Whilst blog posts have been few and far between, there has been steady progress on the Rock Farm. With a new subdivision going in behind our property, council requested our neighbour upgrade part of the driveway. We were asked to cut our adjoining fence to allow the grader to open the drainage from the road – but I figured it was a good opportunity to pull the old tired fence down and replace the whole section completely. With the fence down, I also had an opportunity to clear overhanging branches with no risk to any fences. This gave me a good load of timber for firewood and mulch to spread around the paddock, and a new fence that should keep the cattle off the lane!

Mechanically things haven’t been going so smoothly on the Rock Farm… malFuncations wasn’t the first word beginning with ‘F’ I considered. Our zero turn mower stripped a couple of teeth from a cog in the transmission. And in the process of draining the oil from the other transmission, I dropped it and cracked the housing. This means I need two new transmissions – both now on back order from the US at great expense.

Lucie The Tractor’s clutch has started slipping badly. I usually can give most things a go, but this is one for the experts. Thankfully a nearby local mechanic will have a look at this for me…. in a month or so (good mechanics being in high demand). I hope to get her back in operation before we start feeding hay to the cattle (expected this summer around Christmas time).

The big red truck Myrtle ran out of fuel – and could I hell as get it going again. I bled the fuel lines, flattened, charged and flattened batteries again trying to get it going to no avail. I figured the fuel line was blocked, and loaded the generator and air compressor into the Hilux to blow back in the line. It worked – and the truck was running again and ready for work on the farm.

The older helper then announced that he would love to arrive at his school formal in a slightly different red two door car than his initial plan (a friend’s red two door Mustang). Now a farm truck is a little different to one on the road, so we are working through the truck to get it ready for a permit to travel. Overall it is in pretty good condition – with a couple of bulbs out, a crack in the exhaust we can weld up and it needs a good clean. The biggest problem is the radiator – some years before we bought it it had been holed, and a solid dab of silicon used to block the leak. No real problem around the farm where it rarely gets hot, and if the repair failed, it wouldn’t be much of a problem, but heading to the big smoke, on a balmy summer’s day, might be beyond it, so we have pulled the radiator out and are getting it recored – thankfully locally.

And topping it all off, whilst our little old run around Toyota Camry was in getting some extra attention to it’s cooling system, the older helper called me from the top of Macquarie Pass with a very hot and bothered Subaru Forester. He had been mountain biking and come up the pass nice and gently like all teenage boys drive….. (not). Thankfully he noticed the temperature gauge was well in the red and pulled over in Robertson and let the car cool gently. I hired a car trailer and a many hours later dropped the little Forester beside the Camry for some special attention. The good news is that the head gasket hasn’t seem to have blown (yet), and we may have got away with just a new radiator….

The other mechanical issue we faced was that the old horse float the boys had made into a box trailer was having issues with the brakes. Specifically the left front brake would periodically lock on and not release. We decided to let the rego lapse, and turn the now brakeless trailer into our emergency farm fire trailer… Being a tandem axle, it is far better suited to carry the weight of the IBC container than the old box trailer – and we had a lot of fun running the pumps and checking the system is fully ready for the fire season (did someone say ‘waterfight??’).

Speaking of the fire season, this year is looking particularly nasty. Our local brigade have already had our first call out for the season. Some dry phalaris stalks had got away from a local landowner. Yours truly at the wheel figured it was a good opportunity to test our grass firefighting skills with the nozzles on the front of the truck- until we got close to the fire and then sank the truck to the axles… It made it a very long night….

Despite all these distractions, the Rock Farm continues to nurture not just our cattle but also my soul. With my brother and his beautiful family we have marked our calves (12 heifers and 6 steers). The boys had a great time feeding apples and oranges to the cattle, and exploring the farm. One of the highlights was a night walk along the creek spotting possums and wombats doing their thing (quite remarkable considering the noise we were making). And we got to enjoy some slow cooked lamb with very low food miles (perhaps best measured in metres)…

It is wonderful to share the Rock Farm with family. Whilst there is a lot to do, and at times it can feel over-whelming, being able to see the beauty of the landscape through fresh eyes is always a pleasure. We are extremely fortunate to live here surrounded by great family, friends and community.