Spring, Nahlia turned 3, and...

Spring has sprung slowly in northern Germany.  I've been watching impatiently as the different bulb flowers shoot their green leaves into the air, then slowly revealing a beautiful flower.  The sun is finally shining again, though the wind can be very cold still.  Every day that the sun shines, Nahlia dresses in her summer clothes and says 'it's summer today!.'  She can't wait for warm summer days when she can run around in nothing but undies and a dress....  and niether can I!

 Our resident male peacock, making a show, looking for a mate.

 Dovidas and Nahlia meeting the spring kids.

 Moving the 'Palace' - our largest chicken house.  Kathrin is pictured, a fellow apprentice.

 The recent solar eclipse was incredible to watch.  Even when the sun was completely covered by the moon, it's light was still strong.  The warmth was gone, though, and the day turned cloudy and cold afterwards.

 Our beautiful sweet girl turned 3!!!  She had a great day...

 After the carnage of present-opening.... relaxing with Daddy on the couch, watching Pippi Longstockings.

 Having a tea party with her new self-painted tea set!  Daddy used his tea cup for his coffee! 

The afternoon saw her busy making ice cream play dough with her friend Dovidas (neighbour).

After many intense months at Hof Woerme, we finally made the decision not continue with Ulf's apprenticeship.  It was a very difficult decision to make.  We had committed to this new path, this farm, this apprenticeship and now we were facing the idea of failure if we broke that commitment.  But we just could not continue to live and work under so much pressure...  Ulf working 55 hours a week, as well as doing homework and studying for exams, is just too much for our little family to bear.  One full day off every two weeks is just not enough for a husband and a father.  We knew that Hof Woerme was only going to be a stepping stone for us on our journey in Germany.   This last year has been an incredible roller coaster ride of learning and growing for all of us, and through it we have been strengthened... it is just a start in the right direction.  Ulf's work contract finishes at the end of July, which means early August will see us moving house....  where to?  We don't know yet.  We have started looking at other organic farms closer to Ulf's family, which is the main reason we decided to move to Germany - to be closer to them.  But it may take some time before we know where we'll be come autumn.

Winter dreams...

 Hmmm.... she wants to milk the goat, but is not quite brave enough to touch them!

 Enjoying some organic food in Hamburg after watching the ballet 'Napoli' for free!!

 This is what 180 eggs look like when they fall on the floor.... whoops!

 Nahlia's first night in her own room!! Someone's exited!!

 Hail.... while we were inside swimming in warm water, outside it was turning white!

Snowman building with Daddy

 Our neighbour's pretty house with light snowfall, with their lawn being groomed and fertilised by the farm geese.

 Laying hens in the snow!!

Oops, left the pram outside and it got snowed on.  Nahlia loves to eat the snow.

And that's how we've spent our winter!!  Spring is just around the corner now... the gardeners have already sown seeds for the greenhouse (tomatoes, capsicum and eggplant), the largest chook pen has been emptied (old hens to the butcher which came back as soup chickens for the shop to sell), moved and cleaned ready for new chickens next week, and I just planted out some wild strawberries and narcissus flower bulbs in my little garden.  Soon everything will turn green and blossom with colour.

Happy New Year!

A new year, wow, it feels good!  Hof Woerme has been our home for five months now and we are very slowly feeling at home here.  A new place, people, work, challenges, etc, takes a long time to adjust to.  Ulf loves what he is doing; he really enjoys his work and is learning so much!  Nahlia loves the animals and the people, and is very much looking forward to starting Kindergarten next week!!  I've been struggling to find my place here and really feel at home, but I'm hoping that some changes this year will put all the puzzle pieces together for me.  I love that we're on a biodynamic farm, learning what it takes to live self-sufficiently, and I know that we're in the right place for us right now. 

We celebrated Christmas with Ulf's family in Wehrendorf, with loads of sweets, chocolates, yummy food, presents, singing, cousins playing together, and board games for the adults!  That was a lot of fun!  

New Year's Eve saw us enjoying Raglette (look it up) with our Hof Woerme comrads, early fireworks and bedtime for Nahlia and Emma, and Ulf wiled away the hours with the others - I heard tales of folk dancing and games before the big bang at 12...!

 Our home in winter...

 In December I finally mounted our shelves onto the wall!  It was no easy task as our walls are paper thin... after five months I found the time to get the right anchors and do the job...  Nahlia likes to use the drill too, and would love to screw in the screws for me if I let her!

 Ulf's work clothes are often so dirty that I soak them in the bathtub overnight before throwing them into the wash...  Well, this time Ulf put his clothes into the tub for me, but forgot to check ALL the pockets... so his notebook got soaked... unfortunately it is full of needed information, so I got the job of hanging up each page individually to dry.

 Our beautiful girl, playing dress-ups and cubby houses with Mummy... (that's our kitchen table in the background, covered with a sheet).

 Nahlia's first New Year's Eve with fireworks at home!  These two sticks are giant sparklers, nothing too dangerous Mum! ;-)