I was so glad to write your big brother a birthday letter, and even though I struggle to find time to document in words and images life with a little you (as I did with your brother) – I am thankful to have this moment to do so. Life with a little you is so very good, so very full – every day we see more of your personality emerge. Your likes for exploring the kitchen cupboards, eating eggs, yoghurt, sweet potato, strawberries (and any fruit really) and your dislikes for having your nose wiped, your nappy changed or a curiosity (clump of dirt / grasshopper / miscellaneous plastic thing) taken away from reach. You love your brother and follow him wherever he goes, he is beginning to play with you more – albeit sometimes too roughly, wanting to rumble on the floor!
You wave goodbye to dadda once he’s left for chores, and you wave hello to your reflection in the mirror and windows. You point and although no words spoken yet, you can tell us a need or want or grievance or exclamation with your voice. You stand up at every opportunity and scale furniture with speed – you have taken one wobbly step and will no doubt be walking around in no time. You try to stack blocks on top of each other and love to put things in shoes and boxes and cups. I once stepped into my gumboot only to find a hard boiled egg at the bottom!
You adore the outdoors and take every opportunity to catch the back door as it closes so you can escape outside. You inspect ants and blades of grass and scrunch clumps of sand in your chubby hands. You chatter with delight at the sight of the cats prowling around, and so very timidly stoke their back if they come close enough.
Your first birthday was a very simple affair, you accompanied mama on egg deliveries, you napped, you played in the sunshine. Your gifts from us were simple – a hand knit vest, a spotty birthday crown and bib, and a handful of big crayons. You also received some beautiful books and clothes and cards from family. We made a carrot and walnut cake with cream cheese and honey icing. You licked the spoons and seemed very approving. You went to bed early, and you woke through the night with teething pain – we pat your back and kissed your forehead.
Beren, you are a calm and wise soul – I felt that the moment you were born with that dark crop of hair (now significantly lighter) and big eyes that could fix on my face. I feel an enormous blessing and privilege to be your mama and to watch you grow. May you know many happy tree climbs, barefoot adventures and red dusk skies, always feel loved, know the goodness of meaningful work and nourishing rest, always care about the world around you, and above all carry hope in you heart.
It has been scorching hot and we’ve had barely a smatter of rain. We do our very best with hand-watering ALL the plants and trees as the cool of evening rolls around… it is tiring, but we are rewarded with plump tomatoes, herbs, squash, zucchini, potatoes, eggplant, lettuce and yes, even the odd sweet watermelon. Summer produce is so very wonderful.
I had a first attempt at planting out the winter vegetables – cabbages, broccoli and kale but all were swiftly eaten to the stump by grasshoppers (yep, still around), then what remained was scorched by the sun on these 35’c days. I have however, sown direct carrots and beetroots and peas with some success, and have more cuciferous seeds raising indoors for later sowing…
It’s a mystery, this garden growing business – last year basil and parsley and pumpkins did famously well, this year we’ve had barely of any. But the chillies and tomatoes are coming in each day, and for that we are thankful!
There’s always jobs to do – more seeds to raise and plant direct, weeds to pull, grass to mow down, mulch to go out on everything; chicken-poo + sawdust from the brooders, compost, sugar cane and straw, excluding + resting parts of the polytunnel that housed (unsuccessful) corn and cucumbers, prolific spaghetti squash and potatoes, beds to build up for the next season…
p.s. yes, the polytunnel bathtub has been upgraded to a cast-iron claw foot and also doubles as a wonderful play pen for baby while mama potters!
Today is our firstborn Reuben’s fourth birthday. It seems like only yesterday he was born, and now he’s no longer a babe or a toddler but a little boy – so full of questions and articulate phrases, so much storytelling, curiosity and intense feeling! Truly we are blessed to have in him a warm and caring soul, a willing helper and companion on farm and house chores, a protective big brother, an outdoor explorer and avid reader…
And so on the weekend we held a very fishy themed birthday brunch (Reu’s favourite meal) to mark his four glorious years. A dear friend of mine came to stay for the week and we set about cleaning the house, making fish and other sea creatures out of old drawings and paper scraps, seaweed garlands, balloon jellyfish and good food to eat. A “red and blue” fish cake was requested – lemon and poppyseed yoghurt cake with cream cheese and berries – it was a hit with young and old. We had starfish shapes of watermelon and grape fish “eggs”, cheese and crackers, buckwheat and kefir pancakes with jam and cream, baked sweet potato chips, cornflake + honey “shell grit” and other delicious treats. The little people bounced on the trampoline, coloured in fishy shapes and ran about the house, while the big people mingled and ate and drank cups of tea. A happy morning to befit our happy fish-loving boy!
