Gail’s Place in Halifax, Queensland, Australia | Agricultural service

Gail’s Place

Locality: Halifax, Queensland, Australia

Phone: +61 457 112 765

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• Commercial and industrial
• Farm
• Agricultural service
• Recycling centre

25.01.2022 When I was a girl my grandparents grew pigeons. One of my favourite dishes was stewed pigeon and polenta. I feel sorry for those people who didn’t grow up with Italian heritage. So with the help of a new friend I’m embarking on a new enterprise. Pigeons. I have to fix my pigeon house so they stay in so they are currently at his place. To date they have been wonderful breeders. They are $10 a pair and I can deliver. ... I have some photos of those available. If you would like some let me know and I can speak to my new friend to see what we can supply. Text me on 0457112765. Cheers, Gail

25.01.2022 Congrats Tess on completing Year 10 on Friday. We celebrated with lunch at the Halifax Hotel. Bring on 2021 and Year 11. Tess just signed up to do her Cert 3 in Commercial Cookery as a school based apprentice (as I might have mentioned).

25.01.2022 What a wonderful day today. It was beautiful, sunny, clear and a great day to be farming...but there were some bites in the butt - literally. My farm supervisor, Goosey, made sure I was feeding and watering everyone in the correct order. He even sampled some of the chook’s feed to give it his approval. However, he was noticeably absent when I got pecked on the butt- not once, not twice but three times by overprotective goose parents when filling up water containers and ge...tting within a few metres of the new born dumplings and the older dumplings. Poor off siding Goosey. I have two roosters who seem to want to fight...all the time. Even through the cage. I am constantly running to check that a snake or dog or other creature is not in the chooks cage. The big Sussex fellow is free range but he still goes to pick a fight with the rooster in the cage. A male thing???? Goosey was rejected by the goose family because he grew up with the chicks, having been incubated. But he’s very happy, charming and entertaining. However, Dumpling has been rejected by the goose family - they abandoned him when he had an injury. I rescued him and caged him until he recovered because they were attacking him. Now he wanders the farm like a lost sole with no one to love him. My heart aches for him. He runs away from me and lacks the character of Goosey. Goosey thinks he’s a chicken so he’s happy hanging with the chickens but not Dumpling. He knows he’s a goose and keeps trying to connect with his goose family without success. I will keep trying to make a connection and protect him from the ongoing attacks of the goose family. Wish me luck !!! Enjoy your night. Cheers, Gail

25.01.2022 A great idea to train the sheep to pellets. When they get out they come running for a treat. Score!!! Of course they were baaing at me but stopped when I got the camera out. Too busy eating. Big Mumma is shedding nicely.

25.01.2022 What a nice drop of rain last night. We have now had 29mm in four days. The grass is already seeing the effects. So much so that Steak is onto pasture tomorrow arvo. If you hear shrieking at Abergowrie it probably be me chasing Steak off Lucinda Road or away from the crocodiles in Gentle Annie Creek. So what lessons have we learnt on the farm today. ... Lesson 1 - if you leave your subway cookies in a paper bag on a coffee table the cat and/or dog will tear the bag open and eat the lot!!!!!! Lesson 2 - one Kate learnt. You don’t try to stop one lot of geese from stealing another lot of geese’s new born babies because the parents will attack ANYONE and ANYTHING that looks at their babies. A human should never put themselves in the middle of a geese war. Lesson 3 - chooks, ducks, geese, calves and guinea fowls think every time you come downstairs or arrive home - you are going to feed them....EVERY TIME!!! Lesson 4 - whenever you try to take a photo of Cecil D’Uccle you will have at least 3 chickens jump on your back thinking you are a perch. It’s all good until they decide to hold on with their claws when you stand up. Well that’s enough lessons for the day. We will soon put out the date for our next point of lay pullet delivery. Watch out for it. Hoping you get to enjoy a lazy Saturday arvo. Cheers, Gail

24.01.2022 Happy as pig in mud is the saying. I think Pippa the rambunctious pig is in pig heaven. She is rocking pig in mud bliss this morning. It’s lovely on the shade with the light breeze but the sun’s rays are oh so hot today when not in the shade. The chooks are all laying on their sides with their wings up trying to catch the breeze. ... But I wish I could be a pig on days like this!!! You see why Pippa’s the love of my life.

24.01.2022 I give up on electric fences. Came home today to the calf chewing on the live electric fence. So we put all the calves in with Steak and the sheep until we get the fence up. Means moving them every day. A good incentive to get the fence up.

