Raw Dog Food - my journey into the world of raw/real food for my dogs

I have always been intrigued by the idea of raw dog food, but it hasn’t been something I have been able to properly sink my teeth into until recently. It shouldn’t surprise my readers though, as the ‘crunchy’ journey I’ve been on (cloth nappies, baby led weaning, real food like liver and eggs as first food for my babies, homesteading, and now homeschooling haha)…the signs were there! If you’ve ever thought twice about the ingredients list of your own food, I’m sure the thought has crossed your mind as to what exactly is in dog kibble. Something I do have to highlight from the get go with this though, and when diving down this rabbit hole, it’s a huge change in mindset and you do give up pretty much all the convenience you have. It’s not that simple to go away and have someone pop in and chuck a couple of scoops of food down in a bowl for your dogs anymore. It requires planning, and preparation and organising and I have had to give myself a few pep talks in the past about not getting too fixated on doing it ALL. Even adding a teeny tiny bit of meat or an egg to your dog’s meal once a week has added benefits. But, going the full hog and changing over completely has had incredible results in a very short space of time for us and I’m going to share with you what I have done and how I do it.

Here is a photo of my 3 (all black and white haha) dogs…who are pretty impossible to photograph together as the youngest (Maximus, the Bullmastiff far right) is usually hurtling himself all over the place, landing on top of Zara the Boerboel on the left:

First things first, there is a lot of conflicting thoughts on raw dog food, and lots of people will raise their eyebrows; either because they feel dry dog food has been specially formulated by animal dieticians (which, for the most part IS true) but I simply can’t believe that cereals & other grains, sprinkled with ADDED minerals etc & then added to what is usually a very small amount of protein; can possibly be better as a food source than actual meat. I am used to the questioning looks (as well as the fear mongering) that comes from some people when you do things that go against the grain. I remember the Google rabbit hole I went down when my daughters teeth developed a bit of a blue tinge from the huge amount of blueberries she ate when she was little. I was calling every dentist/oral hygienist I could find because I was worried I had ruined her perfect little teeth. Just a heads up, I hadn’t ruined anything haha. And don’t even get me started on the raw milk/liver/egg yolk concerns that were raised when the weaning journey started with all 3 of my kiddies. I am not discounting the very real concerns that many vets have with raw food. There is a very big difference between properly doing your research and just feeding your young pup a diet of only table scraps & some rice. I am still learning, but I have grown in confidence in seeing the outward results that have come since I started this journey in February this year (2025)…ie 4 months ago.

How I first Started

The first thing I did was decide on what blogs and articles I felt were useful and encouraging. I then spoke to a friend who was also feeding her dogs raw food (her two older golden retrievers…about 12ish years old I think…looked incredible for their age and I could tell immediately before even asking her about their diet, that they were raw fed). I chatted to a vet friend (she was a bit sceptical due to her experience with raw being done so badly) but on the whole, she was supportive. I then dived into the ingredient list of the dog food I was feeding my dogs (Optimizor Premium) and then found this fantastic article RawMeatyBones. Don’t judge the content based on the simple and outdated website. I downloaded the 2 page guide and it gave me the confidence to just dive right in. Here are some great quotes from the guide:

Dogs left to fend for themselves in a natural world have no difficulty identifying what’s good to eat. Their diet includes anything that creeps, crawls, wriggles, runs, swims and flies. I applaud you if you can find whole carcasses of other animals as food for your pet. However, in our modern world we need to look for alternatives. And in this regard a raw meaty bones and table scrap diet works wonders.

As with any new venture the better informed we are the easier the task. Also, when well informed, fears tend to fade into insignificance. FEAR, by the way, is an acronym for False Expectations Appearing Real. Fortunately, dogs seldom share our fears and wolf down the first raw meaty bone they are offered.

Getting started

When getting started, keep it simple. Over time it’s a good plan to feed raw meaty bones and offal from a range of animals. But in the first couple of weeks stick with one source. Chicken is relatively cheap and readily available. Tiny dogs do well on chicken wings and thighs. Larger dogs may need a whole chicken. And for economy, chicken frames, with most of the meat removed for human consumption, are a good source of food.

