The feathered family has taken a significant leap in numbers. We have Violet babysitting one of our neighbour's little chicks. Rosa has a trifecta, one each - a black, ginger and yellow chick. Boots is such a great mum to her four chick, two gingery and two yellowy. Pippi continues to foster the late Ovaltine's baby Little-Bit, although Slick hatched her she soon realised it wasn't her baby so she abandoned her and that's when Pippi was able to redeem herself as a mother. Slick became broody again a few weeks after the abandonment and set up house in the old tackroom after we removed the door and put it on the gypsy shed. This gal really likes big houses, first the gypsy shed and now the tackroom, anything without a door and she's in! Anyway, she's just hatched five, one dozy little one didn't make it but the other four are doing well. Interesting colours, a yellow, a greenish-black, a ginger and a cream coloured one. They're so tiny. She would have had another two but they got stuck in their shells as they were hatching and died. They received a compost bin burial, it is starting to look like a mass grave in there now.
While I was out and about on the farm I also noticed that our resident wild quails have a string of cotton wool sized chicks too. Quails are hilarious, they have a feather dangling in front of their faces and it seems to throw off their ability to run in a straight line, they run, swerving all over the place looking quite intoxicated. The babies run straight and then veer off to follow their wonky parents, it is quite entertaining. How these tiny little bundles survive is a miracle to me, they look so vulnerable but boy are they fast and they cover a lot of ground in a day, they're on the fenceline of the bush at one end of the farm in the morning and by the afternoon they're at the opposite end.
We also have baby bunnies, two of them. They live in amongst the woodpile under the upturned dinghy. They spend a lot of time out nibbling on the driveway and in the Jenny Craig paddock. They mix and mingle with the chooks every day. I can get within a metre of them before they turn and very slowly hop away their little white tails flashing with every hop.
There's a huge, colourful cock pheasant hanging around at the moment, he's quite stunning. I've heard that pheasants are creatures of habit and like take the same route on their journeys, I can't remember where I read it but the theory was proven when I noticed tracks in the grass and stumbled upon a few birds at the same place whilst on my morning walks. I remember years ago when a new motorway was cut through a piece of farmland, on the week that it opened a pheasant was struck and killed and lay on the side of the motorway for weeks. Every night that I was stuck in traffic I would creep past this lifeless little body and feel so sad, such a beautiful creature wasted, killed because of this motorway. I feel ashamed to be a human sometimes, a member of a race that has so much to answer for. So destructive and flippant about this planet and all of it's inhabitants.
I decided to make a purpose built large a-frame maternity unit. The
maternity ward is proving to be a bit of a problem with all the little
chicks going into a frenzy at feeding time and overprotective mothers
pecking anything that isn't their kin. I cut the timber to size,
assembled the apexes but before I had a chance to put the retangular
base together I was rudely interrupted by the most intense rain shower
I've encountered for a long time. It started with a warning of a couple
of rain drops and then launched into a full downpour of epic
proportions, the icy cold droplets seemed to aim down my butt-crack and neck of my t-shirt, before I knew it I was drenched.
Best buddies?
Today was my day off work. I'm still feeling green around the gills so I woke up early and needed to get up and do something. So I visited all the animals early and let them out. Sheamus and Tallulah wandered out, and then as I was walking down the driveway to feed the chooks with Tallulah trotting along behind me I heard the 'click' of Sheamus's gate, I went back and opened the gate and saw Sheamus was asleep in his wallow. A little while later I heard another click and looked over to see Sheamus walking away from his gate back to his wallow, and then something went click in my head.
Lately I've found Sheamus asleep in his house in the afternoons, locked in with the gate shut. I thought that it was a case of him getting locked in first by accident, then getting bored and falling asleep but it seems I'm wrong. Tallulah isn't scared of Sheamus anymore, she knows when to stay out of his way but now she also knows that if he's laying down she can poke him in the tummy with her nose, climb around him, push at his legs and if he objects it takes him a good 3 seconds to get up and chase her away. In that time she's well out of the way and hooning across the paddock squealing in delight. Turns out that Sheamus realises he's been beaten so, as a testiment to the intelligent creatures they are Sheamus devised his own plan. He closes his gate so that Tallulah can't get in and torment him so he gets to lay in his wallow in peace and quiet. Tallulah is quite a determined wee thing so after realising that Uncle Shamey was locking her out decided to breach the 7 strand wire fence, while she's still little enough to fit through the gaps in the wire, and continue her tormenting game. Now, here's the other interesting bit, Tallulah can also shut her gate, I often ask Sam why he's put her away so early and he says, 'She did it herself', I wonder if perhaps she does this when she's pushed Sheamus too far and he's out to get her.
