An anamalistic overview

I was thinking about what to blog, blogging requires inspiration I think, however I am tired, it is Saturday morning, I don't sleep too well these days and I don't really like sitting on the computer, I find it boring and un-inspiring. With that said though, I get to look through some photos for my blog, it is nice to reminisce and see how far things have changed in such a short period (for better or worse)

So, while thinking, should I write a blog on the update of the van/coop.. yes, however I don't have the photos on the computer yet *sigh* too much effort some days! :) Then I was thinking, what about my water moving projects, projects designed to move water around the area; either for power creation, irrigation or aeration. So that was what this morning was going to be, a quick document about the different methods I have tried so far, what I have found, and what I am going to do, but then I got caught up looking at cute pictures of my babies, and said "no, on a Saturday morning people want to see cute animals, not water projects".

The above picture is a quick look at a lot of animals in one picture :) You can see that there is wire between the two cats and the birds, this is a look from inside the 'cat-eo' (if you recall the cat-eo from a previous blog). It has been upgraded since this photo, there is now a flooring instead of natural, which has been met with mixed responses from the feline owners of this house :) So, who is in this picture? Well, starting from the most obvious, Pants, she is on-high to survey the area and ensure that her kingdom is running smoothly, under her (in many ways) is Binx. I have not talked about Binx yet, he is (was) a beautiful cat that we were cat-sitting for a period while a friend was moving houses. Unfortunately for Binx he did not fit in too well. He comes from a home that has one cat, Binx, and that is all there is in life. Being thrown into this house upset him a little since there was already a hierarchy, and he wasn't included. Also being a "complete" cat (all our domestic pets are desexed) I think that he felt out of place. Nevertheless I know that he did have some fun times (mainly with Thunder Cat).
Next in the photo are some chickens mixed with some ducks :) There are two (of our three) breeds of ducks in that photo, The larger ones, I am not sure if they have a breed, cat you have riffraff ducks, is that a breed? They are just mutts I think :) Lovable though. And in the back you can see two of the three Mallards that we have, these little ladies are so cute, so soft and quiet, unlike the riffraff ducks! :)
And then the geese, not much needs to be said for these beauties, you either know geese, or you are afraid of geese, simple. They are so loud, obnoxious, clumsy but so adorable and lovable. When I come outside they stand up tall, open their wings wide and run at me as fast as possible. If I didn't know these geese I might actually be a little weary of this, but they are just trying to get to me ASAP to get all the food! So cute.
The ducks (mainly) like to hang around the cat-eo, because it is also under the kitchen window, and any time we walk past the kitchen they can see us and they let us know that they are still there, I think with the hopes that food will appear for them, hopeful :)

While on the topic of Binx, another picture of the little man (little is relative), and Buttons :) These two didn't get along really, Buttons being the alpha-male in the cat hierarchy and Binx invading his turf (and checking out his woman!), but it never go too bad, a few scratches here and there.

This is Charlie, she is a strange little chicken, lays the cutest little eggs :) She was a rescue chicken from only days old, sad, but happy now :) She bosses nearly everyone around in the fowl world. She is the smallest of all of them, but she will tell the geese (largest) off if they do the wrong thing. It is very funny to watch! :)
She was hand raised due to the fact that she was so small and weak when we got her, but as she got bigger she slowly got introduced to the other girls (only have 5 chickens at that stage) and slowly took over as chicken-on-high, I fear for any rooster that attempted to join this flock!

