Our busy little corner of the world once again fell into that peaceful pool of ambient light, that adagio of gloaming. Yesterdays work floated along like a good wee farmy. I love it when we all search for a word. Words are such powerful scribbles. Such magnificent codes to decipher. You guys brought some perfect words into the comments conversation yesterday. 
The pigs began to eat from the kitchen, only left overs so far, but the bread and the eggs and the whey from the yoghurt making were home made. Evidently one has to hold one’s food down with ones elegant Hoofy FOOT so it cannot escape. Strawberries are tricky like that. In fact they like their fresh diet so much that they have not been eating the soy/corn mix that the hog farmer brought me quite so eagerly. Much to the delight of the barn chickens. Hmm. 
The little pigs were grunting with something akin to high exasperation when they realised that their other food was being stolen out from under their little piggie snouts. Those chickens better not get too brave.
You know that our goal is for the farm to feed the farm. To live simply eating good food we grow ourselves. Well the animals also get to eat the good food we grow. If you are newish maybe pop back to this post for some revelations of why this blog started in the first place. This summer we are aiming for Free days. Days when the farm feeds the farm. Truly sustainable days. These are called Free Days. The cows are already on those days, chomping away out in the meadows eating grass. Mama’s flock is very close. The pigs will get there, once I start milking Daisy. Then we can do without these nasty bags of smelly pig food ground so fine that I cannot work out what is in there at all. However it is important not to change an animals diet too drastically too fast.
On Monday Mia will come back into Mama’s flock. Do you see the little TonTon ears above the fence cross piece. He is back there watching. 
Daisy is till determined that there MUST be a way for a cow to open Pat’s gate. 
Oh dear .. more bottoms. 
Naturally we had winds again. There was a red flag warning in the area yesterday. High Fire risk.
TonTon would like to point out that even dogs get affected by the Bendy Tree winds. The wind is upsetting his DO.
Good morning. How are you all this morning? This Thursday is the Farmy Retirement Home day. TonTon and I will be taking a basket full of little chickens and Minty. I have made a slideshow of some of the blog pictures and TonTon is going to take his BALL. High excitement. The elderly residents are going to come and visit us in their meeting room in the Home so I thought that if I cordon off one area, they might like to take turns at rolling the ball to Ton or even throwing it to him (gently) and he will catch it and eagerly return it to them for more. I sense that there may be a teensy bit of unruliness, but that would be fun for the residents too! I will take you, in the camera.
So, we have two days to prepare for that and then this Friday night, now that everything is settled down, we are leaving John in charge of the farmy, and you and I are going to fly out to The Central Valley in California to meet a new member of my family. We will make a fabulous celebratory New Zealand dinner on Saturday night out there and I will even make pavlova! Then in the wee hours of Monday morning I will jump back on another plane and be whisked back to Illinois by lunchtime. (Where is my chauffered time machine when I want it!)
So we have a busy few days ahead of us you and I.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
58 responses to “Putting your Best Foot forward.”
Oh, I can’t wait to see the pictures from Thursday’s Retirement Home visit. And just look at what those pigs get — fresh strawberries and beautiful green beans and homemade bread! I could eat that for lunch around here.
Safe travels and I can’t wait to see the pavlova!
Your blog readers are going to get waaaay too attached to those pigs for our own good. When is Sheila coming?
First week of May i hope to collect Sheila.. and yes I I am looking forward to her also, it is so hard not to train these pigs.. c
Sounds like wonderful loving times ahead Celi!!! Have a blast!!! xo
I’m delighted that little Minty is ready to visit the Old Folks — what fun. Is TonTon ready to share the spotlight? Have a great time in California, even if it’s just to escape the wind.
The Home visit is going to be such fun for everyone! I imagine when Minty is full grown, trotting down the corridor, on first name terms with the residents.
What a fantastic thought!! c
“Oh dear .. more bottoms” I had to chuckle at that one! How cool you get to take animals to the retirement home! TonTon will sleep very well after all that ball time 🙂
On my Grandparent’s farm we used to take the kitchen scraps out to the pig pens. Uncles harvested a variety of grains, some was used to sustain the piggies over winter when there were less fresh leftovers from the garden. Oh how I miss those days when I read your blog 🙂
Excellent – have a good trip 😉
Look at Daisy.. she definitely looks like she’s investigating things lol. And it was great to see TonTon as always :).
Heee cute little pig’s foot! Enjoy the celebration and have a great trip xx
Oh I wish I could be there for the Home visit – that sounds like soooo much fun. I am picturing TonTon ,the chickies and Minty, alongside lots and lots of smiles
Fingers crossed!! c
This post feels full of that wonderful thing that happens when work seems to flow, one task to the next and it all adds up to the most satisfying kind of day. I can’t wait to read about the week’s adventures!
Hope the next few days go well, Celi. Beautiful pictures: that pig’s trotter is my favourite. You have such and affectionate eye for detail.
I like the photo of the chickens rear ends with TonTon in the background, with a stick in his mouth! Seems everything is running smoothly on the wee farmy. Don’t forget to take some pics at the Home of TonTon playing with the residents with his ball – that should be interesting, and I would imagine, a bit of excitement for the residents! Hope there aren’t any squabbles between them, fighting for the ball! Minty and the new chicks will be a big success there too – who can resist a cute little lamb and chirping baby chicks?
Oh no! Good thinking barb. I had better makes some rules about Sharing!1 c
Wonderful post. Can’t wait to read your post about the Farmy Retirement Home day (loving the idea, btw) 🙂