23.01.2022 We are big on free ranging ducks, geese, chooks and Guinea fowls here at Gail’s Place so why not free range a bull calf? What could go wrong? After all he’s really friendly and loving every time I go in his pen and I’m really attached to him. Let me tell you my attachment to Steak is much greater than his attachment to me. ... As soon as he was let out he headed for green grass. No big problem I thought because there’s plenty around the house. Oh no. Those green bits out there in the paddock look much nicer. Sorry Dad but a bit of your ratoons had a trim. On the positive side Steak did do some fertilising and he put out some urea. Even a milk bottle could not entice him back to the pen. Been there before, been tricked before...one smart hamburger on legs is our Steak. So real milk x 2. Tess had a bottle and I had a bottle. After nearly destroying the chook netting and a little more of a kick and run we got him to taste a bottle....real milk. Slipped the rope around his neck. Holy heck he is strong. But me pulling, Tess pushing, we got him close to his pen and the milk bottle helped to get him in. So I’m expecting him to want the remainder of the bottles. No way. This little guy has passive aggressive down pat. He turns his head to the corner and points his rump at me. Turning every time so I can’t get to his face to give him the bottle. Two can play this game. I’ve had 4 kids little fella so I’m as close to an expert with toddlers as you can get. I walk away. Well guess what?? He now wanted the milk bottle/s. Friends again. But lesson learned - no more free ranging. Electric fencing goes up this weekend - away from the nice green sticks in the paddock. Plenty of room to run. Life is great on a farm. Who needs to pay for gym exercise or entertainment??? Have a wonderful Friday. Cheers, Gail PS. If you’re wondering where Sausages was during this adventure I sadly inform you that he died a week and a half ago. A sad reality of farming. Thanks to my Dad and my girls we did what was necessary to dispose of him. It was a sad day and we still miss him.

22.01.2022 What a lovely surprise today.

21.01.2022 Welcome to the family. Dorothy the sheep and Blanche the piglet. Can you guess the naming theme?

20.01.2022 Welcome to Pinky and Pixie. Two Australian Miniature Pigs. Hope to breed them next year when they’ve grown a bit more.

20.01.2022 A quick feed for Pippa Peppa Pig before a trip to town. Can you hear the other pigs in the background. Not happy Jan...where’s our food??? Interesting that Pippa chose to eat her carrots before her peeled banana. Yes I know she is spoilt...who in their right mind peels bananas for a pig? You guessed it...this insane woman. ... The chooks really wanted to be friends!!! Have a great Sunday afternoon. Lovely rain this morning, freshened the place up. Cheers, Gail

19.01.2022 Oh my!! Wasn’t yesterday an absolutely gorgeous autumn day?? I hope you got outside and did something truly enjoyable. I did...fencing. The cows and sheep got a new pasture. But before they could take up residence Pixie had to taste test for quality control purposes. So Miss Pixie went from a lean mean pig overnight to a very pregnant about to give birth pig. The transformation was astounding. So to be safe I locked her in the house yard last night...yeah, no. She escap...ed. No I have 2 pigs farrowing in the cane - Pippa and Pixie and neither comes when called. Willow’s babies are no longer the cuteness in the photos after the 12 mm of rain last night. They are little mud balls. Willow is a wonderful mother she protects those little beauties from the other pigs viciously. Love it. Some more lamb photos. I’m trying to get a video of Baby Baa chasing the chooks and and 4 feet hopping. Unfortunately, to date I get so engrossed in watching I forget to film. Even when you’re a king others still want to eat from your plate. As Gus found out...again yesterday. He does allow sharing...occasionally. Here’s hoping we get some more of yesterday’s weather for several days in a row so we can dry out. Point of lay chooks have arrived and I will be touching base with people tonight to arrange deliveries. Have a great day. Cheers, Gail

19.01.2022 The weather is going to be very hot today and tomorrow according to the experts. It certainly was hot at 6.30am while I was feeding unruly poddy calves. Now when I look outside it seems to have clouded over. Maybe the experts are wrong and we are in for a drop of rain. Wouldn’t that be lovely? So I now have a goose farm manager and a pig assistant farm manager/food quality control inspector. Check out the photos. ... Goosey tests the pig and calf food for taste and suitability and to make sure I’m cleaning containers well. Miss Pippa Peppa Pig...well she gets right into her work as quality control inspector. Keeps me entertained and grey. Have a good day. Cheers, Gail PS I’ve posted a movie of Pippa testing chook food separately. She jumps right in.

19.01.2022 The geese at Gail’s Place. Can you tell who got jealous??? After I took the video I was feeding some sprouts and rocket that I bought cheap from Woolies and I was holding the phone under the containers. Goosey kept coming up to me, talking to me...I think he wanted me take a movie just of him. Such a show pony....oops I mean goose. This connection to the animals means so much to me. ... We’ve had 12mm of rain today. Hoping for another 12mm so the grass greens up for the geese and Steak who is going out on pasture tomorrow. Enjoy your arvo. Cheers, Gail.

