Sustainable Sunday - Sad News, Farmy Round up and a Stroll down the Creek.

Let's deal with the sad news first then onto the Walk About. Sad comes with life. It needs to be faced head on - like a bull at a gate. Bam. Sad.

The Sad News

When I arrived back at the farm yesterday afternoon, after the long, dull drive along highways to collect the new piglets, I parked the car under a tree. I lifted the hatch to greet the tiny, bored piglets huddled in the dog crate. They were calm, raising their heads lazily, almost disinterested, like tired puppies.

Four ducks came around the house, quacking loudly at the car. Four. I peered behind them, counting again, but there was no other duck. Only four.

Boo looked at me mournfully through the kitchen door. I went up to the porch and opened the door.

"Boo," I said, "find duck duck." He started off, following their scent around the house, past the tomato gardens, along the line of field corn, and round the front to the pond. His demeanour was bored, not actively sniffing or searching, but I had learned not to be fooled by this studied nonchalance. He pushed through the garden and stood staring down at the rocks surrounding the pond. His reflection calmly looked back at him, beside a beautiful drowned duck.

The duck was close to the edge of the pond, his head wedged between two rocks underwater. His body floated above his head, wings folded, feet hanging down calmly. There was no sign of struggle; the rocks around him were dry, though his body was not yet cold. We had ducks in the pond for years, and this had never happened before. But just because it hadn't happened before didn't mean it couldn't. We had simply been lucky. Luck plays a big part in life.

I stepped onto the warm, sunlit rocks, crouched down, and gently extracted his head from its resting place. I brought him onto the grass to clear his mouth, though I knew he was dead. His green bill indicated he was the male. With Boo escorting me, I took his dripping body away.

Then Boo walked back to the barn to count the others again, just in case there were more to find.

Sad, yes?.

Now the Walk-About down by the creek and the Fellowship Forest.

On a happier note I might add.

Cows

Sleepy under the trees. And that’s all. All day they sleep under the big mulberry trees and then in the early morning and early evening they decamp to the fields.

It is not hot - in fact it is unusually cool so the flies are not as bad. It has been a good week to be a cow.

Big Pigs and rescue pigs.

No news from Jude or FreeBee. They drift lazily about their field. Behaving like big old pigs! Nothing to report there.

Tima is getting used to spending part of her day behind a gate in a field. She is not allowed in the corn fields now. I cannot see her anymore it is so tall. Wai would no sooner wander into the corn field than fly to the moon.

The Charlottes

They are looking fat and spotty. Very spotty. I wonder if these spots would have come out if they had been raised out of the sun.

When I did my early morning checks this morning I saw one of The Charlottes lazily pushing a panel up and down. So I need to check that breach before they all put their noses to work and lift it right off.

Having this lot loose in the cornfields would not be fun at all.

Top of the Pops

The little black piglets have arrived and they are right fatties. Seven weeks old. Newly weaned. American Guinea Hogs. They are voracious eaters and very busy. After almost a day on the farm they pop up out of their bed the moment they hear me in the barn. I was calling them the pop overs then that became The Pops!

This group has already begun stripping the leaves off the weeds in their run. Like small shiny black locusts who grunt.

Their call by will be PopPop. Boo is learning it so he can find them if they escape.

And there will be an escape!

Boo and TonTon

I lost sight of the turkeys this morning.

So I walked across the track and called for the turkeys in a sing-song voice. Their call is Turkey! Boo, giving his best beleaguered, put-upon dog impression, rolled off the porch with a sigh. He wandered to the gate, waiting for me to open it, then ambled out into the deep red clover. He made his way down the back of the field, his gait slow but steady, until he found them. He looked back at me, his eyes clearly saying, "I am not doing this more than once a day."

Boo grumbles. Quite clearly. The turkeys, alerted by Boo's presence, began to move, their feathers rustling - like teenagers legs their feathers are too big for their bodies. They noisily preceded him back, a procession of baby birds splitting up and joining again trailed by the dog. I was struck by how the red of the clover made the dove grey of the turkey feathers take on an almost lavender hue.

Boo was not interested in my observations.

Once we had them all back close to home he swung off and lay down with a grunt by the gate for a wee rest.

TonTon sleeps inside. He has taken himself to the mat. And seldom gets up.

Turkeys

I hate having animals and birds locked up - as you all well know - so I have taken to letting the turkeys free in the early evening. And the above happens.

They chase bugs then chase other bugs then chase each other chasing the bugs and before you know it they are lost.

They are going to be a trial to raise.

The Ducks

Only four now. The living in Life goes on.

The pond is clean though - stripped by the ducks and goldfish of pond weed.

The Cornfields

Growing!

The Kitchens Gardens

Growing!

The most popular TKG blog post this week!

Weeding in Bare Feet

Who knew - weeds affect most of us!

The Sustainable Sunday:

The summer farm is getting quite busy! Like all of us who live old fashioned lives in a new fashioned world our objective over the summer is to hoard food and firewood and feed for the animals! In preparation for the long winter months.

Once I have food in everyones houses here and the barn full of hay and grain, I know I can take my eye off the American wing of my family and travel. My own children are in four different countries so I travel and work in their gardens.

Here is an old post from The Kitchens Garden. I looked this up for a friend the other day and thought you might like it.

Muesli (I know I have told you about this before but I just put a batch on and thought you might like a reminder. Plus we have a bunch of new readers - WELCOME!)

Muesli - Americans call it Granola. All summer I dehydrate fruit to add to the muesli. Apples are the easiest and the best! I am doing peaches today - I freeze them after they are dehydrated to avoid mould in this humid climate

I wrote this food post years ago when I was trying to control my weight. Now I am working so hard I am trying to put ON weight! We are never happy! Dieting - being thoughtful about what we eat - is something we all do and try to hide - watching ones weight is ok as long as it is a diet of healthy colourful food and we know not to take it too far! We should be able to feel proud of ourselves and our bodies. I quite like my body at the moment!

Have a lovely day.

It is Sunday here. And gorgeous. (Hopefully the latest cutting of hay is drying nicely!).

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Celi