Swiwi Farming & Equestrian

08/09/2024

21/04/2024

💔 yesterday we lost our beautiful Blidur 💔

He passed away overnight unexpectedly in the paddock. We are still shocked and devastated. Suspected colic.

He has been our gentle soul, playful friend and big brother in our herd.

He has always been our easy youngster. Calm and gentle. We were so looking forward to starting his education under saddle in spring. Mother Nature had different ideas.

Blidur, you will always be a part of our herd!

Run free.

19/04/2024

❄️ Winter to Spring 🌼 and back to Winter ❄️

It has been a while since I last posted an update and over the past few weeks we have gone back and forth between winter ❄️ and spring time 🌷.

Days were filled with school 🏫, we all were battling ills and chills 🤧🤒 and weekends were used to explore and make memories.

We found frog 🐸 eggs, visited the Linx 😼 in the wildlife park, planted flowers and played in the sudden snow ⛄️ .

It has been a long and full on quarter of the year and we all were glad to see 🐣 coming around and with it the spring break. The kids learned to make lovely with natural colours and flowers as well as our traditional baking for this time.

The ( ) has definitely worn off and the kids were starting to feel the same as they knew from home. The early school starts were, although still not enjoyed, now accepted und the daily routines became the .

But also the longing for Dad 👱🏻‍♂️and our animals 🦮🐕‍🦺🐈🐄🐖🐎 deepened by the week. It feels as if our kids are growing the ❤️‍🩹 known to all over the world where one is at home in different countries or places in the world 🌎 yet never fully settled anymore…. Where one understands that the only limiting factor of growing roots in a new place is our own and that starts way .

It is those moments of loving an experience and not being able to tell Dad straight away, of missing your pals 👯 but loving to make new friends, of being tired of listening to and learning a new language but being proud of speaking new words.

It is the growing of and for all that this beautiful life offers to us.

🇨🇭

12/03/2024

12/03/2024

❄️ testing our skiing-legs ⛷️❄️

a few weeks ago we ventured into the Alps to test our skiing skills ⛷️ A great day of exploring the mountains, the icicles on the trees, the winter wonderland and the huge range of slopes!

The kids didn’t want to stop so lunch was had in mini-breaks on the gondolas and 6h later we had skied on nearly every single chair lift or gondola 🚠 there was on the slopes.

Happy but exhausted we enjoyed a quiet evening sitting by the warm oven in our mountain house reading 🔥 what a great day it was 💖

21/02/2024

Getting our bikes to our place, meant going on a ~15km bike ride 🚲 the other weekend. It was s good way to clear the heads after our first week at school…. 😄

21/02/2024

✨🐸 to take the risk 🐸✨

Our life-journey is one big risk, and we will never know how it will end until we try! So take the risk, kiss the toad 😄

A couple of weeks ago we were privileged to be able to help my mother to collect the frogs and toads from the frog barriers and transport them safely to the other side of the busy road and railway tracks, releasing them into their designated swamps.

112 toads, 5 Mölche (water lizards) and one frog later, our morning work was done ✅

18/02/2024

When it became clear to us, that we needed to spend some time in 🇨🇭 to allow our children to with their Swiss extended family and reconnect with their roots here, I anticipated it to be a big and . And the last few months have been exactly that!

which I had poured my heart and soul into, often at the expense of my own family and my health, was hard. I absolutely loved the people I worked with and what we were achieving. We had a of the future of “our” and we all worked hard to make it the best home possible for our residents.

Saying goodbye to the families I accompanied on their journey of loosing a loved one to was like saying goodbye to my own. I know some of my residents won’t be with us anymore by the time we return to NZ.

Preparing our farm and reducing our animals to make it possible for hubby to maintain them besides his busy work has been a mission on its own. And sad, as we connect with all our animals, they become a part of our lives snd letting them go is hard.

But the was settling in on the other side of the world. Starting school at 7:30am compared to 9am, getting homework daily, trying to make friends in a foreign language… all while still trying to still transform our place into a home…..took everything and more of us all to push through the first couple of weeks here. The kids learn and like never before. Tears were shed, sibling fights were had. A time to learn about their own needs, about voicing their feelings and navigating others needs. Two weeks in, I start to see the light. 💡 there will be many more weeks until we feel at home, but we are starting to connect with this place and the people. 🩷

11/02/2024

Our second week in the country meant a quick trip into the mountains to pick up our bikes 🚲 (guess we couldn’t have gotten much further up the mountain 🏔️ to collect one 😂).

This was a good excuse to introduce our kiwi kids to some basics of sledding 🛷

We were fortunate to see some amazing sunrises 🌅 and sun halo before we had to cramp much of our stuff into the car, while the girls travelled their bikes across Switzerland 🇨🇭 by train 🚆

We had to try and find a car, turn our house into a home 🏡 🌺 and last but not least get everything ready for school 🎒📚✂️ and teaching 👩‍🏫

Another week filled with organizing and preparing and a hightend tension of what was to come the next week with school starting. We had to tread carefully around each other and many hugs and cuddles were needed.

10/02/2024

The first week here was a week of adjusting to a completely new environment, getting over the jet lag and starting to organize our lives here.

After spending the past weeks finishing off my job and organizing the farm for our time away, it was another tough week of little sleep and too much to do.

