It's been a hard week 😥 - Episode 38
Dearest patrons
Join us for a chat in the bush whilst we tell of some sad and difficult times we've had this week. We never realised how attached we'd become to our animals when we took on this responsibility. It's been an incredible learning experience but also very emotionally draining.
Of course there are always exciting projects in the mix at the Ramshackle Ranch (aka Fertility Farm) so we must press on and make the most of the wins whilst learning from our mistakes.
We are enjoying the change of season here and, as you can imagine, we are so excited for what winter will bring us!
As we said in the chat, we truly could not be doing this without you. You are looking after the 3 of us now. 😉
Much love
Troy and Pascale
It's been a very hard week 😢 (but we do have exciting news!) - Free Range Homestead Ep 38 (YouTube)
Comments (28)
I got a little behind on my viewing so I am catching up in reverse order, so I just came across this news. Congratulations to you both, wonderful to hear you are joining Club Parent! Such happy news. The bush setting was a beautiful spot for a chat by the way. I will be watching your late Autumn to Winter activities in the gardens with great interest. Last but not least, I am sorry to hear of poor Mabel’s demise. I understand this would be terribly sad to lose her in this traumatic way. I hope you get another goat or two from your does, they are such beautiful creatures. Take good care of yourselves, August is not far away.
Thank you Vince. We do still have Hugo, but yes, the sudden nature of Mabel's demise was the hard part. Our winter garden is so far exceeding expectations and the summer harvest is still being preserved!
Cycle of life at the Ramshackle Ranch. Lorraine wonders if Hugo is going to be a pack goat, I wonder if he is going to be cabrito? Thanks for the updates.
Hugo has signs of extraordinary intelligence in that his lack of utility has been compensated for by an abundance of personality. He tries very hard not to be a difficult member of the farm- I suspect he knows something.
Many congratulations to you both. That driveway always did make my heart swell ❤️
👶 Congrats!!!
Nice intro this week__ Can we talk... my memory can't hang on to all the bits of everyone's channel, blog, post, news, etc... and now I feel like I may have misplaced the details of your marriage. Or am I correct and there hasn't been a state ordained union, which is a rather deep rabbit hole all to itself. As long (5 years) that I've known you both there has always been you both, and there is no doubt in my mind, now with the upcoming arrival of a baby (CONGRATULATIONS...!!!) your bond to each other will be even more unbreakable. Lucky child either way... a Virgo for one, my B-day is the 29th ~ and with parents like you two... well... Great things are in the works! Sorry to the 10's about Maple R.I.P.___ but we do have 'The Hugo'.. Mr. Personality extraordinairé..!!! ✍️)))
We aren't married yet. We chose to become engaged on Christmas last year, though it looks like our plans to be wed may have been delayed a little! Thank you for your condolences, but you are quite right that we are very happy to have Hugo as our mascot still.
Congratulations Troy and Pascale!
Like the old saying goes “ if you have livestock you will have dead stock “ it’s just one of the facts of farming life. Your natures are to put your livestock first and not your feelings, that why it’s hard. I hunt (for food) and kill and process livestock (rooster’s) mostly and I have to apply myself to the job. I was leading hand on a property and the job of ending things was my job, not because I enjoyed it but because I cared enough to make sure the job was done as efficiently as possible with the minimal amount of stress or pain. The welfare of the animal comes before feelings. I would hurt once the job was over. Be proud of your farming nature.
When we took Mabel to the vet she offered to put her down for us but we felt it was our responsibility to take her back to the farm and do it ourselves. We were grateful for our time spent processing and butchering the pigs as none of her went to waste. We have her pelt in the freezer ready to tan just got to find a quiet moment to begin the process. If you've had any experience/advice on tanning do let us know!
Really sorry to hear about your tough week - we really feel for you. We’ve been following you for so long now it feels like you’re part of our family! One of us grew up on a farm and and the other on a market garden, where loss is part of life. You gradually learn to deal with it but it never leaves you unaffected - sometimes more than others. We think you are doing a great job for your first year and we are looking forward to the next adventures at Fertility Farm!
Awww shucks thanks so much to you both. It is incredibly satisfying to look round the farm and see what we've achieved. We can't wait to share it all with our newest addition!
Very sorry to hear about Mabel, and also the piglets. I can well imagine how tough that would be, but it certainly sounds like you gave it your best shot to save them, and have learned a lot in the process. Great you've gotten a good rain, and perhaps enough warm weather coming to ripen a few more tomatoes! I really enjoyed the beautiful footage at the beginning, and seeing you "officially" telling the world about your personal run in with fertility farm ;)
Cheers Scott. Little piglets are doing great we just released them back to their mum yesterday and I can't tell you how thrilled we were to see them fighting for a suckle this morning from Prosciutto and running around munching apples.
