Our horses. And Pino.

Hello! And welcome as always to this blog about our life and animals here in the Fairy-tale. This week’s stars are the horses. We have six ‘big ones’ as well as one miniature pony. The big six were the first animals we had here at the farm, and have been with us since 2011. Our horses have a lot of freedom compared to many domestic horses; they make up a herd which roams from our barn up to the pastures. They sometimes gallop altogether from one place to another, just for fun, which is really something spectacular to behold! Their hoof-beats heard from a distance sound like firecrackers going off, badaboom-badaboom-badaboom-badaboom. Oh yes and how could I forget?! The final member of the herd: Pinocchio (aka Pino) the donkey.

Most of the time they are standing around resting, grazing, eating, rolling around on the ground for a dust-bath, or coming up curiously to visitors who always like to look at them. They enjoy being brushed (especially now as they are losing their winter coats) and going out for short walks into the forest. In the summer they eat fresh grass from the pastures which we recently re-seeded. We feed them hay every day, between 40 and 120kg depending on the weather! We also clean up their area after them every day, and their waste makes good quality manure. This year we have plans to start horse therapy sessions at Pravljica so watch this space!

 

Don is the biggest of the group, a piebald (brown and white), he stands with his head at about 7 ft above the ground. He’s the leader of the herd, extremely big and strong. And yet he waits every day as close as he can to the food while we prepare it, slowly edging his feet closer and closer to the hay as if we couldn’t see him! Nice try Don 😉

 

Slijpmir is a very mischievous horse who is always on the look-out for a bite to eat, nibbling at pockets and gloves in the quest for food. His breed is Icelandic which means in the winter he grows a very thick coat, which malts everywhere in the spring; you walk past him and you can be covered in hair!

 

One of our smaller ponies, Pram, is curious and very well-behaved. He has a long-standing rivalry with Pino the donkey, and the two of them can often be seen play-fighting in the yard.

 

Bonita and Carlos are striking white horses of Brazilian breed, brother and sister, who like to hang out together. Bartira is a beautiful big black mare, she is the chief girl of the group.

 

Tommy is the new guy, he arrived with us in the summer of 2016. He is a rescued miniature pony, coming to Pravljica after living with an owner who did not take good care of him. When he first arrived he was nervous and really scared of humans, trying to bite and kick anyone who came near him. Now, 8 months on, he is really quite a friendly pony, coming up to nuzzle at your hands and seeing if there are any treats to be had!

 

Pino is the only donkey on our farm sanctuary. He, like all donkeys, sometimes makes a really loud braying, ‘Hee-haw-hee-haw!’ which just sounds so comical! Pino Loves – with a capital ‘L’ – having his long ears scratched, and will try and itch them on any surface –the corner of a wall, branches, you if you’re close by (!) and even the wheelbarrow handle (not so helpful when it’s full of manure and he tips it over – oh, Pino! We still love you though).

 

So that’s our horses here at Pravljica. We hope you’ve enjoyed reading, remember to leave a comment below if you feel like it! Thanks!! Until next time 🙂

 

*Special* Sara in Sita – naši kravi in njuno leto Sara and Sita – Our cows 1 year on.

Danes je  minilo eno celo leto, odkar sta naši dve lepi kravi prišle k nam  V Pravljico. Sari in Siti je bila prvotno namenjena grozna usoda: ena naj bi šla za  za meso in druga izrabljena v prid mlečne industrije. Pri nas V Pravljici imajo priložnost za drugačno življenje: naravno, kjer  preživijo svoj čas brez trpljenja, bolečin in zlorab. Skačejo okoli, ko sta navdušeni (npr. takrat ko vidijo nekoga, ki ga poznajo in imajo rade, ali včasih celo samo za jutranjo krmo … oh, krave!).  Ko želijo mir odidejo na skrajni konec pašnika na pašo, ležijo v travi ob zgodnjem jutranjem soncu ali pa preprosto stojijo na istem mestu eno uro in prežvekujejo. Imata vso svobodo narediti kar jima tisti trenutek se zahoče.

 Today, it has been one whole year since our two lovely cows came to us here in the Fairy Tale. Sara and Sita were both born into another life, one supposed to be slaughtered for meat and the other to be used in the milk-production industry. With us here in the Fairy Tale they have the chance for a different life, a natural one where they can spend their time free of suffering, pain and abuse. Jumping around when they are excited (like when they see someone they recognise and like, or even sometimes just for the morning feed… oh, cows!), wandering off to the far end of the pasture to graze, lying down on the grass in the early morning sun or simply standing around in the same spot for one hour and chewing the cud, they are able to do as they please.

Sara

Sita

Frida Cow-lo

Caught in action

Preživljanje časa z njimi je čudovito, božanje po gosti dlaki na hrbtni strani vratu in ob straneh, ali ležanje z njimi na pašniku. Imajo nežen pomirjujoč vpliv, ne zmenijo se za velike vzpone in padce,in skrbi sodobnega človeškega življenja. V tem smislu  delujejo precej podobno kot jogiji ali duhovni učitelji. Nekateri ljudje se verjetno sprašujejo, zakaj delamo to, kar delamo tukaj V Pravljici, zakaj rešujemo rejne živali, kot sta Sara in Sita, in mi bomo odgovorili: da ko boste poslušali dihanje krave,bili pritisnjeni z enim ušesom na njeno masivno stran ko ona črpa zrak v pljuča, in potem odditi v Ljubljano na goveji burger izdelan iz mrtve krave ni najbolj privlačna stvar. Del našega poslanstva je omogočiti ljudem priložnost, da vidijo živali na drugačen način, da spremenijo svojo miselnost in odnos do živali, da bi jih videli kot žive, čuteča bitja in ne kot hrano. Skozi druženje z njimi v njihovem naravnem okolju jih lahko bolje spoznate-priložnost, ki je drugače nebi imeli.

It is wonderful to spend time with them, stroking your hands through their thick fur on the back of their neck and on their sides, or lying with them in their field. They have a gentle calming presence, very much undistracted by the big ups and downs and little worries and stresses of modern human life, and in this sense rather amusingly evoke great yogis or spiritual teachers. Some people might question why we do what we do here at the Fairy Tale, why we rescue farm animals like Sara and Sita, and we would reply that once you have listened to a cow breathing, one ear pressed against her massive side as she draws air into her lungs, going immediately into one of the restaurants on the waterfront in Ljubljana and ordering a beef burger made from a dead cow probably isn’t the most appealing thing. Part of our mission is to allow people the opportunity to see animals in a different way, to change their mindset and attitude towards animals, to see them as live, sentient beings and not as food,and to learn more about them through spending time with them in their natural environment an opportunity that they would not otherwise have.

Sara in Sita sta seveda velike živali – tehtata okoli 500 kg vsaka -, vendar sta na splošno zelo nežni in previdni, spoštljivi do nas ko gremo v njun hlevček, da jim damo hrano ali pa  da se jih očisti, in zelo sta veseli ko se jih praska za ušesi! Sta precej radovedni  – v času, ko smo imeli delovne akcije (glej spodaj) in veliko ljudi blizu njih, sta prišli do roba njunih pašnikov, da vidita kaj se dogaja.

Sara and Sita are of course big animals – weighing in at around 500kg each – but they are generally very gentle and cautious, respectful of us when we go in to their shed to give them their food or clean them out, and very happy to have us scratch them behind the ears! They are fairly curious creatures – at times when we have had working actions (see below) and lots of people near to them they have come over to the edge of their pasture to see what all the fuss is about.

Radovedna Sita – Curious Sita

 

Zgodbe in karakterja

Stories and Personalities

Njuna zgodba se začne z organizacijo “Društvo za zaščito Živali Pomurja” ki nas je kontaktirala v letu 2016 in vprašala, če lahko namestimo dve kravi. Zbrali so dovolj denarja iz donacij od ljudi, ki so želeli rešiti te dve kravi iz usode kmetijske industrije. Sita je bila  namenjena  za goveje meso, Sara za mlečno industrijo in za proizvodnjo naslednjih telet za molžo. Pogoji v katerih sta živeli so značilni za krave v kmetijski industriji : Nista bili navajeni biti zunaj in privezani sta bili v notranjosti vse svoje življenje. Sara se prav tako ne more navaditi na raznoliko hrano, na primer nebo pojedla koščka kruha ali zelenjave ali sadja kot večina krav bi! Zdi se, da je to skupna značilnost naših živali, ki so prišle k nam iz slabih razmer,pujsa Lizka  je bila prav tako zbirčna , ko je prvič prišla ..

