Our local community Hall in Federal is under threat. I am proud to be doing a small part to save it. More to come on this. If you could like this page on facebook that would be a start.
Cattle Tagging and Drenching 0
A very successful day Mustering and drenching the cattle. Here is a summary of our work for the record books.
Tag Name Pour On Oral Drench Comments 101 Condamine 300 done Narly in the crush-head lock required 102 Abbelina 350 done good in crush 103 Reanna 300 done good in crush 104 Condillisa 300 done good in crush 105 Abella 300 done good in crush 106 Kicking Cross 350 done Narly and tried to head butt boo 107 Azalia 300 done good in crush 108 Milking Cross 350 done Narly in crush 109 Whiskquita 300 done good in crush 110 Gem 350 done Narly in crush 111 Ebby 350 done ok 112 Houdinie 300 done good in crush 113 Annabelle 250 done good in crush 114 Rosie 200 done good in crush 115 Carter 200 done crazy 116 Windsor 200 done crazy 117 Kharma 200 done good in crush 118 Archer 200 done crazy 119 Manchester 250 done crazy 120 Eddy 200 done crazy 121 Lowco 500 done such a good boy 122 Delilah 350 done good big girl 123 Daisy 150 done good girl 124 Chip 50 done Nils Tag-NCZ329SXBF00017
Barn Renovations Complete 0
Complete might be an over statement. Maybe one little room down and plenty of barn to go. However it is still very exciting to give the old barn a bit of love and to know we are doing things to help it last at least another 100 years. Great work on the cost effective and innovative renovations boys. All this work was done with materials that had been stored in the barn by my Great Grandpa and Gramps. Mum is so pleased to see the boards she remembers her Dad storing being put to such good use.
Cromwell Sheep Farm? 0
Maybe its time for a few sheep. Wish this was our little lamb. At $20 for a wee leg its tempting. The leg is not from sliver wood but it’s organic and I can’t wait to start rubbing it up and getting it in the oven. Sunday Roast Dinner my favourite.
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- Aubrey lambing it up
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- Aubs punching the holes
Traditional Garlic and rosemary lamb roast
Ingredients
1 organic leg of lamb
6 whole cloves of garlic peeled
6-8 sprigs of fresh rosemary
Salt flakes and freshly ground pepper
Method
Rub the meat with some olive oil and sprinkle well with freshly ground salt and pepper.
Mulberry Madness 0
Our Mulberry tree is ripe for the picking. Time for some purple fingers.
Spinach Harvest 0
The clocks moved forward today–time to start saving some daylight. It’s also a signal that the heat of the Australian summer is on the way. Our vegetable garden is looking great and it’s time to get into harvest mode. Today’s mission is spinach. We have lots and lots and there is nothing handier then a bag out of the freezer. The next best thing to fresh from the garden.
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- Laundry Basket Bounty
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- Spinach Splendour
In the past we have blanched the spinach with boiling water; however, I have just come across this process from Colorado State University. My daughter Kaleigh would not approve but I like the simplicity.
The best way to preserve spinach for winter use is to freeze it. Rinse the leaves well, place them in a resealable plastic bag and blanch them in the microwave (600-700 watts) for 1 minute, then place in the freezer. Spinach loses too much of its vitamin content if you blanch it in boiling water.
Some more research and I like what this video shows. Nothing like the less is more method. Will call this the Kaleigh Spinach storage strategy–less is more and NO NUKE.
All done–in less then an hour we picked, processed and froze about 10 kg of spinach. Feeling hungry now. Time to cook up some spinach /Eggs Benedict.
Mullumbimby Show Preparation 0
The Four Girl Dexter Stud is getting ready for its 3rd Mullumbimby Show this November (not sure about the date–their site has not been updated). Better get on that.
Speaking of getting on–the girls are already preparing their cows and took the time yesterday to write down some notes on the cows they want to take and the work that needs to go into them. It’s great to have some help with content for the blog too. Thanks Aubrey, Morley and Bella. Can’t wait for the show…when ever it is.
Cromwell Farms
Show cows:
Annabelle (black heifer)- Annabelle is the 2nd daughter of Abaliena and the sire is Twin-Bull. She was also the first calf born in our first lot of calves.
Annabelle has great structure and a good straight flat back. Annabelle
Forever in Blue Jeans Neil Diamond 0
Over the last few weeks I got to log plenty of miles on the road going back and forth between Chatham, Toronto, North Bay and of course Marine City. The radio in the Jeep I rented cranked out some pretty good sound and there are a few classics still stuck in my mind. This is one of them. As a kid I loved listening over and over to a reel tape at the cottage and ole Neil was a big part of that. Forever a Neil Diamond fan.
Christmas Calf Count 0
Hanging out with the girls talking cows. Lots of work and fun to be had. Bella is keen to enter her bull calf Chip into this years’s Mullumbimby Show. Go Bella go and good luck with the Show Girl competition.
Aubrey and Morley are going to enter their heifers Rosemary and Annabell.
We are also talking about calving and selling off some of the calves next year. Here are the girls we are waiting on.
- Abellina
- Condamine
- Reanna
- Azalia
- Whisk-Quita
- Houdini
- Milking Cross
- Kicking Cross
- Gem
- Ebby
- Abella
- Delilah
Barn Renovations 0
Exciting times on Gregory Line. Such a small world too–have a long story to tell about the swell blokes who are working magic in the barn but can’t wait to share the shots they took yesterday. This is going to be a great room for storing our Presso stock for Canada/USA and an office for Bush Branding & Marketing. Oh and I cant’ forget an
