Archive for May, 2008

Canberra, here I come!

I’m off to Canberra today for the Australian Institute of Company Director’s Course as part of my 2007 Rural Women’s Award.

I’m not sure how I’ll handle Canberra and sitting inside for 10 days straight. If only I can smuggle a Kelpie under my desk, I’ll be right!

I know I’ll be craving having the soil under my feet, but it’ll be a great chance to network with other rural women from across the Nation.

Word’s out we have a black tie dinner at the end of the course where many of the government and departmental leaders will attend (maybe even Kevin 08).

I’ll be making sure our rural voices are heard loud and clear.

With threatened school closures in rural areas during drought times, we’ll be asking for some flexibility from our city-based leaders to allow us to develop new ways of farming in a new climate and a chance to re-build rural infrastructure which is key to our nation’s vibrancy.

(I’ll also be able to tell them some yarns about what it’s like here on the farm during the worst drought we’ve ever experienced! We’ve been carting water to some paddocks for a year now! Yesterday thirsty rats chewed through a water pipe under our house! It’s lucky we didn’t lose all our tank water! These sorts of daily stresses along with the stress of encountering a public service that doesn’t seem to understand has pushed many of us to breaking point.)

I’m sure Canberra will be just the ticket the rural women need to getting some positive change happening in rural areas!

Two of the same!

Meet Rachel Treasure! Yes, the other Rachael Treasure. Rachel, like me was lucky enough to marry a Treasure, and so when John’s long lost relly, Peter called to say he and Rachel were in Tassie passing through we were thrilled.

John hadn’t seen Peter in over 20 years. For me it was a chance to listen to some of the great Treasure family stories and to meet the other Rachel Treasure — who is a legend!

Surprisingly we both have little dogs that share the same name! Rachel has an Indie and I have an Indi.

We shared lots of laughs and decided we have to meet up again down the track

It was wonderful to find two people who are also creative and free in life — journeying to amazing places.

Find out more about their exciting life and their careers that they pack into their amazing Geist caravan.

More lessons

My learning continued in May at a Low Stress Livestock Handling Course. We loved the course at Smithton so much last time, we went again, this time at our old stomping ground “Malahide” in the Fingal Valley.

Graham Rees showed us the easy, stress free way of shedding and penning up sheep. 

LSS instructor Nic Kentish and Malahide Manager Ian discuss technique of handling livestock. Some people may think being a stockman is a job for a ‘simple man’ but good livestock handling needs a person with self-awareness, intuition and many, many skills — from science to sensitivity. Get more information here.

Learning in life

I love the saying, ‘You are never too old to learn.’

I’ve been learning a lot these past few weeks.

I’ve been to an Ian Leighton horsemanship clinic, where my horse Jess and I were like two fat-bottomed girls bumbling about when compared to the horse-savvy Ian Leighton.

Homegrown

It may not look like a gourmet meal from the Women’s Weekly test kitchen, but I had to take a photo for you all of tonight’s tea.

Sure I’ve thrown it all on the plate so it looks like a dog barfed on it, but this meal is significant and very special. It might not look flash but it tastes great — believe me.

It’s all grown, chemical free from our district … corn from the neighbour down the road, spuds from the neighbour up the road, pumpkin from my garden, spinach from dad’s garden and lamb from our paddocks.

When McCain’s food processing have been reported on the radio this week bringing 800 truckloads of food from China to process at their Northern Tasmanian processing plant to package as Australian food, I’m really glad we’ve got our own food source.

And it may be simple and to some, unsophisticated cuisine, but heck, I know how healthy the soils are that grow the stuff and I know how vibrant our kids are from this good, plain, unprocessed fresh food that comes complete with living caterpillars!

Vet visit

Here’s Rousie II having his first jab at the Oatlands vet. He’s a sweet wee thing and was very brave.

This 14 week old Kelpie is the star of our new videos that we’re making on dog training where you can download training tips that you play back on your iPods.

Life at Levendale

Radio star Charles Wooley has offered his help in the rejuvenation of our Levendale School and District.

He invited me on his show, live from Agfest last week, to talk about my new eBook, Wise Women and Hot Dogs.

The conversation turned to our little school and our community’s campaign to move community-minded families into the district who want a better way of life and a great little school to send their children.

We are compiling a list of available housing, so if you want a great new life in a quiet, idyllic part of the world only 45 minutes drive from Hobart email John and we can help your move!

‘Madame’ Patron

As Patron of Agfest, my official duty was to cut the ribbon to open Tassie’s three-day event.

Agfest Chairman, Katie Crane and her crew of volunteers from Rural Youth should be very proud of this amazing festival which is driven by young community-minded volunteers.

It makes me proud to be a country person when I see the achievements of the Rural Youth Organisation and Rural Youth.

If you’re aged between 15 and 30 and live in Tassie, join up! They’re a great bunch.

Backing Blue

Agfest is one of my favourite times of year. It’s the place to catch up with good friends.

Here I am with my dog training mentor and inspiration for my new eBook, Paul Macphail from Working Dog Education, and my dear friend Jackie Merchant who is being brave enough to auction her Kelpie, Red, for charity at Casterton Kelpie Auction in June to support the Beyond Blue cause.

Weaning worries

Time to wean our rather big baby calves. We’re keeping them in a lane way next to their mums and hand feeding them so they don’t get too distressed at being removed from the luxury of the teat.

They’ve done very well considering the run of seasons and we’re very happy with our very first drop of calves and although they’re small in numbers, it’s a start to breeding up a decent, good quality herd.

Babies in the play pen, while old mother cow looks on