beautiful bovine

Rosie

Lovely is the bovine

Who's shiny fur reflects the beautiful zesty spirit within.

Large eyes

and a big nose

Perky udder swaying in the breeze

before she climbs on new-bull-friend Arthur.

Rosie

welcome to our family

who are as full of character as you are.

And when you're done with Arthur

(who lives at the neighbours place)

we'll take you home

read you bed time stories

give you the moozley take-away food you seem to love

and tuck you in safely at night.

We love you Rosie

no trip to the meat works for you.

Instead a life of frivolity awaits!

A sweet milking Mooooooooooo is a

Beautiful Bovine.

home steading

I am currently reading this book, which details about the lifestyle and healthy home made living a la farmette. A friend of mine posted this on my Facebook page which had me laughing: a chicken sitting service for the urbanites. I also know about a business that hires out goats to munch your lawn. So what's the story with the home ca-noodling?


Green, the Sloffood movement and all things yummy and nice are back on the cards for those who have had enough of the concrete jungle, the plastic micro waved dinners and being stuck in traffic. This is not new of course, but it seems back en vogue. In the Netherlands it's quite custom still to have a herbal and even veggie garden on one's tiny balcony on a high rise. Many dream of living in Italy (this I hear on a regular basis at work), sipping some wine, eating some wonderful breads & cheeses and staring at the olive trees sprawled out over generous hills and sloping meadows. Ah yes. The Good Life. So how do we get there?

My husband and I enjoy living on our 64 acre block, the "farm-let" and we are farmettes which is a bit different from the lifestyle block of a few acres and a big farm over say 500 acres. We work in the city mostly while also running our farm-let. While reading Jenna Woginrich's book mentioned above, I had to smile at her hilarious anecdotes! I recognized so much in the early boo-boos that she tells about.

Having a small farm or even a bit of a green blob of land in your backyard is really enough to get you started with a veggie garden, a beehive, or a chicken coop. And what you learn while starting on this fun enterprise is basically that making mistakes or being a doofus is all part of the experience. We now walk easily amongst our highland cattle and move them about without a fuss, whereas in the beginning with the meat cattle we had to jump the fence and the dog too as one bovine we aptly called "Loopy" starting chasing us around the paddock. Very in-dignifying. We seriously wondered whether we had the balls to go through all the motions that were required. We have now graduated from the initial newbie crispiness. We have the experience, know how to do the practical things and keep adding to the farm knowledge. I can clip the goatie hooves by myself without the use of proper yards which apparently is a great achievement.

So how can you get your slice of paradise, even in the smallest ways?
Decide what you would like to start with and read up! Nothing beats the look and taste of fresh veggies, the view of animals snoozing in the sun, and the privacy and tranquility that your own place gives you. What you need is knowing what you want to do and most of all: sheer determination! It is very rewarding.

To learn how to start your career at Homesteading: http://www.homestead.org/
Modern homesteading: http://www.motherearthnews.com/Modern-Homesteading.aspx
Homesteading forum: http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/
Great website to read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/blogs/blog.aspx?blogid=1510

the art sense of nonsense

At the moment I'm working on new textile designs for Hemptech (and myself too). It's the putting together of that which doesn't make sense and also does make sense, at the same time. It's a controversial process. I tried to team up clover with various items, have filed away pics of pelicans, and suddenly have a brainwave about implementing knives, forks and spoons. Where that came from, nobody knows. Least of all me, my brain associates the craziest things.


Today I came across a designer, who also finds the 'outside life' helpful in keeping her ideas "fresh". I don't have to tell you that reading about a designer who has a farming background (or someone who still IS a farmer) is a joyous occasion for me. It's the moooo aspect that rocks the kazba. In this case, designer Matali Crasset spoke to Fastcompany about the benefits and all enticing aspects about the quirky in art. (The quirky can be so under valuated. I mean what can be more hilarious then murky quirky? Exactly.) 

This lady has right handedly come up with a domestic UFO (always handy those), a coat hanger that transforms in a bed (good to hang around in) and some goofy interiors. No wonder she is French and well known throughout the quadrant. 


