Daramalan's First Sale a Success

From The Crookwell Gazette

The Daramalan Border Leicester Stud’s first annual sale, held in conjunction with Logancrest Poll Dorset Stud on property at Logancrest, Crookwell, was highlighted by solid bidding continuing the recent run of strong Border Leicester stud sales and the attendance of both long term clients of Sylvia Vale Stud and new buyers.

The strong demand for Border Leicester rams reflected the good year to date Border Leicester Merino First Cross Ewe sales and the positive outlook for sheep meat and the prime lamb markets.

All 40 Border Leicester rams offered were sold at auction for an average of $950 with a top price of $1,300 paid by R & M Murray of Netherleigh, Crookwell, long term buyers from Sylvia Vale stud. They also bought one other ram for $1,150.

The outstanding high volume buyer on the day was new client Alex Green of Veolia Environmental Services, Collector, who bought 10 rams to a high of $1,100 and an average of $925. With a yellow cap being given to each individual ram buyer Michelle from Veolia was only three short for the company football team!

Other volume buyers were Brent Medway of Toledale, Gunning who bought 6 rams to a high of $1,150, average $1,058 and Bill Johnson of Goulburn buying 5 to a high of $1,000 and average $890.

Three buyers bought 4 rams each, Murray Slater of Bychance, Laggan with average of $962.50, Ian Cusack of Bywong Holdings, Sutton average $887.50 and Brian Anderson of Lower Sylvia Vale, Binda average $900. R & D Reynolds of Fullerton Station, Fullerton, Shannon Arnall of Carinya, Laggan, Brian Kelly of Kelbri, Golspie and Brian McCormack of Apsley, Laggan completed the impressive list of 11 buyers at auction.

Daramalan Stud owner David Dawes said after the sale that he was “Delighted with the number of competitive bidders and very happy with the prices at our first annual sale. We could not have wished for a more encouraging start”. He also noted, “The results reflected the strength of the Sylvia Vale bloodlines and the current prime lamb market”.

David would like to thank all the buyers and under bidders for their valued support, Craig and Sharon Coggan for hosting the auction and looks forward to the sale next year.

The sale was conducted by Mark Watson and Denis Hewitt of Elders Crookwell with Steve Ridley of Elders Goulburn as auctioneer.

Logancrest Poll Dorset Stud, Crookwell, sold all 29 selected Poll Dorset rams to a top of $850, paid by John Shaw of Rutherford Pastoral Company, Gunning and an overall average price of $555. There were 18 separate buyers with Ian Cusack of Bywong Holdings, Sutton, the highest volume buyer with 4 rams. There were eleven multiple buyers including Archie and Keith Coggan, Doug Cady, G & T Thompson, Robert Collins, Brian McCormack and Brent Medway. Seven of 10 ram lambs were also sold averaging $414. Owner Craig Coggan was “Very pleased with the number of registered buyers and the prices paid”.  Craig and Sharon would like to thank all the buyers for their continued support. The auctioneer was Daniel Croker of Landmark, Goulburn.

Border Leicester Merino First Cross Ewes were also sold on the day, 85 by EGR and DE Robertson, 16 by Daramalan both at $138 and 80 by Logancrest for $165. Fifty four FX Ewes with lambs at foot were sold by Daramalan at $182.50 and 76 by Logancrest to a top of $210 and an average of $198.20.

Annual Ram Sale

Sale day is fast approaching - Monday November 1st at 1pm on property at Logancrest, Crookwell Road, Crookwell - the Coggans residence. It will be a great day and a huge success!

We are offering 40 Daramalan Border Leicester Flock Rams (pictured below), 190 First Cross Ewes, 120 FX Ewes with lambs on foot, 40 Logancrest Poll Dorset Flock Rams and 100 two year old Merinos. A sort of vertical prime lamb market offering with Merinos, Border Leicesters, First Cross Ewes and Poll Dorsets.

Selling Agents for Daramalan are Elders and for Logancrest are Landmark so should get good local coverage. There will be advertisements in the Town and Country and Crookwell Gazette. Also Daramalan will be showing a few rams at the Elders Goulburn "Innovation in Agriculture" store day on October 28th. Come along and meet the rams and me!!