The first time you hand your dog a raw meaty bone can be as momentous or as mundane as you choose to make it. But it will be the start of a whole new way of life for you and your pet. So, having a camera handy could be useful, as could keeping a diary. In years to come you will be able to share evidence of your pioneering efforts with your grandchildren as you look back with pride.

This simple advice was just what I needed to actually start, as I had been going back and forth for a good few weeks. I also went to every butcher, grocery store, pet shop and bulk cash and carry store in my area in my hunt for the ‘perfect’ first meal. In the end, I bought 10 kgs of chicken carcasses from a local chicken farmer and so began their new diet.

One thing you will need to figure out is how much to feed your dog. Generally (and this will vary from dog to dog based on their age, their activity level, their weight and their lifestyle) but as a guide, healthy adult dogs require 2-3% of their body weight in food daily. A good rule of thumb for growing puppies, is 2-3% of their expected body weight when fully grown.

I have the following age & weight dogs:

• Shadow (Korean Jindo Husky rescue dog) 11 years old and +- 18kgs

• Zara (Boerboel) 6 years old and +- 45kgs

• Maximus (Purebreed Mastiff) 8 months old and +- 40kgs (his expected adult weight is in the 50+kg range)

This is how much (again, plus minus) that I feed each dog per day:

• Shadow: +- 400g (once per day)

• Zara: +- 1.2 kg (once per day)

• Maximus +- 1kg (he gets 400g decent quality kibble in the morning & +- 800g of meat/bones in the evening when the other dogs get their food)

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Calcium And Phosphorus

Something that I was often warned about is the calcium & phosphorous balance (especially for growing puppies, and especially important for large breed dogs like my Maximus). Balancing calcium & phosphorous is fairly easy to do though. Plus, there’s a wider margin of error when feeding raw. Calcium that comes in a synthetic powder is nearly impossible for a puppy to excrete. This means an excess of calcium is more of a concern with synthetic products than with the naturally occurring calcium found in bones (great info from DogsNaturallyMagazine).

Meaty bones (50% to 65% of the diet) as recommended by DogsNaturallyMagazine:

• Turkey tails and necks (I have yet to find a source for turkey here where I live)

• Chicken backs and necks (I am able to find these for R37 p/kg)

• Veal ribs and tails

• Venison bones of any kind

• Chicken feet and beef windpipes (good source of naturally occurring glucosamine and chondroitin) I can get beef windpipes for R21 p/kg

• Beef neck bones (a great chew that won’t break teeth)

Balanced foods (feed these often)

• Eggs with shell

• Green tripe

• Whole animals (rabbit, quail, etc.)

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The results so far:

Zara - Boerboel

(6 years old)

Zara, my 6 year old black boerboel, has had the biggest (outward & visual) change so far. She has always been very allergic dog, will often scratch herself raw in places, getting sores on her body (and is always covered in flies during fly season because she is usually very smelly). Summertime is the worst when the grass is long and her belly and legs get itchy too. It will be interesting to see if she still gets itchy this summer, as while I’m sure her food was the main cause of her allergies, Summer has always been the worst time for her coat. She also had horrendous ears (filled with gunk) which has caused her lots of pain.

There was a time last year where no one could touch her head, let alone her ears. I took her to the vet to have them cleaned our properly, and she had to be heavily sedated because she became so aggressive. The treatment plan afterwards was a nightmare, because she would only let me go near her and I had to give her ear drops twice a day. She is a very docile dog 99% of the time (except when strangers arrive at our gate) and the final straw came when she bit (a big nip) my youngest son, Mason, on the forehead when he was riding on her back and grabbed her ears by mistake. It could have ended very badly, but it gave my the push I needed to give this way of eating a try and see if it improved things for her. I’m sure her food has been the biggest contributor to her allergies (I have tried a few different brands but settled on Optimizor Premium which had the highest protein content in the largest size bag for the best price)

