Four Years of Farm Life

The saying ‘time flies fast when you’re having fun’, was what came to mind when I thought about today’s post. I cannot believe it’s been four years since we moved to Green Gate Farm. The life we created for ourselves has not been without its ups and downs. There have been many times when things did not go to plan or we just changed the plan. But isn’t life a rollercoaster? What fun would it be if everything was smooth sailing? In this post, I want to share with you the highs and lows of the past year of farm life. If you’d like to read more you can find previous farm updates at the end of this post. They brought back a lot of memories for me, that’s for sure!

In the Farmhouse

So, this is how the kitchen/living room looked when we moved in during April 2018. Yep, no kitchen and seven doors.

This last year we made the dramatic move of switching the living room part of this space into our spare room. We converted the space next to the kitchen into a dining room. We love to entertain and did not have a table indoors prior to this.

While I love having a separate living room now and a dining room that seats around 18, I’m not a fan of the heating arrangement. The warmth and coziness of our wood heater is missing in the snug. So we are planning a second wood heater for this little area. As I write this I am also in two minds about the blue. I LOVE the color, but the room is so dark during the day. Which is both good and bad. it means we make use of if only for TV watching and do all our living and entertaining in the kitchen.

A Quick Attic Makeover

With Easter approaching and a houseful of guests expected (Covid was NOT stopping me this time), I decided to do a quick makeover of our attic space. After four years at the farm, the attic was the only room we had never touched. It housed our storage boxes and some unused artwork. We still have plans to line the room again properly as it’s very shoddy and not well done. But a fresh coat of paint, new curtains, and matching bedlinen did wonders for making the room guest worthy and like a real bedroom.

Outdoor Changes

The garden has changed a lot in the last year with Gavin being home full time. He moved the box hedging to delineate the path. I wasn’t sure to begin but I love the look now. We also added new lavender and a cut flower garden which will be ready for Spring 2022 with mass plantings of bulbs. I’ve loved having flowers to pick and plan to use this as a selling point for our farm business.

Probably the biggest change in the past year was the completion of the dairy. I’ve struggled with how to use this little room. We thought of accommodation. We thought events. Now we have decided to do a blend of the two. Watch this space in 2022 for an update on these plans

Our Farm Business

The past year saw the birth of Green Gate Farm Tours. They’ve proven to be very popular and families love coming to meet the animals. Over the course of the year, we hosted about two dozen tours and honed our organization of the events to make them easier to run. We plan to keep running the small tours this year.

We also hosted a number of schools for outdoor education. We love doing this but have decided not to take new bookings this year as it is not very profitable and a lot of work. We will continue our relationship with our current schools but will not be pursuing new contacts. Instead, we are building some little off-grid huts! These will add to our events and allow us more income.

My online shop was also born this year. I’ve loved sourcing country-style homewares and making them. This is something we will continue and bring into a physical form for visitors at the farm.

The Farm Animals

This year we bought an incubator and began to learn how to raise chicks. It was so successful we sold many of the hens to new families while keeping one or two for ourselves. My never-ending quest for a variety of egg colors in my basket has meant we now keep many kinds of hens.

We hatched goslings too. Their ballet skirt plumage is a constant topic of conversation with visitors. Though Rudolf can be a bit naughty and likes to hiss to show he is big and strong.

Sadly, we had to farewell Terry our ram this year. I round this so hard after hand-rearing him. However, his behavior was becoming dangerous so we could not keep him. He moved on and I cried quite a lot. We also farewelled two of our cows. Scarlett, Maggie, and Minnie remain though, and love getting patted by visitors. As does our foster sheep Marvin who is blind and lives with the goats!

Other Farm Posts You might Love

A Year on the Farm

Our Second Year was Huge!

What Happened in Our Third Year

Life For Me Alone During Covid

Country Life Lessons