Dexter learning about being part of the CaebhillCC team with myself and Chris

How are we nearly half way through December already, with Christmas under two weeks away? It only feels like yesterday I was telling you all about last year's panto at the farm. Now we're back already, counting down to Christmas, opening our advent calendars and looking forward to another farm panto. Yes, we enjoyed it so much last year that we're coming back with a new story and who knows, I might even appear in it this year.

I'd love to say that while Chris has been planning the panto, welcoming some new arrivals and so much other work at the farm, I've been there to support the creative process. But I haven't, sorry dad. I was actually off on holiday for the start of December in the New Forest (hence no blog last week) having some much needed downtime and bonding as a family of four. Thankfully we had some special visitors though who deserved some downtime even more than us. The one and only Chatty Farmer, Chris, along with Helie.

Working all hours of the day and night means that Chris rarely gets away, especially with Helie being able to join him as well so we were thrilled to have them join us. It might have only been for a day, but it was a fun day and so very special being the first time my boys have had their Nanny and Grampy on holiday with them. Hopefully we might even get a night together in the new year if farm work allows. For now though, a huge thank you goes to Nicky for doing an amazing job covering everything at the farm from food rounds to chick rescue. Everything was in such good hands with her that I even saw Chris relaxing which is a very rare sight.

I know it's not the end of the blog just yet, there's plenty more to say, but it seems a perfect time to say thank you because it's not just Nicky we owe a big thank you to over these past couple of weeks. There's also a big thank you to Caroline who has been an amazing support for Chris as always. Between getting ready for the last of her pre-Christmas events (yes, they are all over now, well done Caoline), she's been on hand to support with visits, merchandise, arrivals and ideas. There's a really big thank you to Amazon for the animal feed they so kindly brought in and donated a couple of weeks ago, there's some really happy animals around with the extra food supply. Plus there's a huge thank you to our volunteers from the Wiltshire Council Highways team who have given their time to volunteer over the last couple of weeks. They've helped to tidy up around the farm, fix a few things and we were blown away by what they achieved. They even had time to try out Caroline's duck dance between helping us to get the rest of our birds inside.

That's right, unfortunately our birds are all on lockdown again with bird flu reaching England now and there being a few cases reported. Thankfully we have our nets still up from last time and we've been encouraging them to stay in for a while, so it's not too much of a shock for our birds. I'd even say they are all really calm about staying in, even the geese have been quiet and relaxed. We'll of course be even happier when all of the birds can get outside, but for now their safety is most important so we'll be bringing plenty of feed and treats to the barn to keep them happy and well fed through the winter. We don't expect the current lockdown to be lifted until Spring, but we'll of course monitor the situation closely.

Holiday fun for Casey when Grampy joined us

Even with all of the birds in the barn, the changes made by our team over the Summer and Autumn have meant we've been able to welcome a few new arrivals. No, not any birds, we always aim to keep numbers steady through lockdowns, we do have an increase in numbers of guinea pigs though. We welcomed a few into our new rescue area, named Dexter's pen, and they are settling in well together. They are still getting used to their new surroundings, so you won't have seen all too much of them, but Casey, Nicky, Claire and the rest of the team are giving them lots of love, even with Eli's new company having arrived.

I can't tell you too much about Eli's new company just yet, we're only sharing the updates with our Patreons as a thank you for their amazing support in taking care of our animals for now. But, all will be revealed next week and you'll finally see what all the excitement is about across all of our channels kicking off with a special rush hour on Tuesday from Chris and Caroline. I honestly can't wait to see the reactions out there, especially knowing that a lot of our Patreons have fallen in love with who we're going to reveal already. We really are so lucky with who we've been able to welcome thanks to all of the support out there, it not only makes a difference to our team, our work, our placements, but Eli as well. A big thank you to everyone who made it all possible on Thursday as well, you are all amazing, amazing, amazing.

I know we're talking a lot about the arrivals, but this is probably the biggest news we've had in a while, that we've been able to share anyway. Honestly, there is so much more to come. I really hope you can join us Tuesday to share this with us. Until then, I can at least share some other news, we have more emu eggs. Rodney and Del are back to mating again and we've located their eggs. I really don't know what will happen to their eggs and whether we'll have any more emus, it's great to see they are happy and mating again though. Well, I really don't need to see them mating, they can keep that to themselves, but hopefully you know what I mean.

I think that is all for this week, so thank you for reading and following this journey with us, we couldn't do this without you. I'll be back with more really soon, but don't forget to follow CaenhillCC, Caroline and our Chatty Farmer for even more from the farm. Plus, if you want us to be part of your Christmas look out for more news of our panto, head over to our shop for some fantastic merchandise from Loren (Happy Birthday Loren, thank you so much for being there), Caroline and myself before Christmas deliveries close, or book in your Christmas shoutout before I close the bookings for another year.

Until next time, take care.

Kara, Casey, Dexter and Teddy