Having said all of that, it seems there are times when they get on well and this afternoon was one of those times. My neighbour Liz came over and the excitement was all a little too much for these guys...
Lately I've found Sheamus asleep in his house in the afternoons, locked in with the gate shut. I thought that it was a case of him getting locked in first by accident, then getting bored and falling asleep but it seems I'm wrong. Tallulah isn't scared of Sheamus anymore, she knows when to stay out of his way but now she also knows that if he's laying down she can poke him in the tummy with her nose, climb around him, push at his legs and if he objects it takes him a good 3 seconds to get up and chase her away. In that time she's well out of the way and hooning across the paddock squealing in delight. Turns out that Sheamus realises he's been beaten so, as a testiment to the intelligent creatures they are Sheamus devised his own plan. He closes his gate so that Tallulah can't get in and torment him so he gets to lay in his wallow in peace and quiet. Tallulah is quite a determined wee thing so after realising that Uncle Shamey was locking her out decided to breach the 7 strand wire fence, while she's still little enough to fit through the gaps in the wire, and continue her tormenting game. Now, here's the other interesting bit, Tallulah can also shut her gate, I often ask Sam why he's put her away so early and he says, 'She did it herself', I wonder if perhaps she does this when she's pushed Sheamus too far and he's out to get her.
Having said all of that, it seems there are times when they get on well and this afternoon was one of those times. My neighbour Liz came over and the excitement was all a little too much for these guys...
Grumbles, tumbles and new bundles.
Last week we ran out of water so we got it filled and ever since I've been waking up at the crack of dawn with a rumbly tummy, a panicky feeling and nausea. It has been awful. The very thought of food before lunch time makes me want to hurl and before you start jumping to conclusions, no, I'm not preggers.
And now, Sam's feeling it too.
A call to the local farm services people and we think we might have solved the issue. Giardia. Yuck. Apparently it is rife in the district at the moment with the higher than average temperatures the little devils aka bacteria have been multiplying in our water tanks. Gross. Now I'm thinking, can I brush my teeth with it, should I wash my hands with it, are the animals safe? The guy assured Sam that the animals will be fine and he'll come out tomorrow to test and treat the water.
We had a great weekend, we didn't achieve as much as we'd have liked but we did spend a LOT of quality time with the family. Most evenings we take some 'ground' time with the littlies like the goats, chooks and pigs. We literally sit on the ground, at eye level with them and they love it. Usually they come over for a tummy rub, a nosey or a cuddle. The chooks use us as human perches too.
To recap on what's been happening lately.
Horses:
Tarka is sore on his feet again, seems this wee guy is destined to spend spring in lock up, poor fella, I know he hates it but the results are dramatic. His last bought of laminitis saw him staggering around so I took him out of the paddock, fed him a sachet of bute and two days later he was waltzing around as if I'd imagined the whole thing. Ella is gaining weight but she's not suffered with laminitis yet, hopefully we can keep it that way. Both of them spend a lot of time free-ranging on the driveway and following us around, it is really sweet. The goats have been keeping Tarka company when he's oin lock up, going over completely voluntarily and spending time in his pen and paddock with him. Ella's taken quite a shine to Tallulah and yesterday Sam and I watched in horror as Tallulah wove in and out of Ella's legs, Ella kep and eye on her and made sure not to stand on the little ginger. Sam was especially nervous knowing first hand the pain that Ella's hooves can inflict, she cleanly removed Sam's big toenail the day after we got engaged, and the worst thing is, I think it was intentional. Since it didn't scare him off and he continued coming back to the farm and eventually moved in, Ella's admitted defeat, realising Sam's tougher than she originally thought and she's been building a relationship with him ever since.
Pigs:
After the scary introduction [where my heart was in my mouth, terrified that Shamey would hurt Tallulah] they've been getting on just fine. Sheamus is the boss but Sam tells me that Tallulah is memory banking all of Shamey's grumpy outbursts and in years to come when she's grown into a big, moody young lady she'll get her own back. I think he's got a good point and Sheamus is probably trying to get his way while he still can. They're very cute together, Sheamus is monstrous next to her, he's so much more relaxed now, we built her an enclusre within Sheamus's enclosure and Shamey spends so much more time in his enclosure now that she's there. She is a trooper, taking everything in her stride and she's quite a speedy little girl, she runs and jumps and at the very sound of Sam's voice she's at his feet, she loves her daddy-man. I love brushing her, that's our special one-on-one time together. Most evenings Tallulah and Sheamus go off into the hill paddock together and as soon as its dusk Sheamus comes running home leaving Tallulah at the top of the hill on her own, Sam is usually the one that carries her back and she objects with some grizzly little whinges and then snuggles into Sam's arms and enjoys the transport back to her house where she has pellets and a bedtime apple waiting for her.
