Our Magic Puddings

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD ©

IN THE great Australian tradition of my favourite childhood story, "The Magic Pudding", we are having our own Magic Pudding(s!) moment here at "Glen Alvin".

In Norman Lindsay's famous children's story from 1917, the grouchy Pudding in his upturned pudding bowl hat had mystical rejuvenative qualities as he strolled about the Australian bush.

Norman Lindsay's "The Magic Pudding" from normanlindsay.com.au

Cake and pudding cooking have become a shared Christmas feature since we married and in their own way, our unorthodox cake and pudding production has its own magical quality.

I like to make enough to have throughout the year, pulling out Christmas baking for birthdays, Easter and perhaps the odd night in with a port and some aged dark, rich pudding in front of the fire in winter.

It's become our way of taking a little symbol of the magic of Christmas - and reminding ourselves to keep the spirit of Christmas in our hearts all year.

Bartie gets into the Christmas Spirit.

I was delighted when, for our first Christmas at our new farm as newlyweds, my husband purchased antique baking tins and pudding bowls from Ebay.

Holding them in my hands when they arrived, I sensed they had hosted many a successful baking and boiling but besides that - they looked just like the upturned pudding tin of "The Magic Pudding".

I lacked experience in big cakes and puddings, but in that moment, I knew these tins would not fail.

So a couple of weeks ago there was a combined effort to chop and select fruit. One secret ingredient is our fabulous Australian dried fruit. Ingredients vary from year to year. I like each cake to be distinct,  just like each year has its own distinct flavour.

This year's pudding and cake fruits drank up rather generous amounts of port, brandy and sherry lavished on them by the husband cook who tended the fruit for several days.

Chop...stir...soak...

The mixtures sat soaking on the stove far longer than usual. This is a farm and of course the animals come first. There was a round of cattle work to be done … immediately. Such are the joys of country cooking.

More sherry, more port,  more brandy ... stir ... soak.

The tins and bowls came out of the shed for their annual day of glory. It looked promising for a moment. The lining of the tins is an exercise in precision folding and stapling and drew close inspection from one little helper.

Posh inspects the vintage tins for inherited cooking wisdom.

But then …

An unusual egg shortage. After overflowing with eggs all year,  the cupboard was bare. Production slowed - perhaps the Festive Season? The crows ate a basket I left on the back veranda. I had to wait for production to meet demand.

More sherry, more port, more brandy ... stir ... soak.

We finally came to mixing and that’s where we truly had our own Magic Pudding moment. I slipped in copious amounts of secret spices and a full jar of glossy, black Beerenberg molasses for good measure. My gorgeous husband lovingly tended his fruit,  making last-minute additions.

Cats walked over the table, the sheep knocked at the screen door. World Christmas carols boomed and a couple of little ears listened over the fence.

  Enjoying carols at their first Christmas.

We probably broke many cooking rules and like most years, I have not much idea what finally went into the mixtures.

Perhaps it's because we are more used to mixing up feed for animals that weigh hundreds of kilos but this year's Christmas cake and pudding mixes just kept expanding into two enormous mixes that became two cakes and three dark puddings in the fabulous antique tins.

Antique tins work their magic.

Perhaps it's the flavour of all those little moments added together, blended with the real secret ingredient - love and attention, sharing and fun.

There could have been a couple of other secret farm ingredients that sneak in there too. It is a farm after all.

There was much laughter and love and sharing and finally after four hours of baking and boiling - an immense 10 kilograms of boiled and baked, rich dark beauties.

Somewhere in the mixing, the antique tins worked their magic and we had our own Magic Pudding moment. I don't know how it works but every year it does.

Magic puddings.

After all, that’s the magic of Christmas.

This year I'm keeping a few kilos of cake and pudding in the cupboard to remind me to keep the spirit of Christmas in my heart all year.

Merry Christmas to your and yours. Wherever you are this Christmas may you be blessed with the spirit of Christmas in your heart all year.

Feisty little furry friends

Free and moving well up a post for gliding away.

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD ©

WHO ever said life on the farm was dull?

Not me that's for sure.

I was collecting the eggs today when a life and death drama played out right in front of me.

I heard odd noises coming from our old fig tree and looked up to see a large tree snake that has been hanging about the house for a few days, sticking its head into a hole.

Suddenly a ball of fluff came flying out of the hole and landed on the barb-wire fence in front of me. I had the phone out to take photos of the snake but ...

This little fellow escaped one predator only to get caught on barbed-wire. Help was not far away though....

The little glider promptly twirled about in a bit of a daze in the bright light and got some of its floppy side-fur caught around a barb.

