The Adventures of Pen and Jane I3: Working on the Farm

8/10/2019 The Adventures of Pen and Jane I3: Working on the Farm

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B. Campbell and J. Baker-Edwards, White Ford Falcon Station Wagon, Somewhere in Australia | 0401 514 832 | [email protected]

At the head of the Johnson family is

Simon, who works very hard in

running the farm with some help

from his father, Kevin (who is soon

to retire and now lives on the edge

of the farm in a newly built house).

Hes a very clever and calm person

who knows everything there is to

know about farming and takes the

time to explain things to us

amateurs.

Annieis a very enthusiastic,

Devon-born lady who has

seemingly limitless amounts ofenergy which she needs in order to

deal with her very full plate! Not

only does she run the business and

financial side of the farm but she

passionately runs her own Enjo

business which is a chemical-free

cleaning product range. She does

very well each month hitting all of

her targets and even achieved top

sales in the world last November.

She does all of this whilst running

the house, having three children

and being an active and valued

member of the Willalooka

community.

Bonnieis 11 years old, but seems

more mature. Her independence

allows her to do very well at school

and means she needs minimal

babysitting! Shes funny, candid, is

very good at making scotch

pancakes and can somehow control

Digby in a tantrum.

Oscar, (10) is a boys boy who

would rather be riding around onhis 50cc Yamaha, helping out on

the farm than spend his time at

school. Hes a real farmer in the

making and is sometimes Bens own

personal jackeroo! He partakes in

Australian football, hockey and

cross country.

Digbyis 3 in October and has

unabashedly fallen in love with Ben.

Hes literally attached to Ben

whenever hes not working. Digby

wants him to read him stories, play

with him, let him sit on his lap and

comfort him when hes upset. WhenBen comes in its Hello, Ben!,

when Bens there its BEN, BEN,

BEN! and when Bens not there its

Wheres Ben?. When we arrived,

Digby was only saying a few words

like family names and his own

names for animals like woo

woo (meaning dog). Now, hes

improved exponentially and can

speak in sentences which has been

very special to witness. Despite this,hes only just started saying my

name; much to the amusement of

the aforementioned, Ben.

We have thoroughly enjoyed getting

to know the Johnsons and we have

been extremely lucky to find such a

lovely family to spend three months

with.

The Johnsons

Ben, Jade, Digby, Oscar, Armelle (backpacker), Annie, Bonnie, Jimmy (backpacker) and Simon
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It was only a year agothat the Johnsonfamily moved into the farmhouse

(which was previously inhabited by

Simons parents) and Annie has done a

brilliant job in renovating the dated

house. The house is finished now, but

Annie still has lots of ideas for

improving the surrounding grounds

and the rest of the farm which has

kept us very busy!

When we arrived, thevegetable

patch was flourishing but sadly

wasnt much to look at. With the help

from Armelle (a Scottish backpacker

that was here for our first week), we

covered the area in bark chips

acquired from a pile left by the council

down the road. Since then, Ben and I

have helped build two more large

patches and a cute little strawberrypatch from scrap materials left around

the farm. Furthermore we helped pull

up the summer crops and plant winter

seeds in their place. The result: a

perfectly rustic supermarket just a few

steps away from the house!

Whilst the Johnsons were away over

Easter at the Gold Coast, Ben and I

paintedtwo large turkey huts

that sit either side of the start of the

driveway. They were perviously very

rusty and therefore a bit of an eyesore.

Now they are the same colour as the

house and give a much better first

impression of the property.

One of the things at the top of Annies

wish list was fillingthe potholesin

the driveway and lane way. Many,

many trailer loads of rubble and

elbow grease later, we have completed

the task. The roads are much nicer to

drive along now!

The farms current new venture is to

fatten up 50 meat chickens to sell. In

order to do this, Ben and Kevin had to

go about building a new pennext

to the existing laying chickens.

To reinforce the fencing around the

farm, Ben and I have inserted

hundreds of batonswhich ensure

that sheep and cattle cant get through

the gaps in the wire.

Ben has spent the past 3 weeks

building a new feedlotwith

Kevin. This consisted of tearing up

the existing troughs with a grinder and

building new, better designed and

easily accessible troughs to fatten up

the cattle with.