Their story starts with the organisation ‘Društvo za zaščito živali Pomurja’ (The Pomurje Society for the Protection of Animals), who contacted us back in 2016 to ask if we could take two cows. They had raised enough money from donations from people who wanted to save these two cows from the fate of the farming industry. Sita had been destined for beef, and Sara for the dairy industry, to produce more calves for milking. The conditions they had been living in were typical of cows in the farming industry: They weren’t used to being outside and had been tied up inside all their lives. Sara also isn’t used to eating a variety of foods, for example she won’t even take bread or vegetables or fruits like most cows will! This seems to be a common feature of our animals who have come to us from poor conditions, Lizka the pig was equally fussy when she first arrived…

Toda, glej ga zlomka, imeli  sta nekaj čarobne sreče in sta bili rešeni in pripeljani k nam. V prvih nekaj mesecih svojega življenja tu,sta živeli pod našim skednjem. Morali sta biti še priklenjeni, ker sta se morali navaditi na novo okolje, na druge živali in nas in njun hlevček je bil še vedno v gradnji. Po delovni akciji kjer smo končali z gradnjo njunega klevčka, smo ju prestavili ven na njun novi dom: Velik travnat pašnik, skupaj z pravkar končanim lesenim  hlevčkom. Vsakdo ki je bil tam na ta dan,  lahko pove, kako čudovit občutek je bil, da jih vidimo zunaj  ko tečeta okoli in uživata svobodo prvič,tam kjer bi morali biti. Oglejte si ta odličen video da vidite sami .

But lo and behold they had some magic luck and were rescued and brought to us. For the first couple months of their lives here they lived under our barn, in a small stall. They had to be chained up still because they had to get used to their new environment, the other animals and us, and their house was still being built. After working action to finish off building their house, we moved them outside to their new home: A large grassy pasture complete with newly-finished wooden cow shed. Anyone who was there that day could recount what a wonderful feeling it was to see them outside, running around and enjoying their freedom for the first time, where they should be. Watch this great video to see for youself.

Zdaj živita zunaj skozi celo leto, s travniki, ki  zagotavlja svežo travo za njuno pašo v poletnih mesecih, in svoj leseni klevček kamor lahko grestako je vreme hladno in pozimi (čeprav sta srečni, da se,kot vidite,lahko zapodita v sneg!). Sita je nekoliko manjša, ampak tudi bolj živahna kot Sara, kar pomeni, da ona dobi prvi delež sena in vode. Sta namreč sorodnici, in še dve izmed njunih sorodnikov je  rešila  ista organizacija in živita zdaj v Pomurju na vzhodu Slovenije (glej njihovo facebook stran za več informacij).

They now live outside all year round, with a pasture that will provide fresh grass for them to graze in the summer months, and their wooden house when the weather is cold in the winter (although as you can see they are happy to venture out into the snow!). Sita is a little bit smaller in size but also a little bit more feistier than Sara, meaning that she gets first dibs on hay and water. They are in fact related, and two more of their relatives were also rescued by the same organisation, and live in Pomurje in the East of Slovenia (see their facebook page for more info).

“Uhm,Sita…si opazila to?!”-“Err, Sita… have you seen this?!”

 

Delo s kravami

Odkar gostimo krave, smo imeli priložnost za več delovnih akcij ki so združile v skupino  ljubitelje živali iz  vse Slovenije (in sveta!). Prva je bila ta, da zgradimo njun dom-lesen hlevček. Naslednja, da dokončamo- dodali smo tla in krmilnika, in povečali potko med hlevčkom in našim vrtom. Nekaj tednov v novembru 2016 je bilo porabljenih za kopanje  1metra globokega jareka za položitev cevi za vodo in električnih kablov za oskrbo nezamrzljivega pitnika, in luči. Prvi vikend v decembru 2016 je pot do njihovega hlevčka postala tako blatna zaradi vsega dežja v sezoni,da smo morali narediti nekaj. Torej naš najnovejši ukrepi v zvezi z krava je bil, da uredimo makadamski dostop. Cel vikend dela takrat in pot še vedno trdno stoji. Te delovne akcije ne bi bilo mogoče izvesti brez trdega dela, truda in dobre energije, ki so jih ljudje ki so prišli prostovoljno, prineseli. Velika zahvala vsem družinam in prijateljem, ki so prišli V Pravljico, da pomagajo, da je našim kravam udobno.

Work with the cows

Since we have hosted the cows, we have had occasion for several working actions, bringing together groups of animal-lovers from all over Slovenia (and across the world!). First was to construct their home, building a shed out of wood. Next, to finish off this construction we added a floor and feeding troughs, and making the pathway larger between the house and our garden. A couple of weeks in November 2016 were spent digging a 1-metre-deep trench to lay the lines for water and electricity to supply a frost-proof drinking fountain, and provide lights. And for the first weekend of December 2016 the path to their shed had become so muddy with all the rain of the season, and the cows walking up and down, we had to do something to make it more accessible. So our most recent cow-related action was to make a gravel walkway. A weekend’s worth of work then and the path is still going strong now. These working actions wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work, effort and good energy brought by the people who came to volunteer. A big thank-you to all the families and friends who came to the Fairy Tale to help make our cows comfortable.

The trench for laying the water and electricity lines

Many hands helped to flatten the surface to lay down gravel

Sara looks curiously on at the gravel bucket chain

Our finished and beautiful gravel path

Kaj sledi?

Naši kravi bosta še naprej živeli z nami V Pravljici in uživale svobodo,zdaj ko imajo svoj pašnik, in niso več priklenjene v notranjosti. Hranimo jih dvakrat na dan, zjutraj in zvečer, z 1 ali 3 balami sena, odvisno od vremena (to je v povprečju 35kg sena vsak dan! – skoraj teža Jonatana, ki je 11). Imajo prost dostop do vode, in očiščene so vsak dan. Obiskovalci so tukaj vedno dobrodošli  da vidijo  krave uživati svobodno in naravno življenje! Hvala za branje! Vse pripombe so dobrodošle 🙂

What next?

Our cows will continue to live with us here at the Fairy Tale and enjoying the freedom of having their own pasture, no longer chained up inside. We feed them twice a day, morning and evening, with between 1 and 3 bales of hay depending on the weather (that’s an average of 35kg of hay each day – almost the weight of Jonatan who’s 11!). They have free access to water, and we clean them out on a daily basis. Visitors here are always welcome to see cows enjoying a free and natural life! Thanks for reading! All comments welcome 🙂

 

 

Koze, čudovite koze. Goats, wonderful goats.

Pozdravljeni! In ponovno dobrodošli nazaj na pravljičnem blogu.  Mogoče je to vaš prvi obisk tukaj, v tem primeru še posebno dobrodošlico! Sporočite nam spodaj v polju za komentarje vaše misli 🙂

Hello there! And welcome back once again to the Fairy-tale blog. Or perhaps it’s your first time here, in which case an extra special welcome! Let us know your thoughts in the comment box below 🙂

Koze so najbolj nenamerno smešne živali na naši kmetiji miru. Težko je razložiti njihovo nežno smešnost, razen če jih vidite v akciji, vendar bomo poskušali. Nekaj je v tem, kako so videti, kako tako lagodno žvečijo in ležijo okoli ali stojijo skupaj, kot da so deležni skrivnosti in modrosti ki jih nikoli ne boste vedeli, način, kako včasih teatralično stresajo svoje glave ali repe potem ko so se igrivo trkajo z glavami, in kako pridejo in nežno grizljajo vas in vaša oblačila, kot v upanju, prošnji in prepričanju, da ste užitni … Ah, koze. So tudi najbolj navihani bitja v naši oskrbi, pogosto povzročajo kaos. Na primer pogosto prevrnijo vse metle, lopate vile, ki so shranjeni v kotu in zavezane z vrvjo, medtem ko poskušajo si z vrvjo praskati težko dosegljivo mesto med rogovi, popolnoma in 100% v celoti ne zavedajoče se vpliva svojih dejanj.

