Eggs, milk, angels and stars ...

Thursday morning was beautiful...
 
It was grey, cool and the finest most gentle mist of spray fell from the sky for a good part of the morning.  So fine and so gentle and the day was kissed with the same mood.

Five little angels enjoyed the farm in this.

We all found an egg ...

... and in the excitement of it all, Milana started talking with her hands in full flight and ... ... oops five eggs became four plus a big splat!

We also found stars ... much to Farrah and Willow's delight ...

We also found a mirror ... up on a post near the office is a round convex mirror for seeing round corners, to help when your barrow is loaded with Hay and the like and you need to know who's round the corner.

This was fascinating, just standing and looking at ourselves in it ...

Cow milking time and Ava was amazing.  She is such a gentle little girl and at the same time, shows this quiet strength and braveness for finding out about things. Nothing is too big to overcome for her own learning and curiosity ... her maturity in this for such a tot was alight for all the world to see ...

Ava sat on the milking stook for ages.

She was  mesmerized by the milk coming out of the cow's teat and holding a very long conversation with Beccy the farmer about it all.  She had her little head down almost underneath the cow to see what was going on and was very proud of her own efforts to draw milk ... Anita was on the other side of the cow with a strong flow of milk happening.  Ava would give a tweak, smile, pop her head down to see the flow Anita had happening, get up walk round the back of the cow to see who was making it happen and how they were doing it. 

She'd then come back to her stool, try again, chat more with Beccy ... and it wasn't until Ava herself was satisfied with all this that she let herself finish and come back to me.

 

Ava and Beccy

Anita

We also had a treat from the farm cafe ... hot drinks all round ... thank you Tessa!

Yes, thursday morning was beautiful and there is even more to see in the photos ...

farm 22.07.10

Gem drops and farewells...

So what are they, 'Gem drops' ... ... ?  Those little gems that drop out of children's mouths ...

Zoe had her last day with us. A bit part of the day was an enormous expression of love for her and her love for all of us that went on all day long.  That felt great and I don't think we could have planned or designed anything more perfect than the day as it happened.

Zoe showed enormous good grace and her capacity to receive the love we all showed was beautiful to behold... ... ...I've said it before and will say it for the last time here, 'We love you Zoe very much and will miss you.  Thankyou for being part of all our lives.' 

As Patsy the cow was being milked, Zoe was talking about having a party and inviting everyone and how much she wanted to have everyone come.  She turned and called to Pepper, "I'll send you an 'indication' to my party."

As some of the children went to walk outside the barn and see what was happening there, Zoe looked up and said, 'Hey, what about cowing?'  Which to me translated to, 'What about our visit to the cow and milking?'         

Pepper had a ball milking Patsy the cow, Farmer Bridget sat on her stool with Pepper alongside her on another and at one point, Bridget had to get up to do something. Pepper instantly slid in closer to Patsy and instead of one hand on one teat, took a teat in each hand, squeezing and looking at how she was going, she suddenly gave a little 'Hmm..mm' of approval to herself, looked at me and said, 'Well I think I'm big enough to do this like a farmer now and could even teach children how to milk.'

Omkara, opened his lunch and looked at each thing her had in deep contemplation.  He decided to start with his flat bread wraps.  After a few bites, he suddenly burst out with one arm flung wide, 'My mum is the best cooker in the world.'

Harvey also had a visitor with him, Monty the monkey from kinder.  Monty got to climb trees and wander the farm and look at the peacock and all sorts of fun, Harvey made sure of that.

Now not quite a gem drop, though definitely a gem was Pepper with the chickens.  After a wander through the vege garden we had a big hand full of green leafies from my plot that we took to feed the chickens.  If ever there was a time to be a chicken it was wednesday morn with Pepper.  She was a delight, watching her with them was like being with the goddess in a gourmet kitchen.  She talked to them, selected tidbits, laid them out like the finest of meals and the chickens loved this and loved Pepper.

Finn, Omkara and Harvey were in and out of superhero mode during their play. They had things popping out of their hands, coming out of their fingers, all sorts of powers at play. Everytime their 'power of the moment' had no effect, they would all resort to using their 'Light Savers' and before you think, 'How very ecological of them', 'Light saver' translates to 'Light Sabre'.

Not with their light sabres, though pics of the boys ...

Finn, Harvey and Monty ...

Omkara with Zoe ...

At the end of the day, Harvey and Finn were looking at sap on a tree out the front.  Finn was really wanting Harvey to look and they talked about eating some and that they thought it was good to eat.  The funny thing was that the whole way along both boys were calling it Zap.  Almost had me convinced to try some.

farm 21.07.10

A few dear moments in time .. ..

