Drought2018

Its just on six months since we did the ABC Newcastle drought interview.  It was a stinking-hot summer and I looked like I had enough.  I had never felt so un-glamourous in my life! 

But now looking back to February 2018 after my interview, we luckily did receive some rain but definitely not enough and definitely not constant rain.  We are lucky, as we are a small farm but we all have livestock and produce to grow so it all affects us - whether you live on a farm or in the city, the produce quality will decline and our grocery costs will slowly increase, I won't even mentioned the hay costs for us! 

So I think its time to do another interview as after our ABC interview it rained two weeks later and we received some good rain with 104mls for that month but sadly not enough. March onwards it reduced down to 69mls and April was 26mls, May 15mls, June 72mls and July only 3mls.  So maybe if I do another un-glam interview I will make it rain! 

We finally managed to sell our mini-cattle only two weeks ago and buying hay was getting harder and also feeding the 15+ alpaca's who are all pregnant so that will expand quickly up to 25+ alpacas, which means a lot of lucern hay for my babies next season. 

Hope you have all seen the images of the Upper Hunter drought and how worse it is across NSW and QLD.  The good team at Buy a Hay Bale have been working non-stop delivering goods to large farmers who need help.  You can make a small donation to them here

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Photo taken June 2018 its all very crunchy under foot. The alpaca having brekkie on lucern hay and they love it. 

Click here to read the February 2018 ABC Interview. 

No Monday Blue's here....

Its such a glorious Monday at the farm. So its time to kick off my oh-so glam boots and get relaxing in that outdoor bath on the famous red rattler train deck. 

The alpacas have been moved to other new paddock so we can now rest the creek paddock for a couple of weeks before they return there.  From the bath, I can see the boys neck wresting the day away. Boys will be boys!  

Check out my glam red boots by Merry People - they are made by an Australian company who produce fabulous, comfy and warm - yes, finally a pair of boots that are warm!  Thank you Merry People Rainwear. We love them. 

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T4615 RED RATTLER

Rustic farm stay glamping style: Satisfying your craving for the outdoors and your penchant for a good meal, nice glass of wine, and a comfortable bed. Its nothing like a hotel, your room does open up to a beautiful landscape instead of a lobby.

Our off-grid farm has a 1950's Sydney Train carriage, the famous Red Rattler plus our petite Shepherd's Hut.

A unique 'glamping' farm stay experience for 4 adults plus its the perfect place for star gazing and so much more.

Read more about our farm stay here 

 

Photo by Daniela at Little Valley Farm

 

Dry Drone!

On a stinking hot day in January 2018, Doggie Drone visited our farm and we just managed to stand out in the stinking hot sun for twenty minutes otherwise we were going to roast away!  Anyways, Perry captured how dry our little farm is during this drought. I do have to say, looking at vid from this angle, the farm was looking worse than I thought and yearned for some rain and long long green grass. 

And as I write this, we are still waiting for rain. Still waiting!

Thank you to Perry for this amazing drone clip.