Week two... All of our animals are home!!!

Heya,

So, we are happily ensconced in rural life... have I said we absolutely love it here!!

This past week has been focused on fully settling in and getting the last of the main unpacking done... I still have my craft room to sort out but that can only be done once we finish off the refurbishing of the sleepout.

Our first crops (garlic and shallots) will be going in soon (aiming for the winter solstice), I have half the existing raised bed weeded and dug over ready to add organic goodness into, so this week will see me focus on completing the rest of the bed so planting can commence. Once this is done I can start on the first of our berry beds... yummy raspberries kindly given to us from our dear friend. She also gave us the shallots to plant too.

We had to make a last trip to Auckland on saturday to pick up our chooks and bunnies... our aforementioned friend had been looking after them for us while we got the coop sorted. We also ended up with a new girl,  aptly named road runner, raising our brood up to five... the girls,  as we affectionately call them, will hopefully love this first version of the coop, another run will be added sometime in the near future as we acquire more birds (particularly meat birds)... I also have plans to build a chicken tractor so the girls can do their part in the organic vegetable beds.

The bunnies are also very happy, though we have had a few funny looks when we have mentioned to the locals that we have pet rabbits... the thing is their manure is great for the compost and can even be added directly into the garden without having to age it first, so the bunnies play an important role in the fertility of the vege beds... and they are damn cute too lol.

This past week also saw the restart of my cheese making... Camembert and blue vein YUMMY 😋 hoping to maybe get hold of some raw milk from the locals so I can try my hand at farmhouse cheddar 😋

Other highlights from the past week include... new curtains in the lounge and bedroom... an enjoyable shopping day in Whangarei (knitting and craft supplies, house bits and pieces, clothes, and some Lego)... rose shopping (missing our old rose garden which has sadly been partly destroyed by the new owners 😔... we popped by the old place while we were down in Auckland to have a snoop... wish we didn't as most of the front garden has been removed including my favourite rose Love heart 😒grrrrr)... catching up with our wonderful friend in Auckland... finally getting the bookcase sorted (yay for home libraries).

We did have one small disaster though... due to needing to get the chicken coop sorted for the girls when we returned home from Auckland, we had to work into the night... we thought it wouldn't hurt to use the lights from the car given it had been run all day so the battery should be charged up... nope we were wrong 😩 Car would not restart so we had to make a mad dash into town for a new battery. Thankfully the warehouse superstore we have in Whangarei had the right one, especially seeing as we need the car and trailer to pick up compost and timber so I can continue my work this week... really gave us the food for thought re living rurally... small things if left unchecked or making assumptions can prove to be your own undoing... we are all sorted now but lesson learnt... need to invest in a long extension cord so we can make use of the work lamp whilst outside in the dark if need be.

Anyways a new week beckons... until next time, peace, love and bright blessings to you all xo