We built the three wooden patches in the foreground

Filled potholes in the driveway

Building and Improving

The house and workshop

The painted turkey huts

Building the new feedlotThe black batons enforce the wire between postsThe new meat chicken pen
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Jessie and Sammy

The lamb feeders

On a daily basis, we wake up and do the morning chores around

the house. For myself, this includes:

Turning on the bore water pumpwhich provides water

for the outside of the house and the rest of the farm,

including water troughs in the paddocks

Feedingthe cats

Feedingand watering the four Kelpie working dogs

Letting the chickens out, refilling their water and grain,

throwing down food scraps and a special protein mix (which

I make from meat meal, bran, pollock and oats) and

collecting their eggs

Wateringand tending to the potted plants around the

house and garden

Giving grain and water toturkeys

Feeding the poddy calves

Bens jobs:

Splitting and restocking the firewood

Giving grain and water to the Indian Runner Ducks

Grain and water for the Frizzle Chicken and chick

Watering and tending to the extensive vegetable

patch

When Im not needed on the farm, I help out around the house.

Id missed baking whilst we have been away so I have been

happy to have the important job of supplying the family with

tea-break cakes, snacks and lovely desserts. I have also cooked a

lot of dinnerswhich has been a good challenge as I had never

really experimented with savoury foods before. It has been a

pleasure to cook and bake in Annies kitchen as it is always well

stocked with everything you could possibly imagine and goingout to pick fresh veggies as and when you need them is a luxury!

In addition, I help with the laundry,

cleaning and looking after the children.

About once a week we will go out to the

lamb troughs and feeders. Whilst I

empty out the troughs and scrub them

clean, Ben picks out the stones and dirt

from the feeders and makes sure that the

grain can flow out. The lambs seem to

harbour a lot of things in their mouths

which drop out when they eat and drink sothese jobs sometimes take a little while!

Chores

The working dogs: Sheila, Coco, Penny and Ruby

Laying chickens: Isa Browns, Light Sussex, Silver-laced Wyandotte & Silkies.

The Frizzles and Indian Runner Ducks

The lamb troughs
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In the past months we have developed skills and

knowledge that we never thought we would acquire.

Agriculture is an intriguing topic and it has been exciting

to do things that are out of the ordinary.

We were thrown in at the deep end as the first few weeks

on the farm were dedicated tovaccinatingall of the

cattle and lambs against pest-spread diseases. For the

cattle, my job was to record the tag numbers whilst

helping to herd them down the raceway and into the

crush (where they are boxed in and cant move around

too much). Ben, however brandished a vaccination gunand was responsible for the injections themselves and for

trimming their tails. To vaccinate, you have to stab the

gun straight into the skin in either the hind or neck areas

and pull the trigger as quickly as possible whilst watching

out for potential bucking which can result in a broken

arm. The spring-loaded gun which is attached to the

vaccine bag then reloads itself with 5-10ml of the

vaccine, ready for its next victim!

The spring-loading feature was especially useful when

vaccinating the lambs as Ben was able to inject them one

after the other as they were lined up in the raceway. Thelambs do not need tag numbers so I was responsible for

herding them through the multiple pens in the sheep

yard. The trick is to stand where you dontwant them to

be as they are like repelling magnets and will try to get

as far away from you as possible. To push them up into

the raceway it is easiest to use your knees to push against

their back ends. If they are being particularly stubborn,

a good pinch on their tail should get them moving. The

first group that we vaccinated were especially hard work

as they were young and hadnt been through the

procedure before. On several occasions we had to draftthe lambs which involved much of the same. Drafting

is when you separate the lambs into groups which can be

based on weight or breed to name a few. Each lamb is

pushed up the raceway, into the crush and directed to

the relevant pen.

About three times a week, Ben and I will feed out

hay and silageto the cattle. This involves attaching

the trailer to the pick-up truck (or ute), uncovering the

silage and waiting for Simon to use the tractor to load

one bale of hay followed by one bale of silage. After that

we drive to the relevant paddock and Ben will cut the

strings on the bales so that he can tear it apart, biscuit by

biscuit. I will then drive very slowly whilst Ben uses a

pitchfork to separate the biscuits and spread them across

the paddock. By breaking up the hay and increasing its

surface area, we ensure that all of the cattle can access it

and none will be left to rot at the bottom of the pile.

Farm Work

Cattle crush

Cattle in the raceway

Lamb in the crushMurray Grey cows running up to the hay trailer
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The Johnsons have treated us like their own from day

one and it has been lovely to be part of their family.

Our bedroom isnt part of the house but is in a jackeroo

hut at the bottom of the garden. It gets a bit cold and

we have had a few mouse and spider friends from time

to time but were only in there when we are sleeping so

it hasnt really mattered. The rest of our free time is

spent in the house with the family eating homely

dinners like stews and casseroles, learning to knit and

playing games.

