Poppy the Hereford sow is travelling again – being the escape artist going under the fences. She is due to come back into heat this weekend.
Last night I went to check the cows and found Poppy the pig sleeping in the corner of the barn with them. They don’t seem to mind. I don’t mind either Poppy always comes home for dinner. And since I put Sheila in the cherry tree field she has been roaming. So today the Twins come back to the home farm. The Plonkers go out into the field (that will be a test of the fences) and Poppy goes to visit Manu.
Yesterday afternoon both the home cows came into the barn for the afternoon and I could not find Bobby to lock him away before the milking. TonTon and I went out to get him and of course he was no-where to be found in that long grass. Ton leapt into action and at the command of Find Bobby did a perfect grid search of the field and after quite a period of earnest searching, returning to me twice to get further instruction – found the calf for me. It was an impressive piece of work – the baby calf was well hidden. And Ton knew exactly who he was looking for, his best work is finding specific animals.
Even if it is only a specific toy or a frisbee if he is commanded to find it he will keep looking for hours until he suddenly arrives next to me carrying the correct item, long after I have forgotton about it sometimes.
Kat was in the kitchen yesterday. We had been grocery shopping the day before and they were laughing at not being able to buy any junk food at all. So she set to work and presented us with home made pretzels. Then I got out my favourite recipe books and she made home made pasta for the first time and I made ricotta then later in the afternoon the girls made ravioli. Lots of firsts for the girls yesterday. Their journals are bursting with new experiences.
Theo the sole peachick was forming an unusual attachment to TonTon by yesterday. This is sweet initially but I already have a peahen who thinks she is a person the last thing I need is one who thinks she is a dog. So we changed her house and took her and her heating equipment out to live with the new red chicks, they are being raised as layers so they will be around for a while.
Somehow last night she got out of her dog box. And when I went out to check her I saw the most amazing thing. The tiny chick was in the corner of the chickens house, on the floor, safe and unharmed but completely surrounded in red chickens. It looked like they had put her into the farthest corner from the door then settled around her in a big deep semicircle to keep her safe from harm. Well, we all know chickens and this is not chicken-like behaviour. It was extremely odd to have to reach way over this circle of crouching sleeping chickens to uplift the tiny captive and return the chick to her hot house. She is too young to be running about without a mother.
I hope you have a lovely day.
We will have a busy day. I might bring back Aunty Del as well while we have the tractor hitched up so it will be a busy evening. She is still showing no conclusive signs of pregnancy but we will see. She is showing no signs of heat either and has been running with that little bull for months. Stranger things have happened.
I hope you have a lovely day.
The Kitchen's Garden 
43 responses to “Roaming Pigs”
Sounds like yesterday was a wonderful day. The food sounds delicious. And the chickens protecting the tiny chick is so very cute. Nature never ceases to amaze. Waiting for my pistachio and apple cake to cool so I can apply the honey glaze and try it.
It all sounds like a game of musical chairs. You are brilliant at rememberig which particular chair contains which particular animal. I always knew Tonton was the cleverest animal on the farmy – and now let us consider chickens….
love,
ViVxox
Yes ViV, that chicken behaviour was pretty weird, at least they did not harm him.. c
I mean didn’t they maybe want to be mothers or aunties in sight of that wee cute thing?
Homemade pretzels sounds yummy to me. I have not tried my hand at them yet either. I am looking at them longingly. Seems your creatures are at home in all sorts of places. Everyone seems to have wanderlust with the nice weather. Have a wonderfilled Friday.
Pretzels, yum! Poppy always makes good stories for the blog. That girl!
Yes, the whole chickens as babysitters is quite strange! As is our young broody turkey who is still sitting on a nest of duck eggs! After sitting on her own nest of unfertilized turkey eggs for over a month, we removed them and put her back in with the male turkey. She then continued to make the great escape back to the barn proper and ran our sitting duck off her eggs. Not being able to roust her off the nest without her returning, we decided to let her sit it, and she is on it 24/7. Now we are watching carefully for the ducklings to hatched so we can get them in the brooder. Strange things certainly do happen on a farm!!! 🙂
What a determined turkey. And those ducklings will bond with her! it would be so funny (but not safe I know) for a turkey to be walking about followed by ducklings. c
A friend’s bantam hen once hatched a clutch of duck eggs….I think something happened to the mother, so little hen took over. brad wasn’t quick enough to gather upthe ducklings and poor hen went crazy when all her newly hatched babies marched straight into the pond for a swim!
Isn’t that just something!!! Thanks for sharing. ; o )
A good day all around
delightful post! Homemade pretzels, pasta AND ricotta! Yummy day!
Poppy is very sweet and evidently likes a good chat with the cows. I’m very impressed with those pretzels and it’s great to see Chicago John’s book in the photo – coincidentally, mine is on my coffee table today!
It seems to me that all your animals think they are either human or dog 😉
Where can we get one of john’s books? I must have missed that information.
On amazon? I think?
Here you go:
Thank you!
You are very welcome – it’s a great book!
I didn’t even realize it was John’s cookbook. I’m gonna have to get mine out and make homemade ricotta!! ; o )
I love your blog and can’t wait to read more. I want to have a farm myself so I love to hear about all the details. I’ve tried several pretzel recipes before with varying success. Would you mind sharing the recipe you used? 🙂
Sorry to keep gushing but I also loved hearing about your dog. We’re about to adopt a German Shepherd and I’d like to train her to be that good!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/homemade-soft-pretzels-recipe.html#! Welcome Meggy- here is the link that Kat used! We are now trying NOT to eat them they are so good! c
Ha! I laughed too about the girls not getting their fix of junk food. I’ll bet they’re not laughing on the inside. But you just wait, give them a few years and a couple of their own children and suddenly this lesson will have stuck like glue. And the lesson is: Make your own junk food. My personal opinion, true, but it’s one of the best life lessons ever!
And of course TonTon is the most clever dog on the block — he IS a Border Collie, after all. And I’ve decided Poppy must have some Border Collie in her also, she’s so clever.
Hope you have a lovely day too! ~ Mame 🙂
Sounds like a fun place. To be! Love the smarts ton ton displayed. Animals are amazing! Great culinary descriptions. I enjoyed the lush images of grass and heathy beasties. Thank you.
Lots of interesting things going on. Never a dull moment. And, oh my, ‘no junk food’. How will they survive? 🙂
NO doubt dreaming of the junk they are going to buy at the airport the moment I drop them off! c
Ton is such a good dog! Excellent dog!
Linda
TonTon never ceases to amaze/awe. How he can intuit exactly who you want him to find is –well, amazing and awesome. I hate that that word has lost its power. But Ton has not! No wonder the little peahen fell in love.
Good boy, Ton!