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| We stopped for Tim's in Grand Falls, NB. |
Miraculously, we made the six hour drive from Harvey, NB to St Raphael, QC without incident. The car is still performing relatively well, and we remembered to fuel up before crossing the provincial border (gas is like 5 cents more expensive here). We left Harvey around 11:30, and it got dark at 4:30 Quebec time, AND we didn't even have a map of Quebec, but we didn't get lost. We did stop at one gas bar to see if they sold road maps but they didn't - the old guys inside asked Moragh where we were headed, and when she said St Raphael they pointed in four different directions. Apparently there's a few. Not surprising, since every town is St or Ste somebody or other, they had to start repeating names at some point :) Anyway, all of that aside, we made it to La Rafale quite easily.
Diane, our host, owns 97 acres just outside St Raphael, 20 minutes from the highway and about 65 km from Quebec City. She took a year off work (she is a biologist) last year to really focus on her farm, which she would like to improve in a number of ways to ensure that it will support her as well as bring in some profit. She is back to work now, Monday through Friday, and left us alone today to explore and get acquainted with the animals.
These are Ameraucauna chickens, they lay blue eggs! Or they would, if they were laying eggs right now. They are all either finished laying for the season, still too young, or male. The orange and green one in the middle of the photo is boss rooster Ferdinand, who keeps everyone in order. The two chickens who are behind him directly to the left and right (black one and brown one) are the adult hens, who are looking after the four younger hens (three behind and one in front). Missing from this photo are two younger roosters, who stay well out of Ferdinand's way.
And then there's these little ones :) Coco and Rico (cocorico is the French expression for cockadoodledoo). They are still babies, even though they have all of their feathers - they still peep! Diane hatched them with a incubator and they imprinted on her...and were rejected by the rest of the flock. So they hang out together and aren't very good at being chickens.
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| Emily giving a pecking lesson. |
We spent some time today using our hands to show them what to peck and scratch at. They love hands and will follow them as if they were a mama chicken. They also like to try to eat your hair, your fingers, your eyeballs, your jeans, your shoelaces, your gloves, and anything coloured. Someone is reading this and saying "
sounds like all chickens, haha" but the difference here is that these guys are so damn persistent! At the end of their lessons, we picked them up (they freaked out) and held them under their heat lamp until they fell asleep in our hands. We are the new official chicken-sitters.
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| Cameras are delicious too! |
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| The black rabbit's name is Obama. |
Diane also raises rabbits (for meat)...
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| Cayette, Chocolat, Labrune, 'Ti-gars. |
And Dexter cows (also for meat). They are quite small, almost miniature, and the bull's name is 'Ti-gars (say "tee-gah"; like petit gars = little boy).
There is also Motton, the biggest barn cat we've ever seen. His paws are huge and fuzzy. He is too heavy to hold for long periods of time! We're thinking he must be at least part Maine Coon...but his fur and body shape aren't quite right. His name means "furball" or "matted hair" - Diane has to SHAVE him every spring.
Last but definitely not least, there are the dogs. Sirius, the husky, is 13 years old and used to be a sled dog on a team of 28. She is very old and gentle and moves slowly because her hips are failing. Sammy is the white Westie terrier, and he is a rescue from a home where he was under a lot of stress, and so he is a bit neurotic at times (does not like men, does not like shouting, barks randomly) but is also very sweet. The Corgi is Bean, she is a beautiful Canadian champion but could not be bred and so was living in a kennel where she had to fight for her food - Diane rescued her as well. Finally, the Chewbacca-esque mixed breed is Poopsie. She is a Doberman Pinscher/terrier cross that Diane took in from a previous home. In this picture, they are all begging for pumpkin. Pumpkin.
So, there are lots of animals here to keep up busy! Our responsibilities this week are mostly to look after all the animals morning, noon and night, and also small repair and cleaning jobs around the farm. Plus cooking :)
Hope everyone is well! We're still having a great time.
Christmas is coming!