The goats are the most unintentionally amusing animals on our farm/animal sanctuary. It’s hard to explain their gentle hilarity unless you see them in action, but we’ll try. There’s just something about the way they look, the way they chew so casually and lie around or stand together as if they are partial to secrets and wisdom you’ll never know, the way that sometimes they will theatrically shake their heads or tails after playfully butting each other and the way they come up and nibble at you and your clothes as if hoping and praying and believing that you are edible… Ah, goats. They are also the most mischievous creatures we look after, often causing havoc. For example they often knock over all the brooms in the corner and secured with a rope, whilst trying to scratch that tough spot in between their horns with the rope , totally and 100% completely unaware of the effect of their actions.

 

Naša čreda nam je bilo podarjeno začetka leta 2014, od para, ki ni mogel več skrbeti za njih, saj se je pripravil na selitev iz Slovenije v Novo Zelandijo. Takrat so bili samo 7 koz, ampak glej no glej malo pravljično magijo in smo imeli veseli vrvež malih kozic, rojenih tu na kmetiji. Zdaj imamo 13 koz, vse samice.

Our herd was donated to us at the beginning of 2014 by a couple who couldn’t look after them anymore, as they were leaving Slovenia for New Zealand. There were just 7 goats back then, but lo and behold some fairy-tale magic and we had the pitter-patter-hop of baby goat hooves born here at the farm. We now have 13 goats, all females.

Atma

Šefica, največja in najbolj požrešna (oprosti, Atma!). Mnoge skupine živali oblikujejo hierarhije, kot tudi naše koze. Ona je dobra vodja, ker je mirna in odgovorna in skrbi za čredo. Ker tukaj ni nobena nevarnost, to večinoma pomeni odločiti, kdaj iti izpod kozolca do pašnikov, kdaj poiskati kakšen lep kotiček za sončenje in kdaj iti spet pod kozolec za počitek. Včasih se pa čreda ne strinja z njo in gre po svoje! Takrat namesto da bi šla do njih in jih prepričala, da ji sledijo, stoji na enem ali drugem koncu in jih na ves glas neumorne kliče, dokler ali ona ali čreda obupa in se spet združijo v harmoniji! Če se vsedete med koze, bo prišla do vas in njeno glavo drgnil po vašem hrbtu, tako pokaze njeno odobravanje, kar je pravzaprav kar lepa masaža (če imate druge možnosti).

The boss, aka the biggest and greediest (sorry to say it Atma!). Many animal groups form themselves into hierarchies, and our goats are no different. She makes a good leader because she is calm and responsible, looking out for the herd, although as they are in no danger here this generally means deciding when to move up from the barn to the pastures to graze or when to find a nice patch of sun to sunbathe and when to go again under the barn to rest. But sometimes the herd doesn’t agree with her, and goes off on their own! Then, instead of going to them and persuade them to follow her, she stands at the other end and calls them loudly and tirelessly until she or the herd gives in and unites again in harmony! If you are sitting down in the goat’s area, she will come up and rub her head on your back to show her approval, which is actually quite a nice massage (if you’ve got no alternative).

Dharma, Vita, Didi

Dharma je mama Viti in Didi, verjetno rojeni eno leto narazen. Vsi trije so še posebej nagajivi, pogosto se trudijo po svojih najboljših močeh se skrivaj priplaziti zgodaj na večerjo. Komično se skrivajo za samokolnico, kot da jih zakriva v celoti (otroško prepričanje “ne moreš me videti, če jaz tebe ne vidim”). Vita se rada spočije v prazni samokolnici, Didi rada leži v kadi za namakanje sena …. ona je nekaj posebnega.

Dharma is mum to both Vita and Didi, probably born one year apart. All three of them are especially mischievous, often trying their best to sneak early into dinner, hiding comically behind the wheelbarrow as if it covers them entirely (the old ‘you can’t see me if I can’t see you’ principle).Vita loves to relax in an empty wheelbarrow,  Didi loves to hang out in the bathtub we have for soaking hay…. She’s a special one.

Tiki, Maja

Če je kdo drugi v hirarhiji, je to Maja. Je druga največja in požrešna, včasih tudi skrbi za druge koze, vodi jih na pašnike ali ukroti “malčke” s trkom glave, če so preveč predrzni! Ona in Tiki sta kot sestri, nobedna od njih nimata otroka. Za ostalo čredo sta nekako “kul tete” ki se brigajta zase. V glavnem je  to biti na preži za priboljške!

If anyone is second in command, it’s Maja. She is the second biggest and greediest, and also sometimes looks out for the other goats, leading them into the pastures or keeping the “little ones” in line with a headbutt when they get too cheeky! Her and Tiki are like sisters, neither of them have kids so they are kind of the ‘cool aunties’ to the rest of the herd, just doing their own thing. Which is mainly being on the look-out for treats to eat!

 

Džothi, Suri, Lali, Lila

Ne vemo zagotovo, vendar menimo, da je Džothi najstarejša izmed naših koz. Kot starešina, jo vsi ostali spoštujejo. Ona ima 3 otroke; Suri je najstarejši, Lila in Lali sta dvojčki, rojeni 2 leti nazaj, prlibližno v istem času kot Didi. Vsi so zelo umirjeni in imajo na hrbtu daljše lase kot ostali. Nismo prepričani, zakaj. Mogoče imajo dolgolasne prednike iz časov rock’n’rolla?

We don’t know for certain, but we think Johti is the oldest of our goats. Like the village elder, she is respected by the others. She has 3 kids; Suri is the oldest, then Lila and Lali are twins, born two years ago, around the same time as Didi. All of them are very calm. They have longer hair on their back than the rest of the herd. We’re not sure why, maybe some mullet-sporting rock and roll ancestors?

Buddhi, Bela

Buddhi je rodila Belo kot eno od trojčkov leta 2015. Bili sta dve punčki in en fantek. Poimenovali smo jih Bela, Čoko, Lada (ker so bili sladki po izgledu in karakterju kot bela čokolada). Na žalost sta Čoko in Lada že umrla (redka bolezen in tragična nesreča) Ostala sta mama in Bela. Oba sta neverjetno mila in nežna. Še bolj kot druge koze radi prihajajo se pobožat in crkljat. Buddhi ima en navaden rog in enega, ki se nenavadno krivi, kar ji daje nenavaden videz, čeprav se ne zdi, da jo moti. Ona je ikona, ker se nosi samozavestno in mogoče celo ponosno z njenim posebnim videzom!

Buddhi gave birth to Bela as one of three triplets in 2015. There were two little girls and one boy. We named them Bela, Choco, Lada  (Translation: ‘White chocolate’, because they were cute and sweet in appearance and character as white chocolate). Unfortunately, Choco and Lada already died (a rare disease and a tragic accident). Only the mother and Bela were left. They are both incredibly sweet-natured, and even more than the other goats like coming up to be stroked and cuddled. Buddhi has one ordinary horn and one which curves a little bit more, giving her an unusual appearance, although it doesn’t seem to bother her. She’s an icon for being self-conscious and perhaps even proud about her special appearance!

Zikica

Ona je naša najmanjša koza, mini kozica, in tudi najdebelejša! Dobili smo njo z njenim partnerjem leta 2013, rešena od nekega “ljubitelja” živali z zelo predolgimi parklji in ponavljajočimi odprtimi ranami na vratu in precej suhi. Po 1 letu pri nas ni bilo več sledu o vsem tem.  Pred 1 letom je iznenada izgubila svojega partnerja. Od takrat se drži bolj sama, ni imela druge koze za se stiskat in jo je pozimi zeblo. Gradili  smo ji seno hišo, da ji bo toplo, a ona je vidila vidik, ki ga nismo. Hiša je tudi užitna! Vztrajno jo je in zdaj je je komaj še kaj ostalo. Rada se sonči  zraven ograde za bika Ferdinanda, pod pretvezo da mu dela družbo, medtem ko v resnici upa, da najde še kakšne ostanke sena (ker senena hiška in redni obroki pa le nista dovolj, ali kako?) Obeta se nova družba za njo, a ona še nič ne ve…psst!

