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Bessie at Burragan

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25.01.2022 Lucky we moved the houseboat to higher ground this week 22mm of beautiful life giving rain in random storms at Burragan in the past 36 hours. Just what we ordered, thank you. Now some for everyone else (and our other blocks too) please #rain #Burragan #outbacknsw

22.01.2022 Happy to have a second load of wool out to market before this week’s forecast rain. Will be interesting to see if/when/where the rain falls and if we’ll actually get much shearing done this week. Swings and roundabouts. Sometimes it be good if we could schedule the wet weather for the weekends but we all know that’s not how it works (... would be good to be able to schedule it at all! ) #Burragan #outbacknsw #lovesheep #wearwool

20.01.2022 We are truly lucky to have so much space around us to live and play in, but today’s the last day of winter and my Jack Russells just killed the first eastern brown snake (second most venomous land snake in the world) for the season in our house yard. Sometimes it really does suck to live where we live. Greener grass, swings and roundabouts and all that jazz. #Burragan #outbacknsw

19.01.2022 Slowly but surely, with a few rain delays, we’re getting through shearing at Burragan. So far, so good! It’ll have been more than a month of shearing by the time we finish the other two properties. Yesterday the first truckload of bales headed south to market. #Burragan #outbacknsw #merino #wool #lovesheep #wearwool

16.01.2022 Towards the end of 2019 I was honoured to be named a finalist in the Harvey Norman Shine Awards and then go on to win the Spirit category for my work in sharing positive rural stories through times of drought and hardship. It was a hugely thrilling time, with ST and I flown to Melbourne to meet the other category winners - an incredible and inspiring group of women including overall winner Margy Perkuhn of Fierce Female Farmers pictured below - and enjoy a very special long ...lunch at Cruden Farm alongside the wonderful hosts of the award from Harvey Norman and The Weekly Times. As we each accepted our awards we were given the opportunity to say a few words. Alongside my thanks, I spoke of how easy it is for rural people - in these uncertain times of climate, political, health and economic challenges - to feel unheard and unsupported. "...But the Shine Awards prove differently. The Shine Awards are a perfect example of how valuable the health and wellbeing of our rural communities are to all Australians. Rural women play a vital role in the energy that keeps communities going through the tough times, and recognising their achievements keeps them connected, their voices heard, and makes us all stronger." (Read more via the link below) Unfortunately the high we were riding on after our extraordinary weekend in Melbourne was very quickly obliterated when we received the first of several lots of truly awful, personal news. The exact details of the tragedy we suffered in January remain close to my heart and I'm not sure when, if ever, I'll feel able to write about them publicly. Those close to us know what happened and how our lives were thrust on a vastly different path throughout 2020. It played on my mind all year that I wasn't able to shine (pun intended) the light on these wonderful awards and the other winners all year, the way I would have loved to if I'd had the capacity to do anything more this year than just keep our little family and Burragan all running as smoothly as it could while we carried on with broken hearts. The irony wasn't lost on me that I was awarded recognition for my "Spirit" in tough times and then I absolutely felt as if I had none, let alone a positive story to tell. Eight months on, things do feel lighter. I'm able to post more on social media about general happenings at Burragan. It's bringing me a small joy again to share that with you. I was so lucky to enjoy the spoils of this award and meet the other Shine winners before life interfered. I hope our bond is something we'll carry with us throughout our whole lives as active, contributing members to the rural communities we each call home. It was a truly heartening and invaluable experience I will be forever grateful for. NOMINATIONS ARE NOW OPEN for the 2020 SHINE AWARDS. If you know a rural woman deserving of this recognition and celebration, nominate her now: https://www.harveynorman.com.au//shine-awards-2020-honou/

14.01.2022 Starting the pre-shearing sheep shuffle. Thank goodness we have the feed on the ground to be able to slow this down and spread it out over a week (balanced with other jobs that also need attending to) instead of it being a last minute mad rush due to feeding constraints like previous years #outbacknsw #Burragan

13.01.2022 As I was taking this photo I was imagining the caption was going to be Gumboots are redundant when you’ve got puddles this deep to jump in! 38mm of glorious rain at Burragan this weekend ... but then within a few minutes the gumboots WERE worn into the puddle, and then stuck in the bottom of the puddle, and now remain lost in the puddle until it either dries up or we see a very trendy merino ewe strut into the shearing shed in them this week. #Burragan #outbacknsw #rain So damn pleased to see it finally falling properly around Broken Hill, Tibooburra and surrounds too.

12.01.2022 Quandong stats, for those playing at home... The bucket contained a total weight of 5.93kg quandongs. Upon inspection, 494grams were condemned. Of the remaining 5.437kg live weight, the mob of 481 head returned a dressed weight of 3.612kg (therefore the seeds weighed 1.825kg.) I realised half way through processing that I could have drafted them first to find largest and smallest *whoops* but from the second half of the mob the top quandong weighed in at 20grams live (15gr...ams dressed) and the smallest was 3grams live (1.5gram dressed.) I did see that ABC story quoting $220/kg dressed and I think that’s cheap, quite frankly It’d be alright if they all peeled like a dream like the 20gramers, but those little 3gramers are absolute killers. #Burragan #outbacknsw #quandongs

07.01.2022 It feels nice to have this paradise back after so many years of dust #Burragan #outbacknsw

05.01.2022 I’m not usually into things that require extreme amounts of effort for about a quarter of the return but there’s just something special about quandongs. They are one of my favourite things about spring! How do you like to eat them? And do you peel (deseed) them first then cook, or cook them and then sieve the stones out? I’ve always cut them up first to cut out any bug bits but this lot actually looks fairly bug free so I am considering the later - but wondering if it’s act...ually any less work or just a matter of moving the tedious bit from the start of the process to the end instead? #outbacknsw #Burragan

04.01.2022 You all know at least one. A rural woman who is passionate about her industry, has belief in a cause or is dedicated to her community. She also probably has the courage to carry on no matter the adversity, has grace under pressure and a fighting spirit.... The Weekly Times Shine Awards is all about sharing these women's stories. Nominate a rural woman today.

03.01.2022 I’ve had a morning of pie making (and gardening) while ST continues the pre-shearing mustering. Had a bit of leftover pastry from some savoury pies and then Quandong pies that are destined for the freezer, so made a dozen little Quandong tarts. Here’s a really interesting little video from Gardening Australia on growing Quandong trees from seed, for anyone interested: https://www.abc.net.au/g/factsheets/quandong-garden/9428522

02.01.2022 Currently in bed listening to one of the best sounds in the world: #Burragan #outbacknsw