I do understand that I made the choice to have large dogs (which eat a LOT!) but buying top of the range food (especially an allergy specific one) for her size would probably cost me as much as it costs to feed my family of 5. In saying this, raw meat (and bones) can also be very pricey, which is why I have had to be very organised, buy things when they are on special, and also buy in bulk. And chicken is generally the cheapest meat. I have also read that chicken can be a trigger for many dogs (not that I am running to have any allergy tests done on my dogs because #whohasthetimeforthat!) but I have to pick my battles. If you look at the ingredient list of most dry dog foods, the protein source should be the first one listed. If you can recognise the source then yay…you’ve found yourself a good food! Also bear in mind that, when reading the ingredient list, ‘chicken’ is different to ‘meat/chicken/animal derivatives’ and can’t even be compared (here is a nice article to read more about this sneaky labeling technique). Optimizor Premium, what I was feeding my dogs, has Cereals listed first (not ideal) and it’s protein source is ‘Meat & Animal Derivatives’ (also not ideal) but it was the best of the worst kind of situation.

Within 6 weeks of making the switch to raw food (I followed the RawMeatyBones guide) and gave chicken carcasses to them for the first 3 - 4 weeks, Zara’s coat had improved immensely! She stopped scratching, the sores healed and her shine started to come back in her coat.

The chicken carcasses cost me R35kg (the cost of feeding my 3 dogs was about R85 a day) and they were well and truly stripped of meat. After about 3 weeks I started to look around for pet mince to up the protein content of their food. My local butcher in Underberg sells pet mince for R30 p/kg. I fed them pure mince for the next 3-4 weeks, but I started noticing that although Zara’s coat condition had improved drastically, she was looking a little bit skinny. I do believe dogs are better off being on the slim rather than the chunky side, and it’s good to see signs of their ribs, but she was starting to look rather too lean (also look how teeny Max was!) and look how chunky Zara was!

I was also still spending R75 a day (which would work out to R2250 a month…eeek!). I have since decided to add a bulking ingredient (I used rolled oats at first which I would soak overnight before adding to their mince. A 5kg bucket of rolled oats at Dischem is R226:

I have since changed my ‘bulking’ ingredient to rice (which I soak and then cook) and add it to all of my dogs food. It’s much easier to mix mince and rice in one big bucket and decant than doing separate meals for each one. I try and soak the rice/oats the night before (and while I do cook the ricke/oats, this means technically I’m not feeding a 100% raw diet!).

Soaking rice and oats (or any nuts & seeds you consume!) before cooking can improve their digestibility and nutrient absorption by reducing phytic acid and potentially releasing other beneficial compounds. Phytic acid, found in the bran of grains, can bind to minerals like iron, zinc, and calcium, making them less available for the body to absorb. Soaking, especially in warm or acidic water, helps to neutralize the phytic acid, allowing for better nutrient uptake. Additionally, soaking can soften the grains, potentially reducing cooking time and making them easier to digest.

By the way, I even soak my nuts now too (have a look into Activated Almonds, I guarantee you’ll never look at an almond again…they are delicious when activated!!).

Zara’s ears have improved drastically (I wish I had a photo of what they looked like when we began…this is your reminder to take LOADS of photos for before and afters if you do try this way of feeding your dogs).

The one ear is completely clear, and the other is about 85% better (still a little gunky) but nothing like it was before. Anyone can touch her head now, and she is back to being her very docile self.

And on the whole, while I am not strictly doing a pure raw diet, I still believe making my own food is far more beneficial than the dry kibble I was feeding them. I often add a couple of eggs to the mix, some chia seeds/pumpkin seeds as and when I have them on hand.