I jumped on the four-wheeler and raced to the shed for pliers. When I returned, the glider seemed quite calm, so I proceeded to strip off my shirt to cover its head to stop it biting me while I cut the wire on either side.

This was wildly unsuccessful. We have had these little gliders come in under the eaves often when it's rainy, and they are usually quiet when nestled at the top of the plumbing pipes.

Not today. Understandably feisty after escaping a snake and being caught on wire, the ball of slippery fluff promptly bit me painfully hard while making a huge racket as I was trying to cut the wire.

I admit a few naughty words escaped me before my furry little friend also escaped me, the wire and made a bolt for the nearest post.

I was none too keen by now on trying to catch it, what with bloodied indents from its sharp teeth stinging my finger and evident even through rubbery gloves and those vague thoughts about when my last tetanus jab was.

All this action escaped the attention of the phone camera but it must have been some sight to anyone driving by at the time - a shirtless woman in gumboots, expletives perhaps flying a bit too freely, kneeling in the grass wrestling a “shirt”.

Once free, my furry little escapee scampered up this post, staring at me long enough for this blurry photo, before gliding a few metres away again, and running up a different branch of the fig tree.

I'm not sure what its chances of survival are with any injury. I hardly ever see anything caught on the barbed wire around here apart from me when I'm trying to get through fences.

I lost track of what happened to the snake and just realised the eggs are still lying out in the rain.

Enough excitement now - I have one very sore finger and I'm staying in for the rest of the day for a keyboard workout - but I am thinking of you my little furry friend with every painful tap of the finger...

Good luck little one. I so hope you make it!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

BART wishes all a Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD ©

I'M looking forward to a colourful and creative 2014.

2013 marked the sixth year in NSW for two dust-loving Queenslanders who moved to the green and wet of the rainforest from our dusty home in Central Queensland.

This year has heralded the end of FIFO farming for the Cliffords and been our year of the sheep. Welcome Bart!

After almost four years of my gorgeous husband calling in from mine sites in places as diverse as Woomera in South Australia and Telfer in the remote north-west of WA, I have had a husband home on farm. Praise the end of the super-commute from the Northern Rivers to the Pilbara...every 10 days.

Super commuter ... the super FIFO husband hangs up his miner's hat but not before a Telfer New Year partying with the dingoes in WA's spectacular Pilbara.

I won't even begin to explain the innovative things I have done with fencing, cows and pipe repairs in the absence of one amazing multi-skilled FIFO farmer.

Necessity is the mother of invention and my innovations have raised a few eyebrows as they have been uncovered and upgraded in the past six months.

Perhaps it has been the past few years of FIFO farmer's wife anonymously tinkering away on our farm or the power of a woman in her forties - whatever, after a bit of time off-the-record, 2013 has been the year to get back to my creative heart.

WISHING all a 2014 as colourful and creative as Toowoomba's Carnival of Flowers.

2014 will mark 25 years since I was first launched on an unsuspecting public as a cadet journalist in Rockhampton.

I never suspected I would still be writing and creating and enjoying it 25 years later. I never suspected I would be a FIFO farmer's wife chatting to cows and a sheep daily either...

Our green haven is a world away from the deadlines and pressures of mainstream media and I doubt many of my former colleagues would understand my passion for our farm, animals and the quiet life - which is actually anything but quiet and produces urgent life-and-death deadlines of its own at times. 

Thankfully the Internet has given me an opportunity to keep writing and enjoying the best of both worlds. Something I am very much looking forward to sharing and expanding in 2014. 

So here's to the wonderful achievements on our little farm in a big country in 2013 and looking forward to a colourful, creative and productive year in 2014.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

A Magician of Metal

"Creativity is a Spiritual essence that can operate in any and all areas of life." 

- Julia Cameron

By AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD ©

SOLD!

Yes, my gorgeous husband is sold on clearing sales and this is the smile of a happy hunter gatherer.

I never quite know what to expect on the back of the ute but judging from the elated smile this weekend I could tell something special was lurking in amongst that pile of stuff.

Where I yawn and look for somewhere to quietly nap and people watch, he yarns to fellow fossickers and uncovers fabulous bargains for our farm that I don't see amongst what look like piles of rubbish.

One man's trash and all that. But at the weekend seriously he did nab some pretty great things.

Even if you need a little - or a lot - of imagination to picture what all these little scrolls and flowers and bits and bobs can be. 

A clearning sale featured wrought iron and other assorted flotsam and jetsam of metal magic just waiting to be transformed.

