My dreams are getting closer ..

This morning I drove out to an organic dairy and beef farm situated in the beautiful Waitetuna Valley, half way to Raglan on the west coast. Max and Madeline, the owners had read the article about me and the bees in the local newspaper recently, and had emailed to ask if I would be interested in coming out to meet them as they are very interested in having hives on the farm. The valley is very picturesque, with farms that stretch high up into the steep hills on either side, a small river that runs down from the west side of Mt Pirongia the length of the valley and runs out into a finger of Raglan harbour.
M and M milk just over 100 cows, run wiltshire sheep ( these sheep don`t need shearing as they de-fleece naturally), and some cattle on their 600 acres of mainly steep hill sides and some river flats. The farm is certified organic with no sprays or artifical fertilisers used. The paddocks and stock all look very healthy with the stock being able to eat all the good herbs (weeds as some would call them) such as plantain, chikory, dock, and many others. Fresh, raw milk is sold at the dairy that is part of the milking shed, which is in high demand as all milk has to be pasturised in NZ, raw milk is only allowed to be sold at 5 litres per person a day and not advertised - the dairy board seems to think it is bad for people ??

There are a number of wetland areas that have been fenced off and planted back with native plants and trees like Swamp Cypress, Liquidambers and other exotics that provide duck food and autumn colour, plus all those root systems soak up any run-off from the land. Many birds are returning to the farm with a recent sighting of a pair of NZ falcon, really rare now as the introduced Australasian falcon has pushed them out of their natural habitat.
Anyway .... getting back to my dreams, Both M and M are very keen to have a number of hives, we will start with 2 TBH`s as they are really keen on the natural principles as I am - they will be my first customers !!!! ekkkk - I`m terrified, I am really going to do this, it feel so right, I know it will take a while to get things sorted, but the more I think about and talk about these ideas of consulting, putting hives on and caring for them for people, the more I feel in my being that it is the right way for me - I want to go TBH as much as possible so now I have to get cracking and get my friend to make some.

I have driven past this sign a thousand times over the years on my way to Raglan, today it was a sharpe left turn and into this pretty valley. The old settlers would have used part of the road or track, I think it was an old Maori walking track also, over the ranges down to the Waikato plains below.

This is the view from the top of the deviation looking back towards Mt Pirongia with the Waitetuna valley over the lower hills to the right. Mt Pirongia can be seen from most parts of the Waikato, it is a range of extinct volcanoes that once spread over the valley. I lived on the southern side of Pirongia as a teenager, after moving there from the King Country further south. It was isolated, we lived at the end of a metal road, right on the bushline - I would give anything to live there now, at that age all I wanted to do was go to town !!

This pretty little jenny (female donkey) watched me drink my coffee at the Herb Shop Cafe on the way back into Hamilton this afternoon. This great cafe is at Whatawhata, a small settlement on the Waipa river flats just after the city side of the deviation - nearly home. It is always a welcome stop, browse around all the wonderful herbs Linda sells and buy my free range eggs.

Well, that has been my day so far - I am on a high right now, with a million things going around in my head - best I relax with a nice glass of red and chill out !