Updates from the Station Masters Cottage.

Vege garden:

Brooke has been working away every night on her vege garden and the return is about to be revealed...onions and garlic are days away, and the rocket might well shoot to the moon if we don't eat it quick enough, might have to barter some with friends. The potatoes she picked last week are wonderful and I made a cheeky wee Gratin with them, boy was it good. Carrots, corn, beetroot, tomatoes are all taken shape nicely. This is going to be a fantastic yield, lots of yummy Annabel tomato sauce to make..any glass jars you lovely people have out there, I'll take them off your hands.

Animals:                                                           

Check out this beautiful little creature. Our friend Karyn asked us to look after him and another wee lamb for the day, how could you resist the absolute cuteness of him. He was found all alone and barely alive, but a few days under Karyn and Sue's care, he is a cracker. He will be going to a great home where the family want him as their pet and all the good lovin he has had to date will continue..

         cute or what                                      and legs to match

 Out with the old, in with the older....

I know, sounds crazy, but it's true. We sold pretty much all of the furniture we brought from our old place as it was never, literary going to fit into the house and it was the wrong style for this type of home. Trade me is awesome...now it has all gone and we have started to search for the 'right' stuff. We have bought a couple of items that are great for bedside units. The wood look doesn't look right, but the actual design does..1 hour later, sander, paint, turps, lots of sneezing and hey presto...wishy washy white....

                                From this                                          

       

To this

Old meets older...how nice         

Chicken news!
Check this out..little beauty is out and about with mama and she's doing just fine. Mama is a great mum, she drops food for her, she even mimics perching on a wee branch and little beauty jumps up too. They are now spending their daytime with the others and so far, it's been fine. Day one was interesting when Franny challenged mama and they got into a chick fight that mama won. She was protecting her wee one and boy did she do a fabby job...since then all has been well at chook chook cottage.
Our other Sussex, Ivy is sitting on 6 eggs, which are due to hatch any day now...we can't wait to see how many actually survive, but I'm sure she'll make a magic mama 2.
Our other rooster Jedi, has a new home with our friend Andrew and his family. This means Harry is now officially the Man of the house...

Mama and beauty on a wee walk 

And, change of direction

Handsome Harry

Day time at chook cottage, boy, to be a Chicken eh?

Well friends, we have had a really productive, industrious time of late..progress is everywhere and life on the lifestyle track is going really well. We must always remember to celebrate the successes we create, the friends we have, the gifts of family that surround us  and the unconditional love our animals provide us.Try not to let things drift too quickly into the past and know that we cannot have today without yesterday...and tomorrow will always be a mystery. Today is all we have.

It is said, that those who have passed are always with us.
1 year ago on Nov 4 my beautiful Lucy passed away....for anyone who has lost a pet, boy does it hurt.
I remember feeling angry with myself when I realised I hadn't thought about her for a couple of days, it was then that I understood why. My heart was taking over and ever so slowly was gathering all of my Lucy memories and securing them is a safe place forever. Now with every beat of my heart...she is there.

"forever in my heart and always on my mind"



One door closes...another open.



New to the world.

Welcome little one. We got some baby blue eggs from Karyn and Sue a few weeks ago, and here is the result of Mama sitting for 21 days....a beautiful little chicken.

We had 4 eggs in total, but she must have kicked 2 out as they had wee Chickie's in them, but they didn't make it. The other wasn't fertile. So we got lucky with little black beauty!

 

 

                            Meet Beauty.

         

     Farewell little Jessie yellow legs!

A few days ago, Jessie became very bloated around her abdomen. She was a really social wee thing, and started to just sit around. The vet prescribed antibiotics, but  it sounded very like peritonitis. She did perk up after the antibiotics, but slowly got worse the days following. Coming home from work on Saturday we decided enough was enough, we were prolonging the inevitable. Life can be so cruel, but from a life where she was confined to a cage then dumped when no longer required to free ranging with new pals (all be for only 6 months) she was Free, right until the end...farewell my feathered friend.

 

.....................................

 

Sheep family expansion plans are well underway..

 

Some of the new kids in town. We purchased some breeding sheep from the neighbours at Streamland, check it out: Friends with (benefits) sheep.. 

Our plans are to breed the girls and have a year round sustainable flock. Karyn and Sue are pretty clued up on all things sheep, very handy to have as friends.

