Though his multi coloured tail is almost gone, The Duke of Kupa is still a gorgeous bird.
The tail feathers I am finding now are shorter and fluffier.
The piglets are still exploring their new boundaries and threes times yesterday Ton was sent out to “See the Piggies” . This is his command to find someone. “See John”or “See Daisy.”
” Ton, See Piggies!.” He will shoot to their run at top speed then race around the corner – head up looking. The moment he sees them he runs back to me then runs back to them. And goes down and watches them. They don’t need herding. I just call to them” Piggie, Piggie!” And they drop what they are doing (usually climbing all over Queenie or playing in the mud around the cows water) and they fly at top speed back to their own pen, Ton right behind the last one, under fences, through gates (Ton goes over the gates once they are all through) and zoom like torpedoes to their bowls where I have left treats. Their favourites are oats, eggs, silverbeet, or tomatoes. I always make sure there are treats there so they get their reward. Either I slam the door shut (which I hate to do as their toilet is out in their little field but they have to be locked in at night) or I just prepare myself for another retrieval. Today I put their new electric fence up.
When TonTon is working like this Boo is commanded to “Get Behind” which means he stays at my heel. He is too young to be managing animals yet. He is only allowed to watch. Which drives him crazy!
When Ton is not finding giggling piglets. He is guarding the Black Mariah. Just in case a chicken falls out. Can you see him under there? One chick fell out once (another little dog nose had nudged the box gate inwards a little) and he followed it all over the lawn, trying to herd it, until I noticed it. He is still not convinced that they should be in there. When the chicks go out onto the grass we will back the trailer up to the compost heap and just hose all the dirty straw straight out.
I need to tell you that I have decided that Charlotte will have to go. The fights through the gate are escalating and quite horrendous. Having two huge pigs literally at each others throats is untenable. Charlotte chases everyone out of her field including the dogs and now Sheila is becoming stroppy and bad tempered as well. It is very hard to keep chickens and dogs and cats out of the fields. This is a difficult but necessary decision for the good of the farm and I probably will not discuss it again. This is a little farm here. Not a zoo. My resources and space for the food farm are limited. It is an ecosystem and must be harmonious. She has had homeopathic remedies and conventional remedies. But there is nothing physically wrong with her. She is very healthy but out of control. Going on 600 pounds of out of control. Even if I wanted to I cannot breed her again as the Swine Herd will not have a fighting sow on his property. So I must be very tough with myself.
Rough isn’t it. But now it is time to hand the baton over to Sheila. My original plan was to have one pig. But I got talked into two little piglets by the swine herd. I should have stood my ground as managing two difficult pigs on this little tiny property is proving impossible. I accept responsibility. But I would be hugely grateful if we could just leave it at that. Let’s talk about the successes today.
My new header is an alfalfa flower in the hay field. This crop will be smaller but it will be the best one if we get it out in time. The field is quite beautiful.
Very promising. I shall call the hay man today and tell him we are almost ready. The field is not too tall but a little flower is an indication that the plant has gathered enough protein. We do not want too much flower then all the protein will be used up in flowering.
Good morning. Our John is going to have a look in another farm machinery auction place tonight for a hay elevator thingy. Like this one but closer to home. They are harder to find than we thought. With his job taking him off the farm so much lately leaving me to work alone, which is wearing me down a bit, so we hope to find one so I don’t have to lift quite so much hay into the barn by myself.
Let’s have a lovely day today. I know some days are better than others but we can always find some loveliness.
your friend, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
86 responses to “Fly Away Home”
The Duke is gorgeous – so colorful and beautiful. And well the piggies – you know how I feel about me some piggies 🙂 How is my main squeeze doing lately? She still being ill or has she gotten over that lately? And the chicks – I’ve never seen any up close like that before. I’ve led such a sheltered life here at the Hotel Thompson! I gotta get out more. XOXO – Bacon
I’m glad to here you’re looking for a hay elevator… your post on you doing the job by hand had me getting tired… If you have this cut of hay will you then be set for winter??… the field sure looks good and yep “too much flower, not enough power”… I’m fascinated at the speed the hoekoes are growing… The peacock is a beautiful bird even without his tail… the wing colouring is for me gorgeous…
The field is beautiful – love the flower’s announcement that it’s time.
