Life on the farm

As many of you know, we moved to New Zealand with the intention to have a self-sufficient lifestyle. While no one in this culture can be truly self-sufficient, we wanted to grow the majority of our own food, and only rely on the economy for things like clothing and incidentals. We have found that this is very possible to do.

We bought a twenty-acre piece of land, with a small, single-occupant cabin, a large utility shed, some reasonable fencing, and plenty of good soil. We've been living on the farm since mid-April. It took us a while to clean up the rubbish, find places for our stuff, and adjust to the new lifestyle. My gosh, there's a lot to learn!

First off, we had to move onto the property, which had nothing that could accomodate a family. We decided to renovate the old cabin in such a way as to make it work for three people. The previous owner had let it get rather run-down, and parts of it were rotting, literally falling apart. Now it's all fixed up, with new plumbing and electricity, and everything has been done according to code.

Since we were on a budget, many of the building materials were recycled. We used second-hand roofing iron and salvaged windows and doors obtained from our local Resource Recovery Park, (i.e., the dump). Our contractors donated lumber and light fixtures, as well as other surplus materials. The interior wall lining is made from MDF that came from cheese crates. The ladder to Levi's room is an old ship's ladder, scavenged from the Dunedin steam dredge. The resulting house is really quite cool, and very bohemian, if a bit tight.

After the cottage was done, we walled off a section of our utility shed, and built a workshop. Above the workshop is a second-floor storage area. This gives us enough space to run our business, and store everything that doesn't fit in our house.

We also designed and built cattle-yards to help us manage our farm animals. There are many things about our new lifestyle that require us to deal with animals safely, and this has come in handy many times so far. This was a big investment, but we use it every day now.

When we bought the land, the owner also sold us a small herd of cattle. We started with seven, traded one, killed two for beef, and sold four. This leaves us with four, which in the spring will become eight. Funny how that happens.

One of the cows is a sweet little Jersey named Bessie. At first, she wouldn't allow anyone to come closer than about twenty feet; but gradually, day by day, we became friends. It's hard to befriend a beast that outweighs you by four hundred pounds. Anyone watching would have thought we were nuts, sitting amongst the cows, pretending to be a cow, mooing, singing to them, getting down on all fours, touching noses with them. Now, Bessie follows Zim into the milking shed and allows him to stroke her and pet her while she eats her breakfast of barley and peastraw. They have established a trust relationship. In the spring, after she has her calf, we will start milking her.

We also have five sheep, two horses, two cats, and breeding pairs of turkeys and geese. Most of these will eventually be food, except for the cats and the horses. The horses are our most extravagent pets, and they are definitely worth it. Luka is a yearling filly, full of energy. Tinna is an old mare, on loan to us so that Luka will have a companion. They make an odd couple, like a rowdy teenager living with her great-grandmother.

Luka and Tinna are of a breed called Icelandic horses. This breed is unique. Originally, all horses were bred to be good-natured and easy to ride. Then, in the middle-ages, Europe went to war, and horses were bred for speed, strength, and aggression. Only in Iceland did the original breed survive. In fact, if any Icelandic horse was bad-tempered, it got eaten.

Levi feeds the birds a scoop of wheat every morning, and they have learned to respond to him as a caregiver. We plan to get a border collie to help muster the sheep, and then Levi will have to be a caregiver to him as well.

This year, we had a veggie garden. It was a bigger garden than we had ever had before, but there was too much happening (including a month-long trip to the States right in the middle of summer) so we couldn't take care of it properly. Even so, we reaped huge amounts of broccoli, tomatoes, cabbage, silverbeet, onion, corn, potatoes, green beans, sugar beet, celery, and squash. We still have heaps of stuff growing, well into winter.

Next year, we will have an even bigger veggie garden. Our neighbor plows competitively, and he offered to plow up a new garden patch for us. Plowing is best done all at once, so you really don't want to plow too little. We had him plow an area about twenty meters wide by about sixty meters long. This is about 12,000 square feet! It's frightening to think about.

For such a garden, you need a tractor. We bought a small one at an auction, complete with a front-end bucket and a rotary hoe attachment. It's really a serious farm tool, but Zim makes it look like a toy. It's been indispensable on many occasions. Five years ago, who would have thought that we would ever own a tractor?

In fact, here's a list of things that we catch ourselves saying that cause us to shake our heads.

"I've got to go fix the fence."
"I love this tractor."
"We need the rain."
"Time to go muck out the stall."
"I'm takin' the truck to town. Need anything from the farm supply store?"

All in all, we are doing really well. There have been a few problems, but nothing we couldn't handle. We enjoy our lives. We live in a humble but pleasant house, we have plenty to eat, and we enjoy our daily chores. This is a very low-stress way to live. We still have a steady income from our business, but we don't have to earn so much to make ends meet.

And to think, less than two years ago, we were alone at the airport, with no car, nowhere to go, with only our backpacks, and not a clue what was going to happen. Life is an adventure. Grab hold and don't let go.