Puppy girl is 5 today, as would have her brother

I hadn't planned on blogging about our puppies birthday today. But it's been on my mind all day. So I'm sorry for being all sentimental, but as such a big part of our lives and our family I left they deserved my time.

Besides I was driving to a meeting (for work) earlier today and Delta Goodrams new song came on the radio. Now I have never been a fan, as you can probably tell- since I'm not even sure if that's how you spell her name. But given she made me cry- probably never will be.

 As her new song is very haunting, and seemed to be speaking for me, literally. For those who have never heard the song, or listened to the lyrics- "today would have bee

n your birthday" seemed especially accurate today.  

As today our gorgeous smiling girl Ffion, is 5 today. And so we will be celebrating and I have bought her extra special treats. (Do you spoil your pets for birthdays and Christmas? )

Unfortunately her 'twin' brother (as we used to call them- as they were from the same litter) Griff passed away in July last year.Shortly after we moved to Maes-y-Delyn. So whilst its her day, it obviously would have been his birthday too. I guess its one of those days you reflect on the fact that he's not here...or you allow yourself to , more than other days anyway. It's the least he deserved.

So Happy Birthday Ffion & we miss  you as ever Griff x x x

Lovely weekend away, but first from puppies

This weekend we took a trip to Long Island with some friends. We spent the weekend relaxing, swimming (even if I did find the water cold), playing mini golf, walking, animal feeding of different species, feeding ourselves...far too much and enjoying a few drinks in the gorgeous Whitsundays.

The Whitsunday Islands are less than an hour away for us and we've tripped to a few since moving here, but you do becme complacent as to what is on your door step.

Long Island is a resort island. It could possibly benefit from a lick of paint here and there. And some new boardwalk planks on the way in. Though I can't say we noticed as we disembarked the ferry, as we were too busy admiring the crystal clear waters and sea life below us. Along with the picturesque beach scapes and national park (that make up the majority of the island)

The ferry crossing is just 15 minutes from Shute harbour- so alot closer than some of the other islands. So close in fact that some sea kayakers stopped off briefly and then set off again.

The main thing (for me at least) this weekend, in terms of Maes-y-Delyn; was it was our first trip away leaving the puppies at home. 

We have had the odd late night out and we have each been away separately, since moving here. And whilst we have been on holidays since having Ffion, that was at our old house. When we had her brother Griff and friends took care of them. But it was a first for here and for Madog. 

It may seem as if I was over reacting, as it was only for 2 nights, but I guess this weekend woudl set a president for any future trips. 

Now we could have placed the dogs in kennels, but A, I would still have had to find someone to feed the chooks (chickens, ducks & turkeys) and pigs, as there are not so many keenels for livestock. And B, Madog's a whinger and I was unsure how he would react to a strange environment. So the solution seemed to be someone feeding them too. So I arranged for a friend (from work, who lives close by) and his son to feed eveything for us. Now I wasn't 100% sure how the dogs would react to our feeding visitors. But all went pretty well.

We made she all the animals had a good feed before we left early on Friday and labelled all the feed bins with relevant instructions for them on the Saturday.

When we arrived home Sunday afternoon, all animals were delighted to see us (or more interested in being fed)... dogs included.

Once they had made their inital fuss and then been walked and fed both cwtched up in their beds. Only moving when absolutely necessary! Am guessing they missed thier 'creature comforts' :)

The biggest issue from our few days of rest is the work we'll have to do to get the herb patch back under control!

A not so happy feathery start to the day

Went to feed the animals this morning (as per normal, before I head off to work). Only to find a trail of black feathers from one of the shed dorrs to the water tank. Follwed by the appearance of two very pleased looking dogs!

