The rules are to list six things (I’m going to list eight things as I don’t want to leave any out) which make you happy, and the animals on my farm make me happy so I will introduce you to them in no particular order.

1. The farm cats. I currently have 5 farm cats called Snowy, Fluffy, Snowball, Spot and Stripe who I adore. I love the way they greet me in a morning and want to rub heads with me to acknowledge that I am their friend and I love the way that their tails bob up in the air as they pass by and I say hello to them.
2. The hens. I love Hatty the white leghorn hen who is the farm hen and has such a great character and bosses me and the guinea fowl who have been her poultry pals until the arrival of the new hens this summer. The new hens are also strongwilled and will only go into the hut when they are ready! It makes me happy when the hens run across the yard to greet me when they think that I have some food for them.
3. The guinea fowl. I enjoy watching the guinea fowl flock together and the joy of hatching guinea fowl and the cute little keets is just fantastic.
4. Guiness the Guinea Pig. It makes me happy when I pass by guiness’ cage and he squeaks at me. He is often trying to tell me that he wants some more food, or a treat of vegetables or fruit.
5. The pigs. My two Saddleback sows Cagney and Lacy have produced wonderful piglets that I have reared and nursed when poorly, had fun with and become exasperated when they wouldn’t do as they were told. They have given me ours of fun and I am happy in the knowledge that my pigs have led a happy life and have been well looked after and even pampered.
6. The quail. These birds are beautiful, quiet creatures with a lovely call and dainty bodies. They make me happy when they are healthy and laying their beautifully marked eggs.
7. The ducks. A relatively new addition to the farm but the 7 khaki campbell ducks I have are real characters. I am happy to see them splashing about in the paddling pool I have filled for them and I love the way they comically waddle across the yard.
8. The cattle. The cattle on the farm, although not my responsibility make me happy when it is calving time and I get to witness the birth of a beautiful calf who miraculously gets up and starts suckling within the first few hours. Truely joyful.

Now the Tree of Happiness has to be passed to bloggers that make me happy. I choose:

Topveg

Cottage Smallholder

Smallest Smallholding

Urban Extension

Bird Table News

( I would choose Nikkipolani but Louise has already mentioned this website and This is my Patch who nominated me!)

As I read so many excellent blogs I am going to take my time in deciding who to pass this award on to – I’ll let you know when I have chosen them, in the meantime why not browse through the list of blogs on my links page.

I don’t know what I have done to deserve it but I am thrilled and honoured, so thank you Dragonstar.

Here are a few of my blogging pals that I think are True Blue blogging pals as they have all helped me and supported my site for sometime now – so thanks all of you.

• TopVeg.
• BirdyTrish @ Bird Table News.
• Louise @ This is My Patch.
• Farmer Giles @ Farming Memories.
• Fiona @ Cottage Smallholder.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my visitors and readers and say that I appreciate all your visits and comments which I read with great interest.

I am thrilled to receive this fun Halloween Sweet Treat award from one of my photo hunt pals, TeacherJulie, who regularly visits and comments on my photo hunt posts.

A great halloween treat are toffee apples and as I have an abundance of apples from my orchard I am going to make toffee apples to give out to the trick or treaters who call at my door.

I would like to share this Halloween Sweet Treat Award with the following;

SI from Sunk Island

Fiona from The Cottage Smallholder

Lorna from Family Natters

Louise from This Is My Patch

Maiylah from Picture Clusters

This award was created by Anni.

Apples AwardsApples, Awards

Thanks to The Cottage Smallholder for this wonderful award and kind words. Fiona said the farmingfriends “blog is a real down to earth breath of fresh air. I have learnt so much from it as it is packed with useful, highly readable interesting information. Sara co hosted our Interblog Guinea Fowl Breeding Event.” As you can imagine I was thrilled and honoured to receive this award from Fiona whose website I admire and enjoy greatly.

The Power of Schmooze Award is for bloggers who “effortlessly weave their way in and out of the blogosphere, leaving friendly trails and smiles, happily making new friends along the way. They don’t limit their visits to only the rich and successful, but spend some time to say hello to new blogs as well. They are the ones who engage others in meaningful conversations, refusing to let it end at a mere hello – all the while fostering a sense of closeness and friendship.”

I was honoured to receive this award. Here are my nominations;

• Curtis from Growing Thumbs.
• TopVeg.
• Joanna @ Joanna’s Food.
• Carver @ Carver’s Sight Or Is That Site?

AwardsAwards

After a few problems with the server over the weekend, it was nice to read that I had been nominated for A Breakout Blogger Award from Maiylah @ pictureclusters. This award is such an honour as, “This award casts a spotlight on bloggers who are just beginning to draw lotsa attention — the equivalent of a song with a bullet on Billboard’s Top 100 chart. Lotsa good posts. Lotsa good buzz. These bloggers are going places in a hurry.” I am always thrilled when I know that people are reading and enjoying my website, so thanks Maiylah I really appreciate this award.

(I am going to give some thought to who I wish to nominate and get back to you!)