The Humility Block

If only I could machine sew a quilt as beautiful and as complex as the Amish communities of North East America. The designs are inspirational and some may make it onto my glass cutting table as plates, bowls or panels. Some may become small quilted panels, cushion covers or even bedspreads for the farmhouse. Having made two quilts to date and lots of cushion covers I have a long way to go before I can say that I have made a 'perfect' quilt. There is a myth about the Amish putting in a humility block - a block with one mistaken stitch to acknowledge that only God is perfect. Not true at all but a nice story. My quilts are absolutely full of humility!!

There is another myth that black American slaves used quilts as signals when they tried to escape on the 'Underground Railway'. Another great story but not true. Quilts have been made to celebrate, if that is the right word, their lives and escapes but not at the time as signs for safe houses. 

In the spirit of the humility block though I would like to nominate the southern half of Lot 5 as the most unpretentious and mistake ridden block on the property.....Not sure we will ever get it to be as productive as the rest but it does fit in the whole!

Ciao.

Lambing season started

Yes, she did come back to reclaim her third lamb so all's well. The Border Leicester ewes are lambing every day now and we have about 70 lambs on the ground and so another 150 to come. Mainly singles so far but a few twins and triplets too. Our Merino ewe has had triplets too and all are doing well. Luckily no quads yet this year. A few deaths unfortunately - three lambs and two ewes, one from pregnancy toxaemia and the other from unknown causes. The first cross ewes are still doing well and lambs should be dropping later in the month. So far so good and Zing and Zeno seem to be working well as guard animals and keeping the local foxes at bay.


Next jobs are shearing the rams, re-fencing the eastern boundary, sowing alfalfa in the 40 acre river paddock, wood chopping and lamb marking. Challenging and busy time of year but thankfully it is getting slightly warmer and the days are lengthening. We have had some bitterly cold days this winter and about twice the rainfall as last year. Even with better pasture, including the clover and rye grass sown on the eastern 100 acres, we have started to feed the sheep some hay and Triticale grain to keep their weight and condition up for the next few months as we plan for our sale on November 1st 2010. Mark it in your diary! There will be 40-50 Border Leicester flock rams, 30-40 Poll Dorset flock rams and the 275 First Cross Ewes, a vertically integrated sale day!


See you there.

Organic Garlic - first experimental crop

In late April we planted 100 cloves of garlic from three or four different varieties. The garlic plot while small is an experiment to see whether it is possible for us to grow organic garlic successfully. The planting is a direct response to the irradiated Chinese (a staggering 77% of global production) and Argentinian product that is being sold in the major supermarket chains. That just cannot be good for you and since garlic is one crop that can be stored for 9 months and preserved so it can be used all year it has to be a worthwhile effort. Plus we cook with it almost every day.

Allium sativum is a member of the onion family and relatively easy to grow in a temperate climate preferring acid soils - okay so far at Daramalan!! Wild and cultivated garlic has been eaten and used medicinally for thousands of years, by Egyptians, Syrians and Romans. It even gets a mention in the Bible and the Talmud (not sure about the Koran). It was used to treat parasites, digestion, low energy, colds, breathing disorders and was thought of as a cure-all.

Garlic is mentioned in the Bible and the Talmud. Hippocrates, Galen, Pliny the Elder, and Dioscorides all mention the use of garlic for many conditions, including parasites, respiratory problems, poor digestion, and low energy. The Romans saw it as a cure-all.
Some studies have found  garlic to have antibacterial, antiviral, and antifungal activity. It is also claimed to help prevent heart disease and cancers. When crushed garlic yields allicin, a powerful antibiotic and antifungal compound. It also contains sulphur containing compounds and various enzymes, proteins, minerals and vitamins. The sulphur containing phytochemicals responsible for the sharp flavor of garlic are produced when the plant's cells are damaged. The strong odour causes "garlic breath" (garlic is also called the 'stinking rose') and the allyl methyl sulphide "smell" is excreted through the skin. Ever sat on the Paris Metro?!!