We have recently introduced 4 of our 5 Old English Game cross pullets to the 'normal' chicken run, along with 3 (slightly younger, but now larger) Rhode Island Red crosses. We hatched these ladies (along with 4 males- still separated) from the Old English Game rooster I accidently bought at auction back in May.
Having happily incubated the eggs and raised the chicks. I had completely forgotten how athletic and agile (and completely frustrating) thier father had been. We had hoped that they would have inherited some of the size from thier various mothers (Australorp, Sussex, though I think some maybe Wellsumer- not a big bird)... but no such luck.
As a breed Old English Games are fantastic free range birds, if you want them to scratch for food, roost in trees and generally fend for themselves.
Personally I have 2 "poultry loving" dogs (as dinner, that is). Therefore whilst my birds, happily have free run of the rear garden when we are home (as the dogs a out the front, or inside) and have a large run during the day. Unfortunately these young pullets feel the area for the general population is not good enough for them, and continuously seek the free run of the front yard.
To date the dogs have been relatively good with them. The birds have been calm and have even followed them around. Ffion (our staffy) generally only get excited when they flap or run.
But this morning appeared to have been the massacre we had thoght inevitable. Matt had threatened to eat them himself, rather than them see the fate of becoming the dogs dinner- though neither would be pleasant, I know which would be worse.

Anyway our 'pup' seemed very interested in the far corner. So I investigated further, to find one of the colourful EOG birds trapped between the 2 layers of fencing. Clearly distressed and a few ruffled feathers, but seemingly OK. Now I would have thought the dogs could have gotten her from there, instead he proudly showed me wht they had done?
I freed the bird and returned her to the rest of the flock; checking her over (just in case). She immediately spreang to her feet and followed to the enclosure for thier normal feed.

I ten counted 2 or the 4 birds, both black ones were missing... I now feared the trail may have been 2 different crime sites.

Returning to my duties, with a heavy heart. I secured the dogs out, without thier usual treat. And set about feeding my remaining flock and pigs. As I left the shed to tend to the younger chicks (in the totally inclosed run) there was a ruffled looking black OEG pullet, happily helping herself through the fence.... So they only had one!

To my surprise, as I set off, reversing my car out to head off to work, there was the last bird; wandering around the yard, looking to return to the main (feeding) flock. Not a feather out of place!

So I assisted her over the high fence and happily left for the office. Feeling slightly guilty for thinking so badly of my gorgeous puppies. Who had obviously had some fun with then birds, but not actually committed the crimes I instantly assumed they were guilty of.

Hopefully now the young birds will have learned thier lesson, and stay with the main flock, and realise that the fences are their for thier own protection.

Madogs first Boat trip

So this weekend we had a bonus long weekend- for the Queens jubilee we had a seconds Queens birthday holiday. Though next year the Queensland government are looking into exchanging this date for either the other Queens birthday (usually in June) or Labour Day, as this is held in May in Qld but on the first Monday of October in many other states. So to make the most of the weekend we hooked up the tinny, packed up the swag and camping gear and headed off to Kinchant dam with the dogs.

 Intention was to try and catch 'red claw' and work out the logistics of having the dog with us onboard. The red claw are a fresh water crayfish. Very tasty and something Matt had tried whilst on his bush trip. He had read of people catching them there, but mostly this dam is used by waterski and jetski enthusiasts. though you do get the odd angler who nabs a Barra. So we sorted ourselvs ot with a fresh water permit and some pots. To give it a try.

 It was Madogs first boat trip. Ffion has been out to sea a few times, both on a camping trip as a pup and on our ‘old’ boat (though it was quite a bit larger). So she is quite familiar with the water and is quite happy as a sea-dog. I think introducing Madog to this process on smoother waters was a good idea; as he’s a pretty big dog for a not so large vessel! Though he did like the wind in his face, and took quite a liking to the crab pot floats, though he resisted the temptation to jump overboard.

Hopefully on our next outing we will actually catch some dinner. But all in all a lovely day on the water, followed by a camp dinner, a sleepless night (due to others on the campsite)  and an early morning dog walk around the deserted dam a dawn. Least this way the dogs could have a run and a paddle.