Shadow - Korean Jindo/Husky rescue dog from South Korea

11 years old

The biggest change we have noticed with Shadow hasn’t been his physical appearance (he is a double coated dog and sheds 2 - 3 times a year and generally has a very beautiful coat) so it hasn’t been easy to see his coat condition change much. But, he has had the biggest behaviour change so far. He is getting on in his years, he has just turned 11 and for the past 6 months before changing to a raw diet, he would just sleep at the back of the house. He was very aloof, and spent most of his time alone (while this wasn’t terribly unusual as he grew up with us in an apartment in South Korea and was never good at being around other dogs no matter how hard we tried to socialize him), both hubby and I had been a bit worried that he was nearing the end. But, 2 months into a raw diet and he is like a puppy again. He is frisky, jumps up onto the bakkie and is always running up to greet us when we arrive home. He has become a bit of a pest at food time, and he is just lucky that Max is still a puppy and isn’t too dominating (yet) because he has become quite scrappy too. His teeth have improved slightly (the bone chewing acts as a natural toothbrush) but overall it is is behaviour that has changed the most.

Maximus - Bullmastiff

7 Months old

I am mixed feeding Max (although I am very confident now, I was a little nervous to go full raw with a young puppy). It also would be very challenging to feed him meat in the mornings when the other dogs don’t get anything. It’s quite a thing at dinner time when all 3 go bananas while they wait for me to dish up their food (I have to have a big stick nearby to keep everyone in their place…especially Max who inhales his food anyway). I feed him a cup of kibble in the morning; he is on Locuno Large Breed Puppy food which, after extensive research, is one of the most affordable (first source protein mentioned!) foods I could find. I also like that it is a South African brand, although relatively new on the market, but the fact that they list their protein source first in the ingredient list is a win for me. If I ever have to give my other two dogs kibble (this rarely happens, but when it does, they will get this kibble):

Max is a beautiful big and strong boy who is developing beautifully. He is a pure breed (black) Bullmastiff and came from a reputable breeder with registered parents (unlike Zara who has crooked teeth and an underbite and all her allergies haha), so it’s hard to know if he would look this good on a regular kibble diet, but I know this is a far superior diet for his developing years.

What I currently Feed my dogs

I alternate pet mince & rice with raw meaty bones/carcasses. I mix up pet mince with 2 cups of cooked rice (and usually add a couple of eggs, some coconut oil and seeds I have on hand). The pet mince is made up of organ meats and off cuts of (usually chicken) that the butcher makes up. I have even given them cooked quinoa and cooked sweet potato in place of rice when I have extra. Then the next day I give them meaty bones, usually chicken (backs, necks and or feet) or ox lungs (when I can find these locally) and I also give them chicken/ox liver/other organs depending on what I have found on special. I’m usually able to buy chicken carcasses/pieces/backs for R30 - R38 p/kg.

I have tried (thank you to my Mom for bringing these for me all the way from Joburg!) raw premade patties from a lovely company called DoggyChef in Johannesburg. These worked out at R50 p/kg, more expensive that my mince mix and even the chicken bones, but definitely a convenient way to just defrost and feed straight. They came in 100g patties, which would be great for a small dog, but feeding 12 to one dog at a time was quite a thing. 500g portions would have been ideal for my large dogs.

There are loads and loads of recipe ideas for raw food on the interwebs, and while I used them for inspiration at first, I had to take into account my current life stage (homeschooling mom of 3 young children) and it’s hard enough to get an exciting meal on the table for all of us, never mind trying to whip up a gourmet meal for my pups. They seem VERY happy with their mince and rice, bones and the odd organ thrown into the mix.

My next project (as I live on a farm) is to look into processing our own meat from the cull cows from our herd. We are dairy farmers, and while I don’t love the idea, it would a very sustainable (and budget friendly!) source of meat that is right on my door step. I didn’t ever think I’d be handing out chicken carcasses and ox lungs to my dogs, and yet here we are. If I do ever get the ball rolling with making my own pet mince, I will let you know 😉.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments about our raw food journey! I’d love to hear from you.

Creighton Open Gardens 2023

Whew! A whole year in the making and it’s been and gone in a flash. And we are about to have our SECOND Open Gardens in the time it has taken me to actually get this post written…sorry!