18.01.2022 Let me introduce you to Polly. At least I think it’s a girl. She’s super friendly and follows me all over the yard. Although she gets distracted and sometimes loses me. She tries to get in the car too so for her own safety I put her back in her pen with her family. I’m thinking she's a Polish hen. They’re the ones with the crazy hair dos. Google Polish Chicken and you’ll see what I mean. ... I love this little girl. Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there . I delivered a Kate made choc caramel cheesecake to my Dad for Father’s Day. What did your Dad get??? Have a wonderful day. Cheers, Gail

18.01.2022 Anyone need to record screams for a horror movie? Nothing beats a pig scream.

17.01.2022 So today started off a bit earlier than usual. Mumma got outta bed after the first alarm. But when I got down stairs I realised I was late for the chickens who had opened the bag of shredding. Nice one guys. Then it started to rain again. The chooks were wet, I’m sure none of them took shelter when it rained at 6am. The silkies looked like they were having a very bad hair day. Their beautiful fluffy feathers were plastered to their bodies. ... Feed was given and calf was patted before I headed off to do my town and parent jobs. On the way I had to navigate the goose patrol. The water hollows in the road were the right gosling size. So I waited patiently for the grown ups to usher the babies off the road - all the while hissing at me for my insolent disruption. How dare I drive my car through their swimming pool??? The fun never ends. When I returned at midday the silkies had had lovely blow dries. The wind was blowing and they stood in it...all lovely and fluffy once more. The 5mm of rain we had was nice but a bit more would be greatly appreciated. Some meat chooks are off to new homes and dinner plates tomorrow. I still have some available. $8 each or 12 for $80. Call me on 0457112765....I’ll even deliver. Have a lovely Tuesday. Cheers, Gail

16.01.2022 Miss Blanche escapes her cage this morning. I arrived home to fin her trying to dig her way to China. Silly piggy doesn’t have a passport and if she succeeds she’ll probably end up as Sweet n Sour Pork or Pork Dumplings.

16.01.2022 It’s been an eventful week. On Monday I walked into the hook in the bag lifter while helping my folks. Knocked me to the ground. Luckily, Dad was driving the tractor forward or I’d be like a dead toad on the road. First Lesson learned - wait until the tractor has gone before walking behind it and...focus on what I’m doing in the moment rather than the list of things I’m gonna do. ... Of course this testa dura did not call the ambulance or go to a doctor but waited until the next day for a scheduled doctor’s visit to tell the doc what happened. Immediate CT scan and off to hospital to be monitored overnight in case there was a brain bleed. Luckily, I was at the hospital for a couple of hours when the results came in and I could leave - no bleed but concussion. Second lesson learned - if you get a knock to the head and it takes 20 minutes to stand up best call the ambos. Hopefully, I won’t have to experience this again. So my plans for the week got thrown out of whack. I wanted to get my mixed flock of hens into a new pen on grass instead I’ve left their cage lid off and they can decide if that want to be in or out. They seem real fascinated with my shoe laces. The cat also loves my shoe laces and laying with me. He even waved for the camera .... or he could have just been stretching. Some exciting news for my point of lay customers. The next batch arrives Tuesday morning but I have to take my mum to Townsville for a specialist apt so pick up/drop off will be Wednesday and Thursday by arrangement. I’ve got to check the list but I could have a few extra if anyone is chasing point of lay Bonds Backyard Layers - Red. $30 each. Hope you have a great day. May it rain a little more today and then send us fine Spring weather. Cheers, Gail

16.01.2022 The new year of 2021 is upon us!! What resolutions, if any, did you make?? Let’s hope 2021 gives a better chance at fulfilling the visits to gym, keeping in touch with family and saving than did 2020!!! So 2020 ended with lots of rain, me running over the dog (Jack is ok - sore and sorry but looks like no long term harm done), and animals everywhere!! Our plan for 2021...or should I say my plan for 2021 includes...... 1. No more bought animals (Heard that one before???) 2. Get all my animals in moveable pens. (Heard this one too???) 3. Grow cover crops in my garden spaces then plant veges into them 4. Reject, reuse, repurpose, recycle before refuse. 5. Simplify my life, my home and my relationships. Sounds easy?? Piece of . I wish you the best in achieving all your goals, dreams and wishes in the year to come. Remember...shooting for the and only hitting the is better than taking no action at all. Wishing you all reach the in 2021!!! To infinity and beyond! Buzz had it right Live! Love! Enjoy! 2021. Cheers, Gail & family (human and animal!!)