AwardsAwards

Thanks to The Cottage Smallholder for this wonderful award and kind words. Fiona said the farmingfriends “blog is a real down to earth breath of fresh air. I have learnt so much from it as it is packed with useful, highly readable interesting information. Sara co hosted our Interblog Guinea Fowl Breeding Event.” As you can imagine I was thrilled and honoured to receive this award from Fiona whose blog I admire and enjoy greatly.

The Thoughtful Blogger Award is for “those who answer blog comments, emails, and make their visitors feel at home on their blogs. For the people who take others’ feelings into consideration before speaking out and who are kind and courteous. Also for those bloggers who spend so much of their time helping other bloggers design, improve, and fix their sites. This award is for those generous bloggers who think of others.”

I think this award has a lovely message and epitomises how the blogging community works. I have made some super blogging friends from home and abroad.

My nominations for the Thoughtful Blogger Award go to;

• TopVeg – A “top” site with a fantastic writer who has become my friend via the blogging world. TopVeg always answers my vegetable questions and has given me the confidence to set up and run a school gardening club. We have also written a set of growing cards together and TopVeg sent me leeks to grow in my garden after it was flooded.
• A Growing Delight - A “delightful” site which provides an insight into life “downunder!” Alice has contributed to make my blog better with her excellent entry for the monthly photograph competition and her well written guest appearance farming story, with another story appearing very soon.

Awards Guest Appearance Farming Stories Interblog Leek Growing Project TopVegAwards, Guest Appearance Farming Stories, Interblog Leek Growing Project, TopVeg

When I switched on my computer this morning I was greeted with a lovely surprise. Claire had awarded me with the Nice Matters Award. I don’t know what I have done to deserve this award but I am thrilled to receive it and will proudly display the award in my sidebar. It is such an honour when someone from the blogging world thinks about you and takes the time to award you. Claire is one of my new blogging friends who takes beautiful photographs of the lovely flowers in her garden – go visit her now and checkout clairesgarden for yourself. Thanks Claire for thinking of me.

I will now nominate 8 other blogging friends (although I have to say that it is hard to choose only 8 as there are so many nice supportive blogging friends out there);

• TopVeg – a supportive blogging friend who is always commenting, asking interesting questions (even though it is sometimes hard to think of the answer!), entering my photograph competitions and has sent me some leeks as my veg garden was flooded.
• Boggywoggy – an overseas blogging friend with a great sense of fun whose comments always make me smile, who enters my photo caption competition and makes me feel that I live on the best farm ever.
• Cottage Smallholder – a supportive blogging friend with a beautiful cottage garden who I shared the interblog guinea fowl breeding project with and received some delicious jams and chutneys from.
• Prims Place – an overseas blogging friend with a lovely garden who always tries to drop by and leave a comment or a question.
• Critterkeeper - an overseas blogging friend who gave me the names for my pigs and who honours me by only visiting a few blogs and mine is one of them.
• My Grandpas Garden an overseas blogging friend with a great sense of fun whose comments make me smile.
• Farming Memories - a supportive blogging friend who is always interested in the daily farming activites and how the farm is run today.
• Down On The Farm - a new supportive blogging friend who has sent me some great photographs for my farmingfriends “foto” competition.
• The Great Big Vegetable Challenge an inspirational blogging friend whose posts often inspire me in the kitchen or at my school gardening club.

Oops sorry couldn’t count – just had to give all these a mention.

AwardsAwards

The award was originally created by Climate of Our Future to recognise bloggers who “are trying to build awareness among their readership in order to create a more sustainable and enlightened future.”

I was shocked, surprised and deeply honoured that my Farming Friends website has been thought of as having a positive impact on it’s readers. I am particularly proud that The Great Big Vegetable Challenge has nominated me as I really admire this inspirational website and the journey Charlotte, Alexandra and Freddie are on as they explore the A to Z of vegetables in a fun and interesting way.

Now it’s my turn to nominate five blogs that I think are making a difference.

1) Peakfood – A thought provoking website by John Gossop and Leanne Wilcox who are raising awareness about climate change and the threats to Western farming.

2) TopVeg – A top site full of top tips about how to grow your own fruit and vegetables in a garden, allotment or windowbox. Start growing your own veggies today and help to reduce those food miles.

3) Plan be – An interesting blog that chronicles one family’s adventures in self-sufficient living on a smallholding designed and built by themselves in the South Cape region of South Africa.

4) Locks Park Farm – A great website that depicts life on a small organic farm in Devon. Paula set up this blog with the help of The Campaign To Protect Rural England in order to share views on farming and the countryside.

5) Simple Living, Simplify + Reduce – An inspirational website that has launched a project to help readers to reduce their emissions by 90%.

Should they wish, nominees may now proudly display the Blogging for Positive Global Change badge on their blogs. If any nominees have someone in mind that they’d like to nominate in turn, just be sure to pass this list of rules to the blogs you are tagging.

The participation rules are simple:
1. When you get tagged, write a post with links to up to 5 blogs that you think are trying to change the world in a positive way.
2. In your post, make sure you link back to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme.
3. Leave a comment or message for the bloggers you’re tagging, so they know they’re now part of the meme.
4. Optional: Proudly display the “Bloggers For Positive Global Change” award badge with a link to the post that you write up.