14. Dogs and Cats

Our dogs No tale of the farm would be complete without mention of the various dogs and cats with whom we have shared our lives, and more sadly, the dogs and cats that live around us in the neighbourhood. We arrived on the farm with our beloved Staffy called Jessie and our Burmese cat, Jiminy.…

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8. Snakes

A boomslang

Like many other city dwellers we arrived at the farm with what can only be described as a pathological fear of snakes. They were for us the archetypal embodiment of terror and evil, and we lived in heightened apprehension that we would encounter one in the garden, or worse, in the house. And quite soon…

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7. The Wild Land

The Wild Land Paardeberg South Africa

The Paardeberg, some four thousand hectares in size, is a granite mountain range which is host to a unique biodiversity of flora and fauna. Botanically the Paardeberg is part of the smallest and richest plant kingdom on the planet, known as the Cape Floristic Region. Sadly, it is increasingly threatened, with close on two hundred…

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Osama Ben Kitty

Osama Ben Kitty, alias Fitz, alias Stripey Pants, came to us as an infant kitten in the arms of a little girl who had found him in the hollow of a fallen tree. He was so beautiful and so vulnerable we immediately got to work feeding him with powdered milk in a small opaque bottle.…

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Stars joins the Fynbos fold

9 year old Stars, an indigenous West Coast horse, was retired after a hard life pulling carts. He had begun pulling carts too early and was worked very hard on tar roads. As a result he got bone chips in the fetlock joint which made him unstable and caused him pain. He has been on…

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Animal Care

A bunch of rescue animals requires a good deal of care, and these last weeks have seen the shearing the sheep, deworming of the mob, and the start to extending shelters and creating new pastures.   Shearing As summer hit, poor Lammie Basson and Baarrbara were clearly suffering. It was time for shearing. Basil fetched…

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Our new pups

Aiming to get puppyhood done in one fell swoop, Blue, a Great Dane pup recently joined Cherry, our Rotti, now 3 months old. Both are growing fast and cute is not the word for the pair. I’m afraid we are besotted . Here are some pics      

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Donkey Delights: Our new donks settle in

A few days have gone by since our new donks arrived, and there’s been shuffling and threatening hee-haws and jealous guarding of grass. Oscar the old man and thug of note, is most vociferous, chasing donkeys away especially when I try most equitably to hand out carrots. Here you can see him having a go…

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Donkey Doings at Fynbos

Yesterday set the farmyard all abuzz with the arrival of our three new rescue donkeys. We were all excited to see who would emerge from the horse box and delighted to see such beautiful and varied donks trot out. There was a chocolate female 9 years, like Bella and a grey long-haired 10 year old…

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Pet Friendly Fynbos

As animal lovers who remember in our previous life not going away because we had no one with whom to leave our dogs, Fynbos Estate has always been friendly to well behaved pets. And after all if you are going way for some down time, you want your nearest and dearest four footed friends with…

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