She’s our smallest goat, a mini-goat and the fattest! We got her and her partner in 2013, rescued from an “animal lover” with much too long, uncared-for hooves and recurrent open wounds on the neck, as well as being fairly thin. After 1 year with us there was no longer any trace of all this. 1 year ago she suddenly lost her partner. Since then, she keeps to herself, didn’t have other goats to cuddle up with and was cold in winter. We built her a hay house to keep warm, but she saw another aspect which we didn’t: the house is edible! Steadily she is eating it and now there’s barely anything left. She likes basking beside Ferdinand the bull‘s place under the pretext that she keeps him company, while the truth is that she hopes for some left over scatterings of hay (because her hay house and regular feedings just are not enough, hmm?). New company for her is coming, but she still does not know … shhh!

In to je to od nas ta teden! Hvala za branje.

And that’s it from us this week! Thank you for reading. Ciao!

 

 

Working Action: Seeding the Pastures

Lep sončen dan. Zeleni griči, modro nebo in delo za opraviti! Radostni prostovoljci so prišli v Pravljico, v skupinah po dve, tri, in tudi družine, oboroženi z grabljami. Naloga: ponovno posejat naš pašnik.

Naši pujsi so zelo uživali  riti po zemlji na pašnikih, zato smo morali  dosejati travo, da se bodo naši konji, koze in ovce lahko v prihodnjih mesecih pasli. Krasna priložnost za delovno akcijo!

 

A beautiful sunny day. Green hills, blue skies and there’s work to be done! Cheerful volunteers arrive at Pravljica, in groups of twos, threes and families, armed with rakes. The task: to re-seed our pastures.

Our pigs have been enjoying digging up the ground, and so we have to plant more grass so that our horses, goats and sheep will be able to graze and feed there in the coming months. A good occasion for a working action!

Prazen, razrit pašnik…      The bare, dug-up pastures…

Dobra zemlja         The good earth

Metoda

Dva “sejalca”sta vodila pot, raztrosila sta semena trave po tleh. Semena trave so bili delno pridobljeni iz našega senika; pometli smo, kar je bilo na tleh, – mešanico semen in prahu, ki je padalo iz bal sena shranjeni tam.

Sejalcem je sledila skupina “grabljačev”, ki so poravnali tla, in si prizadevali  narediti čimbolj ravno površino.

Zadnji so bili “teptalci”, ljudi v vrsti, ki so uporabljaji njihove noge za pritisniti semena v zemljo, da jih ne bi pred dežjem odpihnilo. Šli so gor in dol, dol in gor, z leve proti desni, še enkrat z desne proti levi, ves čas teptajoči z nogami. Predometer ene prostovoljke je pokazal, da so prehodili oz “preteptali” na ta način 9km!

 

The Method

Two ‘seeders’ led the way, spreading out grass seed on the ground. The grass seed was partially sourced from our very own hay barn; we swept up what was covering the floor – a mixture of seed and dust from the hay bales we store there.

Following them was a team of ‘rakers’ who used their tools to flatten the ground, working to create an even surface for the grass to grow.

Bringing up the rear was the ‘stompers’, a line of people using their feet to press the seeds into the ground so that they don’t blow away before it rains. We went up, and down, up, and down, left to right, right to left again, stomping our feet all the time. One volunteer’s pedometer measured a distance of 9km!

Sejanje na  strminah      Seeding on the slopes

Vsi so sodelovali pri grabljenju    Everyone getting involved with the raking

 

Skupina teptalcev        Team Stomp

Rezultat

Dosegli smo, kar smo si zadali – dosejati celotni pašnik, kjer je bilo potrebno. In to ni bil majhen dosežek! Pašnik meri približno 1 km²   vso to delo smo naredili izključno na roko, brez strojev; to je precej osupljivo! Zdelo se je, da se je imel vsak tukaj lepo, klepetali smo, se  nasmejali in trdo delali skupaj. Nekdo je pripomnil, da so bili prijetno presenečeni, ker so pogovori bili globlje narave kot običajni klepet. Pristne povezave se naredijo na ta način, ko ljudje delajo skupaj za skupnen cilj, v korist drugih – in zato v korist vseh. Otroci so se tudi imenitno zabavali- grabljenje tal, teptanje semen, in tek ali kotaljnje po pašnikih – niti enkrat v 5 urah ni bili slišati ‘dolgčas mi je’ ali’ kdaj gremo?’.

 

The Outcome

We achieved what we set out to do, covering our whole pasture with new seeds where it needed it. Which was no small feat! The pasture measures about 1 km², and to have done all this work by hand, by human-power and without machines is pretty amazing! It seemed that everyone who was here was having a great time – talking, smiling and working hard together. One person remarked that they were pleasantly surprised that the discussions that they had were of a deeper nature than normal chatting. Real connections are made in this way when people work together towards a common goal, for the benefit of others – and therefore for the benefit of all. The kids were also well-entertained; raking the ground, stomping in the seeds and running or rolling up and down the pastures – not one cry of ‘I’m bored!’ or ‘when are we leaving?’ in all 5 hours.

Nove tehnike kako pritisniti seme v tla  so bili izumljeni…    Some novel techniques pioneered for pressing the seeds into the earth…

Pretegnimo se!     Stretch it out!

 

Delali smo celo popoldne, do sončnega zahoda. Dan se je končal s čudovitimi trenutki okoli ognja, ko smo skupaj jedli bolj tekočo rižoto, kuhana v našem kotlu nad ognjem in kruh z domačim namazom iz sončnic. Bili smo tako impresionirani nad naporom, ki ga je vsak vložil – večerja je bila več kot zaslužena! S toplimi objemi smo se poslovili. Slišati, da bi se nekateri spet radi vračali v Pravljico pomagati, nas je napolnilo s srečo in komaj čakamo, da bo še več takih lepih dni v prihodnosti.

Hvala za branje! Hvala za pomoč! ❤

 

We worked for the whole afternoon, until sunset. The day ended with a delightful moment around the fire, eating together a rice-y vegetable soup cooked in our cauldron above the flames and bread with a home-made sunflower seeds spread. We were so impressed with the effort that everyone put in – dinner was very much earned! Warm hugs and goodbyes, and hearing wishes of people who would love to come again to help out at the Fairy-tale fill us with happiness and anticipation for more days like this in the future.

Thanks for reading! Thanks for helping! ❤

Vse roke so prišli prav!            Hands of all sizes can help out!

Topla in okusna večerja               A warm and tasty dinner

Dogs!

Hello! And welcome back, as always, to the Fairy-tale blog. We are a farm/animal sanctuary with many animals who were all unwanted or mistreated in some way before they came here. Currently we have 6 horses and 1 miniature pony, 1 donkey, 4 sheep, 13 goats, 2 cows, 1 bull (ox), 9 pigs, 6 cats, 1 rooster, 4 chickens, 2 turkeys, 3 dogs, 4 turtles, 3 tortoises, a crayfish, about 20 fish and some humans too! We are a big family with five kids, and whoever happens to be staying with us – international or Slovene volunteers and visitors. We currently have Alice from the UK who is our long-term volunteer helping us out with the animal care and just about everything on the farm – even this blog!

Živjo! In dobrodošel nazaj, kot vedno, na pravljičnem blogu. Smo kmetija miru z mnogimi živalmi, ki so bile vse nezaželene ali zlorabljene na nek načinpreden so prišli k nam. Trenutno imamo 6 konjev in 1 mini ponija, 1 osla, 4 ovac, 13 koz, 2 kravi, 1 bika (vola), 9 prašičev, 6 mačk, 1 petelina, 4 kokoši, 2 purane, 3 pse, 4 vodne želve, 3 kopenske želve, 1 rečnega raka, okoli 20 rib in celo nekaj ljudji! Smo velika družina s petimi otroki plus kdorkoli je ravno pri nas  – mednarodni ali slovenski prostovoljci in obiskovalci. Trenutno je Alice iz Velike Britanije pri nas,  ona je naša dolgoročna prostovoljka in nam pomaga pri skrbi za živali in skoraj vsem na kmetiji – tudi pri pisanju tega bloga.