Where I quietly dabble in paint, my gorgeous husband likes to grind, weld and hammer away to create beauty. We are all creative and I love seeing creativity expressed through different areas of life.

I have been banished from the Big Shed from now until Christmas on the proviso that I will be pleasantly surprised.

There have been murmurings of paddock sculpture and whimsical metal creations appearing around the place.

Looking forward to a highly creative 2014 on the farm.

Beach, Bubbles & Lizards of Lennox

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD © 

TAKE A SEAT.

I love the beach and this seat is one of my favourite spots to sit and watch the ocean.

After the past few years as a FIFO-Farmer's wife, I'm enjoying having a husband home and a more regular routine.

Which for me means we get to the beach more often. 

We're rich in choices for gorgeous beaches around here. 

This week's pick was Lennox Head - just down the road from beautiful Byron Bay and home of a world-famous surfing break.

It's also home to the uber-cool Lizards of Lennox who inhabit the black rocks on the beachfront. They hang out with their friends the gulls.

This one was literally hanging out on a rail, basking in the sunshine, licking the sea air and looking out to sea.

Then there are Lennox's high-fliers who do their grooming in public.

It was a good effort grooming with the wind ruffling your feathers at your high rise home.

There's a lovely selection of shops to keep me happy and rumour has it a champagne bar opening soon.

Beach & Bubbles. Perfect balance for Cows and Country Creative.

Happy Weekend to you all.

Hail - Impromptu Winter Wonderland

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD ©

AUSTRALIA

HAIL HAIL HAIL - and it's getting bigger.

Our third day of hail this week.

Calves cowered, cats howled and cows charged through the odd fence seeking refuge.

One pampered sheep safely contained in the outside shower and one new roof put to serious  test.

Inside the noise grew louder as the hail grew larger, gathering in piles on the lawn.

We seemed to be spared the worst but looking at our neighbor's place looked a white wonder from a distance.

This is not winter in the US, it's spring in the Northern Rivers.On closer inspection, the mist from the ice gave it a wintery atmosphere.

It's only about two kilometres in distance, but the difference was obvious from the piles of hail washed into a nearby crossing.

The hail was in a narrow band. Cows and calves were standing a little stunned in their new white wonderland.

Just over the rise you can see the heavy hail ends.

It is obvious from the highly accurate toe-nail test that the hail is getting bigger.

Looking forward to the amazing pasture boost this will provide now.

Morning Glory

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD ©

SPRING rain has arrived in our beautiful part of the world this week.

Almost nightly we have had storms skirt around us to the south and largely missed the wind and hail, receiving just beautiful, soaking rain every night.

The cracks in our soil have soaked up this week's almost 100mls of rain and are gently closing as the soil fills with moisture again.

The rampant march of green around the house has taken on an almost flourescent hue.

This morning's sunrise was pure golden glory.

Sheep Chasie & Creature Comforts

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD ©

THROUGH the years I've had an assortment of companion creatures.

Birds, lizards, echidnas, native rats, goats, bandicoots, horses, cats, wallabies - a lively squirrel glider that seemed near death at bedtime and woke me during with night with ear-piercing screams whilst rattling the window screens.

Such memorable moments.

I've always wanted a sheep though. Perhaps the Aries in me thought we'd communicate on a different level.

Some lovely neighbors up the road a bit have a wonderful little mob of sheep and we were fortunate to adopt an orphan lamb several months ago.

Bartholomew was so little, it was winter and he was so cute in his hand-knitted warmie devouring the geraniums.

He's now a fine wether and one of the gentlest animals I've known. 

Bartie has become our guard sheep and alerts me to happenings about the farm and does the occasional spot of mowing and fertilising of the lawn. Mostly he likes to hang out with the big-boy farm cats and have water play with the hose in the backyard in the afternoons. 

Recently, he graduated to the outside world with a grand new enclosure just for him. He's still pretty keen on the back veranda though and will take any opportunity to sneak 

back to the outside laundry and his original home - the outside shower - plonking down with a huge sigh of relief on the tiled concrete. 

Now he's getting to be full size it's hard to argue and move him.

He's a bit like me though - very susceptible to food treats, so bribery works. And he loves a game of sheep chasie in the shade of the fig tree in the cool of the afternoon. He even sulks a little when he doesn't win. 

And he's a creature of comfort. He loves to curl up for a daytime nap with his favorite sausage pillow tucked neatly under his head and one leg out. Ah the similarities...

Happy six months little Bartie! 

Stormy night rescue

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD © 

RAIN glorious rain has arrived in our little piece of paradise this week.

