Greetings lovely friends & readers
From time to time my dear bloggy friend Woodfairy Betty asks to see more aspects of farm life so I thought I would share some in this post.
I rarely get called upon to help on the farm these days but lately I have been helping out a bit due to our Milker/Farm Worker being on a months holiday. Last Saturday I went out to help The Mr with some fencing & a few days prior we tagged cows together.
We also moved the Herd. The cows are dry at present but will be calving in early autumn. They were happy to get a fresh paddock with some grass in it. We own the Herd but not the farm & we milk 220 Freisian Cross cows, which by todays standards is considered a small size Herd.
This is how you fence on Peat Country ... also how you shift heavy concrete troughs. The farm is 288 acres & is all flat. We replaced many broken fence posts in the main race & the two farthest paddocks.
On the way back the clouds rolled in & the rain started. And there was Fluffy waiting on the cold concrete cowshed yard - waiting for The Mr ... certainly Not Me 😉
On Sunday Juno & her parents came to visit, which was lovely as it had been The Mr's birthday during the week. Look at the arrow in the top left hand pic & you can see there was a certain someone who did Not think Juno's visit was lovely.
She very much enjoyed the pond which I have been busy working on lately & trying to clear & sort out - it was much neglected (by me !!) 😉
She also enjoyed the morning tea I made including (birthday) chocolate cake, home made sausage rolls & pikelets. It's hard to believe Juno will turn one next month.
I came across this very old Homespun Magazine last year during our Lockdown when I re-read & culled alot of my craft magazines.
I had always wanted to make the chenille rabbit in there called Ms Wesberry Wabbit - a pattern by Melissa Duncan of Mogs Designs.
When I saw online that Love from Seventeen were reducing all their Easter tags I ordered one each for my Grandsons - at half price I could not resist.
Fast forward to a whole year later & I actually got to make the Rabbits. I had some candlewick fabric that I found in my stash, remnants of an old bedspread so I cut out two rabbits to make up for the grandsons for Easter.
I put the finishing touches to them yesterday - instead of wire for the whiskers as the pattern suggested, I just used some leather thonging I had. I love the quirky, slightly Primitive look to them.
Now I am under no illusions that the grandsons will much prefer their chocolate Rabbits but I have packaged everything up ready to give them at Easter time.
Thank You for staying with me through this photo-heavy post dear readers
(Just a small note before I sign off .... I was asked a question from Loraine UK but I cannot find a way to reply as you come up as a no-reply-blogger. If you go back to my post dated Friday July 28th 2017 where you asked the question - you will see I have replied to you in the comments section.)
Wishing you a wonderful rest of the week. 💕
With much love & friendship to You All,
Julie & the furry ones x0x0x
How adorable, Baby it too cute. Don't you just love that fat little adorable age?
ReplyDeleteI sure do Kim & I have to stop myself from wanting to gently squeeze those chubby little arms & legs. xx
DeleteI enjoyed seeing the "spread" where you live and work.
ReplyDeleteLittle Juno is adorable. What fun to have her (and parents, or course) for a visit!
The whimsical rabbits are very cute.
You may have felt this was a photo heavy post, but to me it seemed to fly by!
Love the rabbits. They look lovely. Juno sure is cute. Hugs, xx
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this post, Julie! I loved seeing what you are doing - my goodness the fuss we made about putting up one fence post in our tiny 30ft garden! compared to fencing Julie style on a 200 acre site lol! How fabulous to care for such a beautiful herd - I know they aren't pets, but they are generally such gentle creatures I think. I can see farming life is not for lightweights though. The rabbits turned out well - I am sure they will be loved and cuddled - brilliant idea for the whiskas. Betty x
ReplyDeleteWhat a great post , my friend use to run a big farm so I know what work goes into it .
ReplyDeleteLove your rabbits the children will love them .
Enjoy your day.
I had no idea you were on a farm! Interesting to hear about it and get a few glimpses. I do LOVE those rabbits! Simple but oh so effective. xx
ReplyDeleteBeing a country 'walla' l love to see anything
ReplyDeleterural, l'm not a townie by any means, love the
countryside, and spent most of my life growing
up in one..! :).
Those bunnies look great to..so much character,
lovely with their names to...you always make things
so life like Julie..!
It's a lovely day over here, nice and sunny, but cold,
just put a few things out to dry, few bits and pieces
to see to, keep me busy till lunch time..! :o).
