Weekly round-up 27 June 2021

The week always starts one way and ends another. I honestly thought I wouldn’t achieve anything this week but I still got through a lot of work.

As most weeks go, Monday starts and brings with it Mondayitis. I didn’t get Mondayitis this week though. I did get to see my mate quickly on Tuesday, but there was also news 2 new community covid-19 transmissions had emerged. The week has since slowly snowballed, with new community transmissions now in 4 states, and a range of lockdown restrictions coming into effect. I reckon by the end of the week, QLD will be in lockdown. Sydney and surrounds already is, NT just locked down, and other states have shut borders. Thankfully, I’m a homesteader, and have heaps of supplies.

In my IRL job, I started a new work schedule. 4 days for 10 hrs instead of 5 for 7.5. I tested this schedule for a couple of weeks before I asked for it and week 1 went relatively well. I was quite stressed but that’s more because of the actual work and not the schedule. And also once my husband gets back to his old self then my overall scheduling should reduce. Currently with his recovery I’m doing all the chores and my work and definitely feeling it!

Moose the Clydesdale had his shots last week and has taken almost the entire 7 days to feel himself again. He has his booster for Hendra coming up on the 9th July, but at least I know what to expect. He didn’t get a fever or anything like that, and he didn’t get any swelling or soreness around the injection site. He was just very lethargic and not much in the mood for anything. It caught me off guard because I already felt guilty I hadn’t had as much time to work with him or ride him, and the vet mentioned him having very little topline which I interpreted as ‘you are a shitty human and neglect your horse’.

Maybe the fact my apple health app sent me a notification that Aunt Flo wasn’t far off was the contributor to my huge emotions this last week.

But I am starting him on a new hard feed blend to try and help boost him back up again, and will be making a schedule this week for his training.

I also had to pick the last of my pumpkins! I left them on the vine as long as possible, and noticed they started snapping off the other day, which is a sign of readiness. I have such a glut of pumpkins now that I’ve also been adding it to my dogs raw food mix. I hope to have some recipes and posts on raw feeding soon. But the rest of my pumpkins have been puréed and frozen because I use it mostly for soup.

It wasn’t too bad, me having to pick the pumpkins. I’ve been planning for the last few weeks now to get into my garden and this was the perfect opportunity. We had rain last weekend and over the week intermittently, and the week before that were busy with other things. So today I was able to get into the garden, and clean it right up. Weeded everything, raked and tilled. Added some horse poo, old hay and ash and wet it down really well. The soil in the garden was great already and I turned up a lot of worms of all sizes. But I really wanted to fill it up a bit and give it a nutrient boost. Tomorrow I’ll add some blood and bone. And wet it down again.

I have actually ordered some tomato stakes and a mini greenhouse, so I will look at starting some seeds in the next few weeks. The ones I started about a fortnight-3 weeks ago have mostly died. The small greenhouse my husband got me is great, but I kept it in and closed when there was rain and it got mouldy inside from the moisture. But it’s still going to be super useful to use in the greenhouse, especially for sensitive plants.

The other thing we managed to get around to is the new farrier who ended up being fantastic, and I was able to get out into the front paddocks to clear all the lantana. Lantana is toxic for horses and I am hesitant to spray it. But it’s easy to pull out so I have pulled everything I could bar one, from the front paddocks in preparation for the fencing people…though, it would be nice if they actually came to do a quote!

We also managed a mid week trip to IKEA. My husband needed a new office chair so we ventured out. We were both quickly reminded why we live in the bush, and why going to IKEA induces stress. The only good thing was he practiced his walking, and they finally had some stock of apple fizzy drink which I love.

Post roundups this week are much smaller than last week! But I ended up having a full schedule with this new work arrangement. Once I get into the new swing of things I’ll be able to write more.

• TJ’s Epic Cold Pasta Salad
• Brisket Burgers
• Horsemanship: learning to release myself at a farrier visit

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