Thursday 8 October 2015

New Zealand Happenings

Meet Tripod, he is one of my parents lambs and while we were in New Zealand we had to nurse him back to health, well his leg any way.
He had developed a severe infection in is front knee joint which we believe was bacterial arthritis. The poor little guy had to have 2 weeks of antibiotics injections, daily wound flushing and redressing.  Luck I am not squeamish as the infection was pretty nasty.  We did talk about sending him to lamby heaven but he was healthy in all other ways and such a character that no one had the heart.  When we first started caring for him he was slow and easy to catch but by the time our trip was coming to an end he was getting around as quick as all the other 4 legged lambs



The infection in his leg has gone but he will never be able to use the leg as the joint is seized and the leg has atrophied.  But he is quite ok getting around on just 3 legs hence his name 'Tripod'.



We harvested some New Zealand flax (herekeke) from mum and Dads garden to add to our property.  It is a tall growing variety that gets to over 2 meters tall, has amazing bird attracting flower spikes and grows into a thick dense hedge.



We planted it just outside our boundary fence under power lines so although it is not super tall it is perfect for that location.  It is had to tell from the photo below but there is about 4 metres from where Hubby is standing in the drain to our fence.



We cleared back the grass and then got planting.



An to all my Aussie followers I am sorry but I have to show you our soil.   It is dark and rich and full of worms.  On top of that there is about a foot of topsoil.  Is there such a thing as soil love?
Our soil inside our boundary is not quite as good as it has been cropped in the past but this gives us an idea of how good it will be once we show it some love.



The corner is now all planted out and all we have to do is wait for the flax to grow which will not take too long.  We have cut it right back for transplanting but I expect that it will be getting up to full height within 12 months and starting to fill out.





More from our trip will follow including what for us are exciting steps forward.

10 comments:

  1. Sheep are such tough critters aren't they? We have had two sheep treated for different ailments recently and they bounce back from what looks like certain death very quickly. Glad you could do something for the little bloke.

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    1. Yes Barb they sure are tough, we were glad to get him back to being a bouncy little lamb again.

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  2. Looking forward to hearing more about your trip

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  3. Poor little Tripod, but definitely one of the lucky ones! You are making your settling period so much easier with all the preparation you are doing to your block. Lucky you with that gorgeous soil to play with - think of all the vegies you can grow. I'm sure you are looking forward to the move, and to be closer to your parents must be a bonus. cheers Wendy

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    1. Wendy being close to my family will be great, I have been here for 17 years so I am sure it will take some adjustment. We are dreaming of the garden we will have but we need to really work on wind breaks otherwise we will be fighting a loosing battle.

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  4. 2m Flax? That's tall! I do say, that does look like great soil. I predict much fecundity. No im not swearing, this is one of Jessie's favorite words. I looked it up to make sure i wasnt swearing and that i spelt it right.

    Fecundity means fruitfulness and fertility, the ability to produce abundant healthy growth or offspring. What a wonderful word fecundity is! It refers to a powerful productivity, usually in the area of natural growth, either from the earth or by human reproduction.

    Yep, this is definitely the right word to use. LOL.

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    1. Lynda it is one of the tallest varieties and it clumps into really thick clumps so it makes a great shelter. Haha love that word fecundity.

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  5. Are you permanently over there now?

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    1. Not yet AA we are aiming for the middle of next year and yes we have been talking about this move for ages... years in fact.

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