This week we wanted to tell you about our lovely lovely Dogs! We have 3 of them. The dogs favourite activities are (in no particular order): eating, sleeping, cuddles, running, digging and more eating, sleeping, cuddles, running, digging and more eating, sleeping… and so on! Here are their backstories:

Ta teden smo vam želeli povedati o naših lepih, lepih pseh! Jih imamo 3.  Njihove najljubše dejavnosti so (v nobenem posebnem vrstnem redu): Jesti, spati, se božati in crkljati, tečti, kopati luknje in spet jesti, spati, se božati in crkljati, tečti, kopati luknje …in tako naprej! Tu so njihove zgodbe:

Roki

Roki-dog came to us back in 2010, aged just 3 months. He had come from a place where his mum was tied up all the time, and her pups (including him) were kept in a cage near to her, although  at the time when we came to get him he was brought to us from the cellar of the house! This is obviously an extremely stressful way to grow up! He is a German/Slovene Shepherd cross-breed, so he is quite big, but really he is a big softy who loves being cuddled. His thick, fluffy coat is perfect for the snowy weather and it’s so great to watch him bounding around and playing in the white powder! Although of course sometimes he just wants to curl up to snooze…
He is wary of new people and can be aggressive ( he has been beaten by by passers for barking at them!), but after we acquaint him them, he sees them as a part of our farm family and happily asks for some cuddles.

Roki

Roki-pes je prišel k nam že leta 2010, v starosti komaj 3 mesecev. Prišel je iz kraja, kjer je bila njegova mama ves čas privezana in njeni mladiči (vključno z njim) so bili zaklenjeni v kletki blizu njej, čeprav so ga, ko smo ga prišli iskati, prineseli iz kleti hiše! To je seveda zelo stresen način, da odrasteš! Je križanec med nemškim in slovenskim  ovčarjem in precej velik in še bolj kosmat, ampak v resnici je velik otrok, ki se rad crklja. Njegov gost, puhast kožuh je kot nalašč za mrzlo in snežno vreme. Tako lepo ga je opazovati, kako skače, se igra in valja v tem belem prahu!  Včasih mu seveda bolj paše da se udobno namesti in drema… Zelo je nezaupljiv do novih ljudi in je lahko celo agresiven. (Mimoidoči pohodniki in kolesariji so ga tepli, ko je lajal na njih!), vendar po tem, ko ga seznanimo z novimi ljudmi, jih vidi kot del naše kmetijske družine in veselo prosi za božanje.

Lana and Luna

Lana (black) and Luna (white) are two gorgeous Labrador cross-breeds. They are sisters, found motherless together in a forest in Serbia as puppies. They were first spotted as a group of five fending for themselves and looking for food, but only these two survived to be rescued.
They came to us in December 2015, still small. Lana was weak in her hind legs and couldn’t jump up a small ledge or stand on her hind legs, and being afraid of anything unknown. After a few months of being “fairytale-ised” she lost all her fear any gained good strength in her hind legs.
Lana and Luna are like yin and yang dogs, almost completely the same but opposite colors. They are constantly close to each other. They are also the most lovable dogs, and are constantly in the mood for petting and cuddles (and of course being on the lookout for any crumb of food). Anyone having visited the farm can testify! They love going for walks and runs into the nearby forest, or just hanging out in the sun… dog life is sooo hard 😉

Lana in Luna

Lana (črna) in Luna (bela) sta dve čudoviti mesanki z labradorjem. Sta sestri, ki sta jih našli kot mladički zapuščeni v nekem gozdu v Srbiji, blizu Beograda. Bili sta sprva opaženi kot skupina petih mladičkov, ki so se trudili skrbeti sami zase in iskali hrano, ampak samo ta dva sta preživela do njihove rešitve.
Prišli sta k nam decembra 2015, še vedno majhni. Lana je bila šibka in ni zmogla skočiti na majhno polico ali stati na svojih zadnjih nogah, in strah ji je bilo vsega neznanega. Po nekaj mesecih “popravljičanja”, je izgubila ves svoj strah in pridobila moč v zadnjih nogah.
Lana in Luna sta kot yin in yang psa, skoraj popolnoma enaka, vendar nasprotne barve. Sta nenehno blizu drug druge. Sta tudi najbolj ljubezniva psa in so ves čas pri volji za ljubkovanje in božanje (in seveda so na preži za vsako morebitno drobtino hrane). Vsakdo, ki je obiskal kmetije lahko to potrdi! Radi hodita na sprehode in gredo zraven tečt v bližnji gozd, ali pa samo poležavata na soncu … pasje je življenje je takooo težko;)

 

Hunting for blueberries…na lovu za borovnicami.

Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it, let us know what you think in the comments!
Hvala za branje! Upam, da ste uživali, in nam sporočite vaše misli v komentarjih!

Pigs!

Hello and welcome back to the Fairy-tale blog!

Pozdravljeni in dobrodošli nazaj v pravljici blog!

That’s right, this is a special blog – our first bilingual one, in English and Slovene. Let us know what you think. 🙂

Topic of this week is pigs! We have nine pigs living on our sanctuary. So what can we tell you about them? Well, they love rooting around in the ground. This is the absolute favourite pastime for pigs, digging with their strong snouts for grubs and roots, anything they can eat! They make over 30 different noises, some of them quite surprising. There’s the typical low grunting and high-pitched squealing that everyone thinks of, but there’s also others, like when they shake themselves and make a funny little squeaky ‘Brrrrrr’!

Tema tega tedna so pujsi! Na naši kmetiji miru živjo 9 pujsov. Torej, kaj lahko povemo o njih? No, najrajši  rijejo v zemlji. To je absolutno najbolj priljubljena zabava za pujse.  Kopajo  s svojimi močnimi rilci v lov na ogrce, korenine,  karkoli, sam da se lahko je!  Naredijo lahko več kot 30 različne zvokoe, nekatere od njih so precej presenetljive. Najbolj značilna in znana sta  nizko kruljenje in visoko cviljenje, vendar so tudi druge, kot npr., ko se stresejo in naredijo smešen, rahlo  vreščeč “Brrrrrr”!

Their noses are incredibly powerful! In two ways; firstly they are very strong and mobile, moving in all directions and used for digging through the ground (try and imagine using your face to move earth around…!); secondly, their sense of smell is many,  many times stronger than ours, they can smell a potential meal from quite some distance (therefore they are used to search for truffles).

Njihovi nosovi so neverjetno zmogljivi predvsem na dva načina; prvič, so zelo močni in gibljivi v vse smeri in se uporabljajo za kopanje in ritje po zemlji (poskusite si zamisliti uporabo obraza oz nosa za ritje v zemlji…!); drugič, njihov vonj je veliko, veliko krat močnejši od našega, lahko vohajo potencialni obrok z kar nekaj oddaljenosti in tudi pod zemljo (zato se jih uporablja recimo tudi za iskanje tartufov).

Pigs are renowned for definitely not being fussy eaters – they eat everything  (apart from a few choosy ones – a couple of them of course live on the sanctuary with us. It would be boring without challenges like how to get them to eat their un-tasty medicine though!). In fact they are highly sustainable animals, leaving hardly any waste and often cleaning up after others. We feed them twice a day, they have a special muesli soaked in water supplemented with vitamins, dried bread, fruits, vegetables and any compost extras going (vegetable peelings, leftover food, overripe fruit, and sometimes goat milk which they especially love)!

Prašiči so znani po tem, da definitivno niso izbirčni jedci – jejo vse (razen nekaj izjem, dveh od teh seveda živita na nasi kmetiji miru pri nas.  Sicer bi bilo dolgočasno brez izzivov, kot npr. kako jih prelisiciti, da pojejo neokusno zdravilo! ). V resnici so zelo trajnostne živali, ki puščajo komaj kaj odpadkov za sabo in pogosto počištijo za drugimi. Hranimo jih dvakrat na dan, s posebno krmo za njih namočeno v vodi, dopolnjen z vitamini, suhim kruhom, sadjem, zelenjavo ter “kompostom” ( zelenjavni olupki, ostanki hrane, prezrelo sadje, včasih celo kozje mleko, ki jo imajo še posebej radi)!