We've been blessed with a couple of storms that have delivered about 57mls so far.

Last night's storm was quite windy and this morning I found a couple of small, fluffy victims huddled in the grass.

We have an active population of owls living in the swamp bloodwood forest close to our house.

I rarely see them though often hear them hooting at night. Today though these two gorgeous littlies were huddled in the grass perhaps blown from the tree during last night's wind. 

They were being minded by a parent own which I disturbed when I rode past and which watched proceedings keenly from closeby.

The owlets were quite easy to catch and I placed them back into a tree on branches as high as I could manage balancing on gumboot tippy-toe on the seat of the four-wheeler.

One can almost fly and fluttered off but didn't make it to another tree, instead coming to rest against the base. 

A second quick rescue later, and after unceremoniously thanking me in its own little warm and watery owlie way, the two were perched back in the tree with the parent owl keeping close watch.

Good Luck little ones - look forward to hearing you having a hoot on midnight rodent patrol soon.

Angel Baby

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD ©

I FIRST met Angel when she appeared under the microscope slide glass as an embryo barely a week old having just been flushed from our lovely stud cow Uptown Girl.

We were staring intently at two little lives under glass in The Old Farm Dairy and the vet declared that we might as well implant both of them as "they wouldn't grow on the ground".

Defying the odds, Angel and Bella were born to their surrogate cow mum and Angel being the weaker and smaller of the two at birth, became my first fully hand-raised poddy heifer.

I've always loved nurturing animals and people and I would dash up to visit Angel and sit on the hay and stroke her ears, sing to her and just spend time with her. I wondered whether she would ever make a cow mother herself because she was raised with humans.

Would she be a good mother? 

She joined the herd and nature and nurture have triumphed as she has just welcomed her own second heifer which we named Angel Baby.

She is an adorable, pink-nosed bundle of Charolais fur entertaining us with her leaps and bounds as she finds her feet in the world and her place in the herd.

One of the best things about farm life is the everyday connection to the seasons and cycles of life. 

Small moments make me stop every day and appreciate my life right here, right now.

Thanks little Angel Baby!

New Web Site Coming Soon!

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD ©
 

QUITE excited here at the farm on this Creative Friday.

Firstly my new web site is coming along nicely and I hope it will be up and running in the near future.

Progress not perfection is my mantra with this exercise as doing anything that requires substantial download speed and technology in country areas is challenging.

Creativity and new life on our farm and in my artistic activities seem to be mirroring one another.

Beautiful new calves arrive daily, the spring pasture is such a green is looks as though nature is Photoshopped, and the energy is inspiring and a reminder of the vibrant cycle of life. 

The web site will offer a store with some of my artistic endeavors to share a little of the beauty of this amazing part of the world with others. 

In the meanwhile, here's a little mini collage of digital textures and impressions I am working on at the moment. Spring is all about amazing vibrant colour to me.

The digital works begin life as textures and sometimes (very!) organic forms on our farm.

Northern Rivers in NSW is referred to as the Green Cauldron and is a remarkable departure to what many people picture as hot and dry country Australia.

I use the organic forms from this beautiful part of the world  as inspiration for images as the basis for multi-media works and Giclee prints.

We have unique and unusual textures and patterns in the rainforested areas that are World Heritage listed. This fertile valley thrives in the caldera of an ancient volcano with the mystical Wollombin, the remnant volcanic plug reigning over the surrounding landscape.

Look forward to sharing more of this magical part of Australia with you.

Warmest Regards

The Grass Truly Is Greener

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD ©

WHAT a difference a year makes. 

We started our planned grazing routine just over 18 months ago and we're amazed at how quickly we are seeing results.

Could bore you with figures on grass density and kg/ha but what can beat a photo of happy spring calves in beautiful pastures?

Still have to pinch myself after all those years of two-minute showers and hairy legs and bore-water straw hair, when I ride over our little gully that has clear spring water flowing clear in it all year round. 

Must be the Irish heritage coming out - green is starting to feel as much a home as the CQ dust. 

Vale Ophelia!

BY Ayesha Joy Clifford ©

IT'S a sad day on our farm today as our Jersey house cow Ophelia died overnight.

Despite a final jump up and trot around in which we thought she was on the mend, it seems there were heart issues we didn't know about.

Now I have heart issues of my own that I certainly do know about.

Some animals make their way into your life and your heart.

Often for me it's not the big and the beautiful that stand out. I have a soft spot for the quirky and the funny.

For a little ex-dairy cow adopted as a housewarming and Valentine's Day present seven years ago, our fair Ophelia led an eventful life.