(his response to me asking him how old he will be, and then telling him that four was my favourite age)
This month marks one whole year of operating Hand to Ground; our small-scale, regenerative, family farm business. And what a year it was for us – so many things done for the first time, research gathered, mistakes made, successes celebrated, relationships built. It was daunting to step out and make a go of farming full-time for a livelihood. We are told the first two to five years are the most difficult for a new business, and without the support and encouragement of friends and family, as well as mentoring through the Government’s NEIS program – we likely wouldn’t have kept going.
But there is nothing so rewarding as hearing how much a customer’s children enjoyed (and devoured) their roast chicken, or seeing golden yolked eggs crack into the breakfast pan, or have neighbours lend a hand to unload bags of grain – as falling into a clean, warm bed after a long day out in the elements, to see with your bare eyes the landscape refreshed from a cycle of hens scratching and fertilising the ground…
We started the year with two warré beehives in operation. We harvested our first batch of about 9 kilos of raw cold pressed honey in March.We sold all our strained honey, and rendered the beeswax for soap and candle making and cooking. Sadly after a very dry Autumn and cold Winter we found we had lost one of our hives, the other appeared slow and weak and the colony absconded before we had to chance to re-Queen! At the same time in the early Spring we gained four other colonies – two from abandoned hives on a friends’ property, and two as wild swarms – one caught onto of our water tank and one caught in a friend’s backyard. Despite a very short and hot Spring, all four hives are going well, though building their stores very slowly.
In February we welcomed 300 day-old layer chicks to our custom built wooden brooding houses. Once big enough, they moved into their beautiful “egg mobile” hen house built atop a caravan trailer – which provides shelter at night, a cool place to lay eggs in the day, and can easily be towed across the pasture. In June they began to lay eggs – about 180-210 each day – which we collect, clean and pack by hand. We began delivering our pastured eggs to cafes, restaurants and a green grocer in nearby towns. We added a further 50 point of lay hens in Spring, and encountered a great chicken faux pas – that you don’t ever just join two flocks of hens together without giving them some time to get used to each other (with a barrier or some kind) – otherwise the pecking order is disturbed and you experience a swift drop in egg production! We acquired two roosters to help keep the peace, and slowly got back to normal production.
In Autumn we brooded our first batch of meat chickens. The 300 day-old broiler chicks actually arrived the afternoon of our baby boy Beren’s birth! We learnt a lot in the weeks that followed about brooding broiler chickens, our local climate and how to keep our birds healthy and thriving despite extreme temperature fluctuations and prowling foxes! In late Winter we began brooding our next batch of meat chickens, ready for processing in late Spring and early Summer. We began suppling local cafes and restaurants with our tasty birds, as well as running a pre-order and pick-up system with our fabulous local green grocer Watts’ Fresh in Kyneton. We also bought a refrigerated trailer – and with the meat safety inspector’s tick of approval – were able to start transporting our chickens to our local farmers markets.
We attended a total of 12 farmers markets with Emily’s gluten free baked goods and seasonal preserves. Her French-style baked custards “canéles” and sourdough bread were especially popular. She also ran her first gluten free bread making workshop in October – hosted by our dear friends at A Plot in Common – It was a great success and she will be holding another workshop in February.
Alex was fortunate enough to see the great farmer, writer and agricultural activist – Joel Salatin speak three times this year! He attended a Jonai Farm’s Grow Your Ethics workshop, and was also part of a Deep Winter gathering of like-minded people to discuss the future of small scale sustainable and ethical agriculture and food sovereignty. We are optimistic that with continued public interest, political pressure and support from local communities – fair food and farming systems will continue to grow in Australia.
We are so thankful for the support from our local community – our families, new friends (and old), big-hearted neighbours, chefs and restauranteurs, grocers, mums and dads – who care about what they eat and where it comes from. We do feel enormously blessed that we are still in operation – that we have access to land and water and opportunity to share what we raise with those around us.