Our piggies live in insulated wooden houses filled with hay to keep them warm in the winter.  We plan to cover the houses with earth later this year for extra insulation, making a Hobbit-style piggy village. They are next-door neighbours, separated by a small fence, but can go out into the pastures where they group together rooting around, grunting away to each other with their tails wagging. We would like to introduce them to you in more detail below…

Naši pujski živijo v izoliranih lesenih hišah, napolnjenih s senom, da jih je pozimi toplo. Načrtujemo da pokrijemo hiše kasneje letos za dodatno izolacijo z zemljo, tako bo nastalo pujsja vasica v hobbit stilu. Živijo eden zraven drugega,  ločeni  so z majhno ograjo, lahko pa gredo ven na skupni pašnik kjer se družijo skupaj in rijejo, se kruleče in cvileče pogovarjajo in mahajo s svojimi repi. Želimo vam jih bolj podrobno predstaviti…

Piki and Bajka

Piki, the castrated boar, was our first pig, and was given to us back in 2011. He was being kept in a small half-collapsed stone cellar underneath a house on a small farm, and had a small stony area outside, with no sunshine and filled with rubble – completely inappropriate! He’s something of a stud on the sanctuary, often receiving the attention of all the ladies…With a bit of persuasion (you stroke his sides while he’s standing until he sinks over onto his side) he will lie down for as long as you care to give him a belly rub. It’s a hard life, eh? 😉

Bajka, like our other pigs is a pot-bellied breed, but is a different variety. She arrived in 2012, only a few months old, the size of a small dog! She came from a farm where they didn’t have place for her anymore and was originally bred for meat.  Her and Piki are best friends, inseparable. She isn’t so much into cuddles, her main interest is anything remotely edible! She even explores into the other pigs pens to pick up any crumbs of food that might be left. You would think we starve her! But in fact she has become the fattest of them all and so we are currently controlling her food intake to promote some weight loss (although she has different ideas…)!

Piki in Bajka

Piki je kastriran samec, bil je naš prvi prašič, ki nam je bil podarjen leta  2011. Živel je v majhni, na pol podrtil kamniti kleti pod hišo na majhni kmetiji, imel je majhno kamnito površino zunaj, z nič sonca in napolnjena z ruševinami – popolnoma neprimerno. On je neke vrste gospod na kmetiji miru, pogosto deležen pozornosti vseh dam… z malo prepričevanja (božanje po njegovih straneh, medtem ko stoji, dokler se ne uleže na eno stran) se bo ulegel in pustil božati, dokler se komu da ga po trebuhu božati. Ima težko življenje, a ne? 😉

Bajka je, kot skoraj vsi naši drugi pujsi, vietnamska pasma, a je drugačna sorta. Prišla je leta 2012, stara le nekaj mesecev, velika kot mali pes! Prišla je iz kmetije, kjer niso več imeli prostora za njo in je bila prvotno vzrejano za meso.  Ona in Piki sta najboljša prijatelja, neločljiva. Njej ni toliko mar za crkljanje, njen glavni interes je karkoli približno užitnega! Ona celo isce v drugih pujsih ogradah za morebitne drobtinc hrane, ki bi lahko drugi pustili. Lahko bi misili, da jo stradamo! Toda v resnici je postala najdebelejša od vseh pujsih, zato  trenutno nadzorujemo njen vnos hrane da bi izgubila nekaj teže (čeprav ima drugo mnenje, …)!

Lizka and her little ones

Lizka was originally given as a gift from a husband to his wife. When the husband died, the wife could no longer look after her, so gave her to another family who owned other pigs already. Lizka became bonded closely with one of the male pigs there and lived happily again.  But not for long. The grandfather in this family decided that he did not want the pigs anymore, and had many of them killed, including Lizka’s mate in front of her eyes which deeply traumatized her. She barely escaped death, and was brought to us in a hurry.

When she first arrived here in November 2015, she was very wary of humans, didn’t allow being touched or petted and would make defensive snarling and even occasionally biting towards you if you got too close to her or later her little ones. Now, one year later, she doesn’t mind people so much, she even likes being petted every now and again while she’s eating. That’s the already usual Fairy-tale transformation, happening to all the animals (and people) sooner or later!

When she came to us, we did not know that she was pregnant! She was incredibly overweight, having been fed on a diet of only bread and milk (not so healthy for the humans or the piggies…), so the birth came as a rather lovely surprise! In the photos you can see the hay house with heat lamp we made for her, and how cute and tiny the little piglets were! She has four young ones, although now they are one year old they are about as big as her and it’s getting harder and harder to tell them all apart! They are called Tito (the biggest), Ficko, Lola and Pitti. They all still manage to snuggle into their house together. You can see how much hair they grow over the winter! It’s amazing how much their bodies can adapt to the weather changes. Here’s some more info.

Lizka in njeni malčki

Lizka je bila prvotno  darilo moža svoji ženi. Ko je umrl mož,  žena ni mogla več skrbeti za Lizko, zato so jo dali k drugi družini, ki je v lasti imela že druge prašiče. Lizka se je tesno povezala  s enim od samcev tam in je ponovno šrečno zaživela.  A ne za dolgo. Dedek v tej družini odločili, da ne želij imeti več prašičev, in je mnoge od njih ubil, vključno s partnerjem od Lizke je pred  njenimi oči, kar jo je globoko pretreslo. Komaj je ušla smrti in je bila v naglici prinesena k nam.

Ko je  novembra 2015prvič prišla k nam, je bila zelo nezaupljiva do ljudi, ni dovolila da se jo dotika ali boža, je renčala in pihala na ljudi in celo včasih šavsnila proti ljudem, če so prišli njej ali kasneje njenimi mladički preblizu. Zdaj, dobro leto kasneje, načeloma nima nič proti ljudem,  občasno celo uživa v božanju medtem ko je.
To je že običajna pravljična preobrazba, ki se slej ko prej zgodi vsem živalim (in ljudem)!

Ko je prišla k nam, nismo vedeli, da je noseča! Bila je zelo predebela, ker so jo hranili samo kruhom in mlekom (nezdravo za ljudi ali pujske…), tako da je rojstvo malih rilcev bilo lepo presenečenje! Na fotografijah si lahko ogledate seneno hiško s grelno lučko, ki smo jo naredili za njo, in kako luštna in drobni mali pujski sonjeni mladički bili! Ima štiri mladičke, čeprav so zdaj stari že eno leto, so približno tako velika kot ona in postaja težje in težje jih razločiti! Imenujejo se Tito (največji), Ficko, Lola in Piti. Vsi 5 še vedno uspejo in se radi stisnejo skupaj v njihovo hiško. Poglejte, koliko dlak jim rastejo čez zimo!  Neverjetno, koliko se lahko njihovo telo prilagodi na vremenske spremembe. Tukaj je nekaj več o njih.

Speedy

Sold as a ‘mini-pig’ when he was very young (taken away from his mother when he was less than two months old – much too early!). The owners were told that he wouldn’t grow much bigger, and that he could simply be trained like a dog to curl up quietly and go to sleep when they were out of the house… sounds too good to be true? Well, what happened in reality is that Speedy just kept getting bigger and bigger, livelier and livelier and ended up destroying their house. He had a small area outside (with only Astroturf and patio, no earth) where he uprooted the tiles and dug under the fence, inside he dug through the carpets and the floorboards. He was starting to chew through the furniture when the despairing owners could take it no more, and brought him to us in June 2016.

Pigs have an irrepressible urge to dig, and root through the earth. Speedy now lives outside, with the other pigs. He has his own pen and is free to dig to his heart’s content, like a real pig should be able to. We love Speedy! He, however, is far unlucky in love… his attempts to win over Lola (the girl-next-door) have so far been unsuccessful. Here is another link if you want to know a bit more about Speedy in the words of his previous owner, and some adorable pictures of him when he was young.

Speedy

Prodan kot “mini -pujs “, ko je bil še zelo mlad (odvzeti od svoje matere, ko je bil star manj kot dva meseca – veliko prezgodaj). Lastnikom so povedali, da ne bo več rastel veliko in da bi ga lahko preprosto navadili kot pes ,da tiho se uleže in gre spat, ko so bili zdoma … zveni preveč dobro, da bi bilo res? No, kaj se je zgodilo v resnici je, da je Speedy bil kar naprej večji,  bolj živahen, in začel uničevat njihovo hišo. Imel je majhno površino zunaj (le umetno travo in teraso, brez zemlje), kjer je izruval ploščic in kopal luknjo pod ograjo, notri ril skozi preproge in parket.  Začel je žvečiti pohištvo, in ko obupajoči lastniki niso več zdržali, so ga junija 2016 pripeljali k nam.

