Tippy Tap

When we have children visiting the farm, whether it's for a birthday party or a farm tour, the need for hand washing hands after all those animal cudddles is very important. In the past I've just used a bucket of water as there isn't any hand washing facilities close to he activity, but I really wanted something where the children could have running water and not be using the same water as everyone else.

I came across this example of disease prevention in India. This a you tube showing how to make a tippy tap. I thought it would be a lovely thing to make one here on the farm for the children. I could talk about how children in other countries needed a way to wash their hands because they don't have the hand washing facilities that we do here in this country. And just because it's a bit of fun.

So here's our version of a tippy tap....

We found two long branches with forked ends

  

Dug a pit for drainage..

Around the outside of the hole we placed bricks to stand on..

Filled the hole with crushed concrete..

Mark dug two holes for the branches..

We used a watering can to hold the water as that was what we had. In India they used plastic containers..

Attach some rope to the container at a point which will allow it to tip when the rope is pulled. Attach the other end of the rope to a shorter branch on the ground. Make the rope short enough so that it raises one end of the branch up off the ground, so that when you press down on the branch with your foot, it tips the water container so that the water can pour out into your hands.

Squirt a little liquid soap onto your hands and hold them under the water and there you have it. Clean hands.

Autumn Campfire

A gorgeous day, beautiful twin girls turning eight and eleven of their friends and family, and you have the makings of a delightful birthday party.

We made dough twisties, baked them over the campfire and filled them with honey.

A really delightful group of children who were fully involved with every activity. Sometimes these parties are not like work at all!

A Blustery Day For A Party!

It is cold and blustery today. We lit our fire for the first time this year. 

We even had a little rain. It felt like it was coming off the snow. Not very promising for a 3 year old boy's birthday. But I tell the mums when they book the parties that they will go ahead whatever the weather, because really, children need to be less protected from the extremes, don't you agree. Just make sure they are suitably dressed I explain. So we had no choice. .

We were blessed really, because apart from the two short showers that saw us duck for cover, the rest of the party remained dry, although a little cold. But mostly the children were undeterred. We started with apples because it is Autumn, and therefore apple season. I had the apple slinky ready.

The boys loved it. I  like to have an activity like this ready at the start of a party for those children who arrive first and are waiting for the latecomers to arrive. It gives them something to do and the added benefit here is that they also get a piece of fruit to eat before we start as they are sometimes too excited to eat before they come.

We did the usual animal feeding and then wandered down to the market garden to feed the hens and collect the eggs. Not many eggs today but an opportunity to tell the children that even hens need a little holiday. We meandered around the garden following all the curving paths." Do you grow corn?" I was asked. "Why yes we do. But the corn is just about finished now. It only likes the hot weather" This led us on to a discussion amongst the older guests (the three year olds just wanted to explore) about what grows at this time of year. We walked over to the snow peas which have just started to produce. Each small guest got a snow pea to try. This led us to the activity prepared for the day.Each child was given a portion of an egg carton to use as a seedling pot, which they filled with soil.They watered this and then placed a snow pea seed in each.

The carton was placed in a strawberry punnet to take it safely home, and the snow pea was pressed into the soil. With the lid closed it acts like a mini hot house until the seed germinates.

 Once the seedling is about 5cm tall it is able to go into the garden bed pot and all.

Gathering under the mulberry tree for a snack.

This was a boys party with children ranging from 18months to eight years. They were full of energy. After the snack they played chasing games amongst themselves. A few parents were seen to join in, and then it was time to take the tired birthday boy home.

Around The Farm

2014 has been declared International Year of Family Farming and so to celebrate I would like to share snippets of our family farm. So once a week for the rest of the year you can join us here for a slow tour of the farm.

The 2014 International Year of Family Farming (IYFF) aims to raise the profile of family farming and smallholder farming by focusing world attention on its significant role in eradicating hunger and poverty, providing food security and nutrition, improving livelihoods, managing natural resources, protecting the environment, and achieving sustainable development, in particular in rural areas. 

 

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A few snap shots of farm activity this week..

Community building. I was approached by one of our CSA members asking if she could run a Red Tent gathering here on the farm. Following the reading of the book of the same name, she was keen to provide a safe place for woman to come together and share experiences, information, knowledge and skills. The first session saw us speak about our experiences of becoming young women. Surprisingly similar encounters! We will be holding the Red Tent once a month, for those of you women who may be interested.

We have had rain, glorious rain. Just over 60mls, which made the four year old's birthday party a bit wet. But not to worry, they all had a great time. I told a story about sunflowers and bees and the children got to plant a sunflower seed, watch honey being extracted from the frames, and take some seeds and honey home. One of the mums has already booked her little boys party for the end of March.

A little bit of seed saving, first through the sieves to get rid of the course material and then the winnowing, to be left just with the seed. We will keep a lot of the seed for our own use but the rest is sold during farm tours or at the Harvest Farmer's Market, where we set up our first stall last Saturday...

We sold seedlings, seeds and cotton dishcloths with an underlying focus on advertising our workshops, tours and parties. The markets are on every Saturday and we will make it there as often as we can. Our weekends are often busy with farm based activities and we won't be able to commit to a stall. Periodically we may have produce for sale also, but as our CSA boxes can handle as much as we can grow at the moment, sales of excess produce at the market will have to wait.

