Maxie (who's just been spayed) is almost 8 months old & will be a lot bigger when we return to the farm in June
Dibble is going to miss having my daughter around to play with - he is never far from her side & loves her to bits !There’s been rather a lot going on these past few weeks, in preparation for our upcoming trip to South Africa. Living as remotely as we do, whenever we go away - especially for long periods at a time - it takes some extra planning to ensure that everything runs smoothly in our absence.
My husband takes care of the farm side of things, and I take care of all the house and pet stuff ! Justin is an absolute star and we could not leave the house without him, as he comes in daily during our absence to feed and care for all the pets. He has just returned from 3 weeks of his annual leave (his sister always works for us when he is away) and tells me that he is refreshed and revitalised now, and will not be leaving the farm until we return.
Maxie and Jenny have also just been spayed, something that I wanted to have taken care of before we left (By the way - I had suspected for sometime that ‘Jenny’ was actually a ‘Benny‘, and this has now been confirmed !)
Including our own pets here at the house, we are currently feeding a total of 8 dogs and 11 cats. You can imagine how much food this is for 6 weeks ! I have ordered it all in bulk from a local supplier, and then I place all the dry food and tins on separate shelves in the pantry, each one labelled with a sticker showing which date/s it must last from and to. This is because sometimes in the past we’ve had a few mistakes & run out a few days before our return (i.e. Justin thinking there’s more than enough food to last, and dishing up large/extra portions for the pets !)
Food is labelled for specific pets too, as they all eat varying amounts and types. The trickiest thing is the meat for the cats. This is packaged into 1 kg bags and labelled and placed in the freezer (around 30 kg‘s/66 lb's for this period alone !) Justin has to keep a very careful eye on things such as if the freezer’s are running and that the batteries feeding power to the house stay charged, etc - it would be a bit of a disaster if we lost all that meat !
I also have to make sure that I have enough other supplies in the house for Justin whilst we’re away - cleaning materials, light bulbs, milk, tea, coffee, sugar and basic medicines in case he gets sick. I leave him cash in case of an emergency and details on how to contact our neighbours in case one of the animals gets sick and has to get to a vet. My car will stay here, locked away but accessible if there is an emergency and Justin needs one of the tractor drivers to drive him off the farm. The driver has permission to use my car in times like this, so we also have to make sure that his driving licence etc is up-to-date incase he needs to drive on city roads, that there is a full tank of diesel in the car etc.
My husband will be alone on the farm for 2 weeks until he joins us. I am busy this week cooking and freezing enough meals to last him while I’m gone. I will be making a ’Freezer Stock List’ so that he can choose what to take out for himself each day, and will also be including a few things which he can cook fresh for himself at night if he feels like a change - things like pork sausages, steaks and a whole chicken which he can roast. I will be getting in enough vegetables to last him for these 2 weeks, mostly unripe things which will slowly ripen and not go off. Justin will then have a list of which veggies he needs to peel and chop each day. (I don’t bother with fruit, as my husband doesn’t eat it !)
I then have to finish packing all our clothing & personal items for the trip, leaving lists of things that my husband mustn’t forget to bring when he comes, hiding money for house staff wages so that they can pay themselves whilst we’re away, catching up on final month-end farm figures needed by our head office, filing that needs doing in our office here …. and …. and …. and ….. the list goes on !
I can’t wait to get on that ’plane on Saturday, knowing that all the planning & organising is behind me and that I can now just focus on relaxing and looking forward to our baby’s birth …. at this stage, I feel like sleeping for 3 days straight after we arrive !
