Up and Running

Yesterday we found a great home for Elsie and Beatrix Potter. The Dutch Belted Cow and calf. Their new owners are cow people with fields and a similar way of thinking to us. Their animals are raised in an old fashioned way on grass.   So I am confident that they will both get the best care and attention.  Potter will be their future house cow.  What surprised me is how fast they sold.  But who could turn down that face.

As an extra bonus they have a bred Hereford gilt! So hopefully if all goes well I can buy a little boar from them. So between us we can help breed each others animals. That is a bonus.

Naomi turned a corner yesterday and began to actually run everywhere. She has been a bit slow to find her ‘get up and go’, but I think that she has finally got over the  shock of no longer being in utero and is coming alive. Though compared to Potter she is still a small calf.

Her mother is still milking for me every morning though she has woken up as well and is getting a bit kicky but I am still able to get a couple of gallons. I don’t need more than that.  She needs training. And with Naomi being so small I am happy to leave her with her mother for the full 24 hours.  Every time I feel Naomi’s belly she is warm and full so she will grow and she and I can continue to share.

Naomi’s collar is very useful for me. It is a goats collar that will break if it gets caught on anything but strong enough for me to be able to grab her as she ducks past so I can keep her friendly with me.  Plus it looks kind of cool.

John is home from work today so we will continue with top sowing the fields : Daisy’s field today. We have also stepped out another two acres of field across the way and that will be sown in hay. Grass hay this time.  And rain on the way!

Oh I have more news. In about ten days (if all goes well) our first volunteer from the Woofer site comes to stay. He is a young architect from Argentina. He and I have been talking about designing a system to get rainwater to every trough. Plus around the house. So when it rains everything fills up and the spill fills up the next container and so on. I also  want to construct a moving sculpture that comes alive only when it rains while ferrying water into the barrels and troughs around the house. I also want it to make a noise.  Maybe bells? Using found objects.  Of course – I don’t ask for much!! He likes this challenge and will be here at the end of the month for a few weeks. Though he wants to farm too.  Bless him.

So far so good. Getting up and running.

I hope you have a lovely day.

Your friend on the farm

celi