Tag: sheep

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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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End of July – come on warmer weather

When is it going to stop raining and being cloudy?

“Oh it’s still winter”, I hear Dorian say. Bother, I’ve had enough doom and gloom. I need some fine weather to do some work around the place, like spraying and tidying, and maybe mowing some paddocks to spread out the sheep manure ready for the spring growth.

“Ha, not happening at present” he says.

But, we did get a few hours of sunshine and I decided to go out and take some photos of the flock and the mountains. Here is what I saw:

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November – daffodils and mud

Well, as the title indicates, we have had a long month of rain, rain and more rain!

The spring flowers are beautiful but the sheep are knee high in grass and ankle deep in mud.

Gotties, where are you?
‘Thank goodness we have a barn’ say the flock.
Can’t see the sheep for the grass

We also had sleet and frost!

Brrrr it’s cold outside, but we’re warm in here!!
This is November and meant to be warm and sunny!!

The garden doesn’t know what to do – grow or what!!!

Wild chives in the pathway
At least the tomatoes are ok in the greenhouse
The Weld seems to like the conditions

And on top of all that, we have decided to paint the interior of the ‘farm house’.

lounge
nearly finished
kitchen with lights on
new paint job – and already it’s lighter
middle of the day
it’s even raining outside but still better than before

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End October

With all the ewes safely delivered of their lambs now we all can enjoy the antics of the ‘young’. Some mothers are more tolerant of their offspring and others ‘just want to go talk with the other mums’.

Photo hogs
All down with the lambs
Such a lovely face
Whacha doin?
Love the hill – mum

It is a busy time with spring growth; lawns to mow and weeds to keep under control.

A little snow still on the Torlesse Range
New orchard is growing
Looks nice when mowed

But you can’t help but stop and admire the view.

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October and lambing finished

After the first sets of twins we then had a single and another set of twins but unfortunately nature being what it is, the mother of the twins rejected one of them; she looked health to us, and feed from a bottle for the day but sadly died in the night. Life is hard sometimes and we had to say goodbye to the day-old girl.

On the other hand out of 4 ewes, we have 6 lambs (as yet unsure of the ratio female/males) but they have all survived their first week – two weeks.

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End of Winter

Well we hope that we have seen the worst of the winter; but something tells me that it might not be the case.

We had such a stunning morning that it seems to me we may get an early spring.

The chores around the farm are nearly finished; for the winter at least. We have managed to tidy up the paddocks (topped Two Acre paddock) which means that new grass will grow easier and the new lambs (should there be any), will have spring grass.

The glasshouse is installed, we have 2 olive trees planted in pots, 2 citrus trees also in pots (lemon and lime) – my favourites! Picked up 90% of the leaves around the garden and have cleaned out the fish pond ready for more goldfish and new water plants.

August will be a busy month; planting potatoes, putting in my dye plants Woad and Weld, planting more strawberries (who doesn’t like a good supply of that fruit), and setting up the glasshouse with tomatoes and lots of other vegetables before planting out in the vegetable plot.

The Gotlands will be shorn in September; this is a necessity if they are pregnant as the wool could break after birthing any lambs. We intend to spin, felt and maybe sell some of the wool so it is imperitive that the quality is the very best. (see more on the Gotland page about the wool).