Goats:
Mabel and Lucifer have been going further afield on their daily expeditions. I'm thrilled to see they're confident enough to head over to the open paddock and graze on the hill without any shrub protection, they must be feeling safe here now. At the slightest sign of trouble Lucifer belts back to the vege garden, whips around the fence post and onto the roof of the maternity hutch and into his enclusure and onto his wooden cable reel. He calls to Mabel and she dutifully wanders over but without the drama or urgency that Lucifer displays. Late last week we had a little sunshower and afterwards Lucifer leapt onto the roof of the maternity hutch and his feet went out from under him and he fell clean off the roof. He picked himself up and seemed fine but I vowed to trim his hooves which I did this weekend. Both Mabel and Lucifer got their hooves trimmed and their dandruff and clumps of winter coat brushed out, they looked a million bucks when we'd finished but neither of them enjoyed the event. They've finally started the leaping, jumping and bucking that all happy little goats should do, I love to watch them.
Chooks:
Nigel still has his head, he's mellowed a lot. The other roosters have left him alone too. Its the season for broodiness and we've had our fair share of broody hens. Little Boots' hatchlings are adorable, she's got four left now, Mumma Rosa has three - a white, a ginger and a black, Pippi is being a fantastic adoptive mum to Little Bit and Little Bit's biological mum Slick is sitting on eggs in the old shed/ tackroom. The latest large hen to go broody is is Violet who hasn't had littlies before. She got terribly upset every time I removed our eating eggs from under her. So, to solve the problem, our neighbour Liz had 25+ eggs under her hen Oprah. Oprah hatched two and then left the eggs. Liz was certain that there were more babies in there so we put them under Violet. A day later there were two health happy newbies and one that got stuck departing the shell, they got collected by Liz. After that another one hatched and sadly got squished in amongst the eggs, then a day later another which survived and this one Violet wasn't letting go. She's been a great mum but the little one needed to get out and about so I moved her and baby into the maternity ward with Slick, Rosa and their babies. I put the eggs under Violet and some others under Matilda the most amazing mother in the world who hatched a clutch of 13 babies in one go and abandoned one egg which was a dud anyway! The maternity ward is looking fantastic, there's a plan to extend it a little.
And now, Sam's feeling it too.
A call to the local farm services people and we think we might have solved the issue. Giardia. Yuck. Apparently it is rife in the district at the moment with the higher than average temperatures the little devils aka bacteria have been multiplying in our water tanks. Gross. Now I'm thinking, can I brush my teeth with it, should I wash my hands with it, are the animals safe? The guy assured Sam that the animals will be fine and he'll come out tomorrow to test and treat the water.
We had a great weekend, we didn't achieve as much as we'd have liked but we did spend a LOT of quality time with the family. Most evenings we take some 'ground' time with the littlies like the goats, chooks and pigs. We literally sit on the ground, at eye level with them and they love it. Usually they come over for a tummy rub, a nosey or a cuddle. The chooks use us as human perches too.
To recap on what's been happening lately.
Horses:
Tarka is sore on his feet again, seems this wee guy is destined to spend spring in lock up, poor fella, I know he hates it but the results are dramatic. His last bought of laminitis saw him staggering around so I took him out of the paddock, fed him a sachet of bute and two days later he was waltzing around as if I'd imagined the whole thing. Ella is gaining weight but she's not suffered with laminitis yet, hopefully we can keep it that way. Both of them spend a lot of time free-ranging on the driveway and following us around, it is really sweet. The goats have been keeping Tarka company when he's oin lock up, going over completely voluntarily and spending time in his pen and paddock with him. Ella's taken quite a shine to Tallulah and yesterday Sam and I watched in horror as Tallulah wove in and out of Ella's legs, Ella kep and eye on her and made sure not to stand on the little ginger. Sam was especially nervous knowing first hand the pain that Ella's hooves can inflict, she cleanly removed Sam's big toenail the day after we got engaged, and the worst thing is, I think it was intentional. Since it didn't scare him off and he continued coming back to the farm and eventually moved in, Ella's admitted defeat, realising Sam's tougher than she originally thought and she's been building a relationship with him ever since.