As we look forward to our second year we hope to keep learning from our mistakes, build on our successes, problem solve, persevere – and above all to to keep our faith in the Earth’s remarkable abilities to heal and regenerate itself, in the joy of wholesome work, in the goodness of fresh food, in a better future for our kids…
I was hesitant to write this blog post – to capture the same angles of my garden that I did in my post from October last year. To pause and reflect on how much a garden changes in two and half months – when your tank runs dry, and you have one the hottest, driest and shortest Spring’s on record, when a plague of grasshoppers descends and consumes most green in sight! But then I thought, no, I want this record made – it is real life trying to grow a garden, trying to work out the seasons, to live on land. You just have to keep going as best you can…
And remarkably our garden is not all dried and brown. There are patches of green, petunia blooms and tomatoes forming. There are a little herbs (that the grasshoppers are not eating) like chives and mint we can pick and toss through our salad. There are lettuce leaves to be picked from a pot, zucchinis and dainty green squashes that mysteriously appear overnight.
There was a point when we just had to choose which plants we wanted to survive the most – and spend our scant and precious rain and household “grey” water on them. So it’s become our nighttime ritual, after we put the boys to bed and it’s still light – we cart out the cold water from our showers, baby bath and kitchen sink – we fill up watering cans from the garden tank – to pour out on the infant trees, vegetables and flowers we planted here.
This summer we are learning the absolute joy a spot of living green brings… we are also taking note of which plants are truly hardy, how an organic soap-based spray is fairly effective deterrent for grasshoppers, what difference enough mulch makes.
I am especially amazed that some plants have survived in the heat of the polytunnel – that these grasshoppers just don’t seem keen on eating my tomatoes, eggplant, cucumbers, squash or watermelons (but the corn and sunflowers, oh my, they are devouring that) and they are actually thriving and producing good things for us to eat.
Last week we had an idea to install one of our many farmyard bath tubs into the polytunnel so I could finally have a much wished-for soak every now and again. And a day or two later I filled it with pots of rain water heated on the stove, adding epsom salts and a few drops of lavender and bergamot oil and lay there luxuriating as night fell, with our cats padding around and grasshoppers jumping, I listening to rustling trees and the crow of birds, and looking up spied a faint sparkle of stars… the next day I scooped out the water onto the plants. Bliss indeed.
Last Riddell’s Creek Market for 2018!! Come and grab some chooks, eggs, bacon, chai, lamb, veggies and much much more!! There’s a pony. It’s going off!! #riddellscreek #riddellscreekfarmersmarket
Strip-Grazing trials at @rockhousekyneton !! It is so great to be getting behind the spools again. The Herefords are adapting well to the new program and I couldn’t be happier. And a tuna sandwich. #stripgrazing #cellgrazing #herefords #regenag #regenerativeagriculture #holisticmanagement #gunningforcattle2018FTW
THANK YOU!! What a roller coaster ride this season has been. And it’s always pretty anxiety inducing in the lead up to a new drop-off, but Collingwood, @worksmith.io and @thefermentary, what a knockout!! Thanks for playing host and for the very warm welcome. It was so encouraging to meet and talk chickens. I’m looking forward to the next one already!! Thanks heaps.
Oh Vigo. Goodbye friend. Last time I saw you, you did a strange little dance for me, like you were excited to be going some place I had no idea about. I had no idea at all. I’ll miss the hell out of you. You were a lousy sheepdog and a down-right pathetic chickendog, but you scored 11/10 for enthusiasm every morning. You saw me through some of the darkest and brightest mornings. I hope wherever you’re off to there’s plenty of chooks to gambol with and mislaid eggs to slurp up and fields of chicken turds 💩 to roll in. You were the best. Be good. Come here. Sit. Go home. Get out. Slow down. Want a belly rub? Who’s a good boy? See you next time. Goodbye.