Hey Troy and Pascale, Thanks for the video, and it's certainly a different one... Sorry to hear about little Mabel, it would be pretty horrible to go through that. Hope you're both feeling a bit better about it now. Also, it's lovely to just see how the homestead operates a little in the intro part of the video, and they scenery you have there must be something you never get sick of seeing. Looking forward to the next one :)
I loved shooting that little 2 minute sequence and so pleased you guys appreciated it too. You can expect more in the future!
Sad and excellent news all around. TY for the effort to bring us a wonderful slice of your lives. The variation from my world is significant and this brings enrichment to me and many others. Its always been about your lives and you two for me, not just the sailing or where you are at. Oh and you both are farming and fertilizing a social farm as well where many of us are growing into the knowledge of how life is elsewhere and with different perspectives. Oh and you show us winter on the completely WRONG side of the calendar! Bless you three. Stay happy and safe together.
TY Joseph for sticking with us and appreciating what we do. We love sharing this crazy country it must seem quite alien sometimes to y'all in the Northern Hemisphere!
I loved the peaceful footage of your animals, thanks. Very sad to hear about poor Mabel. I know that is a particularly difficult loss. I was thinking after last week's video that you weren't going to be able to wait any longer to make your exciting announcement to the public as it was becoming quite obvious, lol. I'm so happy for you as I know you will both make wonderful parents. love from Texas, Janet
I did not expect it to hurt so much (and Troy definitely didn't!) The bump was particularly obvious at the end of the last vid. Getting comments and happy smiles on the street now ;-)
p.s. I had my son Huon later in life when I didn't think it would be possible, and shared the ocean and the land with him. We taught him to sail, and we are now teaching him to enjoy gardening, growing food from seed and how a very humble little urban farm can work to spread knowledge about subsistence and community. My son Huon has experienced the best of both worlds I feel. Your youtube channel is apart of the village that is needed. You bring people together in sharing knowledge, where once we might have met locally, now at least we can share online. The work that you are both doing in sharing your lives is so valuable, and whilst you might lose some privacy, what you share is helping so many of us learn and be brave enough to experiment too.
We always have time to share our lives with you guys our little patron family. I'm not sure how much we'll end up sharing on YouTube of the family stuff, I guess we'll just see what happens when it happens. We've never felt any pressure in the past to share anything we're not comfortable sharing. We love this job so much and hope support from people like yourselves can allow it to continue.
Hey Pascale and Troy, thank you again for sharing your experiences, the good and the bad, and the emotions that come along with learning to live a subsistance lifestyle. Here in Ballarat, as a new chicken mum, my first real loss was just three weeks ago - I was becoming complacent after 6 months of having chooks free-ranging in the backyard and leaving the chook house open at night as we are in a suburban area of Ballarat along a highway and I didn't really believe foxes exist in this landscape. I awoke one morning to feathers all over the backyard and a missing chook. As I was getting ready for work, I walked up the driveway, and there she was, dismembered but not taken for food. I cried and cried, and I held her whilst my partner Joe dug a spot in the front garden for her, just as we were all taking off to go to work in our respective offices. I thought about that chook for the rest of the day, the eggs she gave us. Now I close the henhouse without fail just on dusk when the go to roost. A harsh lesson too. Your videos encourage a wonderful community of learning and sharing successes and failures in different places. Joe and I started by following you as you both sailed Mirrool. We also sold our boat eventually (a very humble trailer sailer) so that we could explore our interest in permaculture and raise our son on the land. We are learning so much from your tutorials, and thank you so much for the effort that you put in to share your knowledge. I for one can't wait to vicariously share and bring in August as you both welcome another little character to Fertility Farm! Sent with big love for the great things that you bring to us. Emma, Joe and Huon
I'm so sorry for your loss fox attack is always so devastating especially when we care so much about the welfare of our chooks. I'm so glad Mrs/Mr Fox didn't take more. It's so lovely we find ourselves on similar paths. I'm really looking forward to sharing this way of life with our little one. Always here to offer you any advice we may have and on that note is there a particular topic you'd like us to cover in the future?
Congratulations this is some great and welcome news. So happy for you both and welcome to parenthood
Congratulations! The most wonderful news and we are so happy for you both. Take care.
Sorry to see the loses you've suffered & the emotions that go with that guys. Heidi shed a tear 😢 with you Pascale. Congratulations again on the bambino 👶 news, we are thrilled for you all. ♥️ The intro was so peaceful to watch 👏