Hairy MacLairy the ram makes some unusual friendships. 
But this must be the strangest of them so far.
Sheila were you over there kissing that ram? No Miss C is was not me. It was Charlotte. She’s smelly can I bite her?
I only want to kiss you Miss C. Why don’t you come closer so I can nibble, I mean, kiss you. I don’t kiss sheep. I am a nice piggie. 
Charlotte is the one.
Queenie arrives at the fence on her tip toes. This heifer is getting so wide she sways as she walks. You want me to sort it out? I can you know, says Queenie. I can head butt her for you.
No, thank you Queenie honey. That is such a sweet offer but I think I can manage.
April asked how big The plonkers were getting. 
That big. They have a tunnel to the outside field where there is more shade in the afternoon. Half the time there is a Plonker asleep in the tunnel!
The temperatures rose to 100F (38C) again yesterday with dreadful humidity. So once again I hosed down animals and refreshed water throughout the day. Mama’s lambs were so stonkered by the heat that they just lay about sleeping in the shade, with the occasional sortie out for food and water. Forgetting completely that they had been separated from their mother. Mama is more upset by her restricted diet than anything now. She ate her small serving of dry grass hay with very bad grace. Last night all was quiet.
Tomorrow I will have been blogging for a year. So I shall be constructing a special post for July 4th. If all goes well.. sometimes the farmy happenings do get in the way. There is a change coming you see. I have a job for you.
One of my reasons for blogging was to train myself to write every day. I had intended to do this for a year then swap the blog writing time into book writing time, using the blog as a resource for a book of stories in chronological order describing a year on the farmy. Taking it down and taking it apart. Operating on it as though it were a dry thing. In the beginning I saw the blog as a collection of words and pictures. All that changed because of you.
This journal has become a resource in more ways than the obvious. I now have a pool of good friends with international advice and incredible support in this often solitary venture. And I cannot bear to lose you.
To close the blog and scuttle back under my rock with all my loot now seems callous and unusually cruel, because I know you are there now. You are my smiling baby and I cannot take my eyes off you. You have become part of the farmy. My companions. Your own personalities and knowledge have been woven into my work. And I love to form my words and create the images and make notes throughout the days knowing I will share these with you upon the next dawn. As Bill said, it is easier to write when you are writing for a person, for a reader. (If you have a moment check out Bill’s page, he put the sweetest childrens story up yesterday, for you to read to the littlees!)
And I have hundreds of you readers. So I am very lucky to be able to write to you. Some of you cannot comment or advise. And there are a precious number of you who comment almost every day, or once a week, or once a month and sometimes only once and you are the most vocal of the Companions of the Farmy. All of you have become part of the fabric of the Farmy. I could never have seen that coming.
Good Morning. Of course I will keep my Farmy Door Open for a long time yet. I don’t think there was ever a question. However to achieve the next objective AND to blog daily, I need your help to compile the first book of Farm Chapters. We will be needing a working title. There will be 12 chapters.
So from tomorrow, I shall give you the link to ‘What happened on the Farmy on this Date A Year Ago.’ (There must be a more concise way to say that.) This takes both you and I back to look and choose. (Though in the beginning I did not blog every day so it will not be too arduous). I believe there is even a WordPress programme with which we can turn the best of the blog into a book. Though I also want to be able to print it. (I love books) There is a lot for me to learn. Each page we choose will have to have work. Usually I get it all written in an hour in the morning. So the book version will be screeds better. And lately I am not writing so well. I will have to pull my socks up!
What a journey we are about to embark on. But first I need to get out there and milk my cow!
I will be back in a couple of hours to see what you think. By then I will be armed with coffee and breakfast and ready to begin the writing work.
celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
123 responses to “Hairy MacLairy gets some Piggy Kisses”
But you MUST keep blogging!!! What would we do without our farm reports?
Morning Debra.. c
Early congrats on a whole year! Keep on blogging, you would be too missed if you ever dared go. Don’t make us send one of the piggies after you! 🙂
morning, C! Those piggy kisses made me smile early this morning.
I think it’s wonderful that you now have a record of everything that happened, looking back and reflecting on the year, but also a very supportive community of not only friends, but also a readymade market test group of readers! 🙂 Well done on your (almost) anniversary!
We are a community Ksenia, that is exactly the word. An overused word out there in the wide world but it the one for us! c
Don’t confuse ‘not writing as much’ with ‘not writing as well’. Your workload increased exponetially with the milking and the arrival of all the pigs; the shorter posts are a given. But the Celie Voice still shines through…
How long til the plonkers wind up in the freezer?
All the fresh food is just starting to come out of the gardens and into their buckets so the big pigs will be around for while yet.. c
Morning Celi. Adorable photos. Looking forward to taking a step back in time with you. Enjoy your breakfast. Have a lovely day.