15.01.2022 It’s super short video because Tess has to save the chook food from the quality control inspector.

15.01.2022 Well I think today was 110% humidity. I was sweating sitting still. The calves and sheep are enjoying the sunshine but I’m still feeding them hay to let the grass grow and the water recede. Little Levi (wether) kneels on his front legs and puts his head through the fence to eat the green grass. So the grass is greener on the other side of the fence!!! I got to use my new toy I got from the kids for Xmas. A multi tool. Best thing. Thanks kids... We rounded up the silkies and some small breeds (those that have survived goanna, pigs and water pythons ) and put them in the aviary which has been newly kitted out with deep bedding straw mulch. Thanks Brad Morley. We added some of the straw to the pig pen for the girls. Pippa (now a magic pig) gets herself in and out of the pen without us knowing where and without the other girls getting out. Clever girl. This arvo she was happy to be on the outside looking in, chewing the fat,um....I mean straw with the girls through the fence. All animals fed, lost about 5 kg in sweat (wish it would not return ) and on my way upstairs I had to dodge a turkey on the steps and couldn’t resist a photo of Grey Boy on his high perch. This is his spot most nights!! Tomorrow’s agenda includes an electrified fence yard for the boy pigs , new bedding in the pigeon house for the laying hens and a turkey run. I lost a Plymouth Rock hen today due to a turkey trying to mate with her. Poor thing was traumatised. She just could not recover. Pippa and Jack both provided comfort to her after the event and kept Boots, who was eyeing her off as dinner, well away. Another hard lesson learned. If you hear me scream from your place you know I turned the electric fence on before I finished building it. Just as I was finishing this post Tess said Pippa was sleeping in the yard. . I had to go take a photo. This is a pig in a food coma. I double checked she was ok and she lazily opened one eye, grunted, wriggled a bit and promptly went back to sleep. Nice!! On my way upstairs I had to run the gauntlet of the top step chook sitters. I also noticed that Grey Boy had be usurped from his spot by a turkey. Poor Grey Boy, he had to sit with the girls on the top step. Hoping it stays dry with a gentle cooling breeze tomorrow (not too much to ask???) for our planned jobs. Have a great Friday night. Cheers, Gail

15.01.2022 Life is grand when you live on a farm. Mumma frizzle with three babies - I have a feeling none are actually related to her.

14.01.2022 She’s not the best mother but she’s trying. Dear Pixie and her one surviving baby. She had two stillborns.

14.01.2022 God help Me if the pigs learn to climb!!!

14.01.2022 We welcome Donald and Daisy to the farm. They are Spotted Australian Ducks. They spent the whole day in the water pond. Tess and Pippa Peppa Pig having some quality time.

14.01.2022 Mangiare Monday returns... Yesterday I made my favourite ham cheese and tomato quiche. It’s super simple. ... Ingredients Ham Cheese Tomato Puff pastry Cream Eggs I use puff pastry sheets to line a quiche dish. Although this time I used a pie dish. I don’t usually use a pie dish because the pastry on the edge usually burns but skill it didn’t this time I chop up equal quantities of ham and tomato and add an equal amount of grated cheese. For this quiche I used 2 ham steaks and 2 tomatoes diced and an equal amount of grated cheese. Mix these together and put in the lined dish. I then beat together 5 eggs and 300ml of cream. I would normally use a bit more cream - 500ml but I wanted to make two and I only had one carton of cream Pour cream over the mixture and make sure all parts have cream mixture. Place in a 180 degree preheated oven and cook until the centre is only slightly wobbly. If you touch it it will appear uncooked. The rest of the quiche should be firm. This took 40minutes when I did it. Remove quiche from oven and place on bench or stove top to cool. I cover mine with a clean tea towel to avoid flies and hungry cats. You can serve warm but I like my quiche cold. So I usually eat it the next day. You don’t have to use ham steaks, normal ham is fine but I like the chunks. Shredded pizza ham is my next favourite. I used tasty cheese but you can use a stronger flavour cheese if you prefer. Experiment and see what you and the family like. This is a good recipe for the youngsters to learn so when they leave home they won’t starve or live on noodles or maccas. Enjoy!! Cheers, Gail

14.01.2022 Pamplona has the running of the bulls. Gail’s Place has running of the Guinea Fowls.

13.01.2022 Get a load of this cutie pie. Trying to work out how to feed.

12.01.2022 The morning chores are done!!! It’s 4.31pm...must be a new record. Bloody sheep!!! So this morning I thought it was a good idea to open up the gates to push the fence out to give the sheep and calves more green pick. You know what Thought did...planted birdseed and thought birds would grow. (An oldie from my childhood) Well birds didn’t grow but a ewe saw daylight and all of a sudden I was counting . And I wasn’t even trying to go to sleep BUT right about ...Continue reading

11.01.2022 On our way. Chook culling time and quail delivery. A big day ahead but can’t wait to taste free range home raised chooks...like the neighbour’s dog - now he’s spoiled for life.

