourite DVDs. In fact we have been to Roo Gully several times, and taken visitors from overseas to see the kangaroos there. It is at Boyup Brook, which is only about 60kms form our farm. Of course we

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Roger has been getting anyone who can (that generally means a teenage son, and any visitors on the helpXchange program) to help him build new fences (and take down the old ones) around the farm. Some are simply replacing broken down fences that have been there since the 1960s. The fence that I photographed on the weekend was being replaced to widen a race way between paddocks on the farm. The

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 Brown and white chocolate decorations  Shaved brown and white chocolate on top  Only one candle... 45 missing!  Hugh at breakfast  My beautiful birthday cake... Today it is my birthday and I am feeling very special. I was woken up to hot porridge in bed, and I opened my presents which were wrapped in hand-printed paper made by Bonnie and Hugh. Once I was up at the

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  Rain has been teasing us, and we are waiting to declare a true break of the season. As can been seen in the pictures above, there is a bit of green at Warragal Park. At Wattle Creek the rain was not so generous, so it has been drier than at home. We still need to feed all the sheep. The ewes have been preg tested and the dries separated from the pregnant ones, so that

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The kids have been wanting chooks for ever it seems. Roger always has an excuse why we shouldn't get some chooks (we already have a good local supply of eggs, and who would look after them when we go away, and he doesn't have time to build a run for them), and I don't really mind because I don't like things that flap. But after the last time we visited Nanna and Granddad I realised that there is

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The children have been getting into the spirit of Easter by dyeing eggs, and creating bunny things at school and at home. Roger made some hot cross buns for us to eat this morning. Odette came home from school and told me she had drawn a "Bottom Bunny". Well I had no idea what a Bottom Bunny was (do you?) until she showed me how they made it! First sit on a large piece of paper, then get

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Top prices from the Farm Weekly A major part of our farm income is from the sale of fine merino wool from our sheep. The wool is sold at auction, and for some years the price has not been very flash. This year however we have received exceptional prices - the highest prices ever - for our wool. On the top of a very poor season last year and a long dry summer the result of our wool sales has

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We have so far only caught one fox in the new fox trap. We have caught Hugh's dog Pompon, a wild cat, a crow, and then tonight the most magnificent of all - a wedge-tailed eagle. The bait was a dead "twenty-eight" parrot, which Matthew shot last time he was home. Odette and Anne-Priscilla looking at the eagle When Roger came home he let the bird out. N.B. Photos on this post are

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Sophie and Bonnie and our French visitor Anne-Priscilla went for a bike ride yesterday, all the way to town. We don't very often ride off the farm. But they decided just in time that they would be able to get to town before dark, and set off at about 3:20pm. The first ten kilometres was pretty hard on the unsealed gravel road, but once they were on the Collie-Darkan Rail Trail the going was

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Pompon in action in the sheep yards  We lost our sheep dog Bobby during shearing. I think he was overworked during the hot weather, but honestly I wasn't sad to see him go, and Hugh still has the scar to remind me. Since then there hasn't been much call for a sheepdog. Until this week. This week Roger has been taking the merino rams out of the mobs of ewes. They have been in since the third

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I have a little bit of competition on the blogging front! Sophie is planning on blogging EVERY DAY! I can just about average one post a month, so I had better step up if I want to keep up with her!! I haven't even told you blog followers that Sophie didn't return to boarding school this year. She didn't like boarding, so during the holidays she investigated alternatives. She really wanted to do

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My parents, Ken and Wendy Solly, have sold their Hope Farm Guest House in York, and will be moving to a smaller house only one street away this week. Last weekend they had a clearance sale. Roger went on Friday to help move furniture, and I went with the children after school on Friday. Saturday morning was very hectic trying to get all the smaller items out onto the tables, and get the final

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The Wagin Woolorama is an annual agricultural show which we always look forward to with great anticipation. It has become a two-day event, and we find that we cannot see everything in only two days. This year we took Odette and Hugh - and Laura (helpXchange from Germany) to look after them - on the Friday, and Sophie and Bonnie took their friend Kirsty on the Saturday. The older kids are big

