New little Foal - Farm Friday

Over 11 months ago a stallion from a few farms away crossed the river and got through one of our fences.  We had to inject another mare that was on heat at the time so as not to fall pregnant because we almost lost her in her previous foaling experience.  We didn't know that this little foal's mother Laska got pregnant from that same stallion until a few weeks ago.  She's always been overweight so we were fooled.

This little frisky foal was born three days ago in the early morning.  We arrived soon after to enjoy these special moments of "foal imprinting" - to be with the foal so he becomes accustomed to the human instead of fearing them like most horses do.  Three days have now past and the boys have given him the name Frisky because he's so playfully, energetic around the children.  Little frisky is very confident, curious and playful.

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Yesterday this little foal was zooming up and around the children it was so sweet.  It won't be long before I will have to teach him not to invade our space but at the moment he's still so little.  I will also have to be more cautious with him around the children since you never know when those little legs are going to spring up in the air.

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After all his running around and excitement he lowers his little legs and curls up on the hay next to Sania, resting his head upon his lap.

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This was our first day with Frisky, comforted by our touch.  During this process of foal imprinting I scratch his ears, lift his legs and ruffle plastic around his body so he doesn't fear it as his mother does.  His mother, previously abused, is terribly frightened of the touch of a person, especially on her ears and to lift her hooves - she used to snort when she saw a bit of plastic.  We have spent much time with her to build her confidence when this could have been taken care of at birth.  Imprinting can be done on almost any animal.  I know it's been done to Rhino's and Elephants in Africa.

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Sania loves his little frisky.

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Little frisky enjoys the company.

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This is the amnionic sac that was left behind after the birth of the foal.  The mother licks the fluid off her baby as the smell is strong and in the wild can attract predators.

Below is a short video of our interactions with this sweet little foal and Laska, his mother.  Laska is a terribly frightened horse and it took a long time to gain her trust.  She is terrified of people. She has severe muscle atrophy possibly due to the local people riding her at a young age.  They begin riding horses around 1 year old when their bones are still soft.

The local people are not skilled in training horses and most training is done brutally.

I shall introduce to you some of the other animals we have rescued in my next post.

Sasha's 8th Birthday

Sasha loved to sleep this way

How was I to know that my life will be filled with joy after you were born on this eve eight years ago.

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You are always comforted in our arms

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Still today this is your favorite way to sleep, in the arms of your papa

A child of delight

Your sweet smile delights the soul

Water child

You and your brother are inseparable, especially in your quest of adventure

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You marvel at the beauty of Mother Earth's simple treasures

Sasha with Frangipani Worms

to love to explore smaller worlds

Sasha climbing a Coconut Palm

Your energy takes you to higher places....

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to great depths in peace and harmony.

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My Sasha, I have always held you close to my heart yet given you all the freedom to explore with gentle guidance and patience.  You have grown into a gentle, empathetic, confident young boy, an exceptional role model for your brother who looks up to you and loves you dearly.  We love you.

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Happy 8th Birthday my Baby!

Farm Friday

[caption id="attachment_2288" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Sania gently removing the hook from the fishes mouth"][/caption]

I am joining along with Wabi-Sabi Wanderings in posting beautiful images on and around the farm. Last week Fabien was moving a lot of compost to our vegetable and herb garden and the boys were delighted to find the hugest, longest worms.  Sania immediately suggested to go fishing.  Our little duck pond that lies at the foot of the ravine just below our house has an abundance of fish.  I was amazed at how Sania and Sasha handled the rod and fish, removing the hook gently so as not to hurt them.  They were thrown back into the water after the children played with and observed them.

[caption id="attachment_2289" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Sasha feeding bread to the ducks and geese"][/caption]

The many ducks and geese we have were saved from confined cages on the streets of the city of Santiago De Caballeros.  Some of the geese had never swam before so they found it awkward in the beginning.  It didn't take long for these beautiful creatures to enjoy the coolness and freedom of this space.

[caption id="attachment_2290" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="We were given some loofahs from the vine"][/caption]

Rosa, the lady that helps us in our home, kindly brought us some loofahs from her vine.  I remember we had one in our garden in Zimbabwe when I was growing up.

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The children shook them, making their own musical instruments and collecting the little black seeds hidden within.

The softly textured loofah sponges are now used as a bath sponge to massage and wash all that mud and dirt away.

[caption id="attachment_2292" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="The children shaking the loofahs to collect their seeds"][/caption]

Our living room is open to the outdoors and our home is nestled amidst the jungle, the air is always cool and fresh as those merry little breezes play within the branches of our trees, an earthy smell emanates from the jungle below refreshing us with cleansing oxygen. Sometimes we are greeted by wonderful crawly, creepy, slithery, creatures in the mornings.