Pujsi imajo nezadržno, brezmejno željo po kopanju in ritji po zemlji. Speedy zdaj živi zunaj, z drugimi pujsi. Ima svojo ogrado in lahko rije kolikor mu srce zaželi, kot bi morali biti vsem pujsem omogočeno. Radi imamo Speedyja in on nas! Ima pa nesrečo v ljubezni … vsi poskusi  pridobiti naklonjenosti  Lole (punca v sosednji ogradi) so bili doslej neuspešni. Tukaj je še ena  povezava, če želite izvedeti kaj več o Speedyju po besedah svojih prejšnjih lastnikov.

Teodor Dumbo

Found on the side of the road, a few months old, and brought to us in summer 2016. The best guess we can give is that he fell off some kind of vehicle or transport. In fact he’s a lucky pig to have been found and even luckier to have been brought to us, not to slaughter!  He is incredibly good-natured; curious, cuddly and very peaceful, much like a loveable dog. He is a meat-rearing pig, bred to grow and put on weight quickly. Already now on a healthy, natural feed, he weighs nearly 200kg, and will still grow. He has just about doubled in size since he arrived in July last year (you can see from the photos!). He’s also incredibly strong; with his snout he can lift up a leg of a grown up, and even carry you away if he decides to!

As for his fairly unusual name, we think that the way he carries himself is quite sophisticated, a little bit like royalty, hence the rather refined choice of Teodor. Interestingly his ears don’t grow in proportion to his body and when he was younger they seemed disproportionately large… you wouldn’t describe them as ‘tiny’ now either! So that’s where ‘Dumbo’ comes from. He has become Teo to us, and with his winning friendly personality and humorous grunting, tail wagging, and head-rubbing to ask for some cuddles, we are so happy to have him here to bring a smile to our faces in the mornings.

Teodor Dumbo

Farmski pujs, najden ob cesti, star nekaj mesecev, prinešeno k nam poleti 2016. Verjetno je padel z neke vrste vozila ali transporta. V bistvu je dobesedno srečni pujs, da je bil najden in še bolj srečen, da so ga pripeljali k nam, ne v zakol. Je neverjetno dobrosrčen, radoveden, ljubek in zelo miren, podobno kot luštkan pes. Je farmski pujs, vzrejen za hitro rast in pridobivanje teže. Že sedaj na zdravi in naravni hrani tehta skoraj 200kg, in še bo rastel. odkar je prišel julija lani (2016) je svojo velikost je vsaj podvojil, (kot lahko vidite iz fotografij!). Je tudi zelo močen, s svojim rilcom lahko dvigne nogo od odrasle osebe, in človeka celo odnese če se tako odloči!

Glede njegovega precej nenavadnega imena, menimo, da je način, kako se nosi precej fin, malo kot kralji, zato smo se odločili za precej fino izbiro Teodor. Zanimivo je, da njegova ušesa ne rastejo v skladu s telesom. Ko je bil mlajši so se zdela nesorazmerno velika … tudi zdaj jih ne bi mogli opisati kot “majhna”! Od tod torej “Dumbo”. Za nas je postal Teo, in s svojo prijazno osebnostjo in humornnem kruljenjem, mahajočim repom in drgnjenjem glavo v prošnji za božanje, smo tako srečni, da ga imamo tukaj. Zjutraj nam pričara nasmeh na obraz.

And so!

That’s it from us here in the Fairy-tale! Wishing you all a wonderful week, until next time… Oink!

In tako,

To je vse od nas tukaj v Pravljici! Želimo vsem vam čudovit teden, do naslednjič … Oink!

Misty morning sunlight over the garden and pig’s place.

 

The Daily Routine

Zdravo!

Welcome back to the blog where you can find out a little bit about what goes on in the Fairy-tale. We have over 60 animals living with us(!) all of them unwanted in some way before they came here; rescued from the meat and dairy industries, stray animals found without a home or pets that people couldn’t cope with anymore, to mention just a few backstories. Throughout the year we host volunteers – internationals as well as Slovenes – to help us with the running of the farm. They carry out many outdoors projects, be it building new areas for the animals, cutting firewood or working in the garden. This week’s post is about the daily routine of looking after the animals, which takes 3-4 hours a day.

The Big’uns

We have 6 full-size horses, a donkey, a miniature pony, 4 sheep and 13 goats which make up our herd. They live outside, and have the freedom of going up to the pastures, or hanging around under the barn. Each day we begin by cleaning up after them: sweeping under the barn, shovelling the yard and putting the muck on the manure heap. In winter this is about 7 wheelbarrows full! We throw down hay bales stored upstairs in the barn (which makes a great play-area for kids with jumping pit and hay-house building), and then we serve the hay buffet. This varies between 1-2 bales a day in the summer (when they can also graze in the pastures) and 5-8 bales in the winter, when they need to eat more in order to keep warm.

Our animals are (for the most part!) very well-trained and will wait until we call them by whistling before they come to eat. They all eat together. Two or three long whistles and they all come plodding in, it’s quite something to see! The water fountain for the horses is automatic, supplied by underground pipes, this can be up to 200 litres per day in hot weather. The goats drinking receptacle is filled by hand, they knock back only 20-40 litres a day.

Next we go to the cows – Sara and Sita. They are also cleaned out (1-2 wheelbarrows a day) and the muck transported to a separate manure heap, as the horse manure makes higher quality compost. They are fed 1- 2 hay bales a day, and drink between 80 and 120 litres in the winter (just for two cows, that’s impressive!). We also feed Ferdinand the bull 1 bale a day, and clean him out 2-3 times a week. Like the horses, his drinking fountain is automatic.

Sita

Piggies! The pigs’ food we prepare overnight in buckets. They have a special muesli soaked in water supplemented with dried bread, fruits and vegetables and any compost extras going (vegetable peelings, leftover food, overripe fruit, and sometimes goat milk which they especially love)! We have 9 pigs altogether – big Teo, Lizka and her 4 little ones, Speedy, and then Piki and Bajka, our two most long-standing swine residents. In the winter they have 10 litres of water a day to drink (in addition to what they get in their food) and in the summer this goes up to 30 litres a day.

The Little Ones

And so on to the smaller residents. First off, our fine feathered friends; our rooster and 4 chickens receive a mix of grains and seeds, plus water, as does Alexander the turkey. Next, 6 cats and 3 dogs get their kibble (although sometimes Alexander joins in!) and meat for a special treat. We also feed our 20+ fish and 1 crayfish (with fish food, what else? 😉 and sometimes green veggies) and leaves from the garden – such as dandelion – for the 4 turtles and our 3 tortoises in the summer (for now they are in hibernation).

Have I missed anyone? Phew! Of course the work doesn’t stop there; there’s always something to do, whether it’s gardening, maintaining the electric fence, cleaning, tidying or sorting out, building something new, or even fixing something not-so-new. The list goes on! And let’s not forget the cooking (we eat a yummy organic vegetarian/vegan diet)… we have to feed ourselves as well 😉

And here are some photos that didn’t fit in with the descriptions of the work that we do per se… (ok there’s mainly just dogs lying around 😉 ) but show off some other aspects of the daily life on our farm 🙂

So that’s it for this week, we hope you’ve enjoyed reading this blog and learning a little bit more about how we take care of the animals on our farm. As ever, please feel free to leave a comment below. Hvala!

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Special Feature: Ferdinand the Bull

Živijo!

And welcome back to the V Pravljici (Fairytale) blog! Thank you for stopping by, you’re in for a treat: This week we take a closer look at Ferdinand, our bull. All the animals we have living with us were unwanted in some way before they came to us.  And Ferdinand’s tale is no different, in fact his is a very special story. If we weren’t able to intervene he would have been killed, butchered, made into meat and eaten long ago. Read on to discover what happened…

His Story

We originally came across Ferdie at a pre-sales ordering on a Facebook group back in November 2014. Ferdinand is a pure-breed Cika bull, organic and grass-fed, his life so far had been to make beautiful babies for the milk and meat industry. And, at almost three years old, his use was fulfilled, so he was being sold for 300kg of meat. (Ferdinand weighs about 800kg – you do the math for the ‘extra’). We felt like we could do something to help stop him being slaughtered. And we could! We gathered donations online from a host of wonderful people who felt there was an alternative to allowing him to be killed, raising 900 euros. But it wasn’t enough – the price was 1300 euros. At the last minute one incredibly generous supporter donated the last 400 euros and Ferdie was saved! A small team of volunteers came to help us fix up the shed behind our house, which was to be his new home.

