Back feeding the chickens with Casey

Hello, it's been another week and while easing lockdown here in the UK isn't bringing many changes for Casey and I, it has meant that we've been able to head to the farm, yay. For the time being we're just heading to the farm, but to be able to support the team in person and feed the chickens again means so much to Casey and I. Thank you so much for your lovely messages welcoming us back, it's made being back at the farm all the more special for us.

Though Casey and I are back, it's still far from business as usual at the farm. A lot of the work that our teams started at the beginning of the year is on hold for now allowing Chris to concentrate on animal care with a small team and continue to develop the ways we can connect with you all at home. We're looking forward to getting some of the work started again and welcoming some volunteers and students back, but at the moment we don't have any dates for their return. It is difficult without the income from our student placements, but safety comes first and we'll only open when we are sure it's safe to do so. So, for now a huge thank you goes out to everyone supporting us through patreon helping us take care of our animals, everyone sending in donations and the local organisations and supermarkets supporting us.

One of the ways that Chris is connecting with you all at home is rush hour live over on YouTube, so if you happen to be a morning person, or a night owl over in Canada and the US, come and join us. I finally caught my first rush hour live today and it was brilliant, you join Chris getting ready for rush hour, see the rush hour itself and then have a little chat with Chris and the animals before he sets off doing the farm duties. It's live around 6:15, but you can subscribe to Ceanhill Countryside Centre to get a notification, and if you are tucked up in bed you can always go back and watch again just like I do.

Sunflower planting

Talking about rush hour, it's been great to see Benedict the gosling join rush hour this week, even if it is just at Chris' feet. When he gets bigger he'll be joining everyone rushing out of the door, but for now he's concentrating on his gardening. Casey and I had great fun helping him put some sunflower seeds in, it's just a shame the rain took longer than we expected to arrive. I'm sure Benedict is doing a good job of looking after the seed though with Rodney and Del the emus waiting in line to take over as head gardeners.

We've had a few new additions to the animal team this week too. The first are some bantam chicks that hatched out in their nest with our pygmy goats, their mum hid them well. While the other arrivals were actually born a few weeks ago, but we're only just getting to meet them properly and they're Smudge's kittens. Casey and I have been lucky enough to meet her beautiful babies already, along with the lovely Bea and Violet, they're all so full of character. We do neuter our cats where we can, but with so many that pass through our gates we do allow some to have a litter. Smudge is a fantastic mum and has done a wonderful job looking after her four babies, once they're big enough we'll be letting them go to new homes. Thanks to everyone interested in our kittens, we do have a bit of a waiting list, so bear with us while we work through.

There's still loads going on away from rush hour and baby animals too. Caroline is continuing to work on her beautiful illustrations and Chris is working on his Wisit Cards, keep a lookout for these. The Wiltshire horn sheep have lost all of their fleece now without the need for shearing so there are a few less to shear when we can get the help. All while our donkeys, Coco and Eli, are continuing to munch through the carrots and our cows are treated to the occasional banana buffet.

We'll be sharing more about shoutouts over the next week or so, including more about the personal messages you can request, plus Casey and I will hopefully be back at the farm again. We're looking forward to sharing another week at the farm with you.

Until next time, keep safe.

Kara and Casey 

I wanted breakfast, Rodney wanted to dead head the roses. #rodneytheemu #emu #gardeningtips #roses pic.twitter.com/p72NvfDn1O

— caenhillcc (@caenhillcc) June 3, 2020