We've had the wonder of winter over the last weeks and there have been days where it's looked like this .. ..

.. .. and amongst it all dear moments .. ..

Harvey counting, with great gusto and enthsuiasm as he viewed the back paddock and got ready for take-off ...

5 .. .. 4 .. .. 2 .. .. (hesitate) .. .. thr .. . (waivering) . .. t .. (still not sure of how to fix the glitch) .. th .. (gaining composure) .. ree .. .. two .. .. yeah .. .. 1 .. .. blast off !

Thursdays gang found mud puddles.  Dakota, Willow, Ava and Winston all jumping and splashing in their gumboots.  Milana walks into the middle of the gang and lands on her bottom in the middle, 'Oh, oh' and laughs outloud.  Best thing a girl could do early on a winters morn at the farm.

Winstons song as he walked between Ava and Willow all three hand in hand, with Winston in the middle ..

Ava, Ava, love, love, love

Willow, Willow, love, love, love

Ava hold hands love, love, love

Willow hold hands love, love, love ..

Magnus walking along and feeling tired on friday, 'Nella my legs won't work', me turning to see.  'Look,' said Magnus and he wobbled them both like a little old man.

Daisy having her hair done bye Magnus and George ..

The George sitting back for his turn with Daisy .. .. don't you love the riverside salon .. ?

Dawn rounding up the troupes for a trip on a ship.  Where to? Well South America.  What for? To get a bicycle of course!

Hanging out to look at the ocean as they all sail by ...

From Collages

Five little friends on a high seas adventure ...

Finding out about Suzi's office and bumping into family ..

This morning for some time there was only Pepper and Omkara at the farm.  They had a good time egg collecting and getting the day started together and found Farmer Suzi most helpful and friendly.. .. ..even got to go inside her office and have a good look at what she was up to. 

'Hey Suzi, what have you got in your freezer?' asked Omkara.  Great place to check out on a cold winters day .. .. ..

We also ran into family .. .. Peppers family that is, well all except Andy .. .. .. look at Pepper teaching Frankie to milk with Kulja beaming her love on them both ..

Sisterly love .. Peppercorn and Frankie Belle

Harvey joined the day too ..

Our pics of the day are here .. ..

farm 14.07.10

The very wee farmers .. ..

Carly has some very wee farmers in her group .. little Mac is only 15 months old and a mighty little soul he is.  Gabriella and Soukie both two ..

Have an eaves drop on some of what has been happening for them ..

July 2nd ..

From Farm 02.07.10c

A gentle day with only Mac and Gabriella .. We sat at our meeting spot for quite some time while Gabriella made Mac (Mat) and I some 'bretfast'.

Gabriella paused when she heard the chickens and said .. .." .. the tickens get sick when day eat lots of rooster food!"

Back to breakfast ..

Gabriella said "Sit down on your cheeears udawise I'll tate your pantates away! Ok would anybody yike some yunch? Dis is my hot powidge!"

They both played so sweetly together under the peppercorn tree for ages, Mac copying Gabriella and then just doing his own thing too!

.. .. like creating things with his little stone collection!

We also spent a lot of time in the barn due to the weather, reading books and snuggling by the fire!

Mac had so much fun with one particular book that had farm animals in it that you can slide out!

We read it possibly 30 times! Mac went through it saying " Moo, Duck, Pig, Moo,duck, pig .. .. .. looking up at me each time with his beautiful sweet smile!

July 9th .. ..

We welcomed back Soukie this week, what a delight that was. It was a girls day today, just Gabriella and Soukie, but both girls constantly asking me where Charlie and Mac were, (they are both on holidays and obviously missed by the girls).

We had a very sweet day, the girls played together beautifully. Really loving one another's company.

Soukie has created a lovely nick name for Gabriella, which is Bella! So all day it was "Bella, sit here, Bella............, where's Bella? Bella want dis stick?"

We played in the Goats house, (a little corrugated iron A-frame shelter with a floor of hay for goats to stay warm, comfy and dry in) down in the bottom paddock for possibly two hours. It was beautiful to watch the two girls interacting.

We played houses, "Who's knocking on my window?" and sitting in the house singing songs!

From Farm 09.07.10c

Soukie loved being back down at the farm and I could see on this visit, she has much love for her new found friends here. Gabriella really embraced Soukie and seemed to me she has really missed her .. ..they spent the whole day holding hands .. .. just gorgeous with each other!