Category: cats

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New Zealand and Labour weekend …

We are now officially in spring-summer mode as we go into our long weekend from work… “hahaha” I say, “a farmer’s work is never done!” but I decided since it was a beautiful day today, I would take Leigh out for a joy ride in the merc… since she has had her roof fixed and we can now put the top down.

It was a lovely drive down to a country diner to have lunch – pizza and drink – then on to the beach on the east coast in Amberley (about 1hour away). Home via the east coast and back (in a big circle) to our home at the foot of the mountains, (took us about 4 hours round trip).

On another note… Ema – our lamb is now 1 month and 1 week and few days old, she is now in the paddock 24/7 and sleeps with the other lambs/mamas and wethers. She still has her milk from a bottle 4 times a day, with the last feed at night 10pm/11pm given by Leigh.

She is still feisty and will get out of the paddock any chance she can, and so we have spent quite a bit of time putting up netting around the house fence to keep her in. It’s only a matter of time until she gets too big to fit through the fence wire, but in the mean time she is constantly trying to get out if she hears our voices.

Nico is a little sad today… his bested friend Louie is no longer around… Nico has been looking for him all day, and he has been meowing at us when he comes inside. Unfortunately our neighbour rang to say that Louie had been run over on the road outside their house in the late evening, so now we have a sad memory of Louie.

Bye from us all at Fairwether farm …

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How are we… down on the farm?

This month has seemed very long … and it’s only the 9th … that’s because we are still waiting for our ewes to produce their lambs.

We have also found that one of our wethers – Sugar #1 is not well again. It seems that when we get nor’west winds he gets a bout of pneumonia and why that is, we don’t know yet. We are having the vet look at him today, and we are concerned about a seeming unusual lopsidedness to his abdomen so it’s not looking good for our boy. I know… he’s only a sheep and a wether but I worry about all our sheep – I take my role as shepherd very seriously. Having said that… I also know (although this is hard) that we can not keep all the sheep we bred as we will be overrun and that is no good for our pasture or our breeding programme. In order to keep the best of the bred I will have to sell on the new ram lambs and wethers. The good news is that I have found someone wanting a ram lamb for their new flock, so one little boy will have a good life. I am hoping I get more interest in some others.

Spring is definitely making us feel better and the lambs we do have are now old enough to run around together – get into mischief and generally make a nuisance of themselves with the other ‘nearly mums’. Nico is also making himself known to the lambs, and of course he too is getting into mischief …

Well that’s all for now… see you all again soon.

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Nico the Shepherd’s Cat …. my story

I is Nico…..this is my story. The human mamma – “Shepherd Clare” told you how I come to live with her and other human.
https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/thebirchesspringfield.com/1483

Now I will tell you wot I do in my life on the farm as Shepherd’s Cat. My new life started when I got to the farm….oooo lots of new things to see and smells…waz a very happy kitten……I haz lots of toys…

I went outside in the ‘big world’ ….tiz huge…. has forest n (Shepherd says paddocks) grasses n mices n rabbits.

When it rains… or is cold I’z stay indoors and play…humans gives me toys…n boxes..

I start my day by helping Shepherd Clare feed da sheeps…I like to visit with them… they are my woolly friends…I’z good with da sheep…I’z help…

Iz big now and allow outside at night time…though Mamma worries when I don’t come home till late….(7pm)…

Next time I’z tell you about my best friend…Louie he lives next door…

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Monday 11 May… a light is on and someone is home

We had some good news today….. New Zealand is going to our level 2 at the end of this week. For us, this will not mean a great change in our life, as we are isolated by the fact that we live in a remote area away from the city. It takes us 45 minutes to drive into the city of Christchurch, 45 minutes to our local supermarket and 30 minutes to buy our milk from the farmer. We have approximately 300 people living in the settlement of Springfield, Canterbury, and although we have neighbours around us, we do not see them on a daily basis; but they are there if we need them.

Level 2 for most of New Zealand though, means that they will be able to go to the malls, church, shops, movies and cafes etc. For me, I will enjoy getting a hair cut and maybe a coffee or takeaways, other than that nothing much will change for us, as we do the farm stuff anyway on a regular basis and only go out occasionally. I will though, look forward to seeing family and friends again.

This has been an interesting time, and I know a lot of you will have experienced similar things. Last weekend, with the lifting of some restrictions, we went for a drive to the beach (still 45 minutes for us) and took a picnic coffee with us. The people out walking passed by and we talked about the beautiful day, the weather, or other mundane topics, but we all felt a kinship with our common issue. I hope that in the days to come we do not lose that sense of camaraderie. It would be nice to think that we had more sense of community than perhaps we did before.

Of course farm work continues….. the ram, Tuppence, went back to the owners as he (hopefully) has done a good job and we will have lambs in the spring. The flock are settling down again after his stay. It is good to be able to hand feed them all again without worrying about him being the aggressive little ‘boy’ that he had become.

