It was an interesting morning this morning. I had to check the electric fence for the new paddock for the cows early this morning, stepped a bit too deep into the dam and saturated the inside of my gumboots. Slopping and sqeaking in my boots all morning, I shoveled the cow yard. As I was feeding the cow manure into the biodigester I was chatting to Iris, who is very interested in the workings of the biodigester. I was down to the last bit of manure and emptied it into the bucket to mix it with water. The manure came out a bit quicker than expected, splashed into the water below, soaking me in manure water and splashing some on Iris as well. I still had to take the cows out and bring forage to the goats, so I had to continue on smelling like shit for a while longer 😉 The cows must have had a bit of a chuckle at me, because when I tried to drive them up into their new paddock, Anna decided she wanted to turn left instead of right, went straight through an electric fence and up into another paddock, munching happily all the way and leading the other cows! I tried to get the dogs to drive them back, but they made a mess of things and drove them the wrong way… After wading through underarm height wet grass and driving them back, I managed to get 3 of the cows back in. I stayed there to stop the dogs from chasing the cows back out of the paddock while Iris managed to get the last of the cows in. After that I had a shower and Iris and I had a well earned cup of tea. Thanks Iris for helping out and putting up with my smell all morning!
©2016 Zaia; permeco.org, incorporating Permaculture Research Institute Sunshine Coast, simplicity, permaculture, self reliance, self sufficiency, sustainability, food, health and homesteading, Covered in cow manure from biodigester splash back
Author: Zaia Kendall
Zaia grew up in a family of musicians in Holland, and has a background in top sport (snow skiing) and web development and design. She co-founded the PRI Luganville and PRI Sunshine Coast Inc (now PermEco Inc.) with Tom, and runs the “invisible structures”, like finances, business administration, website design and maintenance, writes articles and records and edits videos. She assists Tom in running the Kendall Permaculture Farm and supervising other volunteers. She is an active member of several musical projects and bands, involved in community music and runs percussion and marimba workshops, is the percussion leader for the Woodford Folk Festival People’s Orchestra and composes as well as plays music. She is passionate about community music and loves seeing people discover that they can play!