Garlic myths and legends abound - after Satan left the Garden of Eden the smell of garlic came from his left footprint and onion from his right. Garlic cloves warded off vampires, werewolves and devils. Hindus and Jains avoid using garlic as it heats and stimulates desire and Islam views eating garlic and going straight to the mosque as inappropriate.

Whatever the myths and health benefits we will hopefully harvest 100 bulbs in early summer and have enough for our needs. All going well then there will be 1000 cloves planted in 2011 and we will supply family and friends and maybe even try a farmer's market.

Ciao.

Zeno and Zing, sheep guardians

We have added two more stock animals to the Daramalan property, Zeno and Zing the alpacas. Both are wethers and born in April and March 2004 respectively so they don't qualify as adolescents (Tuis) but are adult males (Machos) and their life expectancy is 15 - 20 years. Zeno is medium fawn and Zing is light brown. Really they are very similar in colour so not sure what the alpaca colour charts (whites, silvers, browns, greys and blacks) mean. They are already about one metre at the shoulder and weigh 50 plus kilos. Hope they are as easy to handle at shearing time!

They seem to be settling in well and because they have pads not hooves they will do very little damage to the pastures and should thrive on the grass, clover and forage crop mix. Alpacas are one of 4 South American 'camel' species and they are hardy, intelligent and gregarious animals with strong herd instincts. They have an innate dislike of dogs and foxes and hence their inclusion at Daramalan.

Males and females are very protective of young animals, will bond with the grazing sheep flocks and have great eyesight over kilometres of distance. If threatened they will sound a piercing alarm cry and if required attack a predator with their front hooves. They are an essential and environmentally friendly part of our flock management practices at lambing time. We are confident that Zing and Zeno will improve our lambing percentage to make the 2010 drop a fantastic season. Just to be safe this year though we have reluctantly laid 33 fox baits on the southern and eastern boundaries.


Adios!

Mine's a pint

I have not been a regular pub drinker since my early twenties but have recently started going to my local with a friend for a beer or two. All a bit "Sliding Doors" really as I mostly listen and laugh incredulously at how other peoples' lives and problems develop into full blown crises. Going to the pub used to be easy. "I'll have a schooner of Reschs" doesn't work any more as my local serves over twenty different beers ranging from full strength to gassy low alcoholic and chemical tasting brews (like making love in a boat - f@#$ing close to water as we used to say). Also I am mystified by the beer glass sizes, though in reality they have not probably changed much in time. Half a pint in New South Wales is a middy, in Queensland a pot, in the Northern Territory a handle and in SA a schooner. Even a pint is different in South Australia where you only get 425 mls rather than the 570 mls in all other states. Crow eaters also only get 285 mls in their 425 mls schooner.  At least a jug is 1.14 litres wherever you drink and since that's what we drank then I never needed to know the other sizes!


I have recently started to contemplate brewing my own beer again after a thirty year gap. The last experiment in my wardrobe at university exploded and ruined my only suit so this time it will be on the verandah. Might be a little bit too cold for the yeast to work properly this time of year so the first batch is taking a while. Might look into growing some hop plants and buying small quantities of malting barley to see if I can produce a drinkable drop. Then again it might just be simpler and more entertaining to order a glass from my local.


Cheers.

The Gandangara - owners of the land

The traditional owners of our land were the Gandangara people who lived in south eastern NSW from Lake George to the Nepean River and from north of Goulburn to Camden. Their tribal names includes meanings for east and west. In 1802 the explorer Francis Barallier met them near the Wollondilly River and in 1816 troops were dispatched to capture and kill Aborigines after 14 settlers were killed. By 1848 there were only 25 Aborigines registered in Gouburn after the influenza epidemics of 1846 and 1847. According to local historians it is doubtful whether there were ever large numbers of Aborigines in the Goulburn area.

They believed in animal people (burringilling) who lived in the dreaming in clouds, scrub, mountains, trees and water courses. The most important spirit was D(h)aramalan and his voice is represented by the bullroarer cut from a tree. In initiation ceremonies a rock crystal stone is used and the myth says that when once Daramalan caught a boy and hit him over the head a tooth fell out and became a rock crystal.

