Blog Posts

Chickens and curiosity

3/2/2023

“Four be the things I’d been better without:Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.”

And so would the chickens - full of curiosity - and love of all things for pecking - around our house.

— from the poem “Inventory” by Dorothy Parker
#curious #chicken #pasturedeggs #freetoroam #eggs #everywhere

The Maremma - Chickens Symbiosis

2/23/2023

Pedicure anyone? It’s still summer for open toes shoes
The Maremma protect the chickens from predators at night, and the chickens keep the Maremma clean of any fleas and bugs.
Symbiosis with benefits.
#chickens #maremmadogs #symbiosis #paddocklife #pasturedeggs

The Pointy egg

2/16/2023

Named “Mount Kilimanjaro”, the tallest freestanding egg in the world.
What would your name be for this egg?
We are having a bit of fun today with funny egg names: cone egg, spiky egg, point peak
#naming #funnyegg #pointyegg #coneegg #mounkilimanjaro #funatwork #havingfun #eggsarefun #pastured #eggs

Lullaby

1/27/2023

That kind of lazy afternoon in the golden hour. Look out! There are always two who stretch and shuffle and snore and disturb the pile of puppies #goodnight #puppies #maremma #sleep #lullaby #farmlife. Photography by Haydn

Can't see any chickens?

1/20/2023

That’s because the crops are above ute height, the rain was blissful yesterday, and the sun is giving just the right amount of warmth caress!
#summer #pasture #eggs #cantseechickens #crops #farmlife

Wool and eggs

1/12/2023

Under his own vine and fig tree

1/5/2023

"Everyone will sit under his own grapevine and fig tree, and no one will make him afraid"
Here is to Jack, the greatest Maremma in the world, enjoying his retirement, under his own vine. He is now only responsible for guarding the house, after years of exemplary service to thousands of ladies Well deserved, Jacko! It is lovely to see you relaxed and enjoying that spotty shade.
-- based on Micah 4:4
#retirement #Maremma #sheepdog #shade #hisownvine #pasturedeggs

New Year's wish

12/30/2022

“The Brain — is wider than the Sky --
For — put them side by side --
The one the other will contain
With ease — and [hens] — beside —“

—- from the poem “The Brain is Wider than the Sky” by Emily Dickinson
with some alterations for Hilltops free range hens.

Wishing everyone a mind and imagination greater than the vast skies above us! Happy New 2023!
#sky #chickens #eggs #opensky #poetry #pastured #pasturedeggs #emilydickinson #farmlife #happynewyear

Merry Christmas

12/25/2022

Eggs as Christmas decorations go well too! Merry Christmas to everyone! #eggs #christmas #merry

Wait for the power sneeze

12/22/2022

Chilling out on a sunny afternoon after the perfect shower we had today.
The best bit is when all the chickens scatter around, after Gordo (the gorgeous Maremma dog)‘s power sneeze.
#whatasneeze #sneezing #pastured #farmlife #maremma #pasturedeggs #chickens

Art in the Paddocks

12/15/2022

This egg was stuck to the tray, impossible to pry it out. So, we turned it upside down, and made a cowboy hat

When life gives you lemons...
#everydayart #artisgreat #eggs #paddockart #pasturedeggs #boorowa #eggsandart

Summer is for salads

12/8/2022

Salad time for everyone! #grass #maremma #pasturedeggs #summer #eatinggrass #pasture

What is a tree hollow?

12/1/2022

What is a tree hollow?
A new bedroom, a veranda extension, adjacent to the dust bath that is next to the tree?
A meeting place for three friends?
A refuge from the midday sun?
A kitchen for munching on new grass?
Or a place to lay hidden eggs?
#treehollow #pasturedeggs #eggs #shade #dustbath #threehens #chickens #pastured

Our 1978 Daihatsu Scat

11/24/2022

Had to start our 1978 Daihatsu Scat this week, to help the collection. Classic cars for the classic pastured eggs.
All our buggies gave up at the same time, must be so much mud getting into the mechanics.

The hens seem to love it :)
#classiccars #pastured #pasturedeggs #oldcars #oldiebutgoldie #eggs #oldage #cars #challenges

Floods NSW exemplified

11/17/2022

Whatever it takes, to get eggs for our customers!
The perils of completely pasture-based, pastured, free-range eggs operations.