Weekends work for one

Well what a busy few days I had with Matt being away. I ordered a truck of soil as I had a few things I wanted to do. We still needed to fill the areas where we had moved the tanks. I removed the Yukka tree trunks and weeded the garden bed beside the shed (that we had ear marked as a herb patch) and I wanted to build a few new garden boxes and fill a few large pots. 

So the truck I had booked for Thursday morning, eventually arrived 3:30pm. I had already pulled up and weed matted the shed half of the path last weekend. I then pulled up the mid section to allow for the truck to deliver the soil between the house and shed. This also meant taking down the dividing fence and temporarily disconnecting the electric fence.

I wanted most left in the rear garden and the rest in/ near the herb patch, so that I could replace the fence and reconnect the electric fencing, before I begun barrowing. Having it nearer the tanks, also reduced the distance I needed to move it. Made sense… This did not do quite to plan. At the nearest point, there is approx 4.5- 5mters between the house and shed. The truck driver took many manoeuvres to reach this point; damaging many of the remaining pavers in the process. To be honest I didn’t think they were anywhere near her travel path. By the end I was just grateful that she didn’t hit the house!

I did attempt to match the pavers however Bunnings offered some in that size (450mm x 450mm) in white, ours are cream at $18 odd each. So as she obliterated 14/15 and there were 2 previously cracked I decided to space out the existing and fill the remaining with stone chips, instead. So built the ‘wet patch’ up with earth, then laid weed matting (as for some reason this wasn’t done when the original path was laid). Then lay pavers and stone chipped.

I did manage to get her to dump the majority of the soil for the front in the herb patch. The rest was for barrowing and filling random wholes that we had yet to do. From the previous owners dogs and other low patches, here and there. The majority was for my veg patch.

Yesterday we moved the remaining soil from the front into my two new doorstep pots (though I haven’t got any plants to put in them yet). And barrowed the rest to my veg patch. We then levelled and planted out (and sowed) our herbs.



Herb patch, being watered in



Herb patch planted out

I was surprised by the stock of seeds I had accumulated, ready for our herb patch. We transplanted an exisiting Basil and Mint plant (from my veg patch, a second reamins there as a back up). We rehomed the Bay tree, central to the patch, so it should have ample room to grow . As well as planting out a few chives and oregano recently purchased- I have had no luck raising Oregano from seed? We also planted out the two chillie plants we had had in pots on the patio table along side and a ginger plant. And then the seeds; Tarrogan, Lemon Balm, Cumin, Corriander, Parlsey, Dill, a few varying types of Basil and a scatter of lavender along side the shed door.

Madog making the most of the view

The mound out the back had shrunk. Some of this will fill my pallet veg boxes. Once I have them solid and secure. The remainder will fill around the tanks, as this is going to compact and need topping up. Til then it makes a great observation point from which Madog can watch the world go by.

In other farming news, Matt agrees our ‘Christmas ham’ (a Berkshire cross Saddleback pig we picked up at the beginning of the year, for the freezer whilst we waited for our own piglets and pork supply) is looking a little podgy. Given I witnessed Smokey (our resident Berkshire bore) mount her just over a month ago. This could mean she’s expecting… This would be both exciting and problematic.

Exciting in, especially if my dates are correct; she would be due a few days after my family arrive to visit. And in that after much waiting we would have piglets here. Problematic, however in that our lack of piglets to date could be put down to Smokey (our resident Berkshire gilt) and that Smokey is evidently 'working'. And we wil not being having our ‘Christmas ham’ for Christmas dinner wiith my family, as planned .

So I guess this leaves us with what to do with Streaky? She is now almost 14 months old now and ‘primo’ size for pork. Yet we have still seen little action and she doesn’t appear to be showing any signs of being in-pig and I am still unsure whether she’s even coming into season. We did think we saw a difference in her the other week, and Smokey was sniffing around her. But I am not sure if we are seeing what we want to.



