Concessions

Oh, *sigh*!
Today we took receipt of a delivery of hay. For the horses. Had to bite the bullet. The grass finally got the memo that Spring is over (because we never actually got summer before Autumn came!) and has slowed right down, so the horses have had to have their diet supplemented and they are happy. Jack, the borrowed grey, is going back this week. He just hasn't responded to the grass the way he could have, and as he's established himself as a loner he doesn't even cut it as a paddock buddy anymore. He came to us before I knew how far off we were from acquiring a pony, and as we now have two of those, Jack is now redundant as a herd member. He's a nice boy, but he needs to have a purpose in order to remain, and his lovely owner will come to get him and ply him with extra feed over the cooler months. It takes some pressure off the feed situation here, especially as we don't have horse paddocks set up down here (the grand plan is for the top of the hill) and are making do with boggy facilities.
The big paddocks are fine for the bovines, and it has been decreed that they be left solely for bill-paying bovine use. It costs to bring in hay for horses, but it would cost so much more to bring in hay for the steers, so it was an easy call to make. I bought a hay square from one of the local rural supplier chains and I wasn't impressed, especially given that I don't normally even pay that much for hay. Dusty with a slight mouldy smell. For $10! First and last. I then called a guy from the local classified listings and even though it was on dark when he arrived, I liked the look of his hay and there was no dust cloud. I did have to go and buy the biggest tarpaulin I could find, though, as we have no hay shed. That is next on the agenda, I think!
The cattle market is down - weather, live export backlash etc, so these boys have to stand around and eat more grass before we send them off to the great big grass paddock in the sky. Half their luck! I'm learning to pay more attention to the stock reports in the local papers and the national rural rag. It's slowly making more sense to me, even though I get there after flicking through looking for horse news. And now that we've sold a mob, I feel less fraudulent talking to the staff in the rural supply shops who ask what we farm, and I say "Beef cattle"...cos we've turned cattle into beef! They really are lovely animals, and I'm not quite reconciled with their ultimate purpose. Things are so busy around here, though, that I have hardly any time to really think on it and go over it.
So, the cold is setting in, our Winter nights routine is forming itself and the shed will be ready soon. It's the season to make mulled wine and listen to the frogs singing a riot out there!

Observations

The thing about living on a place before you build the final home is learning the environment and climate. There are things we will be able to tell a draftsperson or architect right from the word go to consider in the design, orientation and elevation of the strawbale house on the hill and its angles.
Down here for the shed there are elements we've come to realise will affect us differently through the seasons. The biggest one that comes to mind is the angle of the sun in the Winter. In Summer the sun rises and makes its arc up high over the hill all day long, until it sinks into the west, down by the neighbours' trees and hills. Just this week I came to a realisation about our hill - it's too high in Winter for the sun to reach over for parts of the day! The sun hits the shed and streams in through the windows in the early morning, by mid-morning it has crept behind the hill, peeks out again at about 3pm and from 4 onwards we are left in cool shadow again.
Luckily, we'll be toasty warm with our wood stove and all walls insulated.
Bringing me to the next point. In certain wind conditions, even if it appears to be a still day, we can hear the roar of the trucks on the highway (about 3kms away as the crow flies) as if they were on the next road down from us. Again, an insulated shed means that it can't be heard from inside, but the peace of the valley is certainly broken if one wishes to sup a mug of hot coffee under the trees, on these days!
Learning, always learning. And glad we haven't committed our ideas in strawbale and render just yet...

Progressions

Plaster is ordered.
Flue kit is ordered.
One weekend organised where children will be absent (and, by default, their mother, who may even enjoy spending a rainy weekend in drier climes) so that much internal work may be accomplished, unhindered.
It's good for the psyche to tough it out in the caravan these cold nights, knowing that a warm and toasty, insulated, wood-stove heated, two bedroomed, large loungeroomed shed conversion will save us from the tyranny of South Gippsland caravan living. Don't go and tell me any different, because it's these little epithets that get me through the days. And nights. And mornings. Good for soul. Good for psyche. Good for character-building yaddiyaddah...I think. I MUST believe!
Tonight, Mr Nekked Farmer attended the first of many Thursday nights run by DPI (Department of Primary Industries) on Whole Farm Planning. Now, WFP is what my Horse Property Management course drew heavily from, so the Mr is already a bit familiar with the principles involved after I came home last November gushing about shelter belts, fencing along contour lines, protecting waterways, and all that environmentally responsible farm planning stuff that still gets me just a little exciteable. So, now we'll have two of us on board with the sustainable farming caper - the more the merrier.
Oh, and in some ambivalent news...we sold steers! 15 of our biggest fellas were sold at market on Wednesday morning, in Koonwarra (where many of ours were bought from), and some were sent to Warrnambool, some to Cranbourne. My heart is heavy for the ones heading out west. They had quiet, happy lives here for the past 11 months, only to be packed onto a truck for hours before meeting their fate. I think I'd prefer to have the choice of sending them closer. More next week, we think. I suppose we'll get used to it, given time. Here are the hefty boys in the holding yard, waiting for a truck to arrive...

I expect the next installment to include pictures of plastered walls...watch this space...