Ducks, Footie and FROST!!!!

Ground frost on the flat bits at the bottom this morning, no wonder we were so cold last night. The woodburner took the chill off in the morning.
The ducklings are a week old now and are getting bolder.
Patrick scored 3 in the Pirates defeat of Kaingaroa, his team mate Chanaye scored 2. Final score 5-0.

The Grandparents have arrived!!!!

Well after their long haul, Margaret and Ian have arrived. They plan a weeks journey around the north island ,taking in Rotorua ( known as Rotovegas to us Kiwis), Napier, Whakatane, Kaiaua and then up to Kaitaia.

Colin, again has come up trumps with some lovely photos.

And then there were ducks!

The latest addition to the menagerie - 10 ducklings courtesy of Ruth. They were a brood of an Aylesbury that is not a very good mother so they have come to live with us. The chucks have laid 4 eggs so far and we have eaten 1 of the cocks, very tasty it was too!

The chucks have landed

Now 'tis Friday night and I have just got back from checking the chucks. We have 10 altogether thanks again to Peter. They have only been here 36 hours and have laid 2 eggs, which was sooner than expected.
They are a mix of Wyandotte, White Shaver and Barred Rock.
It has been lovely today, a gentle breeze that is drying up the mud rapidly. This afternoon I found out that treatment of dental problems is at least as costly as over in the UK. The dentist is very good though and showed me with the help of a large model, how I should have been brushing my teeth for the past 39 years.
The boys listened to a reading of Harry Potter Book Six at the local library. It is a fantastic place, better than many libraries in much bigger English towns. They have a current range of fiction and non-fiction, jigsaws, even a pedometer, not to mention lots of magazines that you can take home to read. The only thing it lacks is a cd collection, but even then I think that one can order them. The quality of my life has been boosted considerably by all the libraries I have visited over the years. They are such a good money-saving socialist idea that I am surprised they have not been quietly banned by now.

Making poultry accommodation

At the moment we (or at least I) am obsessed with making the chuck shed. We have been at it all this holiday, in various combinations of help. Hopefully it will be completed today and we will go over to Peter's tomorrow and get the birds.
We have sited the coop on the flattest part, and I am hoping it wont be too wet. The posts were difficult to get in solid as the holes almost filled up with water. Let the pictures speak for themselves.

Sheep!

The sheep arrived yesterday - thanks to Peter and Vincent. Peter told me what breed they were: a mixture of Romney, Suffolk and Merino(?). He also told me all their names and ages and sexes. I do remember that one is called Independence (born 4th July) and the small one is 8 months old, also there are some rams and some wethers (castrated rams). The rest I have forgotten. So over to the experts! From the pictures can you tell us the breed, ages and sexes. Bonus points if you also know their names (psychics only for this section).

I have also put up a counter to see how many hits we are getting. Apologies for the pop-up that appears with it.

Life on the farm!

We moved in on Saturday, with a big help from Stephan and Matthew. It took one big van load to shift all our stuff - on top of the 10 car loads we had taken during the week.

Since then we are gradually feeling our way into the job. Feels like a nice place to live. The woodburner keeps it cosy when it is kept fed with dry wood as opposed to wet stuff. The boys are all together in the downstairs room. Chantelle has done a brilliant job on the bath-room and made sure that the utilities were all on in time.

The farm labourers have been going about their tasks with more or less enthusiasm. Pest control is popular. Stuart and Eric are quite happy to stride forth armed with loppers and machete and to lay waste to the pampas or gorse.

We are getting our collective heads around the chicken housing question and hope to have their home built and stock moved in within the next 2 weeks. The goats are interesting to watch as they go about their business.I discovered this morning that they are partial to lettuce, apple cores and particularly carrot. They shelter in the pig shed when the weather is bad. I think I will pen them in up there and get them working down the long grass. Their main use seems to be to keep down invasive weeds, so we shall see how good they are at that.

We have decided to call the horned one Sharon (Shazza for short) on account of her 80's style soft perm, her shy friend Sheryl (her original name).

Great to hear your news Gerard and Vania! Do you have a home email I can talk to you on?

Saturday 2nd July

No football today so we got to have a lie-in. Took the boys into town to get tools to control noxious weeds. After lunch we went to try them out. Used the machete on the gorse, it is very invasive and little plants are springing up in all the pastures. Eric the chemist tells me that the only way to defeat the weeds is to poison them. Buring gorse makes it more fertile apparently.

Being pretty convinced that chemical control of weeds is a "bad idea" I am loath to start spraying now. I have managed to control a whole host of nasties on my various allotments: couch grass, bindweed, thistles etc. The situation here is a bit different, different country, climate and a rather larger scale, but I want to try to do without the herbicides. If anyone out there can give me some ideas I am listening! The main problems are gorse, tobacco plant and pampas grass.

Eric saved a goldfinch from the jaws of death. Moe had this lovely bird firmly gripped and Eric chased her for a good 10 minutes before she would let it go. He then nursed it back to health and let it go at our new place. It makes a change for Eric to be so concerned about saving life as he has recently been obsessed about methods of killing animals.