Starting with small steps

Come September 2013, we are finally all in.  It is still very cold and I wondered if I would ever get used to the cold and having a fire going again.  One of the first things we did was to get the vege patch going.  With summer coming on I didn't want to waste one bit of it.

I bought 5 straw bales and a truck load of compost mix.  I didn't want to wait for the weeds to die if I sprayed them, so decided to create the garden using the lasagne method.  I put down newspaper - 3 sheets thick all over the area, then put straw down about 30cm thick and then pile the compost on at about 40cm thick.  Gave the area a good water and walked away.

The Alpacas arrive

In late October 2013, the girls arrived.  Five gorgeous Alpacas and one was pregnant.  Never having owned Alpacas before I knew that this was going to be a step learning curve, but I am a strong believer of throw yourself in to it.

Winter - a shock to the system

We gradually got used to the summer heat and found that it wasn't too bad, where we are there always seems to be a breeze on most summer days, but this breeze turns into gale force winds in winter.

The nights often go below freezing and the fire seems to be going non stop.  The ground and grass is often frozen and white with severe frost.

Strange things in the garden

Out the front of the house, there was a garden bed the extended the length of the house.  When we moved in, it was a mess, it was covered in weeds 3 foot high, a huge high pile of pine bark and mound of dirt.

It took 2 months of solid work to put things right.  Under the pine bark and dirt there was a layer of weed cloth.  The first thing to do was to remove the weed cloth, there was no way anything would go in that bed with that there and clearly it wasn't working because the whole bed was covered in weeds.

The farm clowns

Every farm has them -right?

Bertie the goat and our youngest sheep have become great friends, Here they are playing on the tractor.  This is now a daily occurrence.

Summer Sunshine

Being on a farm means there is always something to do.  But I love being able to take time out to watch the animals.

Our chooks and rooster are all grown up now and we are getting a constant supply of eggs.  I stole of the eggs and put them in an incubator.