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The smallest of the merino lambs were left unshorn. They will be shorn later when they are bigger and have more wool on them. They were taken to a paddock that has had no sheep in it for a while.The water in the dam has been evaporating over summer, and there is mud around the edge. So the poor lambs got more than they bargained for when they went for a drink.It was only lucky that I noticed the

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When shearing is over, we have a "cut-out". It is always a pretty good show, because we have a great shearing team. This year a couple of extras came along with their guitars which made the atmosphere very enjoyable (thanks Leo and James). In the afternoon we had some savouries and drinks, and then we had a barbecue with sausages and chops and drinks and I made up some salads. There are always

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We are used to driving on unsealed gravel roads, which are narrow, rough, and often have kangaroos or emus crossing. Sometimes our visitors are not used to the roads, and sometimes I forget to warn them. I forgot to warn our French helpXchange visitors Melanie and Bertrand when they set out for Collie last Wednesday. So while I thought they were shopping in Collie, they were walking the six

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Some clowning around on the stageToday the Darkan Primary School held the end of year Christmas Concert at the town hall. Bonnie and Odette had both asked me to make them dresses for the occasion, so I have had a few late nights with needle and thread. But I hope you agree that it was worth it as they both looked gorgeous. The concert had a circus theme, and it got all the children involved and

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Odette, Bonnie and Sophie, with Hugh on his motorbike.Hugh says that when he grows up he wants to be a motorbike racer.Well he is far from grown up, but he has already ridden in his first motorbike race.Even though his birthday is not until December he received a Yamaha PW50 motorbike in October. There was no point buying it and putting it away for two months... :)So with three weeks experience

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Roger with some carrots from his garden.Not a fence post! It is just that I have not made a blog post about the farm for a long time. And that might possibly be because I am not on the farm very often these days. In fact I haven't been home much lately. Before I went to Japan there was a lot of preparation and weekly meetings in Bunbury, then ten days in Japan, and now I have had three days

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When it happened, it was such a shock. Hugh loves dogs. He is always playing with Bobby, our sheepdog. So Roger thought nothing of asking Hugh to give a leftover bone from the barbecue to Bobby on Saturday. The rest of us were inside, so don't really know what happened. We can only imagine that the dog felt threatened that his food would be taken, and he has bitten Hugh. Being small, it was his

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This is an article Sophie wrote for the local Darkan newspaper The bleat. So many people have told me they enjoyed reading it, so I have posted it here for your reading pleasure. For background you will need to know that Sophie and I have recently spent 10 days in Japan, from 6-16th October.JAPANI never really thought much of Japan before. I thought it was just another crowded Asian country. But

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Last night I took the girls, and their friend Imogen (who was staying over), to the Barna Mia wildlife sanctuary in the Dryandra forest between Wandering and Narrogin. It was nearly 100km from home. Three other families from Darkan also went.The Barna Mia wildlife sanctuary is 4Ha (10 Acres) of natural bush which has been securely fenced to keep out predators (especially foxes and feral cats).

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My Dad has had knee replacement surgery, so I went to Hollywood (Hospital) to visit him. I drove to Perth yesterday, and stayed the night at my sister Angela's house. I spent the night with her three delightful daughters while she and her husband Ray went out to a dinner. I visited Dad yesterday afternoon and again this morning. He has been in hospital for a week, and should be allowed to go

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Sophie and I will be going to Japan in October. Sophie was chosen to be on the Bunbury-Setagaya Student Goodwill Visit 2010, and I volunteered as an adult helper.Setagaya, in Tokyo, has had a sister city relationship with Bunbury for eighteen years. The trip for students is designed to foster friendships and cultural understanding between the two cities.For the last six weeks Sophie and I have

