The Old Folks Home

[ozexpat]

Thank you and we do it because we love it and to also instill some very important survival skills in our children (we hope). Too many kids these days don't know the meaning of hard work, everyone just wants to collect a check. I don't want my kids expecting some sort of 'hand out'. I want them to know how to do for themselves should the time come when they need it and we aren't here. My grandmother taught me from a very early age how to break beans, snap peas, shuck corn, and all kinds of life lessons. I want my kids to know all that too, that's stuff they may need later on in life.

When i was 14 my parents uprooted us from a beach side Sydney suburb and we ended up on 1000 acres with 100 cows 1000 sheep 8 sows and around 80 acres of pasture oats. All we had when we got there was boundary fences and an estimated half a million rabbits. There was a summons from the Pasture Protection Board to abate the rabbit population, blackberry bushes and prickly pear cactus - all non-native pests that threatened the whole country.

My father, my brother and I divided it up into about 10 paddocks from 10-600 acres. We built cattle and sheep yards, We restored a 100 year old shearing shed. We had to renovate a house that had not been lived in for 15 years. It was hard work every day before and after school, on weekends and every summer for many years.

I milked 2 dairy cows each day and had a 1000 sq ft veggie garden. I grew corn tomatoes peppers squash melons and lettuce. We made butter, salami and bacon. I learnt how to butcher as well.

I had the best time.

 

[drumstick diva]

ozexpat how did you guys get rid of all the rabbits - I don't envy the prickly pears either -

We have had winter hardy cactus that have taken over despite the fact that we have had some severe(chicago area) winters. They refuse to die, they laugh at pure bleach watering, Round up tough brush and poison ivy killer, boiling water etc. Can't torch them too close to the house - have found dead bird, toads that get impaled and apparently couldn't get loose.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

Well, I'm definitely not retired or even anywhere close, but compared to others my age, I feel ancient. I am only 33, married with 5 kids, 2 dogs, 2 cats, 12 chickens, and 2 55 gallon tanks of fish. We really enjoy the 'farm' life a lot. In fact we are trying to sell our house in order to buy more land to expand our farm. We did not grow a garden this year due to that and I really missed it. Sorry if Im intruding by not being an 'old timer' but my grandmother raised me well and I feel I would fit in good here. I usually make friends with people a generation above me, due to lack of maturity of most people my age. Hope y'all don't mind me sittin in from time to time.

This is pretty much me, minus the married and the kids (and my fish tanks are empty). Just can't relate to people my own age. My parents instilled a sense of responsibility and hard work in me. Most of my friends are in the 40, 50 and 60 crowd. I have very few people that I can either relate to or trust who are in their 30s.

 

[IttyBiddyRedHen]

Knees? Y'all have knees??!!

I kinda remember those.
Hi to the noobies,

Pull up a rocking chair and sit a spell. We do alot of that 'round he-ah. CNTM, so sorry for your loss of your mother.

As for me, I am merely AARP certified now-a-days. Not retired by a long shot, has remnants of knees, shoulders, elbows....you know, body parts. I was laid of from the best job I ever had...back in '09. Then, moved to the country with my new husband. So now I am merely a chicken wrangler by day.....and an Ibuprofen addict by night.

Right now, we have 16 chickens in the big pen. And 4 cockerels in the freezer camp line. Their ticket comes up the end of Sept. They were naughty bad game/plymouth mixes. In their 6th month now. I had integrated 5 three month old babies to the pen just the other day. Those boys, all 4 of them...tried their darndest to rip those babies to pieces. So, after 2.5 hours of chicken wrangling.....I caught the buggers and put them in the Que for freezer camp. They are currently enjoying fresh scratch, water, shade, and their own private pens.

I do sew, quite alot actually. Just haven't mentioned it in this thread.

 

[Pozees]

ozexpat how did you guys get rid of all the rabbits - I don't envy the prickly pears either -

We have had winter hardy cactus that have taken over despite the fact that we have had some severe(chicago area) winters. They refuse to die, they laugh at pure bleach watering, Round up tough brush and poison ivy killer, boiling water etc. Can't torch them too close to the house - have found dead bird, toads that get impaled and apparently couldn't get loose.

Two things I've been told (have not tried) for similar plants (meanest Yuccas I've ever seen) - 1, cut off as much as possible and pour gasoline down into the open stem/roots; 2 - do the same using salt instead of gasoline. Either method is likely to ruin the site for planting for several years but is supposed to kill the offending plant. Salt will be easier to wash away/dilute to less harmful. Hard part is cutting off or digging up as much as possible and disposing of it without injuring yourself. If you decide to try it, wear protective clothing and have a receptacle ready for the pieces as you dig/cut them away.

I didn't try either method because at the time my son was 12, and he and his friends were play-acting with long sticks serving as swords, using them to whack the Yuccas (enemies) - that actually reduced them to less dangerous sizes, and a few years later we moved to this place.

 

[mrchicks]

I remember knees! They are directly connected to the back, which is connected to whatever part makes that old lady groan when I stand up too fast.

We have 14 in the big pen and 11 in the brooder right now. We're done with freezer camp for the year, thank heavens. Now we're just getting ready for winter.

I have a koi pond in the back yard, that's the extent of my fish keeping. They'll be getting ready for winter soon too.

 

[superchemicalgirl]

I do sew, quite alot actually. Just haven't mentioned it in this thread.

As far as the sewing goes - I think we may have found a new SJ designer.

 

[gryeyes]

i can still "get down" with the best of 'em. It's the getting back up again that's so difficult. If there isn't something in near proximity for me to grab for support, there better be somebody near by to assist me. Otherwise I have to practice my Pub Crawl sans pub.

 

[chickadoodles]

i can still "get down" with the best of 'em. It's the getting back up again that's so difficult. If there isn't something in near proximity for me to grab for support, there better be somebody near by to assist me. Otherwise I have to practice my Pub Crawl sans pub.

X2 I can get down, I just cannot get back up! I am still aways from retirement but I stay at home and work taking care of all the critters.

 

[RedPulletMama]

This is pretty much me, minus the married and the kids (and my fish tanks are empty). Just can't relate to people my own age. My parents instilled a sense of responsibility and hard work in me. Most of my friends are in the 40, 50 and 60 crowd. I have very few people that I can either relate to or trust who are in their 30s.

Maybe we could get to be friends. Seems we enjoy the same company lol.