✅ organizing the flat
✅ organizing compulsory insurances
✅ school visits
✅ handover of new job
✅ getting over the jet lag
✅ missing everyone we left behind

But we still got to enjoy some beautiful winter day walks in the area

🇨🇭

31/01/2024

✈️ Traveling with kids around the globe 🌎 is not quite as glamorous as as it sounds… lots of moving around between flights to keep going, until they no longer can 😴… but it’s all worth it when you finally arrive 🩷

18/01/2024

🌟 💇🏻‍♂️ haircuts all around 💇‍♀️ 🌟

Last few days before our big adventure begins… getting everyone a wee trim to make sure we don’t get taken into custody at the border 🤣

Swiwifarm will soon be 🤩😎 follow us on our adventures to the other side of the world 🌎

17/01/2024

✨🐕 Last Saturday Mowgli came home. 🐕✨

We are deeply touched by the love and support we experienced from everyone around us. 💞 Thank you all for being there with us.

But we are also extremely impressed and forever grateful for the heartfelt approach of the team at on the day we had to let go of Mowgli.
The care, love and utmost respect displayed to us as a family but also to Mowgli turned this sad moment into a treasured memory. Being able to decide the speed of things, to be with Mowgli as a family and ensuring we all were ready and as comfortable as possible left us in awe of the team.
We know it was a busy time and we were not the only ones on that evening saying goodbye, but we were given the space and love that made our goodbye like the unique one it was for us.
We appreciate how draining this also is for the team and this makes the empathy displayed even more appreciated 💖

Getting the ashes back with a wee keepsake bottle of hair for each of us and a beautiful card just cemented this feeling of gratitude and love 💫

And today we received a beautiful letter from our local vet team who did an outstanding job over the past two years in keeping Mowgli going, in supporting his health and ensuring he was comfortable until the end. 🌈

Our hearts still ache but they are also overflowing with the love and support we were blessed to experience 💕🐶

13/01/2024

🐶 spoodles and West Coast bush don’t mix too well!! 🌿

Poor Lucky collected all the seeds, ending up looking like a bumblebee 🐝

07/01/2024

🤴king of the w**d castle 🏰

Did you know that dock pulles up minerals from deep in the soil with its long tap roots?

Many of our animals like to eat the fresh shoots 🌱 because of it, providing them with a wider range of nutrients.

And those long roots help break up compacted soil, improving water pe*******on. This is especially important with our clay soil.

Each w**d also indicates to us what the soil might be lacking and how we can improve the soil quality.

By removing and burning the seed stands, we stop the dock from taking over too much.

What ‘w**d’ are you using to your advantage?

**ds **dsareflowerstoo

07/01/2024

🤓 work inspection 🕵️

The team 🐴 checking if I did a proper job cleaning their water troughs 💦

What does your crew ‘help’ you with?

02/01/2024

🤩 Happy 2024 🤩

‘This the season again….

May your hay sheds be full, your paddocks green and your animals well.

May you all see the fun in the chores, the (stable) light in the darkness and the vet as little as possible.

May you feel the love of your animals, the sweat of your labor and the freedom of letting go of the reins.

May you all grow, stay well and embrace your challenges 🩵

#2024

01/01/2024

As we bid farewell to 2023, we reflect on a busy year that brought many beautiful but also sad moments.

Just as the year was ending, we had to say goodbye to our beloved Mowgli, who had been by my side for the past 13.5 years, who climbed mountains with me, came canyoning, followed me to the other side of the world, watched over three newborn babies growing up around him, two puppies turning into his dog friends, fathered a litter and endured two others turning our house upside down.
He made sure any spare calf milk was licked clean, horses were kept in check with barking, and any and all farm activities were supervised.
He loved pulling his cart at full speed, chasing seagulls on the beach and rolling in anything that smelled rather unpleasant.

Safe travels my friend, you will be sorely missed here by us all 🌈❤️

😢

22/12/2023

https://www.swiwifarm.com/post/from-craddle-to-grave-and-everything-in-between

When it’s just one of those days… 💞

It is only a few days until Christmas. And today was just another "normal" pre-Christmas day. A day, that started with getting my kids ready for the day and discussing with them how they had to feed their animals while I was at work. A day, when I bought flowers for my nurses to give them a wee glim...

22/12/2023

When it all feels a bit too much in the coming days…. Breath! 💞

Download the Spaces by Wix app and join “Swiwifarm” to read “From craddle to grave, and everything in between...”. You’ll also be able to leave comments, get notified about new posts and more.

11/12/2023

😂🦄 Laughingstock…. 🦄😂

Must be the color of the gum boots 😎

Wee girl curiously exploring her world

30/11/2023

Guess who…. 🐴

Slightly unexpected Heitha had a beautiful and healthy girl this morning. Now looking for a suiting name…. Any suggestions?

03/11/2023

Hanging out with my piglets.... 🐷🐷🐷

25/10/2023

Another AG-Club day done and dusted..... pigs 🐷, lambs 🐑 and ducks 🦆 did well. And so did the kids 😂

30/09/2023

🌬 let‘s go flying kites 🌬

Horses joined in and wanted to know what those colorful swishy things are being dragged around their paddock... great way to desensitize your herd 🤩

17/09/2023

🐷 piggy piggy love 🐷

“Salty” and “Tigerlily” have come home and settled in well.

Question I normally get asked is why.... simple answer-why not? Life is to be lived 🌺💕

And in the process, our kids learn to take responsibilities and care for animals

15/09/2023

🎿 12 years in the making ⛷

First skiing in 12 years. Over are the years teaching kids on magic carpets.... welcoming the years trying to keep up with them now!!

14/09/2023

When you have a lamb-kindergarten and a family outing collide.... just take the lambs out to see the world. Next stop - ski slopes 😎

09/09/2023

Because..... why not?! 🐷🐖

06/08/2023

Mud monsters enjoying some fresh winter grass....