Puppies.

I know I haven't posted on this blog for a month, far longer than I had intended.

But do you mind if I start from here? Is it OK if I skip over the past few months that should have been full of vegies and harvesting and colour and excitement but weren't and start again from now?

The puppies are almost twelve weeks old now.

At six weeks old they moved from our back deck to an enclosure on the other side of our house. A couple of chooks and then some roosters were introduced bit by bit.

And then when their Mum Willow looked exhausted all the time and couldn't escape them, they took their first car trip down to the paddock and joined their Dad Nick and a flock of 500 chookies.

They have been running and chasing and playing and wrestling ever since.

They are getting a bit rough for Miss Pepper though, bowling her over and scratching her face. They must sense that we call her Puppy and want to play and wrestle with her too.

But for now its safer to play from this side of the fence.

The first puppy to leave us last week was a girl. The new owner is a ten year old boy who has started his own chook business. he decided to call her Joey which made me happy as that's the name we gave her sister when she was first born.

Its exciting and a bit sad to think that one day the others will be off on their own Maremma journeys. I hope when the time comes there will be less tears from the Farmer girls than last week.

So that's it, I'm back.

See you soon.

Floods & dogs.

Our farm gate stall will not open this season.

The market garden is under water for the third time since September. When and if the ground dries out enough to plant a crop, there will not be a long enough growing season to ripen it.

You can still buy our certified organic, free range eggs and garlic from Tonnas and Harvest in Daylesford, from The Slow Food Farmers' market and The Collingwood Children's Farm Farmers' market in Melbourne, from The Ceres shop and from Organic Wholefoods.

Farmer Bren just emailed me this photo from his phone and as I type this the rain is crashing down.

This week's The Weekly Times's letters section has one that reads:

Man and his dog just clicked

I would like to compliment the photographer of the brilliant picture for October in The Weekly Times' 2011 calendar.

It is without doubt one of the best pictures seen anywhere in a long time.

I also compliment the gentleman in the picture for his compassion and appreciation, clearly expressed in the picture.

He has obviously spent considerable time and effort training this loyal dog-just look at the connection between the two.

The trust and appreciation they show for each other is very touching.

The composition is sensational-the brilliant colours and the way it captures the emotional interaction between man and his faithful dog.

Knowing the wonderful loyalty of Maremma guardian dogs, I appreciate the connection between this dog and master.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. It is impossible to put a figure on the number of words condensed in this picture.'

Gavin Wall

Mt Evelyn.

Thanks Gavin, you've made our day.

Thanks also Jane for letting us know.

And while we are on the subject of Maremmas, look who opened their eyes two days ago. Willow's six puppies are super cute little fat fluff balls. Their fur is white and thick and the pads on their feet and their noses have turned from pink to black. Their legs are still not strong enough to carry them, but they can certainly move around to get to their Mama. Willow is still being patient and kind with them although she is taking a break occasionally to lie under the house. She seems much happier for us to have a cuddle these days too.

And finally, our thoughts go out to all those affected by the devastating floods in the North of our country. Wishing you and your families safety, dryness and relief from it all.

Dog blog.

The Maremma puppies are now three days old and still haven't opened their eyes. They are just too cute for words and we are spending oh so much time watching them and discussing them. When we left home earlier today for the first time since they were born, I missed them and couldn't wait to get back to them to see what they were up to.

Mostly all they do is feed and sleep, but they have also started to make little squeaky barking noises and sort of drag them selves along the ground if they get too far from their mama.

And today they started to wag their tails too (see above pic). This mostly happens when they are feeding and is too cute for words.

And their Willow mama adores them. She has taken a few quick walks away from them to eat and dust bathe and dig but constantly looks back to them and rushes back the moment she sees one of us touching them or if one of them cries.

She does not like us cuddling them at all and watches us and sometimes cries until we give them back to her.

A few times I have seen her try to pick one up in her jaw to move it but she has quickly put them down. I wonder if she'll bite the skin at the back of their necks to carry them or is that only with cats?

So apart from the farm chores and some berry picking, that's what's been going on here at Daylesford Organics for the past few days. Real work, hopefully ploughing up some vegie beds if its dry enough, resumes tomorrow.

The farm shop which was meant to reopen in January will remain closed until further notice due to the flooding and the delayed planting.

Bye for now.

Puppies!

Last night at 7pm, after a day of pacing the backyard and digging holes to lie in, Willow the maremma had her first puppy. A girl called Joey.

It was wonderful to watch her doing her thing. Even though it was her first litter, she knew to lick the puppy to clean her and to stimulate her into life, she knew to bite the umbilical cord and to eat the placenta.

Joey came out wet and mucky, above, and pretty soon she had her clean and fluffy, below.

There was a stage before the first one was born where all we could see sticking out of her vagina was Joey's pink nose and mouth, it was so scary and exciting and we were all crying.

She went on to have another girl at 9pm, a boy at 11pm, another boy at 1am, one over night and her sixth this morning at 8am.

Willow has been so patient and silent and calm during the process.

Its now three hours since the last puppy was born and she's finally put her head down and closed her eyes. She must be exhausted. The puppies on the other hand are feeding and jostling each other out of the way and clambering over her and all without even opening their eyes.

It has been such an honour to be allowed to witness such an incredible life event.

Congratulations Willow!

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.

Our cover boys.

Look at those gorgeous boys on the cover of this week's The Weekly Times.

I know you might think I'm biased, but it really demonstrates their special relationship perfectly. Look at the way Bingo has his leg on Bren's leg and the way they are staring into each others' eyes. Love it!

This morning when we were driving out to take the girls to school, one of the chook fences was down and Bingo was patrolling the border making sure none of his precious chickens escaped. One of the girls joked that the chooks wanted to head into town to buy the paper that they too were on the cover of.

This is what the cover looks like and no, the 'Mutton madness' has nothing to do with us. There is another photo and article on page four but the real, full length article will be in next week's issue.

Who would have thought that Victoria's mainstream rural paper, 'The voice of the country since 1869' would put a half page photo of an organic farmer on its cover? Good for you for moving with the times Weekly Times.

I made him pose for this photo when we went to buy the paper this morning, but I wish I'd also taken one of the excited newsagent staff reading their copies and telling us what a great photo they thought it was.

Last week's The Weekly Times also had this photo of Bren and Joel Salatin accompanying an article about Joel's visit to Daylesford.

And I just found this photo on their website taken at last Saturday's Show Grounds Farmers' Market.

Phew, what a great week for Daylesford Organics in the news. The scrap book is getting fatter. And all of this without paying a publicist, yay!

I hope you are having a great week out there.

Chooks at work.

Last year this was part of our garlic patch. This year we grew carrots, beetroot, cabbages, kale, spinach, turnips, broccoli and cauliflower here. Until about a month ago we were still harvesting from this plot.

Last week it was finally dry enough for the chooks to be brought down from the bush.

We love watching the chooks when they fly out of their houses onto a new patch of garden.

It doesn't take them long to start exploring their new surroundings.

The chooks will enjoy this area for the next couple of weeks but during this time they will also be hard at work for us. Their job is to eat the insects and the left over vegies, cultivate the soil and fertilise the ground with their poo.

There's Bingo making sure Dave Griffiths from geomtree is one of the good guys.

Every day their houses are pushed further along the rows to ensure their poo is evenly spread.

In a couple of weeks the chooks will be moved on and the ground will be prepared for planting this growing season's crop.

I hope you have a great week wherever you are whatever the season.

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.