Hi!! Lets get this section going!! [Archive] - Bub Hub Pregnancy & Parenting Forum

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patsmum

26-03-2009, 00:14

Hi everyone!

Im a mum of 2 living 2 and 1/2 hours away from Perth.

I married into farm life and we have sold our farm at the start of this year.

We still live here and DH is working for the company that bought it.

Would be nice to chat to others in the same lifestyles, whinge about our whinging DH's!!

justafarmgirl

26-03-2009, 10:38

Hi Patsmum!
I too would like to chat with like minded girls! :yelclap:I seem to be spending a bit of time here in front of the computer the more pregnant I get and the more uncomfortable i feel!:o
I am a farm girl through and through! My husband and I in partnership with BIL, run about 15 thousand acres in south eastern qld. I have two DD's, one is 4 1/2 and the other with be two in about a month. I am due with another bub in early July.
Things are tight here at the moment, a bit dry ( could always use more rain!) it is getting cooler now, which is great! My swollen feet are thankful and it means DH has to come home earlier as the days get shorter. Thats why all my children are winter babies! I know he'll be home earlier, no hay to make as well.
Anyway I have a sick girl home from Kindy today, so I'd better go and see how she is. This is the first time we have had the dreaded gastro, just a benifit of fresh country air and not being a child care kid. But now we're at Kindy it will all start! I am dreading the day we get headlice!:(
Hope to see a few more farm ladies take some time out for themselves ( we know how much work we all do!) and join in this thread.:wave:

lizzo

10-04-2009, 09:18

totally, totally agree with getting this section going......we country girls need to stay in touch and compare notes.....:D

We are currently changing our situation - WOOHOO:thumbsup: DH has landed a management position only 15ks up the road. Its a nice place with great house with pool and tennis court - YAY,...we are going to lease out the property we own which is a little too small for 2 families that are currently trying to make a living off it - MIL will still farm her portion of it.

The lease should pay our sons school fees (we have 2 of our 4 kids at boarding school in Sydney) which is fantas -a-ma-bolical! (one of my kids words!!)

The money is great with a cash incentive paid yearly - its just going to be nice to know there is money coming in each week.

It was a difficult decision as when the seasons are right we can make a ton of money off our own property but, DH has had enough after the last harvest. As you all may of experienced the crop was shaping up to be a bumper harvest BUT it rained for 2 days just before we were due to bring the headers in ARRGGHH :crying:- I reckon you could literally see the dollars just floating away with the quality of the wheat.....soooooo we heard about this position so we went for it..

Back to my family I have 3 boys and DD ...DS1 17, DS2 14, DD 11, DS3 8. They are all love being on the farm and are barely inside any longer than it takes to eat lunch or get a drink. They are all into motorbikes rugby netball and all the other typical country things. Im busting to get my daughter into horses as I grew up with horses but she isnt showing much interest - I think I might get one for myself than hopefully she follow suit....:D

How is the season shaping up for everyone else?? anyone had any decent rain lately??

patsmum

15-04-2009, 17:16

Hey

Lizzo the move sounds fantastic!! New house!!

The season will be starting here soon, in the next few weeks. We had 5mm yesty.

I must say it is so much less stressful on our family having dh work for someone else instead of having our own farm.

Good Luck for the season!

misskittyfantastico

15-04-2009, 17:38

:wave::wave: Howdy! I'm on a farm three hours east of Perth. Married into farm life (BIIIIIIG adjustment!). We have about 12000 hectares and a few thousand sheep. We've got a 3.5 yr old cyclonic DD and a 14 month DS. We're ready to start scratching a crop in, just need some wet stuff.

Patsmum - another WA chickie. I'm jealous of your 5mm. We had 3mm on Monday night. Definitely with you on the whinging husbands - the closer seeding get, the whingier and grumpier DH gets.

Lizzo - What a hearbreaker that harvest must have been. We got a fair bit of frost damage, but it averaged out ok. Good luck in your new venture - the house sounds great.

Justafarmgirl - I hope your pregnancy is treating you well - I planned both my kids around seeding and harvest too! At least then you know you'll have a husband!

Great idea getting this section going again. Hope you all get lots of rain.