 

Some of the new sheepies.

 

 

New springs lambs inspire hope, life really is for living...live it up.

Progress and Development....

Spring into action..

 

Spring really is the turning point of the year when you start to think about what, when and how to develop your house and land. Well we do anyway!

What's new?

Meet Weezle

We got sheep... Yes we really did, our lovely neighbours, Karyn and Sue sold us some Perindales. They also let us borrow squidgy and Weezle  to show the new boys how to do things. We are stoked with the progress, and we are actually ok with the fact that the boys will live a great life on the land until ' that day comes'?.
Our sheep are staying in the bottom paddock for a wee while until they have eaten the grass, we will open up paddock 2 after that. Due reckons we need more sheep, maybe even some girl sheep that can start our succession plan. We are super keen.

Weezle, Squidgy and the boys

Veggie garden grows....

Competition is hotting up on who can produce the 'best veggies in our gardens'
Sue, Karyn, Lloyd, Sam, Brooke and I have entered into a Veg off competition between ourselves. Bring it on I say!
To make sure we have a fighting chance, we just had to build another 2 gardens. This will allow for a wider variety of yummy veggies.

Preparing foundations, using some chicken poo manure

We uses the old fence posts we dismantled in Feb and as usual got the magic duck compost to ensure success! Not that we are competitive.

Duck compost going in..the magic ingredient!!!!shhhh 

 

Gotta get it right Brookie, focus.

 

All done....3 hours, not bad at all.

Brooke applying the finishing touches..good girl.

SKYPE reaches Glasgow!!!

So, we all know what Skype is, yes? Now imagine if you can... Family in Glasgow that includes Mum, wee sister , big sister and Dad all crowded around the computer screen trying to make some sense of how this see, hear and talk things works. We spent the first session saying can you hear me, can you see me, can you hear me now.... Oh man, what a riot! It was a grainy picture and honestly nothing of any quality was achieved regarding conversation, but I can tell you, I laughed so much after it, because it's just what I needed, it was funny family times. Since then, we have managed to achieve conversation and colour.. It's awesome to be able to see all my family at one place and time.

Say hello to my Dragon....
You know one of my favourite characters from 'Games of Thrones is  Khalesi, the dragon lady. Well here is one of her Dragon babies....it's the cutest thing. I haven't given him a name yet, but will soon.

 

We are truly inspired by the people around us and the progress we are making. I think it's important to be in an attitude of gratitude especially when you know you have worked hard to have the things in your life and they have not just been handed to you. Summer is approaching which means long, hot sunny days for doing work on the land as well as paddle boarding and all things summer...

 

keep well friends, and sorry it's been a while since my last update...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ode to Michelle & David

Today we had a visit from our friends Michelle & David...they have been very good to us over the years, not only as workmates, doggie and home sitters, but a real support when it really mattered.
Brooke made her delicious pancakes and we ate about 4 each with fresh squeezed lemon juice, sugar, maple syrup and yoghurt.
They just love the dogs and although she said it very quietly, I did hear Michelle say that she had missed Finn the most.......you can't say that I said...she just laughed.

A short post, but meaningful never the less.

Quote of the day:
"stay where you are imagining change or.. make it happen."

Trees, some eggs, sticky date pudding and more trees

 

Hi everyone,

 

Today I want to share my ultimate sticky date pudding recipe with you.....to quote the lion king " it's to die for Simba"

 

Ingredients for pudding:

• 1 and 1/4 cups pitted dates (chopped)
• 1 and a quarter cups boiling water
• 1 tsp bicarb
• 3/4 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
• 60g butter
• 2 Eggs
• 1 cup SR flour
• 1/4 tsp vanilla essence

Ingredients for sauce:

• 1 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
• 100g butter (chopped)
• 300ml cream
• 1/4 tsp vanilla essence

Method for pudding:

1. Put chopped dates & boiling water on stove, heat until water evaporates, keep stirring constantly towards the end (it should be nice and moist)

 

4. Add bicarb to dates and stir (froth) take off heat
5. Cream butter and sugar, stir in eggs, add dates mixture (allow to cool slightly) & gradually stir in siffed flower, then add vanilla

 

6. Add mixture to 20cm cake tine (greased)

7. Cook in 180' for 40 -45 mins
8. Once pudding has risen (around 20-25 mins) add 1/2 your sauce mixture and let cook for
 remainder of time... THIS PART IS CRUCIAL FOR PUDDING SUCCESS

Method for sauce:

1. Melt butter and sugar in saucepan over high heat.
2. Stir in cream, allow to boil (stirring constantly) then reduce heat & stir until dissolved and smooth, then add vanilla.

