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.

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!!!!