The Animal Tamer

My #CountryKids post for this week is more of a watch than a read.
I'm so pleased we had a phone with us to be able to capture the moment on camera.

Growing up around animals, C (26 months) has never had any fear of them.
I find this both wonderful and slightly alarming at the same time.
Her confidence around animals is at a complete contrast to the rest of her life where she is timid and quiet. 
A friend recently called her the little animal whisperer as it is the only time she appears totally at ease.

Our new animal enclosure was built with the children in mind, to allow them to safely interact with the animals at a level not possible before.

It seems to be working as today, at feeding time, C caught DH and me totally off guard by doing this...

It was hilarious to watch and not something I have ever actively taught or encouraged her to do.
Obviously she has seen us handle the chickens but until today has not shown the slightest interest in doing it herself.
For me it is wonderful to watch my vision of countrylife with kids turning into a reality.

[no chickens were harmed in the making of this video ;-)]

I'm linking this post up with Coombe Mill #CountryKids.

New Arrivals

I always wanted our garden to have animals.
If I had the time, the energy and the space I would have loved a small holding.
In reality we are lucky enough to have enough space for a few small animals.

When we moved in to our home 3 years ago, one of our first purchases were chickens, a variety of large and bantam breeds.
We have slowly increased the numbers over that time so that we currently have 6 large hens and 7 bantams, 13 in total.
It was not ideal to have them in a single run therefore since February, DH (with help from his parents) has been building a new segregated animal enclosure closer to the house.
It was finally finished last weekend and looks amazing!

Our First Easter Egg Hunt

2 years old. The perfect age for her first Easter Egg hunt.
I had been planning on doing one just for her but when a couple of friends expressed an interest in doing one for their toddlers too, we decided to combine forces.

I purchased a large number of plastic eggs from eBay and filled them with a mixture of Milkybar buttons, Dolly Mixtures and a few small plastic toys.
Not too many sweets in each egg, just enough to keep their interest up.

On the day, while C was down for her lunchtime nap, I hurried off into the garden with my filled eggs.
Now came the next challenge....
How to make them obvious enough that they could be found but again not too easy that it would all be over too quickly?

Halcyon Days

In 2010, DH and I bought our house in the countryside.
I wouldn't go quite as far as to call it our dream home but it had the potential to be wonderful.
We had no children back then but we hoped beyond hope that some would come.
You see, this house wasn't just for us, in fact, for me at least, it was not bought with me in mind at all.
It was a house, a space, for our children.
A house where we could give them an idyllic childhood.
At the heart of that for me was the outside space.