A lot has happened, we launched the Go Fund Me and as well as some donations we also got some funds sent privately. I had planned to stay on top of that and keep promoting it.....
Then suddenly some of the goats started to bag up, ie develop udders. So we made the very quick decision to move the girls to the top barn, the barn where I house both Thor and Hercules in occasionally. It didn't take long before we had baby goats arriving.
We lost one despite him standing and appearing to drink without issue, one morning he had died which happens occasionally. Along with that time consuming phase I then also made the decision to take down the other three mini barns where the goats used to live. I had made plans to use the smaller field boundaries to give me the safe space to plant trees, lots of trees. So I am able to create a new woodland without worrying about my pesky sheep eating what has been planted!
It's taken me a long time to take down the barns, remove what was useful, stack it and store it. I've replaced broken wooden gates with metal ones to stop break ins into the garden or down the footpath.
The footpath gate and a piece of boundary fence needed to be fixed, a wall needed sorting, the metal shelter we had the boy goats in needs windows, I'm currently waiting for it to stop raining so that I can cut the sides open to pop windows in. We'd been down there trying to see what bedding the goats needed, trying to do some foot care and it was very difficult to see inside, it was feeling more like a cave which we didn't like.
Then there has been the sudden securing of extra land for the sheep at the end of 2022, a wonderful find by one of our friends which of course brings with it the daily checking of the sheep, watching their sides swell. I'm anticipating lots of lambs.
At the end of March we organised ourselves to bring the sheep back home for lambing... It's going to be a busy but exciting time over the next month... The official lambing date is the 6th April, but common for 5 days before.
At the end of January my neighbours caravan was empty after a temporary period of usage. There was a significant amount of work needed to the caravan inside to prepare it for its new future use.... And that use is for both households, for guests as an overspill which for us is very helpful as we only have a one bedroom cottage. Now more than ever it's been lovely to have family come visit us. After 6.5yrs the place is beginning to look more like a home and not a building site. The caravan is also becoming a place to offer accommodation for people wanting to find out what it is like to live this lifestyle. Somewhere people can experience smallholding day to day. It's been a question I've been asked before 'what is it really like?" and I've had people here experiencing the very same thing. In fact only the other week I was able to introduce them to someone else local who will be selling their place and they've agreed to buy it! So I guess if anyone wants any feedback from one of our experience days, or as it was for them 4 half days spent with us enjoying the animals and experiencing the sunsets with a beer in hand, it was good enough to make them want to buy around here. I'm guessing that gives us a 5 star rating!
So I've been busy, really busy, I'm taking a break now, probably for about a month, but this break will give me time to re-focus on the Go Fund Me project and re-push the campaign. So this year the main focus is going to be sharing this place more online, building the Youtube channel and inspiring more people to make the leap, do something you really want to do and if you haven't really figured that out but you know it looks something like what we have then you'll figure it out as we have.
Emma
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