BROWN COW

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Sometimes all I wish to do upon a day is to wander about the farm, seeing what is happening here and there and everywhere. This kind of past-time is quite rewarding, as it keeps one close with nature, in touch with the seasons, and filled with all the ripe berries and nuts that are growing on nearby bushes. At times I am accompanied by the dogs, and my sister-in-law Faith, but mostly it is just me and the fairies wandering around the paddocks.  

The best thing to do is to go and visit the farm animals. There are a few of them: sheep, horses, cows and pigs, (and a couple chickens if you can find them). It is fascinating to interact with these guys, and it never ceases to excite me when a sheep or a cow comes closer, curious about my presence. If I stand real still, I can emit a sense of calm, and then slowly, slowly a large brown cow plods towards me, and stares at me from under her beautiful big eye-lashes.

“And blown by all the winds that pass
And wet with all the showers,
She walks among the meadow grass
And eats the meadow flowers. ”

— Robert Louis Stevenson

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DUNEDIN WILDLIFE

THE OTAGO PENINSULA

Let us play a game of 'I spy' along the windy headlands and grey coasts of the Otago Peninsula. On any given day, this is what you might find...

A flock of sheep all bleating and baah-ing. 

Trotting along the spiny ridge by the sea.

A pod of seals, slinking on rocks.

Basking in the slight sun of the south.

A waddle of penguins, heading for home.

With yellow eyes blinking, and flippers a-flapping. 

A rookery of albatross, soaring the seas.

Long wings outstretched, as calm as could be.

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And king of them all, a great humpback whale.

Who surges and dives, with a flip of his tail.

THE HAZELNUT ORCHARD

LATE AUTUMN

Around about May the hazelnuts that have been growing in their little brown bonnets begin to ripen in our orchard. 

It is then that my dad goes out with fabric bags, and a rolling-picker-upper-device, to pick up the hazelnuts that have fallen.

Then it is a fun week - where a lot of time is spent outside, schlooping around in the dead leaves, scampering between rows of trees, inspecting the skeins of wool left on the branches by the sheep, and chasing the small fantail birds who in turn like to chase our dogs. Fantails are very curious creatures, and quite friendly. They love to hang out in the orchard at any time of the year. 

HOW TO PICK A RIPE HAZELNUT:

If the nut has fallen on the ground, this is a sure way to tell it is ripe. But just make sure that the nut easily squiggles around inside its little bonnet casing - for if it is stuck that means the hazelnut inside has gone bad. I learnt this little trick simply by trial and error. You may eat your hazelnut right then and there!

HOW TO ENTICE A FANTAIL:

One method is to take a glass jar or bottle, and a bit of styrofoam, and rub the two together to make the small squeaky chirpy noises that fantails make. My preferred method, however, is to stand very still with branches in your hands, outstretched like a tree. Eventually the fantail will land on one.