Lockdowns & Survival

The baby is in bed and the two year old is watching too much TV at the moment, but the house is peaceful and I can finally think straight. This is lockdown at our place, mid-calving, and often feels like survival. It probably resembles many other living rooms too. Lockdown can make things really tough - I know the experiences of folk across Aotearoa are so vast. Thinking of all of you for whom it's really hard.

In the three months our team at Shepherdess were putting this edition together, I was in Syndey in lockdown for most of it. I'd taken the kids to see my family in Sydney when the outbreak happened there. After several weeks waiting to see if the lockdown would end, we finally took a managed flight back to Auckland and spent two weeks in hotel quarantine. Just me, with my inquisitive two year old and eight month old baby. Coming home to the farm after that experience really was a reminder of just how special this rural life is. The simple things of walking outside to get lemons off the tree in the remnants of orchard that surround our house; watching the sun bake the mountain ranges from our loungeroom window, or the pink and purple sunrises when the kids rise early. I really am grateful to call Horowhenua home.

This is our seventh edition and in many ways I can't believe it. When you're doing things on the smell of an oily rag and learning as you go, it's not going to be perfect first time around. That's definitely the case for us here at Shep. But I'm so excited about this edition. No doubt if you've been following us since the beginning, you've seen our progression first hand and this edition - perhaps madly with all the rest going on or perhaps exactly because of it - we've tried some new things to keep the magazine heading in the direction we want it to go. We don't always get it perfect, but we always give it a good go!

I've learnt so much about our amazing communities and business in the past two and bit years since the idea for Shepherdess first got rolling, and every day I learn something new. It's one of the exciting parts of this journey. If I'd had a fear of failure in the beginning or if I'd let myself be plagued by worry about the risk, I wouldn't have ever got past the first Instagram post. It's often hard to explain an idea or a concept to another person, no matter how hard you try - sometimes you just have to do it so that people can see your dream. Your first attempt doesn't have to be perfect, but if you strive for improvement - if you pour all of your love and effort into it - whatever you are doing will only get better and better.

Kristy

This letter appeared in the Kōanga Spring 2021 Edition of Shepherdess.