Living the Good Life on 3 Acres in Nelson

Fresh off our tree .. crisp & sweet .. mmm

Apple : Golden Delicious

Yesterday we made a hard decision.  Our dachshund x was diagnosed with cancer in July & we realised, with huge sadness & many tears, that her time had come.  This morning hubby took her to the vet.

Bess

As I sat reviewing old pictures of her I heard the chirp of a newborn chicken.  When I investigated, I discovered a little Pekin hen in the garden with 3 unexpected but very adorable babies. The first chicks of the season.

Chutney & Chicks

This happens often here. As I lose one animal another arrives to remind me life goes on.

We were lucky enough to pick up half a box of ‘salad’ bananas last weekend for just $6.  So, after lots of smoothies & banana roll ups I thought, hmm, what else can I do & searched Food.Com where I found this recipe for Banana Jam.

It is seriously delish.. quite sweet. Would be wonderful over some icecream.  I only had lemons instead of the lime &, with the second batch, I used less cinnamon as I thought it was a bit overpowering & I sliced the bananas rather than mash them so the jam was a little more chunky/fruity looking  (the picture is of the first batch).

For the last 2 or 3 nights we’ve had fog roll in shortly after sunset. .. as it often does at this time of year. We are about half a km from the river & it comes from that direction.. across the neighbours then slowly enveloping our property.  Hubby thinks it looks eerie but I find the way it softens everything to be really pretty so I took a couple of pictures to show you… 

The Elm tree .. with Jane goat in the paddock (if you look hard)

Looking down our drive towards the road.

This morning I went out, into the sun, to snap some pretty pictures to show you.

After the torrential downpours of rain with thunder (that shook the house) & lightening we’ve had for 2 or 3 days, Mr Sun decided to make an appearance this morning.

 I love the day after rain. The air is so fresh & everything seems so clean (all the sparrow poop gets washed off the gates & fence posts.. why do they have to poop right were you put your hand.. every time!?)  The rain drops glistened in the sun which streamed through the neighbours trees in coloured rays & steam rose from the fences & sheds as the sun warmed the wet.  It was soooo pretty.  I took the photos & came inside to download them but half an hour later..Mr Sun was gone  So much for hanging out the washing backlog as I planned.  

A Goat Shelter steaming as the sun hits it & can you see those gorgeous twinkling raindrops in the elm tree?

A few of my Pekin Bantams sun themselves on my back door steps

The goats were delighted to be out of their shelters (goats hate rain). 

Luwis & Jane

Little Luwis seems to be ‘becoming a man’. I noticed he is doing the charming boy goat thing of weeing on himself.. for some reason beyond me, girl goats like that stuff.. or at least the boys think they do!  I’m still wondering if he’s actually going to manage Jane. As you can see, she is twice his size at present. (See Luwis as a baby here).

And here is Luwis’ sister, the very portly Lindy Lu.. 

Jane, Lindy Lu & Lulu

Still with her mother & most likely sucking all our milk.  Hubby got half a cup today. It’s just not practical to separate them at present but it rather defeats the purpose of having milking goats.

My bulbs, which I confess I only repotted a week or two ago, are already popping through the soil.  These are my tulips (see pictures of them here), red freesias & my fancy daffodils.

And hubby bought me an extra packet of pretties this year…

Lastly, I just have to share with you my cute little Mini Feijoa loaves I made this morning…