11.01.2022 Anyone got a few minutes to spare to help with relocating this Bobtail Quail eating monster. I’m devastated!!! UPDATE: successfully relocated itself. Under careful supervision that it made it to the paddock without stopping for lunch on the way.

10.01.2022 It’s been a full on week with visits to Townsville for tests on my thyroid, counselling and catching up with dear friends. We welcome a new member of the Gail’s Place family...Augustus Caesar the Italian Maremma. His previous owners called him Gus but a true Italian king needs a real Roman Emperor’s name so I changed it. We love him already. I asked Tess to send me a photo of him and the attached is what I got. Not only a true Emperor of Rome but a cool dude to... boot. He was given away because he played with other maremma’s instead of guarding the flock. And he distracted them from their work. On our farm he suits our style of farming...haphazard and loving. So this morning while I was down the back feeding the turkeys Gus rounded up the chooks that were not where they should have been. He got some more chooks home from wandering too close to the neighbour’s place. He then proceeded to let me know where the cows had got to. Steak keeps getting out and taking the others with him. But with Gus on duty I know where they are. The only downside to Gus is that the rambunctious Pippa has turned into marauding Pippa the jealous pig. She eats Gus’ food, wallows in his water and charges him. Funny to watch but wearing thin. So to curb jealousy (in a pig...Lord help me!!!) I make a special point of doing things with Pippa only. So today while giving everyone water I gave her multiple baths. I’m assuming she loved it because she was wiggling her bottom in delight. When I laughed and patted her she did it even more. I that pig. So the hierarchy in the farmyard is.... Pippa - farm manager Gus - farm overseer Goosey - geese supervisor Steak - destroyer of fences and head butting champion of Gail’s Place. I love my life here on the farm. Hope you are enjoying life whatever you are doing today. Cheers, Gail

10.01.2022 How to make friends with geese 101. Sit on grass with bag of bread feeding the chickens with bits of the bread. Geese will suddenly realise you’re not the boogie man.

10.01.2022 I’m sitting on the steps after a quick walk around the yard to check on the critters. It’s quite warm. So we re-thought the electric fence layout for the calf. We did two strands yesterday and when we walked away he beat us to his old pen!!. We stood there watching him get zapped and it did not deter him. So overnight in the pen and some further thought and research .... thank God for You Tube and people who over share. Today 4 strands and a wire gate. The gate... is not electricfied but 4 strands seem to do the trick. He went to follow Tess out after his bottle but did not like the zap on his wet nose. He seems to be learning...along with us. He’ll stay up near the house for a day or two before I trust our system further away. It will work a treat on the beautiful pangola grass later. You’ve already seen out snake horror this morning. If not check out our video posted earlier today. The ducks and chickens were all feeling the heat too this morning. I thought a meat chook had some sort of wing problem until I realised she was just trying to stay cool. Ducks were swimming in the watering points , chickens in the shade and the garden dust bath. Now riddle me this...how many chickens cans sit on a nest within an upright pallet??? We have Mrs Frizzle and an Australorp sharing nesting duties and an interloper. I’m hoping that we will soon have some chicks. Wednesday is cull day for the meat chicks. So be ready for some photos of the cull and recipes for chicken because we are going to be eating lots of chicken for the foreseeable future. Next on the agenda after breakfast is building a worm farm...or two. Don’t worry I haven’t forgotten about the maggot bucket photos....I’m building the anticipation. Hope you are enjoying your life as much as I am mine. Cheers, Gail

08.01.2022 If at least one of these don’t make you smile then you are not human. I actually laughed out loud. Here I thought I had the two weirdest dogs in the planet but it turns out they are perfect..ly normal. C Check it out and smile.

08.01.2022 O be still my beating heart !!! I did not know love could be this big for a pig. The toing and froing of is Pippa pregnant or fat has distracted us from a Mumma quietly growing her babies in her tummy...our darling big Willow. ... I said to Tess when we got home from Nonna and Grandpa’s place just after 2pm if that was a dead pig in the pen. Tess said she was just sleeping. No she wasn’t!!! She was giving birth to 3 of the most adorable baby pigs. Even cuter than yours Brad!!! We are so excited. We will try to get clearer photos tomorrow. She would not move out of the pig pen into more salubrious surroundings so no harm comes to them over night.