Every life is important, and being able to save even one from being unnecessarily taken away is a huge achievement. We are always so grateful to volunteers and donors who help us to rescue animals and to continue to look after them, and we are so thankful that there are people out there who care about non-human lives as well.

His life now

Ferdinand lives by himself in a 3,000 m² (almost 1 acre) pasture that incorporates some of the surrounding forest, giving him plenty of low-branched trees and bushes to nibble at during the summer. He has open access to his shed and is free to wander about within his area as he pleases, living as natural a life as is possible in captivity. We clean his shed 2-3 times a week to stop the muck building up. He drinks about 40 litres of water a day, and eats a 20kg bale of hay, half in the morning and half in the evening. He loves apples or pears as a treat, and his salt lick. Sometimes Zikica the pygmy goat hangs around his place… they have a friendship based upon a mutual love of hay!

Affection and Bad Reputation

Just like other animals, Ferdinand is often in the mood for some cuddles and petting. He particularly likes being firmly brushed down the back of and on the sides of his big broad muscular neck, and under his chin. Are you surprised that even a bull would enjoy a bit of attention every now and again? At first we were too! Bulls have a reputation for being vicious, or dangerous. This can lead to negative feelings towards them (based on misunderstanding) and even their terrible mistreatment in events such as bullfighting or bull-running. True, as a big animal with the potential to do harm, they must be treated with respect and understanding, the same way as you would treat dogs with respect so as not to provoke them into biting you. When you take into account that bulls evolved to protect their herd of cows from predators, you begin to see why it is that they have the ability to do such harm. They are not vicious or angry at heart; they are simply built that way to protect their females. They didn’t ask to be this way, it is just the way they are. And of course they have a soft side too!

Name Story

And why is his name Ferdinand I hear you ask? From the tale of Ferdinand the Friendly Bull, naturally. As the story goes, back in old Spain and the days of bull-fighting, there lived a bull named Ferdinand. Now, he was not like the other bulls there: he wasn’t into running around and butting heads like they were, his favourite pastime in fact was simply sitting under a cork tree and quietly smelling the flowers. When the matadors came looking for the most ferocious bull, in order to entertain the crowds in the bull ring, the other bulls were all running around and showing off, trying to impress the matadors. Ferdinand was keeping out of the way, and went to sit under his tree, but he sat on a bumblebee who was in one of the flowers. He ran about everywhere in agony, charging through the other bulls and the matadors thought he must surely be the most ferocious bull of all, so they took him. When the time came to fight, he ran up to the matador. However, he stopped just in front of him, and pressed his nose into the matador’s chest, sniffing the flower on his suit. It became obvious that he didn’t want to fight and so they bought him back to his pasture where he enjoyed his life, smelling flowers under his favourite cork tree. Our Ferdinand is named after him, because he is of a calm nature and shares this friendly characteristic.

 

Did you know?

Cika bulls are a native Slovenian breed of cattle. The Cika especially excelled in its adaptability for breeding in mountainous regions. Because of its small frame, firm hooves and low weight it is especially suitable for grazing on steep slopes, where heavy breeds could cause too much erosion. Due to a policy pf cross-breeding during the twentieth-century, there are very few pure breeds left. Our Ferdinand is one of them.

So that’s the story of Ferdinand our friendly bull. We hope you have enjoyed learning a little bit more about him, and can see why we do what we do at our sanctuary. Please comment and let us know what you think! We wish you all a wonderful week!

From us here in the Fairytale,

Bye for now!

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A fairytale beginning to the New Year

Hello! And welcome back to this blog, a little review of the activities here on our farm. We have living with us a variety of animals, all of whom have been rescued or were unwanted by their previous owners. You’ll get to see a few of them here! It’s been a little while since the last post, but we have been busy! Want to know more? Well, you’re in the right place, read on!

The last couple of days we have all been enjoying the snow! Pigs, cows, dogs and humans alike. Although some of us have to wear more clothes than others to stay warm 😉 The boys wasted no time in racing out with the sledges! For our cows, Sara and Sita, and Teodor the pig it was the first time they had seen the powdery white stuff, and they were incredibly curious! Teo in particular using his strong snout to realise that if you can dig through it, it must be fun…

And now back to December 2016 (a whole month ago!) and a little view of our frosty farm from down the road. It is such a pleasure to spend time living with and working next to the animals, and seeing how they spend their time; Minx the cat perched in a nearby field and our rescued chickens and rooster were typically exploring outside, while the goats preferred to stay cuddled up together! And before the frost and cold weather set in we still had some work to do…

We started to build a lovely gravel path which will eventually go all around the farm, providing a walkway to the pigs place, the cow’s house and the garden. Lucia our Italian volunteer is demonstrating our method, first of all digging up the ground, next we laid down some felt and finally bringing gravel up the hill to make the path. Hard work, but great exercise! To be continued in the spring.

Lucia and Jan (our Slovene volunteer) also helped to repair the fence in the yard. Now they have left us and carried on their travels, and we wish them luck! And they weren’t the only ones working hard before the snow came – the kids were helping out chopping up wood to fire our oven over winter – even the little one, Amari (who’s about to turn 3 years old)!

 

And here is our big family, plus Alice from England, celebrating under the Christmas tree. We had a lovely festive period, opening gifts, eating waffles galore from Lev’s new waffle-maker and even trying some mince pies (an English Christmas treat). Of course it wasn’t all just eating sweet things – someone still has to look after the animals! And they haven’t learnt to clean up after themselves yet… there’s hope for 2017 though 😉

The winter weather has brought some spectacular views from our little place on top of the hill, sunrise to sunset, and reminds us of the beauty of nature and this amazing place we live in. Come and visit us in the Fairytale sometime!
From all of us here, we hope that 2017 will bring you much joy, health, prosperity and courage! Happy New Year! 🙂

Mist, moons and (more) making things…!

Hello there! And welcome back to our fairy tale blog. We really have been in a fairy tale land recently, with the weather being so blue and beautiful up here on the hill… we’ve been floating above the clouds in the sunshine, just wonderful (as you can see above on the left). And of course we have to make the most of the good weather! On an animal sanctuary like ours there is always work to be done, and most of it outside, so it’s not just the animals who get to enjoy the outdoors 😉

The beginning of the week was taken up with moving excess earth (from where we were digging at the cow’s shed – see our previous blog!) up the hill to Teo the pigs house. As you can see from Jan’s bare top, the weather was exceptionally warm (and perhaps the nature of the work helped to warm us up as well…)! Teo’s house is being covered in earth to give it extra insulation and help protect him from the cold during the winter months.

Speaking of Teo, he is helping us to dig our garden! He had already finished one section, and so we needed to move him to the next one! This involved constructing a fenced pathway to the new section, and also adding a strong fence around the area he will dig, with an electric fence. A couple of morning’s work. Teo is a good pig and eats Everything, and for this reason we want to make sure that the fence is particularly secure… otherwise the few winter veggies we have left in the garden would be gone in a second!

Jan our Slovene volunteer seems to be star of the blog this week! Here he is securing the fence. All the materials we used for this project were re-used from somewhere else on the farm… We use everything as many times as possible, for example pieces of fencing that weren’t needed elsewhere any more, string that comes from our hay bales to tie the fences together, and re-used electric wire. Sustainable living!

When we released him into the new area Teo was so happy! He has been rooting around and digging to his heart’s content. Just before letting him out, we rescued a few remaining cabbages… some of them were Huge, bigger than Alice’s head!! It’s so great that our garden is still providing lovely organic produce this late into the year.

“What are you looking at??”

Some of us less hard at work (we don’t mind though because they’re so adorable)!

Lily the cat relaxing in the winter sunshine and Didi the goat … well, just being Didi.

So some of the days were beautiful and sunny, we were even able to eat outside very comfortably, and some were mysterious and foggy like this one, it’s been a wonderful week of weird winter weather. That’s the fairy tale for you…

Alice – our helper from the UK – was checking out and doing some repairs on the electric fence (vital work with so many animals!), and managed to get some lovely photos while hanging out with the horse herd at sunset. Oh the benefits of working outside!

This week was also full moon, and wasn’t it beautiful! So big and bright, you could read outside (although admittedly it was a bit chilly)! This full moon can be called ‘The Long Night’s Moon’, as it is the closest to the winter Solstice.

And that’s it from us this week, hope to see you next time! From all of us here at the Fairy Tale, hope you have a wonderful week!

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