When Leigh Stokes (creative & artist friend next door) suggested the idea of hosting the first ever Creighton Open Gardens a year ago, I was like…yes, great idea! And then I was terrified…it meant opening up my garden to a bunch of strangers and letting them walk around and critique all of my efforts. But I have to say, the weekend was wonderful! And my garden has never looked as good as it does right now. They always say there is no better way to whip your garden and home into tip top shape than to host an event. And that’s exactly what happened.

We moved into our current home, Bedford Farm…the original Hutton homestead (which my in-laws had renovated in order to turn it into a guesthouse as my husband and I didn’t have any plans to move into it in the near future because we were very content in the little cottage) just over 4 years ago. I was pregnant with our second child, Aaron, and had only been back in South Africa for about 2 years. We lived in South Korea before that (click here to read more about those adventures). Since then we’ve added another little boy to the clan, Mason, and I the garden has become my happy place.

There was one main garden bed in the garden, and my mom-in-law had moved the 8 white Iceberg roses from in front of the house, to a new bed on the side of the house. I wanted to share some progress photos, as well as before photos so you can get an idea of the progression over the past 4 years.

We also created a Food Forest out of one of the pastures behind our house. This has been a huge labor of love, because we have had a sum total of about 4 blueberries and an onion over the years. Oh, and mountains of bolted Chinese cabbage, which always goes straight to seed and has yet to give us one cabbage yet! We initially planted this in order to make our own Korean Kimchi (which we still do make but always have to rely on what’s available in store when we are ever near large supermarkets in the big city).

The back garden overlooking the Barn Owl Shed (before & progress photos)

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Front Garden bed (progress photos)

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New side bed overlooking the cottage

We renovated this little cottage at the bottom of our garden a little over 2 years ago now, and it has been such a wonderful addition to our home. Not just because we only have 1 bathroom in our house (which included the toilet…there is very little privacy for anyone really), and no spare rooms (this is the problem with having so many off spring!) but now this is our guest cottage and it has turned into the most wonderful & private little space.

Please do take note of the gorgeous wall mural (done by another very talented friend and another neighbour…Savannah Stokes). You’ll see in the after photos how beautifully this came out, and what a change it made to such an ugly wall, that I just wasn’t able to get anything substantial to grown in front of and cover up in time for the Open Gardens.

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Hedge removed and bed opened up with new fence pole structure (before & progress photos)

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My Garden over the 2023 Creighton Open Gardens Weekend (14th & 15th October 2023)

I haven’t done too much since last year’s Open Garden in preparation for this one. I’ve mainly focussed on watering and maintaining the existing beds. I have dug up one new bed in front of my kitchen (at the back of the house) which I’ll share more photos of soon. Everything will be more established this year, and I’m just holding all my thumbs and toes that all the Spring flowers won’t be over by the time of the Open Gardens weekend, because things are all starting to bloom now…and we still have 6 weeks to go. EEEEK!

Hello to our new (PINK!) Chicken Coop!

When we lived at the bottom of my in-law’s garden, there was already an established chicken run, complete with laying hens. It was wonderful having our own fresh supply of eggs (especially as Everly eats 2 eggs just about every day for breakfast…click here to read more about her ‘real food’ weaning & feeding journey) but also because Granny & Grandpa were a mere minute away for visits.

While there is a very old and rusty metal chicken house in one of the farm sheds, Farmboy has been wanting to make his own one for a good number of years now, and so our new home was just the prompting he needed t get started on the project. I will have you know, the pink colour was not my idea, but of course, I am thrilled with it! As there were two options for a primer for the wood (white or pink) the choice seemed obvious to my dear husband, and voila…the pink coop!

Farmboy didn’t work from any plans when we put it together, working from an idea on Pinterest, and his own clever farmboy mind, he whipped together a very snazzy A-frame house, complete with double story roosting space inside, and a hinged door on the side to collect eggs from. The chickens are locked up at night (to keep them safe and sound) and during the day are let out to wonder around their enclosure. We do let them out into the garden too, but they are such social creatures that they are ALWAYS making themselves at home on our verandah, and leaving ‘evidence’ behind that is just impossible to clean.

