A big Thankyou to all the people who ordered a gate. I really appreciate your support over the last 3.5 years.
Making 393 gates has kept me rather busy.
Having "retired" from a 9 to 5 job about 5 years ago, making gates was an enjoyable way to fill in my days.
However in 2025, January and February were challenging months for me and my Parkinson's Disease issues and it had me questioning... everything about where my life is heading.
I like to be incontrol of my destiny, and it scares me when I am starting to lose that control.
My Parkinson's issues are numerous, and recently all seemed to step up a few gears in intensity. My balance, head pain issues, and at times just getting one leg in front of the other has been a challenge. Not to forget my right hand tremors doing their thing and at the most inconsiderate timing when using the drop saw and giving me a hell of a fright when the saw kicks back.
So I have decided to call an end to the gate making... for my own safety.
I'm now taking more than double of my Parkinson's medication, but although there seems to be a little improvement, Parkinson's is a progressive degenerative disease, there's no "getting better" pathway. It's more managing a lifestyle the best I can.
I'm very mindful, that a day will come in the near future where I will have to give up my lifestyle dream, living on my small farm. When I can't manage the day to day up keep, it's time to sell up and move back to town.
When that time comes, I will need to rehome my Arapawa Sheep... which will be heartbreaking as my breeding flock are my pets. They know me, I know their personality, I have names for some, they understand voice commands and hand signals.
In time, I will also need to find a new home for Unicorn Fibre Cleaners. So if anyone is interested in taking this on, please message me.
Once again, Thankyou for all the gate orders.
Achievements while making gates:
> Biggest Order: 24 Gates
> Number of Gates made in 7 days: 11
> Gates have been sold to customers across the South Island, from Blenheim to Invercargill.
