March – autumn is here – 3rd March

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Willkommen auf meiner Website

I am very pleased to be able to welcome visitors to my website. I have been talking about our lifestyle block for nearly 2 years now and I am always amazed at the folk who ‘call in’ to see what we are doing. Thank you all.

March 20, 2020

We are all facing some unpleasant situations with this world-wide virus and my thoughts go out to all who are reading my blog and I hope you and your family are safe.

As far as I can, I am being positive in my approach to a change in lifestyle. I still have sheep to look after, the garden to tend and I am trying to grow fruit and vegetables but this is an ongoing issue as I really don’t know what grows well here yet.

The sheep are doing well, and have a new ‘friend’ in with them – Tuppence is living up to his name and getting on with the job of ‘befriending’ the girls. Hopefully we will have some lambs in the spring.

Nico, our young Manx kitten has now been with us for a month so he’s five months old now and adjusting to our life as well as us adjusting to him.

He continues to learn more about his surroundings and loves to visit the sheep in the morning. He has a bit of a habit of climbing up the trellis and onto the roof of the house when he’s excited and then of course he can’t get down, so we have to climb up the ladder and get him down. And what’s with the toys, who’s gona pick up all the toys when you’ve finished playing? “I’m hiding, not me!”

You may not know the story in New Zealand but a lot of people have been panic buying things like toilet rolls, hand sanitiser and now plants, potting mix and seeds. To lighten the mood a little, my husband decided that we need something other than those items so he went out and bought a new car; a Mercedes Benz, 1999 hardtop convertible (I’ve always secretly wanted one).

Today we decided to take a small road trip to the Bealey, in the middle of the Southern Alps, Canterbury, between the east coast and the west coast. We were away from people, had a picnic by ourselves and enjoyed the great outdoors.

Be safe, be happy and I will write again soon.

24 Feb 2020

Lazy days of summer

With the days warm but not as hot as they were a few weeks back it’s time to think about working outside again. I’m not a fan of heat and so have not done much work outside since November. The vegetable garden is a real ‘trial’ to me, I can’t seem to get the growing right for any of the vegetables I try although the herbs, potatoes and lavender seem to be thriving. The ground is very cold right up till about October and then the rains come for about a month. The only growing period seems to be from October to March and even then the nights will start to get cooler by mid February. I think if I relied on my garden to survive – food wise- I’d be a very hungry person.

Next year I think I’ll concentrate on herbs and dye plants instead of vegetables, I seem to have more luck with those.

The woad and weld grew well and I have a good supply to try dyeing wool or materials such as cottons and linens.

The lavender will be used in scented bags for clothes and baths, and some will be used to make teas and infuse in oils. When I get a bigger supply of lavender I will take it to a lavender farm nearby so that they can turn the flowers into lavender oil.

Nico is growing up nicely and is now exploring on his own, although still quite close to the house.

The flock are also growing up and soon it will be time for them to start thinking about ‘babies’.

I went to visit a very nice boy yesterday and so he will be arriving in the middle of March. He is young, but I am assured, he will quickly pick up ‘what to do’.

Here are a few photos of him (he doesn’t have a name yet, just a number). He is a very nice ram, beautiful colour and nice temperament.

10 Feb 202010 Nov 2020

Day 3 with Nico …

We are adjusting to life with our kitten, Nico and he has bonded quite nicely with Leigh and me. His favourite place is either on the computer desk with me or on Leigh’s computer desk.

We took him go outside for the first time on Sunday as it was such a beautiful day, weather wise. He only explored to the extent of where we were standing and would chase leaves, do lots of sniffing and walking through the ‘jungle’ (the garden has lots of tall plants as you know).

After an hour though, it was nap time – ‘tiz very tiring being a kitten’. We will not open the cat door yet but he seems content to go outside when we do and come back inside when we have chores to do.

I am very impressed on how quickly he is learning ‘our routine’. Sleeps all night under our bed and is very quiet, gets up only when the first person rises. Follows either one of us around most of the day and naps nearby whatever we are doing.

The other ‘learning’ is to push the boundaries; “I can walk on the table, I can jump onto the bench” all no-no’s in this house – with a ‘no’ and distraction to something more interesting such as a ‘ball’ to chase, he is learning quickly.

It will be interesting to introduce him to the sheep but that will be much later. Well time for me to return to chores while ‘Nico’ has a nap. See you again soon.

31 Jan 2020

January – summer is here… and what else have we done?

Summer took a long time to get off the ground, weather wise, but now it is hot and dry, no pleasing some especially the sheep ‘ we’z hot and where’z lunch’; the grass is all brown and tasteless.

This is the view we came back to after we finished our holiday in Waipara for a week.

As you know I am breeding Gotland Pelt sheep, for their fleece and I am also interested in their history. The photos below are of our resident Gute-like sheep, Bob.

The reason I am telling you about this is because I also have another hobby related to the history of these sheep, namely the Gute. They are a Swedish breed left on the island of Gotland during the Viking period (circa 800-1100 AD).

My interest in the Gotland/Gute sheep has been expanded because of a group called the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism). If you wish to know more about the SCA, please click on the link above.

