Colour of the Season….
Love the reds in our gardens at this time of the year, absolutely gorgeous!
Note the path along the top of the chook pen in the first photo, it is such a high traffic area and was looking very worse for wear. Rich has done a wonderful job, it feels much more stable and looks great! The fence around the garden is so that the ponies and chooks don’t get in, it allows the plants to flourish, means this area is incredibly low maintenance, provides a great buffer for the house and because of all the natives, the bird life hanging out there is prolific.
As we have gone along, we have fine-tuned areas to aid in their purpose, reduce mud, save on animal food wastage, and generally make the day to day easy for us and the animals.
The bark has helped keep this area stay in good shape even in wet weather. It is important for sheep that they have dry areas.
The pig paddock is nice and dry in summer but in winter areas of it get boggy! It took some time to work out which area stays dry enough in winter to stop that happening and is also convenient for feeding. I dug the bowls for food and water into the ground otherwise the pigs play with them, and they end up at the bottom of the paddock!
The ponies, little fatties that they are, love their hay and when allowed to, will pull it all over their barn floor trampling in it and then won’t eat it. Also, when allowed free access to the hay they will eat to excess!!! This was the solution, slowing down their intake, and it cuts food wastage significantly. I do recommend:
Knotless Hay Nets – Small – Gutzbusta New Zealand
At this time of the year, we spend more time inside than usual. I am very grateful for the extra space! This will be the 3rd winter having rooms, I do not take for granted how much easier this makes our life, and how this area has been transformed.
It still amazes me that this started out life as a simple Totalspan shed.
Below the kids hanging out after a party elsewhere the night before. Rich had gone to pick them up from an “all nighter”, Luca made them a cooked breakfast still in his suit and sunnies, covered in the apron that his Auntie Jen gave him many years ago. She would be thrilled to know it is still in use, if a little worse for wear❤️
The last of the apples and lemons made a lovely centre piece on our kitchen table but with Rich away and me off work, I headed into the kitchen to cook and bake, a bit of a novelty for me these days as Rich usually does it all.
Speaking of Rich, he sent me this from Christchurch, his sleeping pod next to the airport, he needed to be at the airport by 4am so took this option, $45 a night and 15-minute walk to the terminal. Cool idea, not sure he got much sleep but better than a chair or floor in the airport 🙂
We have had some amazing dawn skies of late, this one particularly brilliant. This usually means rain, we have had such a lovely spate of sunny days, however it was only a splattering and then the ☀️came back.
Rich has arrived amid a gorgeous Canadian Spring, greatly enjoying a catch up with his folks and family xxxx
Below is one of my favorite photos of Jerry, (who turned 94 this year!!), and Luca, it was taken in our home in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, Luca would have been around 6, he has such great memories of his Grandma and Grandpa doing this sort of thing. They came to us regularly throughout his childhood, we did not make it easy as lived in faraway places, I will always appreciate the effort they made.
It reinforces kids don’t need lots of expensive stuff, what they do need is your time, attention, oh and a bit of cardboard doesn’t go amiss…😊
xxx