Electric Rodeo

15-04-2009, 17:56

Hi girls,
Just tagging this post as I have to go put the boys to bed.
Have been wanting to get this section started again myself but didn't know how many farm mummies were about.
:yelclap:I'll be back to give my intro shortly

BB78

15-04-2009, 18:06

HI all:wave:
I'm a country mum I live 2hrs outta Melbourne, I am a married mum of 3 with another on the way would love to chat to other country mums. Take care all.:)

Electric Rodeo

15-04-2009, 18:44

We are on 8,000 acres in southern NSW. We grow wheat and canola (when it rains;)) and run about 1000 head of cattle and 5000 odd sheep. I have a farm obsessed DH and 2 little boys aged 3 and almost 2. No. 3 is due in September.
Like a few of you I married into farm life, grew up in Canberra so was a huge adjustment and I have learnt heaps.
Cropping season has started for us as of a few days ago. DH is busy putting in feed wheat to feed the hungry masses.

We must have had a downpour here last week compared to a few others, we got 8 mm last week:p. Would love an inch after this wheat is in to get things going but there is nothing forecasted.
Drought has hit up pretty hard the last 3 years with 3 failed harvests in a row. Last year was our best shot at a good year but with no sep/oct rain at all the crops died or didn't fill.

I love farm life but it can be pretty depressing at times., look forward to chatting with other mums who understand the lifestyle:)

patsmum

21-04-2009, 23:17

Well we are gettin close to starting seeding. It will be a pity this year because we have sold the farm and working for someone else so my DS1 wont be able to go and sit on the tractor all day. :(

And back to having no husband for 10 weeks!

Hows everyone else going?

Electric Rodeo

22-04-2009, 07:14

:laughing:No hubby here either patsmum.
We have all the feed wheat in(come on rain:rain:) but have had a breakdown so the parts runs will start and we will get into sowing again in a few days.
DH is excited as he has a tractor driver to help him out this sowing season. Takes the pressure off him a bit.

I can't belive its nearly May.

My kids love farm jobs too Patsmum, so much so that when DS1 does make believe play he pretends he is feeding sheep/cows, going to the neighbours to fix the fence etc. So cute.

lizzo

23-04-2009, 09:36

Electric Rodeo

23-04-2009, 12:49

YAY - good to see you all :wave:

I feel almost emabarrassed telling you all how much rain we had here ....ummm....30mm......I think we were just very lucky, we dont normally do well with the rain!...

Mikate - Im so sorry about last seasons crop - I know that we were very lucky to get some rain in october last year( even thought it ended up ruining the crop because it didnt stop!!!), there were many others like you around us who werent so lucky and didnt get the headers in at all. Ive got everything crossed for you so that youll get tons and tons of the wet stuff and your DH will be beaming with grain coming out his ears!!!

Which makes me think - how is everyones other half coping with the recent crap seasons.... Before we landed this new job DH was getting the season planned and I thought to myself I wonder what will happen if this one fails as well.

As we all know men, especially farmers are not the most communicative of creatures, particularly when it comes to their emotions....is anyone worried that their DHs are under way too much stress??? Anyone already had issues?........ mine has already been on a course of anti depressants and is still taking them but a smaller dose !!!!!

I have found that people who arent in our situation have no real understanding on the true ramifications of the drought. For example, our EC payments were cancelled last month and I cant work out why...we have lost soooo much money that it will take years and years to recover...the drought doesnt end with a few mms of rain. .....

sorry having a bit of a vent here but it can so frustrating!!

yay for the rain:smiliedance: that's a very nice amount for this time of year. Just checked out the forecast and we have 80-90% chance over the next 4 days to get some wet stuff. Haven't had the percentage that high in a while that's for sure. Dh won't be happy though(farmers never are:laughing:) as he has been broken down all week so would have liked to have a bit more crop in, he dare not complain though in case the rain disappears.

My DH is going into his usual cropping trance ATM iykwim. Crop and eat dinner, have a little sleep. Same again and again. Convrsation is fairly limited here as he is exhausted if he does come home when I'm up. I just leave him go at this time of year. Sometimes he will talk, other times he is best left to his own thoughts(hope I don't sound heartless). I think his father is depressed but is a stubborn farmer who would never admit that. he barely gets out of bed anymore which increases the pressure on DH who has to do evrything. The drought has really hit hard.