We chose Daramalan as our farm name because it represented a powerful and auspicious spirit that had a local connection to Goulburn. Daramalan (or Daramulum) means one legged and was the son of spirit Baime and his emu wife Birrahgnooloo. There is a rock carving in Sydney's north west showing him in half profile with one arm, an emu back and a club foot.

We would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of our land.

Footnote: Daramalan Border Leicester Stud has no association or relationship, commercial or otherwise, with Daramalan College in Canberra.
The above image is by Daniel Goodwin.

2010 Drop on the way

We had our stud flock ewes pregnancy tested two weeks ago by local contractor Steve, a good man with a very sharp sense of humour. I guess when you spend a fair part of your working life inside a makeshift tent and with an ultrasound on a ewe's belly you develop a sense of the absurd.

The good news is that we have about 230 lambs in utero from 150 ewes making a lambing percentage of over 150%. So the rams Hermes, Osiris and Vulcan have been doing their job. Indeed Vulcan is getting a reward and has been at Logancrest serving some Poll Dorset ewes too. We have 95 ewes with multiple lambs which I thought was a high percentage but Steve told us it is the same at almost every stud in the region. It will be an interesting sale year in 2011.  Only 12 dry ewes and those that are more than two years old are off to Southern Meats and the 'maiden' ewes will get one more chance next year. Fingers crossed for an easy lambing season which may start as early as mid July.

Elsewhere the 60 flock rams to be sold in November this year are doing well, particularly the few that we did not shear as a small test group. We wont shear them in January next year but leave the wool on until August or September. The 40 ewes we had not sold are doing well and will join the stud flock later in the year and the 200 first cross ewes are all the better for a drenching and being on the new turnip and clover crop.

It has been wet (luckily) and very cold (not so pleasant) so we have been chopping wood, fencing and getting the new water tank set up so that we can begin to irrigate the house paddock and plant out the orchard, olive grove and a very small vineyard. All in all it is progressing realy well and ahead of schedule.....more on that soon.

Cheers!

As clear as glass

Well at last I have completed my first glass fusing projects. After about a year of trying to get into a course, and two years of owning a kiln, I finally managed to connect with four others and go last Saturday to the Australian Stained Glass workshop in Leichardt. Very lucky to be taught my Dagmar Ackerman who is very knowledgeable, patient and talented. You can see her work at http://www.glassbydagmarackerman.com/


It was an absolutely fabulous day and now I am hooked. Looks like it will be an expensive hobby or most likely another way to earn an income. Cutting glass is easy once practiced and the assembly is straightforward. It is creating the original design and firing in the kiln where the magic happens. Glass seems such a fragile medium but is remarkably robust to work with. Of course you can't drop it on the bench or floor but it can be ground into frit or paste (pate de verre) and cut into an almost infinite number of shapes.

I made three fused plates, 25 cm square or in diameter, from cut Bullseye glass that were slumped into a plate shaped ceramic mould. One is a circular geometric design (above) that was really to experiment with colour, opacity and cutting curved lines. The other two are representational of the landscape at the farm; one is the German's Pinch hill to the north of our property over the Tarlo River and the other is a white ghost gum in a storm or bush fire. Our soil is obviously not red but that glass colour was too hard to resist; just gorgeous.

Now I have to figure out how to programme the controller on my kiln and start experimenting and documenting firing schedules so that I can begin to create a range of glass products for sale and display. Some things will be functional plates, bowls and dishes but others will be pure art and sculpture and still others will be jewellery and eye catchers. Limited only by my imagination because anything is possible.


Ciao.

Dinner will never look the same again

Food Inc is an Academy Award nominated documentary made in 2008 by Robert Kenner. It includes interviews with Eric Schlosser (Fast Food Nation) and one of my 'heroes', Michael Pollan (The Omnivore's Dilemma). Not sure why it has taken two years for Food Inc to make it into Australian cinemas but it is a must see now it is screening.

