What a lovely day here on the farm with 18 adults and 30 little ones visiting. I feel like the pied piper as I wander around with a line of children behind me. And every now and then I feel a little hand holding mine as we move on from one animal to the next. Feeding, patting and holding various members of our farm menagerie. I call these our mums and bubs tours but of course we get dads and grandparents as well as mums bringing their littlies out to see the farm animals. I try to keep it real. I don't want it to become a petting zoo. I really want the children to see farm animals being treated with respect and being allowed to express their natural behaviours.

I think that the guinea pigs were the high light of the farm visit today. I just could not drag them away. I usually leave the guinea pigs til last, when the children are a little tired from their farm wanderings and looking for a quieter activity. It soon became obvious that they just couldn't wait any longer to hold these dear little animals in their laps. So into the back of the ute they went, where children and guinea pigs are kept safe.

Each child potted up a nasturtium seed into one of these skin care pots.
 This skin care company uses pots from recycled plastic. Their philosophy is to take back these pots and upcycle them in some way. Which basically means they have to find someone who can find a use for them. As they are already made from recycled plastic the plastic can't be recycled again and so another use must be found for pots. They have asked us can we make use of them and so we use them as plant pots. Now I'm not advocating the use of single use plastic even though it has been recycled. I'm very careful about what I buy and wouldn't buy this product because of the packaging. Really I wish they'd use glass or wash these pots out and reuse them themselves. I don't really want to be responsible for other peoples waste, but now that I've got them I'm looking for ways to to use them that fits our ethics. So far that's as plant pots but I'm in two minds to take any more from them. What do you think?

Our weekend has been quite busy. It started with a birthday for one of our grandsons. At just one year of age it was a big day and he struggled to stay awake. By the time his cake was being cut he'd fallen asleep...

On Sunday we were invited to a local church for a blessing of the pets. It was a beautiful Mass celebrating the life and teachings of St. Francis of Assissi. We are not typically church goers but found this service particularly enjoyable. We took Aggie, our dog, a guinea pig and a hen. There were lots of dogs, but a cockatoo, a parrot and a goat were just some of the more unusual pets. We have become involved with this particular church due to the aspirations of the priest. Mother Moira is a enthusiastic woman who has devoted herself to feeding the poor. She is determined to grow food in the grounds of the church, and this is where we come in. We are endeavouring to facilitate the start of a community garden specifically aimed at feeding the poor with fresh organic produce. Along with this will be education in composting, propagation, preserving and food preparation. We are excited to be involved.

Monday, for us, was a public holiday. We took advantage of the day off to work on some of the things that will make life a little easier for our farm sitters. We are becoming more and more anxious about our trip away and the fact that we are asking so much of those people who have agreed to take care of everything here while we are away. A big ask and we are so very grateful. Our intern has been here now for just a little over a 3weeks. He has been on a very sharp learning curve but has stepped up to the mark and we feel confident that he will manage beautifully. We also have friends who will come and give support by taking on most of the care of the animals, a huge task in itself.

Today I mistakenly put on a Mums and Bubs Tour. Due to the public holiday Monday's CSA box was put back until Tuesday which meant I had to be in two places at once. Thanks to Luke, our intern, I was able to leave the boxes to him and get on with the tour. It was a great day with beautiful littlies and their mums, dads and even grandparents. We have such a lovely time with the animals and I just love to see the little ones interacting with them. The tours have become so popular that I've had to put on more each month to accommodate them. Next year there will be two a month.To see a young child cuddle a guinea pig or pat a horse or pig, while their mum looks on in amazement, while telling me that their child is too scared to do such a thing, fills me with joy.

This is why I do it. I want to give children the opportunity to interact with animals, to see how they live and what makes each of the animals happy. That pigs love to roll in the mud and dig the ground with their nose...

 That chickens love to scratch, eat grass, take a dust bath. That the pony loves to be brushed and patted. That the ducks and geese love to take a swim in the pond. These are the things children need to see if they are to become adults who refuse to see as normal the industrialisation of our animal. They need to see food growing in the ground. They need to see that eggs come from the hens. They see this when they come to our farm and we are really happy to see the happiness the farm brings to these families.

Mums And Bubs

Our latest Mums and Bubs tour was a huge success.

This tour is designed for those parents who would like to take a look around the farm with their little ones. It is much slower in pace than our main tour for the month so that the children can take a break for a snack and get up close to the animals....

The parents left feeling inspired to grow a little of their own food, and the children left feeling tired but happy. A great opportunity for some city kids to experience farm life!

Hot Hot Hot.

Into the heat of yesterday morning, descended a bus load of children.Thirty five children ranging in  age from 5 years to 11 from an inner city OOSH (out of school hours childcare), along with their teachers.

We quickly got on with the tour before it got any hotter. The aim for the day was to show the children animals living in an an environment that caters to their needs and individual behaviors.

The children noticed that the pigs liked their mud puddle and lots of food.

They noticed that the chickens liked to roll around in the soil and lay eggs.

They were surprised that ducks like to eat their food from the water.

The children were surprised that the chickens like to sleep up high on a roost.

They were a little surprised that a cow was so very very big.

There were children who were frightened of guinea pigs but by the end of the visit were promising to be back so that they could buy one for their very own because they were just so cute and just the thing to hold in your lap.

After the tour we divided into five groups and rotated around five activities. They got up close to the cow and pony with Mark, and if they felt really brave they got to brush them.

They were able to sit and cuddle with the guinea pigs.

They drew a picture of something they'd seen on the farm with a theme around what animals like in their environment. There were lots of drawings of pigs and mud!

They did some seed saving. Corn rubbed from the cob, sunflower seeds pulled from the old flower head, leek seeds pulled off and willowed, and red kidney beans taken out of their pods.

 The group doing the leeks didn't get very far did they?

And lastly a paper pot made, filled with soil and a little seed added, to be taken home to grow.

Sorry no photos. It was so full on. But we all had a great day. And as they left a little hug for me from one little girl, telling me she would miss me and that she'd be back for a guinea pig. One teacher's parting remark was ''Thank you so much. The kids learnt so much and so did we"

And that makes it so worth while. If the only thing they learn is that animals deserve to live a good life, and they can make decisions as they get older about where they source their food, then I feel that we've made a difference.

And after they all left it was back to making sure the animals were comfortable during the afternoon heat wave. We put the overhead sprinklers on in the garden to cool down the chickens in their domes, and of course make sure they have cool water to drink. I refill the guinea pigs dish of water. They don't necessarily drink it if they have enough green grass to eat, but they do like to lay in the water to cool down. And I move them into the shade.

The seedlings will need a drink as well and then it's back to the shade and a cool drink for me also. Quite often I wrap a wet towel around my shoulders while on my my tour of the livestock and this helps a lot to keep me cool. If you'd like some more tips on keeping cool this summer duck over to Linda's blog. She shows you how she keeps the house and animals as cool as possible in her neck of the woods and contemplates the real threat of bush fires.