This group looks and history from 600 AD to 1600 AD and tries to recreate some of the things that were done in history, for example, medieval fighting, archery, rapier (modern fencing) and the arts (i.e.: crafts such as spinning, weaving, fibre, wool, to name a few). My interest with the Gute is primarily researching their fleece, temperament, genetics and relationship to modern sheep.

The SCA enables me to pursue certain aspects of ‘medieval life’ that I am interested in and having sheep producing wool which I can then process by period spinning (drop-spindle) or modern techniques (spinning wheel) means I can use my hobby in my every day life as well.

Our holiday in Waipara was an event that happens annually where a group of people who are also interested in medieval history get together to talk, play and make things as in the medieval period.

I enjoy spinning, as well as dressing up in the Viking/Swedish clothes of that period.

31 Dec 2019

Last day of the decade – Happy New Year to everyone

Well another year has almost finished. It is this time of year that I like to look back to see what I have done in the year; the highlights and the challenges.

For me, the highlights were:

Learning the complete process of wool, from sheep to finished product
Making friends with other Gotland Pelt breeders and being able to talk and discuss ideas and the challenges of shepherding
Learning how to spin the wool and creating my first piece of knitted product
Having a glorious holiday in winter at Lake Tekapo

The challenges of the year were:

Knowing when the sheep were having health issues; they are very good at hiding the fact that they are not well. This will always be my biggest challenge, not just for this year. Luckily I have a great vet who doesn’t mind me ringing up for a chat and who is willing to help a ‘novice’ shepherd.
Keeping up the maintenance of the farm is another challenge; getting the jobs done and keeping everything ticking along is a full-time job but also a good job to have.
Thinking about the long term aspects of the farm is also a challenge; do I buy a ram for the flock, or do I lease a ram, or buy stems? These questions have been going around in my head and in discussions with Leigh for the best part of the year.
How do I promote the fleece from the sheep, where are the outlets for my products? These are all valid questions which I hope to answer in the new year.

The sad parts of the year:

We have had a very sad year in terms of our pets; Lacy, our lovely girl died in June at the age of 18. I hope she had a good life.

Pippin, our Manx cat, born in 2006 also died this year, this was very sudden.

Looking forward to 2020 we will have a new member of the family join us: We are still thinking of a name. He is a Manx also and is from the same breeder as Pippin. He will be joining us at the end of January 2020.

I hope you all have a great new year and a safe one and I look forward to sharing my story about the birches, the farm and the animals with you all in the coming year.

Best Wishes for 2020

22 Dec 2019

Counting down to Christmas … but work goes on

The weather plays a big part in life on our farm; the rain, snow, sun and wind have been major events in the last few weeks. It’s a wonder that anything has survived the battering but it has. I had a plot full of lavender that was enjoying the rain and sun ( not the wind so much). I watched the row of ‘Pacific Blue’ lavender, always the first to bud, bloom and now ready to harvest. This plant has a beautiful colour and a fragrance of lavender and camphor.

This morning’s task was to cut and bundle the lavender to dry in the dark and cool shed – I used our workshop shed for this purpose.

The other variety of lavender is ‘Grosso’ known for its perfume. This patch will not be ready until mid January.

After the drying process I will try my hand at making products out of this small harvest; maybe teas, scented bags, pot pouri or bath scents. This is just a hobby but a sweet smelling one.

The other task yesterday was collecting hay for the ‘girls’ for next year when they (hopefully) will be pregnant.

Mowing lawns, watering plants are all part of the farm life. Oh and of course looking after the ‘girls and boys’.

“So where’s dinner…… where are the nuts wez hungry” (not really there’s plenty of grass)

Let me introduce you to the flock:

1	Sugar – Salt’s wether lamb
2	Lumpy – Pepper’s ewe lamb
3	Bob – Chocolate’s wethered lamb
4	Suzie – foundation ewe
5	Dime – Pepper’s wethered lamb
6	Salt – foundation ewe
7	Pepper – foundation ewe
8	Doe Eyes – Suzie’s ewe lamb
9	Nickel – Suzie’s ewe lamb (and poster girl)
10	Chocolate – foundation ewe

15 Dec 2019

Mid December – visited another Gotland farm

As I mentioned in the last post I am planning to breed my flock next year, so with that in mind I have visited a couple of people who also have Gotland sheep. I am looking for a nicely formed ram who has good fleece, nice temperament and good body structure.

A few weeks ago I visited a nearby farm to see a very nice male Gottie; he is very much like the Gute sheep with very nice horns and a lovely fleece.

If you have read my page about the ancestry of the Gotland Pelt sheep you will know that this breed is a ‘polled’ sheep (the gene for horns has been bred out of the Gotlands).

Although this ram has obvious genes reverting back to the ancestral type of Gute breed, I am still interested in this boy as he could breed some animals with fleece similar to the older bred.

The other farm we have just returned from is The Woolshed Canaan in Motueka – Nelson district.

Jessica also has some very nice Gotland Pelt sheep and particularly a ram with lovely grey fleece, and a nice body shape.

With Christmas just around the corner, my thoughts will stray from sheep breeding for now but in the new year I will plan who I want to breed from come the spring of 2020 (September/October).