Friday 28 August 2015

Cross Slot Conference 2015

#crossslot #epag Almost 2 months since the 2015 Cross Slot Farm Tour and I haven't 'flogged my blog' with the photos from the tour on Eyre Peninsula.
It was an interesting, informative event and hubby and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone, thanks for visiting this part of the world Cross Slot owners. We'll see you in the UK next year with any luck!
Modra Seeds, Ungarra
 
Lunch at local Clubs - this one is the Ungarra Sports Club
 
At our place, Garry talking about our liquid setup
Tuna Steak cook off at the Boston Bay Winery, Port Lincoln
Visiting Bruce Morgan, Board member of SANTFA
Scott & Cassie Siviour's place at Wangary
Farewell Dinner at Port Lincoln Hotel, Me with John Baker
The Kiwi's love the Karaoke!!!

Saturday 23 May 2015

Spreading

Once the Canola is sown, we set about spreading snail bait to try and keep on top of the little critters.


It's a pretty basic operation, pour the snail bait pellets into the little spreader bucket and drive around. It spins and spreads them out over the ground.
Hopefully the little buggers come across a pellet of bait and eat it. Apparently they are not exactly attracted to the bait, they just randomly come across it and chew!
 
Little green pellets are snail bait 

Monday 11 May 2015

Baines Brothers of Eyre Peninsula #epag

Sadly we lost our first Baines brother on Saturday, Ivan.

Ivan was the 2nd eldest of the 5 boys who are the children of Herbert Baines and Stella Glover, Yeelanna.



A hard working family, Ivan's father, Herbert, came to Eyre Peninsula at age 16 from York, England in 1922 as part of the Barwell Boys Farm Apprentices scheme. He undertook a 3 year apprenticeship with Amos Skipworth of Yeelanna.




In 1927, Herbert bought Section 33, Hundred of Shannon which is still farmed today by 2 of his sons and their families.




Over the years, Herbert, Stella and their 5 boys all worked together to buy a farming property for each brother in their own right.  1 son at Ungarra, 2 sons at Lock and the younger 2 of the 5 remained on and around Section 33 near Karkoo.



Late last year I asked them to sit for a group photo. They automatically sat in order of age, I didn't realise until after I'd taken the shots.

All into their 70's now, they are all still actively involved with farming.

So it is with great sadness that we say goodbye to Ivan who was always the life of the party. A jovial, active man who loved nothing better than travelling back up to Lock to help his son, who now runs the farm. 

I will miss him dearly, his banter at the dinner table and stories of their adventures as 5 rascally farm boys. Their poor mother, what a handful they would have been, but she did an amazing job raising 5 hard working, resilient sons who I am privileged to know.

RIP dear Ivan. xxx






Tuesday 31 March 2015

Old Smokey

Our old bulldozer is worth its weight in Gold. 



Although it is possibly contributing to the depletion of the ozone layer, its hard to calculate the number of dollars we have saved by doing the job ourselves.



 This is hubby leveling the pad for our new 80x80 machinery shed

 

The bulldozer was purchased for a pittance after it was retired from dredging out a new marina on Eyre Peninsula.



Shed pad ready for shed


Its also good for knocking down scrubber pine trees