About

This story began as a family’s fumbling attempt to live The Good Life in suburbia;

the awesome suburb of New Brighton, Christchurch, New Zealand to be exact.

Our wonderful neighbours tolerated our hair brained schemes as yet more lawn was turned into garden and more animals were introduced until there was just no more room left and there was nothing else for it…

we moved to the country.

So, here we now are: an extended family of humans, cats, ducks, chickens, and goats trying to step as lightly as possible on this gorgeous planet while still enjoying the internet and good television. We’ve got 5 acres of land to play with, a whole new township to meet, and neighbours who do this sort of thing for a living…what could go wrong?

You want a list?! This lifestyle of ours isn’t always pretty; There’s meteoric highs and the most cataclysmic of lows. Our intent is to share all these – our idiotic mistakes, glorious triumphs, outcomes both lucky and unlucky; and those thigh slapping, tear spurting, belly laughing moments that often follow all of the above – through this blog and our Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/unionhomestead.

We reckon everyday is a school day and, if you’re maybe pondering having a go at this lifestyle yourself, you will always be able to call up this blog and say with ultimate conviction,

“At least we’re not as bad as them.”

 

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© Union Homestead, 2014. All Rights Reserved.

 

42 thoughts on “About”

  2. Thank you so much for the follow! I am learning a bunch from several blogs and I expect that I will learn from you, as well!!

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  3. Oh joy! Other Kiwis who practice the same chaos 🙂 We are in Seddon and had quakes here last year, nothing to equal the devastation of Christchurch, Roger’s home town. I hope you have recovered at least in your home life. Love your photos and look forward to seeing your future posts 🙂

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    • Thanks for the follow from someone literally just up the road 🙂 All is as normal as we can ever hope for in this house and as far as “the rebuild” goes, it’s just one step at a time.

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      • Lol. What is “Normal” these days anyway we always say here 🙂

        Yes, one step at a time and I am sure one day it will just be a distant dream but for some a nightmare still. Anyway good to see you here 🙂

  4. We loved our time in New Zealand, Christchurch and Rotorua we stayed in the most, with a quick trip to New Brighton too! The way that you’ve described your lifestyle really hit a chord with us, because we have experienced so many highs and lows building a self-sufficient lifestyle, but we wouldn’t change it for the world ( unless we could move back to NZ of course !):)

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  5. We would’ve been in Rotorua in 2000/2001 living and working at a campsite on Lake Rotorua ! Maybe our paths crossed ? Not a day goes by without remembering the wonderful life in NZ ! 🙂

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    • Thanks for checking us out. We’re looking forward to following your homesteading journey…looks like the sort of fun (in a hard but honest work kind of way) we’re into – although you’re waaaaaayyyy braver than us 🙂

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  7. I love your “about” page..I can relate! I have found over the years, my mistakes are my best teachers!!!:-) I love your attitude, I love to laugh + trying to do this in times when other people thing we are crazy-lol. We are not crazy, we just love good food and eating healthy. I sure can learn a lot from you about animals- I only have 2 dogs, 3 cats and a lot of critters outside that like to stop by our urban potager… I look forward to reading more about your life! Great Blog:-) Love the blog background of clouds…we are in the clouds a lot of the time:-)

    Reply

    • Thanks for taking the time to peruse our pages and for leaving such a lovely comment. I’m a bit nervous about you learning about animals from us – we’re learning as we go along and our mistakes are monumental at times (just ask the goats 🙂 ). We were pretty pleased with the cloud background – The Goat Herd can be quite computer savvy when the need arises 🙂

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  9. Hey there Newbie Spikey!
    (for your info, a Spikey is the term for folk who are part of the clan known to be followers of Uncle Spike 🙂

    I wanted to catch up and say “thank you… I really appreciate your ‘follow’ as I for one, know how many interesting and entertaining blogs are out there.”

    Blogging since June 2013, my aim is to deliver an eclectic offering of posts, from my ‘point n shoot’ attempts at basic photography, to the sharing of my travel adventures over the decades, as well as day to day happenings here on the farm. Oh, plus a few observations, opinions and lighter-hearted stuff thrown in for good measure.

    I normally keep to a couple of posts a day, maybe 3-4 at weekends if I have something special to share. But if you are at a loose end one day, maybe you’ll enjoy trawling through some of my older stuff too. I have added plenty of categories to help in said digging process.

    Thanks again and hope you have a great day…

    UNCLE SPIKE

    Reply

  10. Thanks for following my blog. I love your families sense of humor and am so glad there are others out there making mistakes and learning from them just as we are. Every day is full of awe and lessons and I just love that. I’m looking forward to reading and learning from your blog. Keep up the great work!

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  11. Thanks for the follow and leading me to your blog. Your sense of humour and healthy attitude convince me that I will enjoy reading more of your posts.

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  17. Life is full of adventures and as my father used to tell me. Life is not about the failures, it is about learning from the failures and if you have never failed while homesteading then you are doing it wrong! I look forward to reading your adventures!

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  18. Thank-you so much for visiting my blog and for the follow. I have really enjoyed reading a few of your posts today and will be following you. Best wishes Clare 🙂

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  19. Thank you for your kind words for my husband, Union Homestead. It looks like you are working hard to make a change starting with your own back yard! You are my kind of people. 😀

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  20. You’re not as bad as we are, because you seem to be doing better than us. We only have 2 roosters, 13 hens, a dog and two cats. It would be fun to have goats or pigs or some other animal like that, but we haven’t done that yet. We’re still working our way up slowly. 🙂 🙂 🙂

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  21. What a lovely blog! I am hoping to get some goats once our son is a little older and can help with the chores. For now, I’m busy bugging my husband for two donkeys to help protect our chickens.

    Reply
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