Wongarra Farm in Wongarra, Victoria, Australia | Grocers

Wongarra Farm

Locality: Wongarra, Victoria, Australia

Phone: +61 3 5237 0256

Address: 415 Sunnyside Road 3234 Wongarra, VIC, Australia

Website: http://wongarrafarm.com.au

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25.01.2022 ‘Tis the season for bee swarms. Swarms are not just bees getting together and making an angry buzzing cloud; they form when a queen leaves an established hive and sets out to found a new colony - bees were colonising long before humans thought of it. The queen takes with her a loyal (or disloyal, depending which queen you side with) band of protectors and scouts, up to half of the original hive. The first stop is somewhere not too far from the original hive, where the tour ...group will pause while scouts search for a new site. At this stage the bees form a tight bunch around the queen. There is usually a window of around 24 hours for a beekeeper to intervene and catch the swarm, in doing so creating the starting population for a new hive. The job is simply to persuade the queen and her entire entourage of 5,000 bees to go inside a box. Simple enough, surely? A swarm formed today in the midst of swirling wind gusts of over 30 knots making the job even more tricky. On the plus side, the bees are usually quite docile, as they’ve gorged on honey prior to leaving the hive. I’m not the hands-on beek around here - I leave that to Tom MacTaggart. Tom was on the scene within half an hour. First step was to gently smoke the swarm, encouraging it to stick together. Next he put a used hive underneath the swarm. (This has residual smells and general homeliness attractive to the bees.) With the top open he placed bee-loaded branches cut from the tree on top and shook them gently. Once a few bees had gone inside, news spread to the rest of the swarm and after only 10 minutes or so the bulk of the swarm had disappeared inside. At this stage the lid could go on, leaving the main entrance open to allow the stragglers inside. Half an hour later the box could be taken off to a new site to grow and prosper.

25.01.2022 A momentous day for one of our stars. Stevie, our handsome thoroughbred, has had a very easy time of it for the last few years. He’s done no work and just hung out with various beasts doing not much at all between occasional bouts of spirited galloping when it suits him and bossing lesser animals about. Things are about to change. He’s been institutionalised. Or rather, he’s off to school. More like horse university; it’s a specialised, residential equine training faculty. H...e’s going to learn a thing or two about being an actual horse. Stevie started off life in the racing caper, but my theory is that he sussed out early that it was a an exploitative racket and didn’t entirely commit. Those squeaky-voiced midgets clinging to his back didn’t help either. He probably broke the hearts (and bank accounts) of his connections, but he got an early mark and a ticket to a life of leisure on the lush pastures of Wongarra Farm, where he’s been developing himself as a charismatic mythical creature. He’ll be at hoof camp for an intensive four week course. This place specialises in producing champion polo ponies, so he might have a late career change (much like his old farmer mate). I caught him nice and early, in case he got up to any mischief. As I walked him to the top of the ridge for the last time he turned to the ocean, let out a loud whinny and summoned a cloud up from the sea. The whole scene was worthy of a Kate Bush clip. He then walked with me down the hill and stepped up the ramp into his horse limo like a boss. First day at school for Stevie. Wish him well

24.01.2022 The grass is as high as a Maremma’s eye

22.01.2022 First taste of my brewing efforts from a month ago. I should really have waited another week; the spirit was willing, the flesh was weak. Pleased to report that the Wongarra Farm COVID Pale Ale is a winner.

22.01.2022 No market for me tomorrow. All eggs have pre-sold out (even the ones I’m hoping will be laid today). I’ll have fresh lamb and a new batch of bacon and ham next weekend (7 Nov). See you then.

20.01.2022 Me on my way to feeding the pigs each morning.

20.01.2022 Dog, tractor, grass, sky.

19.01.2022 There’s a saying born on this farm, that farming is a long series of disasters punctuated by the occasional catastrophe. (I have yet to see this disproved.) There’s another, that if something can go wrong, it will go wrong and if it can’t, it still might. (Prove me wrong.) I also have an emerging theory that the entire farm is a superorganism; one in which every element is dependent, directly or indirectly on every other element; one in which every element COMMUNICATES with e...very other element. (One also that has emotions, prejudices and VINDICTIVE tendencies.) Some time in the last two days, a certain flutey-voiced bull (pictured) stepped on a polypropylene fitting (pictured) supplying the main livestock water tank, parting the joint and butchering the thread. Not necessarily a problem, as there should be enough water in the tank to last a few days, even a week. But... The bull has communicated this transgression to a certain swarthy boar (pictured) who has ripped his drinker off its mounting (pictured, after repair) and disconnected its feeder hose, thereby draining the main tank of almost all its contents. This communication almost certainly facilitated by a giant fungal mycorrhizal network. Well, possibly. Do I have a spare 40mm male to male poly connector (pictured)? No, I don’t. Is it Saturday evening (not pictured)? Yes, as a matter of fact, it is. The one positive in all of this is that I might be becoming part of the superorganism. Why did I happen to check Max’s trough tonight of all nights? Was it more than a water leak? Is the network leaking information? Have I become a myco-symbiont in my spare time? Fungi will get us all in the end. Don’t fight it. We can be friends. Anyhoo... Go Cats.

13.01.2022 There was a lot of spring going on a month or so back, but La Niña seems to have put a seasonal handbrake on; high levels of windage, rainage and coldage have dragged out early spring. It’s all a bit of a seasonal tease. Things will really pick up soon and this last month will have given us a great foundation for when the sun comes out in earnest. Things are ticking along in the orchard. It’s fruit setting time. One should never count one’s fruit until it’s in the bag, but it seems like the bees have been doing good work and blossom has begun to transform into fruit. Pictured are plums, apples, quinces and pears. And if you find anything more gorgeous than baby pears, I’ll take a case.

08.01.2022 Dolores may be late to the Hallowe’en party, but she knows how to make an impression (and offer an opinion).

08.01.2022 Ollie likes his dinner. He really REALLY likes his dinner.

03.01.2022 Ocean views this afternoon.

03.01.2022 Back at the market again tomorrow - I’ll have free-range smoked bacon and ham, smoked hocks, pork shoulders, a great selection of fresh lamb and oodles of pastured eggs. Also fab marmalades: grapefruit and ginger, lemon and ginger and cumquat and lemon. The weather will be bracing, so be brave and come down to the Apollo Bay foreshore from 9am.