Happy Memories

Today was a day to remember a dear friend of Nickelby At Darnum. Two weeks ago our friend Jo Butters died in her sleep aged 63. Jo was one of the ladies who started Nickelby Nutty Knitters over 4 years ago. Nutty knitters is a group who meet here once a month to knit and crochet and originally it was to undertake free form / scrambling work, throw all learning a and patterns to the wind and just do whatever. Over the years it was really only Jo and myself who stayed true to this concept and others went back to safer territory which was fine as we all had such a lovely day it didn't really matter what we did.

However after Jo's death I made the announcement that we were all going to spend the next two nutty sessions scrumbling and putting together a piece which I would then have framed and display in the shop in honour of our founding Nutty Knitter.

Well today was the day. I wished Jo had been here to a) help me answer all their fun complaints about how they like straight lines, patterns and to know what they were doing at all times and b) to share in the laughter and fun that was had making all the pieces and discovering that it was actually fun and they were good at it.

Jo's funeral is tomorrow and we will all miss her very much but in a few months there will be a fun piece of work hanging in the shop honouring her and that will continue to keep her love of all things creative in our hearts. RIP Jo and may their be the biggest stash of yarn in heaven that you never run out.

Here is the start of our piece

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

Babies Babies everywhere

Hi

I feel very bad as it has been such a long time since my last blog and I have had many visitors tick me off for this and quite rightly so.

Such a lot has happened since I last wrote but to jump ahead to this week we are welcoming new cria's into the Nickelby family.

So far Miam has given birth to the very handsome Hans, Gracie has had a lovely little girl, Miss Potter and today Bronte, 17 days overdue, gave birth to Harrison. We still wait for Juliet who was due last week and then we have another four to go between now and April. So if you were planning a visit now would be the time.

I also have some exciting news. Today it was announced that I am one of five finalists in the Rural Business Women's Award for 2011 which is very exciting. I am enjoying my 15 minutes of fame.

We have an event coming up March 19th here at Nickelby which is a twilight soiree with fashion parade of the new Nickelby Design range which I plan to release that evening as well as other local textile artists. $20 per ticket which covers finger food and drinks are at bar prices. You will be able to check out details on my website under the events section.

I am also in the process of talking to our local council about enclosing my outside cafe and starting to offer light lunches so keep your fingers crossed on that front as our views etc are the perfect place to enjoy a quiet glass of local wine.

Well until next time and I promise it won't be as long next time,

take care

What a busy time

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

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!!!!

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.