Recently she has produced kitchen utensils for Alessi (pic above). She says about these: 
" I start by giving intention to an object and I start drawing only at the end. I don't draw to shapes; the shapes are coming from themselves. For example, with the bowl, I just had a vision of one bowl and I wanted to make it more practical. To be two bowls. And I combined them." 
So what does the farming life mean to her?
"You know I come from a small village of 80 farmers. I am kind of an ET. I had nothing to do with this kind of culture when I was growing up. For me it's easier to break codes because I'm still not inside. The best you can have in a collaboration is to have this outside look. And that's my position."
(Read the whole post later here. Source: Fastcompany) 


I also read about a Canadian pigfarmer lady, who like me, has to look after animals by herself usually. She got inventive (thats' what you do if you have to tend to animals and not be pummeled to the ground, have them dash out the fields or see you poking yourself with the drench gun.) What did she do? She invented a roller that dispenses a swath of red cloth--a sort of farm version of the retractable "lane guides" that movie theaters use. 

She had noticed that the hogs didn't like a red material moving about and she could use this idea instead of electric prodding to move them where she wanted them to go. This is industrial genius. And very self sufficient I must say.
(Source Core77, whole post here)


So: the outdoorsy life can inspire us in various forms! Whether you own a green pasture or not, thinking outside of the concrete box is groovy. So if you like to have a bit of zesty farm design right at home, to uplift you, try these:

Japanese artist Koshi Kawachi takes old Japanese graphic novels and carefully adds a few radish seeds to create miniature indoor farms.
(source: greenmuze)
.
So who says oddball-ism doesn't pay off? It turns out that it can be very practical indeed.
.

the farm life

Today it's sunny picture time! We enjoy living on our farm-let, it's a wonderful private world and harbors lovely animals and tasty veggies. We love it. As I was finishing paintwork on the window sills this weekend I thought I'd sneak in some visuals at the same time...

pumpkin harvest....

our fuzzy friends...

Moooooooo. Bella loves hanging out in goatie ville. She is even sounding more like them (that's a worry).

so while I try to get some work done... #painting

we do get some visitors from time to time, like Sootie our adopted stray kitten and mr Hedgehog

so who says farm live isn't entertaining? Always plenty happening around here.

free marketing

so what's the story here?
Goats can be useful. They munch, they are fully eco operational and they provide free cuddles when interested. On top of that: you have yourself a weeds clearing operation. Why didn't I think of this? RENTAGOAT: now available in various breeds to suit your lifestyle... Nico we might have a more sensible use for our fluffy flowers after all (aside from the Angoran wool and the future milking.)

and what's the free marketing? Seeing is believing people.

Happiness

So what IS it with happiness? All of us seem to be continually on the lookout. What if this... when will I win Lotto? But why would you want rescuing from your life? What could you do now to change it, and most of all: your perception of it?


Here's the Recipe for Happiness:

1. Be a do gooder
2. Don't sweat decisions
3. Spend well> experience
4. Aim high - but not that high!
5. Be a joiner
6. Stop dwelling
7. Be grateful

So there you go,  that wasn't so hard to follow was it?  Forget about the result of the soup though... it's how you decide to cook it that makes the difference.

(Source of how to be happy)

Summer is here!

Yay! We are ready for some serious sun and icecream action over here!
Hemptech has realeased upholstery fabric 'Cows and Couches' and the cushion prints of 'Summer' featuring Pukeko birds and jandals I designed for them.


The Summer design is available in 2 colour ways! Don't they look snazzy summery perky?

Cows and couches upholstery fabric:

I think they look awesome!

I get asked sometimes, where do you get your inspiration from?
Well... ask Kate (below) and Kuddles. Nieces Cutie and Sweetie also make a dashing note. Their dad Carlin is a fullbreed Highland bull and has a face as broad as a pickup truck's wheel. Many people think he's scary, but he's quite a softie bless him.

Then of course there's the fanclub....

And my personal advisor Diva Spunky. It's true, pigs are very intelligent. She wasn't sure about those funny blue birds as she had seen them just now and again in the fields below, but she was tripping on the jandals. Get me some pink ones she said.

So finding inspiration is definitely not the hardest part of designing, it's finding the time to do it, and to make squishy cushions that are fun for you in your home.