Friday, June 28, 2013

Wow! What a wonderful couple of years

It has been such a long time since I did the blogging thing and it is not because I haven't been thinking about it. It is mainly because I have been caught up getting my head around the world of social media whilst still trying to run the farm, expand my own clothing and accessory range; Nickelby Designs, and for most of 2011 and 2012 travelling all over the state of Victoria speaking to women as the 2011 RIRDC Victorian Rural Woman of the Year. I clocked up over 37 engagements and they are still continuing but I have stopped counting!

I know, I hear you say, whow, you should have been blogging about all those wonderful events like the time I met the ladies who were hit by devastating floods in Charlton and we shared a wonderful day or the time I spoke in South Gippsland to the business group and of course of the wonderful experience of being the Australia Day Ambassador for the Baw Baw Shire in 2012 and again in 2013.  But hey, I am slack and these days, quite disorganised!
So life has settled down a little bit more, I picked my first harvest from my olive trees this year and everything is brewing nicely so I have my fingers crossed that it turns out to be yummy as I already know it will be healthy.

On the alpaca front we have 40 something animals on the farm and I also currently have 14 steers which I purchased late last year to eat the grass and of course we have one of the driest Summers so we didn't have much grass anyway so I was left just shaking my head and saying "why?".  I also have my uncles 4 horses and 3 fat sheep on the farm who came early last year for 3 months and who are all still here. Families!  If you follow Nickelby At Darnum on Facebook you can read about the antics that this menagerie undertake each day.

As my own range of alpaca garments and accessories comes to life under the banner of Nickelby Designs I have decided that the blog will not only share life on the farm but also my successes and not so successes in the world of textiles as there are so many lovers out there of all things natural and hand made Australian product it just might be of interest to some.

The other scary piece of work I am working on at the moment is getting the online shop up and running!!!!!!!!!! It is such a lot of technical work that my poor IT guy has to tell me what to do in small bite size pieces so I can remember it all, but I am enjoying doing the work with his guidance and not just paying someone to do it.  The next step is to "talk" to the bank about all those fees they charge for the privilege of using their merchant facilities.

Well another beautiful cold winter's day is drawing to close here at Nickelby At Darnum and the alpacas are looking to be let out of their day paddock and the 3 fat sheep have escaped from their area again so I have some talking to do with Geraldine - thankfully she has a collar so I can drag her back to where she and her "babies" Jase and Joee belong.

Until next time stay safe and smile every day.  I read the other day that those who knit are happier people so get knitting!!

Best Wishes

Angela