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!

Thank god for Uncle Woody

Poor Coco has been very sick with mastitis - thank god the pups are 5 weeks old and I don't have to take over any handraising. She is still determindly trying to feed them but it is obviously excruciating so we are trying to keep her away from the pups. They are eating like lions and thriving. Woody has decided that he will step into the role of primary carer and is found with the pups most of the time. Attached are some photos of them this morning...

City to Surf...and back to city again..

Well, I believe I said I fancied doing this 14km fun run about this time last year. After putting pen to paper there was no getting away from it so I lined up with 75,000 other Sydneysiders (most much fitter than me at the moment) for the hilly run from the city to Bondi Beach. As you can see it was quite painful by the end - actually it wasn't as bad as the photo makes it look. It seems that the way I think I run and the way I actually run are vastly different. In my head I am a marathon runner - in reality my style is more old lady. Anyway, I really enjoyed the run - more in retrospect admittedly. If I did it again I feel that renting a flat in Bondi would have made it much easier at the finish line as the logistics of moving over 75,000 people out of Bondi meant that a long walk was necessary to get to a nearer train station and rest our weary legs. Felix and Emi both took my medal to school when we got back home, and although Felix couldn't quite comprehend why I didn't win he said he was 'very proud' of me anyway.

Ponies and puppies

I'm told that I am going overboard on the puppy photos - however as my day is filled with washing both the kids clothes and now the pups' bedding you are just going to have to hang in there until they go to their new homes. Today Emi and I saddled up little Jaz and pottered about with her in the front paddock. We couldn't do too much as her daughter was in the yard making it very clear indeed that if Mum went too far we would have an airborne youngster tearing after us so Emily did some excellent shoulder brushing while Jazz happily ate her way through a bucket of food. Puppies had their first day of solid food yesterday which they tucked into with gusto - they are also having a couple of hours outside with Uncle Woody now which Coco is very grateful for. They get cuter every day.