Another day in the life...

Poor Rupert - we turned on the fluorescent lights in the sun room (essentially a huge long room which was a verandah and was covered in a few years back) - and they fizzled. Five hours later he had found the fried mouse which had nibbled through a wire, and rewired new lights. So glad he is multi talented!

We took Sunday morning off and went to the Winter Olympics - a fundraiser for Flemington School which Grace will attend from next year. Met a few of her classmates to be, met some lovely horses, and had a nice time. Then back home and I spent the afternoon in the orchard (to be) continuing to clear and chainsaw. I've put in my order for the trees, and am just waiting on the quote from the nursery.

Murray, Tracey and Ben popped by on Saturday for a quick visit - was so nice to see them, and show them around our wee patch. I tell everyone to wear rose tinted glasses as there is such a lot to do!

Then, on Monday morning we went to pick up these two - Berkshire cross 11 week old weaner piglets. Their first job is clearing the vegetable garden and they've already made a good start today, digging merrily and finding all sorts of tasty morsels! They are not tame at all, so the second they hear us approach they run and hide. Once the garden is mostly clear, we will move them to the pig sty which will be their true home.

There is always an interesting discussion around stock when you have a lifestyle block or farm. For me, it all comes down to knowing where your food comes from. That means knowing that when I plant an orchard, or a vegetable garden, or raise chickens for eggs and meat, or pigs, or milk a cow, or raise a beef animal - I know what each of those has been fed. I know what sprays/chemicals (if any) have been used. I know that while those animals were in our care, they were treated well and allowed to live a natural life rather than being crammed into a small crate or factory farmed. However, I do NOT intend to be anywhere near here when the deed is done!

Am currently stripping the spare room (ugh!) and Rupert is sorting out the workshop so we can find things easily (yay!) while Grace is having dance parties or long long games of pretend with us! Mum arrives next week so will be a busy few days getting her settled in town and starting to find her a place to buy or rent. Will be great having her down here though, not quite sure she knows she is booked for babysitting for the next ten years :-)

The weather has turned wet and cold, but we are warm inside and we have plenty of firewood to get us through winter, with more being sawed up all the time. The almost outside toilet is probably the worst part of the house - very cold! I lay in bed and argue with myself for ten minutes before making the dash! That will be sorted out in the next few months when the new bathroom goes in.

The funniest thing about living down here is whenever we meet someone new, and start chatting, they already know about us. "Oh you're the family who bought the dog lady's house?" or even better from the rural delivery man "I used to bring her 4 or 5 cases of wine at a time and I would have to hold my breath when I went inside!". Small communities, where everyone knows everyone else - I love it - and the people we have met are so nice. Most of them are "real" farmer so they are inclined to tease a bit, but they are very helpful and free with their advice. It's a great community and we are looking forward to being more and more involved over the years to come.

A willing worker...

We've had Anna here for a night and day, a stop off on her normal monthly selling route - which is great, as it means we should see her each month. After the obligatory bottle of red with dinner (once she finally found us), and the farm tour this morning, we put her to work in what will become the vegetable garden. It's a huge fenced off area which the old lady who owned this place had for her chihuahuas to run. Very overgrown (as it everything here) but the three of us managed to clear it in a few hours, felling a couple of trees and adding to the firewood/bonfire stack. Rupert is currently building a pig sty, and we are picking up two piglets on Monday - their first job will be to carry on clearing the area, before being moved to their "real" pig run a little further along the track. Anna did very well considering it was her first time with a chainsaw!

Other ongoing work - Rupert's been dealing to the massive macrocarpa which is leaning on the shed roof - more firewood, more bonfire! He also had a go at trimming some of the trees that run along the phone line in an effort to improve our broadband speed - unfortunately he felled a tree onto the line, cutting us off, but has now fixed it with a bit of number 8 wire!

 I've made a start on clearing the back paddock which will become the orchard (more rubbish, more wood, more bonfire piles!) - and have found a lovely nursery near here who will supply me with my fruit trees. Can't say I am looking forward to digging 50 holes! The paddock is north facing and sloping, and a couple of small holes dug have made me very happy - the soil is beautiful. 

We had an inside day yesterday, sorting and cleaning and tidying - much better, though the real tidy up will come when the kitchen is in, hopefully a month or two. We are managing quite well with a temporary kitchen in the lounge and just using the sink and cooker in the actual kitchen. We're waiting for a rainy day to continue with the renovations inside - next on the list is the spare bedroom. 