Nico continues to help with the farm, keeping an eye on the sheep and lazing in his bed afterwards as he’s ‘tired’ from all the farm work he has to do, (well checking out the stockyards to make sure there are no mice is hard work, talking to all the sheep to make sure there are none missing is tiring…. no wonder he wants a nap, all that counting makes me tired too).

Take care everyone, and in the days to come, I will show you what else I have been doing on the farm.

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The shepherd’s cat -Nico out on the farm

It’s been a while since I’ve talked about Nico, our Manx kitten, so I thought I’d give you an update on what he’s been doing lately. Nico is now six months old and has adapted well to farm life. He loves to visit the flock every morning – or night – depending on who is feeding them any particular day (I feed them in the morning and Leigh feeds them late afternoon) and since there is plenty of nice grass at present we have gone to feeding them once a day.

So Nico will follow us out to the workshed to help us get the bucket and the nuts; he has to check out the workshed as well, to make sure no mice have appeared since he was last in there. The routine is then go out to the main gate and open it, call the flock by rattling the bucket (which they know is ‘nut time’) and they all come running over to the ‘breakfast bar’ (a piece of grass cut so that the nuts don’t get lost in the long grass).

Nico, as a good shepherd’s cat, either climbs on the fence or squeezes under the fence into the paddock to ‘visit’ with the sheep too. He will go right up to them and hunker down while they have a look at him and sniff him. He is very brave, as they are sooooooo big, but they are also gentle and just nose him.

He loves to walk around the paddock as I check the water troughs, fences, pick up any rubbish blown in from the main road, and generally look at the sheep and give them a scratch and talk with them. This is the time when I look at how the flock are moving, see if any of them are limping, got sores or anything; this has been a routine now for 2 years and it means I can keep on top of any unusual health issues (hopefully) before it gets too bad.

Anyway back to Nico, sometimes he will stay in the paddock for an hour or so, looking for the mice in the long grass (he caught 3 the other day) and then will come back and look for me in the garden or house.

Nico has also ventured out at night……… As a worried parent, I was not happy about this but as a cat, he thought it was his right to go out exploring, so now we let him stay out for a while after dinner. He usually comes inside about an hour after dark and then we shut the cat door for the night. He can’t get out until I get up in the morning and open the flap. I know I am a little paranoid, but we lost Pippin in the night because he crossed over the main road and got hit by a fast car/truck.

Well that’s the adventures of Nico for today………….. come back and visit soon, and I will have more stories to tell…………………………

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First week of New Zealand isolation.

Well the week has gone ok, and we are getting use to staying home. Much of what we do is the same whether we are in isolation or just getting on with our normal daily routine except we can’t pop out for a coffee at our favourite shop.

Nico has been house-bound for a couple of days because he is a ‘woosey cat’ when it comes to rain (I don’t know why because he is fascinated by water from the taps or any water in the basins). Well anyway I thought I’d make him some toys to play with and to entertain him. Here is Nico at play.

Our first venture to the grocery shop yesterday meant that we had to be inventive with our shopping; 1 person 1 trolley so we split the list into two and did the shopping as individuals. Leigh is good at the stocking of the pantry shelves, so he did that and I got the vegetables and the meat plus good things to eat oh and I found some ping pong balls for Nico to play with.

We had to space ourselves out prior to entering the shop and so when we got there the line was quite long. So our shopping which usually takes 3/4 hour took us half hour to get to the front of the line and then another hour to do get the goods, pay for them and put them in the car. We shopped for two weeks so we wont have to do that again for a while. People were very polite, we chatted with the people in the line but everyone was ‘subdued’ and a little worried; but I have to say the shop assistants were great, no fuss and they were polite and well organised.

We can do this; world!!!! We will come out of this again.

The sun is shining today and that always makes me feel better. Take care all; 

Na prosécheis
Cuídate
berech' sebya
se cuida
Prenditi cura di te

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Day 5 – New Zealand’s in ‘stay at home’ mode

Good morning, my friends. So far this first week of isolation we have had a good start and to celebrate a good week I made a yummy breakfast yesterday morning.

Day one – the septic tank decided to make a very foul (not fowl) smell around the garden and so thinking of the health issue, I called our friendly ‘drainage/septic tank’ person to come and check it for us. All good he says, (thank goodness) we just aren’t filling it fast enough,”it’ll settle down soon” he says.

Day two – had to go down to the local dairy (not the shop but the farm that sells us our raw milk from the cows) as we had run out of milk and it’s something that I need as I am intolerant to the normal milk. That was a weird drive, not many cars – counted about 10 in 30 minutes travel – and they were all work cars, i.e. farmers, tradies; and the streets were empty except when we got to Oxford (where the milk farm is situated) and the local grocery shop was ‘full’.

Day three – four was quietly staying home and getting on with projects like gardening, feeding sheep and of course, playing with the kitten, Nico.

Take care all. Back soon.

