Caterpillars 1 Farmer 0

Ok, the caterpillars won, they managed to destroy everything, they munched their way through all the lettuces, and the tomatoes. As fast as I was finding them and flinging them to the chickens, they would re appear with more energy, probably from eating all the lettuces.

So, I need a plan B as finding and feeding to chickens was a bit like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted approach. I need a solution to kill, destroy, remove,deter them before they eat their way through anything else I plant. As I stare into my empty plant pots, where my lettuces once grew.

I am not a happy farmer, but are determined to come out of this triumphantly! and to the woman who told me the other day that killing them was wrong, as they were only doing what god had sent them to do. Im pretty sure that god has far better things to be doing than instructing caterpillars to come and P**s me off!

New Arrival

I am sure that all of the animals on the island run and hide when they hear we are searching for new additions for Casa Chaos. However, a lady approached TARA the other day offering two rabbits for rehoming, and of course my attention was drawn to the female of the two.

Since Miss Thunderpussy died, Hoppity has been lonely, and can often be seen laying around, not doing a lot and generally looking unhappy. Therefore, operation find him a girlfriend was always in my mind. Voile, a female bunny came along, and she is now happily hopping around the bunny enclosure.

The bunny is quite cute, and as my daughter was not allowed to name the goats due to crap name choices, I bestowed the honour of naming the rabbit on her. How bad could it be you may ask, well she had five attempts at naming one rabbit and all five were rubbish!

I pity my grandchildren who will end up having the weirdest of names and be teased for generations. Anyway rabbit names are not difficult but as usual the names were stupid. Epic fail on her part, so we named her Rosie which was an original goat name and suits our new arrival perfectly.

It is All About the Birds and the Frogs

There are Canarian men that are rude, sexist, and arrogant, and others that are lovely. Thankfully I try to only associate with the ones that are lovely, and I met one yesterday. He arrived at my gates like a breath of fresh air, friendly, chatty and full of knowledge.

This guy lived further up the valley, in the wilderness, and came armed with tips and words of wisdom. He was a friend of a friend, and as the conversation progressed the barranco become the talking point. I was asked yet again why I lived behind the barranco, and as I have said many times, "because I don't like visitors"

The jokes begun about when it floods, and how quickly I need to get the car out, the Canarian guy them asked if I knew when the water was coming. Of course I replied, it typically rains a lot, and then a huge rumble and hey presto we have our own private river.

No, no, no he said in a panic like fashion, "it is all about the frogs" "watch the frogs" now up until this point I did think he was normal, however, my opinion begun to rapidly change. He went on to explain that his grandfather, and his before him, had taught the younger generations to watch the frogs. Now I know there is not a lot to do in the mountains, but come on frog watching!

However, it seems that when the water is about to flood the barranco the frogs cross the road to ensure that they are ready. As bizarre as it seems there is some logic to this, and he went on to explain that we all need to use out senses far more, and never rely on the weather people and the news.

Needless to say I had other fantastic weather tips including seabirds and wind, but they are for another blog, as I need to go and watch the frogs!

I Have Waged War!

As you all know I am not good at growing things, therefore, when I achieve this goal I am delighted. It may only be some tomatoes to everyone else, but to me its the world. Therefore, when anything, or anyone jeopardize these small hint of happiness, I am not happy.

I had been growing different things, including lettuces which were doing really well, and all I could think was "Wow I grew those" sad I know but very true! Therefore, when I went to water them a few days ago and they had been decimated, I was crushed.

What had caused the damage I hear you ask, well for once it wasn't a chicken, duck, goat or even a rabbit. It was an army of small, green, horrible caterpillars and they had just waged war! Quickly I begun picking these horrible little creatures off my lettuces in the vain hope that I could save the pathetic looking leaves.

I begun throwing the caterpillars into the chicken orchard, recycling them for the chickens lunch. This was not met with approval by my daughter, who believes she has already taken the vets oath, mixed in with a bit of Buddhism.

I do not care if she believes that no harm should be done to any living animal, or that I need to show loving kindness to all animals.

I pointed out mid throwing that in fact the caterpillars had broken their own  Buddhist oath and were not showing me equal respect! Therefore, they were becoming lunch, and if you believe in Buddhism, that I do believe is karma!

A Use for the Compost

I have found a use for the compost heap, and no it is not what you think. I must admit my vain attempt at composting is not going so well, it has become more like a storage bin for the straw! However, someone has found that it is the ideal place to lay eggs.

Vicious Mama has decided that this is her perfect nesting box and has taken the compost heap as her own private condo. Not only is it warm, comfortable, away from the other chickens, but it is also close to the duck food which she can be seen stealing often.

In her defence we tend not to go near the compost heap that often so the fact that she has been in there unnoticed is our fault. Oh well, I'm glad she has found a use for it, and by the looks of the batch of eggs she has been there a while. Lets see how many chicks she produces this time!

The Great Goat Escape

The goats had been on lock down since Cafe and Leche had arrived, and in all fairness to them they were going stir crazy. Jack had begun to pace the fences, plotting and planning where to escape. Jill is always happy to go along with Jacks plans and Rico, well Rico just does what everyone else is doing.

So, Sunday morning arrived, and I had warned all the animals to behave, not because I was insane, well only slightly, but because we had visitors arriving. I love my blog followers, and there are a few that I personally know and consider to be my friends.

This one lady follows the blog, comments when I am at my low points, and genuinely believes in what I do everyday. She is also the mum of a close friend, so when he asked if she could come and visit the baby goats, I did not hesitate with the answer.

Hence why the goats and everything else was told to behave, but in typical Casa Chaos style this was never going to happen. Just as I begun to think the day would be calm, Jack escaped, closely followed by Rico, Jill, Cafe and Leche. Now this you would think would not be a big deal, however, they went straight up the mountain, and did not stop.

The speed that the babies climbed was incredible, and there was no doubting they are in fact mountain goats. if not bad enough that I had the great goat escape to contend with, but the kittens decided to join them on their mid morning ramble!

Leaving us to watch as five goats, three kittens, and Tazzy decided that mountaineering was a Sunday morning activity. Why can't anything be normal and behave just for once!

Never Name Food!

When I announced yesterday that we had named the goats, a friend couldn't believe it and he said "Never name food" this made me laugh, as the same thing was said about Peppa. We were told all the way along that if we named her, we would never eat her, hmmm look how that turned out.

The debate still continues, whether we will keep the goats or Cafe and Leche as they are called. Will I personally eat them, no, but I think the sensible plan has to be to sell them. So, why name them, this is actually to make things easier for everyone here.

When you have more than one animal that is the same having a conversation about them can be difficult. If I need something done it is far easier to refer to the animal by name, rather than in the collective term. Besides everything has a name, even some of the demented chickens have names.

So, yes I named food, but hey why not, ,we are crazy after all, and BBQ goat is nice. So for the moment Cafe and Leche are enjoying their time being out with Jack, Jill and Rico. Doing what goats do, eat, poop,sleep, eat, poop , sleep.