Sorry for being so quiet!

Hi all
Sorry for being so quiet these last few days but i have been busy with Jade and had to go to Grahamstown twice in a row. Went to the Grahamstown Festival again and had to do the monthly shopping. Today i went and after 6 and a half years the Goverment has at last granted me free medication for Jade. Man i really thought that it would be a fight, but i must say it was done in about an hour. Man i am so glad, and now i am on a role and will be applying for Jade's grant in the next month. Thanks to my nanny that looks after Jade, she knew were to go and what to do, so i am so lucky to have her.
Furthermore all is well with all my feathered friends. Rocky has moved in well, and has a girlfriend. I think it is love. Lady is still on the eggs and doing well. Not much news but as soon as i do have i will share all. Still not sleeping well, but i am getting used to the little hours and i am fresh and brushy tailed in the morning.
Adding a photo of Rocky so you all can see.
Keep well and safe and happy
All my love
Hannelore

We at the Farm welcome ~ Rockie

Hi all
So all the sadness is at bay, and life goes on at the farm. The days are beautiful, with has given me the chance to go walking again with the dogs and just enjoying nature. I have been having such lovely walks, looking at all the different plants and the rock formations, it is amazing. I can be walking and see the most beautiful rock, and i would sit down looking at it thinking God really did a good job with his paint brush on this one. Then i would walk more and find lots more and think no, this it more beautiful.
Today was Soxs the dogs birthday ~ He is 2, so i spoilt them with nice bones and a nice swim in the dam. Played with them by throwing a ball into the water and they thought it was Christmas. Jade got a present today from my friend June that has the local farm shop. A bantam Leghorn Rooster for Molly and Polly the bantam girls. He is so so handsome, and so prim and proper. I wanted to name him Lucky but Olly my hubby says he looks to strong and needed to be named Rockie after the boxer movie, so there you go, WELCOME Rockie. Will get a photo in as soon as i can, get him to stand still, and she is so happy to have two girlfriends he thinks he is cheese. Ricky the big rooster was not to happy but they are buddies now and are next to each other all the time.
Oh and great news i might be becoming a granny soon. Lady is broody and sitting on eggs. Just imagine that. Man i will be so proud, and with guard them with my life as i am not going to loose anymore feathered friends and it hurts to much. To you all the countdown has begun, lets see what happens in 21 days...Yippeeeee ( Hold thumbs please)
Well i am better today after a good nights sleep. My batteries are charged and i am ready to take on the world. Going to put a photo or two on of Jade, so that Fran can see her. And of course so that my family can see her too.
Have a great evening and hold thumbs i sleep.
Chat soon
And thanks
God Bless
Love Hannelore

Ouma went to heaven

Hi all
Well as you can see on the header Ouma is no longer with us. The morining did not start well as Jade was up at the worst hour, i was tired and not in the best of moods. After a long try in getting her to sleep i went to go look how Ouma was doing and i could not find her.Looked every where but nothing. Hubby did not take his phone to where he was working so i had to walk up in the ice wind to go ask where she is. That was when he told me that she had passed on. I walked all the way home crying. She was fine yesterday and looked ok. She is in a better place and hope that she is happy and pecking away at all the good chicken food in the Chicken coop in heaven. Further more i went for a long walk with the dogs to another part of the farm and found another place where there must have been a house. I found a perfect of tea pot, with only a small hole at the bottom. The rest of the afternoon i has a rest while Jade slept, and as i sit here i am not looking forward to the long night ahead. Having a child with a disability is getting me down today and making me cross with everybody and everything. But i am sure tomorrow is going to be better.
Have a great day
Love Hannelore

Photos

Had the best day in my life!

HI all
Had such a great birthday! I was in the garden the whole day and i loved it. Will post some photos now now. Fran a bakkie is a pickup truck, we call it a bakkie. They do say that our language that is Afrikaans is " Kitchen Dutch" Anyway want to post all the fotos, and they say it all.
Have a great day
Love Hannelore

Oh what a great Father's day i had ~ Ha Ha Ha Ha

Hi all
So it was fathers day here today and we as a family decided to go out for the day and see what's going on at the Grahamstown Festival. It was great! Jade was in the wheelchair so i did not have to carry her, and she enjoyed the ride. Loved all the crafts and things for sale and did get me a cast iron warthog for the house and i think he is beautiful. Will take a photo. I know my husband was the man of the hour but man i enjoyed myself so much. I then asked my hubby to take another route to the farm, with the plan of taking out plants that grow wild for the garden. I came back with a bakkie load of plants. Got about 25 Aloes which i started planting along the house fence, so that by next year the yard will have beautiful orange border and beautiful aloes. Then i got cacti that stands about a meter high, and i must laugh ( sorry ) but my poor husband has a few thorns in this arm. Then i got an aloe type plant that grows like a climber and also makes these orange flowers. Man although it is my birthday tomorrow i can't wait to start planting.i never used to have a love for gardening but now i am addicted. It is so calming and relaxing and seeing the plants you have planted grow is to me a wonder. tomorrow when i am finished planting and all that i will take a photo of all the different plants i got and show you. I am living in a natural nursery here and tomorrow after tea time i am taking the bakkie and going to hunt for more. Chat tomorrow and hope to show you all i have done.
Chat soon
Love
Hannelore

The sun is out and all are happy!

