In honour of this blog’s birthday I drew up a (non-exhaustive) list of the small moments I have chronicled on here, over my first year on this farm ♥
When mystery cows just showed up out of the forest one morning and stayed at my place for a few days (x) (x)
When the mayor told me I needed a prefectural authorisation to kill a dormouse (x)
When I was preparing for the llamas’ and donkey’s arrival (x) and the first picture I took of them in the pasture (x)
When I realised baby Pampe was a very dramatic llama child (x)
When I realised baby Pampe was an unstoppable escape artist (x) (x)
When I made increasingly desperate attempts to keep this tiny llama in her pasture (x)
That time we caught my fugitive llama with the power of Abba (x)
When I first took the llamas for a walk, and baby Pampe just zoomed around for an hour (x)
When I discovered the purpose of a car cow stick (x)
When I was getting to know my new friends by feeding them random things and taking note of their personal taste (x)
When I introduced the cats to the grass eaters (x)
When I started making firewood (x) (x) (x)
When I visited baby Pandolf before bringing him home (x) and he was such a grotesquely fat puppy he couldn’t jump a 10cm obstacle (x) … and the day he joined the family (x)
When I first met the garbage deer (x)
My very stressful adventures trying to help my injured donkey (x)
Tales from the village: summer (x) (x)
First autumn rains (x) and autumn colours (x)
Pandolf’s first meeting with a llama (x)
When the postwoman refused to deliver my neighbour’s post because he was commercing with vultures (x)
My donkey’s very encouraging progress update, two months later (x)
My non-stressful adventures trying to deworm my llamas (x) and donkey (x) for the first time
When hay started to become a major part of my life (x) (x) (x)
When I had to hunt dormice myself because Morille went on strike (x)
Baby Pampe is growing up, is still a ridiculous baby (x) (x) who sometimes serves time in llama jail (10 minutes without parole) (x)
When I got surprise kittens (x) (x) (x) (x) and they slept in the oven (x) …and eventually left to be with their new families (x)
When I discovered moon wood (x)
When I was caught in an endless loop of fence-fixing during a storm (x)
Tales from the village: autumn (x) (x)
First touches of winter (x) (x) (x) (x)
That time a stupid gormless deer got tangled up in my electric fence in the middle of the night (x)
Pandolf’s new job as a mobile service provider (x)
When Pan took Puppy Lessons to learn how to be a good dog (x) (x)
Baby Pampe’s first snow! (x)
And baby Pampe’s first Christmas, but she refused her tasty presents (x) (x) (Pandolf also wishes you a happy Christmas (x))
Four months later, teenage Pampe completely over snow (x)
When I met the local firesetter to learn how to set things on fire (x) (less exciting than it sounds, it’s a fairly meditative activity)
When Pandolf bravely saved us from a grass thief (x)
When I built the donkey’s shelter (x) and the chicken coop (x) (x)
Teaching my animals proper French manners (x)
Tales from the village: winter & early spring (x) (x) (x)
Pampe and Pandolf: A beautiful friendship (x) (x) (x) (x)
Mascarille and the hay net: A love story (x) (x) (x) (x)
Pandolf and the kittens: A one-sided love story (x) (x)
Things found in the forest: lovely watery places (x) (x) a fairy path (x) the sentient moss (x) the legs of Baba Yaga’s house (x) a remarkable tree (x) mushrooms and other good things (x) (x) (x) (x)
Tales from the village: at the library (x) (x) and in pandemic times (x) (x)
And the story of how I bought this farm (x)