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I had been planning to take some photos of Hugh on the quad. He looks so cute in his motorbike boots and helmet. He has just started to ride the little four-wheeled motorbike. The brake requires quite a bit of strength, and he needs to use two hands to handle it. Which has never been a problem, until this afternoon. He was riding when it started to rain, and to his credit he thought about putting

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This is a very hastily stitched image showing the smoke that was blocking the sun yesterday afternoon. All fire restrictions have been lifted since the rain so there have been many fires - farmers burning stubble and cleaning up paddocks ready for seeding. This fire yesterday however was a controlled burn to clear the understory in state forest so that there is less risk of wild fires next

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For the last few years there has been a black cat which has been sighted only very occasionally around the sheds on the farm. At first when the kids told me there was a black cat I didn't believe them, and thought that they must have seen a rabbit or something else that looked like a cat. But seeing is believing, so since the day I saw it with my own eyes (about a year after the kids told me

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The air is stale and has a foul stench since the rain we had a week ago. The rain came down very quickly and washed a lot of what was in the paddock into the dams, or the specially constructed silt traps which are designed to stop the rubbish going into the dams. The sheep manure that ended up in the silt traps has fermented nicely until the stink fills the air. Thank goodness the nearest dam is

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Poll Dorset rams are used over our merino ewes to breed prime lambs. This is the first time in recent years that we have done the prime lamb thing, and it has worked very well. The last lot of lambs sold for $4.80 per kilogram dressed weight, which averaged out to over $100 each, which is a fantastic price. That was the highest price we have received so far, but it may increase as the season gets

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Roger has been wanting a new (second-hand) 5-in-1 seed and fertiliser bin so he has looked at the classified advertisements in the Farm Weekly and he has scanned the clearing sales. He went to a clearing sale a couple of months ago but instead of buying a bin he bought an old motorbike and some other random junk as is so easy to do at a clearing sale. This week there was a reduction sale at a

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A section of new fenceThis is a bit of a catch-up blog, as I have been running around so busy lately that I haven't sat down to blog.The season has changed, with the mornings being cool and damp. We had rain on the 22nd of March, which has resulted in the paddocks turning a greenish colour, after the hot summer months of brown. It is a welcome change, as the rain also replenished our tanks and

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Bonnie's basketball team played in the grand final tonight, and they came out victorious. Bonnie's basketball skills have really improved during the season, and she contributes well to her team. It was a well deserved win, and a very tight game. It was the defending that defined the game, as the scores reflected.Next season Bonnie will have to play with older kids, which will extend her even more

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Hugh at school.This is one of a series of photos I took for the Darkan Primary School to celebrate its new status. The school is no longer a district high school, so all children over the age of twelve must go away to school to continue their education. Most high-school age children were already going to boarding school, and we have sent Sophie away in year seven this year.I haven't been blogging

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Last week Roger attended a bull sale and bought a Murray Grey bull to add some new genetics to our cattle herd. The bull is called Monterey Deep Thinker, which prompted me to suggest that he had better do more than just think about it. Otherwise the name Sophie came up with might be more appropriate - Monterey Deep Freezer.Yesterday the bull arrived on a very big truck which was on the way to

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While we were in France in 2008, I was excited to see the Google car with cameras recording images for the Google street view feature in the streets of Sainte Marie d'Alloix. I wrote about it here. I thought it would be a long time before we had Google street view of our place in Australia, but in fact we were on street view before Sainte Marie d'Alloix was. Street view is available for the town

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Sophie has gone to the Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School and Matthew has gone to the Agricultural College at Harvey. They both started on Monday, and Bonnie and Odette had their first day back at Darkan Primary School on Monday too. So it was a very busy day! Thankfully we have two helpXchange helpers here to help us out, so they put Bonnie and Odette on the school bus and picked them up again in

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What a lovely relaxing and fun family time we had during our week of holiday at Bremer Bay. It was a real proper holiday so I didn't take my camera or my laptop computer. Of course without a camera I have no photos (although Sophie and Bonnie both took cameras they didn't use them.) But there are pictures. Not pictures of fishing on the beach, swimming to the pontoon, having pizza on the beach,