One of the closing quotes is "You have a choice. Three times a day" and that is so true. We will not eat chicken again unless it is certified organic from a supplier we know or it is a chicken we have killed on the farm. There was nothing much really new in the movie that we had not seen or read about before. However, the truth behind the US food industry and the collusion (corruption?) between industry and government never ceases to amaze and confront us.

It started us thinking about who really owns who. For example, Macro Wholefoods is now owned by Woolworths and their products are still marketed in their same green packaging. They still command a premium price but how can we be sure that their products are the same and not compromised by being part of a larger supermarket chain? Thomas Dux is a brand also owned by Woolworths. Prices are higher and store layouts better but are their fruit and vegetables any fresher than in the Bondi superstore? Are the suppliers different?

I have begun to get really irritated by the "brand" marketing that goes on, particularly in banking. Westpac owns Bank SA, St George and BT Funds Management. Why do they insult my intelligence by telling (selling) me that St George is different? It is no longer a small regional bank that cares for customers. It is part of a major financial company that will destroy service and makes monstrous profits while crying foul and poor to the government. NAB is no better with U Bank and CBA is the worst of all with its appallingly awful advertisements for CBA (Determined to be different? Hardly!!) and for Bank West (Do they think I am stupid? Why promote accounts with talking horses, squirrels, goldfish and flowers?)

The problem is that there is increasingly less real choice and while I could bank with Members Equity or a Credit Union I am also pragmatic about risk after the Global Financial Crisis, which is far from over by the way. The only difference now is that it is country sovereign debt at risk as all the banks have offloaded the risk and their toxic waste portfolios to the public taxpayers.

It is the same with breakfast cereals, washing powder, soaps, media and so on. It really means that as consumers we must exercise our power and buy from local Australian owned suppliers. After Food Inc we will buy organic, buy at local farmer's markets, grow as much of our own food as we can, avoid any corn by products and "change the world one bite at a time".

Bon appetit.....and happy banking!!

Top dollar wool press

Above is a photograph from the Powerhouse Museum collection of how the wool was pressed about 1900. The photograph was taken between 1884 and 1917. The press features a simple system of gears which doubled the amount of wool that could be compressed into each bale and increased the amount of wool that could be exported. Early presses were patented in about 1877.

The wool press below is the one we purchased at a very fair price last week at Terry McIntosh's Sylvia Vale clearing sale. Really pleased to have been able to buy it and seems fitting that the press followed the stud ewes to our property. It is an older version of a TPW (Theresia Perfection Welding) press made in Perth, WA. It is a huge advance on the 1900s. The TPW press can compress up to 200 kg and each pressing cycle is a fast 15 seconds. It has automatic bale side pining and the fastest wool pack locking system available. Add a larger opening to the filling chamber, compact height and size and high safety devices with ease of use and it is perfect for our shearing shed.

TPW was established by John and Marion Jordans in Perth in 1975 with a $500 overdraft and a ute. Swiss company Heiniger bought the company in 2000, by which time the Jordans had sold 10,850 presses. Our press is green and gold dating it to pre 2000 and has a 'limited edition' model serial number plate. The short square bales the press produces make handling far easier and transportation a breeze. Well, sort of because the bales are still 180 - 200 kg in weight so even though one man can move them they are still heavy!!

Almost can't wait for shearing time again!!

Slow Food....Arriving all the time..Soon

Slow Food started in Italy by founding member Carlo Petrini and became an  international not-for-profit organization with a manifesto in 09 November 1989. It was founded to counteract the disappearance of local food traditions, oppose fast food and increase awareness of where our food comes from and how our choices affect the rest of the planet. it is based in Bra, Italy and has almost 100,000 members in 132 countries. Slow Food Australia – Slow Food’s first national association in the southern hemisphere – has 42 convivia (branches) all across Australia.

Parts of the manifesto read "To be worthy of the name, homo sapiens should rid himself of speed before it reduces him to a species in danger of extinction.", "A firm defence of quiet material pleasure is the only way to oppose the universal folly of fast life.", "Our defence should begin at the table with Slow Food. Let us rediscover the flavors and savours of regional cooking and banish the degrading effects of fast food."