Do you think Kupa rather enjoys having a lighter tail? Kind of like when a person feels after getting bang and hair cut after it’s gotten ignored and heavy?
Love the piggy round-up description ( you are so good with dog training) and the chick babysitting.
(my post today’s about organic farming certification controversy – know you’ve got some ideas on that.)
loved your post today, gave me an opportunity to have a little rant! i love a good rant! c
naughty pigs and heavy hay bales can make things tense – definitely welcomed to rant along anytime.
Celi, if you can grab a minute, read the Writer’s Almanac poem today, “Virgil’s Bees,” by Carol Ann Duffy. It will lift your spirits, I think. Here’s the link (shortened): http://bit.ly/13Hgjl1
Thank you gerry, i have just finished the new fence, now I need to fill up the waters (Daisy’s trough has sprung a leak so it needs changing out! And the troughs are HEAVY and ungainly) then i will clean up and be in for coffee and breakfast. only 10.30 so far. And i will go read this poem while i et my breakfast. My spirits are a heavy lift. c
stunning poem and GREAT site, i will visit it often i think! Thank you Gerry.. c
I always knew that farming was lots of physical work– but some of the emotional decisions that go along with it are fascinating to me, a city girl. I don’t envy you, but feel that you have the good of everyone at heart. What an amazing life you live.
It certainly has turned out to be quite a life! morning Ally..c
Hey my dear friend – you are doing a GREAT job! And have a good head on your shoulders for the right decisions (and that is all I will say on that).
Phoned the vet yesterday to say that Shelly has completely stopped eating now as she suspects every morsel of food to have the dreaded pill in it! Forcing her mouth open and throwing pills down it didn’t work – she puked them back up!! So I’ve been told to stop giving them to her for a few days to get her back to eating again, Then pull the capsules apart, put powder in a little dish with some carnation milk or coffee cream, suck it up in a syringe, and squirt that down her throat, but only AFTER she has eaten. Wish me luck LOL
Sam is my herder and will stalk the last chicken and move it towards the gate to their run and hut at night for me. He is really good at it too.
Just planted 30 cabbages, Kale and Broccoli for the winter. Waiting on the Brussels Sprouts in the green house as I started them a little late. Hot and humid here with tons of bugs, but have to keep on top of my (and three others) garden or winter will be here before I know it! Just wish the rain would stay away as digging potatoes out of heavy wet clay is not fun!
What an excellent idea to squirt it down her throat. poor dog. She is having such a time. Can she eat raw meat, maybe some gravy beef would go down well.Or at least as a treat after you squirt the stuff down her throat. Wish we could find you some raw milk, her tummy is probably having a hard time with the Anti.B’s.. maybe you could put the powder from the pill into a pro biotic drink (when you start again) and try and kill two birds with one stone. I hear that pumpkin is good for dogs too as a rebalance but i have never been able to get anyone but Boo to eat pumpkin.. You are going to have a fantastic winter garden. Poor Shelly. c
Have you tried yogurt as a pill chaser? AntiB’s kill all the bacteria – and good homemade yogurt with active cultures are perfect for that. Plus, you don’t have any lactose issues with it.
I had a dog who was terminally ill and was rejecting his pain medicine. After all the conventional techniques were tried I taught our other dog to lay patiently by for her treat. I just started handing out goodies and if Mr. Sicko rejected them the Good Pup snarfed them up. Mr. Sicko dissected a couple of the treats and then got with the program and swallowed them whole. I would always end with a larger chunk of the treat. Good Pup always got her share for waiting.
