2011 lambing begins

Our first lamb of the new season was born last Thursday.

It's a great time of the year - and a great time to be living on a farm.

On the appeal of offgridding

In Mole Creek, today’s the fifth day of Spring. At this time of the year, day-by-day the sun climbs higher in the sky. And more hours between sunrise and sunset means more sunshine on our solar panels. In our eight years here, we’ve never run our backup generator after August. So yesterday I rolled up the extension cord (pictured) that connects it to the battery charger.

I love living off the grid. So I was intrigued to read a recent Salon article titled ‘Off the Grid: The growing appeal of going off the grid’ [1]. It tells of people who are unconnected to all services. Here in Mole Creek, our only external utilities are the telephone and internet.

As a subtotal offgridder, I agree with lots of what the Salon piece says about offgridding: It counts even if you’re not completely pure in the way you do it. It’s a lifestyle choice that also has a metaphorical significance. It’s about moving away from the corporate system, physically and metaphorically, i.e. it’s a way of sticking your finger up at that establishment. You gain more than you give up. You’re far more aware of nature. It makes you responsible. You can live very comfortably off the grid.

In summary I live off the grid for environmental reasons, and also for independence. I wouldn’t have it any other way. And I feel oh so smug whenever massive electricity price rises are announced, as they were in Tasmania last week [2, 3]. Ho hum.

P.S. Happy Father’s Day to me. And to you if you're a father.

farmdoc's blog post number 499

Today’s the first day of spring. How do I know? It’s 1 September. And if I didn’t know the date, I’d have a fair idea because the yellow flowers are out. Not only daffodils, but also wattle. And the prickly, insidious gorse. It’s been a tough winter here in Mole Creek. Not compared with Canadian winters, say. But much wetter than previous winters here. And intuitively it seems like this winter it’s rained on more than the usual number of days. In the past three years the sun has filled our batteries on nine, eight and ten August days. But this year not even one. Nevertheless I’ve stayed warm and dry – apart from during some walks, that is – and also healthy, with nary a sniffle or cough. But it’s lovely to see the landscape splashed with yellow – a bright and cheery end to the dark and colourless winter months. Happy spring to you. Here’s to light, warmth and renewal. And colour.

For the next eight days I’m taking a bit of a rest from Farmdoc’s Blog. So each day between tomorrow and Wednesday 9 September, I’m posting a photograph I’ve gleaned from somewhere on the internet, together with a line or two about why I’ve chosen it. As they say, I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I’ve enjoyed selecting them. Normal Farmdoc’s Blog programming should resume on Thursday 10 September.