hmmm... motivation drop or silly season

it seems everyone is a bit busy just lately... are we lacking a bit of motivation or is it the silly season?????... and the GH has got so hot you can really only work in it before 10 and after 5 on most days.

There's still a bit to:
The pumpkin still needs planting in the 'tyres', but still need to get the sawdust / horse manure to do that.

Pak Choi has bolted something chronic, so perhaps we'll try again later on.

Peas are doing magnificently

Beans are getting a bit burnt - possibly 'cos I'm feeding them too early in the day

Four more scallopini Zucchini have sprouted in my trays, so that'll go out shortly, but the normal zucchini just haven't come up. Will need to buy a punnet I think.

We 'Mummies' are not just about gardening. We also have a sister site of Mummies in Pinnies with our kitchen tips and recipes. People have also told that we should start a product line too... it's a bit early to say if we will or not, but we certainly are a talented bunch, that's for sure. Aside from our day jobs AND being mums, we also have talents such as needlepoint, poetry, gourmet cuisine, bird-keeping, dance extraordinaire, cake decorating, sculpting /building, - I'm sure I can add to this list.

... well I started this particular post in December 2011... and now it is January 2013 - so definitely a motivation drop

Piglets arrive

One morning a week or two before Christmas, we woke up to our normal routine, but were stopped short when we noticed this 'meaty thing' hanging outside of our pregnant pigs backside.

At first we assumed it was the placenta and the vet concurred (by phone), but after a half hour of observation, it wasn't moving... so we rang the vet again.

He came out to see what our poor Sheena was up to... Prolapsed Vagina.

Very kindly he popped it all back in for us and gave us a very grim prognosis for the survival rate of any piglets she may be carrying.

We expected the worst... BUT then this happened.

 

and then... this happened - while the boys and I were checking on how Sheena was doing.

and then... this happened - while we were saying 'awww, how cute'.

 

As we were expecting the worst this was a fabulous result.  These two piglets were born at midday.  By 4pm she had one still born and we figured, that's gonna be it.

We expected there to be a few still born in the morning... BUT instead (or as well as) we had another live piglet.  The runt had survived.

All in all 3/5 - given the prognosis - is a pretty spectacular result.

 

Pigs with Ticks

We have had pigs for a while, but this is the first year we have ever noticed ticks on them. We first noticed them on our pink pig (actually, my brother and his girlfriend did), crawling around as bold as day, on his back.

Then we thought we'd better check the piglets who by this stage were only about 3 weeks old - not crawling - but actually STUCK on - 40 or so per leg. POOR WEE THINGS.


Being New Years Eve and the shops closed for another two days we thought 'What are we gonna do', these poor babies. So naturally I Googled natural alternatives to ticks. I found A LOT of information about how to remove them with a pair of tweezers... yeah - far too many for that I'm afraid... would've been there all week.

Next up - essential oils. I found out that ticks are repelled by:

• Citronella 
• Lavender 
• Lemongrass 
• Tea Tree 
• Eucalyptus and a few other oils

I had the oils mentioned above and although some of them were around 15 years old, I thought what the heck, we'll give it a go.  At the very least it'll repel new ticks.

The spray I made up, had around 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of each oil above in 1 litre of water. We decanted some into a 500ml bottle and sprayed them on the piglets. (after testing on my own skin). Holy cow, we couldn't have been more surprised or happier with the result. Within 20 seconds they were detaching themselves and running for the 'hills' - well the long grass again anyway.

When we checked them the next day the areas we sprayed were completely clear - with a few DEAD ticks I might add 'stuck' - through sticky shells rather than sucking on.

We sprayed the remaining areas and concentrated our efforts for 4 days - spraying in bulk.

After that we left it for four days - to see how many would reappear.

NONE!!!

Since then I have sprayed 'sparingly' on the piglets and the ticks have not returned.

Mummy pig and Pink pig (currently turned into sausages for escaping his paddock too often) were also sprayed. We did not find any ticks sucking on the larger pigs. Their skin is quite hard. But we did concentrate spraying as best we could on their under sides as their softer skin is there.  The ticks that were crawling around in their hair disappeared after two days and have not returned. We are treating them the same as the piglets - every 4 days.

Infact - it's now been two weeks since the last application and no return of the horrid little bugs.

Needless to say I am impressed beyond belief and thrilled to be sharing this natural tick remedy with you.

Please be aware: in New Zealand, we do not have particularly lethal ticks, so please feel free to try this remedy and let me know how successful it was on your animals.