You know that feeling in any sport we’ve ever been privy to, where the whistle/finish line/end is in sight?
That rush of urgency, boost of energy, an inexplicable surge of collective exhilarating dig-down-deepness? It doesn’t matter whether you’re sitting alongside The Bean Counter at Anfield (23 December 2000, Liverpool 4 v Arsenal 0, The Bean Counter was still voiceless on Christmas Day) or shifting from foot to frozen foot down at Soccer Park on a frosty Saturday; you even feel it sprawled on the sofa in front of the roaring woodburner watching a bunch of guys biking through the summery French countryside. Well, this week, for the first time ever, we felt it right here in our own backyard and there wasn’t a referee, competitor, commentator or lycra-clad individual (thankfully) in sight.
This week, for the first time ever, we FELT Spring.
Suddenly, in the chicken coop, all the ladies are strutting about with a definite sense of purpose as if they’ve just woken up after a long and very satisfying slumber, or had a couple of double shot espressos. Well, all except Kiki, the silky, who is hell bent on incubating some eggs but is not that particular about whose eggs they are. Initially we tried to follow all those learned folk’s instructions on how to extract the eggs from under her.
Take it from us: she may be little, but she can strike like a cobra! After witnessing her taking a hunk out of the timidly wielded NBC (nesting box cleaner – okay, it’s an old spatula but it does the job admirably) we retreated, defeated, only to observe her taking a five minute intermission around eleven am each day to visit the Grandpa Feeder and stretch her little chickeny legs. No, we don’t don camouflage gear and facepaint to undertake these nesting box raids (which she greets with a slightly befuddled “now, where did I leave them?” air on her return), but one of us was heard to be humming the theme to The Professionals.
Out in the goat paddock, all is vibrant and fun.
- creating havoc at the hay feeder
Ruby and Otis move through their days in fits and starts leaping, running and cartwheeling with hooves entangled one moment, crashed out in a slumbering heap of goatie cuteness the next.
- Crashed out on what used to be Leia’s trampoline
Geraldine approaches it all with exasperated tolerance, power eating to keep up with their dietary demands.
- Relieved of parenting duty for a moment, Geraldine fills her ever demanding belly. It’s hard work being a Mum!
While Auntie Leia tuts at the kids behaviour from afar…
- Leia maintaining a self preservatory distance
and tries not to feel too left out.
- And Fairy Farm Girl reminds Leia we still love her, too.
The garden is bursting into life. The garlic is progressing nicely, in uniform lines so foreign to the Homestead way of doing things,
the nectarine tree is blossoming promise
and the Homestead’s share of the tulip bulbs given to brighten up the spirits (and gardens) of New Brighton are appearing despite (according, again, to those opinionated learned folks) the lateness of their planting.
Before we embarked on this way of life, Spring meant lighter mornings and pretty trees, later lighting of the wood burner and different vegetables becoming available in the shops. We didn’t know it was a feeling.
Here on the Homestead, every moment is fizzing with excitement; buzzing with urgency. As we go about our daily doings we can feel it, we’re part of it.
It’s official.
Spring is in the Air!
Union Homestead 
It all looks very exciting, happy Spring!
Thank you. It feels like it’s been a long time coming!
The goats are SO cute! I’m a little obsessed lol drives my fiancé a little batty! 🙂
We never expected the “easy milk option” we opted for would capture our hearts so completely. We totally support your obsession 🙂
As does pretty much every person who has ever laid eyes on adorable goats lol he likes to tease me but totally supports it cause we’re both obsessed with goat cheese
What a joyous place you live! Surrounded by all that life must be a constant reminder of how peaceful and lovely the world can be. Except for the peckish chicken, that is.
Thanks for your lovely comment. Even feisty Kiki the chicken is an integral part of the place. She keeps everyone on the straight and narrow 🙂
“Fariy Farm Girl” reminds me of my oldest daughter around that age:-) I miss those times when my kids would pretend + make-believe. We did not live in a place where we had a lot of the wonderful animals you have….adorable:-) It will be fun watching your spring come as our fall returns….you are the opposite of us, so as our snow flies you will be in the green! It will be fun to read and take a rest….you have a beautiful homestead:-)
We’re looking forward to watching you move through your fall and winter and getting lots of pointers on plants and gardening. We are still making it all up as we go along; sometimes with amazing results, sometimes with dismal failure. Farm Girl is a joy! We are sporadically told that she is disadvantaged, growing up surrounded by adults; we beg to differ 🙂
congrats on Spring and all that new life. And how good to have a Farm fairy to make sure everybody gets love and care! And here on the other side of the world…life slowly comes to a standstill, cooling down (finally!) and Mother Nature prepares for a well earned sleep. How lovely to be able to see that the circle of life continues…
No body gets forgotten on Farm Girl’s watch 🙂 One of the unexpected bonuses of blogging we’ve discovered is watching the seasons move around the globe. You get some awesome ideas from watching other people deal with the season you’ve just waved off and observing their preparations for one waiting in the wings. You also get to connect with some pretty cool people too 😀
We would love to have goats but it must be very difficult to go away if you’re milking them?
We’re still making it up as we go along, but currently both our ladies aren’t milking. I guess if you plan your jaunts away accordingly it would work…watch this space:)
So would you just milk goats for some of the year? I’m very ignorant about this I’m afraid:) Look forward to learning from you.
At the moment all the milk is going to the kids but we will begin sharemilking soon. Then we can milk until the milk production tapers off, this is our first time milking Geraldine so we are taking it one step at a time.
We are learning so much ourselves.
“Everyday’s a school day”
You live in Paradise! I would like 2 goats as lawnmowers cum milk-machines but our county does not allow it (yet). I’d love to follow your blog.
Thank you! We are so lucky to have such amazing neighbours who are so tolerant of our crazy ideas.
We look forward to learning a lot from your blog 🙂
It’s energizing isn’t it, all that burgeoning? So much promise and hope in the air, along with the brighter, lengthening days. Lovely pics!
A couple of us have just spent a week off Homestead and feel totally ripped off – so much has happened in our absence that we now have to wait a whole year to witness.
Especially liked the goats on the trampoline!
They’re pretty cute, eh:) The trampoline is the prize asset in the paddock with goat ownership strongly contested daily.
You’ve got a very close-knit, fun-loving operation!! Your goats are to die for!!
Thanks for your lovely comment. Goats, we have found, have a way of sneaking into your heart so any compliment aimed in our herd’s direction fills us with huge warmth. Thanks again.
I feel the exact same way about my 5 amazing chickens…lol! 🙂 So much joy – just by their presence! I look forward to reading your blog, though I’m not very consistent…you know how it is, farm life and all!