Happy as a pig...

Sheep tracks

Eye Dog

Pippi was the friendly dog on the farm stay that we visited in Waitomo. She would appear with breakfast and hang around until we headed off for the day. She seemed to know that she wasn't allowed inside the holiday cottage and would faithfully wait on the deck, eyeing us through the glass door.

Equestrian Exploits

The foal in the middle picture was just a day old when we first saw him and was three days old in this picture - he'd fattened up nicely in that short time and was much steadier on his feet. I was much more tempted by the donkey though...

The littlest bull

These are some of the miniature cattle that were on the farm - the miniature bull, top right, is just 1 inch taller than the smallest in the world.

Crescent Dairy Goat Farm

Frog

Ismatullo from Tajikistan

Ismatullo is a resident of the Pyandj region. He is 42 years old, married, and has four children. Ismatullo raises small cattle. He wants to increase the size of his herd.

Ismatullo is trying to raise $750 to buy new beasts. You can help him do that by making a loan via Kiva.

Happy Christmas! 

Sheep amongst the reeds

Smallfarming: Defining the Purpose

Here's my answer to the first assessment question in the first module of my correspondence course:

"Explain in your own words, your own initial purpose for small farming. Include the main reason you would like to small farm (or already small farm), and the motivation behind this."

Watch this space to find out how I go about achieving this initial purpose...


My primary motivation for our small farm is to create a (near) self-sufficient sanctuary for our family.

In purchasing our lifestyle block, I wished to escape urban life, having immigrated to New Zealand after nearly a decade of living in London, and to return to the countryside. My maternal grandmother was raised on a farm in Yorkshire and took over most functions of the farm after the death of her father before moving to a small hamlet in Lancashire to raise her own family. I grew up on the fringes of a small Lancashire town, surrounded by sheep farmers. Our move to a lifestyle block on the edge of Auckland was an attempt to recreate my own childhood and that of my grandmother and mother.

From the north of England...



...to the North Island of New Zealand...



The block that we chose is bordered by other lifestyle blocks and a commutable distance from the city. The size of the land (just over 2 ha) provides peace and quiet and privacy and an element of escape from everyday life but we are surrounded by like-minded neighbours with similar interests, creating an atmosphere of camaraderie and community, close to that enjoyed by my family back in Lancashire, without losing the advantages that city life has to offer.

I intend to use our block to go back to basics by raising our own animals and plants for food. I am keen to reduce our carbon footprint by cutting food miles and consumption of manufactured products. After being a vegetarian for more than half my life, I intend to raise free-range animals with an emphasis on ethical treatment and good welfare. I also wish to limit our dependence on chemicals (albeit not necessarily adopting a fully organic approach) whilst ensuring a steady supply of healthy, sustainable fresh ingredients with which to cook and feed our family. I intend to promote frugality and thriftiness and to learn new skills to pass on to our children, enabling a greater degree of independent living.

Finally, I will protect and encourage native wildlife, particularly indigenous plants, birds and insects, by controlling introduced pests and extending the areas of native bush on our block. I have a love of nature and want to surround our family with as natural an environment as possible.

Coromandel Cows

Frog-in-the-hall

When I opened the front door the other night to feed the rabbits, I found this little creature waiting for me. And then he hopped inside! He must have thought that our carpet was a lily pond.


We've worked out that he was a Southern Bell frog, a descendant of one introduced from Australia in the 1860s from Tasmania. He has a number of special features which helped us to identify him:

• Dark brown or black blotches on the back
  
• A pale green stripe down the middle of their back
  
• The belly looks granular
• The fingers lack webbing while the toes are almost completely webbed
• There are no suckers on the ends of their toes or fingers

Temptation

I was sorely tempted by the miniature highland cattle that were for sale at the Kumeu A&P Show last week. But at $7500 they cost ten times as much as the standard size beasts. And their horns look just as lethal. So we might have to go with a common or garden house cow instead when the time comes.

Pig Hunt

We had the joy of finding three pigs the other day, rooting around our land when we went down to put the chickens to bed. Luckily our neighbour had called to warn us otherwise we would have been very alarmed by the heavy breathing in the dark.

There wasn't much chance of us being able to herd them home in the dark so we left them to go to sleep and they were tempted back the next day by some hot milk.

Our neighbour also told us that the bare block between our two blocks has been sold and so we look forward to meeting the new owners and watching what kind of house they're going to put up...