'Christmas ham', Smokey & Streaky



We did initially set out to breed Berkshires, so if we have her for Christmas instead we have to look at replacing her. Again this leaves us with a decision to make- do we get another young piglet from a breeder (given there are only two within a reasonable distance and we can not use the one since our male came from there. And the other we’ve already had little luck with. And then we wait again, putting in more time and effort. Or do we search for an established sow; that we don’t know and have not raised.   And if I’m honest, we bought a breeding pair so that we could rear them from young, build a relationship and become more attached… Can I be objective about it? If she’s not producing the goods, can I eat her?

I also attempted to re-shuffle my birds. As the young Sussex cross chicks are now fully feathered and the brooder box was becoming crowded. The original four Indian Game chicks are also fully feathered, but still far too small to be placed in the outside run- as they could easily make it throught he chicken mesh. It’s amazing how much a of a size difference there is between these and our Sussex cross layers.

So to move the Sussex crosses out, I needed to make room. Therefore I decided it was time the English Game cross hens made their way into the main chicken run.

I had completely forgotten how athletic their father (our temporary resident pure Old English Game rooster) was! He initially escaped from the run and vanished for almost a week. Returning, where I eventually coaxed him into the general run. Where he stayed as he had food and girls. However he still roosted upon the 8 foot fence posts and was too fast to catch.

These were traits we had neglected to consider when we incubated the eggs this arrangement produced.

Putting more research into the bred, Old English Games are ideal for free ranging and require little food, as they are more than capable of sourcing their own. Unfortunately whilst I am happy for mine to ‘free range’ they are confined to an area of the garden during the day away from the dogs- for their own safety.

One o four colourful Old English cross hens

I did attempt clipping their wings last night. This was not successful as the hen immediately proceeded to scramble up the chicken mesh and roost upon the fence post. So most were returned to the enclosed run last night. The few that had made their way into the hen house we allowed to remain and I clipped their wings this morning. In an effort to limit their ability to make it into the dogs realm. Confinement for these birds is definitely not a long term solution and something I am not comfortable with. However as Matt pointed out, he would rather eat them himself instead of them becoming dog food… So I guess I have to give their future with us a little more thought, a pity given the colours that this cross over produced were varied and stunning! However a life of confinement is not acceptable to me and the chick run (whici is only meant to be a temporary solution until they are large enoughto stand ther ground amoungst the bigger birds and protect them from preditors- butcher birds, hawks, kookaburras etc) is becoming increasingly over crowded!

Nearly 3 months in and this is where we're up to

Well we unloaded our life's possession from the van 11 weeks ago today, and it has been a rollacoaster so far. There have been issues with telco's and boundries but the biggest blow came exactly a week after the high of moving in, when we had to bury our beloved three and half year old Staffy Griffith.
As I returned home after and evening running around town, following work. I found my gorgeous baby boy lying beside the road... Both our babies had escaped, what we thought was our puppy-proofed garden, but only Ffion had made it home.


So, so much for the dream start, it was supposed to be for us and our gorgeous furry babies, but it wasn't to be. However the loss of our gorgeous baby boy has made us more determined to make this work. Otherwise our move and the price he paid would be for nothing. So this is for our Griff.


So to date; we have since made the guilt ridden, heart wrenching decision to get another dog. Our new addition Madog- a lovely mastiff pup who's making Maes-y-Delyn his home. And I know Griff would have loved him... just wished it didn't have to be one or the other, but I guess that's life. We just have know he had a happy life, in a loving home, and we were honoured to have had him in our lives.


So for the small holding we have 2 lovely cows (heifers, brahman-droughtmaster crosses). Out beautiful Berkshire pigs; Smokey and Streaky; who we are hoping to breed. We had another land race cross pig, however he is already stocking our freezer.
We currently have 5 laying chickens (since Ffion (our female Staffy) devoured an escapee a few weeks back), 3 meat birds (we had 5, but 2 have already served thier purpose) and 7 chicks. As well as a few young fruit trees and a veggie patch.


So I guess it starts from here! This is the update on how our new life goes... Pob lwc