Rainfall this week : 0mm☹️

Sharing is usually always caring except in a situation when your husband ever so kindly shares his man flu with you🤧. Living in such a small space together almost made it inevitable really. After going through around what seemed like 2000 tissues we are just about on the other side of it. Mornings have definitely been super slow going this week but we have still managed more progress than anticipated around the farm.

Jason had some more scraping of the house slab pad to finish first and then quite a few piles of dirt had to be moved over to the application area for the septic where it will eventually be retained and levelled. It’s surprising how much dirt appears from just a top scrape.

Shedding is happening once again. With the mighty duct lifter we installed all the roller doors with absolute ease👏 what a life saver indeed.

We decided to lay down roof mesh that will sit under the insulation to prevent it sagging in the future, so after a trip into town to purchase two roles we managed to get one side finished yesterday.

The Annual Poultry Show was held at the Tenterfield Show grounds on Saturday and after hearing Jason reminiscing about his childhood jaunts to the poultry shows with his Father Wayne and Sister Leanne it was only fitting that we headed into town to check out the local talent.🐓

We met a lovely local lady Jenny who won Grand Champion and First and Second prizes for her Barnevelder Hens and Rooster. Neither of us had ever come across this breed before but boy are they just beautiful. Immediately falling in love with them, fate introduced us to Jenny and next year when we are ready for our own chickens we will be able to purchase some hens from her. Yay! The Barnevelder breed originates from Holland and they have beautiful big dark brown eggs, and most importantly they suit our climate wonderfully.

With a full moon in Capricorn this week, and also the middle moon of the year (wow where did that disappear to🥴) it seemed a perfect time to reflect on what we have accomplished so far and think positively about the rest of the adventure ahead of us. Many people comment ‘oh isn’t that finished yet?’ or ‘haven’t you started that yet?’ and we wonder why is everyone else in such a hurry?🤔 Life isn’t a race. Life isn’t about getting things done to please others. Life is for living and enjoying and taking things at your own speed. We fully intend to enjoy this build and take our time instead of burning out and being on a race against the clock like we did the last time we built. We are going to enjoy our Misty mornings, our amazing sunsets, our wildlife, our occasional coffee in town, ball play with the dogs and a well deserved cold beer with the neighbors🍻 all the while plodding along and building our dream😊.

Half of the year is already behind us. I’m still unsure where that actually went. When they say time passes more quickly the older you become they are definitely correct. Looking back at what we have achieved so far brings silly smiles to our faces. What once was essentially a cow paddock with waist high grass, now looks much more loved and cared for. We can now see all the granite boulders on the property and we keep a well maintained area around the shed and house area. Our 40 Olive trees are growing nicely and with more to plant we will always have a supply of olives for hors d’oeuvres.🫒🍸 Several fruit trees were burnt in the fires a few years ago but we are slowly replanting and look forward to reaping the rewards in the near future….