Tentative First Steps

Our wee fella, the tiniest of the little orphans, bless his little heart, rose up yesterday afternoon and very, very slowly –  took himself for a tiny walk.  He is trying to suck on the bottle now. I am calling this an improvement. He might make it yet.

We have gone FIVE whole days without a piggie break out.  A success! I completely changed the electric fence set up, putting the lower wire very, very low, so they cannot go under it. And it is working.  Finally I can strip graze the pigs across the field with a little confidence.

I am trying here to show you how much grass the field chickens eat. They cut a swathe through the pasture. If I do not shift them four times a day they will eat the pasture down to the ground which would be bad. I love the grass in my fields. Sometimes I hate to share it.  But that is fine, because with the light grazing and the chicken manure they leave behind (very generously scratching it in),  then add the  frequent small rains we have been having,  the fertiliser from the chicks has resulted in this.

Fantastic growth. The clover is shooting up in a long strip in the wake of the  ark and the bees are working again.

This has been a stunning experiment.

Sheila was fooling around too close to the chook house yesterday and busted a hole in the side. On purpose? Well, we have to ask ourselves. I will repair it  as best I can but like the drains in the kitchen and laundry -( the washing machine has been pumping grey water into the garden all summer through a hose out the window and I have been washing the dishes in a bucket and emptying the bucket in the garden 0 the gardens are loving this) because the under ground drains have collapsed  and are blocked –  and the gates which are not hung, and the doors in the barn that are broken, and the gutters that are down (I could go on and on), and the plastic house that is waiting  and the other work that I do not have time or cleverness for  – it will have to wait until Our John has a day off.  It will have to get in line! And winter is coming.  I know that sentence made very little sense but I am sure you get the jist.  

Naughty Sheila. Tired Celi.

 Good morning – here is something really exciting. My black walnut tree has grown some walnuts. It is only 6 years old. I am very impressed. The black walnut is a native  around here, (I have only just discovered.) So I am going to grow some of these trees for the Fellowship of the Farmy Forest! It makes perfect sense.  Shade for the cows and feed for the pigs. Got your name written all over it.

Wonderful.

Have  a lovely day.

your friend, celi

ps early this morning after the 4am feed (kittens) I added a few more star images to the Star Challenge.  Stars move!! Or is it us?

This top image with a little light catching the gable of the house, I am going to work on that one. I need a little more light on the structure, just a whisper, I might extend that idea into the image I am looking for. The next image of the The Orion? is not sharp. I need to work with these moving stars.

I merrily attach my camera to my new tripod to keep everything still but the stars are moving, I am moving, everything is moving. We think we are just sitting in our little lives but we are in perpetual motion hurtling around in space unsecurely strapped into our little lives. Buckle up.

c