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Harvest used to be a very big affair. Roger used to do it all himself, which involved weeks of work in preparation, servicing machinery, harvesting, carting the grain and cleaning up afterwards. It was always a challenge to try to have harvest finished before Christmas, or at least before shearing started. But the harvester was getting very old and worn out. It wasn't worth buying a new one for

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There are quite a few old fruit trees over at the old house. There are peach, plum, nectarine, apple, pear and apricot trees. However we get not a single piece of fruit from these trees. The birds get everything first. Of course we could work on them, prune them, cover them with netting and try to get some fruit but we never do.The two trees which do supply us are the lemon tree and the mulberry

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Sitting around outside, with quite a few beers.When shearing is over for another year it is traditional for the shearers to have a "cut-out". It's a bit of a celebration on finishing the shed, and an opportunity for the boss to thank the team for their hard work. And it keeps them in the shed while the paper work is done. Our cut-outs are legendary, because instead of just sending a carton of

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Is it too late to say HAPPY NEW YEAR?Already a week has gone of 2010 and this is the first time I have been onto the blog.I have been spending a lot of time at the swimming pool in Darkan. Not actually swimming, but watching the swimming lessons. Matthew, Sophie, Bonnie and Odette were all taking part in the vacswim (vacation swimming) lessons. Bonnie started at 9:00, Sophie at 9:55, Odette and

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Our Christmas started with a church service in Darkan on Christmas eve. When we got there I thought there was a great turn-out for the 8:30pm service as the street was lined with cars. But it turned out the young people across the road from the church were having a party! So it was just the usual few faithful who turned up. And us. Before bed on Christmas eve we allowed the children to open one

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We wish all our friends in blogland all the very best for a happy Christmas time. We will be with the extended Solly family on Christmas Day, and the Telfers on Boxing Day. We hope you experience the true Joy of Christmas, while enjoying the proverbial good cheer. Merry Christmas!

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Hugh turned four years old today. I was woken rather early this morning by one very excited little boy. He was excited because Dad told him he had to get up early because they were going to Busselton to pick up Matthew, and they were going to go to the motorbike shop. It also happened to be his birthday, so he had to wake the rest of the household before he could open his presents. He didn't

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Today the vet visited to test the cows to see if they are pregnant. She does it the old-fashioned way, none of this ultra-sound technology here. Maybe you can see in the photos what the technique is. It involves a very long glove, and some lubricant.   Here you can see which side of the race has been painted...    Roger with his dog Bobby Can you spot me? I'm the cow wearing the

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School will finish on Thursday, and today the Darkan District High School held a final assembly and concert at the town hall. This will be the last DDHS assembly, as the high school part of the school has been closed. From next year it will be the Darkan Primary School. The book awards were presented, and Sophie won the academic achievement award for year 6. No surprise really as she has won it

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The fire was not near here - it was probably one hundred kilometres away (somewhere just north of Harvey I heard). One thousand hectares of forest was burnt yesterday, and the smoke made its way to our place. At this time of year, when everything is dry, fire is a constant threat. Harvesting operations, or any use of machinery in paddocks increases the risk, so a fire ban is called when the

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Tonight Father Christmas came to Darkan to visit all the good little girls and boys. As usual he arrived on the fire truck, with the siren blaring and the lights flashing. "He's here! He's here!" could be heard echoing around with excitement and expectation in the air. Father Christmas threw handfuls of lollies out to the waiting crowd. Some of the younger more timid ones had to be carried into

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We sent some sheep off on a truck today. I hope ours got safely to their destination. Some other sheep were on a truck that rolled over not far from here. I went and took some photos (sent some off to the local paper) and I was pretty horrified by the damage to the sheep. Thankfully the driver (from Esperance) was OK. He managed to climb out of the truck before any passers-by arrived on the

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    This morning both Sophie's class and Odette's class performed for the older members of our community at the annual Seniors' Luncheon. They sang Christmas songs. Not Carols, but songs like "Christmas Boogie", "Aussie Jingle  Bells", Susie Snowflake" and "Frosty The Snowman". After the performance the children gave gifts (which they had made) to the seniors.