I'm sorry your EC payments got cancelled. If we didn't have those we'd be buggered, we too owe so much it's a joke.
People don't understand the true effect of drought unless your on the land. Now that talk on the media has ceased and they have had some rain in the cities people assume it's over. This is our last shot this year, I dread to think what a broken man my DH would be if we had to sell up. Farming seems to be iin the blood. He can do anything job wise but is legally qualified to do nothing else.
ahh the joys, I've just joined your vent.:)

justafarmgirl

26-04-2009, 10:40

Hi ladies! Yes we could use a drop of rain here, actually two inches would be great! Have all the oats planted now and it's up, so some wet stuff would be very helpful now. I don't think we are going to get it though...it is very windy here today, and there is a nip in the air. We are supposed to get a frost during the week. I must say I am looking forward to the cool weather. We got a load of wood yesterday and I will have to dig out the saftey fence for around the wood heater and put it back up.

Mitake: your FIL sounds a little like mine, well he gets the sooks and can stay in bed for days too, hasn't done that for a while though...he and my hubby get on really well it's just the brother in law here who is the problem. Nearly 40 single who has not a compasioniate bone in his body-drives me nuts, but I keep my mouth shut and out of his way. I feel for DH though, he is the peacekeeper and has to do all the " talking" etc when it comes to workers and dealing with general public, banks etc BIL just likes to sit back and judge. Oh I could really have a good vent, but it would take pages!!

Lizzo: Dh is pretty good, and full of hope for the farms in general. We did have a really bad patch ( just getting out of it now, fingers crossed) last year when our wheat crop was ruined by rain :rolleyes: last year, just before one of our interst repayments. That was really really tough....we didn't get much sleep here until it was paid and we are still playing catch up. We owe heaps as we have bought 3 properties in the last 7 years. We do have one for sale at the moment, it is just a bit to far away, and the place next door ( with a four bedroom, four ensuited house!! yes please!) is on the market, so we would like to reduce our debt a bit and then do it all again by buying next door! However we haven't had much interest in the farm for sale.
Our second pivot of corn is set to be harvested next week so fingers crossed all is well there.
Howvere we did have a win this week, we knew that we were getting some $ back from the BAS but it actually turned out to be fifteen grand more than we budgeted on!!:smiliedance: That was a nice win for us!
The next thing on my agenda is a new car. We have a dual cab which we can't fit three cars seats in the back of, however DH hates spending $ on cars ( fair engough, it's bloody hard to make) so it will only be second hand. What do you all drive?

Bye for now!

lizzo

26-04-2009, 15:25

hi justafarmgirl .......when i was reading your post and you mentioned your BIL it sounded exactly like my BIL!!!!so similar its scary!!!!

thankfully we arent in a partnership with him however at one stage DH was looking at it - Im so pleased we didnt do it as it would have been disastrous...

and dont you love those GST refunds - we have had a few nice ones lately...particularly since the wheat was a disaster!!!

We are also in the market for a new car. We currently have a Toyota Lancruiser wagon, I think a 2002 model. Its got about a gazillion kms on it...we bought it 2nd hand with only 20,000ks on it. i cant believe we have put over 280,000ks on it since weve owned it. It was a great car though, the only thing we have had to do to it was change the tyres, and we arent very good at getting them serviced on time etc. So I think we will get another toyota but we arent sure about the new landcruisers - they are about $90,000 new:eek: . We really dont need the extra space anymore either as our older boys are at boarding school so we are very rarely travelling altogether. I think we will look into a Prado as I still want the extra seats - we should be able to pick up a decent 2nd hand one with low ks - we very rarely buy new cars as DH cant stand how quickly they depreciate. And we always get our cars in Sydney - its a pain if something goes wrong but we have found they are just so much cheaper because of the competition - our local toyota dealer is unbelievably expensive.....