Grace is starting to find her "country" legs - the kids from next door came over the other day, and after some very intense lego play, they all went over to the woolshed to play. Judging by the screams and laughter, a good time was had by all. She also had her first quad bike ride, safely wedged between the two girls. She got off and looked at me with a huge grin. "Mum that was sooo awesome!". She is still talking about her friends in Auckland and missing them, but I think that will ease when kindergarten starts again in a week's time - poor kid is not used to holidays.

So, all is well here - we feel like we are finally getting to the end of the rubbish for removal - I think Rupert has taken at least 6 trailer loads to the dump, and we have had one big bonfire, with two more under construction. 

Paula and Rupes

 

Progress - slow, but steady

The interesting thing about taking on this wee farm is the sheer amount of work that needs to be done -  not one area, shed, paddock or room doesn't need a complete clean out and start over. The big push over the Easter weekend was getting the implement shed sorted - Darryn came down from Auckland and he and Rupes moved a LOT of rubbish out, made doors, and stacked our stuff tidily. It's a massive shed - I think you could fit 3 cars in there easily with 3 meters at the end to spare! I spent most of yesterday filling up the trailer again with the rubbish from the shed, and we've had a bonfire going for two days now. Darryn and Rupert also sorted out the phone/internet line and apart from Rupert putting a foot through the ceiling that all seems to be working a little better.

The weather is beautiful and we've had some nice walks exploring the stream and the hills. The more we see of the place, the more we love it. Spring bulbs are popping up all over, and we are working out what is going to go where. We've had lots of visitors and a dinner at the neighbours, so it has been fun getting to know them.

Grace has settled in well - she had two days at Kindy before they closed for the school holidays (!!!) and really enjoyed them - her confidence helps and makes things so much easier for us. We are having to tag team with one of us working while the other is with her (or at least in earshot). That does give us a chance to recover from the aches and pains of whatever we did the day before! She does miss her friends and Auckland, but she loves the farm and it is fun seeing her become slightly more of a farm kid and less of a princess (although the dress up and dance shows still happen each night!) She's had a couple of emotional outbursts, but has come through those after some very stern chats and seems to be doing a lot better now.

Current projects include sorting out the sleep out (which was used as a dog kennel for the 50 or so chihuahuas that lived here) and that will become a garden shed for me - right next to a huge fenced off area which will become my vege garden (when I have taken a chainsaw to the overgrown stuff!). Also, renovating the spare bedroom, continuing to fell trees that are either dead, about to die, or in completely the wrong place. And Rupert needs to sort out his workbench and storage in the shed so we can find everything! I have ordered an incubator and brooder, so once that arrives we will get started with some egg hatching which should mean by spring we have fresh eggs. And while they are hatching and growing that should give us time to clean out the chook shed!

While it still feels odd not going to the office each day, and rushing Grace to pre school, it's lovely and we are finding a more relaxed way of getting the work done. It's certainly teaching us both patience - nothing can be done quickly, so it really is a case of picking a project and seeing it through.

Thanks for following us - we miss our friends and family, but give us a week or two and there will be a spare room all nicely done :-)

Getting Settled and First Room Decorated

Well it's been a wet few days since we moved in - not sure if we've actually had a dry day yet! However it's meant we've been able to focus on the inside of the house which needs most work!

Plumbing was the first challenge - the set up completely eluded us, so we had to call out the local plumbers - seems that one of the two pumps we have was seized, so on replacing that - all was good.  The water is pumped from the collection tank near the house, up to a couple of tanks higher up than the house, which then gravity feedback to the house. Means we have water even if the power goes off.

We've gutted the kitchen, just leaving us the sink and oven, so that's a priority to replace in the very near future. We're close to settling on the new design - nothing too fancy - but plenty of cupboard space and lots of room.

This is a render from Bunnings - nice website for designing kitchens - especially as they give a bill of materials and pricing, Mitre 10 need to take note!

The main focus over the last few days has been working on Grace's room - we've had her in the smaller spare room until now. But after a couple of days of scrubbing, filling, sanding and painting (and a few sore shoulders, arms and knees later) we've finished her room. Still need to get up a few paintings and maybe some wall decals but it's all good to go.

