Ian Lock's Web Page
Welcome to my little piece of cyberspace. You will learn a little about my family & myself. If you find anything that interests you, feel free to contact me at: ilock@vic.australis.com.au.
Who am I ?
This of course is a question that I ask myself from time to time. (Don't you?) I am 41 years old, married to Julie with one 13 year old son, Fergus. For 21 years I worked as a nurse/family therapist in a variety of Child & Family mental health settings. I became increasingly disillusioned with the medical model mental health system over time, & recently quit my job, in order to spend more time with my family, & to manage our small hilltop farm.
Julie, Fergus & myself, together with Bridie (Rhodesian Ridgeback), Tappet (Border /Collie cross) & Arnie the rooster.
Where am I ?
I was born & raised in England, in & around Colchester. (Britain's oldest recorded town, where Queen Bodicea lived in pre-roman times). In 1987 Julie & myself, together with Fergus (aged 18 months) emigrated to Melbourne, Australia. We lived in Melbourne for a few years, during which time we completely renovated a house, in order to finance a dream of becoming modern day gypsies in Australia. This didn't eventuate, but is still a dream we hold dear. Seven years ago we left the city & moved out to a rural town. Two years ago we moved to our farm on top of the Strzlecki Ranges. We are about 3 hours east of Melbourne, 30kms from the nearest town & surrounded by thousands of acres of natural bushland & timber plantations. Our neighbours are kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, echidnas, goannas , parrots & occasionally emus. Oh & we have half a dozen human neighbours within a 20 minute radius. We are approx 10kms from the nearest bitumen road.
Our Farm
We currently have a small herd of about 30 Hereford/Friesian cows, to raise calves for the vealer market. To keep the cattle "happy" we recently purchased an 18 month old pure bred Angus bull. This was a disaster. Only 3 weeks after we brought "Jack" home, he had a mishap that still makes me wince when I think about it. He somehow managed to break his penis, making him useless for the job he was engaged to perform. Last week he went to the butchers & has now been replaced by "Essie", another stud Angus bull.
Some of the 'girls' with calves aged around 2 weeks.
Jack (prior to his unfortunate mishap).
We also have about 50 first cross Border Leicester/Corriedale sheep, primarily to help keep the ragwort (locally a highly prevalent noxious weed) under control. They also provide us with wool & meat. We keep around 30 chooks whose eggs we eat. Surplus eggs are sold to friends & aquaintances, which pays for the chooks upkeep. The chooks are Julie's domain, & she knows each one individually. We raise a few pigs for our (&friend's) freezers, but I'm also planning to establish a small breeding stud for 'Large Blacks' (rare breed pigs) in the near future. By assisting in keeping some of the old (& nearing extinction) bloodlines going, I hope that when public opinion finally gathers enough strength to reject todays factory farmed & antibiotic/hormone laden animals, that these free-ranging beautiful creatures will again come into their own.
ABOVE: Pigs at feeding time (Hay bale pighouse behind). CENTRE: Sheep in the hay paddock. RIGHT: Ragwort, the bane of my life.
Self Sufficiency
We are slowly travelling along the path of self-sufficiency. Self sufficiency is a term that means many things to many people. I still haven't really worked out what it will mean to us. Our aim is initially to become debt free & to provide as much for ourselves as is practical. I don't have any illusion of becoming 100% self sufficient, but will continue along the path until such time as it becomes too much of a chore (ie. unrewarding). Currently we raise all of our own meat, & we've recently begun to grow our own vegies, although I think it will be some time before my thumbs are green enough to provide us with adequate & varied supplies. I hope to begin to trade within a local bartering system soon, offloading whatever we have excess to our needs in exchange for other goods & services. All of our water supply is from our dams, with drinking water being collected off the roof into a concrete tank. At present our power supply is from the mains grid, but I have thoughts of wind generated power in the future. Our heating is wood fired, with plentiful supplies of fuel at our doorstep. This year I hope to plant a variety of fruit trees (although the variety will be limited by our cold winters - it snows here) & a feed crop of some description, to make feeding pigs a financially viable exercise. I imagine that turnips or swedes will probably be the way to go.
So you thought that Australia was always
hot & sunny. Wrong, & here's the proof.
Motorcycles
I
have had a lifelong passion for motorcycles, mainly old British
bikes. I've lost count of the number that I've either owned or
ridden, but models from Triumph, Ariel & BSA have been the
mainstay, although Moto Guzzi & BMW also had a look-in at
times along with a few small Japanese bikes. Bikes are a mode of
transport with which a personal relationship evolves over time
(at least in my experience) borne out of the loving attention
they receive & the frustration & heartache they cause
when they take on an almost human stubbornness &
unpredictable nature. In the shed at present (& I might add
that many of my bikes seem to have spent more time in the shed
than on the road) are two Honda XR dirtbikes (350cc & 200cc)
& my Triumph . Fergus' XR80 (the most reliable of the bunch)
also lives there. The Triumph is a '73 T100R Daytona (500cc
twin), which recently repaid all of the loving attention I had
given it, by holing it's right-hand piston. It will stay in the
shed , neglected, until such time as I bring myself to forgive
it's appallingly bad manners. (Well at least until I can afford
to repair it!).
Left: The offending Triumph Right:
Fergus on his XR80.
An old friend's page. Check it out.
Site for british motorcycle enthusiasts. Great Mailing list too.
Australian Rare Breed Info.
Annual gathering of the Tribes. This site tells history of Confest, & gives info on this years event.
Just what it says
Please send me mail telling me what you think about this page and how I might improve it.