 

The pigs are loving their work so much that they have managed to cultivate one of their pens ready for us to plant some yummy pig food for them when next we rotate them to this area.

 They are also loving their play. Here's cinnamon rolling in the mud..

Our electro netting has arrived and we can now safely put them to work in the market garden.We did wonder how we were going to move them from their enclosure to the garden and have managed to make a run through the food forest to the garden. Along the way they have also cleaned up the forest.

This part of the garden was originally a no dig garden and so it is proving to be a pretty simple job for the pigs to cultivate. we are thinking we might prep this area up for asparagus once the pigs are finished. And we have already decided on  the next spot for the pigs to move onto. What a great resource they are!

Mark is working on a new chook dome to house those other marvelous cultivators, the hens. We have four chook domes in the Market garden, which means that four beds are being cleared and dug over. They do need to be  repaired at times and sometimes replaced.Like the pigs, the hens do a fantastic job of preparing the garden for planting.

A Little Bit Of Woodwork

To welcome the birthday child to the farm, and inspired by our newest additions, I made a sign for the front gate...

I started with a template. I divided the template into squares...

These squares were replicated on a larger scale onto a piece of ply. And then it was just a matter of drawing the pig, using the squares as a guide, onto the ply.

Using power tools has always frightened me a bit, but I was determined to use the jig saw that I've had for years and never used, to cut it out. Then I tidied up the edges with a sander.

Then after a coat of sealer I painted the pig with chalkboard paint.

The sign lets the party guests know where they are going and starts the party off nicly for the birthday child. On Sunday the mother of the birthday girl apologised for being a little late but her little girl insisted that she have her photo taken with the sign. Makes it all worth while really! And I enjoyed my little bit of woodwork.

Have you been put off by a fear of power tools?

Nutmeg and Cinnamon

Just a little while ago Mark and I visited a petting farm for a little inspiration for our ever increasing child friendly activities here on our own patch. We were keen to get some ideas on fencing and pens and how interaction between the children and the animals was achieved.

We got some great ideas..

But the thing that really caught my eye were the baby animals. Sheep, goats and pigs to name a few.

 

These lambs and kids wander free around the farm, spending a little time in here when it's time to milk the cow, so that they don't get in the way. Children are able to interact freely with these young animals. They even climb on the play equipment with the children.

 

 

 Now a sheep has been on my mind for a while. I'd like to get  one or two for their fleece, and goats would be handy to tackle a few weeds on the farm, and maybe we could even milk them except that I'm not much fussed on goats milk. But pigs? I have in the past voiced my opposition to pigs. ''They're smelly and dirty'' I would answer, when questioned on my aversion to them. We would never have them on the farm. Well wouldn't you know it, I saw a pen full of cute little piglets at the petting farm and I found myself being won over. And so a few weeks ago we took a drive up the Valley and picked up two little miniature piglets....

Nutmeg ....

 

and Cinnamon....

They will be part of the tour I take children on when they visit the farm for birthday parties, playgroup and such. They will be able to pet them and feed them, once we get them quiet. They are becoming used to us more and more each day and even allow us to pat them on occasion.

But we are a working farm and we can't have animals here that don't contribute in a more productive way, so they will also be used in a tractoring system to prepare ground for plantings...

 

..because they do love to root around in the earth!

The Treasure Chest

Once there was a little girl, so the story goes. She planted a little seed in her garden and watched it grow and grow. It grew and grew as she herself grew.

The little seed grew into a beautiful golden sunflower, much taller than the little girl.

 Everyday the sunflower was visited by the bees who buzzed and buzzed in the beautiful sunshine. The bees fed on the nectar of the golden flower and flew back to the hive, taking with them golden pollen.

The little girl called to her mother to come and see the golden flowers. The little girl took her mother by the hand and led her to the sunflower. They watched with delight as the bees buzzed and buzzed around the flowers. They admired the golden flowers and talked about the golden honey that the bees would make back at their hive.The mother said that she new of another golden treat hidden in a treasure chest and she asked the girl if she could find it. The treasure chest  was small and smooth and could be found in the garden if the little girl looked really hard. The little girl looked and looked. First she looked under the orange tree, then the apple tree. She looked behind, and under and all around, but still she couldn't find the treasure chest. She stood on tip toe and looked in all the trees, but still no treasure chest could she find. Her little face grew sadder and sadder and she was just about to give up when she heard a noise coming from under the mulberry tree. ''Bok bok bok'' said the little hen, and the little girl eyes lit up. She knew what that meant. The hen had laid an egg and the girl had found her treasure. She thanked the hen for her egg and carefully carried her treasure chest into her mother. Her mother took the egg and cooked it for her little girl. The little girl delighted in her treasure chest with the golden treat inside.



This was the story that Vicki told the four year olds at a birthday party on Saturday. Each child received a jar of golden honey and a little egg in a basket as their take home gift. 



The baskets were made using a strawberry punnet. I cut off the lid, added a paper handle, some scraps of painted silk as a nest and ribbons on the handle. 

Enjoying a snack in the shade of the mulberry tree.

A delightful group of children and their parents. Vicki and I have decided that it's not like work at all!