 And finally:

 

'Serve warm with ice cream, the yummy sauce and if calories don't matter...add some cream.... '

 

Trees a crowd....

We been a planting, digging, stakin and breakin (our backs!) in our latest crusade to establish the foundations for the garden....

 

With no tractor or those funny curly things that make holes for you, we relied on the old faithful shovel and hard graft to create our holes for the trees. You can see we had a quality control officer on board...we passed!

 

 

  Brookie dug away

 

I shared the load, but someone had to take the progress and development photos... so here's Brookie again a bit further on

 

And after 5 hours the first day, and 7 the second, we were done diggin...sorry about the ball!!

We used the magic compost again to help the wee trees on the way, it's just lovely to work with. 

 

Green means go!!!!

 

We have also been busy getting the vege garden ready to rock'n roll with the new season greens...Brooke turned over all 4 gardens, took away old stock and gave it to the chooks, she then set the carrots, onions, lettuce, beetroot, tomatoes, garlic, silver beet, broccoli and spinach...yippee, love them all.

The cost of the initial purchase compared to how much they would cost to buy at the supermarket is really unbelievable. 

The money you save, and the quality you gain is huge.

I really encourage anyone who has some space around them to "get growing ".

 

 

 

 

Eggs and chooks and labels.

I'm testing out a wee label for our cottage eggs, it's kinda quirky and a little bit cool....ideas welcome for any improvements... we are getting between 5 & 7 eggs a day now.We are loving them and so are our workmates... even wee Georgia who has been the last one to adjust to her new surroundings has been having a go...she had really dry legs a few weeks ago when she arrived, but we have been treating her with wonder powder it's called diatomaceous earth and it is amazing..please have a read about it.

Eggs and label

 

 

 

Sign for our wee gate:

We wanted to have a nice wee welcome sign at the front gate and our lovely friend made us one. I painted to background first, then once it was dry, I filled in the letters.

 

And found a nice wee spot on the front gate to hang it.

 

So my friendly followers...it's been a good week, I think if you feel satisfied with your efforts and that the energy you spend was worthwhile, it can only be a good thing.

 

And my words for the week are relative to exactly how I feel...

 

Spending energy is the same as spending money.... choose wisely where it goes, and always know, that you will only ever get a quality return for a quality investment, giving less and and expecting more does not happen...

 

BE - DO - HAVE

 

 

 

 

Awesome photos

Morning has broken.

Like the first morning

A lovely morning pic to bring you back on board to the Station Masters cottage.

 

What's new?

Well I got my Tetley Tea bags in the mail all the way from Australia. I've had 5 cups in 5 days and gave one to Mary at work to try, she loved it (no surprises there), I am so happy I got them, cheers Karen.

Rain rain go away,

Everyone has had enough of the wet stuff, water tanks are overfull and fields are soggy as!!!!

Chickens are totally over it, poor wee things are running for cover when the heavens open. But hey, guess how many eggs we are getting a day? between 5 & 6, what a range...free range and such a variety of size, but no lack in quality and taste.. they are so nice, we're stoked and so are our work buddies. We managed to make enough sales to meet our goal, that is to be able to buy a bag of feed and keep the cycle going.

check out my wee labels 

 Morning magic,

Some of these pictures really capture the very reason we just love where we're at. The morning mist as it settles on the saddle of hills creates that sense of anticipation of what the day will bring?

Sun, rain or something in the middle!
And then there's little Miss Murphy, there's a saying about how some people walk in the rain, others just get wet. This little girl just loves simply being.....she is such an introvert, she can take so much of Finn the terrible, then she takes herself off the her quiet place which is usually the front deck with or without sunshine (and usually it's rain these days)

Sitting in the rain.....

This weekend we went to the Dame Edna show in the city - Eat, Pray, Laugh. Luckily we were in row 4, well away from the spitting character and out of range from Edna as she selected her cast from the audience. One of my work colleagues was asked up to the stage and given the Edna interrogation. She done so well. Definitely a night to remember.

