Pukeatua farmstay logo

Tag: Sea

Two calves, one plain brows and one brown with white patches standing in the corner of a shelter

Our 2023 Newcomer calves

When our son did a placement on a nearby dairy farm during calving season, they forgot to book a calf for the bobby truck. That was the beginning of Caramel’s story.

Summer has gone and Easter has come

Within days, the hot summer weather had moved on and made space for moderate temperatures with rain and fog.
View of the valley with fog lingering over the Kaipara river meandering through the valley

Seasons: Bye Summer, hello Autumn

The seasons are changing. Summer went and Easter and Autumn came around. We have been starting to prepare for winter to come.
piece of paper with some feathers and ink bottle we used.

Making quills out of duck feathers

We created quills out of some duck feathers. They have the big advantage that the quill is actually pretty long already. Still not long enough to actually handle them properly though. Shaved some of the vane off and it was much better.
White alpaca standing a green grass in front of a strip of pine forest

Quiet times

While we had no guests, have not been out to see any people and had no coffee other than the home made one due to COVID-19 lockdown level 4 and 3, we fixed a few things around the farm, moved animals around the paddocks and got more feed in.
Sage booming in a nice lavender colour

Summer on its way and so nice outside

Spring soon will turn into summer and the weather during the day is already so awesome.

Frosty mornings are here

Winter seem to have finally arrived. Frosty moorings with frozen grass. The was ice on the digger seat!
Silver the carpet cleaner

Silver and the carpet

Anyone in need of a carpet cleaner? Search no more, we have a cute one for you.
Image of fire in the fireplace

We have officially started the fire season :-)

We have officially started the fire season. It’s pretty yucky and rainy out there. Hope everyone is well.
Battery and our free range eggs in comparison

Eggs – the difference and the life of chickens

Fascinating to see the difference in eggs when I put some of ours into the egg carton too. Keep in mind that our chicken are mostly ex-battery hens that once used to produce those cage eggs. They were not considered good and productive enough for the batteries and hence would have been culled if we had not taken them.
Rain drops on window

Finally rain!

This year, the nice, hot weather started already mid November and by now, we had no rain for 5 weeks and all local water carriers are booked out until end of January. Finally we had some rain and that filled the tank almost up again so we can enjoy the festive season finally without worrying.
Geena watching over the frosty Kaipara valley

Finally winter – cold nights

I love the seasons and their distinctive differences. Autumn with its colours and now winter with their crisp, cold and blue mornings. I went down the valley this morning to feed the cows and alpacas. We feed they hay to warm them up and they love it. Took some pictures on they way. The alpacas greeted me with frost on their backs. What a lovely cold morning.