As I reflect over the year, through the photos I took and the memories they stir, I am struck by how full our year has been.  My Dad said last christmas that we would look back and wonder how we did it, that is exactly how I feel.  How?  But  we did and here we are, happy, tired and looking to the future.

January

Jars rescued from an old shed, symbolising my desire to regenerate this place that had just become ours.

February

Planning, planning, planning…

March

My beautiful boy turned 2.

April

Already addicted to our land we spent every moment we could there, despite how far we had to go it felt more like home than anywhere else.

May

Stephen’s birthday present was a big one this year!  We made our first steps towards becoming a farm as Big George joined us, a true 80’s classic.

June

After months of work and dedicated plotting we broke ground.  As the summer burst into life so to did our project, the foundations and the first floor were built.

July

Our biggest boy turned 6!  His birthday party was held at our new ‘house’ which, by the end of the month, had a second floor.

August

After a blisteringly hot July (Huwyl’s birthday saw temperatures hitting 45C) August continued in the same vein.  This was the crunch month with heating, plumbing, roofing, windows, concrete laying and polishing all needing to happen in the right order and with no delays.  This was the month that nearly killed us all.

September

Suddenly our deadline began to loom up on us and there was still so. much. to. do.  Luckily reinforcements arrived in the form of Stephen’s parents, propelling us forward with tons of help and moral support (especially during the 5 hours I spent on the phone trying to organise getting electricity on site).  By the time they went home it all seemed possible again , thanks Nana and Grandad!

October

With just a month to go until move in this month nearly finished me off.  As well as the build there was the move to organise, Stephen spent two weeks of weekends and evenings painting to house until he couldn’t move his fingers…it was crunch time and we were overwhelmed.  Luckily more reinforcements arrived!

Ahem…actually I was thinking more along the lines of…

My Dad, who picked up where Stephen’s parents left off, painting, packing and helping with the move.  We really couldn’t have done it without him (and Shawn who was a major moving star and thanks again to Lynsey for loaning him to us!) and it was a joy to share our first weeks in our home with him.

November

We basked in the sheer joy of being here, pushing aside our utter exhaustion and revelling in the wonder of our home and the beauty of the natural world around us.  November really was an unparalleled month for weather, it felt like we were being welcomed to our new home by the earth and the sky that put on its best colour just for us.

December

It was a busy month of activities and glitter, mud and ice, snow and sunrises.  And finally it was the month of settling in, of well needed rest, of being a family.

2011 is not a year I’d like to repeat!  Looking back I’m not quite sure how we got here, but I know that we had great help.  Family, friends and a great building team all worked alongside us to bring this vision to fruition.  So here we are, the future laying ahead and a seed catalogue laying on the table.

Welcome 2012, the year of farm building!