Progress on the farm:
Bought some Trees from local supplier. We have decided to start our big garden venture, I reckon once the framework is in place, the rest will follow.

This week.
We have invited our neighbours over to watch the Rugby match. I'll cook my special beef curry and yummy sticky date pudding, then hopefully a Kiwi win and a better performance than last weeks effort will round off a fine evening.


There you go friends, things are ticking over nicely, we hope to get going with our bathroom renovation plans and have this project complete by Christmas when Miss Ivy Knight and Mum comes over.....yay!!!!!


Special note: Laura at my wee farm, did I see you guys pass through Warkworth on Sunday about 12.15 in a silver BMW? I'm certain it was Lloyd driving.

All the best everyone....

Wise words: Be, Do, Have.

Water water everywhere!

Ok, ok we get it........ we just can't stop the rain.

What power water has, it just gets everywhere. Although we are often thankful for a wee bit of rain, this is just crazy! Everything at our place is just soaking wet, we even had to make a washing line inside the shed because the wind was blowing the rain under the car port. It is a bit like a Chinese laundrette, but it's doing the job.

Let's make even more of a mess!

Last week our plumber came round to check our septic tank and soak away as levels were quite scary. He lifted the cap off and the amount of sludge that poured out was quite alarming! He strongly advised we get another soak channel in as soon as possible.... So what better time to get diggers and heavy gear on your lovely lawns? And so it began,

Friday morning our lawn looked like this:

And at 5pm it looked like this..OMG.

The important thing is, we have achieved the necessary and when things dry out, the land will be dryer and we can be assured that next year, we won't be in this state. Sometimes you gotta break some eggs to make an omelet eh??

Someone didn't care and just got on with life as normal

 

Grand final at neighbours place.

We really are so thankful and lucky to have received such a great welcome by our neighbours, we have been introduced to their lives, their home and land and an insight into what is possible to achieve over time in this magical area. Lloyd and Sam ran a pizza store back in the UK and we had the pleasure of fine dining at their place last night, we watched as Lloyd threw Pizza dough around his head and then he and Sam created 3 master class Pizzas for us to enjoy as we watched the Chiefs take the Rugby title with somewhat ease. Here's to good neighbours.

Chicken update.

Eggs are in abundance and we are now selling them to our work mates. Not for profit, just to cover costs. But it is such a joy to head out late in the day and our lovely girls have left us 4-5 eggs every day.

Eggs in abundance

The team are doing fine and we continue to be thankful for having these fluffy wee things in our lives.

Here is the most inquisitive of all the chooks:

little Georgia

she is always the first over when you go into the choock area, she even pecks my backside when I'm saying hello to the others.

And our Sussex girls are laying at last, yay!!! their eggs are bigger than the bantams and smaller than the shavers , just perfect.

So, friends, it's a life we are so glad we have chosen, we learn new things continually, we connect with nature daily and are reminded that life is really what you make it.. Thanks for reading my wee blog, and thanks to my cousin Liza and reader Karen, both in Australia for getting in touch for my Tetley tea bags.

Go NZ and go the Olympic games.

Thought for the day: "If it feels right, it probably a is!"

Chooks hanging out at the bath

Just stuff

What we been up to?

Since my last post, we have been to Christchurch to visit Justine and Mark, we had a great time as always. Cooked dinner on Friday with Marcus, went to Jo Seagars on Saturday (disappointing) and watched the Coronation street on Saturday night.
Sunday was just lovely weather so we went to Pukeko junction cafe cool cafe, awesome.


Justine has a lovely horse called Mandy and it's just lovely watching the bond they have. They also have several sheep, I've told Justine she is the sheep whisperer.

I made a Jo Seagars Italian tart and it was yummy, it even looked like the picture.

Been busy getting tradesmen around to price for some reno work, we even came across a bath re coating chap and he had a stunning,claw foot bath for sale. We have decided on a black finish which will stay within keeping of the railway theme. We get it in about a month and will have to store it until we do bathroom up.


Out plumber came to check out our work request and checked the waste system, unfortunately, we discovered we need another soak away channel rather urgently, therefore, we have had to reshuffle priorities a bit.