Hi All
Well the sun at last stuck out it's head today, and i must stay it was great. I worked in the garden, the chickens thought it was Christmas and the geese sat sleeping in the warm sun.My plants were clapping hands and i am sure if you look close you see them growing. Had to get all the washing done, so that is finished. So glad as i hate doing it. The warthogs on the farm are also happy the sun is out and they came to drink water at the top dam today with the babies, the Oribi buck sat on the other side of the farm, in the sun eating and checking out what is going on on this side. NOt much news just that ouma was in the yard with the others today. Like every women all the other hens were around her looking if she was ok, and that she was never lonely. Ricky needs a good talking to, as once again today he has no respect for the sick and want to do the deed. I now have a squirt can that stays on the stoep and if he tries anything or even puts his foot in my rock garden i squirt him. But do you for one moment think he cares. He really is like a teenager. Sox the dog had a sore eye last night and it was swollen shut, but i must say he is ok today after me and daddy put in eye drops into our big boys eyes. They had a swim in the dam today and really had a jol. Well time for me to go, some feathered friends need feeding, dogs need food and i need another extra 2 hours in the day as i feel it to short.
Have a wonderful day and thanks for reading this.
All my love Hannelore

After a terrible night the mystery is solved.

Hi all
Well since last chatting, more has happened and it not so good. I was up late at night and as i put the spot light on in the yard to check on my ducks and geese, i saw a civit cat kill my ducklings. I ran out but it was to late. All ducklings were killed and taken away. Man it was terrible i cried my heart out and felt so bad and guilty and i felt it was m fault. I miss them terribly and my heart still hurts. I so much wanted duckling or even muscovy ducks, but with that cat around i don't know. He or she must look out if i do see it. I am going to try and get teenager ducks that sleep on the pond were i know they will be safe.
Ouma is doing well, she has been camping out in the garage for the last few night and as today dawned i sent up a prayer that all will be well. This morning when i fed her and sat chatting i picked her up to sit on my lap, and i checked her out a bit, and can you believe it a deformed egg came out. I had felt her for a egg that was stuck but found nothing, so i thought if could not be that. Well after that came out she seemed to get a bit more life in her and i took her out to the coop for the sick. There she spent the day, sleeping and walking around a bit. She is in the garage now sleeping in her hay next i made her and she had a good supper i must say. I just but a blanket over her as it is cold tonight. I am not saying we are out of the woods yet, but i think we on our way to recovery. By the way i took that egg thing that came out and cut it open, it had no shell, it looked like a boiled egg without yolk. Any way our mystery is solved even if it gutted me, but now i know what it was. Life in the yard is going on as normal. It is very very cold her, so i am giving them all little treats and love and care.
I have been without Jade's caregiver for a few days so i have not done any walking on the farm, but i must say it is to cold.It was only 4 degrees yesterday. And to me that is very very cold.
Tomorrow is a new day, with more challenges and things to look forward to, so may your day be filled with laughter and love and happiness.
Hold thumbs the sun comes out, my bones are cold LOL...
All my love
Hannelore and feathered friends
P.S this is a photo of "Ricky the Rooster and Lucy "

Unsolved Mystery!

Hi all
Well today started weird and a bit sad. Olly my husband had to go into town early so i got up early and as i saw him off, on came the gum boots and out i went although it was so cold. The feathered friends had to be fed. Now my routine in the morning is to have the feed ready in the hand and then to start counting feathered children. Counted 7 chickens ~ check .. 3 geese ~ check. 4 duckling ~ count again, and again and again. Jack is gone. Now imagine this here i am standing in the middle of the yard, counting and counting and then saying out loud, " Oh no not again" I looked everywhere for Jack.( Had a J on the back of his/her neck ) I asked the ducklings where Jack is, no answer, the geese don't even want to look my way. Chickens are still in the coop and don't care what mom says, it's just "can we come out now, come hurry, open this door need to do some scratching." So i look under the bushes in the yard, look under the duck house, in the coop, in the rock garden nothing........ Now i sit down, my mind has gone mush as i don't know how this little duckling could have gone missing. I look for feathers in case something caught it, nothing. NO blood nothing. By this time Stanley the farm worker has clocked in and i say to him this Madam has gone mad as i can't find Jack. I am doubting myself and think, maybe to 4 eyes are better than 2. Well i have no idea where he is or what happened. Olly still said he counted 4 duckling before he left, and i was out the door 20 minutes later. Well right there and then i told Stanley today is the day we build a pen and house and hospital for the sick. Now i have to hurry as Hubby will be back in 2 hours and then he needs Stanley for work. With all the planning and that, 2 hours passed in a minute and the next thing i knew here stops my loving husband. Now i am not sure if i must ask for Stanley or do this on my own. Luckily for me i have an understanding hubby and i have finished the House and hospital. Fingers full of plasters, my bones are still cold but the ducklings are in and Ouma is OK. When i say OK i mean she is hospital. I am giving her till Wednesday, then i think it is better to end her poor life as she is not to well and she would be better in heaven. She has eaten something today and had her medicine, but i can't see her suffering anymore.
Oh well, hope tomorrow is mystery and death free and that i can just have a happy and relaxing day with my feathered friends, and that i can go hiking on the farm again.
Have a great day and will let you all know how the day went. Hold thumbs!
Love
Hannelore and feathered friends

