Sjoe, farm life is a busy life and loving every minute of it! Pretty much every day since our solar has gone online has been grey, cloudy and misty. But despite that, our system has been producing amazingly!
Ananda and I had a blast taking Akira and her horse, Troy, for a walk getting caught in an absolute downpour. Akria was such a champ though and only once batted an eye at an ominous looking puddle.
We started a new daily routine – Ryno and I go for a lovely stroll through the farm while Ellery goes on a murderous rampage with a panga cursing and killing all the lantana in his path. Lantana is a huge HUGE problem in the lowveld. It is an ornamental bush that produces pretty flower clusters, so people originally started planting it in their gardens. However, it is EXTREMELY invasive and has taken over the Nelspruit area, monopolising on the perfect growing conditions and outcompeting our native plant species. Not to mention, it is also a toxic plant to many animals. And our farm is chockablock full of it. Ellery has made it his personal mission to destroy all of it and is starting with our daily evening walks. We also discovered the most perfect sundowner spot on a huge rock overlooking the valley. Absolutely breathtaking!
We had an absolutely lovely quite Christmas starting the morning eating chocolate chip cookies and opening some very sweet gifts from Aunt Sandy that she collected while judging at the Olympics this year in France! I also had a couple very nice surprises in my email with gifts from my favourite fruitcake, Alice and my dad – thank you both so much! ❤ ❤
I went to the stables to give Akira lots of Christmas treats and cuddles and had fun little mini Christmas photoshoots with Ananda, Stephanie and their horses.
We capped off the evening with a delicious beef roast and watched the Holiday. Really a perfect day ❤
On Saturday, we got to work after a trip to Builders to buy paint, Ellery and I proceeded to paint feature walls in the master bedroom, lounge and the whole kitchen and I love the results! We did the kitchen and the lounge feature wall in a beautiful sage green and then the master wall in a deep forest green. It is amazing how a fresh coat of paint in your colour selection really helps make a house feel more like home….. soon onto the rest of the house!
On Sunday the Pollards, back from the Cape, came by for a lunchtime braai. The boys quickly discovered the giant muddy mounds of dirt from the pool excavation and had a jol being boys getting all good and dirty in the mud.
We then made the final collection trip from the rental house and brought the last of our fish tanks back – I finally have my puffer fish army here!! I adore them, they are the absolute cutest little freshwater murder balls.
It has been a really nice week! Bring on the final week of 2024!
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