Regards Florence x
Morning Florence! c
my kids call me marmy so i am sure if i were you, the book would be marmy on the farmy….groan!!! there are few blogs i read that i enjoy as much as yours. i feel as though i know every step on the farm and each individual animal. i have wanted a small farm for most of my life and i feel as though i have a virtual one now. the moment i read the title of this morning’s post, i had a huge smile just sitting here in my kitchen! blog on dear sweet woman!
marmy on the farmy!! you are hilarious! c
Morning, c! I also find titles difficult. I’ve just rewritten and tweaked an old piece that I wrote last year, and I still can’t put a suitable title to it. I’ll look forward to this endeavour we’re about to stumble into!
Stumble being the operative word! c
Morning Miss C, congratulations on a wonderful farmy year! Look at Hairy and his delightful girls.
I will miss your post before I go to bed each night; it’s been a splendid year.
I hope I will be chatting with you each night for a while yet, c
I was hoping for the book! But the blog goes with my coffee each morning…
Morning Alice, books take time don’t they! Blogs are so instant! c
Still, I have thought your blog would be a wonderful book. Sort of a Year in Provence-ish. Can’t wait to see what’s next!
Lovely piggysheepycowykissespictures! Please don’t stop blogging, Celie. You make my day, every day. Congrats on the year. And the followers – isn’t it a wonderful way to make friends?
I achieved 60 thousand visits yesterday. And that feels pretty good, too. If you find out how to turn a WP blog into a book, do let us know: I’d love to do that with my poems, and I’ve put my novella into a new fiction page that I would prefer to be paper!
60 thousand visits that is fantastic. i think that together we can find some pretty good ways to turn the Best of a Blog into a book. Sometimes I think what to leave OUT may be the toughest part! I also prefer paper, i plant a lot of trees to make up for it!! c
I’ve looked around a bit.. I’m sure you’ve heard of http://www.blurb.com website? Apparently it can funnel your blog posts into a book. Mine didn’t work, though, maybe I have too many photos and word formats? I think it can be done manually, which is likely better beause I’d want to pick and choose the posts I use…. I just haven’t had the time to work on it.
c.. it’s been so lovely to have met you and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed your blog, I look forward to reminiscing with you as we look back through this past year… best of luck with the next “chapter” of your life… xo Smidge
Thank you .. i shall check out the site.. lots of learn.Only very few of my pages would get into a book and they will all be edited and finished properly. At least with a book i will be able to use more words!! c
😀
So do we, and we let dozens of self-sewn trees survive or replant (these are called volunteers) I will look at that blurb site.
Well first of all, I need to tell you that I am thankful that you are not closing down shop with your blog! I look forward to it every single day and it’s the first one I look for. I would be so sad without knowing what’s happening on the farmy and not being a part of your day! 🙂 I think a book is a fantastic idea!
The Plonkers ARE big! Charlotte and Sheila don’t look quite as big next to Hairy Maclairy. Are you sure he was head butting…maybe he was loving those kisses and just nuzzling. Ha!
Have a lovely day. We are celebrating my son’s birthday early today and then are headed out to camp for a few days.
~ April
he literally stood there while they nuzzled and nibbled at his head.. I think he has done this often as there was no hesitation on either side.. so cute.. so naughty, c
This line should get a prize: “But first I need to get out there and milk my cow!” I wish I could use it sometime, but everyone would think I was nuts as there is no cow. Congratulations on the undertaking of your book. We will support you no matter how you decide to book-write/blog. I would miss this, but dreams are not to be set aside…I look forward to seeing the blog posts, I hadn’t yet read…it will be fun. Now I’m gonna reread your last post on making yogurt. I am determined to do this, even though my life is urban schmurban. All the best…
Let me know how your yoghurt works out, it is too good to miss out on esp if you like greek unsweetened yoghurt! c
Good idea. Check out Blurb.com in San Francisco for making a book or Paper Chase http://www.paperchase.net/ in New York. Some sizes work out expensive but people can buy cheap versions for iPhone or iPad. Good luck:)
I just looked at paperchase and we are onto something there and the challenge with print, is finding the ORIGINALS of all my images! I am the worlds worst filer! And as you can imagine most of the photos are hand held!! c
It’s lovely how all your farmy friends are forming their own friendships. 38C if very hot for Kiwi. Congrats on your first year blogoversary and I’m so pleased you’re going to stay with us. Looking forward to all that is to come in the day, weeks, months and years ahead xx
Hmmm, my comment seems to have vaporised. It’s lovely to see your farmy friends making their own friendships. 38C is very hot for a Kiwi. We didn’t have temps that hot this year in our coldest summer on record. Congrats on your first year anniversary and may there be many more to come xx
Look up.. i think that is you.. and you are right.. i did not grow up with heat like this! We would have closed the school and all gone home days ago!! c