I am so enthralled with Kupa…a lovely bird !! Ton is a great dog and
so well trained C !! Boo is coming right along and I know from training
my dog it is a huge undertaking to have a well trained dog. Well worth it
but a lot of work and time !! I am so happy for you and your farmy !!
Congratulations on such a hard decision…..you gave her EVERY chance
and she is miserable. Deep breath and on we go . There is so
much positive to celebrate. N
Deep breathing .. thank you nanster.. c
Agree with Nanster, you gave her a lot of chances. Sorry for the decision you had to make but it’s probably all for the best. Ton is quite the dog. Don’t know anything about peacocks, is it usual for them to lose their tail feathers?
They lose their tail feathers t the end of every summer then regrow over the winter, so he will have a long beautiful tail by spring.. fantastic isn’t it! c
The hay elevator would be a blessing for you, I hope you find one soon. I’m glad you have Sheila, otherwise, you may never have known how sweet some pigs can be.
I am having a lovely day here in the fog, singing and resting and, no doubt, processing apples and pears into things. Charlotte had a good life with Sheila for awhile. Then things changed.
Well put darling girl, singing over the pears sounds lovely, ours are not quite ready yet! c
charlotte has to go to the land of the Terrible Tempered Tommy Bangs (from Little Men, Louisa May Alcott)
Terrible Tempered Tommy bangs. I like that!! I think I read those books too young, i need a revisit.. c
I love your TonTon, love the fact he JUMPS the fence when he’s through herding, and I love seeing him (the teeny-weeny white tip of his tail is all) under the chickens. I love learning that alfalfa has protein. Who knew?? Not me. And that the flower indicates enough. Just amazing. I know horses are fed alfalfa, but I don’t think exclusively. This blog is like an extraordinary four-year course in not only animal but also land husbandry.
A very deep thought that.. land husbandry.. we are all learning together and aren’t we enjoying it, loving it, hating it and living it! ..take care.. how is that ipad doing? c
Great header photo, Celi, not just because it’s a pretty flower but for what it means: the animals will eat good this Winter. Success! That Ton is one incredible dog, standing guard under the Black Mariah. I’d ask permission to bring Max to the farmy for a few days so that he could learn a few things from Ton but, heaven forbid, what if the reverse happened? I think they’re both better left with dozens of miles between them. 🙂
Max would be teaching Boo a few tricks I bet. And Boo would be a willing pupil! c
Max & Boo shall never meet. The World isn’t ready.
Laugh!! an alliance from Hell!!
I’m so sorry about Charlotte. It’s a tough decision, but you’ve given her every opportunity.
Good boy, Ton! One day Boo will be as good a working dog as you!
I think Boo is going to be good, now I am off to your place to see how the baby turtles are coming along. Any new pics? c
Several!
As hard as it is you are making the right decision. We have been there and done that…not once, but more than once. Cows seem to be the worst problem for us—and it didn’t matter if they were milking cows or breeding stock. Bad habits show up in all types of animals and in people. With people we just move on out of their way and try to never be where they are again. (This statement could be a long winded one, but I leave it there.) For animals you MUST make the tough call — there is no other way.
We had to sell a wonderful milk cow once because she would NOT stop jumping fences. (The grass is greener and all that stuff). After she tore her bag to bits I said…ENOUGH. We had a horse we sold for the same reason. I had to take care of more than one rooster for being mean, meaner, and meanest…you just can’t have that anywhere at any time. I could tell you about an evil sheep and a goat that wouldn’t stay off the top of cars…..
Hugs! You are on the right track! You first, the health of the farm/land second and if a bad one won’t settle down…..
♬♬♬
Linda
http://coloradofarmlife.wordpress.com
http://deltacountyhistoricalsociety.wordpress.com
well you made me just LAUGH, which is great. We had a sheep that jumped on cars! Daisy is the worst as she leans on the fences and brings them down that way, but i am going to put up more electric fences to stop that, i am getting quite good at the fencing..How terrible to have a milking cow that jumped fences, that must have been awful. Take care darling .. hope all is well over there and getting better.. c