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Yannick spent the day in the sheep yards. Hugh spent the day playing. They both ended up with filthy faces! Did you notice Yannick has less hair than he did on the weekend? That's because I gave him a complimentary hair cut! There was quite an audience...

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Oscar managed to get a picture of Yannick in the kitchen  Yannick is French and he is a cook and he has been staying with us for what seems like ages (actually it is eight weeks - he originally intended to stay two weeks so he must feel at home!)  He met the local cafe owners and was invited to prepare a French meal for the locals. He did a Sunday lunch first, and then on Saturday night there

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The shearers started shearing at our other farm today. The shed at Wattle Creek is pretty good for taking photos, because it is open on the east side.     I noticed some new fashion trends in the shearing shed today. There were some staff I hadn't met before, and I'm not sure how informed they are about workplace health and safety. A couple of them were wearing bare feet, and one shed

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Hugh took his scooter to daycare today, and then he had it when it was time for basketball (not withstanding the fact that basketball was cancelled because the courts were wet.) The wet courts didn't stop Hugh enjoying himself, and in fact it probably made it even more fun! Because the girls didn't play basketball we had time to go and visit a puppy. We think it will be called Pompon.

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Believe it or not, a snake had not been sighted at Warragal Park since its establishment in 1952/53. That all changed today, during lunch time. Two of the shearing crew were sitting in their ute outside the shearing shed, when they alerted Roger to a large dugite close by. Not having a shot gun, Roger wasn't going to shoot it. The shearer offered to run over it, but missed on the first

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The shearers arrived this morning bright and early to start shearing about 5000 sheep. We used to shear most of our sheep in January, but we are gradually shifting to an earlier shearing. Here are some photos of the action in the shearing shed this morning. And then there is Hugh. Riding his pink bike with the flowers on, and wearing his pink singlet - the hand-me-downs from three older

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While Mum and Dad were away, Bonnie, Odette and Hugh stayed home with the helpXchangers. They took advantage of our absence to stay up late and have a mock fashion parade, mainly wearing Matthew's clothes I believe. They used the desks in the playroom as a catwalk! Here are some photos that Bonnie took as proof. Odette, Hugh and Bonnie posing in some of Matt's clothes. Odette parading one of

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On Friday evening Roger and I went to Matthew's School presentation night. He has been attending MacKillop Catholic College in Busselton, and is just about to finish year ten. Next year he will be going to the WA College of Agriculture in Harvey which is better known as Harvey Ag School. We had been forewarned that Matt was to receive an award, and he won the Year 10 Award for Outdoor Education.

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Sophie's orientation day at the Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School went well. We met a few of the parents and children who were there, and had plenty of presentations from teachers and staff. While Roger and I were doing that Sophie was off with the new students. She was assigned an older student to be her mentor in the boarding house.  The Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School is situated at Gelorup,

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Sophie will be attending the Bunbury Cathedral Grammar School next year, starting in February. We have always known she would be going away to boarding school, but somehow it seems to be creeping up on me a bit too fast. She is only eleven, and she will be leaving home... Today is her orientation day. We will be meeting staff and other parents and students in the morning, and then after lunch the

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The other day we were talking about the number of women in town who are pregnant at the moment. Little miss seven commented that "it must have been mating season"!!Isn't that the sort of observation that would only come from a farm kid?

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A garden montage (click the picture to view larger)Sunday saw us visiting the garden of Des and Ellen Gooding, just out of Darkan. Roger is slowly establishing a vegetable garden at Warragal Park, and he is always keen to talk to other gardeners to get tips and ideas. The Goodings' garden has many different areas, and hundreds of different roses. The roses blooms were HUGE. The season has been

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Yesterday our farm consultant came out to the farm for a visit. We had lunch together before setting up on the dining room table to discuss farm management, production and business issues. Then afterwards we had a general chat over a few beers outside. Very pleasant!

