Blog Posts

"I've revved and I've rocked and reversed it..."

8/18/2022

“Oh, the radio tells me it's raining
But that I can see for myself
And they tell me a cyclone is coming
Oh, I surely could do with some help
…
Oh, I've revved and I've rocked and reversed it
Oh, I've dug at the mud on the wheels
I've kicked and I've sworn and I've cursed it
And to the good Lord I've appealed
But the line-up to heaven ain't open
I've a feeling I'm not getting through
Oh, I'll just have to lighten the load
One carton of [EGGS WITH BACON] should do”
--borrowed from the lyrics of “Send’er Down Hughie” by the great Slim Dusty
#mud #stuck #bogged #pastured #eggs #farmlife #rains #Australia #countrysongs #truesong #pasturedeggs #adventures
Photo by Alan

"I can see clearly now, the rain is gone"

8/11/2022

“I can see clearly now, the rain is gone,
I can see all obstacles in my way.
Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind.
It's gonna be a bright, bright bright, sun-shiny day!”
Just for a moment there, it looked like farm work might be possible again.

Back to the mud now.

#pasturedeggs #sunshining #farmwork #rain
— lyrics of the John Nash 1972 song “I can see clearly now”

"I'm in love with mud"

8/4/2022

https://youtube.com/shorts/x3QYtM7Smcc?feature=share
"I'm in love with mud,
It's sad, I know, but true.
I just can't help but splash in it,
Or stomp a path right through.
...
I splatter in the grimy gloop,
I can't resist the ooze!
I run, I jump, I stamp about,
It drips into my shoes!"
The Joy!
#mud #soil #pastured #joy #pasturedeggs #freedom #rains
#puppy
-- excerpt from the poem "I'm In Love With Mud" by Gareth Lancaster

Splendour In the Grass - egg farm version

7/28/2022

Splendour In The Grass - the Hilltops egg farm version 😂😂😂.

The flip side of muddling through the last couple of months is that we have incredible, luscious, splendid GRASS! It is indeed like music to a farmer's ears . We are also very happy to share tips and tricks with festival goers on how to in-bog vehicles, how to drive tractors and how to enjoy the wonderful rain and mud😄

#splendourinthegrass #farmlife #mud #grass #pasturedeggs #music

My Heart Leaps Up

7/21/2022

"My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky"

If you look up, there is always hope. In anything, and for everything.

-- poem by William Wordsworth

#hope #hardwork #farmwork #rainbow #pasturedeggs #chickens #green #lookup #teamwork

Ice pops for breakfast, anyone?

7/14/2022

Our chickens are just like little kids, would have ice-pops for a meal anytime!

When left alone, both kids and chooks would choose ice-pops on a [grass] stick over any kind of nutritional, sugar-free option the 'boring' parents are trying to promote.

While our farm is enjoying beautiful frosty mornings, the chickens love that moment when the sun is just about to fade out all the frost. Half the frost is up as fog, and half is in that half-ice-pop - half-slushie - half-water state on the long blades of grass.

Beautiful, perfect, cooling, thirst-quenching breakfast.

And the view from their breakfast table is not bad either.

#pastured #eggs #morning #frost #icecream #icecreamforbreakfast #pasturedeggs #chickens #morningwalk #farmlife #winter #wintermorning #winterfrost #naturalfeed

It's finally dry

7/7/2022

It's dry!
Life at the highest hill tops at Hilltops farm is good (pun intended): grass abundance, clear skies, cloud shapes to dream about. We hope everyone across NSW is safe, in all low grounds and high grounds alike.
#surviving #floods #grass #clearskies #finallydry #sun #farmlife

Time to Stare

6/30/2022

"What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?--

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and [chooks]:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare."

-- the poem "Leisure" by William Henry Davies, the Welshman, slight modifications by Hilltops free range
#stare #eggs #pasture #freedom

The afternoon snack

6/23/2022

High-protein, food of the future for humans, they say.
We just spared this chickens’ snack. Used a stick to fetch the dragonfly, managed to keep it away from the snacking chickens, and let it fly off.
No desert today, but our chickens get plenty of natural feed and insects, high-protein snacking, while roaming outdoors in mobile sheds all day every day.
#truefreerange #pasturedeggs #insectfood #chickens #naturalfeed #natural #dragonfly #snackforbirds

Chicken. Crossing. No road.

6/16/2022

So why don’t I lay into the hollow tree and make everyone’s life more interesting?
#chicken #crossing #eggs #pasturedeggs #farmlife #noroad

Let beaks do what hands do?!

6/2/2022

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/QzSQYuCxONE

The Kiss (wait for it!) Shakespeare, chicken version. Chickens enjoying lovely green grass, the small joys of winter in Australia

#thekiss #shakespeare #pasturedeggs #grassfed #chickensoup

--Based on 'Romeo and Juliet' Act 1, Scene 5, 'The Kiss': "let lips do what hands do"

The Apprentice

5/26/2022

The apprenticeship program 2022 is in full swing 😁.
All our puppies are now placed ‘in training‘ with the older Maremma dogs.