One of the movement's great initiatives is the Ark of Taste, an international catalogue of heritage foods in danger of extinction. The Ark is designed to preserve at-risk foods that are sustainably produced, unique in taste, and are part of a distinct ecoregion. Foods included in the list are intended to be "culturally or historically linked to a specific region, locality, ethnicity or traditional production practice". Since the foundation of the Ark in 1996, 800 products, breeds and cultivars from over 50 countries have been included, four from Australia: Bull Boar Sausages, Bunya Nuts, Leatherwood Honey and Ligurian Bee Honey, the last one exclusively available from supermarket chain Aldi and is delicious! The Italian bee was introduced to Australia in 1862 and now the only surviving colony is on Kangaroo Island.

An Australian Slow Food campaign is currently being run to allow Australia cheesemakers to use raw milk rather than the pasteurised and  sanitised milk allowed now. Really hope they succeed so sign up at their website and change the world one bite at a time!

Wild food

It's that time of year again - rosehip and haw season. Goulburn is a big rose town and has a beautiful rose garden in the centre of town. The city has a beautiful copper - pink - gold petalled variety named after it. The wild dog rose, Rosa canina, has small and simple pink blooms and fantastic cherry sized fruits or hips. Picked 5kg of the bright red and orange hips last week. They have a distinctive tangy, fruity flavour somewhat like cranberries.
The hips can be used to make a refreshing herbal tea, dried for later use or preserved. We have made some rosehip flavoured vodka and over a dozen jars of rosehip syrup that can be used on ice cream, pancakes and scones or concentrated later for a meat sauce or sweet pie filling.
Rosehips are rich in vitamin C, actually richer than citrus fruit, and were widely eaten in World War II in England. I remember as a child being given a spoonful of rosehip syrup once in a while. Roses have been used in medicine for 2,000 years. Pliny, writing in AD 77, recorded 32 uses and recently it has been shown that rosehips have anti inflammatory properties. They are also high in carotenoid pigments, tocotrienols and polyphenolics which are the plant chemicals valued in protection against cancer and cardio vascular disease.
Processing rosehips is time consuming as the small hairs that surround the seeds can upset the intestinal linings and lead to 'itchy bottoms'.....can't promise I removed all the hairs so consumer beware!! Making the syrup is relatively easy - just boil, strain, boil, sweeten, boil and bottle.
We now have enough syrup for the winter and spring so well worth the effort and the only expense was the sugar.


Next month will be haw(thorn) season. The berries are a bit late this year and not as plentiful as last. Planning to make some savoury sauces for winter roasts.


Ciao!

Nordic crime novels.

So, what is it about Scandinavian crime thrillers? They are becoming as big an export as Saab, Nokia, Volvo, ABBA or, God forbid, IKEA. It may in part be their famous 'gloomy' weather and long dark days in winter and it may be that the writers collectively write about a society that is liberal and democratic with strong undertones of neo Nazis and people traffickers. Nice place to live but plenty of unpleasant stuff under the surface.

A lot of the crimes have religious motives and many seem to have a focus on sexually disturbed men torturing women. Perhaps it is all about small tight knit communities harbouring deviants in their midst and ignoring the signs. Whatever the storyline the recent spate of movies and TV series do show that Nordic crime is now big business and there seems to be a queue of authors waiting to cash in. 


The following is an extract from an excellent article from The Economist magazine.

"Three factors underpin the success of Nordic crime fiction: language, heroes and setting. Niclas Salomonsson, a literary agent who represents almost all the up and coming Scandinavian crime writers, reckons it is the style of the books, “realistic, simple and precise…and stripped of unnecessary words”, that has a lot to do with it. The plain, direct writing, devoid of metaphor, suits the genre well.

The Nordic detective is often careworn and rumpled. Mr Mankell’s Wallander is gloomy, troubled and ambivalent about his father. Mr Indridason’s Inspector Erlendur lives alone after a failed marriage, haunted by the death of his younger brother many years before in a blizzard that he survived. Mr Nesbo’s leading man, Inspector Harry Hole—often horribly drunk—is defiant of his superiors yet loyal to his favoured colleagues.

