Last weekend was FarmDay weekend. Its a weekend when farmers in Rural Australia welcome a family from the city to come and spend the day on their farm, and get a feel of rural life.
FarmDay was started by Deb Bain a farmer in the Western District of Victoria who produces wool and sheep on her property. She wanted to reconnect city folk with the country and develop a better understanding of the trials and tribulations of running a property in Australia.
So last weekend my son and I travelled up to Castlemaine for the night .
I have never been to Castlemaine before and must say as country towns go its a pretty little place, we drove around on the Saturday, having a look at the old gaol and the shops and some of the beautiful old houses too. We had a lovely pub meal at the Cumberland Hotel which I highly recommend then on Sunday we headed off to Welshmans Reef to an certified organic property run by Jo Hortin and her daughter Angela.
She and her daughter Angela showed us all over their property, we went and checked on the sheep as some of them are lambing at the moment and in fact two of them had just given birth, and we talked about the painstaking care involved in owning a property where no chemicals are used, on the land or the animals. All Jo's livestock are very fit and healthy, as well as running sheep, both Merino and Suffolk, Jo also has Murray Grey cattle. She keeps the cows and sells the steers off. All her animals are extremely healthy and she had plenty of calves also. To assist with all those animals she has a host of Kelpies who are excellent at their job!
Jo also explained to us about the tag systems used for both sheep and cattle and how it works. We had a beautiful lunch of homegrown roast lamb cooked on their wood-fire stove, Matt Preston would have been impressed! followed by apricot crumble also made from homegrown ingredients.
Both Sam and I had a great day, him riding on the back of the ute with the dogs and Angela and me inside the ute (where it was a lot warmer!!) chatting away to Jo. The property is run on hard work and beautiful home grown food.
Thanks Jo and Angela! and the hard workers at FarmDay for a lovely weekend!
FarmDay was started by Deb Bain a farmer in the Western District of Victoria who produces wool and sheep on her property. She wanted to reconnect city folk with the country and develop a better understanding of the trials and tribulations of running a property in Australia.
So last weekend my son and I travelled up to Castlemaine for the night .
I have never been to Castlemaine before and must say as country towns go its a pretty little place, we drove around on the Saturday, having a look at the old gaol and the shops and some of the beautiful old houses too. We had a lovely pub meal at the Cumberland Hotel which I highly recommend then on Sunday we headed off to Welshmans Reef to an certified organic property run by Jo Hortin and her daughter Angela.
Jo grows organic beef and lamb which is distributed through her business, Angel Organics; she is also a wool classer, which she has won awards for, around the state.
She and her daughter Angela showed us all over their property, we went and checked on the sheep as some of them are lambing at the moment and in fact two of them had just given birth, and we talked about the painstaking care involved in owning a property where no chemicals are used, on the land or the animals. All Jo's livestock are very fit and healthy, as well as running sheep, both Merino and Suffolk, Jo also has Murray Grey cattle. She keeps the cows and sells the steers off. All her animals are extremely healthy and she had plenty of calves also. To assist with all those animals she has a host of Kelpies who are excellent at their job!
Jo also explained to us about the tag systems used for both sheep and cattle and how it works. We had a beautiful lunch of homegrown roast lamb cooked on their wood-fire stove, Matt Preston would have been impressed! followed by apricot crumble also made from homegrown ingredients.
Thanks Jo and Angela! and the hard workers at FarmDay for a lovely weekend!
Hi,
ReplyDeleteI think Farm Day weekend is great. You met new people and learn new thinks.