The Donkeys - part 4

Derek and Andrea have unloaded Annie the donkey from the float. Annie is going be one of the donkeys who the children will be able to ride on Sunday afternoon.




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Jonathan and Esther have arrived back to Kowhai Corner after picking up the guests who will staying with them for the weekend. The guests have been invited to the first open day at the farm for donkey rides.



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  Derek has been focusing on the donkeys as Andrea has instructed. Andrea has been coming back to the farm at the weekends and stays in her cottage. She also has been working with the donkeys and on Sunday afternoon they are going to have donkey rides. It has been advertised in the local paper and there is going to be a special guest arriving.

                                     

Andrea and Derek are having afternoon at Jonathon and Esther's house with the invited guests. They are discussing the plan of how the donkey rides will happen tomorrow afternoon.

Auntie Iris is with Pollyanna, (the special guest), to have the first ride on a donkey on the open day of donkey rides at Andrea's farm.

Pollyanna has loved her ride on the donkey named Annie.

Derek's daughter, Rebecca, is next on Brownlee, led by Bill. Each rider is accompanied by Derek or Bill as a safety precaution.

Daniel is having a ride on Annie who is loving giving the children rides.

Next is his sister, Martha having a ride on Shrek the donkey.

Simon is on the far right.

David and Maree have just come back from their donkey ride. Many Children have had donkey rides and this will continue every Sunday afternoon and during the school holidays on the afternoons.

Settling in on the Farm - part 3

 Settling in on the Farm -  part three

The Dazzle family arrived four weeks ago to live on the farm and they have all settled in well.

After the first week Derek approached Bill and asked for his help in catching the turkey. Bill and family live in a caravan on the farm and have a pet goat.

Bill was happy to go with Derek and try and catch the turkey so they walk to the area of the farm where they have had glimpses of her. As they get closer to the apple tree they see the turkey pecking at the fallen apples. The men make their move and catch her!

Derek carries the turkey to the area he has set up for the turkey. Derek is hoping the turkey will learn to come when it is called. If it does become tame the turkey will have it's freedom during the day and will be fed in the evenings and put in it's enclosure at night. He thanks Bill for his help. 

Two weeks ago two fire fighters arrived on the farm to speak to Andrea. They told Andrea the cause of the fire in the house was caused by old wiring and that the rats had been chewing the wires. It was rumored that her father had fallen asleep while holding a cigarette. Andrea will now let the community know the truth of the fire.

Andrea has brought a donkey whose name will be Annie. Andrea and Derek have been spending time with the donkeys walking them around in an area they will use to give donkey rides. This weekend they will open on Sunday afternoon to the public for donkey rides.

There is a special guest coming on Sunday to the donkey rides. 

                                     

Today Jonathan and Esther have gone to pick the two invited guests who are going to be at the opening of the first donkey rides at the Farm. Who are they?

The Discussion About the Future of the Farm - part 2

This is part two of The Dazzle Family have Arrived

The owner of the farm was an old widower and he died four weeks ago in a fire in his home. His daughter Andrea has inherited the farm. Andrea has employed Derek Dazzle to look after the animals while she decides what she will do with the property and livestock. Andrea lives and works in the city. Andrea  organized a relocatable house to be put on the farm for Derek and his family to live in.

The next morning Derek went to the barn to meet Bill who has finished milking the cows. Bill shares information about the cows and introduces Derek to the cows. This evening Derek will be milking the cows and Bill will be with him, from then on it will be Derek's job to do.

In the nearby paddock is the bull which is not used for the farms cows but some of the near by farms borrow him as a stud bull and have been very pleased with the results. 

Next they go over to the horse paddock where Bill explains only one of the horses belongs to the farm the others belong to locals who lease the paddock.  If the owners wanted Bill to take care of them on occasions, the owners signed a contract will Bill. Bill explains the owners with contacts will be passed on to Derek and Derek will have the opportunity to continue the contract or refuse.

As they approach the paddock where the donkeys are they see Andrea there. Andrea introduces herself to Derek and asks him to let her know if there are any problems or things the family need to let her know. Andrea explains that her father loved the donkeys and wanted to make them available in the school holidays and Sunday afternoons for children to ride. Her father didn't have the health to do this and Andrea lives in the city.

They walk back to the barn to see the chooks.

Andrea throws some wheat on the ground and the hens and two roosters come over to get the food. There is a female turkey on the farm but it appears occasionally and it  has not been able to be caught. The male turkey disappeared a few years ago.

The last paddock is the sheep. Andrea leaves the men and reminds them to come to Kowhai Corner Hall at two o'clock where a discussion will take place as to what ideas other people have to develop the farm. The farm has not been able to get enough income to pay the outgoing expenses of the farm.

                                      

 At 2 o'clock the meeting at Kowhai Corner Hall begins with Grandfather Jonathan introducing  Andrea as the owner of the farm. 

Andrea introduces Derek as the manager of the farm and invites his family to come to the front where the community welcomes them. Then Connie offers to take the children outside for some ball games.

The boys want to play soccer so that is what they start playing... boys against girls.

 

Andrea tells the residents of Kowhai Corner that the farm is in debt and she would like to sell it but she has been advised to look at other options and that is why she has wanted to have this meeting. She asks for ideas that people may have. The ideas come quickly and they are: a dog rescue center, a rabbit rescue center, start having the donkey rides for people, increase the hens and sell the eggs, buy some alpacas, plus more ideas. Derek speaks at the meeting and says he likes gardening so he hope to be able to grow and sell vegetables. Andrea thanks the people for attending the meeting and will think about the suggestions. She does mention that any rescue center's that people would like means that they would have to make sure that they would be able to pay the rent for the use of the land.

                                        

                                         

 

  

 

 

Grandpa Jonathan and Grandma Esther's Son and Family Have Arrived

Grandpa Jonathan and Grandma Esther’s son, Thomas, his wife Sarah and their two children, Alice and Simon have arrived. They will rent the house on the small farm where the Grandparents were renting while they were waiting for their re locatable house to be put on their section at Kowhai Corner.

The Grandparents show the family around the farm to meet the animals. They are able to walk close to the cows. They are looking forward to drink fresh cow’s milk daily.

The cows are quiet and the family are able to pat them.

Thomas will take over the milking of the cows twice a day Alice and Simon like the calf but it won't let them pat him.

The horse has been watching the family with the cows and trots over close to the family. The children hope to be able to ride the horse in the future.

Grandma Esther and Sarah take the children to where the hens are kept and collect the eggs that are in the hen's nest.

The family have a picnic lunch by the river. They can see that there are a lot of fish in the river so they will be back again another day to do some fishing.

The grandparents tell the family that Ava, husband and family are going to be moving here in about four weeks time. They will use the grandparents caravan to live in. which is parked on the farm.