Sorry about Grace looking a bit fuzzy - she moved between images which I've stitched together!

That's all for the moment, next post will cover off what we've been up to outside the house!

Cheers
Rupert and Paula

Furniture moved in!

Grace and I stayed in Auckland for her final day at pre school - I admit to a few tears at her graduation party! Apple Tree has been such a big part of her life, but she seems to have taken it all in stride and enjoyed her party.

On Thursday morning the moving truck arrived and started loading while I cleaned - our good friend Belinda came over and amused Grace while all the action was happening. We left Auckland at 2 and finally arrived at the motel in Waipukarau at 10pm - a long day and the Taupo Napier highway was awful with rain and fog. If I have to hear "Let it Go" once more it will be too soon! Grace was brilliant on the drive down, playing on the iPad and drawing. She fell asleep just after Taupo.

On Friday morning we went up to the farm to meet the truck - an epic job unloading in the rain! The water was sorted by two lovely young plumbers and a new pump installed - we now know how the cold water gets to our taps!

As Rupert said, the kitchen is unusable so we made a temporary kitchen in the lounge, which will suffice for a few weeks. He'd done a great job moving all the rubbish from the house and cleaning. We seem to have lost one cat (Stray) and the meeting between Dream and the rooster was hilarious - the rooster was very unhappy to see a cat!

We decided to have one more night of luxury at the motel, and dinner out. So, this morning we will stock up on groceries and head out to Walnut Creek Farm and enjoy what looks like a sunny day!

First Day At The Farm

Well I was the advance party so that I could try and clean the place out, ready for Paula, Grace and the furniture to arrive.

I left Auckland at 11pm on Tuesday evening, was going to be midnight, but woke up at 10pm and never got back to sleep so by 11 decided to just hit the road.

The new Bighorn was great, very comfortable to drive, though the cats probably disagree, stuck in their big cage at the back of the trailer (all cosy with a big box to hide in) and the trailer cage having a big cover over it.

Took it easy, just followed SH1, rather than the back ways, was pouring with rain once I got onto the Napier-Taupo road, but once that was over with, it was easy drive down to Ypuk and on to the farm.

Arrived at the farm at around 6am, so once I got the cats settled in one of the enclosed sun porches, got stuck in - was hard to know where to start - but have cleared out all the rubbish from the house, pulled down all the old curtains, got the water running (mostly)

The water is an interesting one - must have a blockage or a big air lock as I can get plenty of hot water, cold through the shower, but nothing out of any of the other taps.

I think the kitchen is past it - just too old and would never get it clean, so going to gut that as soon as possible then put in something very temporary, we have a couple of pantry type cupboards so those combined with a bench top should be fine.

The neighbours are great - invited me other for dinner, so after a much needed shower back at the hotel headed out to their place to a very nice roast chicken dinner and a few wines.

Today, back into it once Mitre 10 opens, then another big day.....

Will post again tomorrow, with some pics of progress!

The Adventure Begins

Yesterday was our last day at our Auckland jobs. It was partly sad as we left friends we had worked with over the last 9 plus years, and partly happy as we looked forward to our new life.

The question we keep being asked is why? Why did you choose the Central Hawkes Bay? Why did you decide to leave careers, a house we love, friends and family in Auckland to head off to a farmlet?

The roots of the decision lay in our childhoods - both sets of parents emigrated from the UK to NZ in the early 70's - and both sets of parents bought 10 acre lifestyle blocks. So, a magical period of our childhoods was spent on small farms, learning about animals and crops and enjoying the freedom that rural kids have. We wanted the same for our four year old daughter Grace.

As to why we chose Flemington in the Central Hawkes Bay? We saw the listing, marvelled at the low price, checked the essentials (broadband, acreage, school nearby) and after Rupert did a long drive in the pouring rain to look at it, we bought it. The 80 year old house is neglected, as is the land, but the potential is there, waiting to be uncovered by some hard work.

After a frenetic period of packing, getting our house ready for auction, and training our replacements at our offices, today is the first day of our new life. Later this week, when the packing is finished, we will head down to Walnut Creek Farm and begin working on the poor neglected little farm.

Our aims - to make something beautiful and productive, to give Grace an early education in where food comes from and how to take care of living things, and to spend more time with each other and her.

Follow along with us - it's going to be an adventure, and we are very excited to get started.