Hi
Well it has been awhile (again) between posts but believe me we haven't been sitting still here at Nickelby At Darnum.
As many of you know I am chair of our local tourism association; West Gippsland Gourmet Country Tourism and a couple of months ago another member and I decided that since our shire won't open an Official Visitor Information Centre then we should!!!
It is now open with a paid staff member and hopefully soon a lovely group of local volunteers to support the running as the shire are still not coming to the party. It has been a very busy time but totally worthwhile.
As everyone has seemed to become climatised with this wet weather more and more visitors are coming to Nickelby At Darnum and it has been great to see some familiar faces again.
Next week I am off to "Fibres Geelong" and I am participating in a week long felting workshop which I am really looking foward to. Mum is looking after the shop so you are sure to leave Nickelby At Darnum after having a few laughs next week.
Gardivalia our festival of gardens is about to kick off next week and Nickelby is again participating. October 16th and 17th we are doing a cupcake afternoon tea with the alpacas and you have to wear your favourite gardening hat!!! $10pp and we would appreciate bookings but check out our website to see all the details.
Also for those who love a shopping outing, Nickelby At Darnum is holding a Christmas shopping night on Wednesday December 8th 5.00-9.00. Come along and have a glass of bubbly, start or finish your Christmas shopping.
We will have our wonderful alpaca accessory range available, our body products, hampers and all sorts of wonderful things. The best part about shopping at Nickelby is that there is plenty of parking, no traffic, no crowds and you can have a break and enjoy the wonderful views and the lovely alpacas. Why not get the friends together and make an evening of relaxing retail therapy.
Well that is about it for now, the alpacas are looking quite fluffy with all their fleece and I think a bit sick of the rain. Most have had their toe nails cut but some just said "no" so they have to wait for shearing in November. Pip and Humphrey are all grown up and we are looking foward to our next drop which is due to start New Year's Eve.
I shall post again when I return from my week of creativity and share with you my successes and I am sure disasters but as long as you can laugh at yourself then nothing really matters.
Live every day as if it is your last and give someone you love a big kiss!
Until next time
Ange
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Winter is here at Nickelby At Darnum
Hi
It has been awhile since my last posting basically because it has been really busy. I won't bore everyone with all the details but to say that we have launched our own hats made by me and from Nickelby fleece which is exciting and are practically running out the door. We make to order and red is a speciality so orders of course are taken.
We had some bad news over the last couple of months with the death of two of our little boys. Nickelby Benjamin and Nickelby Henry Higgins only made it through a couple of days/weeks with us but they were of course beautiful so touched us all and we miss them. Nickelby Pip and Nickelby Humphrey are growing up very quickly and Pip thinks he is a bit of a ladies man which is quite funny.
We are about to start planting the olives (again!) and I hope this will be the last of the plantings as it drives me crazy, not to mention the strain on the back.
For those of you who wonder if I will ever have a house to live in I am pleased to say that it is getting closer and I have the planning permit and the builder is just getting everything together for the building permit to go in. I am off planting more trees in the paddocks and the garden so I figure by the time the house is in place everything should be in place. Ha Ha!!
I am busy organising a black tie dinner at the moment which we are holding at Lardner Park in our new exhibition centre. It should be a great night as we have Li Cunxin (Mao's Last Dancer) as our guest speaker and the band "Essential" which is a 6 piece playing and the tickets are only $125 pp so I am madly promoting it at the moment. It is Friday August 13th so give us a call and get some friends together and come along!
I am just looking out the door and it is just on 4pm which in the winter time is play time for baby alpacas and Pip and Humphrey are playing chasy in the paddock with the calves next door watching in amazement. You can't beat the country.
Shall update again shortly as it is injection time and toe nail cutting time so there are sure to be many stories come from those days. Stay warm and hope to see you at Nickelby soon.
It has been awhile since my last posting basically because it has been really busy. I won't bore everyone with all the details but to say that we have launched our own hats made by me and from Nickelby fleece which is exciting and are practically running out the door. We make to order and red is a speciality so orders of course are taken.
We had some bad news over the last couple of months with the death of two of our little boys. Nickelby Benjamin and Nickelby Henry Higgins only made it through a couple of days/weeks with us but they were of course beautiful so touched us all and we miss them. Nickelby Pip and Nickelby Humphrey are growing up very quickly and Pip thinks he is a bit of a ladies man which is quite funny.
We are about to start planting the olives (again!) and I hope this will be the last of the plantings as it drives me crazy, not to mention the strain on the back.
