October 'Eight'

Now it's October I will fill you in on my news since June.

July.
 1.
Our Tauranga Christian Writers weekend was fantastic. Most of our group made the most of the opportunity to improve their wordsmith skills through writing, discussion, and sharing and critiquing manuscripts.
We were challenged and motivated to keep the momentum started in April with the initial challenge to write down our writing goals, including progress plans and deadlines.
One of our members is making great progress with polishing her first novel so it is ready to submit for publication. She has written a sequel, and another stand-alone novel.
Another member is writing an organisation's history, so was encouraged to keep at it.
An historical novel based on early NZ history is being written by another member while a beginner writer is working on her autobiography.
I found a wonderful illustrator who did wonderful pencil drawings for my children's story which is currently with a publisher. Watch this space!

 2.
Our four Japanese visitors arrived as scheduled.
As usual they ate heartily and were occupied all the time, shearing sheep, pressing wool, feeding deer, mustering goats and discovering glow worms in the bush after dark.

Resting on woolly sheep

Jumping on the wool in the press

Now, what did she have to say?

Glow worms

Getting aquainted

3.
We managed to shear our goats between showers. It's great to have a lovely big shed to shelter them in bad weather.

August
4.
Kidding began on the 10th and in the first week 2/3 of our 48 does had 64 kids! The rest took their time and weren't as prolific. Two produced triplets, so one from each was given to a couple of local children to raise for Calf Club Day in mid October.

I love kidding, especially in good weather. On a sunny evening large groups of kids play, jump, run and spin around the paddock - just because they feel great. It's a delight to watch their fun.

Pretty

Playtime

New two

Palm kernel bins. Feed time

  

 

 

 

On the run

Birds.
5.
Wax-eyes have been regular attendees at my bird feeder all winter. Sparrows joined them later on, so I had to make more puddings to keep up with them. At the peak I was giving them a pudding each day.

The kereru spent the early spring stripping the new shoots from the kowhai and now they're onto the flowers! The tuis don't have a chance!
Welcome swallows are building their nest again under the deck. It's not a good idea to park the car under there when the chicks hatch!
I'm expecting the shining cuckoo any day. October 1st is usually their e.t.a.

Archery
6.
Our new hobby - rather Hans and Lyndon's new hobby!
We've just returned from a trip to Wellsford where Hans's cousin and her husband, who run Archery Adventures, live. The boys learned to do archery properly, and discovered there's more types of archery than just shooting at targets. Different archery sports use different arrows. Fascinating.

Style!

Garden
7.
I  branched into container gardening recently, prompted by the competitions for Calf Club day. Hanging baskets caught my imagination. I now have four hanging on the office deck, two with strawberries, one with sweet peas and the other 'chocka' with polyanthus, lobelia and silver cineraria. I even have miniature gladioli in a planter.
Because my vege garden isn't quite ready yet I have caulis, brocolli, rainbow beet, cabbages, lettuces and spring onions growing in buckets and pots of various sizes.

8.
We have been grandparents for ten years! Now, with ten grandchildren, we are quite used to it and enjoying the times we spend with them.

Catch you in November.

Stepping Out

Hi All,

I'm stepping out, being courageous, bold and confident!!!

I'm planning a writers' Advance (not retreat) at my place with maybe 6 -10 people attending. Members of our Christian Writers group set themselves a challenge to have certain goals achieved by this Advance weekend, and a few are well on their way.
During the weekend we will share knowledge we have about different aspects of writing from beginner editing to publishing a book, including e-books and how to make use of social media.

I have been doing the Ten-Week Writing Challenge set by Marg of Writing for Success (www.writing 4success.com) . This has sent me into many useful websites and given me confidence to 'attack' this social media issue, as well as prompted me to unearth some old stories which need tweaking before I publish them. It happens that the end of this challenge falls at the same time as our weekend, so I have NO excuses.

Before that we have six Japanese teenage boys coming for a two-night/one-day farmstay. We pack into their visit as many farm activities as we can muster (pun intended); shearing goats and/or sheep, feeding out silage to the heifers, mustering, drafting, drenching, and posssum shooting (I'd like to include the 3 families of rabbits, which dig up my lawns, here!). We have a mountain to climb and gorgeous waterfalls to visit if there's time, but it IS almost our shortest day so that may not be possible.

Mt Otanewainuku in the mist

Possum shooters

Whataroa falls

 In early August, about the time our goats start kidding, we have 19 Japanese students arriving for a two-hour, action-packed, farm experience stop-over. Busy!

Up close

 In the meantime...
We need to shear our 250 goats, and I must keep writing, keep up with the grandies, do something about my garden and remember to watch the birds enjoy the winter.

First Blog!

Hi Friends,

This is my first effort at blogging. I'm a bit nervous about it but we'll see how it goes.

ME:

I've started on a Ten-Week Writing Challenge, from Writing 4 Success, prompted by a Writers Retreat in January and our local writers' group challenge to do something with what we learned. One of my goals is to have a blog up and running so I can promote my book, "Tui's Friends" and our Roads-End Farmstay, and to chat about what's happening on the farm.

MY BOOK:

Tui's Friends, beautifully illustrated by my friend, Ruth Reinsfield, was inspired by, and is all about, a selfish Tui in my garden. His mean antics through the week result in an unexpected reaction from the other birds in his garden. The illustrations of our New Zealand native birds and trees are all painted in vibrant colour. The text is full of tongue-twisting alliteration making the story a delight to read.

http://www.creativetauranga.org.nz/gallery/book.html

 http://www.scribesvalley.com/wfbpurch.html#tf

Young deer

FARM:

It's our first wet day in ages so Hans is having to feed out silage to the heifers in the mud! He's been totally spoilt over the last few weeks, enjoying the April sunshine.

We have been deer farmers for over fifteen years, but are now reducing our numbers drastically and taking on grazing heifers. It's going to be a major lifestyle change which will take some adjusting to. Weighing and drenching cattle has been the major farm activity lately. 

FARMSTAY:

We live in an amazing place, surrounded on all sides by our fabulous untouched native forest which is full of fantastic bird life. Our garden runs into the forest so we share a multitude of native birds.

Well fed kereru (pigeon)

 The quiet environment here is restful so ideal for a relaxing break from the bustle of urban life and hectic activity.

Our visitors come from Japan, Europe and America.

Visit www.roads-end.co.nz for more information.