Like any family, ours is ever-changing and filled with an array of personalities. We have the usual set of dynamics that don’t work together and the usual that do, best friends that like to hang out together, others that avoid some, and divas and snobs. But at the end of the day we all coexist together and respect each other’s right to life and to be here. It is a very special little village dotted with little communities. At least that is how we see it.
I guess, like any village, it starts off with someone setting up base, and from there others decide to join the community and go about making a home. That is what happened here. Scott and I lay the foundation, and others joined us.
The day Squirty arrived I remember thinking she was the biggest animal I had ever seen. A dairy cow all her life, she had problems delivering her last child, which left her incapable of having any more, thereby rendering her useless to the industry. We were told she was a cranky old lady, but we have never seen that side of her. She is gentle, kind and loving and became a wonderful surrogate mother to Frankie and Pacific when they arrived from a neighbouring dairy at only a few days old. Unwanted because they were male, they fulfilled Squirty’s natural maternal instincts, and she provided a much-needed mother figure for those little boys that now tower above her! The bovine family are great lawn mowers.
Four roosters and 24 hens make for a noisy community. Having been rescued, this crew always have a lot to say because they are being heard for possibly the first time in their lives. Constantly busy gardening and gossiping during dust bathes, this little family brings colour, noise and life to the village. They form strong friendships which can become apparent at bedtime, when they want to sit next to their friend and someone else has taken that spot. After a few words Hef (chief rooster) steps in to calm the ruffled feathers. You get the impression that these women never forget and that disagreements are picked up the next day out in the yard. Diligent workers, they approach every day like it’s a stocktake sale. Watching them soothes the soul.
Our village has two wooden huts where the goofball bachelors and best buddies live. Our dogs, Chaz and Khan, barrelled into our lives from shelters to brighten every day. Always happy, always ready to listen and always ready for a cuddle, they are our on-hand medical practitioners. Their healing abilities out in the world are truly underestimated. Dogs are a must to have around.
Life is a cabaret when you have a peacock named Samson and a peahen named Delilah living with you. They are showstoppers, and they know it! Never caged and never handled, these two lovebirds strut about the property, telling everyone to “move on, nothing to see here”. They appear to hate idleness in others and keep everyone on their toes. Free to do as they please, they spend most of their time looking exotic. Both roost in the surrounding 50-foot gum trees each night. Rain, hail, sleet or high winds, that tree is their chosen house in the village.
We all may look a little different to what current society dictates is a conventional family, but we don’t use one another, we all have different roles to play to get the village moving and, most importantly, we all love one another. Fur, feathers or flesh, it doesn’t matter. We all feel the same and have the same desires to live out our natural lives fearfree. And so it shall be.
