You're Invited!

Come one, come all to Orca's spring book launch. Monday, April 20th at 7pm. Bolen Books in Victoria, BC (at the Hillside Shopping Centre). Be there or be square...

Easter harvest continues...

  First duck eggs (found another in the orchard!) and now Kashmir underfluff. I'm sure there is a more technical term for the super-fine undercoat the Kashmir goats are shedding. We've found the dog shedding blade-comb-thingy to be extremely effective in teasing out the loose undercoat. This year the harvest is much better than last. Next on the list of equipment to acquire is a spinning wheel... not long after that, socks!

Happy Easter!

 
Look what we found in the orchard this morning! The ducks were busy last night... And, yes, Colin was right. There is such a colour as duck egg blue. When will I learn not to argue with the artist about colours? We are considering our quiche options for dinner tonight...

Coming soon to an orchard near you...

 
Beekeepers! To look after the new bees, of course! Said bees are scheduled to arrive in about six weeks. Which means we need to get cracking on hive assembly, etc... Bring on the honey!

Runner Ducks!

 
Because what our farm really needs is ducks... five of them, to be precise. Meet Henrik, Daniel, Welly, Baby, and Beauty. Ringo (in the background) was fascinated by the new arrivals.

(I know the title says Runner Ducks, but they are actually Indian Runner Ducks crossed with mallards... which gives the males a more interesting colour and all of them less upright postures.

Living it Up in California

 
Arrived back from a whirlwind 11 days travelling to Rancho Murieta with Karen Brain and her horse, VDL Odette. Karen was competing at the Golden State Dressage Festival, continuing to develop and train her horse with an eye to qualifying for the World Equestrian Games para-dressage competition next year. What a great trip - the weather was excellent (except for that wind/sand storm!) and it was way cool to see all those high level dressage horses tootling about. At various points I was tasked with taking Miss Odie out to graze. The grass was lush, the sun warm, the horse happy... Life, as they say, is good!