Hinterland Homesteading Column
with Racheal Pascoe

We all celebrate the successes of our efforts with photos of the big cauliflowers we grew from seed, delicious pumpkin soup made from homegrown pumpkin, dear little lambs born, a vase full of homegrown flowers, fresh homegrown meat filling our freezers etc, but not often do we talk about how difficult it can be at times to keep going when things get tough when homesteading.

It is so exciting to see veggies growing so beautifully, only to come out to the garden the next day to find your cabbages decimated by something overnight. It’s heartbreaking to see your hard work go to waste and also the money spent on getting it all that far. 

How do we keep going when it gets tough?

It’s important to take a step back, walk away from what you are working on and clear your mind. You need to know your enemy. If vegies are being munched on, work out what is doing it.

Maybe it is tiny green caterpillars that you haven’t noticed, all working to devour your plants or it could be a bandicoot who lives in your area. Bandicoots usually live alone and only get together to mate. I share my veggie patch with a bandicoot, I have seen him.

We kind of have an understanding … he can eat some things, but not all of it. I have had to put a shade cloth fence around the bulk of my garden beds with star pickets to make a safe ‘bandicoot free’ zone. This works well. Green caterpillars can be checked daily and squished, but if you don’t have the time to look for every offender, you could look at netting your veggie beds or spraying with a product like Success. I have a few of my beds with lengths of poly pipe bent over in an arch which holds up the net. These are the garden beds that I have the most success in each season as plants grow very well without pests. 

It is trickier with animals. During our time here on our acreage we have enjoyed many lambs born, piglets too. We have had ducklings and chicks hatch and one year we even had a foal born. Most of the time it is fun, marvelling at how the ducklings know how to swim straight away or laughing at how the little lambs bounce around with their new found freedom.

Funerals under the mango tree

We have also held lots of animal funerals under our mango tree. Our girls have grown up knowing the joy and also sorrow of having to say goodbye to something that just didn’t make it. A couple of times a mother sheep has given birth and not licked the membrane off the mouth and nose. Finding a perfect lamb dead is such a sad thing. One time a piglet got rolled on and died. Our foal only lived 24 hours and died from sepsis, we think. That was a very difficult one for us all here at Dirtwater. It is very hard to understand that not everything you do will be a success. We all want things to be great. Our experiences have made us stronger and we have a new wisdom to see what is happening, prepare, check on animals etc but sometimes we still have to have a sad day and farewell someone. 

I just love Indian Runner ducks. Until recently I had 10 of them. They could be handfed and they are beautiful creatures. I can see why so many children’s storybooks include ducks, they are fun. It broke my heart to find 6 dead bodies all over the paddock. A fox had killed them and left them to collect later on. These guys had hatched on the kitchen bench in my little incubator. How dare that fox! I researched what could protect my paddock and alpacas came up. So we drove to Toowoomba to buy two alpacas (yes, husband rolling eyes at this stage), but he secretly loves it all too. From the day the alpacas arrived we have not lost any more ducks. I also have a council fox trap set.

C-section in the paddock

One year I performed a c-section in the paddock on my favourite ewe. Okay, the vet performed the c-section but I did assist. It was exciting but also very gory. The ewe had been in labour for far too long, there wasn’t enough time to get her to the clinic, so it was done right there in the paddock to save the animal.

Fleece was shaved, the vet plunged his arm in the incision in her side and retrieved the lamb, then a hefty blanket stitch was used to sew her up. The ewe made a full recovery and lived for years afterwards and the little lamb wasn’t supposed to live, but he did. It was a big afternoon with a good outcome but when I got up that morning I didn’t know that I would be performing surgery with the vet in our paddock. I guess that is a big part of homesteading, you need to be able to adapt what you are doing, your practices, your methods, ways of coping, finding solutions etc.

When you make a big batch of something and it tastes just horrible, or you find all of your sweet corn has been eaten by rats overnight or you find a dead animal in your paddock, take a deep breath (scream inside) and then find a way to make things better. Don’t give up. Ask your neighbours how they are managing the same issue, share your knowledge and therefore successes.

When Homesteading gets tough, be tougher. (Okay, maybe have a cry in the corner but make sure you come out guns blazing, you have got this!)