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These little seeds are cosy and warm in a bed of rich soil, hopefully ready to push forth into sprouts and offer us a beautiful vine of our own loofahs.

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The bark that holds the seeds of the Royal Palm splits open and allows them to hang tightly to the branch presenting many little seeds  for the birds to snack on.  The bark which looks like a boat then falls to the ground.  These are sailed as boats by the children and the one below we saved and varnished to ornament the dining table.

[caption id="attachment_2293" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Part of the palm that holds the seeds"][/caption]

Paintings and Hearts

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Sasha came back from one of our cottages with a painting that our friend Christina had painted. He expressed the desire to paint one.  I remembered that I have had a few canvas boards in the craft closet for about 4 years now.  Acrylic painting is new to me... drawing and painting is - I've never been artistic and was always intimidated by it.  I came across Rae's little girls paintings and thought that maybe it would be a good idea for the children and myself to play around with it.

The painting above was Sasha's first one.  He seems to enjoy building and drawing homes these days. I was only a little surprised to find him and his brother with his dad's huge electric drill drilling holes through wood, the are constructing a little wood house for their moose.

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This was Sania's first painting he made, he enjoyed adding those colors.

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They both enjoyed it so much that they wanted to do another the next day.  This time Sania seemed to be inspired by his brother's painting and his love of dogs.  Sania loves to paint and these paintings held their attention for a long time.

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Papa joined in on the fun and shared a bit of his own artistic talent.

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I spent quite a bit of meditative time painting my first painting.  I loved the way the colors blend and transform themselves adding different elements to the picture.

Memories of the wild horse footage as they were chased across the desert by helicopter crossed my mind as I completed this painting.  My wild stallion turned out to be a little pony.  Horses again!

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Another cosy house in the woods painted by Sasha.

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Fabien has been showing me many of those beautiful old homes in South of France. My pretty swan upon the lake.

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Living crafts blog has some beautiful and simple valentine tutorials to share for Valentines Day.  These will be filled with a chocolate and a little glass heart for the children on Valentines Day to express our deepest love for them.

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I helped the children make these little heart necklaces, I think they will be given to their friends for Valentines.

Waldorf Doll I made for Sasha

This is a little doll I made for Sasha for his birthday this month.  It is my second attempt and am so happy with the way it turned out.  The last doll's head was too big for his body and Sania didn't like his hair.  With the help of a boy kit from Joy's Waldorf Dolls the 10" brother/sister pattern and this amazing Waldorf Doll Making Instructional DVD it was a success.  Joy's waldorf dolls also has a doll making dvd which you can find on the first link.  I showed Sania some photos of different wig options and this is the one he chose for his brother's doll - Sania wants one to:)  It was much easier the second time .  I wonder what his name will be.

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Chicks and a Calf

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We have been so busy here on the farm.  Collecting compost and preparing our gardens for seedlings.  It's the most beautiful time of the year when the air is cool and fresh with few light showers of rain. We don't have to hide under trees to find shade and the tree flowers are blossoming beautiful reds and pinks for Valentines!  New little babies appear.

[caption id="attachment_2240" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="Mama licking away the afterbirth from her baby"][/caption]

We missed the actual birth by minutes, mama cows always know when there isn't going to be anyone about.  The little calf was still lying down when we arrived but my camera wouldn't work so I managed to catch these few photos as he begun to stand.

[caption id="attachment_2241" align="alignnone" width="640" caption="The little bull calf didn't take long to find out where the milkies were."][/caption]

This mama was very protective so we didn't get too close.  She gently licked her little calf clean. The mothers usually consume all of the afterbirth once it's eliminated from her. The little bull calf didn't waste any time searching for those nipples.  He was head butting the mother out of frustration.

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This photo was taken the next day but he's so big now since his birth about two weeks ago and still happily grazing alongside and drinking milk from his mother.

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One of our hens had 8 little chicks but only 5 survived.  Two of them were weak and one was snatched up by one of our dogs :(  The children have been having much fun and taking great care of them.

Sania's special chick

Sania is especially attached to this little chick.  The children open their chicken house in the mornings so they can scratch around in their little garden, finding many worms and insects.

Small snake found under the roosting box

A small snake we found under the hen's roosting box.  I wonder if it would have eaten  one of the little chicks.

The children use their pony to transport grass to their garden

The children set their ponies to work.  The palettes of grass were quite heavy to transport to their garden so their sweet little ponies assisted them.