Look at this tiny Marmalade Cat.. climbing up onto Boo Nannys head. Boo stays very still and then very slowly turns his imploring eyes to me with a ‘how long can this go on’ look. Long time Boo, sorry buddy.
The Duke of Kupa knows that this warm sunshine is on the wane so he sits. And he waits. For the wane.
I had a friend tell me the other day that he could never trust his pigs around his chickens, he said they hunted them and ate them. Well, I guess my piggies are not that hungry.
Yesterday I rotated the cows and sheep into their clean pastures. This is my favourite part of the week, calling them through, then watching them drop their heads into the long tasty grass and all I can hear is that tear and munch of big happy mouths.
All the girls are back into one flock, Hairy the ram is fighting everyone – including me. This happens with hand reared rams. They get too familiar. So he has gone into solitary splendour. I will probably have to sell him this winter. Or swap him for another fresh ram for the girls. He has repeatedly broken in with Minty and Meadow (with the help of Charlotte that time) but so far we have kept him away from Tilly. On such a tiny farm a big ram like that is hard to manage. I was not paying attention the other day and he head butted me in the back, gave me such a fright. Usually he is such a pet, but you should never turn your back on a ram, especially at this time of year. I know this.
Daisy.
And Queenie.
In Pats Paddock. Eating and Gestating. Everyone gets a bucket of apples each day until I have stripped all the trees. So both cows are lovely and shiny and well fed.
Look at that lovely pasture. We are so lucky it has lasted this long. Next year, if all goes well, there will be four cows on these fields, so it will be a different picture.
Good morning. I am up early, early. 3 am early actually. The Marmalade kitten is fed and back to sleep. Even the dogs have gone back to bed but I cannot sleep tonight. So I am having a cup of tea beside the fire. Our first fire of the year. We heat the whole house with this woodburning stove (though the bedrooms are never that warm – which I prefer) and all winter I will cook on it too.
Soon I am going to pull the fridge out as I can smell a dead mouse. I loathe that smell and I will not be able to settle until I find it and get it out of the house. And they almost always choose to die next to the motor of the fridge. Bloody mice.
You all have a lovely day.
After I have crawled around the kitchen on my hands and knees looking for dead things I might go back to bed too.
Your friend, celi
The Kitchen's Garden 
98 responses to “Yes, that is a Marmalade Kitten climbing onto a BooNanny’s head”
Everyone seems to be up early… & I thought I was the only one! Good Morning to everyone! And thanks to Celi for all that you share with us. I just love reading about the Farmy every morning, a lot of parallels with our ranch. Have a wonderful day everyone
Morning Virginia, I hope you have a wonderful day too.. c
May your little orange fur ball grow up to be a mouser and stay in the yard around the house to help you keep them out.
Pigs who eat chickens my never heard of that so glad yours seem to get along together.
I think pigs and chickens are a match made in heaven, I call the chickens the housekeepers! c
Yes like companion plants in a garden 🙂
something i need to spend more time on.. maybe you can teach me about that next spring.. c
Sure! Helps keep pests away 🙂 Pretty too 🙂
I especially like the photo of Daisy looking so thick and solid! Beautiful photos…a lovely way to start my way. It seems like such a tranquil moment by the fire.
It was nice to just sit by the fire this morning, Hope you two are having a good Sunday Natalia.. c
There should be a law against 3am Sunday morning wake-ups. Told Chloe of the second kitten and of Marmi cat and showed her yesterday’s photos. She sends her love. 🙂
Oh, send my love straight back to Chloe too. Lovely girl.. c
Hope the day comes when Marmalade decides he’s ready to hunt your mice before they can snuggle up to the fridge motor and die! In the meantime, as high maintenance as he is he’s also adorable. As Boo has obviously learned. 🙂
Yes, I need a few more good mousers. Egoli is very good and has taken to leaving dead mice at the door of the pigs run. Which is kind of sweet. c
Dead mouse in the house? Yikes! Good thing Boo is raising two future mousers for you. Photos are beautiful, especially those of the Marmalade and Daisy. Take a Sunday nap, Celi, I highly recommend it! 🙂
I would love a Sunday nap, we will see.. c
Helloooo from Down Under! 🙂
I am the opposite to you and often don’t like to crash until 3am! Love the peaceful ‘winding down’ feel to your posts lately, despite the sad kitten news … Boo is making a fine Mummy for Marmalade, what a champ!