Most important is the setting. The countries that the Nordic writers call home are prosperous and organised, a “soft society” according to Mr Nesbo. But the protection offered by a cradle-to-grave welfare system hides a dark underside. As Mary Evans points out in her recent study, “The Imagination of Evil”, the best Scandinavian fiction mines the seam that connects the insiders—the rich and powerful—and the outsiders, represented by the poor, the exploited and the vulnerable. Larsson is a master at depicting the relationship between business, social hypocrisy and criminal behaviour, and his heroes do not want to be rescued through any form of conventional state intervention.

Analysing Scandinavia and its psyche is nothing new; Henrik Ibsen did it over a century ago. But the greatest influence on these rising writers has been Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall, a Swedish couple. Journalists and committed Marxists, they coauthored the ten-volume Martin Beck series between 1965 and 1975 with the aim of criticising the country’s welfare state. The central character is a likeable and dedicated policeman with a dry sense of humour. But the books, which closely study police procedure, feature an ensemble of his colleagues, all believable characters drawn with the lightest of touches. By turn entertaining and funny examinations of the day-to-day work of policemen, they are also gripping and complex thrillers.

The quality and popularity of crime fiction has given Nordic novelists a prestige that authors from other countries do not enjoy. This, in turn, has drawn in new writers. The next potential blockbuster could well be Leif G.W. Persson’s “Fall of the Welfare State”—though a more enticing title is planned for its English-language debut. First published in Sweden in 2002, it is written by a professor of criminology who has been involved in many of Sweden’s high-profile crime cases and is an epic and ambitious tale spanning several decades of Swedish history.

The cold, dark climate, where doors are bolted and curtains drawn, provides a perfect setting for crime writing. The nights are long, the liquor hard, the people, according to Mr Nesbo, “brought up to hide their feelings” and hold on to their secrets. If you are driving through Norway at dusk and see a farmhouse with its lights on and its doors open, do not stop, he warns, only half jokingly. You are as likely to be greeted by a crime scene as a warm welcome."

The full article in The Economist can be read here

http://www.economist.com/culture/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15660846

The young fella learns the ropes.

Year 10 work experience weeks are mostly about sitting in bank or law offices learning how to file or get the take away coffees. Not for my 15 year old. He is spending the week at the Coggans' Poll Dorset Stud, Logancrest. He will be shearing, fencing, weed spraying, mustering, motorbike riding, drenching and spotlighting for rabbits and foxes. All in all it should be a great week up at Crookwell.

Sandstone relief sculpture Fox and Hollybush by Midlands sculptor William Bloye, 1927-8. Originally over the entrance to the Fox and Hollybush pub, now demolished, in Birmingham, England.

I have been collecting images of the 'sheep in art' as perhaps I should not be 'celebrating' the fox, nor the kangaroo, cockatoo or wombat. It has always amused me that Australians are the only nation who eat both animals from their coat of arms. I do like this sandstone relief though and the holly is almost seasonal. Anyhow, I am hoping that they do bag a few rabbits and foxes this week.


Harvested a huge bagful of Daramalan rocket yesterday and made big batches of rocket pesto for the freezer. Great with pasta, on roast or boiled new potatoes, with bruschetta and as a marinade rubbed into lamb. As the rocket is almost wild and self set from last year's it has a really strong pepper piquancy that is quite a surprise. Will make a vegetable soup next week with a dollop of pesto for every serve.


Bon appetit!

It's joining time!!

Well Osiris and Hermes are doing their 'stuff' and each has 75 stud ewes to mate with. So far about half the ewes have coloured marks on their backs from the ram harnesses. That's pretty good going and hopefully they will complete the task by Easter. Obviously the reproductive rate (number of lambs marked per breeding ewe) is the most critical factor for Daramalan's profitability. In some operations ewes are not joined until two years old but we join our one year olds too. Research has shown that breeding ewe lambs will increase lifetime productivity of ewes, but it requires a higher level of management and feeding than if ewes are handled more traditionally. Breeding a ewe as a lamb can often increase her lifetime lamb production by as much as 15 to 20 percent.