07.01.2022 This morning I thought the aliens had finally come to abduct me as a prize human specimen but no such luck!!! At 3.30am yes that’s right AM the wind was swirling and I could voices but I couldn’t make out words a short while later multiple lights were shining I to my room. My thoughts....... 1. The aliens are real and I’m going on holiday WRONG 2. Someone was breaking in to steal my most valuable items ... the dog and cat ...oh and Tess. WRONG 3. The neighbour was harvesting the paddock of cane across the road from the house at 3.30am in the bloody morning. RIGHT Unfortunately, once awake I found it hard to go back to sleep because they were using the siding across for the house too. Not much sleep so I was a bit irritable by the time I fed the hoards and did some jobs in town and visited the oldies. I delivered some chooks to Forrest Beach and brought home 3 chooks in return. They need some loving so they are housed away from the marauding hoards in a safe pen until they settle in. Despite my new girls I was still tired and irritable. What do you do when you’re irritable?? If you’re Gail you get a $1.30 bag of bread, sit on the steps and feed the chickens. Highly entertaining and brings a smile to my face. Goosey wanted bread - big bits of bread but he kept deopping it and loosing it to a chook. Mumma loves Goosey so I broke off smaller bits for my darling boy. He was then happy ... and fed. I hope your hump day was only a small hump. Downward slide from here to the weekend. Have a good night. Cheers, Gail

07.01.2022 This is Galina Ballerina. She is so named because she likes to walk around the rim of her tub house and her feathering reminds me of a Swan Lake ballerina costume. She also looks like she wears eyeliner. She’s rather dainty except when she jumps on my back while I’m trying to take photos of her family. Those little claws are sharp!!!! I’m not sure what breed she is. Any suggestions??... Her and Polly are great mates. Enjoy your Sunday night. Cheers, Gail

07.01.2022 Just saw this on Facebook and it explains a lot. This confirms that I’m not an average human. Running 8.6mph? Not this lifetime. What about you? Are you an average human? How do you catch a chook??

07.01.2022 I woke this morning to find I’m a grandmother...to three beautiful bouncing tiny tiny king quails. This is the best photos I was able to get. To give some indication of how tiny they are look at the chicken’s leg in the background. Still got a few more in the best but no nesting is happening at the moment so I don’t think we will get anymore this time. ... What do you think? Cutest thing ‘eva??? Filled with joy and hope today.

06.01.2022 What a glorious day in North Queensland. Another 3.5mm of rain overnight. The grass is really picking up and start to grow - not quite before my eyes but not far off. Oh what to do with Tess at work until 3pm? Make maggot buckets!!!... Yep I’m sure you all had the same idea to make this glorious Sunday a maggot bucket making day. Didn’t you??? No??? I’m shocked. Your poor feathered friends are going without maggots. What a shame. I made 2 today. Smallish ones because I want to keep my big 10L buckets for other projects. First step...get a bucket!!! What sort of bucket I can hear you ponder??? Any sort...and it does not even need to be a bucket a soft drink or milk carton will work too. Second step...get something with which to make holes in the bucket. (In my head I’m singing dear Liza, dear Liza Sorry Harry Belafonte but we need holes in this bucket!!!). How?? Electric drill is easiest but a skewer and lighter will do the job too - heat skewer in the flame and then pierce plastic - but more time consuming but what the heck??? It’s Sunday. What else you going to be doing? Now there is no right or wrong number of holes. You want holes big enough for maggots to fall through but not so big that the food item also falls through. I put some on the sides too because it’s a small bucket and I want as many maggots going to my babies as possible. If you’re using a container without a handle you may need some extra holes for string to hang it up and cut a hole in the side though which you can put the food scraps. Leave the lid off to encourage an easy entrance for flies. Next....string it up. See photos for how and where I put mine. You can put them out in the sun or in the yard by making a tripod and suspending it from the centre. If you want to know how to do this I’ll impart my Girl Guide and Scouting knot skills to show you. Thanks Lirralirra for all those sessions at Guides on camp craft. What to put in the bucket I hear you scream NOT. I’m so funny today. I put things in that we can’t legally feed to chooks I.e. meat scraps, fish scraps. Today I used out of date ham steaks and old prawns. Before you say what a waste of prawns let me say....I totally agree. If I had my way they all would have gone in the fried rice a few nights ago but 15 yo Masterchef daughters know better. So now we just wait for the flies to come and lay eggs and the maggots to drop and be a wonderful protein source to my feathered babies. I’ll post some maggotty pictures another time. So you see, in the words of the meerkats...Simples.!!!!! Enjoy your day...even if you’re not making maggot buckets. Cheers, Gail

