Asalaamu alaykum 

In February we moved onto a small lifestyle block 10 minutes out of Swanson here in Auckland.  It was something new for our family of seven and alhumdulillah it has been a very easy transition for us, we are truly grateful to Allah subhana wa taala for such a blessing.  Jazak Allahu khairen to all those who helped us move as well, it's such a blessing to have such good friends, may Allah (swt) reward you well for your efforts.  A big thank you to my family too who helped a lot, we really appreciated your hard work.

The first thing we noticed when moving from Mt Roskill, central Auckland to a rural setting was the feeling of isolation.   Now days we don't notice this much, mainly because there is always something that needs to be done, Alhumdulillah.  

I will try to write a little something every now and then, insha Allah.  For the time being here is and introduction to life for us on the farm.

Alhumdulillah there is a small manageable orchard of fruit trees on the property.  There are apples, oranges, lemons,  mandarin,  fig, olives, a grape vine,  persimmon,  banana (in a pot) and fejoa trees.  As we are not that knowlegable in this field we will have started reading up on how to best maintain them.   I know we have to do a lot of pruning as the trees seem unkempt for what seems like around two years.

At the moment the olive trees are abundant in fruit and anyone with any information on when to harvest and how to preserve would be much welcomed.

Alhumdulillah for the vegetable garden.  Although knee high in weeds when we moved here we knew that this would be our priority in order to catch the winter harvest.  We were are so greatful that soil was rich as well as organic. There was also a home made compost bin which my husband has restored and we are now using.  

Growing amongst the weeds we discovered a type of squash which was delicious, (there were six of them), potatoes, radish, cherry tomatoes, beans, rhubarb (which we pulled out because we didn't know how to keep them, ironically spending $10 to buy 2 more smaller plants which are now in the plot!)    We also found several tomato plants in the cow paddock along with more squash which has puzzled us.  

After the initial weeding and breaking up of the soil we adding more organic compost (both bought and what was already in the bin when we arrived) we purchased several organic seedlings from the local Mitre 10 warehouse.   We also bought seedlings after seeing a sign outside a house on Woodward Road in Mt Albert.  The plants form Mitre 10 were the same price as the non organic plants which really suprised us.  For 12 seedlings it cost just under $10 which was really good.  

The house on Woodward Road sold  the regular 6 celled seedlings for $1.50 upwards, which is a very good deal as well.  From here we bought rhubarb ($7 each or 2 for $10), kale, cos lettuce, great lake lettuce, red lettuce, chilli, coriander, cauliflower.  The gentleman there also gave my husband a small white strawberry plant and and six snap dragon seedlings,Alhumdulillah.

From Mitre 10 we purchased cos lettuce, endive, broccoli, cauliflower, beetroot, celery, and two other types of lettuce.  We also bought the following packets of Yates seeds; organic Cherry Bell Radish, parsnip, rocket, Broccoli,Brussels sprouts, onion, organic Italian flat leaf parsley, and carrots. 

Jazak Allah khair to all the sisters who gave us plants and seeds.  Alhumdulillah they are all growing so well.  The one little problem I am having is with the white moth, InshaAllah we are looking into companion planting to avoid pesticides and if anyone has any homemade remedies please do let me know, insha Allah.

My husband picked up a lot of second hand tools from the Avondale Market.  An Afghani brother was selling them.  Alhumdulillah he spent around $100  and got more than 10 different gardening tools including hedge clippers, spades, an axe, 3 forks, 2 hoes, tree cutter, an edger and a few other tools which I can't think of right now.  My favourite tool is the dutch hoe because it's so light.  The tools are old, but really good quality and we like them alot, Alhumdulillah. 

Alhumdulillah my husband has cleared the many weeds that were in the chicken coop, taken down the old chicken mesh, trimmed the tree (an excuse for using his new chainsaw I say) and cleaned up the debris that was on top of the coop.  Yesterday I picked up some chicken mesh and wire ties form Bunnings in Mt Roskill. InshaAllah we are all anxiously awaiting the arrival of some chickens and apparently there is a hatchery just around the corner from us.  We are looking into buying either shavers,orpingtons or anconas.  We are not certain yet, but will keep you posted.

Alhumdulillah we were given two fresian cows.  They are very shy, but also very clever and manage to avoid us as much as possible.  They come to drink from the spring at toward Maghrib time, alhumdulillah.   Now that the neighbours have moved there cows a paddock adjacent to one of ours we see our cows more often as they like to socialise with the neighbours cows.

There are wild rabbits here too, at least 4 or 5 come out and jump around on one of the hills here between mid day and 2pm everyday.  The children enjoy watching them.  SubhanAllah, they are very playful creatures.

There a many different birds here.  When we moved in we noticed that a family of four pukeko live here aswell.  The mum and dad and two fluffy small chicks which are now almost the same size as mum and dad, subhanAllah.

We have seen gulls, hawks, sparrows, fantails, beautifully coloured bush parrots, kingfishers, finches, ducks, storks, pigeons and doves since we have been here.  My personal favourite is the fantail, such a clever navigator.  When we are watering the vegetable garden often the lovely little creature will join us in a nearby tree, Alhumdulillah.

As of 5 minutes ago we now have 25 sheep!  Alhumdulillah.   Once the guy who delivers them leaves I'm going out to join the rest of my family and take some photo's of them.  My children are so happy.   It's a real nice feeling and InshaAllah I hope they enjoy it here.   They look so cute, wooly things, mash Allah.

Something new for us was our source of water.  Living out of the city we rely on rain water.  Our source of water comes from what runs of the roof after a downpour into a tank.   We ran out of water shortly after we moved in.  It was a great reminder to us that everything comes from Allah and we really enjoyed the fact that we had the opportunity to be more greatful for all that the Creator blesses us with.   It  made the children more aware of the others in the world who have very little water for example the many children dying in Sudan.   We were still able to use water from the spring to clean and wash with and the next day a water tanker delivered more than 20,000 litres of water into the tank.   The land lord arranged for another tank to be installed on the property and when doing so 4 leaks were discovered in the first tank.  InsahAllah they will be repaired shortly in order to store more water.

Well I think that's enough form me for now.  Maybe my daughter Amina will write follow ups and keep you all updated on the progress of the farm, inshaAllah.