Pigs:
After the scary introduction [where my heart was in my mouth, terrified that Shamey would hurt Tallulah] they've been getting on just fine. Sheamus is the boss but Sam tells me that Tallulah is memory banking all of Shamey's grumpy outbursts and in years to come when she's grown into a big, moody young lady she'll get her own back. I think he's got a good point and Sheamus is probably trying to get his way while he still can. They're very cute together, Sheamus is monstrous next to her, he's so much more relaxed now, we built her an enclusre within Sheamus's enclosure and Shamey spends so much more time in his enclosure now that she's there. She is a trooper, taking everything in her stride and she's quite a speedy little girl, she runs and jumps and at the very sound of Sam's voice she's at his feet, she loves her daddy-man. I love brushing her, that's our special one-on-one time together. Most evenings Tallulah and Sheamus go off into the hill paddock together and as soon as its dusk Sheamus comes running home leaving Tallulah at the top of the hill on her own, Sam is usually the one that carries her back and she objects with some grizzly little whinges and then snuggles into Sam's arms and enjoys the transport back to her house where she has pellets and a bedtime apple waiting for her.
Goats:
Mabel and Lucifer have been going further afield on their daily expeditions. I'm thrilled to see they're confident enough to head over to the open paddock and graze on the hill without any shrub protection, they must be feeling safe here now. At the slightest sign of trouble Lucifer belts back to the vege garden, whips around the fence post and onto the roof of the maternity hutch and into his enclusure and onto his wooden cable reel. He calls to Mabel and she dutifully wanders over but without the drama or urgency that Lucifer displays. Late last week we had a little sunshower and afterwards Lucifer leapt onto the roof of the maternity hutch and his feet went out from under him and he fell clean off the roof. He picked himself up and seemed fine but I vowed to trim his hooves which I did this weekend. Both Mabel and Lucifer got their hooves trimmed and their dandruff and clumps of winter coat brushed out, they looked a million bucks when we'd finished but neither of them enjoyed the event. They've finally started the leaping, jumping and bucking that all happy little goats should do, I love to watch them.
Chooks:
Nigel still has his head, he's mellowed a lot. The other roosters have left him alone too. Its the season for broodiness and we've had our fair share of broody hens. Little Boots' hatchlings are adorable, she's got four left now, Mumma Rosa has three - a white, a ginger and a black, Pippi is being a fantastic adoptive mum to Little Bit and Little Bit's biological mum Slick is sitting on eggs in the old shed/ tackroom. The latest large hen to go broody is is Violet who hasn't had littlies before. She got terribly upset every time I removed our eating eggs from under her. So, to solve the problem, our neighbour Liz had 25+ eggs under her hen Oprah. Oprah hatched two and then left the eggs. Liz was certain that there were more babies in there so we put them under Violet. A day later there were two health happy newbies and one that got stuck departing the shell, they got collected by Liz. After that another one hatched and sadly got squished in amongst the eggs, then a day later another which survived and this one Violet wasn't letting go. She's been a great mum but the little one needed to get out and about so I moved her and baby into the maternity ward with Slick, Rosa and their babies. I put the eggs under Violet and some others under Matilda the most amazing mother in the world who hatched a clutch of 13 babies in one go and abandoned one egg which was a dud anyway! The maternity ward is looking fantastic, there's a plan to extend it a little.
Introducing Tallulah
Our little piglet finally has a name. Tallulah. We were throwing names around and this was actually one of the first ones we came up with.
She's adorable, becoming more and more a part of the family every day. I'm sure she misses her brothers and sisters and her mum but she has a very doting new family.
We introduced her to Sheamus today, he was a bully but she's a tough little cookie and didn't let his grumpy attitude deter her affections. She even went up to inspect his underside for milky boobs and was quite disappointed when she didn't find any.
She's adorable, becoming more and more a part of the family every day. I'm sure she misses her brothers and sisters and her mum but she has a very doting new family.
We introduced her to Sheamus today, he was a bully but she's a tough little cookie and didn't let his grumpy attitude deter her affections. She even went up to inspect his underside for milky boobs and was quite disappointed when she didn't find any.
Our little family is complete....for now.
Today we completed our family with another bristly member. She remains un-named but I'm sure it won't take long for us to figure something out.
Lately Sheamus has been lonely. He has been relentless is trying to befriend Hoby, we come home and find him asleep against Hoby's enclosure. He'll stand in front of Hoby's cage bobbing his head from side to side as if playing a game of peek-a-boo, Hoby barks at him completely enraged, Sheamus thinks its a great game.
We decided on a girl, for a few reasons. Sheamus is castrated, I don't like the idea of breeding animals, other than the chickens that take matters into their own hands, I haven't ever bred anything, choosing instead to adopt, usually a rescued animal. All little boys get the chop, testosterone is a powerful hormone without the satisfaction they seek I'm sure they'd go mad. All our other inhabitants have the company of someone of the opposite sex - Ella and Tarka, Mabel and Lucifer etc. Also, to castrate a male pig they need to go under the knife, it isn't a simple docking ring procedure, I don't feel we have the facilities at the moment to ensure a happy recovery in a secluded area without dust. And because I'm working full time and travelling 2 hours to get to and from work I can't dedicate the time I think is needed to nurse a little fella back to his happy self, having just lost the family jewels.
