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Base of chsritmas tree with presents and cat hiding behind branches

What happened this month? Well…

Beginning of the month our Cayuga duck had her ducklings as well. From the looks the result of a cummunal nest. 8 ducklings, 4* black and 4* cream. One did not make it, at the moment we have 7 left.

Little ducklings waddling after big duck in grass

Speaking of ducklings left, Erwien lost all but one of her ducklings, we suspect to the local hawks and falcons.

Big duck with little duck

December is typically alpaca shaering time. And so it was. The stick animals are back. A team effort involving the shearers and the whole family.

It was Jolan’s first turn to actively help with the maintenance, ie vaccinations and drenching plus toenail clipping.

Young girl trimming hooves of an alpaca tied to the ground

One of the things I love about this place is the ever changing landscape and the beautiful sunsets. The fields have been mowed and turned into haybales and the cows are back on, meandering over the fields in files like ants from a distance. Did I mention the sunsets?

Sunset

Other than that, the month saw Christmas break, christmas dinners, dinners with friends, lots of food, lovely and almost too hot weather and ever entertaining cats.

dinner table with plenty of food on and a cat laying in front on the floor

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Stay positive, stay save.

Kia kaha

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Stormy dark sky with sun lit valley.

The weather is a roller coaster

And the weather is a bit of a roller coaster with ups and downs in temperature, wind and sun, interleaved with rain. One day you burn and roast in the sun, the other days it’s southerly with clouds and 10 deg.
Green paddock with some fenced off parts

The big break of the year is near

The goats decided to go through the fenced off area with shrubs and decimate them. No good. Turns out, the poly wires were too old and did not work any more as they should.
A photomontage of 4 different wasp traps made from coke bottle hung up

Wasp and Hornet traps

We typically put a waap trap up around the house in summer to keep the number of wasps at bay. This year, they discovered a queen yellow legged hornet in the early stages of building a nest in Glenfield on the North Shore in October, while two males were spotted earlier in the year in Grafton and Albany. It is the first time a Queen has been found in Aotearoa.
Closeup of some flowers

Spring has arrived – with its usual mixed bag weather.

“If you don’t like the weather, just wait 5 minutes.” Spring came with beautiful warm and sunny days, storm, hail, rain and sunshine in between. It was cold and a few hours later warm again and vice versa.
Cows steaming in the cold air against the sunlight

Winter done and dusted

There was nothing extraordinary to write about this winter, really. It’s not been too wet and not too dry, neither too cold or too warm. We had a few frosty nights and a few pretty rainy days but all in all it was reasonably warm and okay from a mud perspective.

And just like that it’s winter again

Feels like summer was just happening. Winter started off beautifully with warm days and sunshine over the long King’s birthday weekend.