We had some good news today….. New Zealand is going to our level 2 at the end of this week. For us, this will not mean a great change in our life, as we are isolated by the fact that we live in a remote area away from the city. It takes us 45 minutes to drive into the city of Christchurch, 45 minutes to our local supermarket and 30 minutes to buy our milk from the farmer. We have approximately 300 people living in the settlement of Springfield, Canterbury, and although we have neighbours around us, we do not see them on a daily basis; but they are there if we need them.
Level 2 for most of New Zealand though, means that they will be able to go to the malls, church, shops, movies and cafes etc. For me, I will enjoy getting a hair cut and maybe a coffee or takeaways, other than that nothing much will change for us, as we do the farm stuff anyway on a regular basis and only go out occasionally. I will though, look forward to seeing family and friends again.
This has been an interesting time, and I know a lot of you will have experienced similar things. Last weekend, with the lifting of some restrictions, we went for a drive to the beach (still 45 minutes for us) and took a picnic coffee with us. The people out walking passed by and we talked about the beautiful day, the weather, or other mundane topics, but we all felt a kinship with our common issue. I hope that in the days to come we do not lose that sense of camaraderie. It would be nice to think that we had more sense of community than perhaps we did before.
Of course farm work continues….. the ram, Tuppence, went back to the owners as he (hopefully) has done a good job and we will have lambs in the spring. The flock are settling down again after his stay. It is good to be able to hand feed them all again without worrying about him being the aggressive little ‘boy’ that he had become.
Nico continues to help with the farm, keeping an eye on the sheep and lazing in his bed afterwards as he’s ‘tired’ from all the farm work he has to do, (well checking out the stockyards to make sure there are no mice is hard work, talking to all the sheep to make sure there are none missing is tiring…. no wonder he wants a nap, all that counting makes me tired too).
Take care everyone, and in the days to come, I will show you what else I have been doing on the farm.
silva kurls 