The little things...

Farming

 Ulf feeding the chickens.

 Saying hello to the goats..... who like to escape often!

 Feeding the cow, Jasmine.

 Some of the many trays of seeds I planted in the greenhouse... tomatoes, tomatoes and more tomatoes!

Nahlia enjoying the trike.

Nahlia in her 'farm clothes'!  Overalls to protect her clothes from mud and poo, and new gumboots, which she loves!

We have certainly been keeping busy here on the farm in Quaama!  As well as our day to day chores, some unexpected challenges have been thrown our way...  Two of the rainwater tanks that feed water to the bathroom/laundry emptied.  No showers and no laundry!!???!!  Thankfully a neighbour offered for us to shower and do our washing at their house as much as we need to (their rainwater tank was overflowing).  So now our routine includes a trip to visit the neighbours a few times a week and get ourselves, Nahlia's nappies and our clothes clean.  They are lovely people.

Ulf has spent endless hours catching escapee goats lately and repairing and improving fences to keep them in.  That was an annoying but necessary 'waste' of time.  There have been no escapes for the last few days now. Hooray!  Ulf is also gradually concreting the kitchen floor piece by piece.  It was previously a dirt floor
and the dust was incredibly thick on everything!  Our caravan has also needed some attention, so Ulf has sealed up the seams in the roof to stop the leaks, and today we put up the annex!  The nieghbour needed help some slashing and burning off an area so he could grow vegetables in spring, so Ulf has also been doing that (and helping the neighbour drink his wine!)
 

In preparation for spring planting, I've been sowing seeds of tomatoes, aubergines, capsicums and chillies in the greenhouse.  There's a lot of excitement and anticipation when I plant something and I'll be very happy to see them come up!  They plant according to the moon calender here, so that's a new experience for me.  The greenhouse was full of winter green seedlings when we arrived and I've finally got those all planted out in the garden now.  There is also an endless supply of fertiliser for the garden here, in the form of geese poo!  It's great to use as it can be sprinkled directly around the plants without fear of burning them.  We rake up the poo and take it down to the garden in bags.  The pumpkin harvest is also still 'lying around', so I've been trying to make the most of it in any way that I can - pumpkin pickles, pumpkin scones, pumpkin cake, and I have plans for pumpkin and ginger jam.  Chillies are also abundant so I've got a batch of fermented chilli sauce on the go and have also preserved some whole, in vinegar, which look great on the shelf!
 

Nahlia has been walking around by herself in the farmyard; chasing geese and 'harassing' the cats; walking down and then up the travelator (escalator ramp) again and again at the nearby shopping centre when she got her new gumboots; sprouting four molars in her mouth and eating like a horse (3.5 dry wheatbix in one day among other things!)

There are obvious, practical things that we are learning here, but there are also many 'hidden' things as well.  We have been challenged in how we live, how much water we consume, what we eat, how often we shower and how often we actually need it, our communication with each other when we're not doing well, lack of sleep, missing friends and familiar comforts and conveniences, being thankful for the little things and seeing beauty everywhere.

The learning never stops...

Do you know that feeling you get when you do something new and it works out well?  We've been experiencing that a lot lately and we're aware of what a privilege it is to be entrusted with tasks that we have no previous experience with....  the perfect opportunity to try something new and learn!

 Decorating the new kitchen floor with a moon symbol.  The moon plays an important part in biodynamic farming.

 Laying the new concrete floor.

 Taking a break from all that hard work - that is, staying off the freshly laid concrete!

 One of Nahlia's exhuberant strolls towards the house goose and the cat!

 LOVE that cat!  Although she is a little rough with them, they still like the attention.

Saying goodbye to five roosters.  Our host had an excess of roosters from their last hatching, which they wanted to get rid of.   They are vegetarians themselves, but they were happy for us to eat them as long as they didn't have to see it happen.  A neighbour of theirs has a chicken-plucking machine and so we were able to take some roosters and join in on a day of killing, plucking, and gutting chickens and ducks from several of the neighbours altogether.

Killing our own animals for food was an amazing experience.  What struck me most was the split second between when the birds were alive and when they were dead and on their way to our table.  I find myself awed at the miracle of life almost as much at the end of it for these roosters as I was at the beginning of Nahlia's, when she was born.  We didn't know these roosters all their lives so we had no attachment to them and did not grieve their lives....and part of us feels like we should have.  We were thankful for their lives and every part of it (every part of them) will not be wasted.

Let the learning continue!!

Celebrating 9 years

What a beautiful day to celebrate our 9tth wedding anniversary at Narooma!  We enjoyed the ocean on a sunny winter's day and were thankful for our nine years together.