Category: Isolation

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The new normal…

We would like to think the world will go back to ‘normal’ once the virus is eliminated (or contained) but I think we need to be prepared to accept that things will not go back to the way they were. New Zealand has taken a cautious step out of level 3 to level 2; that means we can visit family and friends and perhaps do some of the things that we use to do. For us things will be the same; we socialise with friends and family and have small gatherings in our homes and clubs.

We hear now that in the last week of June we will probably go to level 1. I will look forward to seeing my friends at the Spinning and Weaving club and seeing more of my family in the weeks to come.

The isolation period – March 26 till now (26 May) has been been an interesting time on the farm. The first week we had problems with the septic tank, the second week issues with the electricity, then in the ensuing weeks, the tank had issues again, the oven decided to breakdown – we have had more problems during this time than at any other time.

June and winter…

With the colder weather coming we are gearing up for lambing in the coldest winter month – August. I will pack a birthing kit with the necessary equipment in case we have trouble with any of the mums or lambs; unlike the last lambing season (2018) when I did not have anything and luckily we did not have any particular trouble. I have grown in confidence around the sheep and they accept me in ‘most situations’ but of course birthing brings its own challenges. I intend to create a ‘birthing-holding’ area inside the sheep barn so that the mothers can come and go, and I can contain a mother with their lambs if I need to. Luckily Gotland Pelt sheep are very good at birthing on their own and raising their lambs, but I need to be ready in case things go bad.

I am hoping that we will have a quiet winter period with time to clean up from autumn and prepare for the colder winter months.

I hope you all continue to be safe and well…

The next time we chat it will be winter and all the glory that the season brings…… maybe snow…… definitely frosts……new ideas for spinning…..new plans for the farm…..news on what Nico the ‘shepherd’s cat’ has been doing…

Take care ….

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Monday 11 May… a light is on and someone is home

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.

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… why we decided to live in Canterbury and buy a lifestyle block

Continuing on from our time on the coast, https://thebirchesspringfield.com/2020/04/07/who-we-are-who-am-i/

Our discussion turned to ‘What do we want to do for the rest of our lives?’ I decided that I needed a new direction now that full-time employment was no longer necessary and Leigh was happy to go along with my plan to raise sheep, and especially the Gotland Pelt breed.

It took us all year (2017) to find the block we wanted; it had to have good pasture (as the Gotties need free-draining ground), good structure for the farm (high fences for sheep that are escape artists), a good size house that was nicely appointed and well maintained,(Leigh wanted a house, I wanted a farm) and not too far from Christchurch, where extended family live.

Of course there was the discussion ‘why are we buying a farm to retire to instead of buying a nice house in the suburbs’ but as we both grew up on farms, had enjoyed our west coast farming time with the two sheep and because I was interested in learning some new skills (wool spinning, dyeing and crafting) we decided that we were NOT to old to start a new venture.

When we have the opportunity to stop and admire the view from the window, we realise that we made a good decision to move here. I find quiet pleasure in walking around the farm to see the little changes we have made since we shifted here. It might be a new planting structure in the garden, or it might be visiting the sheep on a cold fresh frosty morning to give them some nuts from our hands, whatever it is, I am thankful that we took the risk.

Thank you for reading. I look forward to talking with you again soon.

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What I have been doing in lockdown …

I started knitting a Guernsey jersey for Leigh back in February and this week managed to finish it off (not quite in time for the birthday celebrations).

I’m very pleased with the result, it quite a heavy jersey but will be good for our cold winters. The wool was professionally carded and spun, but the wool was from one of our foundation ewes, Chocolate.

My other project – which was a very quick one – was to knit myself some fingerless gloves from the wool I spun up myself and dyed.

These only took a couple of hours and here is the pattern if anyone wants to use it.

Fingerless gloves :Double knit wool, I used number 4 needles, and the yellow is my own dying and the grey is Suzie’s wool.

Cast on 40 stitches and rib in 2 x 2 (knit 2 and purl 2 – repeat) for 4cms.
Change to knit row/purl row (stocking stitch) and if you wish, change colour at this point. Knit for approximately 8.5 cms
Change back to original colour (if wish) and rib (2×2) again for 4cm.
Cast off in rib.
Turn over into half lengthways and stitch together the top rib and the bottom rib, then stitch half way up the stocking stitch to close the part of the thumb. See picture for completed gloves.