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Sophie, Bonnie and Odette have all made fascinators to wear on the occasion of the Melbourne Cup. The Melbourne Cup - the Race that stops a Nation! Even though the girls are going to school for a normal school day, they were inspired by all the hats and fascinators they had seen in the shops and media lately, and wanted their own.OdetteSophieBonnieThey have been worn on many outings already, as

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I didn't catch the Shire graders grading our road (Telfer Road) on Tuesday, but it was a nice surprise to have a lovely clean smooth road to drive home on after basketball.On Wednesday morning I managed to get these pictures of the graders working on Gibbs Road.Bonnie and Sophie have started playing basketball on Tuesday nights, but I haven't been able to convince Odette to play. This week

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On the way home from York on Saturday we stopped for a picnic at Boyagin Rock, off the York-Williams Road. We pass the sign and the nature reserve every time we drive down that road, but we have never had the time to stop before. This time Nanna had packed us a picnic because we had to leave Hope Farm before lunch because some prospective buyers were going to look through the house. (Never mind

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On my way home last Tuesday I stopped to take some photos of the hay that Roger had cut. The lines cut into the crop make quite graphic patterns. The hay was dry enough yesterday afternoon to bale, but this morning is overcast and there was a slight drizzle this morning. I wonder if any will be baled when I get home tonight??Ryegrass is the biggest contributor to hayfever, and here is a cose-up

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The interschool athletics carnival was held today in Boddington. That is about an hour's drive from here. Three schools participated - Williams, Bodddington and Darkan. Our school has about 100 students from year one to year seven.Odette was not selected in the school team, so she was one of the few children who went to school today. I offered to take her with us to the carnival but she preferred

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In Darkan we are lucky to have a community swimming pool. The community fund-raised extensively to get it quite a few years ago now. (Maybe 17 years! It was not long before I came to Darkan...) It has recently had a re-vamp and now has solar heating and a pool blanket. That will surely make swimming more pleasant and even extend the swimming season. It has always been a problem with the water

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Although our visit to Nanna and Granddad at Hope Farm was brief, everyone enjoyed the trip. We all love the place and we're very sad that my parents want to sell (see the real estate listing) it and move somewhere smaller, although it is understandable that they are finding it hard to put in the work to maintain such a large property now that they are older (in their seventies).On the way to

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I bought the girls some new dresses this week and bought Matthew a PINK polo shirt to coordinate. Matt was not impressed but I think he looks great. I wanted them all to be coordinated for a photo shoot at Hope Farm. This photo was taken on the front drive as we left Warragal Park this morning. It was quite a misty morning which was fantastic for photos, but Hugh dropped his bread and honey on

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We are really having a good catch-up with family these school holidays. The first weekend it was all of Roger's family who came to stay, then the following Tuesday my sister Angela brought her three daughters (who are the same age as Sophie, Bonnie and Hugh) to visit and they had lunch with us. Last weekend it was us who travelled, to visit the Marshalls at Torbay (my youngest sister Fiona's

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On the weekend we visited my sister Fiona and her family who live on a farm at Torbay, between Denmark and Albany on the south coast. Fiona has a very productive garden and it was very inspiring to explore it. Maybe one day we can have a productive garden too. But first Roger will have to build a fence and gate so that the sheep don't come in and eat everything!Fiona in her garden.I also loved

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Cute Cousins...Odette and her cousin Elsa had a great time together on the weekend. They are born only five days apart (Odette on 10th October and Elsa on the 15th so they have their 7th birthdays coming up next week). In the bath together they looked like two peas in a pod! Can you see the family resemblance?Elsa (left) and Odette (right)

