Saturday, August 25, 2012

And so it begins ...



We've cut the ground and are building The Bluff Farm House!

Which of course makes it sound very grand.

We're building a two bedroom house with maximum living space, plans for a fantastic kitchen, and everything designed to be as self sufficient and energy efficient as possible.

Highlights to come?

The outdoor shower.

The wood stove.

The fantastic views.

A great deck.

Ability to walk in one door of the living room and straight out the other.

Sunday, January 3, 2010



First garden produce at home base in Canberra ... squash, beans, zucchini ... with broad beans and tomatos hot on their heels. Feels good - particularly when they appear on the side of our very own home grown Angus beef.

Monday, November 9, 2009

No Shortage ...


... of feed

... of blue skies

... of cattle (35 head now to be exact)

... timber

... fresh air

... aroma of green grass

... nice people

... view ...


Friday, August 28, 2009

Adventures in Book Keeping

And I don't mean failure to return borrowed novels!

With the advent of cattle on the block (I still can't bring myself to call it a farm without blushing), I have become increasingly concerned about the number of overloaded folders with mixed paperwork, not in date order, not to mention the nagging idea that perhaps it would be a good idea to monitor just how much we put into the darlin' and how much we potentially get out of it.


I buggered around with MYOB - downloading the 90 day free trial and paying for a basic online course - but fortunately had the sense to email Big D's Tax Accountant half way through and he set me straight: by providing a manual on basic paper organisation! So how far have we got? Well I've bought some ringbinders. And I'm proud of that. I really am. Next month I may actually put some paper in them ... and slowly begin to get some control over what is becoming a real business.

Oh, and while we're talking about cattle ... well, we were back in paragraph two. 28 head of Angus were successfully sustained through approximately nine months. 35 new head have replaced them.
Stay tuned, by the way, for an entry on the next great step in our move to become farmers: the purchase of the tractor. By now you may be thinking how sad this all is. I say to you:

Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil and you're a thousand miles from the corn field - Eisenhower