On the weekends, we have often gone to hockey with

Bonnie and Oscar which has taken us to many places

around the surrounding area such as Mundulla,

Bordertown and even Eden Hope (which is across the

Victorian border).

On the second hockey game that we went to, Ben and I

had a go. Ben played for Willalooka Mens team and I

played for Bordertown High School. It was good to getsome exercise, but unfortunately neither of us got into the

game because of very frequent whistleblowing and

penalties which made us stop every thirty seconds.

Hockey just wasnt for us, despite both of our teams

winning. In addition, because each game was played at a

different time, we ended up being there for about eight

hours which made the whole experience a bit of a drag

after a week of hard-labour filling potholes. After that,

Ben and I were just spectators for Bonnie and Oscars

games (whilst of course exchanging awkward smiles with

the people from our rejected teams).

In becoming honorary Johnsons we have been been

warmly welcomed into the Willalooka community. I have

helped out at The Biggest Morning Tea fundraiser for

the Cancer Council and in cleaning the Community Hall.Ben and I have taken the kids to see a a GCSE school play

called School Dance which was surprisingly very funny.

Additionally, we have been to several birthday parties

including Jerrys 3rd, Austins 1st and Gaetzys 21st; all of

which involving some sort of delicious barbecue. We

concluded that Australians put a lot of effort into parties!

With two weeks to go, Ben even checked out Australias

health service when he had to have three stitches at Keith

Community Hospital after an incident with a

sledgehammer!

Family Life

Our hut

Ben playing hockey My knitting

The inside of our hut

Ben surrounded by children at Austins 1stBirthday


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My homemade pavlovaBen is still not a fan of cats

Photo Page

A very big boy

Driving the ute around the farm Yeah Im standing in everyones water. What of it?

The best chicken ever!

Ben taking Ruby to work Ben filling up from the farms own gas supplyMeat Chicks

Ben getting 3 stitches after incident with sledgehammer Ben and Digby in a sinkhole atMount Gambier

The poddy calves, Bella and Jade with Maggie the Border Collie


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Beige to GreenThe Summer to Winter transition on the farm was astounding.

Within days, the land changed from being dry and barren-

looking to thriving and green; all it took was a day of magical

rain!

On the 2ndof July we will have to say a teary goodbye

to the Johnsons and Willalooka. We came here merely

to fill a requirement but we leave here feeling grateful to

the government that this condition is enforced. Withoutit, we wouldnt have experienced rural Australian farm

life which is at the heart of Australian culture.

Our plans are still a bit up in the air but we think that

after seeing Adelaide and other areas of South

Australia, we are going to chase the sun up north.

Considering that we have already seen the red centre,

our initial plan was to go across to Perth which would

obviously save on petrol, however the past month of

freezing nights and downpours have made us change

our minds. Consequently, we will probably backtrack

up through the red centre (past Alice Springs) and headover to The Kimberley and Broome at the top of

Western Australia.

A work friend from Palm Cove threw a spanner in the

works when he suggested that we come to work in his

understaffed restaurant in the Barossa Valley (just out of

Adelaide). His manager is currently looking over my

CV, however the pay and hours would have to be very

good to entice us to stay in the cold! Although the

timing of this offer is not perfect, after looking into theBarossa Valley as a whole, we have decided that during

summer months it is a feasible place for us to return to.

It is a beautiful area, there is a lot of cheap

accommodation and lots of restaurants which is perfect

for when we both want jobs in the same town.

One of my favourite things about travelling is how one

suggestion can change your path in major ways. In

Cairns a recommendation from a Canadian

backpacker resulted in us working in Palm Cove for

four months! So who knows, in six months time we

might be back here working in the gorgeous Barossa,visiting the Johnsons on our days off.

Our Plans

Thanks for getting through another

newsletter; I hope you have enjoyed

it and it has given you insight into

the real Australia!

Please find previous issues and

videos at https://www.dropbox.com/

s h / 8 a 0 5 e 1 x g 1 g r x 4 1 h /

AAApK544VahDReC8o5Ft-_l6a

I have made several videos but can only

upload them when I have spare data or

miraculously find wifi so watch this

space! We are also excited to announce

that we have just invested in an actual

GoPro so our video and sound quality

should go through the roof!

I will leave you with this for your ownamusement:3

throws

and

a

cushion
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The Adventures of Pen and Jane I3: Working on the Farm