The first point of contact was obviously the SPCA but there weren't any pigs available so we found a few people advertising in the Auckland and Waikato areas. The first place we tried was just down the road and, well, it made me feel sick. The property was very nice, beautiful gardens and house, nice paddocks, very little grass but the animals seemed content enough. And believe me there were plenty of animals, they were everywhere, every nook and cranny. It was a breeding factory. There were little piglets, goat kids, foals everywhere in pens and small holding paddocks. There was a goat with a plaster cast on its leg, a foal with a raw shoulder and scours a sow with a new litter of piglets. They seemed well enough taken care of but the place was over populated, terribly. The lady was a business woman, wanting a sale above all else. I walked away from there not wanting to buy into her scheme, I have had nightmares about that place ever since. Our second phone call was to a lady also down the road who admitted also to having an overpopulated property, I couldn't even bring myself to go there, instead we headed to a place in Huntly, the man was a farmer and his daughter had always wanted a pig, so she got Suzie a kunekune sow. When the daughter moved to Australia agreed to look after Suzie, the farmer already had a boar called Grunter the inevitable happened when Suzie and Grunter shared an amorous moment together. She'd had a total of two litters (if that's the correct term, I'm not sure). Her babies from February were still there and looked like alert well rounded little critters, the new babies too were all healthy looking. They grazed the farm or 50 acres and were in a paddock with adequate shade, plenty of grass and a trough full of the most revolting stinky slops I've ever smelled. There were black and white ones, black ones and orangutan orange ones, all cute as buttons. Our little girl caught my eye because she wandered up to the trough, spotted a bobbing orange in the trough, climbed into the stinky mess, bobbed for her prize and then when she had it in her tiny little mouth wandered off with it looking for a safe place to consume it. He siblings all huddled around mum and suckled and bickered with each other. The older litter occasionally came in for a visit and mum was very rough with them, tossing them out of the way like they were ragdolls amidst shrieks of dismay. The little girl mixed with her older siblings and happily ate her orange under the tree. When she'd finished she wandered back, I put my hand through the fence, she came straight up to me and chewed on my finger. We asked the farmer what gender she was, he picked her up (very unceremoniously by the front legs) and presented her belly to us. Grab her Sam, I instructed, poor Sam grabbed her and held her close, I held her little face in my hands and soothed her protests. She quickly stopped her screaming, little black eyes staring out from ginger eyelashes. Then I held her and she snuggled, no protests at all. Sam had his eye on a black male from the same litter but this little guy was very clingy to his mum and screamed continuously the whole time Sam held him, there was no consoling this little guy. We put the little girl back, she didn't run off instead she hung around. It was a done deal, sometimes you just feel a connection and I did with this little ginger....oh my, another ginger for the family!
We decided to take her there and then, I wrapped her in some hessian and plopped her on my lap, no sooner had we driven down the driveway she wriggled out of the hessian and duly plopped ON my lap, and arm, in my hair followed by a pee. We emergency wet wiped the mess which added to the rancid slops smell that was ingrained in her coat. Sam suggested we pop in to see Kimberlee and give her a hose down...the pig not Kimberlee! So we dropped in to see Kim and the family and used little James' paddling pool to give her a rinse, Kim brought out some animal shampoo and a few towels so we gave her a really good clean up.
On the way home she snuggled and slept. We even popped into Pokeno for an ice-cream, little piglet finished my ice-cream cone with gusto, maple walnut ice-cream left on her nose. After her impromptu meal she found a comfy spot looking up at me, head between my boobs and reached up to chew on my chin before falling asleep until we got home.
Sam really had to put his foot down to me as I pleaded for him to let me keep her in the house for the night. We settled on her staying in the halfway house which is Hoby's kennel which seems to house new arrivals because it is secure, in the middle of everything and snuggly and warm, it is also beside Sheamus' enclosure so they would be able to get acquainted through the fence. As soon as we pulled up, Sheamus came over chewing on a bone or a stone and frothing at the mouth, he was hungry and had missed our company that evening. When little girl grunted, Sheamus grunted a reply back, they 'talked' for about a minute, it was quite profound.
We settled both porcines into their lodgings, Sheamus looked through the fence at little girl but quickly moved to his feed bowl when Sam dished up a dinner of apples, cabbage and lettuce. Little girl grunted hungrily too so I fed her some apples which she relished. Once she'd finished I let her wander for a while on her own while I put the goats to bed. By this stage it was 9pm but the goats still wanted a cuddle so I obliged, it is really hard not to want to spend time with such cute, interactive little beings. Then, before I too went to bed I put the little girl into the kennel and she settled down for the night. Sam checked her half an hour later and she was asleep, so too was Shamey.