Ewe lambs can be mated successfully providing they achieve a threshold body weight within the breeding season. It is possible  to get as high as 95 to 100 percent of the ewe lambs bred but in some years we may only get 10 to 40 percent bred. In general, ewe lambs must weigh approximately 65 percent of their mature body weight at the start of the breeding season in order to insure a high percentage of them breeding. Because we have had such good feed this season we will be okay.

In sheep the oestrus cycle is about 17 days and 'standing heat' lasts about 30 to 40 hours with ovulation occurring during the last half of heat. During a 35 day breeding period a ewe should have had the opportunity to cycle and be bred two times. A 60 day breeding period will allow the ewe three opportunities to become pregnant. We have chosen 60 days this year but as Border Leicesters are a British breed the ewes begin to cycle as day length decreases and all we probably achieved was ram teasing and excitement!

Typically multiple lamb bearing ewes will have slightly shorter gestation periods. It is not unusual for individual ewes within breeds to vary in gestation length by 3 to 5 days. We will scan the ewes in July and cull out any dry ewes over two years old. No point giving dry ewes the best pastures.

Gestation is about 150 days so we should commence lambing last week of August and finish mid September.

Last year when the ewes were at Sylvia Vale the lambing 'season' took over a month and we want to have that tightened up. Ewes with multiple lambs will drop a little earlier. With our 'guard' alpacas in paddock we are hoping to get a lambing percentage of 130% or more. That means almost 200 lambs from 152 ewes.

Last year's flock rams are going up for sale on November 5th so we will need to shear them in mid August and we are already looking at a busy time again.

The above photo is of artist Jean-Luc Cornec's 'wire wool' sheep made from old telephones for a show at Frankfurt's Museum of Telecommunications. Neat way of recycling.

Ciao!!

Mike Lyon's technological prints

“Jessica Turning”, woodblock print, 11 state reduction, graphite on Yamaguchi Hosho paper approximately 10″ x 7.5″ (chuban) completed October 21, 2003.

"This was my first experiment with graphite. I bought a one pound bag from Daniel Smith for about $10. Used about a teaspoon to produce these fifty-two 11″ x 8″ sheets (later trimmed to 10″ x 7.5″). Mixed the dry graphite into alcohol, then mixed that into rice paste and printed as usual. Not surprisingly, these little woodblock prints have the character and ‘feel’ of little pencil drawings. The figure is approximately 3.5″ tall. Very tiny!" Quote from Mike Lyon.

Mike Lyon is an American printmaker who uses technology to the nth degree. The above print is an early experiment in printing with graphite rather than ink and is one of my favorites in our collection.

Mike Lyon also produces stunning woodblocks, often printed from over 12 blocks. The detail is amazing and made possible by using technology. The cherry blocks are cut using a computerised router and printed using an automated Lyon designed press. The original images are usually photographs. Often criticised for overusing technology I think Lyon is at the forefront of contemporary printmaking and well worth collecting.

Megumi Naitoh's digital mosaics

"Artist Megumi Naitoh has always been fascinated with traditional mosaics and draws inspiration from Byzantine and Roman tiles to reanimate the media with contemporary methods.  Naitoh says, “I am interested in exhibiting visuals that articulate the overpowering of current technology.  For the past five years I have been working with pixilated images that are a reflection of the fast-paced and frequently uncontrollable aspects of technology.”

Beginning with digital photographs of friends, Naitoh downloads the images to her computer and separates the colors to make a silk screen which is glazed onto clay.  The piece is then fired, cut into thousands of tiny tiles and mounted onto Plexiglas in grid formation, similar to pixels in a digital photograph.  The resulting works are mosaic with over twenty layers of prints and six colors of underglazes.  The color, size and texture combine to create unique mosaic portraits that reveal intimate details about the subject, artist and viewer."

Madelyn Jordan Gallery statement

This is such a clever merger of technology and art and the ceramic pieces are really beautiful. One day will get the kiln fired up and have a try!!