Sad day on the farm!

Hi all
Well today did not start very well. I was woken up my my husband saying to please come to the stoep ( veranda ). And as i walked out there lay Snowflake one of my geese, dead. What actually happened i do not know, but Olly my husband said, he was watching them and as he walked back into the house he heard them do the normal morning call and run, and the next minute she lay there dead. Man did i cry! You must have done something, as her neck was broken.
After all the tears i know now she is flying happily in heaven happy to be free and eating all the good food my parents and parents -in-law are giving her. She will be missed.
Furthermore i have ouma the hen in my hospital in the garage, as Ricky the Rooster has no respect for the sick and wants to do the deed with her even if she is not well. He lay on her so bad she was laying on the ground. I must be honest when i say i don't know if she is going to make it, but she at least eats and drinks, but not much.
Did some gardening today, as i got wonderful new plants from friends. Two different type of aloes, so hope they get growing.
We have be blessed with wonderful rain, and as i sit and type here it is coming down.
Well i hope all is going to go well in tomorrows week and that all will be happy and healthy.
Have a great week
Love
Hannelore

My sick hen - ouma

Hi all
So here i sit and have been handling a sick hen for the last 2 days. My poor little girl has lice and she did not look to good. I must say it took a lot of phoning to find out what was wrong. Lucky for me i caught her and saw it. SO off i went to town to get medicine and all that so that i could help my girl. Someone gave me advice to put vaseline on it and it kills the lice. So there i sat applying it and sitting with a tweezer taking off the poor lice. Well after all the meds and tweezing she is still around. I also gave her aloe juice, as they say that help alot. I was so worried, and would run out onto the stoep and stand there wondering if i would find a died hen or not. So far so good. She is walking around, but you can see she is still not feeling well. I get to pick her up not and sit with her, and then i check how things are going. Glad to say the lice are dead, but my girl is not feeling to hot yet. They say she is going to feel bad for a few days, so i will be watching her, and still be cuddling her and chatting away. Hold thumbs for my girl, because i think after we have beaten this, i have a friend for life. She sits so quietly on my lap, and i do hope and pray that she gets well.
Furthermore it is cold here, but that dies not bother me as i jump into my gumboots and off i am to my feathered friends. Ducklings are getting cuter by the day. they have found the chicken coop and now see that there is food in now too, so they go pinch some there and then run back to the pond. Oh how great it is to have feathered friends that enjoy the simple things in life. When all they need and want tender loving care and you around. Man life is good.

Monday and Tuesday - treasure hunt!

Hi all
Well have i had two wonderful days! Sorry for not posting yesterday, but i was so tired that i had no power to even type. So on Monday as soon as Jade's caregiver came in i was out the door ( must sound terrible, but needed time out ) So i went hicking on the farm with Soxs ( border collie X ) and Boeba ( boerboel X ) So went down to my special and favorite spot on the farm. Previously i have found old bottles and pieces of plates that looked so old, so i went back to this place, and started scratching and did i find the mother load. Now to explain to you i was sitting on a rock cliff with not much space, about a meter by a meter, under a spekboom ( my favorite tree ) and as i started scratching out came more and more crockery, old bottle made in england, USA. Crockery with pictures of Egypt on, Blue china pieces with the blue design. Man i sat there thinking, can't be. Now i love anything old and with history, and i had tried to find the owners of this farm and who owned it in the `1820's. Our farm is part of the old 1820 Settlers that came out from England and was given land to start farming in SOuth Africa. Well i found there treasure and i tell you i am sure the next farmer or even the poor deceased Settler that owned this farm must have heard me shout Yippeee! I found many bottles, crockery, china pieces, old water can thingie, a horse shoe, even a child's shoe. It took me two trips up and down the mountan, and on coming home on the last trip i thought i was going to pass out i was so tired, but i had a smile on my face that not even colgate would beat.
The animals on the farm as well and happy, all but one chicken which i am worried about. She looks so sad and tired, don't have a clue what is wrong, but i will watch her and even if she must go to the vet, that is what will be done. Ducklings are getting stronger and runner around the yard, happy and easting lots, swimming and just parking off. Geese are getting so used to me now that i just sit down for a chat and they around me. Life is good although it is cold the heart is warm. Have agreat day and chat soon.