We hope everyone in NSW is safe, and all people missing are found safe and sound.

#floods #mud #dangerousfarming #pastured #eggs #extremedriving

--Photography by Ana

Weird, wacky and wonderful eggs

11/10/2022

Have you ever seen an egg wrinkled?
Or an egg with a head and a neck?
Can you spot tiny tot that's been mingled
with the eggs of our harvested flock?

--inspired by the weird, wacky and wonderful eggs we get.

It's a whole family we got today:
- Daddy-Egg, standing tall and a little bit bent, for looking after the family.
- Mommy-Egg, all wrinkly from washing dishes all day
- and the Tiny Tot, all perfectly round and plump and rolling all around freely 🙂
#weird #eggs #pasturedeggs #pasture #farmlife #poetry #wierdeggs #wacky #wonderfuleggs

Robert Burns and November

11/3/2022

"If a body meet a body,
Comin' through the rye,
If a body kiss a body,
Need a body cry?"

Robert Burns clearly had our paddocks in mind when he wrote "Comin' Through the Rye" :)
Particularly, at the beginning of a very wet November, with the hens getting lost in the tall rye.

#robertburns #tallgrass #lost #hens #poetry #pastured #eggs #rye

Busted!

10/27/2022

Underage driver, no license, no P plates, trying to steal my buggy for a joyride on the paddocks!

Loveliest of trees

10/20/2022

“Loveliest of trees, the cherry now
Is hung with bloom along the bough,
And stands about the woodland ride
Wearing [pink] for Eastertide.
…
And since to look at things in bloom
Fifty springs are little room,
About the woodlands I will go
To see the cherry, [as hens do].”
-- from the poem ‘Loveliest of trees, the cherry now’ by A. E. Housman [with minor corrections by Hilltops free range pasture-raised hens]
We, both hens and man, are incredibly lucky to be near Young, the Cherry Capital of Australia.
#farmlife #cherryblossom #pasturedeggs #springisbeautiful #pinkblossoms #cherrytree #hens #youngnsw #hilltops #eggs

Happy World Egg Day

10/14/2022

Brown, white, crinkled, wobbly, weird and wonderful! A healthy protein source from happy chickens! #pasturedeggs #eggs #weirdegg

No pain, no gain

10/13/2022

In this abundant Spring of prickly leaves everywhere, a quiet place to settle down and lay an egg.
Let humans deal with the messy adventure of going through pain to reach a gain.
#pasturedeggs #pasture #spring #prickly #nopainnogain #eggs #quiet #painandgain

--Photography by Thomas

That afternoon feeling

10/6/2022

On a warm, humid Pre-Friday.
This pup was looking for a long time for a dry place after the downpour last night, and the pieces of concrete were the perfect bed, warmed by the glorious sun we are having this afternoon. You can literally feel the moisture in the air!
#nofilter #maremma #napping #beautysleep #aftertherain #pastured #eggs #puppy

The September Gale

9/29/2022

“I’m not a chicken; I have seen
Full many a chill September,
And though I was a youngster then,
That gale I well remember;
The day before, my kite-string snapped,
And I, my kite pursuing,
The wind whisked off my palm-leaf hat;--
For me two storms were brewing!”

— from the poem “The September Gale” by Oliver Wendell Holmes #chicken #poetry #perfectpoem #storms #rain #thunderstorm #september #wind

You know you are a mom when...

9/22/2022

You know you're a mom when walking around while breastfeeding and eating lunch isn't out of the ordinary. :) :) :)

--Photography by Selena

#mom #farmlife #walkingandbreastfeeding #puppies #Maremma

Who said chickens can't fly?

9/15/2022

Maybe not soaring like eagles, but here they are, up in a throne of tree branches, way above my head.
The trees are a favorite place for our hens, for all the bugs and worms and insects they find around: delicious snacks and a great, diversified protein source.
The only problem is, I keep finding eggs hidden in the tree hollow
#losteggs #pasturedeggs #pastured #chickensfly #chickenslikeeagles #eggs #fly

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