This is what the very few people who drive down our country road are seeing.
Not much changing with Daisy though. She stands exactly here for most of the day. Watching the kitchen door for movement. Daisy is an Ayrshire. A very old breed of dairy cow. She is almost four. She is being milked once a day now, until late next spring – hopefully. Then she will get pregnant again and the whole cycle will recommence. Her milk feeds the house, the pigs, the baby animals (calves and lambs in spring). The cats, the dogs and even the poultry drink her milk. I make cheese, yoghurt, butter and ice-cream with her tasty raw milk. Her manure is used to make compost for the gardens. I call her the mother ship. 
On the left below – we have a portion of the barn flock. The Son of Neanderthol Man (Neanderthol Man is deceased) and the Son of the Son of Neanderthol Man and then his son Bob. There is a barn flock that have never been caged who do all the housekeeping in the barn keeping the straw turned over.
And on the right of your screen is The Duke of Kupa. He is going to be three this spring and in peacock terms that means he is coming into his prime and should be fertile.
Kupa has two wives, Tui and Pania who even I cannot tell apart anymore. We are rather hoping that this colourful grouping will result in peachicks this coming summer. In anticipation of this I have begun to put old tires full of straw in dark corners of the barn loft, to encourage the girls to nest somewhere safe.

Here we have Mia and Mama lounging about with Hairy MacLairy the biggest sweetest Dorset ram on the face of the earth. I think that Mama and Mia are both expecting. We are aiming for lambs in early April. 
And below – these two dancing naughties are Minty and Meadow. They are not allowed anywhere near a ram until next season. They are much too young and silly.
The Guinea Fowl are in their fourth winter. They are the noisiest group on the property and sleep with the peacocks and barn flock on the rafters in the top of the barn. 
I know I have missed the cats, and the laying chickens in their own coop. I shall introduce them tomorrow but I have a feeling I am missing someone else as well.
As you know every collection of images is from the last 24 hours. So you are always very current on the goings on in the farmy.
Good morning. I know that may of you comment on the green of the above patch of grass. It is frozen solid. It breaks as I walk over it. I gave up mowing too early last autumn so when the freeze hit it just froze the grass green. Just think blanched and quick frozen spinach. If I mowed it off now there would be nothing but brown. So I keep it. But hush. It is our secret. Everyone else thinks my grass is still growing!!
Have a lovely lovely day.
If the weather is not too bitter this afternoon The Matriarch and I are going to drag our chairs and a bottle of champagne out into The roofless wallless Coupe to have a celebratory drink. We will be well dressed against the cold and may even take blankets!!
celi





58 responses to “Part two of the farmy walkabout but have I missed somebody?”
Daisy is such a beautiful cow! Enjoy your celebration today. 🙂
We are so lucky.. c
Celi, I think you should turn part 1, 2 and 3 which is coming up with the kitties of Farmy Walkabout into a children’s book! Imagine how beautifully it will be with all the pictures of the animals and possibly you could use the Coupe (once finished) for the front cover.
Have a beautiful weekend.
🙂 Mandy xo
Maybe I will do something like that and just print a few copies for my childrens children and a few extras for friends.. they would make very cool gifts for bed time stories.. of course everything would need to be reshot on high resolution! c
I didn’t add my comments to your huge amount yesterday but will get on the list for today! What lovely pictures and even if it is cold outside the warmth of your love of your farm and all your critters oozes through and warms my heart. Obviously you are right where you are supposed to be even if it is in a different country !!! Glad you are here!
Beth Ann that is such a lovely thing to say, you are right after all this time I have found my home.. sometimes it takes a long long time to find ones place in this great life of ours.. Thank you and have a lovely day .. c
The Coupe is really taking shape!
morning darling!! c
What a marvelous introduction to the animals on your farm.
Now you are (almost) completely up to date, just a few more tomorrow.. c
In conjunction with the cataloguing of your livestock, the building of the Coupe has a similarity with the building of an ark:)
Excellent, in the event of a flood we can just flip it over, load it up and float away, We would need a dove though! c
A celebratory drink is definitely in order. We need photos of you, The Matriarch and John!
But who would take them? Maybe we can catch the last of the sun in a wine glass!! c
Lovely pics. What are your temps running? I know it must be much colder than it looks. It looks like we’ll have sun today and 35F! And it went to 20F last night so the ground froze. Yippee! I have to get out there for a while. Have a great day Celi!
we are going to be in the low 40’s today, lovely and warm! Another excellent poopy scooping day!! I am so excited!! c
You left out TonTon. My doggy friend will be cow-ed! There’s a picture and a little haiku on my blog about Kupa’s Plumes.
OK,, Ton for tomorrow, and now I shall zip over to see your words.. fantastic.. c
Bobby Blanc at a quick glance … and TonTon. 🙂 Laura
Ok TonTon there but not specifically named. Just Bobby Blanc then. Laura
ah yes Bobby Blanc and Ton, Ton was rather hiding in the long grass.. morning laura!
I love a walkabout to see who’s up to what. It’s always the first thing I do when I get back to the garden – a nice top to bottom stroll.
It is seems to put ones mind at rest when we can actually see and count everyone and everything, and know that all is well for the moment.. c
And, as passersby drive past, I’m sure they wonder, “What are they building?” Or do you have a sign out front, “Coupe under construction?”
Maybe I do need a sign. but almost no-one comes past here, I am sure the postman keeps everyone informed though!! c
That is so cool that Daisy feeds everyone on the farm. Do you have to add anything to the milk before you feed it to the lambs? I bet it is much healthier than milk replacer.
Nope I just give it to them straight. I have had all kinds of problems with lambs on milk replacer, I hate the stuff. With the cows milk I just make sure to give them less-often, rather than two great big feeds, I will feed them little feeds four or five or even six times a day for as long as I can bear it. Welcome Lisa. c
I’m with Viv, more about Ton Ton please. To me he seems to be the policeman (in that Keystone cops sort of way) on the farmy. Also, I’m with Chika and would like to humbly and very softly suggest you use the timer on your camera and take photos of yourself, matriarch, John, teens etc? I’d love to be able to put faces to the names. (You can tell me to bog the hell off.) 🙂
I would never tell you to Bog the hell Off!! brilliant expression though.. John does not want his face anywhere at anytime and nor does the recalcitrant teen, I shall ask The Matriarch tho.. you never know!! c
I love all the color amongst the browns of winter