Thanks Fran

Hi Fran
Thanks for following this blog. I bonded with my chickens by sitting with them and chatting. I know it may sound weird, but it works like a bomb. With my geese i am also sitting there chatting away, talking about this and that, and they stand and listen. Or they might be thinking this human is mad. But they are getting used to my voice and now every morning, when i go out to say good morning, they come walking up as to say "Morning Mom what you got as a snack for me"
Today was a lazy day as once again Jade decided to go to bed in the early morning hours and i am tired once again. But i was up and ready for the day, although i really felt like my age was getting to me and that i needed to start taking a vitamin tablet as a kick start. Little ones were sleeping again and the geese followed me around begging for their snack. The chickens were not let out yet and they were already dancing in front of the door as if to say hey Mom we here, and need to get out.
It's a lazy Sunday, and i have not much power to do much. Hubby cooking a nice lunch and i had to once again go and fix my rock garden and Ricky and the girls had a sand bath in my garden. I was really cross and told Ricky to be careful he does not become next Sundays lunch. I would never do it, but i think he got the message. Now sitting trying to work out how to make a little fence to keep them out, so that my plants can at least start rooting again.
Sitting waiting for Lady to lay another egg as i need another so i can bake that cake i so feel like, but by this afternoon at 4 it should be there.
Can't wait for Mondays as then all the action starts and there is work done around the farm. I get my time off when Jade's caregiver is back and i get to go exploring and working outside. I have done all the washing so that means a hour more for me...Yipeeeeeeee. Well i hope you have had a great weekend and hope the week treats you well. I for sure have lots to plan and do this week, and can't wait to start.

Hi all
So let me start telling you about my day on the farm. Got up tired and cross for always being tired. Jade only went to bed late and would have loved to have slept late, but as luck would have it, i have a Rooster that crows at 5 in the morning and every hour after that. So up i got and before i could have my first cuppa, i was on the stoep to check if all is well with my feathered friends.
Let me tell you what i have and the names of them then you can see them in the photos that i wil be putting up. Ricky is the rooster and this poor guy, is not a normal Rooster. He is one of those roosters that have no hair on the neck, so the poor guy looks as if something is wrong. He thinking he is the best thing since cheese. We really got a shock when we first got him, and had to ask the farmer if his guy was ok as he has no feather on his neck. Well more than a month has passed and i must say he is getting more handsome to me as time passes. i would love to see his chicks one day as i hope they don't have his red neck and all. With him i have 4 hens - lucy, lady, ouma and betty-baard-beck. and two bantams.
On Sunday 30 May i got 4 muscovy ducklings and 4 geese. they are just settling in and i must say the first few night and still i worry that they will be o.k. The geese have names too. I have 1 Drake and 3 girls. Their names are Sir Francis Drake, snowflake, lily and snowball. the little one's have no names yet, but as soon as they get bigger i am sure the personalities will come through and they will have names.
Today the chickens decided to deflower by rock garden again, so i had to fix that up again. Ricky saw a Drongo on the fence and did not like that, so he jumped up and down trying to get to this bird. Maybe he thought it was a potential mate, or just did not want him/her near his girls.
The geese take their baths in the pond at around 9 in the morning and that is now a sight to see. It is a flapping of wings and diving. Never knew that geese could swim under water. I love watching them and just to see how graceful they are just warms the heart.
So the day went on with the chickens running up and down trying to catch a insect. The duckling went for swims and slept, first at the one tree then to the other.
As all their feathered friends are going on in the yard, our African grey parrot is tuning them up. She shouts at Ricky and the girls for being in my garden (he does not listen ) she tunes the dogs to go for walks, asks me for chips, wants a apple, shouts as Boeba the puppy for doing this or that. Man this farm is going to become a loony farm, and it looks like i will be the main member of this loony bin.

Welcome

Hi all

Welcome to my first attempt to blogging.

This blog will consist of telling about my day on your farm that is situated in Southwell, near Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape in South Africa. We have been on the farm for 3 months and so much has happened.

There will sometimes be posts about the animals on the farm and the funny things that happen around the yard, and there will be posts about my daughter Jade so suffers from severe Cerebral Palsy, and her life on the farm.

So for now welcome to the Jordaan family life on the farm and all the feathered friends in our lives.

All my love

Hannelore Jordaan