☕ 🍰 ☕ 🍰 ☕ 🍰 ☕ 🍰 ☕ 🍰 ☕ 🍰 ☕ 🍰 ☕
Dear Julie , I woke at 3am 😟 and what a pleasure to find your blog. Your farm is very like one I used to stay on in school holidays as a child. How I enjoyed hand feeding some baby calves. Letting them suck on your hand in a bucket of warm milk. I wonder if that is out of date now. I can see you love your life very much but sooo busy. I love living in the country but NEXT to a farm. When I think of all that baking !. What a sweet baby but poor Miss Pippi.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the entertainment. ❤️🌈🦋
I'd say getting 220 cows milked probably twice a day makes your herd large enough. We have several small dairy farms in
ReplyDeletemy area and I just love seeing the cows in the fields. Your flat country looks a bit like 1/2 of our state of Ohio, but
not my 1/2. I used to live in the flats but I am a hill girl from childhood home times. Fluffy looks content and Miss
Pippi looks a bit standoffish at the moment. But Juno is a growing girl isn't she. Hard to think Easter will be here so soon. Lynn XX
Thanks so much for your lovely comment Lynn. Yes Pippi did not like Juno visiting at all - in fact she pretty much does not like anyone visiting to be honest. She did sit by the door the whole time with a sour face I noticed. Blackie was away hiding under the house no doubt. Happy Weekend to you & Precious Lynn. xx
DeleteHi Julie, lovely to read your blog and see your farm/girls. Fencing is a bitch isn't it, no matter what sort of land. Some of my girls have no respect for fences even the electrified ones.
ReplyDeleteI did comment on IG about your bunnies, so cute.
Grandies grow so fast, our eldest turned 17 last month and the youngest will be 2 in Sept. Of course we never feel any older LOL
Have a great weekend x
Hi Pam - thank You for your lovely comment. Yes the fencing was not much fun but I dare say we made it a bit easier for ourselves by using the digger to help. You are so right Pam ... the grandies grow up so very fast!! Hope you have a great weekend too Pam. xx
DeleteGreat to see what happens out on the farm Julie, there is always work to be done! Miss Fluffy seems to be giving you the look there!! Lovely to have Juno and her family visit, your feast sounded wonderful. Miss Pippi does not look impressed!! The rabbits are so cute, I am sure the boys will love them.
ReplyDeleteHow fun to be out with the big machines getting your hands dirty!! the farm looks lovely. I do love the rabbits you made... and the adaption for the whiskers... Juno is growing up - I bet she loves her visits
ReplyDeleteHugz
The rabbits are awesome. My Candlewick bedspread was orange - how 70s.
ReplyDeleteNice to see photos of the farm, Julie. What a pretty cat Fluffy is. Your bunnies are adorable and those tags are great. It looks as if Juno would've loved to give Pippi a hug. Cats are very definite where their loyalties lie, aren't they, and their minds will not be changed.
ReplyDeleteHey Julie, how lovely to get a glimpse of life down on the farm. I live in the middle of agricultural country and my youngest lad is an agricultural worker. At the minute he is crop spraying and has just had an article published about his work in one of those agricultural magazines which nobody but an agricultural worker would be interested in. It was nice to see his little 15 minutes of fame though. I love the rabbits and we also will be having a 1-year-old birthday next week,(the son I was just talking about will be 34 on the same day!) albeit by Zoom but I'll be able to see him the next day when our restrictions get lifted a little bit. Have a good weekend, Julie.xxx
ReplyDeleteWow! That's a lot of land! My hubby thinks one acre is too much... lol! Love those Easter bunnies and those little tage are perfect!
ReplyDeletelovely land fand farm. Wouldn't mind living in a more rural setting. I would have a few chicks, and a lop eared bunny, and if I could have a donkey... The little man with the floppy hat reminded me of my own boys which was a blink away, and now they shave, they always had hats on to protect the precious heads from the sun rays. And beside that...they looked absolutely adorable.
ReplyDeleteWhat a lovely and insightful visit to your farm! You know I love cows - LOVE them. So it was extra special to see yours.
ReplyDeleteJuno almost a year old? Oh Julie, the time flies. Love those bunnies.
Very interesting to see that you have a dairy farm. Dad was a farmer's son but being the 13th son he went for a career in the Army so his brothers took over the farm when my Grandad passed away. I remember real fun days when I was a child there on the farm. I can't remember there being cows though at least not many it was more sheep and horses. These interesting views of your farm have really brought back some great childhood memories. Wonderful to have a babe around the house! I don't think I would have been able to resist giving that sweet child lots of hugs :-) Pippi is definitely not happy about having visitors LOL! Love those tags and what scruffy funny adorable rabbits! keep well Amanda x
ReplyDeleteOh I love the bunny's you made Julie, I got rid of a few of the mags I had, and have resorted to cutting a few as well, seeing your bunnys makes me want to break out the rabbit patterns I have and sew one up, but then I look at my aching fingers and put them away again😂 wow Juno has grown, what a sweety she is. Chris xoxo
ReplyDeleteFarm life is amazing, rewarding, hard work and a blessing. I have many farming friends and when I visit them, I love sitting outside and just watching the world go by. No human noises, and noises that I don't hear on a daily basis. It's incredible. I too have many copies of Homespun magazine and I can't part with mine yet. I love the rabbits you made, they're so cute and the Grandies will love them. xxx
ReplyDeleteNice farm photos, I have missed ALOT of your blog posts, I just don't seem to get to reading them these days, the hours seem to shrink. All that you touch with your creative hands turn out beautifully.
ReplyDelete