We still got the boy.

Chickens are doing really well, so well it's time to start selling the eggs. We have several work mates keen, so we can now share the egg journey. Our wee Sussex are now laying, which means we are trading 4-5 eggs a day! Yee ha!
We still have Jenny the "boy", but so far Harry is not really been fazed by the young man, a little telling off and Jen knows his place.

Met the locals:

We went to dinner at our neighbours across the way, it was just lovely. We probably had the best lamb ever, they are breeders of a specific type of sheep and we may well get some in the future to breed.

New Doggie walking place:

Well today we took the doggies on big walk up through the pine logging track,
Finn and Murphy were in heaven, Kodak had to take it easy, Brookie looked after him.
All was going great until we were about to get into car, Finn rolled in a dead smelly thing, I had to go back down the track to a wee river and dunk her, still had to shower and shampoo when we got back, grrrrrrr!!!

Tea anyone?

Finally, I'm having Tetley Tea withdrawals, if anyone can get me any Tetley Tea bags, I'll be forever in your debt, chanui, is not even close no matter what they say! Tetley makes Tea bags, makes Tea!

Dinner tonight!

The famous Ramsay Curry and chapatis (easy as). Yummy

Thought for the day:

"How you gonna know if you never try?"

Wicked, Winter Weekend

What about this amazing weather? It really does inspire you to get outside and appreciate all that this beautiful country has to offer.

The mornings continue to be bitter cold, so cold that it has very vivid memories of freezing Aberdeen mornings when you couldn't feel your fingers or toes until lunch time! It's not that bad!, but until the sun squeezes over the tree tops it's very close...

MAGIC MOMENTS

Finn and Murphy on the early morning paddock chase, I just got lucky with this one, but it's a cracker.. Finn usually drops the ball after a while because Murphy won't give up the chase.

Morning Moon

It is quite stunning when all that is before you is pure nature and it can take your breath away with moments like this!

Brussels Sprouts anyone?

We were just talking about the childhood (and some adults still) that is you had to name the top "I'm not eating that!" vegetable, it would be Brussels every time, but not us, big fans all the way.


Funny Scottish story time:
So, traditionally, to have a full belly at the stoke of midnight on Hogmanay is good luck for the year to come, basically, you will never be hungry, kinda nice eh?... ok, so picture 5 kids, Mum & Dad in their Glasgow tenement, huddled around the kitchen table that has been put into the living room and has a bonny table cloth placed over it. The best table wear is all set and we are in our good clothes, Mum and my older sister have been slaving away in the kitchen for hours preparing the Hogmanay feed, did I tell you this is tradition? which means, we had been doing this for ever, picture a 6, 7,9,11 & 15 year old all trying to stay awake until 11 - 11.30 at night and then try and eat a massive plate of food, but, I can tell ya, I have only fond memories of these special times, we never had much money , but we never went hungry either. Brussels sprouts were always on the table!

The Special Friendship:

Murphy and Kodak have a beautiful connection and will often just nod off together.

Dust Nuisance?

Recently I contacted council about the dust that cars churn up as they speed along our road... I asked if the roadway outside the properties along this road could be tar sealed, do you know that unless 300 vehicles pass a property daily you don't fall into Tar seal land! So, we got a sign saying " Dust Nuisance" it's purpose is to indicate to drivers they will cause dust nuisance if they drive to fast and to be respectful.
Seemingly there is Dust Nuisance and Nuisance Dust - one is created by driving over non sealed roads at speed, the other is an airborne pollutant ( confused?, I was). So, we live with our sign.

Weekend Washing

Brooke washing the house in the glorious sunshine, good girl.

Chicken run expanded.

We were thinking about extending the chock area to include the bath and trees, and on Saturday we did the very thing. They love it, the bath is really dry underneath, and they have created their own dust bath under the bath... Clever chooks! I even hung a wee gate.The wee Bantams are laying really well, we are just loving them so much.

Last word:

We watched The most exotic Marigold Hotel last night, it was really good and Judy Dench character reminded me of my Mum, they are about the same age, watch it if you can.

So, that's my weekend my friends, I hope whatever you did and whoever you were with has happiness and good memories as the outcome.

Thought for the day:

"It will be alright in the end, if it's not alright, then it's not the end"

See ya!


Maggie