We have a new working machine on the farm !

My RFS brigade was doing the sausage sizzle for a clearing sale today. This was the last farm item to be auctioned before the house furniture.

Worth packing for Tassie :-)

This is a Honda CT110, the same type of bike used by posties. This one is an ag bike however, with high and low range gearing.

It is fun, useful and apparently interesting !! Willy has tried to fight it, eat it, and now has decided that it's a game :-)

Even Poppy doesn't mind a run :-)

I have named the bike "Bossy".

Well, it's probably time that I can make an official announcement. We have contracted to buy a farm in Tasmania ! This is a photo of the place, or at least the section with buildings on it. All the buildings you can see are ours except for the grey roofed house to the right.

These include a six bay dairy, milk room, shearing shed, calving shed, piggery, green house, hayshed, two chook runs, kennels, slaughter room, butchery, chiller, silo, machinery shed, store shed, five car parking sheds and a carport, two houses and 100 acres of basalt soil. It's two minutes from town, is on town water, and 20km from the beach

Remember, you can click on the photo to enlarge it. The link to the real estate listing is below if you'd like to look.

http://www.harcourts.com.au/Property/471913/TNE4532/35530-Tasman-Highway

So Oaklands is on the market, and the blog will be taking a left turn, but the learning curve will probably remain vertical !

It's been a big couple of months for Alvin. He had a major life-event in the shape of the arrival of Poppy.

Poppy is a seven month old desexed female maremma that was bought from a pet shop in the city and raised in an apartment. She was fed only lean mince and came to us via a maremma rescue weighing only 22kg and with no muscle let alone fat. 

The first day Alvin thought she was a terrible pest. Then he fell in love and now they spend hours every day playing and wrestling and running.

Alvin is the friend Poppy needed to help her gain strength and agility and Poppy is the friend Alvin needed to help him gain confidence and enthusiasm. It's a new life for her and a new lease on life for him.

They swim in the dam and explore the forest and check on the sheep. Poppy finds old bones and cow poop to bring home and tease Alvin into playing with, and he lets her dig up his treasures and gnaw on them.

It has been a wonderful change and bringing Poppy home must be about the best decision I've made on the farm yet.