We had a mouse crawl into our computer tower {you know those old clunker towers from decades ago?} It died in there and I had to pull it apart to get the little bugger out! To this day I remember that horrid smell! Hope you find yours! 🙂
Midnight here so I am off for an early night zzz zzz zzzzzzz
How on earth do you stay up that late. wow, fancy a dead mouse in the computer.. most unfortunate.. c
Celi–looks so lovely there. We are in the mist of crazy Salem Halloween so of course I want to escape to your farm. And I have followed the kitten chronicles avidly, with tears and cheers. Black cats are actually endangered at this time, so our local shelter stops adopting them out, but this past week some horrible person actually STOLE a little black kitten–with an intestinal condition–now everyone is searching for him. Donna
Why are they endangered?.. the mind boggles. You would think they would all have their own black cats.. c
Good luck with the hunt Celi! Try to get some sleep 😉
That kitten is adorable! 😉
Morning giovanna! c
I like that you sat quietly with a cup of tea – at least for a few moments. I worry that you don’t take enough quiet moments, just for you!
Oh I do. Especially when i am out in the fields. I often sit in the long grass and drift off into my head. c
oh good! great even.
Queenie is really chunky for a cow. I was sure she was a bull at first glance, until I looked underneath her! You have some supersized animals, don’t you, what with your amazing rarebreed pigs?
Daisy is especially big. And square too, she is almost a caricuture of a cow.. Morning sarah..c
You know how I feel about mice. But better dead than alive.
Though i would not have been sad to see it WALK out the door before dying.. c
What a difference in the kitten since the last visit to the vet. Antibiotics work wonders when needed, don’t they? We once had a mouse build a nest in my oven’s insulation and then when I turned the oven on….oh wow….what a stink. Had to have a handyman come out and help hubby tear the thing apart. Nothing like the smell of baked mice. Then couldn’t use stove top or oven for 2 weeks waiting for parts. These new stoves have a million wires. Your beautiful cow is a sight to see. You are so lucky to have such lush pasture, too, this time of year. We had one of our streers butchered a few days ago and the other one got so lonely he jumped the fence into my neighbor’s bull pasture and settled right in. The bulls seem to like him….no problems. We and our neighbor have reached an agreement to allow him to stay there until they move the bulls for winter. Maybe the steer will take to the sheep as friends.
What a beautiful place you have!
What an excellent arrangement, the Bobby was like that – he hated to be alone, paced and cried… but the one before him did not care at all.. c
Never turn your back on a ram! They are such bullies.
You picked a good one with that Boo – great temperament for a farm dog.
It’s beginning to be cool here – so the little field mice are looking for a winter home – and we are scrambling to keep them out….only one mousie allowed on this keyboard!
Hope you have a perfect day – and are able to float a bit and rest.
It is a strange day, windy and cloudy but warm enough. I have john home for half a day so I am trying to get some of the heavy work done.. c
Ducks are arriving here – think cold weather is not too far. Hugs to all ( and glad you have company today!)
Ducks!! Lovely, I like ducks. c
That kitty is so darn cute. When our Moe was a kitten, Lola (Bernese Mtn Dog) used to slide her nose onto the bed so that Moe could climb onto her big ol’ Berner nose & while Moe would give rabbit punches, Lola would just bounce him for a little ride. They did that every night – until Moe got his big cat claws then it wasn’t so much fun for Lola.
That is so awfully sweet, what a lovely name Lola has.. c