06.01.2022 From Lewis Carroll’s The Walrus and the Carpenter... "The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things: Of shoesand shipsand sealing-wax... Of cabbagesand kings And why the sea is boiling hot And whether pigs have wings." Of those things I will not talk but of pullets, meat chooks and ducks I shall. This is the last chance to get some meat chooks where all the raising has been done. They are $8 each or 12 for $80. That is well below cost of producing but I’m having trouble finding the time to kill them. Whatever I have left this time next week I will have to kill before they get too big. So if what beautiful home grown chooks to eat then drop me a line. 0457112765 I’m taking orders for the next delivery of point of lay pullets in October. Get your name down now so ensure you don’t miss out. $30 each. I’m getting rid of 5 of my ducks. No drakes at the moment. You can either have black and white or all white. $10 each. I have ducks and geese sitting on eggs. If you are after ducklings or goslings let me know. I can note your interest and let you know when they hatch. $8 each. Cheers, Gail

06.01.2022 Rain, rain and more rain. No sand shoes today. Tess found some gum boots in the laundry - a miscellaneous box purchase at an auction $5!! Score!!! See kids those what did you buy this for? Purchases come in handy...one day. For me, I got out the waterproof work boots I got for $50 a couple of years ago. Normally over $100. ... So bargain footwear on the feet we were set for the day. After the fiasco of yesterday I did not open any pens to move stock. Instead I bought hay and they loved it. Expensive alternative to grass but for today my feet needed a rest. Bloody sheep!!!! Thanks to the help of Tess we managed to get half the pig enclosure complete this afternoon - in between showers. Tomorrow we hope to finish and move the pigs in. Then start on the gangsta pig pen. They’ve outgrown their current pen so time for bigger accommodation. I just need to be mindful not to wear Tess out - she’s working tomorrow night. After the feeds were done and some feed prepped for the next few days I hear this grunting. I look up and here is Pippa sitting on the landing ready for the night. She is so cute (today when she’s not rounding up sheep) Kate sent me a menu from Palm Cove with a message for Pippa to behave. She could never be so naughty that she would become a menu item. I get upstairs and those wonderful bargain footwear I boasted about....couldn’t get one of them off. The thought of going to bed with one work boot on was not appealing. Tess to the rescue. She bloody near broke me leg. Ouch!! After a bit more effort from me she was able to finish the job. Life’s rough when you can’t even get your boots off. Might have to eventually die with my boots on...one day in the long distant future. It’s at this time I notice the dog and cat. Lucky Boots () has a brother of another mother who is fluffy and who does not mind being used as a foot rest. Nice!!! My next life I’m coming back as a !!! Homemade Hamburgers and chips for dinner so life is grand. Enjoy your Monday evening. Cheers, Gail

05.01.2022 Water, water, water everywhere. Last night we had over 150mm. I can’t say how much more because the rain gauge overflowed. When I got up I was so surprised. We had so far this year 52mm, 33mm, 33mm then last night’s deluge. ... I’m not calling the weather bureau BOM anymore but Peter, as in the boy who cried wolf. For the past few months they had been predicting lots of rain which never eventuated so this time I thought yeah a couple of inches will pull us up. As Julia Roberts said in Pretty Woman Big mistake. Big. Huge. It cost the life of my littlest calf who drowned. A sheep died yesterday from the weather. There are a couple of turkeys missing and some dead chooks who took shelter under iron propped against cages but with the rain the iron collapsed and squashed the chooks. I’m devastated. The geese and ducks are enjoying themselves. And Pippa and the chooks love the fresh hay. We are keeping our fingers crossed that we don’t add crocodiles to the list of farm animals. Needless to say I’m wet from head to toe. I squelch when I walk. Last animals to go feed because a break in the weather does not appear to be happening before dark. Hoping you are safe and warm. Cheers, Gail PS Beat thing about today was the bacon and eggs Tess cooked me for breakfast to cheer me up!! Thanks Tess.

