Mr Pickles, Jam and Chutney have a new home. They have gone to live on a flower farm with a lovely family who I know in my heart will love and care for them as much as we do. It wasn’t an easy decision but I am a firm believer that in life there are seasons for everything and we were lucky enough to have these sweet Pekin ducks in our care while we did. I do secretly wonder if we were their temporary family while they waited until Daya and her family got settled into their new acreage and prepared to welcome the ducks!

Whenever I do need to re home  animals in my care I take my time and don’t rush the process, I want to make sure it is a good match for both the humans and the animals. I also make time to connect with the prospective new carers and we get to know each other and ask each other lots of questions. With rehoming the Pekin ducks I wanted to make sure that the homeowners wouldn’t run out of water in  the peak Bushfire season when there is less rain and their water tanks aren’t filling up as fast as they are in the Wintertime. Ducks need at least one clean bath full of water each day and during the hot summer months our ducks usually have two clean baths full of water a day.

I keep saying we’ve made some big changes in the garden and the Spring flush of growth feels like the hard work is paying off . We are continuing to finish off the hot house and get all the Spring crops settled into their beds. I used to worry when the Spring crops were delayed due to cold or wet weather but I know now from experience that as soon as they are planted they grow quickly and abundantly. With less poultry there is more room for the beehive. But most of all there is one less big job of new fencing and a new duck house to build, the initial plan of the Pekin ducks living with Honeybee didn’t work out because of Honeybee being petrified of Mr Pickles. Honeybee likes her own space, and now has her own garden area at the front of the big Henhouse. It saves us fencing the whole vegetable garden off so she doesn’t either a) Trample everything when she has her heart set on something in the garden bed and b). Eat all of the poppy leaves and anything else that takes her fancy on the day. I know that Michael would have built that new fencing and duck enclosure for me but sometimes things need to be prioritised and I don’t think it would have been fair to ask him. Michael works hard for our little family both doing paid work and renovating our cottage and he also needs some down time for his health and wellbeing too. It’s about working on always trying to have a balance isn’t it.

We are needing to prioritise and downsize while we move into the next few months with Lil having surgery and the recovery time coinciding with her final subject at Uni and the last weeks of her homeschooling for Year 12 and her homeschooling visit from the Education Department. Plus it would be nice to finally renovate the kitchen, have it functioning well to accomodate for me being more independent due to my hand injury.  What is the old saying? A builders house is never finished… in our case it should be,  a carpenter’s house is never finished but his clients have lovely kitchens?!

I’m sharing this with you not as a whinge session, because this definitely is not that and it’s not how I operate. I’m sharing it with you because I have been letting go of things, expectations, hopes, and plans and it is all alright. Because we all have seasons in our lives for different things and what matters most is that we take care of our precious hearts and take precious care of our loved ones.

Sending you Light and Love,

Jude x