Here are some photos of the behind the scenes set up, as well as some photo of Everly collecting the first egg (it was promptly dropped, much to our horror) but luckily that evening there were another 5 eggs waiting for us.

We put all of our garden refuse/mulch into their pen, as they love pecking around in it. We also make sure the have straw for roosting and laying their eggs. Oh and don’t forget about Edgar, the man about town. He’s our friendy garden rooster, who lives in the garden, eating insects and other little bits and pieces…he sleeps in the trees! And everyone morning comes along with us to check on his ladies and make sure they are all happy. Funny little thing.

Enjoy

x

Our Farm Cottage - Before & After

I have been meaning to write this blog post for such a long time (nearly 3 years in fact!) but time has done what it always does, and run away with me. I also find that if I don’t get things done the moment inspiration hit, then I forget about things and get distracted, and so the ideas sit on the back burner until something comes along and inspires me again.

This is what has happened with this blog post. The reason I’ve suddenly realised I HAVE to share it, is because we are doing renovations really soon (a second baby on the way has a way of hurrying things up!) and as baby is due in February, there really isn’t much time to expand our little home. So before the walls get knocked down and we have to move out while the building takes place, I wanted to share some before photos of our little home, as well as photos of how it looks now.

Some background:

We live in a little wooden cottage across the garden from my in-laws. This is the home where Farmboy’s Granny lived in before she passed away. It’s a lovely little home (emphasis on little) with two bedrooms, one bathroom, an open plan lounge/dining area, kitchen and gorgeous verandah area. There is also a two room prefab building outside with a carport, which houses Farmboy’s mancave, and the guest room. With inside having the only bathroom, it makes things a little awkward for guests. My mom has been the most frequent guest, and although she has said she doesn’t mind have a starlight ‘bathroom experience’ in the middle of the night, I know she has just about had enough and we have plans to put in a little Granny flat container home soon.

We are constantly changing things, and as I mentioned above, are about to begin building (we are adding on another bedroom and bathroom and extending the lounge area) and so the photos I have to share with you have been taken along the way during the past couple of years. I hope to have updated images of how it looks currently which I will share soon.

Without further ado (and because this blog post has already taken me nearly 2 weeks to actually put together!) here are the before photos of our home. Things to take particular note of:

• the colour of the walls

• the colour of the floors

• the colour of the ceiling

• placement of the fridge in the kitchen

• the curtains

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Before…

Work in Progress shots…

We sanded the ceilings and the floors, painting them all white. We used Woodoc 25 Water Borne White for the floors, and painted 2 coats to allow the grain of the wooden floors to show through, and we used a Plascon White Undercoat and Ceiling paint for the Ceilings. Both were really big jobs that we half did ourselves, and then hired some help to finish off. So many people were horrified when I told them we would be painting the floors of our farm home white, but it all came together so well, and has been easy enough to keep clean so far.

The walls were painted with a grey shade (Plascon paint name to be confirmed) and this gave our home a lovely soft and cool feeling.

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Some of my favourite DIY projects…

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The Lounge

I wanted to do a grey and white theme for our lounge, with a touch of pink. Farmboy was sceptical at first, but after seeing the finished product he says it’s much better than he had imagined it would be. I found the black industrial feel lighting at Mr Price Home, and love how the modern fittings offset the pink, grey and white.

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Everly’s Room

Everly’s room was the guest room until she came along, and the only change from these photos to now is that she is in her cot and not in the bassinet. I loved having two wingback chairs in her nursery, as although it seems like an extravagance, we had a spare one from the lounge above once we got our couch, and so it went in here and became Daddy’s chair for those first few weeks. Her room is my favourite place in the house and I often sit there with friends so having a spare comfy chair has been wonderful. My feeding chair (the big grey one) was a secondhand find that I had recovered in a gorgeous velvet fabric, and the compactum was also a second hand piece I found in Durban which has worked perfectly as a baby changing station. It fits all her cloth nappies so well too!