The last picture I will leave you with is this picture of Scarlet 'protecting' this Brazilian Cherry. The tree was given to us (lovingly) by two very good/beautiful friends of ours, Matt and Juliana. It is growing so nicely, and hopefully it will give us years of joy and fruit :)
Scarlet of course is doing what she does best, being cheeky, poking her tongue out. Scarlet is such a beautiful puppy, she has the best nature about her, but when her heckles come up and her teeth come out, don't poke her! :) Right now she is trying to get to know the Alpacas better, I think she believes that since they share a similar color with her, they must be related (I never said that she was the smartest puppy!) She is a very loyal dog, and protects her heard/flock/family all the time. All our animals live together (except the cats, they just share with the dogs), but the dogs so in and out all the time, they hang out with the ducks and chickens, everyone gets along nicely :) I don't like leaving the dogs alone with the chickens for too long though, Scarlet (especially) likes to go into the chicken coop and search for eggs, I know what you are thinking 'good girl Scarlet for finding eggs and bringing them inside'...no... they are a lunchtime snack for her, and Digger likes to eat the chicken food.. we do have some confused animals out here!

Well, I must depart, the ladies are starting to sing their merry song to me. On a leaving note however, I will be getting a YouTube 'account' up and running soon, and on there I will be putting a lot of movies, movies about the things I am doing around here, and projects, and the crazy things that the animals do, so stay tuned for that one! :)

I hope that you all enjoy your day, and if you have to work today, or you are feeling down, just picture Scarlets little face, poking her tongue out at you :)

Happy Chickens (and secret NSA plot)

My happy girls

This picture is a little old, only about 9 months or so, but it is from when we first moved in. The girls (now a lot more) were getting to know the place :) On the right you can see Charlie, she is the only little bantam chicken we have, we got her from a "rescue" the last owners/breeders where closing down and we went just to see if there was anything we needed (wire, feeders, etc) and the place was feral. There were dead baby chickens throughout the floor (been dead for so long that some where just bones...) normal things that you see from uneducated breeders like over population, confined cages, etc. and Charlie was there, a baby chicken, a few days old. Charlie ended up in our custody and now thinks she is about 10" tall!!

Since this photo was taken a lot has changed, firstly the amount of animals, but the regeneration of the land has also really taken off. Charlie has also raised babies of her own, with out the need of a rooster! (yes, she is independent) We got some fertilized eggs from a friend when Charlie was broody and 4 babies hatched. She was the proudest mum ever (mind you all her babies are now twice her size!)

When I look at some older photos like this one (and regret not taking more 'before' photos), I am so happy to know how far we have come and how much we have done. What we are doing here is so minimal compared to what needs to happen in the world, I will not harp on right now about the problems that we have in regards to food production, sustainability, etc, but there is a huge problem. I like the idea that I am involved with a lovely group of people that like to grow there own produce, and more, and 'trade' with other people. It is so nice to know that. This means that there are less caged eggs being brought from the shops, less chemically grown/maintained foods in circulation, and the place gets greener (in looks) which is so nice compared to concrete buildings everywhere. It is nice to see so many nice eatable gardens popping up in suburbia, some people at work have started asking me about what to do with chickens (are they easy to keep, what to feed them, etc..) which is great that people are starting to become more self reliant on some things (we have to start somewhere). And then there is the conversation about keeping money local, don't get me wrong, the local supermarket is a global company that uses all its money to fund secret NSA satellites that spy on me when I sleep (I am actually really interesting when I sleep) and we should keep the money local instead of helping the NSA spy on me, however they do give local people jobs, which gives them money, and the large chains are a necessity in modern day living. I do like giving money (or produce) to local people though, and keeping things close to home, gives you a warm fuzzy feeling :)

BTW, if the NSA are actually spying on me it means that there is nothing else important to do with government assets, so it makes me happy to know this, means there are no more nasty terrorists running around :)

Anyway, I must be going, I have another day of work (not the fun kind) to be doing, so I must get all my goodies in one basket for that.

And if anyone out there would like to donate money to the "Jimmy should get to stay home in order to make the world a better place" fund, please feel free to contact me and we can talk :)

Last thing (I promise), I don't actually think that the NSA are spying on me, or that they are capable of spying on anyone, and I don't make any actual accusations towards the NSA in regards to what they do or don't do with their governments money/assets. (..just in case.. I don't want the American government to sue me!) but I do believe in the "Food is Free" project and home grown produce!