Lately Sheamus has been lonely. He has been relentless is trying to befriend Hoby, we come home and find him asleep against Hoby's enclosure. He'll stand in front of Hoby's cage bobbing his head from side to side as if playing a game of peek-a-boo, Hoby barks at him completely enraged, Sheamus thinks its a great game.
We decided on a girl, for a few reasons. Sheamus is castrated, I don't like the idea of breeding animals, other than the chickens that take matters into their own hands, I haven't ever bred anything, choosing instead to adopt, usually a rescued animal. All little boys get the chop, testosterone is a powerful hormone without the satisfaction they seek I'm sure they'd go mad. All our other inhabitants have the company of someone of the opposite sex - Ella and Tarka, Mabel and Lucifer etc. Also, to castrate a male pig they need to go under the knife, it isn't a simple docking ring procedure, I don't feel we have the facilities at the moment to ensure a happy recovery in a secluded area without dust. And because I'm working full time and travelling 2 hours to get to and from work I can't dedicate the time I think is needed to nurse a little fella back to his happy self, having just lost the family jewels.
The first point of contact was obviously the SPCA but there weren't any pigs available so we found a few people advertising in the Auckland and Waikato areas. The first place we tried was just down the road and, well, it made me feel sick. The property was very nice, beautiful gardens and house, nice paddocks, very little grass but the animals seemed content enough. And believe me there were plenty of animals, they were everywhere, every nook and cranny. It was a breeding factory. There were little piglets, goat kids, foals everywhere in pens and small holding paddocks. There was a goat with a plaster cast on its leg, a foal with a raw shoulder and scours a sow with a new litter of piglets. They seemed well enough taken care of but the place was over populated, terribly. The lady was a business woman, wanting a sale above all else. I walked away from there not wanting to buy into her scheme, I have had nightmares about that place ever since. Our second phone call was to a lady also down the road who admitted also to having an overpopulated property, I couldn't even bring myself to go there, instead we headed to a place in Huntly, the man was a farmer and his daughter had always wanted a pig, so she got Suzie a kunekune sow. When the daughter moved to Australia agreed to look after Suzie, the farmer already had a boar called Grunter the inevitable happened when Suzie and Grunter shared an amorous moment together. She'd had a total of two litters (if that's the correct term, I'm not sure). Her babies from February were still there and looked like alert well rounded little critters, the new babies too were all healthy looking. They grazed the farm or 50 acres and were in a paddock with adequate shade, plenty of grass and a trough full of the most revolting stinky slops I've ever smelled. There were black and white ones, black ones and orangutan orange ones, all cute as buttons. Our little girl caught my eye because she wandered up to the trough, spotted a bobbing orange in the trough, climbed into the stinky mess, bobbed for her prize and then when she had it in her tiny little mouth wandered off with it looking for a safe place to consume it. He siblings all huddled around mum and suckled and bickered with each other. The older litter occasionally came in for a visit and mum was very rough with them, tossing them out of the way like they were ragdolls amidst shrieks of dismay. The little girl mixed with her older siblings and happily ate her orange under the tree. When she'd finished she wandered back, I put my hand through the fence, she came straight up to me and chewed on my finger. We asked the farmer what gender she was, he picked her up (very unceremoniously by the front legs) and presented her belly to us. Grab her Sam, I instructed, poor Sam grabbed her and held her close, I held her little face in my hands and soothed her protests. She quickly stopped her screaming, little black eyes staring out from ginger eyelashes. Then I held her and she snuggled, no protests at all. Sam had his eye on a black male from the same litter but this little guy was very clingy to his mum and screamed continuously the whole time Sam held him, there was no consoling this little guy. We put the little girl back, she didn't run off instead she hung around. It was a done deal, sometimes you just feel a connection and I did with this little ginger....oh my, another ginger for the family!
We decided to take her there and then, I wrapped her in some hessian and plopped her on my lap, no sooner had we driven down the driveway she wriggled out of the hessian and duly plopped ON my lap, and arm, in my hair followed by a pee. We emergency wet wiped the mess which added to the rancid slops smell that was ingrained in her coat. Sam suggested we pop in to see Kimberlee and give her a hose down...the pig not Kimberlee! So we dropped in to see Kim and the family and used little James' paddling pool to give her a rinse, Kim brought out some animal shampoo and a few towels so we gave her a really good clean up.
On the way home she snuggled and slept. We even popped into Pokeno for an ice-cream, little piglet finished my ice-cream cone with gusto, maple walnut ice-cream left on her nose. After her impromptu meal she found a comfy spot looking up at me, head between my boobs and reached up to chew on my chin before falling asleep until we got home.
