Old MacDonalds Farm, Glenoak Kennilworth

Glenoak Farm
When asked, shortly after settling into Glenoak farm fifteen years ago, what sort of cattle Terry McGrory owned, thinking about it, he summoned the easy, obvious, but rather too simplistic answer – brown ones. An ignorance of the breed of his cattle in a small community like Kennilworth raised a few eyebrows and made him the butt of a few good-natured jibes, but nowhere near as many as the next time his bovine expertise was called into question.

Phil and Terry lunge wildly at the sheep, which need to be wormed.
He presided over the birth of a calf. It all went well, no glitches, hitches or problems. The calf was healthy, and was soon moving around freely. Terry called the vet to come and castrate it. The vet arrived shortly after. Taking out his bag of tricks he went to find the calf. "Where is it?" the vet said.
"In the yard." replied Terry.
"Which yard?"
"There’s only one yard fella, its right there."
"How many calves do you have?"
" Just the one, you can’t miss it. It’s in the middle of the yard there."
The vet found the calf and also with it found a problem. Or, more specifically, the lack of a problem.
"Do you wear glasses?"
"No, why?"
"I can’t castrate this calf Terry."
A little worried, Terry wondered what was wrong and asked “Why not?” After looking incredulously at the calf then back at Terry, the vet said “Cause your bullock’s got no bloody bollocks mate! It’s a cow. He’s a she!!!!”
Terry will never live that down, he knows it and it makes him laugh to tell the story.
Terry has been on his farm for fifteen years and prior to the country life worked in Brisbane, for 30 years, in a job he didn't like. He worked hard in Brisbane because he wanted the best for his boys. He was well paid and used the money he earned wisely. Terry eventually told those he worked for to stuff it and came to the bush to retire in a new life where the work is never done. He bought Glenoak Farm and spent years renovating it, adding to it, preparing for the time when he’d live on it, knowing he couldn’t slip into a docile dotage, but wanting to keep busy and active, outdoors.
It’s a tribute to his character that he undertook this change of lifestyle, the bushman city slicker from Brisbane, in earnest but with grace and good humour.
Terry McGrory
An easy going man, his life hadn’t been romantic, or always happy; he had many experiences he’d change but none of which had succeeded in souring him. He’d taken from life what he needed to secure the upbringing of his two sons. An intelligent and keenly acute man, he rose through the ranks of the chemical company based in Brisbane, earning such respect along the way that when he requested early retirement, they reluctantly granted it him, and paid him handsomely to not work for any of their competitors. Terry, enthusiastically offered us a glimpse into his past through honest story. And as we imbibed advice for life from him, we sipped on some of his delicious muscat. Given the choice to do things over again he said he would change many things. His worldly advice to us was "Never sell yourself. Don’t spend your life doing something you don’t enjoy just for the money." Advice we will fevently follow.
Gareth and Phil build a dry stone wall for the bonfire
With our easy start to the trip, during which time we had done nothing but our first job of washing dishes, we were rearing to go for more physical work. Something we could really get our claws into. Terry certainly provided us with some interesting chores. He eased me into the work slowly with a task of mowing the lawn. A simple enough task, and maybe even a little tedious for some, but for me, this being the first time I had ever mowed a lawn, I was in a grassy playground. Completely loving the physicality and the expenditure of energy in such a simple pushing motion! Terry talks through the land with PhilHaving lived in homes without lawns all my life, I had never had to do any mowing before. I was so very grateful to finally use my body for something useful after spending months cooped up in a flat in front of a computer screen. So, I very willingly mowed a number of lawns and enjoyed looking over the neatness my motor pushing had created.
Daene, Terry's son's house on the hill Down near the campsite on Terry’s property, the boys collected horse manure in wheelbarrows. An old style outhouse on the campsite brought about a real rustic and authentic feel to the services available to campers. Using a scoop to cover bathroom business with sawdust, the toilet is kept really quite odour and mess free. Surprisingly, this method is much better than the chemical toilets I have had to use in festivals.
Oiling a wooden bridge with motor oil
Terry’s vision is to keep a self sustaining farm which is used to provide a place where families can bring their children and have the kids really getting involved in the farm. He rents out the camp site and a cottage. There were a few children staying while and we were happy to see how enthusiastic they were collecting eggs, feeding the pigs and handling the animals. Nowhere is out of bounds on his farm. He is happy that city children get a chance to learn about farm life by keeping animals roaming free over the farmland. Terry is always pleased to see conscientious parents bringing their children here to learn.
A cute little field mouse we found
Fifteen years on and Terry still doesn’t know the gestation period of a goat and he’s not sure if it is all pigs that don’t like citrus or just his, but he knows how to run a successful hobby farm and he is happy to pass on what he does know about sustainable living to all those eager to learn such as we three. We throughly enjoyed our time with Terry and I hope to go back to Glenoak to learn more from the man with brown cows and write up our cheeky story in his beautiful surrounds. See you soon Terry.
Terry was our first WWOOFing host and we were his first WOOFFers, so neither party knew what to expect but each was just as eager to learn from the other. The woofing goat, who thinks he is a dog
Ever the gentleman and top-notch bloke, Terry offered to fill the tank for us and to show us the short-cut along Kidaman Creek Road, also known as the Suicide Track. We said goodbye to Stephanie, the lovely lady who lives in on of Terry's cottage and Gareth enjoyed a cheeky ride pillion with Terry in his sports car.

When we finally said goodbye to Terry, it was with a mixture of regret that we had to leave so soon, but with great pleasure to have made his acquaintance and to have the unmitigated offer to come back to Glenoak to tell him of our adventures. Our trip really couldn’t have got off to a better start. Phil and Terry scramble to catch more sheep You straddle one sheep!
The cheeky gang with Stephanie and Terry
Phil feeds the pigs