I love that word: Storm. It has such weight! Such potential. Such compassion when it storms above your head but does not break it. And such callousness when it does.
The dogs and I walked the perimeter with Camera House between squalls yesterday to see what you might see and the benefit of all this rain is that the forage is heaving up out of the ground. But the ground is so soft that still no big animals are allowed on it! Which (as far as forage) puts us ahead of the game actually. We now have a few good fields full of feed.
But the uncovered fields are badly soaked.
Yet on the paddocks we have luscious long grass that only the middle sized animals are allowed to graze. In fact some of this will need topping soon!
There is flowering clover for the bees who won’t come out of the hive because being hit by a rain drop for a bee is a little like being hit by a flying cow for us. Due to the storms I have been unable to do an inspection. Maybe it will be calm today.
The creek down the back is still rising. The banks make this water about 20 feet deep. No more rain now please.
Ring the bell! We have an anniversary today!
A year ago today I went to the Swine Herds farm and picked up Charlotte and Sheila.
Charlotte and Sheilas first day on the farm!
Sheila on the left, Charlotte on the right. So cute. Unbearably cute actually. They were so small they escaped through the pig fence a day after this shot! Luckily Ton saw them zooming off down the lane and with two brooms I was able to herd them back. And am still herding them that way to this day!
And now they are big pigs. They stand as tall as the top of my leg and are strong enough for me to sit on them. Though lately their skin has been looking so dry and itchy. And we all know that itchy dry skin is just dreadful. Ghastly darlinks! So I have added flaxseed oil to their diet (I use it in my salad dressing too as I also have dry skin). They were rubbing like mad on everything. Scratching entire poles out of the ground. I also have been dusting behind their ears with diatomaceous earth in case of a topical problem. Thankfully they have settled down. I think the worst is over. I hope the worst is over.
I know this is not a super photograph but it made me laugh. They look like they have been out on the town all night! Like aging rock stars stumbling out of a Nightclub. Larking it up in Soho and then back to the Dive for a breakfast of tea and cold toast and a big sleep in their underwear on top of the bed because getting under the covers is just TOO HARD. Look at Sheila sitting there. A terrible shot. Just pretend it is film! Hilarious.
Good morning. Thanks to Marcia, one of The Fellowship, the milking problem has been solved. I used corks from wine bottles to plug up two of the milking cups last night after the two small quarters had been milked. You see these two teats stop giving milk way before the other two. By plugging the two that were finished the pressure increased in the cups still milking (instead of decreasing previously) and Daisy and I had a super milking session. Much faster than finishing by hand. Thank you Marcia. Marcia’s Plugs they are called.
This morning we will give the cows their final shots and at three this afternoon The Lady Vet will come over and breed both cows. So, think fertile thoughts!
Have a lovely day. I think we may be a little drier today. That would be nice. Though too much rain is always better than a drought for grass farmers.
your friend, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
67 responses to “Walkabout the Farmy between Storms and a Piggy Anniversary!”
When Rosie the pig got dry & itchy I put Avon Skin so Soft in a pump spray bottle and misted him with it. He smelled good, it moisturized him and it helped deter the mosquitoes. Only problem is the dirt tended to stick to it. I saw the same look on his face when I took him in to get his tusks cut and he had a hard time coming out of the sedative – looked like the worst, most miserable hangover ever!
Oh dear! The city girl in me has definitely resurfaced looking at your photos! I would be 100x happier any day to look like the Shush Sisters and come out of a Soho club at 6 am [well, it used to be more 3 am for me!] rather than stand on the ground to see those clouds in your number one photo coming towards me 🙂 !
I’ll do the 3 am with you!! That sounds grand! c
One day 🙂 !
Your first image is stunning. Charlotte & Sheila look like they need a Berocca 😉
Oh berocca, i love that stuff!! c
TonTon’s hiding! And those are intense storm photos!
Lovely grey, rainy weather photos. Thinking of you every time we hear of more tornadoes in the US midwest. Our dear deceased doggie’s name was Storm. X
Wonderful photograph of some pretty nasty clouds, Celi. It sure was a foul day today. The sun never came out nor did we get much over 50˚. I hope you escaped all this and got enough sun to start drying things a bit. Who would have seen this coming last August when everything was so dry? The Shush Sisters have been on the farmy one year already? How empty the farmy would seem without them!
One of Zia’s favorite sayings is, “Better days are coming.” Let’s hope she’s right and those days are drier with a great deal of sun. 🙂
I love how the Fellowship works together, sharing ideas and solutions to problems. What a creative and caring bunch! Ton Ton is almost hidden in the tall grass. I imagine the animals are looking forward to the day when they can get out there and eat where “the grass is greener.”
When I saw that first storm shot, I did a double take. It looks nearly identical, minus the foreground fence, to a shot I took several years ago of storm clouds rolling in across the prairie. The clouds hung so low I swore they would kiss the ground. It was frightening really. The same system hit my hometown with 90-100 mph winds, causing significant damage, and spawned a tornado in a neighboring town. And we really do not want to talk about tornadoes, do we?
Love the 2nd, 4th, and 5th picture. It was such fun as a kid to run through fields high with flowers..when it was dry. Nota fan of the muddy ones either, Blue…would suck the shoes right off of you (no need to tell us to stay off the wet fields…cleaning shoes and walking in one wet sock once was enough.)
I hope you are all keeping dry; sounds like you may need to build an ark soon! We have had our share of storms out here too. I know we really really really need the rain I just didn’t want it all at once!