She and her best friend Abbie did look a little out of place on our 24,000 acre Brigalow property dotted with giant Charbray-cross cattle, but what she lacked in stature, she more  than made up in fighting and kicking spirit, claiming the 350-acre house yard and everything in it - including us - as her own.

Packing off our cattle for the interstate move, the B-Double drivers were instructed to look after the MICs - Most Important Cows - on board.

She did perform a spectacular high jump and ungainly float and swim at the Gracemere Saleyards tick dip before claiming our new property as her domain,  often whimsically kicking up her spindly little Jersey legs and jumping and running for no reason apparent to us except perhaps play or joy.

Many shared moments of Jersey hilarity and gaiety later, we are grateful for having shared the journey with her and for her fostering and ministering to many calves and cows who passed through our house/hospital paddock that she quickly took under her care.

She had left us with so many happy memories, heavy hearts today and a little orphan heifer as feisty and spirited as her.

Hope cow heaven is full of pumpkins and grain treats girl.

Vale Ophelia!

The Cow Whisperer, The Mayor & The Vet

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD ©

GOOD Morning Spring Sunday in the country.

You are lovely. But wait … What’s that? What is she doing up there lying on her side, legs kicked out?

Legs up or out is never a good look. It’s especially not a good look when it’s your  favourite house cow, especially at 6am the Sunday after election.

Coffee going cold and lazy Sunday visions vanishing into the spring haze, we phone the local vet.

With my husband occupied doing the cow equivalent of hand-holding – shoulder wedged firmly to keep the patient in an upright position, help is on the way.

Some people wait longer at hospitals than we did for the vet to arrive and administer a swift IV in the neck to treat the Jersey house cow Ophelia for milk fever.

As he leaps into his car and disappears down the drive at 8am he already he has a couple more callouts to attend and an urgent surgery consult for ten pups born overnight.

Just another day on-call for the country town vet who aside from animal duties and being dubbed The Cow Whisperer by me, also wears the caps of Mayor and Councillor.

Well perhaps The Cow Whisperer is a tad poetic. I had detected a few colourful phrases on occasion. That’s to be expected when you’re trying to convince hundreds of kilo of cranky cow to be more obliging.

He didn’t say a thing last time I forgot to slide shut the gate on the race and treated cow athletically launched herself over the bonnet of his car and hoofed it back to her paddock after her prolapse surgery. All in a day’s work.

“I’d love to have a farm and work with animals,” is one of the most common responses I hear from people.

I often wonder if they really would.

Animals don’t pick a convenient time to get sick or need attention.

There is no pause button. There is a never-ending parade of ailments and activities requiring attention – more often than not “now” – ready or not.

What a blessing to have dedicated professionals multi-tasking on our side and willing to go the extra (literally) country mile to help care for us and our animals.

Thanks Ross The Mayor, The Vet and The Cow Whisperer -  you’re a legend!

One Giant Bonfire?

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD

ONE big bonfire could be on the cards next winter.

This giant old tree is going to be a bit of a problem if it falls over.

It's starting to shed more dead branches and has a big split snaking further up the side.

Going to make great firewood if we can chop it up after it's been struck by lightning but I'm hoping it keeps standing for many years to come.

Still looks quite beautiful and is a favourite haven for birds. Can only imagine how beautiful it would have been in that paddock, alive and full of leaf.

Will take another hundred years or more for the replanted ones to get to this size again but I'm planting in faith this spring!

And hoping this tree doesn't fall over for many years.





Beautiful Winter Blues

BY AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD

WINTER has almost gone for another year.

We've had a run of frosts here but the most beautiful winter days with clear blue skies punctuated by whispy and whimsical cloud formations like these ones snapped from our tank hill.

Farewell winter - when you can curl up with a good book in front of a raging fire with a gorgeous man, what's not to love?

Angels

By AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD @

TODAY has been cold and windy. Everywhere I went there seemed to be a feather there to greet me.

Feathers remind me of angels.

Angels in the paddock? I like to pick up those feathers and put them somewhere like this fence post to remind me that sometimes we all need an angel on our side.



Happy Spring!

By AYESHA JOY CLIFFORD ©

SPRING is in the air and we have calfies!

Breathing a huge sigh of relief as our heifers are calving easily to new bulls.

The calves are gorgeous too! Just look at this little girl only a few hours old. Love those floppy ears.

Such fun in the afternoons watching them take their first leaps and bucks when they get those little legs working at calfie play time.

Enjoy watching their late-afternoon antics - reminds me play is essential for us too. Certainly has put a little extra spring in my step.

Happy Spring!