We are just about set for our debut drop-off at @worksmith.io in Collingwood TOMORROW!! Thanks to Sharon @thefermentary and this amazing food community we find ourselves in, this drop-off is set to be a good one! It’s not too late to place an order, though. Drop by our OFN page and place your order for ‘Collingwood’ in the drop down menu. The link is in the bio. I’m be dropping off our pastured chooks between 1 and 2pm direct from the abattoir to Smith street. See you there!! #visitcollingwood #reubensaysbuymorechicken
Well, there I was visiting @rockhousekyneton . I might start hanging here more often... what do you think? #yes #veryyes
Well here’s another happy problem... the hatchery over supplied us?! We now have about 45 four week old meat birds that we need to sell live. I need to move them on so the stocking density in the shelters doesn’t get too great as they get bigger. This is the first time I’ve had to do this, so I’m just testing the waters for expressions of interest. I’m thinking about $5-10 a bird? For pick-up only in Baynton, next Thursday or Friday. DM me if you’re interested. They’re super healthy birds specifically bred for meat. They’ve built up natural immunities and have had not synthetic inputs. They need a high protein diet of 16-18%. Grown in a back yard setting they should be perfect by Christmas. Let’s see how this goes!!
Yep! We’re making a special drop-off next Tuesday 13th of November, at 1pm direct from the abattoir to Smith St in Collingwood. We’re teaming up once again with Sharon @thefermentary and @worksmith.io to bring our brow-raising, game changing, pastured chicken to Melbourne!! Follow the link to our Open Food Network page in our bio and select ‘Collingwood’ from the drop-down menu and you’re set to order! Please spread the word and we hope to see you there!! . . Photo credit: @jass_murphy #pasturedpoultry #pasturedchicken #pasturedbroilers #pasturedchickensdirect
This paddock was first grazed with our chooks in July 2015. It’s been almost continuously grazed with a flock of 300 chooks ever since. That’s 2 acres with weekly moves of the chicken flock. What was once primarily Bent Grass is now a plush sward of Barley Grass, Wallaby Grass, Phalaris, Wheat Grass and others. The clovers are creeping back in, Forbes and various weeds are starting to intermingle, giving our chooks an increasing schmorgasbord of pastoral forage. This is more exhilarating than a weekly pay cheque. . What I’m observing is the dust bowls created by the chooks punch through the dense mat of roots created by the bent grass. This allows pockets for other species to reestablish and take root, eventually out competing the less desirable species. This disturbance allows for greater regeneration as time goes on, leading to greater soil health and happier healthier chooks, which means nicer eggs for breaky! Looks like everybody’s kicked a goal. . Oh, and the chook poop helps too. . #regenag #regenerativeagriculture #holisticmanagement #pasturedeggs #pasturedpoultry #pasturedhens #pasturedchickens #diversityislife
Wow! What a week. So much blessing and encouragement in the midst of chaos. The clutch failed on the farm ute on Sunday night. Computers started crashing. Bills started piling up... but you know what? EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OK! Somehow, a strange thing happens when you look up and keep pressing into what you’ve got to do. You see perfect marbled skies, you notice people around you that are willing to help, and in time the storm blows over and things quiet down. So on the flip side, we’ve sold over two thirds of this week’s chickens!! And I managed to borrow a Ute to get the chooks off to process. This makes me feel buoyant. This gives me the juice to keep persevering in this game. Cos when you boil it all down, it really is about other people and seeking to enrich the lives of those around you. I don’t always have the right attitude, but this week’s been a solid reminder - when you’re an active part of healthy community, you’ve got immeasurable wealth. Thanks guys! . . #marbledskies #chinup #theblessingisinthechaos #thisbusinessis99%perseverance @mayberry_woodend @kittensmithers @mrscolenso
Last year I called it the ‘Flightless V’, this year, we’ll... they’re sort of like flocks in fleets... so how about the ‘Fleet Flockses’? . No? . Anyway, we are having a blinder of a season, breaking records and breaking cars, but we’re carrying on. This farming caper is such sweet and wonderful mayhem. . You can help quell the mayhem side by preordering chooks for this spring season on our Open Food Network (link is in the bio). This boosts our confidence so much leading up to farmers markets and helps us stay ahead of the feed bills. It also helps us plan ahead and focus on the customers that are set on supporting us, so we in turn can support you better with our farm produce! . . On an environmental note, you can really see the difference the chook poop makes to the pasture, only weeks after the fleet has run over it. Hand to Ground - putting the poop where it belongs. . . #pasturedpoultry #pasturedchicken #pasturedbroilers #pastured #pastureraised #pasturedlife #woodendfarmersmarket #macedonranges #macedonrangesproduce
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Happy to hear and see you doing/going on such wonderful adventures. Can’t wait to see what you can conquer. Love you babe!