04.01.2022 Farming can teach us many lessons. Some of them we don’t really want to be taught. 1. When you put a lamb who has seen calves in an electric fence pen with a calf that has never seen a lamb the calf gets very scared and runs through a 4 strand electric fence like a hot knife through butter!!! 2. When Said calf gets used to said lamb and the lamb comes and goes through the said fence the calf decides it can do it too. After all the zap is only for a short duration. Unless yo...u are human and think you’re being defribulated when you accidentally touch the off fence but it’s really still on!!! 3. This is for the calf and lamb - don’t piss off the farmer mumma who has raised 4 kids. Time out applies to animal children as well as human ones. Check out the time out cage. 4. Don’t buy $6 watermelons to feed chooks because a melon between 100 feathered creatures does not go far and gets very costly. 5. When you take your sunglasses off in the chick room so you can see - you will eventually stand on said sunglasses...especially if they are prescription and cost you $500. 6. If you think you’ve lost a hen. It’s possible that it will turn up a few weeks later with babies in tow. All that stress for nothing. 7. Just because the calves are free it does not mean you have to take them. Three was enough!! You don’t really need to hand bottle feed 6 poddy calves. 8. The calf that moos the loudest and the longest is the same one that refused to have milk when you offered and even tried to force feed him the bottle earlier in the day. 9. Do not spill milk on you or wipe your milky hand on your clothing whilst in the calf pen because the calves will try to suck you dry. 10. This is one for the bull calves. 14 day old heifer calves don’t have milk to offer you so don’t try suckling them. So there are 10 lessons I learned this week on the farm. No doubt more lessons to learn this arvo when we put the calf and sheep onto pasture in a temporary pallet fence until I can get wire. And when we divide up the calves so I know who is who. Fun times ahead. Enjoy your Sunday. Cheers, Gail

04.01.2022 It’s Tucker Tuesday. Today it’s all about water. Water for the chooks. A frequent question I’m asked it what containers do I use for water and feed. Today I’ll show you the various water containers we use at Gail’s Place. ... You can use any receptacle you like for water. However, the key is that chooks should have access to cool, clean water daily. The clean part of the equation is very important. Chooks are messy. They scratch in the dirt or saw dust or grass or whatever you’ve lined your pen with and this stuff ends up in their water...guaranteed. We use the self waterers in a number of the pens. But some of the problems I’ve encountered is they require regular cleaning of the water canal because the chooks kick dirt/grass/straw etc into them and if you don’t top them frequently green algae forms making a slime. Their price range is variable from under $10 to over $30 for the same/similar thing. I use them when the chicks are small to avoid drownings and wet feathers. I know people and chook sites suggest that you should elevate them or hang them to avoid the issue of dirt filling the channel. I’ve not had much luck in that...maybe chooks turn psycho when they cross the boundary to my place. Another method of watering are nipples or water cups. These can turn out expensive. I have one that I’ve only just set up so we will see how they go. My only concern is making sure the water doesn’t go stale if you have only a few chooks. Even with these waterers good hygiene is essential. The water cups in the photo cost me around $30. It’s been sitting on the shelf until this week when I decided it was time to try it out. Now the cheapest and the one I recommend most are old containers - half cut 20 litre containers, buckets (left overs from the shop) and old saucepans. I find these easy to empty and fill with fresh water daily and once a week cleaning or add a cap or two of apple cider vinegar or lactobacillus (homemade) helps keep the algae under control. Whatever container you decide make sure your chooks have access to clean, cool water every day. Hope this info helps in your decision making. There is no on right answer. It depends on your needs and your pocket. Cheers, Gail

03.01.2022 Is it raining where you are? We’ve had 6mm so far this morning. Mostly while I’m feeding the animals. So it’s bath time on the farm notwithstanding the rain. I’m sure these geese are talking about me invading their privacy while trying to bathe. Cheers... Gail See more

03.01.2022 You’re chariot awaits ma’am. Where can I drive you? Don’t leave the car door open for too long on the farm....they think they are an Uber driver!!!

03.01.2022 Proud mother moment here at Gail’s Place. This week Tess started her Cert 3 in Commercial Cookery at the Halifax Hotel. She will be continuing as a school based apprentice for Year 11 and 12. She is following her dream. This is what she cooks before she starts learning the technical skills...chicken and mushroom risotto. OMG it was wonderful. If we still had the shop it would definitely be on the menu. She has some skills this girl. I’m blessed...I have a master sweets maker (Kate) and a master everything else maker (Tess). They are channeling their great grandmothers on both their father and mother’s sides of the family.

02.01.2022 Katie Hinschen do you think we can train my geese to do this. Carl Hinschen and Dean Hinschen we could get costumes for you - geese pied pipers

02.01.2022 Sweet, sweet Sunday. Treat the family with a Caramel Tart. Depending on the size of the tray dish - I used 2 tins of caramel for this tart...but hey a few extra tins of caramel in the cupboard are good to have up your sleeve. ...Continue reading

01.01.2022 When you go shopping and come home with a load fo goodies for the chooks...they know and want to inspect - for quality control purposes only. And yes I forgot the bags AGAIN. Cheers... Gail See more

01.01.2022 There was knocking at the door. Just soft tapping. I looked out the window to see a posse of chickens on the step. Obviously thinking they were owed another free feed from management. Do you have freeloading feathered beauties??? I hope your week is off to a flying start. ... Cheers, Gail