Here is Oddball checking on his novice companion, he is one tough boss to please 😆.
#apprentice #train #farmlife #pasture #maremma #companion #pasturedeggs

Hues of Autumn

5/19/2022

Collected some eggs for lunch, and came across these amazing hues. Can I cook them with the eggs?
“Like a late love that is sweeter than summer”, a lovely autumn sunny day at the farm.
#autumn #eggs #farmlife #autumnsun #leaves #pasture #latelove #hues
Quote from “Plums” by the poet and playwright Gillian Clarke

Medal for Excellence from the Royal Agricultural Society

5/13/2022

Nothing like an actual medal to drive away rainy melancholy of La Niña autumn 😁 🏅
Very honoured to receive Excellence medal from the Royal Agriculture Society of NSW. And what are medals for if not for bragging? #brag #medal #excellence #eggs #pasturedeggs

A throne with a view

5/5/2022

Excellent views, high side of the street, king-like position, looking over - but also down- onto the subordinate chicken population- what’s not to like?

Our two young apprentices, looking for a dry place after last night’s deluge, had climbed on top of the hay bales.
The apprentices (the beautiful puppies named in our @hyattregencysydney collaboration) are now all living in the flocks with the chickens, and working under the ‘guidance’ of our experienced Maremmas.

Notice the adult Maremma had not deemed it appropriate to clamber onto hay bales, as the young hotheads had. View may be nice, but what about dignity?

Photography by Thomas
#youth #freedom #pastured #maremma #dogs # dogonhay #aftertherain #farmlife

A Rainbow Rose One Afternoon

4/28/2022

“a rainbow rose one afternoon -
drenching me in golden mist
I reached out to touch
but couldn't hold."

Photography by Eric

--poem "Jeogla 2" by Peter Skrzynecki, post-second World War Polish immigrant to Australia, who lived in Cowra, not far from our farm. The poet and the chickens were looking at the same skies.

#rainbow #pastured #pasturedeggs #farmlife #poetry

Autumn colours on eggs

4/21/2022

Our attempt at a rainbow Easter egg 🌈 #autumn #easter #eggs #pastured #pasturedeggs #rainbow

We won the Champion award at the Sydney Royal Easter Show 2022!

4/14/2022

Officially: Our eggs are the best eggs in NSW for the second year in a row!
Thank you to the customers for your support for our farm, and thank you to the incredible farm team!
#champions #besteggs #pasturedeggs #farmwork #hardworkpaysoff @sydneyroyal_eastershow

A pear? A Barbapapa? An egg with an attitude?

4/7/2022

A new person coming into the world? We are sending some sunshine for everyone across NSW, hope everyone is safe.
#wierdegg #pasturedeggs
Photography by Robyn

Are these the flood clouds coming to Boorowa?

3/31/2022

Fluffy and I are wondering, while our rain tanks are doing the happy dance. This is the first autumn when we haven’t had to buy water We hope everyone is keeping safe.
#rains #pasture #pasturedeggs #farmlife

Autumn

3/24/2022

From little things, big things grow.
Our youngest chickens’ tiny eggs, compared to the giant eggs we sometimes get.
With the abundance of rain, we have flowers in the golden autumn light in all paddocks.
Everything grows on the farm.
#littlethings #grow #purpleflowers #eggs #pastured #autumn

In the speckled light

3/17/2022

“In the dappled sunlight and peaceful calm…
Hidden away from the harsh cruel world
From all their anger and sadness unfurled”

The speckled sunlight of the gum trees is the favourite place on an autumn afternoon. Half sun, half shade, adventures on branches, in leaves, with bugs and worms.
#peace
#dappled #sunlight #pastured #pasture #shade #chickens #shade #speckled

--Poetry by mantis180 https://allpoetry.com/poem/1523756-Dappled-sunlight-by-mantis180

Button on an egg

3/10/2022

Is it the ‘connect’ button?
There is no mobile service the whole day today on the farm, not in the whole Boorowa region. No phone, no emails, no messages.
Maybe we should have pushed the ‘start’ button on this egg? 😂😂😂
This is what happens when you give a weird egg to a farm full of software people 😃😃😃

This message has come to you because the software people couldn’t bear it anymore and drove 1.5 hours to the next tower. 😃😃😃

We hope everyone in NSW is safe.
#funnyegg #weirdegg #nophone #nointernet #pasturedeggs #farmlife #reallife

And the winners are...

3/3/2022

And the winners are…
We now have names for the puppies, thank you to everyone who participated in our project with Hyatt Regency.

For the 3 boys:
Olly
Cheeky
Sandwich

For the 6 girls:
Elerinka
Giggle
Precious
Bianca
Trudy
Cassandra

Sending some sunshine from the farm to everyone who is missing it across NSW and QLD.
#naming #puppies #winners #maremma

Trying to sit on 30 eggs at the same time :)

2/24/2022

Trying very hard, all the while I am trying to collect the eggs and stack them.

Dear Hen, there is not even one rooster in the whole farm, so even 21 days of sitting will still not do the trick...
#broody #hen #pasturedeggs #eggs #farmlife #beingsilly

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