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Our bedRoom

Our bedroom is pretty simple. There were already huge cupboards extending from wall to wall, in both our room and Everly’s room, and this makes up for the lack of storage space anywhere else in the house. Farmboy and I made our headboard ourselves using this beautiful Protea fabric from U&G in Durban. The side tables were simple wooden boxes Farmboy made himself, and the lamps are from Mr Price Home. The dressing table was a lovely second hand find.

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the bathroom

We didn’t really have the time or funds to make any big structural changes to the bathroom, and so made do with a couple of licks of paint (which makes all the difference!). I also used a piece of voile fabric as a makeshift curtain in the bathroom and it has worked rather well. Painting the ceilings white also made a HUGE difference.

The bath is my favourite feature of the whole house, and luckily we don’t have any water restrictions as we use Borehole water and I’m able to bath every day…bliss when pregnant!

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The Kitchen

From the old kitchen, we removed the breakfast counter that was next to the front door, and put the fridge there, which really opened up the space. The best thing I ever did was put a bench in the kitchen, as it has become a real social place to be, and as much as I’d like to tear everything out and start again (I’d love to make it open plan!) it works just fine for now.It’s also amazing how you adjust to things. We have very little counter space, and yet somehow have managed too cook and prepare food for lots of guests as well as our everyday family meals.

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My Office Nook

This funny little space used to be the dining room, but as it backs onto the bathroom (and it a really funny space to work with) Farmboy set about making me a custom A-frame desk and office space. I just love it and it fits the space so well. The ceilings in our cottage are vaulted, and the A-frame section of the desk really lends itself well to this.

Also pictured, my Pilates ball. I used this as a desk chair before I was pregnant with Everly, and enjoy it so much more than a standard chair.

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And there you have it. Our cosy little farm cottage as it looks now. Once the renovations are done (hopefully by the time the new baby is here in February!) I will share more photos of what the space looks like.

In the mean time, I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into our little home.

x

Sunny Winter afternoons spent in the vegetable garden - Life on the Farm

After a very chilly last few days, the sun came out and Farmboy (yup, I really did marry a Farmboy) and I got stuck into our vegetable garden, cleaning up and getting it ready for planting. A few months ago we put down woodchips in the hopes of reducing the amount of weeding that needs doing, but alas, those pesky weeds shot up in all sorts of places. Our next plan of action is putting hay down, and then opening up little spaces for the seedlings to go. Will keep you updated as to how that helps with the weeds.

We have had a very bountiful vegetable garden since we set it up a couple of years ago. The biggest achievement has been growing and harvesting homegrown vegetables for Everly's meals.

>>> Click here to watch a video on how I prepare her meals, as well as my favourite tools for making the job easier.

We keep getting sporadic pop ups of all sorts of herbs and vegetables that went to seed ages ago...like this crop (is that even the right word?) of coriander. We LOVE coriander in our house, and it brings back all sorts of wonderful memories of our time spent living and working in Asia (click here to read more about that).

And that chilli bush bush you can see below...that was grown from seed and is still growing strong, I don't know how many years later. And you'll also notice whenever my camera is out, Amber is never far away. #AmberTheGinger is one of our very many rescue creatures that make up our family. She's the fluffy (and majestic) ginger kitty you can see below.

And wherever you find Amber, Jade The Tabby is always close by too. Here she she scaling the fence (I have no idea how she managed to do that as she is SO fat and has very-little-to-absolutely-no co-ord, and yet she's the one who catches all the birds and other 'presents' for us. Funny kitty.

We've got a dedicated herb area that has Lemon Grass, Rosemary & Thyme which we just leave to their own devices. It's wonderful being able to pop into the veggie garden for a sprig of rosemary when making dinner.

And there you have it, a few snaps of what our vegetable garden is looking like at the moment. I'll share more once we have planted some actual vegetables, and will share how the straw does against the weeds.

Until next time, here are some more posts on life on a dairy farm...enjoy!