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March – autumn is here – 3rd March

Welcome to my website -
Bienvenue sur mon site web
Bienvenida a mi sitio web
Kalós írthate stin istoselída mou
Dobro pozhalovat' na moy sayt
Willkommen auf meiner Website

I am very pleased to be able to welcome visitors to my website. I have been talking about our lifestyle block for nearly 2 years now and I am always amazed at the folk who ‘call in’ to see what we are doing. Thank you all.

March 20, 2020

We are all facing some unpleasant situations with this world-wide virus and my thoughts go out to all who are reading my blog and I hope you and your family are safe.

As far as I can, I am being positive in my approach to a change in lifestyle. I still have sheep to look after, the garden to tend and I am trying to grow fruit and vegetables but this is an ongoing issue as I really don’t know what grows well here yet.

The sheep are doing well, and have a new ‘friend’ in with them – Tuppence is living up to his name and getting on with the job of ‘befriending’ the girls. Hopefully we will have some lambs in the spring.

Nico, our young Manx kitten has now been with us for a month so he’s five months old now and adjusting to our life as well as us adjusting to him.

He continues to learn more about his surroundings and loves to visit the sheep in the morning. He has a bit of a habit of climbing up the trellis and onto the roof of the house when he’s excited and then of course he can’t get down, so we have to climb up the ladder and get him down. And what’s with the toys, who’s gona pick up all the toys when you’ve finished playing? “I’m hiding, not me!”

You may not know the story in New Zealand but a lot of people have been panic buying things like toilet rolls, hand sanitiser and now plants, potting mix and seeds. To lighten the mood a little, my husband decided that we need something other than those items so he went out and bought a new car; a Mercedes Benz, 1999 hardtop convertible (I’ve always secretly wanted one).

Today we decided to take a small road trip to the Bealey, in the middle of the Southern Alps, Canterbury, between the east coast and the west coast. We were away from people, had a picnic by ourselves and enjoyed the great outdoors.

Be safe, be happy and I will write again soon.

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Lazy days of summer

With the days warm but not as hot as they were a few weeks back it’s time to think about working outside again. I’m not a fan of heat and so have not done much work outside since November. The vegetable garden is a real ‘trial’ to me, I can’t seem to get the growing right for any of the vegetables I try although the herbs, potatoes and lavender seem to be thriving. The ground is very cold right up till about October and then the rains come for about a month. The only growing period seems to be from October to March and even then the nights will start to get cooler by mid February. I think if I relied on my garden to survive – food wise- I’d be a very hungry person.

Next year I think I’ll concentrate on herbs and dye plants instead of vegetables, I seem to have more luck with those.

The woad and weld grew well and I have a good supply to try dyeing wool or materials such as cottons and linens.

The lavender will be used in scented bags for clothes and baths, and some will be used to make teas and infuse in oils. When I get a bigger supply of lavender I will take it to a lavender farm nearby so that they can turn the flowers into lavender oil.

Nico is growing up nicely and is now exploring on his own, although still quite close to the house.

The flock are also growing up and soon it will be time for them to start thinking about ‘babies’.

I went to visit a very nice boy yesterday and so he will be arriving in the middle of March. He is young, but I am assured, he will quickly pick up ‘what to do’.

Here are a few photos of him (he doesn’t have a name yet, just a number). He is a very nice ram, beautiful colour and nice temperament.

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Day 7 – first week with Nico

At first I thought this blog was going to be about our sheep, our experience with the farm and about our life that has changed – for the better – I believe. Well that is of course true but what I didn’t know was that life with a kitten that has a unique personality was about to change our knowledge on cats dramatically. It’s a bit like having a ‘baby’ in the house, all cuteness and cuddles, but also teaching and training, the question is who’s teaching who?

I have to tell you all about our wake-up mornings; Nico sleeps under the bed in his own private ‘cave’. He is very quiet and sleeps right through till about 7.00 am. Then it’s all stealth and quietly climbing onto the bed to see if the ‘humans’ are awake.

This morning was quite unusual though. I am asleep, I hear a purring and open my eyes to see him looking at me. He started purring louder as he can see I’m awake. I whisper to him, ‘I’m not awake yet’ and close my eyes again. He pads his paws (without claws thank goodness) over my eyes, very gently ‘ pad pad’ like he’s saying ‘wake up’, I ignore him so he then puts his nose on my nose and carefully pads pads with his paws again on my eyes. Well I gave up sleep at this point and got up; mmm now I wonder if I’m being trained to wake up when he wants me too?

But isn’t this face cuteness in the extreme?

I am impressed though, with the learning going on in this little mind. He knows now that the ‘scratch post’ is the only place to rip into with his claws, not allowed to do that on the sofas, that the benches and table tops are Not the place for kittens to sit, that he is allowed to sit on the sofa cushions and look out the window at the birds and rabbits outside, and that outdoors is a good place to run and climb up trees.

Pretty good learning for a week in the new residence.