John

Looking after a smallholding like ours takes a surprising amount of work. Animals need a fair bit of care, love and attention. Hay needs bringing home. In our case big bales of the stuff, and the process involves tractors and friendly farmers. Bedding for the animals, which we go through at an alarming speed (sheep pee a lot...), is bought in town. We also buy minerals, salt stones and hen food from a farmer’s shops in town. All this needs to be collected, carried and driven home on a regular basis.

Looking after animals is made a lot easier if you happened to marry the kindest man in the world. Thankfully I managed to find him so all I need to do is care, clean and worry a lot. John does the practical stuff and he does it well.

John also has a morning team going with Mr. Chip the Fox terrier. They walk early every morning and it is a guy’s thing. It's also very funny to watch as Mr. Chip has stopped being an early riser. Cross-eyed and wobbly legged he sets off but after a few steps in the crisp air his tail is held high and off they go. Mr. Chip needs his time amongst men, old cars and tractors. He also needs to be with the ones sitting under a blanket reading a good book and eating something unhealthy. That is usually me...

        Credit: Dasha Dimitrova

The animals were my idea and my dear husband took it all in his stride. He spent days building and fixing before they arrived. Friends and family came to help and the result was charming.

Keeping animals’ happy means a lot of altering their accommodation, to fit in with their latest whims. So John builds a lot. He is good at it and has a very rustic style that I love. The hens love the fact that every time they want to move to a new place for the night, a bed appears for them. We have small "beds" here, there and everywhere in the stable, at the moment. That's mainly because Monty is afraid of the older hens, Pippi wants a new place for her and the chick, and so started our game of musical beds. I will have to give John a new hammer for Christmas.

I seem to understand sheep better, whereas John is a hen whisperer. If, when any of our feathery friends get ill, my husband does the medication bit. I think you have to be very calm to be a good hen keeper. With sheep, humour goes a long way and you can't walk too briskly or you set them off. Cantering sheep is not a funny sight. They were built for meandering and pondering. Our sheep make me think of A Certain Bear and His Friends.

There are probably easier ways to keep animals, than the Stoneback farm way. There are also husbands around who grumble a lot when there's a reason for it. I wake up thanking my lucky stars that I ran into the man who laughs a lot and sings out loud. I think our animals share my feeling. And then the hay runs out and they all call for John, again...

Text by Nina

Next blog post on the 4th October.


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Monty and his ladies.

Monty arrived to our henhouse this summer, a young, shy but extremely beautiful cockerel. Being a teenager amongst a group of old ladies can't have been a treat, but thankfully we had Dimi and Darya here from his childhood home. From day one, they formed a team that took on the world. Their world seemed to be a old apple tree and four sheep, but they made the most of it.

Monty was and still is, very frightened of our older hens. He can come shooting around a corner with speed, tooting that they are after him. At first I used to shoot the opposite way, thinking the fox was after him but now I know. One of the hens had looked at him! Just by staring, the hens can make dear Monty disappear into the woods. Dimi and Darya are helping him become a little bit braver but it is a slow uphill walk. Maybe one day...

So Monty got fed from his own food bowl right from the beginning. And it had to be behind my back so that I could keep the scary hens away from him, while he ate. It was either that or little Monty would have stayed just that, very little.

Now he has grown in size and can hang out with everyone, but one look and he is off. He has started to sound like a grown up cockerel too. At first he sounded like Tarzan, then we had a time of sounding like he was trapped under a sheep but now the teenage voice is starting to carry him far and wide. We had a worrying time when he experimented with a morning call from the high apple tree. The problem was that Monty gave his all and forgot to hold on. So first there was the sound of the ape boy and then an almighty thump when our brave cockerel fell down from the tree. This continued for some time, until Dimi and Darya stepped in and showed him our huge garden chair John had built. Monty got less bruises after that and my headache got better. The sheep were happy too as they could have their morning rest, without cockerels dropping from the sky.

                                                           Credit: Dasha Dimitrova

Because we gave Monty extra time and love, he has now become the nicest of birds. He always greets you when you turn up and he loves a small chat and a nibble of corn, first thing in the morning. He is growing up fast but he still wants to sleep in his own bed, next to the sheep far away from the old ladies. And he wants Dimi and Darya close by, just in case. Moving to a new home can be stressful but a few friends around and some really kind sheep helps a lot.

Monty also loves to ride around on a broad sheep, standing tall and feel the wind in his feathers. Hanging on to a sheep is also easier so we can all breath normally. I do think of windmills when he rides past, though..

Text by Nina

Next blog post on the 27th September.

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Last thoughts on worldwide animals, for now.....

You should enjoy this little interlude of traveling thoughts as I will soon be back with stories about our family pets.