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Week 5 – level 4

At the time of writing we are all waiting to go up to level 3, next week. The time has been spent as I usually spend my time, knitting, looking after the sheep and Nico, the kitten; oh and I forgot, husband Leigh had a birthday in that time so we celebrated at “I so late” cafe.

Today is a grey day and not conducive to going outside so Nico is using my work room as a playground, boxes, balls, toys and anything else he thinks he wants to play with.

Nico is now 6 months old and thinks he is old enough to play outside at night time. He will ‘hunt’ mice in the paddock by the house in the twilight and early evening and now we have let him go out for a while, but the first time he stayed out I was really worried (you know the first time the kids go out at night!! ) but he came inside on his own, so not worried now.

Level 3 for us will look pretty much the same as level 4 – we will stay home most of the time and do work around the farm, autumn is here now and so leaves pile up if not attended to, looking after the ‘girls’ as I hope the are pregnant and turning over the vegetable plots so they can rest over winter. Oh and clean out the barn for the new lambs when they arrive, organise the shearing in July /August, keep the weed spraying up and keeping the house work going as well; have I forgotten anything? Keep us in meals, food shopping and a bit of knitting and spinning on the side, I think that’s all.

Keep well everyone, this is working, and so I wish everyone reading the blog a safe and enjoyable month. See you again soon, 

na prosécheis
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Who we are ….. who am I?

When I first started this blog the aim was to tell you all a little about our journey through living on a lifestyle block. That aim hasn’t changed, in that I wanted to tell people about our life, our farm, the flock of Gotland Pelt sheep and why we decided to buy a farm in our retirement. What I now realise is that the ‘journey’ to this particular lifestyle started a long time ago and so I thought I’d share my story. “Why?” you ask, well because I want to promote New Zealand and its story and as I am an avid photographer thought you might like to see some of the wonderful scenery we have here (since we can’t visit new places at the moment).

The beginning of the lifestyle farm idea started with Leigh and I renting a property on the West Coast of New Zealand, when I was working for the West Coast District Health Board.

The place we rented was called ‘Moonlight’ (isn’t that a cool name), which had a house and some land and because I have been interested in raising sheep for their wool a friend gave me a couple of orphan lambs who needed a home.

This started a serious discussion into what we wanted to do when we retired, and when we could afford to buy a house of our own.

We stayed in Moonlight for only a year unfortunately and when we shifted we had to find a place that would let us have the two sheep, Mintie and Rosie (Suffolk sheep). We had bottle fed the sheep and continued to feed them with sheep nuts, hence they were very friendly.

Our move to Runanga was a good move but still in a rented house and land. That stay lasted for about a year, then we decided to move back to the Canterbury region. We had to leave the sheep with the property as we were going to move back to the city for a while. Luckily the person owning the house and land was happy to include our two sheep into their flock, so Mintie and Rosie had a new life with a big flock.

One year later and we had the means to look for our own property in Canterbury and because I wanted to purchase the Gotland Pelt sheep it was necessary to find somewhere suitable for the requirements of the breed.

We found West Coast Road after about four months of looking at more than a dozen properties. So that is the beginning of the story with the lifestyle block.

Next time I will tell you about New Zealand and why we decided to live in Canterbury on our retirement lifestyle block…….

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First week of New Zealand isolation.

Well the week has gone ok, and we are getting use to staying home. Much of what we do is the same whether we are in isolation or just getting on with our normal daily routine except we can’t pop out for a coffee at our favourite shop.

Nico has been house-bound for a couple of days because he is a ‘woosey cat’ when it comes to rain (I don’t know why because he is fascinated by water from the taps or any water in the basins). Well anyway I thought I’d make him some toys to play with and to entertain him. Here is Nico at play.

Our first venture to the grocery shop yesterday meant that we had to be inventive with our shopping; 1 person 1 trolley so we split the list into two and did the shopping as individuals. Leigh is good at the stocking of the pantry shelves, so he did that and I got the vegetables and the meat plus good things to eat oh and I found some ping pong balls for Nico to play with.

We had to space ourselves out prior to entering the shop and so when we got there the line was quite long. So our shopping which usually takes 3/4 hour took us half hour to get to the front of the line and then another hour to do get the goods, pay for them and put them in the car. We shopped for two weeks so we wont have to do that again for a while. People were very polite, we chatted with the people in the line but everyone was ‘subdued’ and a little worried; but I have to say the shop assistants were great, no fuss and they were polite and well organised.

We can do this; world!!!! We will come out of this again.

The sun is shining today and that always makes me feel better. Take care all; 

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