For those of you who wonder if I will ever have a house to live in I am pleased to say that it is getting closer and I have the planning permit and the builder is just getting everything together for the building permit to go in. I am off planting more trees in the paddocks and the garden so I figure by the time the house is in place everything should be in place. Ha Ha!!
I am busy organising a black tie dinner at the moment which we are holding at Lardner Park in our new exhibition centre. It should be a great night as we have Li Cunxin (Mao's Last Dancer) as our guest speaker and the band "Essential" which is a 6 piece playing and the tickets are only $125 pp so I am madly promoting it at the moment. It is Friday August 13th so give us a call and get some friends together and come along!
I am just looking out the door and it is just on 4pm which in the winter time is play time for baby alpacas and Pip and Humphrey are playing chasy in the paddock with the calves next door watching in amazement. You can't beat the country.
Shall update again shortly as it is injection time and toe nail cutting time so there are sure to be many stories come from those days. Stay warm and hope to see you at Nickelby soon.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
The arrival of Nickelby Pip
It has been a busy couple of weeks here at Nickelby At Darnum with visitors getting out and about in West Gippsland after a long summer.
We are busy gearing up for our Palate of Passions event, "A Taste of Alpaca" on March 21st and this long weekend I have been busy working out at Lardner Park at our Harvest of Gippsland event which was a great day. In its 8th year it is now all under cover so if you missed it this year then put the first Sunday in March in your diary and come along. Ross Wilson was great!
During the middle of the day my mother called who was looking after my shop/cafe/farm at Nickelby At Darnum to say we had a baby!!! She didn't know who it belong to and as none were due right now, neither did I! So I raced home to see and it was Mattie's baby and she had a little boy who we have called Nickelby Pip. As many of you might know all my babies have names from the arts and literature and as Mattie's first baby, who is also a boy, was called Bunty from Seven Little Australians as he was a little tough character and Bunty had a pretty rough arrival into the world, then it stood that the next in the "family" should be from the same story and so as a boy, it had to be Bunty's older brother, Pip.
This is is first day in the world and he already has his mum running around after him. See the photos of Pip and his exhausted mother I have just taken this afternoon. It looks like it will rain again this afternoon so it will be back on with the driz-a-bone coat and another night in the shed.
Stay tuned for stories of Pip as the weeks progress because there are another three babies due within the next 6-8 weeks!!!!
We are busy gearing up for our Palate of Passions event, "A Taste of Alpaca" on March 21st and this long weekend I have been busy working out at Lardner Park at our Harvest of Gippsland event which was a great day. In its 8th year it is now all under cover so if you missed it this year then put the first Sunday in March in your diary and come along. Ross Wilson was great!
During the middle of the day my mother called who was looking after my shop/cafe/farm at Nickelby At Darnum to say we had a baby!!! She didn't know who it belong to and as none were due right now, neither did I! So I raced home to see and it was Mattie's baby and she had a little boy who we have called Nickelby Pip. As many of you might know all my babies have names from the arts and literature and as Mattie's first baby, who is also a boy, was called Bunty from Seven Little Australians as he was a little tough character and Bunty had a pretty rough arrival into the world, then it stood that the next in the "family" should be from the same story and so as a boy, it had to be Bunty's older brother, Pip.
This is is first day in the world and he already has his mum running around after him. See the photos of Pip and his exhausted mother I have just taken this afternoon. It looks like it will rain again this afternoon so it will be back on with the driz-a-bone coat and another night in the shed.
Stay tuned for stories of Pip as the weeks progress because there are another three babies due within the next 6-8 weeks!!!!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Summer Matings
The hot weather seems to be upon us again but the alpacas are enjoying a cool breeze so they can continue with their sunbaking.
Last week we embarked on our Summer matings with Halcyon Ripperoo who is a lovely young male who is having a wonderful time visiting Nickelby as there are 6 girls awaiting his visits!
On the textile front, a friend and I last Friday did some wonderful "fibre sandwiches" in lovely purple, pinks and copper colours which was lots of fun and I am thrilled with the results. Just now have to work out how I am going to use all these creations. I am sure they will show up in the fasion parade here in March.
I am just looking our my door and can see Nickelby Fleur sitting by herself under a tree in the shade. She is due to have her first baby on March 23rd and more and more she is just enjoying time on her own away from the others. I think she will make a wonderful mother as she is so gentle. I hope she has a little girl, I think she would be very pretty.
