Errr... she is staying

The above news probably won't be a surprise to anyone, however in my defence there was a 'complete role reversal whereby I stayed focused and James steadily convinced me that in fact we definitely needed another spaniel. In all honesty there probably wasn't a huge amount of convincing needed, especially after Harry's owner Steve, also owner of the Dad came up to get him with two of his working spaniels. Jessie had her best day ever, and flushed seven rabbits...she is still asleep, James is saving for a shotgun and suddenly the prospect of English style shoots up here are on the cards. We have tried to change Fergie's name but unfortunately it has stuck. Yesterday she spent the day with James in the ute meeting butchers, tyre changers and many others as well as going into pre-school and running about with Emi's classmates. She loves her crate almost as much as Woody.

The horses are shedding their winter coats, I could have woven a rug out of the hair that came of Sparkle during grooming this morning. We are still desperate for rain and too scared to look in the tanks. The shop is doing well, we are off to Sydney markets this weekend and the school holidays start. It never stops around here...

Orange Dust

No, there is nothing wrong with our camera...this is what we awoke to this morning. It covers an awful lot of the country as Sydney looks the same apparently. It is quite eerie but has cleared to just being freezing cold this afternoon. I feel particularly sorry for the car salesmen (not a sentence you will often hear me utter) as everything in the whole town is covered in a layer of red dust...lots of cars to wash. The local car wash is doing a roaring trade with the rest of us and I am going to have to spend the morning washing windows and dusting at the shop to uncover everything.

All gone

Well - almost. Charlie went off to his new home today. This leaves us with Harry and Fergie (whom James was really hoping we could keep so he could buy a shotgun and have a gun dog). They are off to Sydney as working spaniels at the end of the week... It will be so quiet. I am sort of sad, but quite relieved - anyone who thinks you make money out of dog breeding is wrong. Any funds received are going towards redoing the floor in the backroom so that every warm day coming up (and there are many) won't keep us reminiscing with odour of puppy pooh forever more.

More from The Farmer's Pantry

Well, it's our third weekend open and we are slowly getting the hang of our little farm shop. How cute are the cupcakes??? I seem to have gotten the hang of coffee more or less and we had a steady stream of customers today which Tiff and I seemed to cope with quite nicely. Today I also learned that meat slicers are really sharp. Thankfully I still have my finger however I will look as though I am paying tribute to Michael Jackson for the next month wearing one glove to cover up the bandaid until my fingernail grows back.

They're ready

Well, here are Coco's babies - they are really my babies as well because I feel that I have been a worthy co-parent. Poor Coco has come through an awful mastitis which has enabled her to have a very effective tummy tuck (removing dead tissue) but she is still feeding the little monkeys. They are hooligans but I love all of them, and even though I spend most of my time with a mop and bucket I am going to miss their little faces as they scream at me in the morning to FEED THEM RIGHT NOW. Very good homes await - even for Beatrice... Emi is coping well.

Open for Business

Well - almost 2 years to month the first sows arrived we have opened the doors to The Farmers Pantry. Doing the Sydney Market the day before probably didn't reflect a particularly good thought process, however we sold 300 kg of pork and headed back to try and get our head around being shop keepers with our usual degree of total disorganisation.

The idea was to not tell anyone and have a dry run through - this worked well and thankfully we have made a very wise decision in employing Tiff, who has cafe experience and makes a better coffee than I can ever hope to - and really just rolled up her sleeves and made everything work in a way that made us both forever grateful. James has taken to coffee making in his usual manner and is suddenly an experienced barista. I am very good at flat whites...oh and babycino's when I make the milk too frothy - anything in between seems impossible. More practice. On day one the dishwasher broke, we lost power on one side of the kitchen and something died in the roof leading to a terrible smell this morning. I go by the thought that the worse it is leading up to an event, the better it will be on the day - this seemed to hold true.

Anyway - here are some pictures...we are now shopkeepers!