anyway, I better get some dinner sorted -:wave:

justafarmgirl

01-05-2009, 13:11

Lizzo-My solution to the BIL problem is either: get him married off to some poor woman/mail order bride style because thats the only way it would happen or buy another small breeder block at least 3 hrs away and let him chase cows all day! :devil:I can't see it happening though, he would never leave as he just doesn't think Dh can do anything ( but does the most!). Glad you didn't go in with your BIL, it makes life far too tricky.
I would love a brand new crusier but at $90 grand it would never happen, even if I won the lotto! Houses in our local town have been sold for less!
I am thinking second hand pajero? they look great, engough seats and I need 4WD as my parents and one of our properties are across the river, which has a rough crossing that I use alot. Anyway we have decied to wait till we have the cash in our hand then just go out and buy the best we can, prob an auction in brisbane. I'm not really a car person, but I have had my trusty dual cab for 6 years and I might have the next one as long....oh well its wait and see.
Had the fire going this week...only light frosts though, didn't start harvesting the corn yesterday as the mositure was a little bit high,hopefully after the weekend, Defience take a month from the last truck in to pay and of course we have another interest repayment due at the end of the month. After that things should be on the up, fingers crossed! I wish someone would buy our property we have for sale, but it the current market, it's going to take ages I think.
We got a kitten this week and the girls love him. He is very cute, white with ginger patches and blue eyes. DD2 who turned 2 last week, just won't leave the poor thing alone. She is quite gentle but can love him a little to much! DD1 like to put him in her handbag a la paris hiltons dog style and carry him around the verandah, very cute!
I went into town yesterday and at least 8 people ( I counted them) asked me how long I had to go, when I said oh about 10 weeks they all nearly fell over, one asked me if I was having twins! I haven't even put on any extra weight, it's all bub. My Ob says I'm pretty normal though and as he's the only one who can actually see inside of me, I'm taking his word for it!!:p
Chat again soon!

patsmum

06-05-2009, 01:42

YAY - good to see you all :wave:

I feel almost emabarrassed telling you all how much rain we had here ....ummm....30mm......I think we were just very lucky, we dont normally do well with the rain!...

Patsmum - totally agree with you about not having to worry about our own farm. We are actually share farming the place this year but next year we will defiantely be putting it up to lease - leasing should be a more reliable income IFKWIM...was it a hard decsion for you and DH to sell your farm?

I love the farm being sold! DH has his moments. I hate that my boys dont get to go on the header/tractor etc anymore. I love inlaws being away, DH is home earlier, ( no father to sit round n drink n procrastinate with). In saying all that if we were in a better financial situation we wouldnt have sold and I think I would have quite liked that aswell!!

Hi ladies! Yes we could use a drop of rain here, actually two inches would be great! Have all the oats planted now and it's up, so some wet stuff would be very helpful now. I don't think we are going to get it though...it is very windy here today, and there is a nip in the air. We are supposed to get a frost during the week. I must say I am looking forward to the cool weather. We got a load of wood yesterday and I will have to dig out the saftey fence for around the wood heater and put it back up.

Our second pivot of corn is set to be harvested next week so fingers crossed all is well there.
Howvere we did have a win this week, we knew that we were getting some $ back from the BAS but it actually turned out to be fifteen grand more than we budgeted on!! That was a nice win for us!
The next thing on my agenda is a new car. We have a dual cab which we can't fit three cars seats in the back of, however DH hates spending $ on cars ( fair engough, it's bloody hard to make) so it will only be second hand. What do you all drive?

Bye for now!

I have a Holden Jackeroo, not bad, I had a older model and it was great, the newer model has some really low areas underneath and usless for 4WD. Im thinking about gettin a lift on it. But it has heaps of room and I love everything else about it!!

:smiliedance: For refund!!

Im hanging out for it too get cold enough to light the fire, its still really warm during the day so it keeps the house warm at night.

We got a kitten this week and the girls love him. He is very cute, white with ginger patches and blue eyes. DD2 who turned 2 last week, just won't leave the poor thing alone. She is quite gentle but can love him a little to much! DD1 like to put him in her handbag a la paris hiltons dog style and carry him around the verandah, very cute!
I went into town yesterday and at least 8 people ( I counted them) asked me how long I had to go, when I said oh about 10 weeks they all nearly fell over, one asked me if I was having twins! I haven't even put on any extra weight, it's all bub. My Ob says I'm pretty normal though and as he's the only one who can actually see inside of me, I'm taking his word for it!!:p
Chat again soon!

Our farm was on the market for 3 and a half years before it sold. It was so annoying, everytime someone would look at it we would get all excited. i ended up just saying to myself, dont get excited till you see the signatures on a bit of paper. Though by the time we did actually sell I had used up all my excitement on false sales!!