The boy alpacas have been up to their usual tricks this morning with Hamlet and Nev having a bit of a disagreement. However after they had both had some time out, picked up their bottom lips from their sulking, they walked off together as though nothing had happened. They really do my head in!
Well had better fly, I have some water issues with my little pump unit I use to water the trees and I think I am going to have to water the olive grove this evening since tomorrow is meant to be quite warm.
Last week we embarked on our Summer matings with Halcyon Ripperoo who is a lovely young male who is having a wonderful time visiting Nickelby as there are 6 girls awaiting his visits!
On the textile front, a friend and I last Friday did some wonderful "fibre sandwiches" in lovely purple, pinks and copper colours which was lots of fun and I am thrilled with the results. Just now have to work out how I am going to use all these creations. I am sure they will show up in the fasion parade here in March.
I am just looking our my door and can see Nickelby Fleur sitting by herself under a tree in the shade. She is due to have her first baby on March 23rd and more and more she is just enjoying time on her own away from the others. I think she will make a wonderful mother as she is so gentle. I hope she has a little girl, I think she would be very pretty.
The boy alpacas have been up to their usual tricks this morning with Hamlet and Nev having a bit of a disagreement. However after they had both had some time out, picked up their bottom lips from their sulking, they walked off together as though nothing had happened. They really do my head in!
Well had better fly, I have some water issues with my little pump unit I use to water the trees and I think I am going to have to water the olive grove this evening since tomorrow is meant to be quite warm.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
A Sad Day at Nickelby
We have had a sad morning here at Nickebly. I walked up to the back paddock to gather the "girls" together to bring them down to the shop and I couldn't work out why they weren't coming down as usual. I thought it was because I was running late and the hay contractor was on his way to collect the hay so of course this would be the morning the alpacas decided they didn't want to oblige.
Unfortunately that was not the case. Getting a little closer I could see that Emma had given birth to her baby two months early. Of course it wasn't alive but Emma of course was rather distressed. All her friends decided that they need to lie down and they all started to hum. So whilst I was racing against the clock we had to stop for a moment and all feel sad.
It is early afternoon now and Emma has said good bye to her baby, so this afternoon I have to try and dig a hole in very solid dirt to bury the baby!!
On a happier note, I did promise that I would include a photo of the girls under the sprinkler. Here is a photo of Gracie enjoying the water on our recent hot days.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Out and about with the alpacas
Well the heat is on its way and now that the shearing has been completed the alpacas are enjoying sunning themselves inbetween sitting under the sprinkler! Afternoon Delight thinks the sprinkler is hers alone and chooses often to sit right on top of the water jets much to the objections of the other girls.
Being the school holidays, we are receiving many visitors to Nickelby At Darnum and the alpacas are coping well and are staying quite polite when meeting the visitors.
Even though it is hot over the next few days it is time for us to organise our events for our Palate of Passions Festival starting mid Feb. Here at Nickelby we are having two days of lunches on Feb 20th and 21st and we are again doing "A Taste of Alpaca" on March 21st. View our website for more details.
I am also very excited today because I have managed to secure a position at Fibres Geelong in September and also the workshop that I was after. I am off to Geelong to work with Sachiko Kotaka, one of the founders of Nuno felting and I can't wait.
If you are out and about why not call in and see us and all the lovely alpaca garments we have in our shop. Alpaca is not just for Winter, we have alpaca blended with cotton and silk for some very stylish summer garments.
This is just a new blog so photos of the alpacas will be on their way and we intend to update everyone on all that is going on at Nickelby At Darnum. We are very excited about all our planned activities.
Being the school holidays, we are receiving many visitors to Nickelby At Darnum and the alpacas are coping well and are staying quite polite when meeting the visitors.
Even though it is hot over the next few days it is time for us to organise our events for our Palate of Passions Festival starting mid Feb. Here at Nickelby we are having two days of lunches on Feb 20th and 21st and we are again doing "A Taste of Alpaca" on March 21st. View our website for more details.
I am also very excited today because I have managed to secure a position at Fibres Geelong in September and also the workshop that I was after. I am off to Geelong to work with Sachiko Kotaka, one of the founders of Nuno felting and I can't wait.
If you are out and about why not call in and see us and all the lovely alpaca garments we have in our shop. Alpaca is not just for Winter, we have alpaca blended with cotton and silk for some very stylish summer garments.
This is just a new blog so photos of the alpacas will be on their way and we intend to update everyone on all that is going on at Nickelby At Darnum. We are very excited about all our planned activities.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)