Hey, how did you get here? I haven’t exactly been expecting anyone to show up. Great to meet you!
You’ve come to the right place if you’re looking for musings from a city girl, completely new to farming, starting out on a small block of land with ponies, chickens, bees and assorted pets. I’ll be blogging about renovating the farmhouse, generating electricity from the stream, cutting firewood from the woodland and growing food, both vegetable and animal.
It’s a huge adventure, which at times feels completely overwhelming, and I have no idea how it will turn out. So, follow along, and we’ll get to know each other on the way.
ChrissyB
P.S. If you’ve just arrived and you want to start following from the beginning here is a link to my first post about the unexpected purchase of a pony.
hi Chrissy
Wow you are living my dream!
Way to go girl,that’s brave.
“But my darling,what if you fly”
Nice to meet you LJ x
Hey Lisajane,
Thanks for commenting. Great to meet you here. I believe we’ve met before over endless hampers full of books and a shared penchant for a really good cup of tea. That was you right? C x
Oh no!
Yes that sure sounds like me!
Sorry Hun,you’ll have to forgive me,my memories
terrible at the moment.
GP said another lovely symptom of menopause…
On another tangent did anyone suggest anything for killing weeds?
XxLJ
Sadly no really great weed ideas so far, although a flame thrower has been mentioned on the quiet. Hit me with whatever you have!
Well if you can cut it right down so close to the ground , burn what you’ve cut off and for the stalk bits use a sharp old knife, make a cross in each if you can,put a generous amount of salt on cut / crossed bit. I know labour intensive but does work,can take a few goes and best to buy one of those really big sacks of salt. My Grandad used to do this and I’ve done it. He was an organic gardener before it was invented!
That’s a great tip. Much nicer than that scary ‘paint the stalks with roundup’ method often suggested for perennial weeds. Thanks for passing on Grandad’s wisdom.
It can take a while for really deep rooted plants but it only leaves the direct area salty and you can remedy that when the weeds are all gone with compost and blood and bone.
You’ve got your compost going?
I’ve been harassing my Husband with lifestyle properties north of AK!!!
You go girl! What animals and activities do you dream of for your future lifestyle block?
Lovely pile of compost here, but sadly too much hassle to move it north so it will go onto the current veggie garden. A new compost heap is high on the list of farmlet priorities though. Not having to transport bags of pony poo in the car from paddock to home will be a bonus.
Oh My where do I start!!
A wild flower meadow for the bees & butterflies
Some big shire horses,maybe a retired racer/steeplechaser or two
Goats, Highland cattle, a lovely Jersey house cow,
Ducks,Chooks,Geese,a motley crew of Dogs and Cats
A barn to set up for design/art classes/seminars
Cottages to let for home stay
A big vege garden like Anibelle Langbine
An outdoor pool like we saw in Argentina
Trees and bridal paths
A stream for kura and puha
Somewhere near the beach for lovely rides through the sea
Just trying to recreate my childhood…….with a few extras oh and big compost bins!! Not nearly enough room in our city place!!
It’s going to be sooo BEAUTIFUL. I hope you find it one day. I’d forgotten about Highland cattle and how adorable they look.
BTW the blog has moved to new premises at charmedlife.co.nz/cowboybootsandbrokenfingers/. We’re just settling in and moving the furniture around still, but come over and visit. 🙂
I love your website. Will keep blogging with you on our common interests.
DIY for sure
All the best Chrisssy (Can we call you Chrissy?)
You can call me Chrissy. I haven’t quite got to the DIY yet, but it will be coming up. Will try to post some ‘before’ house photos at some stage. 🙂
Hi Chrissy,
I hope I may also call you Chrissy.
I found your site only a couple of days ago while hunting for Mediterranean gardening, and have since spent all the time I could catching up with you from the very beginning. So happy to welcome you to the Whangarei environs, albeit belatedly.
My husband and I have a very small acreage just out of town, which at the moment is rapidly reverting to gorse and blackberry, as we have a business in town which is open 7 days, consequently not a lot of time spent on the land. However we have plans,many plans, and it will happen.
Bye for now, and keep up the good work
Jude
Hi Jude and welcome to the blog, so lovely to have you here, especially as you are practically a ‘neighbour’. Please yes, call me Chrissy.
Goodness don’t those weeds just go bonkers if you take your eyes off them for 5 minutes? And your schedule sounds super busy. I’m sure you will move your plans into action step by step though (I do love a fellow schemer)!
I figure we are on at least a 10 year plan here to get things even moderately under control. You should see the bits of the property that aren’t featuring in the blog photos. Picture lots of weeds!
Go us Whangarei small farmers with big ideas! 🙂