Bottom of the World…

Tui Cottage Farm – with Port Chalmers and its harbour entrance in the background.

This month there was an article written on our little village here at the bottom of the world. When we discovered it, we too thought it was special, seems others agree 🙂

‘Nowhere I’d rather be’: Why people just don’t want to leave this southern town | Stuff

Despite being the middle of winter there are bursts of colour to be found which lift the spirits. The smell of the Daphne fills the air when the door is opened to the deck, I love it, such a lovely fragrance!

5 years ago, we barked the gardens, it was time to do it again and we included the area up by the barn this round. It is great for weed suppression, keeping areas dry for the sheep (foot rot prevention high on my priority list!) and improving soil conditions. It was a big job, with the 3 of us, it took 3 days, but it is done and will mean very little work in these areas over the spring and summer months. The chooks always following me around outside, any earth upheaval could possibly mean a tasty treat!

We had been wanting to catch the rain off the wash house roof for a while, seemed such a waste not to! The ponies and pigs drink a lot, and both prefer fresh water. The vege garden in summer also needs some extra hydration. Rich thought long and hard about how best to cater for all and came up with this, works a treat!!!

He has also been working on the path leading to the house entrance. There have been ongoing robust discussions since finishing the build, on how to do this area and has taken until now to agree on the best way forward 😉. There is a lot to take into account, good drainage was the highest priority. It will be great to get this done, mud in winter tends to be dragged onto the deck and inevitably into the house and the side area path which we use multiple times a day needs help! Esthetically too, it needs a spruce up to complete the area.

Before photo below, all going to plan “after” photo next post…

My usual clinic on a Friday is Oamaru and I pass this church as I walk to it every morning, I took this yesterday. It is such a lovely old building, Oamaru is filled with architecture like this and one of the reasons Oamaru is one of my favorite South Island towns. The stone used to build this is used throughout the town including in my clinic.

Luca is back at school for the last full term; next term is all about exams, so regular school is finished by then. The holidays went way too fast as usual. Kids coming and going throughout, both the below shots are way too blurry, but I love them nonetheless, they capture unfiltered moments of this time which I know will be lovely to look back on ❤️

Luca and Lemon all dressed up Ted and Luca just hanging at ours