Nick & Willow.

Allow me to introduce you to the two newest members of the Daylesford Organics team.

Meet Nick.

And Willow.

Nick and Willow join our other two maremmas Bingo and Banjo.

Our maremmas live with the flocks of chooks and protect them from foxes. They do a fabulous job and to date, we have never lost a chook to a fox on their guard.

Hopefully at some stage in the near future Nick and Willow might be the parents of some baby, puppy maremmas. We'll keep you posted.

We are pretty excited to have them here, doing their fantastic and important work. Its day one and they are already settling in beautifully and taking their job very seriously.

We hope you guys are having a great weekend.

Oh and if you are looking for our eggs in Melbourne this weekend you can buy them at Organic Wholefoods in Smith Street Fitzroy, at the Ceres shop or from Ceres Food Connect.

Chasing chooks.

It was a perfect Autumn evening for a stroll.

And then a chicken flew over the fence and made a run for it.

And then we made a run for that chicken.

Almost got her.

Finally she was caught.

And then she was examined,

cuddled,

and sung to.

What a lovely evening for chasing chooks.

Pottiputki - the answer.

Ok here we are at the moment we've all been waiting for, about to find out what the pottiputki is.

But first let's look at the entries;

Christina said she thought it was a toilet digger. Great guess Christina! A digger, yes, a toilet, no.

Leonie thought it might plant seedlings. Yes!! Small trees are seedlings aren't they?

Mr H couldn't wait and Googled it. I don't blame him, I'd have to look up something with a crazy name like that too.

Cathie said something that makes holes for seeds. So close, not seeds but seedlings.

And Meg said a translation device that enables farmers to communicate with worms. No, but if you invent it, we'll buy it.

So this particular pottiputki belongs to Dave Griffiths of Geometree.

These are the last of the 2000 or so little trees that Dave planted in our new potato paddock last Friday.

And here we have Dave with his pottiputki.

Step one; He pulls out one of the little trees he is wearing on his hip.

Step two; He puts the little tree into the top of the pottipuki.

Step three; He puts the pottiputki where he wants to plant the tree.

Step four; He stands on the lever that releases the seedling into the ground.

Step five; He releases the pottiputki and stamps around the newly planted seedling.

Step six; As he finishes stamping around the newly planted tree, he reaches for the next tree to plant.

Dave spent about one day planting out six 80 meter rows. Each row is three trees wide. He worked alone, which goes to show how efficient the pottiputki is.

We planted Tagatasti, five varieties of Acacias and Tea Trees.

We planted them as shelter belts, to create a micro climate and as most of them seed prolifically they will provide fodder for the chooks.

Farming secrets.

Last August Hugo and Helen from Farming Secrets paid a visit to Daylesford Organics.

Farming Secrets is a subscription based program that connects farmers and gardeners with experts in their fields.

They spent a few hours here filming their latest DVD which features an interview and farm tour with Bren and an interview with Clive Blazey founder of Diggers Seeds and promoter of heirloom vegetables.

Purchasing the DVD will entitle you to a phone consultation with Bren about your farm or home garden.

The DVD featuring our Bren will be available for sale later this year but they are releasing a few little previews first.

Click here to watch a couple of minutes of Bren talking about how we get the chooks to work for us saving us energy.

Click here to watch Bren talk about aerating your soil using carrots.

Click here to watch Bren talk about planting by the moon.

Click here to watch Bren talk about using as many different systems of farming as you find helpful and useful.

Ducklings and chicks on the move.

The ducklings and chicks are just over four weeks old and have been making a terrible muddy mess of their yard so it's time to move them onto some greener grass.

Liam drives the brooder over the pile of straw.

But had to stop when we realised one had fallen through the floor.

Got it!

Pixie helped round it up.

Liam drove over the straw, Bren made holes for the wheels,

and then Liam reversed the brooder into them.

They look pretty happy with their new patch.

Although some chose to stay inside (if I were a chook, I would definitely be one of the inside ones).

So far the chicks and the ducklings are getting along really well together but we are constantly amazed at how much quicker the ducklings are growing.

We are currently searching for another one or two adult maremma dogs that have been bonded to chooks to protect this flock. If you have any contacts for maremma breeders please email me kate@daylesfordorganics.com.

Thanks, and have a great weekend.

Chooks Out, Chooks In.

Follow that path just a little bit further into the green clearing and there you'll find our flock of chickens that are now ten weeks old.

They are living with a flock that are about 25 weeks old and are doing really well.

Bingo the Maremma is happy guarding the chooks, although sometimes they make it difficult for him to enjoy his dinner.

Most of the time it is difficult to tell the 2 flocks apart. But look closer and you'll see the ten weeks old are smaller and their comb hasn't developed or filled with blood to make it red yet.

A ten week old above and a twenty five week old below.

Now the brooder is empty what are we meant to do?

Clean it out, restock it and send Bren off to the other side of Melbourne to pick up a new flock. This time we are getting three hundred one day old chicks and 25 ducklings.

Ooohhh, I can hardly wait.

Make sure you pop by later on to check out them out.