G'day all y'all- bilingual- not bad eh?
Name's Jay. Australian. Sixty eight years old and sort of almost retired, meaning the work goes on but the money dried up. Very happily married, pile of kids, even bigger pile of grandkids.
Been
gardening for sixty years. Farming/ livestock/ timber work most of my life. Downsized to a few acres twenty years ago. Have a couple of cows- Jersey and Jersey cross- a few sheep- Poll Dorset and crosses. Chooks, geese, guinea fowl. Had a lot of pigs for many years but the cost of
feed went stupid after the last drought so got rid of them. Had ducks and a few bronze wing turkeys- mainly for arrow fletching- but foxes eventually took them. Have about a hundred catfish in the dam- had trout previously but a heat wave ended that little experiment.
I have two big garden beds for the big stuff and the wife has several small beds close to the house for everything else. We have a lot of fruit
trees and grape vines. The back
yard is a couple of acres- the plan was to be able to walk from the house to the shearing shed- a hundred yards- under shade- pretty much nailed that, having planted close to six hundred trees and shrubs. It's late spring here and there are literally hundreds of birds in the yard, nests everywhere. We feed a few species and a couple will eat out of our hands. We also keep a few bees- make all the boxes and frames from logs milled on the farm. We have a few pet Archangel pigeon, a few obese guinea pigs, three small dogs. I won't have cats on the place.
I grow a small amount of a couple of heritage wheat varieties, mostly for long
straw for craft work. I was also growing heritage corn for silage for the milking cow but this years seed grain was pretty much wiped out by grain moth, so starting again almost from scratch this year.
We used to have twenty four thousand sheep and several hundered head of
cattle, so a lot of
experience with those and the associated work- building sheds, sheep and cattle yards,
land clearing, soil improvement, animal husbandry, fencing- I've built more than twenty miles of new
fence and repaired much more old stuff.
Have boats, ride a Harley, have a pretty good
workshop and make stuff, play mostly folk music. Learning willow weaving lately. I use a scythe every day and have done for years. I find it enjoyable and therapeutic, like kneading bread which we also do- have a lovely old slow combustion
wood stove although the kitchen's too hot most of the time. I also have a well equipped smithy and enjoy blacksmithing when it's safe to do so- fires are a constant worry here in the summer. A lot of physical wear and tear and some surgeries required when I have time. I have a full white beard and what's left of a long plait- I look like an anorexic Santa. I read a lot and watch a lot of how to clips on Youtube. Watch almost no television and never listen to the radio. Lived without electricity or running
water for many years and it was without doubt the best time of my life- get up when you can see and go to bed when you can't. I have little patience for idiots and conspiracy theorists. I will give an honest answer to any question if possible and if I don't know
the answer I'll make up some shit that sounds convincing
I always write way more than I
should as you have just seen. Talk to me please:) Jay.
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