I was told yesterday about how the Durrell foundation were struggling with saving the tortoise, as tattooing a number on their legs didn't stop the illegal trade at all. Only by carving a number on the tortoise shell could they stop people buying them. As it takes about forever for a tortoise to reach maturity, you would think people could leave them alone. I know this problem has been around for a long time but thought it was good to tell anyway. Choose a dog or a cat as a pet, basically.

The macaques, a little black monkey, is struggling to survive in the wild because they are being eaten as party food. What makes it even more horrid is that of course the biggest animals are killed, leaving the younger ones in a state as leaders, parents disappear from the flock. When asked how this could be stopped to an extent the animal keeper answered; " By going to schools and tell children about it. Can you imagine parents continuing to serve a dinner no child will eat? ". Quite brilliant, when you think about it.

                                                               Credit: Dasha Dimitrova

On a happier note, I met Mr Brown, Jersey conservation trusts last Echo Parakeet. His two friends had died of old age and he was not getting younger himself. But as there was no longer any need to keep Echo Parakeets in captivity Mr Brown was not getting a new friend. And as he kept being bullied by other birds he now spent his last years in a nice, big aviary built just for him and his visitors. It only took about 40 years to save that particular spices.   

These are all naturally simplified versions of big problems and sad stories but good to think about, now and again. By choosing our travel destinations, what we buy and how much we want to care, we can make a difference. And it's also good to remember that it's not all misery and sadness. A lot is being done to save those who need help, both animals and humans. It just seems to take a long time... But it did feel good to visit a gang of really dedicated people doing what they do well. This particular animal sanctuary is also one big beautiful garden, woodland park and kitchen garden all blending in to one. And the Chilean flamingoes looked like they were wearing pink Crocs.

At Stoneback farm our sheep will soon need an optician as all the squinting can't be good for their eyes. Four large, ball like animals following one little chick looks absolutely wonderful. Pippi the hen has given up and is letting them tag along. I wish I could have brought Mr Brown over with me, as he would have fitted in just fine, with this lot.

Text by Nina

Next post will be on the 20th September.. Welcome back and tell your friends!

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Weeks with hens

As I already told you, Waldemar the cockerel died a tragic death a few weeks ago. Sad times that got sadder by the fact that Pippi, our very adventurous hen disappeared a few days later. I had a mini meltdown and the hens and little Monty were put in the outdoor cage. They did not protest at all, so I thought they might feel safer in there for the moment.

A few days later they informed me loudly that enough was enough, and off they went, like birds should do. All was well until five days ago, when Lina the most gentle and kind hen we ever saw, went missing. I flew out to Jersey the next day but had high hopes that Lina would turn up before I left. No such luck, unfortunately and sadness hit us again. Lina has all her life been one for outings on her own, so when she didn't return, I thought a fox had got her too.

We have forest all around the fields and the house so foxes, pine martins, eagle, and hawks - to name but a few predators - visit out place. Waldemar dead and two hens missing, meant someone had found a snack bar, we thought.

So imagine my happy surprise when John called me in Jersey a couple of days later to tell me Lina had flown in to the henhouse just in time for breakfast. I woke up quickly that morning and told total strangers about her return. Such a happy morning... When a slightly bewildered husband called me in the afternoon to tell me a skinny Pippi had turned up, my day was complete. How a little hen has survived for two weeks in the forest is anyone's guess, but a wonderful conundrum. Mindy, our white sheep that loves our hens more than food must now be the happiest sheep around. I could not wait to get home and see them, myself. But, in the meantime I was at the Jersey Durrell wildlife park meeting a lot of endangered spices and learning a lot. And they did not have hens there, so there is hope for our lot, too... Here's hoping and knock wood.

Pst.... I hope we all know that we should stop using products that contain Palm oil as the orangutans are running out of places to live in. Their homes are being destroyed for Palm oil plantations. This just as a reminder, that we can help a little if we try, thank you.

                                                            Credit: Dasha Dimitrova

Pippi the hen left for the woods the following day. Two days later she returned with a stressed look on her little face.  I was already at home so I got to see her return with the tiniest chick I had ever seen. This little, fluffy, black bundle with huge feet. So now we know... The little one is called Elisabeth and is very regal. If she turns out to be a little cockerel, then he will be little Eric.

All the other hens now also like to have babies, they inform us loudly so Monty has taken to hang out in the woods with Dimi and Darya. I, on the other hand, am busy feeding little Betty with cottage cheese and bilberries while Pippi is watching me closely. "You never know!" Seems to be her motto in life, now that she became a mother.

Text by Nina

Next post will be on the 13th September.. Welcome back and tell your friends!

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