Sam really had to put his foot down to me as I pleaded for him to let me keep her in the house for the night. We settled on her staying in the halfway house which is Hoby's kennel which seems to house new arrivals because it is secure, in the middle of everything and snuggly and warm, it is also beside Sheamus' enclosure so they would be able to get acquainted through the fence. As soon as we pulled up, Sheamus came over chewing on a bone or a stone and frothing at the mouth, he was hungry and had missed our company that evening. When little girl grunted, Sheamus grunted a reply back, they 'talked' for about a minute, it was quite profound.
We settled both porcines into their lodgings, Sheamus looked through the fence at little girl but quickly moved to his feed bowl when Sam dished up a dinner of apples, cabbage and lettuce. Little girl grunted hungrily too so I fed her some apples which she relished. Once she'd finished I let her wander for a while on her own while I put the goats to bed. By this stage it was 9pm but the goats still wanted a cuddle so I obliged, it is really hard not to want to spend time with such cute, interactive little beings. Then, before I too went to bed I put the little girl into the kennel and she settled down for the night. Sam checked her half an hour later and she was asleep, so too was Shamey.
Seeds everywhere.
Over the years I've built up a collection of seeds. My dad's always been a seed saver, keeping bean, pepper and lettuce seeds to regrow year after year. In my first garden in my suburban home I collected my chilli seeds, parsley and a coriander. The coriander seeds ended up in curry and dukkah (oops) and I'm not sure where the chilli ended up but I still have the parsley.
Then I collected beans from my crop here at the farm, beautiful dwarf plants with yellow, buttery pods containing purple beans. I shucked them later in the season once the pods became too stringy to eat.
Now I look through my collection of seeds that I've purchased and some that I gained from a seed saving box that had done the rounds of New Zealand. I joined a lifestyle farming forum and they had a seed saving box that you could subscribe to. I received the box and signed my name, I took seed and put some of my own seed in. What a fantastic idea these seed boxes are.
Here's what's in my own collection at the moment.
Gaillardia Pulchella - Indian Blanket - a wild flower from central America
Cineraria - I've always loved these, my parents had them pop up everywhere in their garden. I'm not sure what colour flowers these seeds will produce.
Sunflower Skyscraper
Nasturtium Mini
Californian Poppy
Garland Chrysanthemum
Calendula - Daisy Mix
Parsley
Pak Choi
Leek
Tomato Sweet 100 - I love this tomato, it did fantastic in my garden, I roasted the whole trusses in the oven with rock salt, pepper and olive oil.
Heirloom Tomatoes - Black Russian and Black from Tula
Turnip - Tokyo White Cross
Kohlrabi - Early Purple Vienna - two packets.....why?
Mini Pumpkin
Pumpkin | Gourd, elongated and fleshy (another collected by me...like my description?)
Squash - Buttercup
Lovich - a herb which is a great addition to soup apparently, this was collected by my dad.
Coriander
Chicory - Witloof - now this is so exciting because I have always loved the forced sprouts of witloof,
we slice them and dress them oil and vinegar. They're bitter but delicious.
Chicory - Fancy
Coriander - slow bolt
Radish - Easter Egg
Radish - Gourmet Blend
Heirloom Carrot - Nantes Scarlet
Carrots - Early Nantes 5
Lettuce - Fancy Leaf mixed
Heirloom Broccoli - Romanesco
Melon of some description
Onion - Pukekohe Long Keeper
Parsnip - Supersnip
Radicchio - Palla Rossa
Beetroot - Boltardy
Cress
Salad Mix
Rocket
Mesclun
Courgette - Green Bush
Black Corn
Popcorn
Red & Yellow Corn
Yard Long Bean
Black Navajo Corn
Soya Bean
Long John Green Dwarf
Broad Bean - Red
Purple King Climber
Sugar Snap Bean
Runner Bean
Dalmatian Beans - Climbing
Beans - Yellow Runner (collected by my dad)
Dwarf Butter Beans - yellow pods with purple beans (collected by me)
Dill
Lemongrass
Celeriac
Cape Gooseberry
Quite a collection isn't it.
To ensure that there's room for all these lovely new plants I needed to expand. I turned over the narrow garden strip beside the covered garden. Sam made me some mesh covered frames to protect the plants. I thinned out the covered garden by taking half a dozen of the cabbages out and replanting them in the newly prepared bed. Unfortunately during my lunch break the goats discovered the cabbage plants and nibbled away all the large leaves which has left me with a few pathetic corpse-like plants which may or may not survive.
I sewed some of the radishes and all the beetroot. Mmmm, I'll be having Borscht (Russian beetroot soup) in no time!
The globe artichoke is looking really good, it had about four heads on it, can't wait to steam them and drench them in garlic flavoured olive oil.
