Nan Bray
Call the Midwife

It doesn’t often come up in farming conversations, but my title is officially Dr. I’m not the useful sort of doctor, though — just an academic. In retrospect, I should have studied medicine, as I originally intended. Instead, my academic qualifications extend to explaining climate change, but are totally useless in the project that is about to take all of my time and energy for the next few weeks: lambing 33 ewes.

This is the first time in six years that I’ve had lambs of my own. I had lots of good rationalisations for why it was a good idea to buy in lambs, but the truth is I chickened out. Lambing, like ageing, is not for the faint of heart.

Call the Midwife
Nan Bray
When the Grass is Ready to Burn

An early season bush fire on my farm earlier this year led me back to studying the knowledge of indigenous Australians about using fire to shape the landscape and enhance biodiversity.

When the Grass is Ready to Burn
Nan Bray
Shearing Marathon

Note to self: you need to change your mindset well before shearing next year.  Let this be your reminder to practice staying in the present moment almost all the time, rather than just occasionally.  If you don’t, you will, at the very least, leave a critical gate open and lose your sheep into the back country when you really, really don’t want them there, and don’t have the time to gather them back into the fold. There was a lot of swearing, none of it particularly inventive, when I did precisely that two days ago on my fifth straight day, and 7th out of a total of 12 days of shearing. 

Shearing Marathon
Nan Bray
Pure Blind Luck

It was a cross between a flying tackle and a wrestling pin to the mat when I tripped and fell on top of the old ewe I was trying to catch.  She’s a 14-year-old with severe cataracts, and she’d gotten lost in Chicory Hill tree reserve a few days ago. It was pure blind luck I found her when I did.

Pure Blind Luck
Nan Bray
Kangaroo Dogs

As I held on to all four legs of the squirming, hapless young kangaroo, all I could think was. “WTF am I going to do now?!” With my five working dogs swirling around me, I couldn’t let the little bush kangaroo go—they’d already had him up against the fence once, which is how I finally caught him.  Three of the five dogs were intent on finishing the job I’d so rudely interrupted.   

Kangaroo Dogs

lambing

All is Well

All is Well

All is well, all is well.
Angels and men rejoice
For tonight darkness fell into the dawn of love’s light.
Sing alleluia.
—Michael Smith

I’ve never felt particularly religious, but then I’ve never felt particularly political, either, until the last couple of years. However, I’ve always loved classical music inspired by faith, particularly the beautiful choral works for Christmas. This year the leader of our small choir (retired professional pianist Roslyn) taught us a carol I’d not heard before, and its reassuring message found a home in my heart, helping to me to stand fast against the feelings of anxiety and helplessness that seem to pervade the daily news.

Snakebite, Lightning Strike and Gunshots

Snakebite, Lightning Strike and Gunshots

This is how conspiracy theories get started—in the vacuum of verifiable causes.  I know this because recently I created my own conspiracy.  Three weeks ago, three perfectly healthy ewes simply laid down and died within a few hours of each other.  The circumstances were similar and puzzling:  sudden death with no sign of stuggle or evidence of disease or pregnancy.  Only two sheep have died here in the past 12 months, making this a clear case of something—but what?

 

Landline and other news (October 2013)

DSCN6737.jpg

This is not a "proper" Yarn, just a quick note to let you know that ABC Landline is running a segment on my farm and White Gum Wool yarn this coming Sunday, November 24th.  The program starts at 12 noon, EDT.  It can also be accessed for the following couple of weeks through http://abc.net.au/iview if you go to All Programs, then ABC1 and look for Landline.

In other news, Rangelands Journal in the US has recently published a paper by Fred Provenza and others (including me) entitled  Complex Creative Systems.  While formally technical, it is an easy read, and gives a good overview of what the nutritional wisdom concept is all about, and how people like me are putting it into practice.  Here's the pdf file: Complex Creative Systems, which you can also find on the website under Science, Technical Papers.

Just to let you know, Felix, Clara and Sabrina are doing fine, and have been joined by Vicky-Victoria and Georgie-girl.  The names, in case you are wondering, just come to me out of the ether.  Actually, I got Vicky's name wrong--tried calling her Lizzie, but it just didn't stick. 

DSCN6822
DSCN6822
DSCN6835
DSCN6835

And the last bit of news is that the new colours in the 8- and 4-ply yarns are here!  The boucle won't make it until sometime in December- it still hasn't left NZ.

Oh, and if you've missed earlier Yarns from the Farm, you can find them all on the website--just click on the last menu item on the home page--Yarns from the Farm. 

DSCN6737.jpg
DSCN6737
DSCN6743
DSCN6743
DSCN6745
DSCN6745
DSCN6740
DSCN6740
DSCN6738
DSCN6738
DSCN6742
DSCN6742

Felix, Clara and Sabrina

Felix, Clara and Sabrina

It is surprisingly difficult to write sensibly about lambing.  I don’t know if this is because it is an intimate, intense natural process filled with wonder and anxiety, or because there are so many aspects that it’s hard to know where to start.  Like the character of the wool at shearing, lambing reflects the whole year’s integration of how well I have read the season and the signals from my animals and the landscape.