Something I am most grateful and proud of is the community that has formed around our little Datscha Fröhden. When we first bought the place, we were scared that we would just be out there in the countryside alone, just the two of us.

Here is a collection of questions we get asked quite regularly.

I haven’t posted much recently because I’ve been quite busy with our garden and different things around the house. The most exciting news, however, is that we got four brahma chicks last week. They are now two weeks old. We don’t know the sex of any of the chicks, so it’s possible we could end up with at least one rooster.

We’ve been back in Germany for over a month now and have been extremely busy at Datscha Fröhden. Falk, our friend and neighbour, is undertaking a permaculture design course and has come up with a new design for our whole outside space. Artur’s parents visited for two weeks and brought us a car load of plants, which took about a week to replant in the garden. Here are some of the main changes we’ve made in the last few weeks.

Last week the chicken man visited Fröhden and we got six new chickens! Who is this chicken man? He is basically a man that drives around Brandenburg and Sachsen in a red van full of chickens. He comes once a month and you call him up the day before to make your chicken order.

Our fourth chicken death and it doesn’t get easier. I was heartbroken to find out that Squash somehow fell ill, and died a day later. I really wish that I could have been there to pat and cuddle her during her final hours.

Oh my dear cheeky girl, Chickpea. What a troublemaker she was, but she will be terribly missed. [Read more…]

I was never a village person before. I remember being in Hobart years ago and thinking, ‘I could never live in such a small place’. How things have changed. I don’t think I’m ready to give up city life full time, but I definitely now appreciate the charms and positive aspects of small town/village living. [Read more…]