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Tonight some of us went for a "night stalk" organised by the local Landcare Officer. We walked in the Capercup nature reserve, and didn't see any wildlife larger than a bat. The noise of our group wouldn't have helped, and with the little LED torch I had a wild animal would have had to come up and tap me on the shoulder before I saw it. There were lots of mosquitoes though, so we made sure we put

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Playing rounders - Sophie batting.On Sunday afternoon while there were lots of people here, a game of rounders took place on the lawn. A fence dropper was the bat and Hugh's soccer ball was the ball. The first two bases were slides/steps off a play house and third base was a hessian bag. Home base was a hoop. Good fun was had by all those who played or watched.Acacia blocked Roger on second

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This brass plaque in memory of Roger's Father was unveiled today.Today we remembered Roger's Father, and all his family is here for the weekend. That is Roger's Mother (out of the nursing home for the weekend), his sisters Judy and Wendy with their families, and both his aunts and their husbands. We unveiled a brass plaque which is on a stone on the highest hill on the farm, overlooking the

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Lily showing that she doesn't mind getting her hands dirty.Sheep work is still keeping Roger very busy. He had two French guys staying for a week who did some work in the sheepyards, and Lily is still here. Lily has worked out how to work with the sheep, because sheep work is not always easy if you don't do it the right way. You have to understand a bit of sheep psychology or you could get very

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Before the blowflies start to get busy we have to crutch the sheep. This is removing all the dirty wool around the sheep's tail (to put it nicely). I got some pictures yesterday of Roger crutching, of Lily pushing up the sheep, and of Hugh "helping". Also a few detail shots.The crutching cradle is built for three workers, but this year Roger is working by himself. Lily pushing up sheep.Roger

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Sorry that I haven't been blogging about the farm much lately. I haven't been getting out on the farm. Roger is busy with sheep work, and he has our helpXchanger Lily to help him, as well as any other help he can muster. And that hasn't included me yet. But that will change tomorrow. I'll help push up the ewes for him crutching. Lily will be glad of the help I expect. She came home on Tuesday

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This is how Bonnie woke up this morning. Then she brushed her hair!

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The electrical contractor came this morning and connected the electricity to the Wattle Creek house. So now our visitors will be able to see at night without a torch. We hope that Roger will have time to connect up the water on the weekend, and then it will be a fully functioning guest cottage. At them moment anyone who stays there has to come across to the main house for the

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Dirk, Lily and Roger marking lambs.Roger is about to cut off this lamb's tail with the hot gas knife.Lily enjoying life on the farm (!)Dirk and Roger getting ready for smoko.Bobby wants some too!Hugh washing his hands.Roger managed to get Dirk to come out and help mark a couple of mobs of lambs this week. He also had Lily, our newest French helpXchange visitor helping. They ear-marked, ear tagged

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The Lions Club of West Arthur host an annual family fun day. This year it was at Duranillin, and as usual there were free train and merry-go-round rides for the kids. They also had pony rides. It is a good fun day out for the family. Odette had her face painted, all the kids had pony rides, even I went in the little train, and everyone ate doughnuts and had a sausage in a bun.Our bridal party

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Sophie's friend at school had a pet rabbit. Actually she had two female rabbits and a male rabbit. You can guess what happened! That's right - their pet rabbit population increased six-fold, and they had rabbits to give away. Our children begged for a suitably long period, and we got good mileage out of "if you're not good you won't get a pet rabbit" (not really - we did a positive parenting

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Giving birth is not always easy. But it's not too bad when there is an expert obstetrician on hand. This maiden ewe was found in the paddock with her lamb protruding but stuck firm.Luckily help arrived before the lamb died, and surprisingly it looked quite animated after a few minutes.The mother and lamb were put together in a yard, so I hope they are still looking good tomorrow.Some are not so

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The house from Wattle Creek was transported today. It arrived at Warragal Park at about 3:15 this afternoon, just before the girls got home on the school bus. The first half of the house has been manoeuvred into position, and tomorrow it will be taken off the truck and the second half put next to it. The stumps will then need to be replaced and cemented in position.Then our work will begin! We

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