Love the kitten!! I wanna another kitten, i really dont need one i already have 2 cats. but they are doing a great job atm, everyone else has mice problems and i dont!!

As for stressed DH's mine had some issues after DS1 was born. That was the worst year he had seen on the farm. ( until the next yr ) He was severly depressed and suicidal. We got through it with out any meds etc. He is better for it now. And def not as much stress not having his own farm, but he is finding it different working for someone else. This is the first time he has worked for someone and some of the complaints he tells me im like yeah but thats why they are the employer and you the employee!! I just hope he doesnt want to quit because it will just be the same in another job!!

Well I think my DS2 has finally gone to sleep, its nearly 1am!!

Wishing for rain for everyone...till we speak next!!:hugs:

So its busy around here, not sure what they are doing though!! lol

They have dry seeded a bit of canola, but have pulled up for now.

Still heaps of burning, spraying, pullin out fences.

Rainbows end

10-08-2009, 15:24

Just coming in to say hello if anyone is around still new to the forum so hi:smiliedance: we have a dairy farm , we share farm with my BIL but we get on great and have the same visions for the property so it works well for us, i love the space to raise kids since we have 5 already.

Hope to chat soon.

XX

Countrydeb

18-10-2009, 22:48

Hi thought i would pop in and say hello......I was a qld suburbanite until moving to wa 11 years ago and meeting dh who worked on a dairy farm at the time....we now reside 4 hours east of perth on a wheat,sheep farm just as workers but we love it....we sort of have the best of both worlds ,the country lifestyle without the responsibility,tho dh gets just as upset about rain,poor crops,too much rain,crap sheep prices,not enough rain,poor wool prices,[ and did i mention rain] as if he owned the place........We live in a great town and have a fantastic bunch of neighbours,the school is excellent and there is enough shops here we don't do without much really.......I'm thinking the boys may have to get out and do a raindance soon as it is pretty dry and crops are looking sad so sad,,hope it comes eventually because i have learnt carting water is a one powerball job...the pits........Anyhoo we have 4 boys[yes poor me] ,there is a go-kart on the wish list for xmas,shooting is popular,lucky i have my friends we keep each other sane.....I enjoy having a laugh with friends ,family and whoever else wants to tickle my funny bone,i am a cr#p housekeeper[boring] and love reading a good murder-mystery.....good wishes to you all:wave::wave::wave::wave:

ArnieBoy

31-10-2009, 03:43

G'day guys.
I'm also on a farm just over 3 hours east of Perth.

Although we lease the farm and the owner still uses it for wheat we have our horses and absolutly love it.
Just recently we learnt how hard it can be when one of the kids fall dangerously ill, needing to be flown to Perth and unfortunatly one parent had to stay behind to take care of all the horses and 'on call midwife' to one of our horses due to foal at the time (who ended up waiting to foal the day after our daughter came home!!! Cheeky bugger) and unfortunatly that was me (OH is still learning horses!) and it was the hardest choice and hardest thing I have EVER been through.
Unfortunatly I was harshly judged by people who couldn't imagin the situation but my husband was there for my daughter and he did a dam good job!

Love living out here and wouldn't trade farm life for anything!

Countrydeb

31-10-2009, 23:57

I agree ....living so far from hospy's and that makes for hard decisions but the lifestyle is worth it.........Sadly there are always people who are going to criticise whatever we do.....small towns can be bad for it.........The travel sometimes tires me out and the kids whinge a bit being in the car for so long but we have great friends here and we'd love to win a substantial lotto so we could buy our own patch out here oh well cross fingers.......

patsmum

01-11-2009, 18:29

Hasnt been very busy in here!!

Well we are about to move on. We have now sold our house and waiting on delivery of our 24ft caravan and setting of around oz at the end of Jan (after a summer break at the coast!!)

To the previous posts:

Small towns are very much like that, One thing I cant wait for, to get out and move on!

ArnieBoy

01-11-2009, 22:11

Countrydeb - being four hours east you must be in Southern Cross?

I agree, I've had my fair share of small town gossip! Has only made me a stronger person and if the gossip isn't true then its not worth worrying about ;). Saying that, I love the privacy out on this farm :D