It's a dog's life

I have become a human tornado, racing around the farmhouse at incredible speed. My new super-efficient self has a body that is adapting to the speed of light, my brain however seems a little slow to catch up. A point that keeps getting illustrated to me on a very regular basis, like yesterday when I was hovering over the very whingey cat’s bowl about to empty the contents of my muesli box into it, no wonder the cat was whining. I did stop short of feeding myself a very large bowl of cat food for breakfast.

Even the farm animals are noticing this transformation into super woman and are doing their best to join in. Mist, the sheepdog, was very inventive in acquiring a super new luxury pad for herself. I looked out of the French windows to see her huddled in my white plastic washing basket under the washing line. She did look remarkably cute, and I obligingly took photos of her new sleeping quarters, as I got closer I realised she had also pulled several items of washing off the line and nuzzled them into the basket to make an exceptionally cosy bed, and all with her exceptionally muddy paws. Having met the bed and breakfast guests, and having vacated her kennel to Charlie hen, I think she is demanding an upgrade on her own accommodation to five star residency.

Luckily I did not have much time to fret about dirty laundry scattered around the garden with the dog lying in the middle of it, the pottery and another successful kiln load of goodies was beckoning me, adding to the madness and mayhem of life on this particular farm.

Until next time….. 

Pottering Around......

I have been AWOL for a good few weeks, not from the farm, but from the blog, life has suddenly upped a gear and got incredibly hectic, something I am sure most of you can relate to. The holiday cottages are full, and we have started to venture into the world of bed and breakfast, as the Happy Farmer's building work is all now completed, what a star he is! Although he is incredibly busy these days making sure all of our guests are given a true island welcome, which does involve lots of whisky and entertaining tales. 

I have been getting incredibly creative in the pottery and it has been paying off, with lots of lovely visitors calling by, lots of afternoon teas being served and lots of pottery flying off the shelves, the latter has been very reassuring as I have been dipping my toe in the water of creativity and experimenting with designs, waiting to see if people what people would like. They appear to like it all, so all my worries of shelves lying laden with pottery that visitors look at but don't buy has evaporated. 

Last Saturday we turned the pottery and tea room into a 'Blooming Great Tea Party' and donated all the proceeds from  afternoon teas to Marie Curie Cancer Care, raising £295.48 in a few hours.

The pottery cats have been endearing themselves to all of the visitors, waiting patiently for them in the car park and  lying out in the sun with them as they have alfresco lunches. The photo is of Doughball, posing on top of one of the smaller kilns...after a busy day in the pottery. 
Thankfully Charlie and Joey, the hens have remained in the garden, and not ventured over the road to the pottery, now that would be a disaster. They are still laying beautifully in the nesting boxes, and Mist, the sheepdog, is still giving up her sleeping quarters in the kennel to Charlie hen, even though she is no longer getting her dietary supplement of an egg a day, so all remains calm on the animal front. Sugar Lump, the pet lamb is growing bigger by the day and we have plenty of volunteers to give her a bottle now we have a lot of  younger visitors at the pottery.

Now all I need is to get the Happy Farmer and the rest of the crew to behave so well....

Until next time....

'Handbags' over sleeping quarters....

Two sets of googly eyes have been following my every move. Nose and beak pressed firmly against the window, one waiting for me to feed her and the other waiting for me to stop dawdling around, tidying up last little bits, and get outdoors and into the lovely sunshine, to take her for a run through the fields. Charlie our resident hen, and Ruby dog, have been waiting very impatiently on the patio. In the hedge, Mist the sheep dog lazes, keeping a watchful eye on events.

Charlie has always absolutely, firmly and resolutely refused, with a huge capital ‘R’, to use the nesting box and hen coup the happy farmer built for her several years ago. The gate to the enclosure lies ajar, the door to the hen hut swinging gently, long since deserted, or so I thought…..

There was a huge kerfuffle coming from Mist’s kennel the other evening. When I investigated, I found the hen and the sheepdog having a ‘set to’. Prompt action was called for on my behalf, as it appeared that Mist was positively attacking Charlie. She appeared to have her cornered in the kennel, a quick ‘bark’ from me, and Charlie came strutting out, clucking away loudly, as she shook her flustered feathers down. Mist looked on submissively, ears bent firmly down, a guilty look spread across her face, as she sprawled across the length of her kennel. I looked across a few minutes later only to see the bold Charlie back in the kennel, and Mist, gently but firmly head-butting the old girl around the kennel, trying to nudge her back out, the way she had arrived in. Charlie was having none of it, and kept jumping back behind the dog, further into the kennel, and so it went on.

Each night since Mist has refused to share her kennel, but Charlie is a very determined hen, and so the sleeping arrangements now consist of Mist sleeping in the hedge and Charlie roosting happily in the kennel.

Imagine my delight the other day then, when I went over to the old hen coup and found it is being used once again, maybe not as sleeping quarters, but was laden with a nest of eggs. We have not had a ‘Charlie’ egg since last year, as Mist has been merrily guzzling her way through the nests Charlie had been making for herself around the various corners of the farm. Possibly Mist views it as rent for lodging in the dog kennel, maybe as a necessity to keep her coat all glossy and shiny, or perhaps more likely because she thinks only of her stomach! Charlie, however, refusing to be out done by that clever dog, has simply taken to laying fresh eggs on a daily basis in the hen coup….clever chick that she is!!

Until next time….