In the covered garden the weed laden, gravel path has always bothered me, it is horrible to stand on and harbours weeds so I weeded it for the final time and poured a couple of wheelbarrow loads of wood chip, it is now a much nicer surface to walk on and looks great.
The outside paths also got a few loads of wood chip, the mountain of wood chip is finally starting to diminish. I emptied and moved two of the compost bins, filled some tyres with compost and potatoes. Found a nice spot for a tee-pee frame for my large collection of beans and shoveled a few loads of horse and pig poo into to the newly placed compost bins to anchor them. The garden is takin shape, I'm thrilled with the new narrow garden and the frames that Sam constructed. I made a dinner with loads of herbs from the garden, always a rewarding experience.
Then I collected beans from my crop here at the farm, beautiful dwarf plants with yellow, buttery pods containing purple beans. I shucked them later in the season once the pods became too stringy to eat.
Now I look through my collection of seeds that I've purchased and some that I gained from a seed saving box that had done the rounds of New Zealand. I joined a lifestyle farming forum and they had a seed saving box that you could subscribe to. I received the box and signed my name, I took seed and put some of my own seed in. What a fantastic idea these seed boxes are.
Here's what's in my own collection at the moment.
Gaillardia Pulchella - Indian Blanket - a wild flower from central America
Cineraria - I've always loved these, my parents had them pop up everywhere in their garden. I'm not sure what colour flowers these seeds will produce.
Sunflower Skyscraper
Nasturtium Mini
Californian Poppy
Garland Chrysanthemum
Calendula - Daisy Mix
Parsley
Pak Choi
Leek
Tomato Sweet 100 - I love this tomato, it did fantastic in my garden, I roasted the whole trusses in the oven with rock salt, pepper and olive oil.
Heirloom Tomatoes - Black Russian and Black from Tula
Turnip - Tokyo White Cross
Kohlrabi - Early Purple Vienna - two packets.....why?
Mini Pumpkin
Pumpkin | Gourd, elongated and fleshy (another collected by me...like my description?)
Squash - Buttercup
Lovich - a herb which is a great addition to soup apparently, this was collected by my dad.
Coriander
Chicory - Witloof - now this is so exciting because I have always loved the forced sprouts of witloof,
we slice them and dress them oil and vinegar. They're bitter but delicious.
Chicory - Fancy
Coriander - slow bolt
Radish - Easter Egg
Radish - Gourmet Blend
Heirloom Carrot - Nantes Scarlet
Carrots - Early Nantes 5
Lettuce - Fancy Leaf mixed
Heirloom Broccoli - Romanesco
Melon of some description
Onion - Pukekohe Long Keeper
Parsnip - Supersnip
Radicchio - Palla Rossa
Beetroot - Boltardy
Cress
Salad Mix
Rocket
Mesclun
Courgette - Green Bush
Black Corn
Popcorn
Red & Yellow Corn
Yard Long Bean
Black Navajo Corn
Soya Bean
Long John Green Dwarf
Broad Bean - Red
Purple King Climber
Sugar Snap Bean
Runner Bean
Dalmatian Beans - Climbing
Beans - Yellow Runner (collected by my dad)
Dwarf Butter Beans - yellow pods with purple beans (collected by me)
Dill
Lemongrass
Celeriac
Cape Gooseberry
Quite a collection isn't it.
To ensure that there's room for all these lovely new plants I needed to expand. I turned over the narrow garden strip beside the covered garden. Sam made me some mesh covered frames to protect the plants. I thinned out the covered garden by taking half a dozen of the cabbages out and replanting them in the newly prepared bed. Unfortunately during my lunch break the goats discovered the cabbage plants and nibbled away all the large leaves which has left me with a few pathetic corpse-like plants which may or may not survive.
I sewed some of the radishes and all the beetroot. Mmmm, I'll be having Borscht (Russian beetroot soup) in no time!
The globe artichoke is looking really good, it had about four heads on it, can't wait to steam them and drench them in garlic flavoured olive oil.
In the covered garden the weed laden, gravel path has always bothered me, it is horrible to stand on and harbours weeds so I weeded it for the final time and poured a couple of wheelbarrow loads of wood chip, it is now a much nicer surface to walk on and looks great.
The outside paths also got a few loads of wood chip, the mountain of wood chip is finally starting to diminish. I emptied and moved two of the compost bins, filled some tyres with compost and potatoes. Found a nice spot for a tee-pee frame for my large collection of beans and shoveled a few loads of horse and pig poo into to the newly placed compost bins to anchor them. The garden is takin shape, I'm thrilled with the new narrow garden and the frames that Sam constructed. I made a dinner with loads of herbs from the garden, always a rewarding experience.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)