Meet some of the characters that live on the farm with me.
Barbara Gordon the Goat
Barbara my goat is a constant source of inspiration and entertainment, a 20th birthday gift from my Mum.
She arrived in a bucket, as a two-day-old orphan and it was love at first sight. Mum and I spent many weeks bottle-feeding my goat kid before she was transitioned out into the kennels with the dogs.
She learnt a lot from them, coming when called and wearing a collar which means that sometimes she gets tethered out with the ponies to eat grass.
She has her pen, dubbed the Barbie World. The shelter has boxes, things to climb on, and mini trampolines.
When she’s not relaxing there, she can be found causing havoc and destruction - her favourite mischief is chewing mum’s trees, trying to drive vehicles, practising her parkour skills, jumping off anything and everything, including the shed roof.
Belle the Kelpie
Belle is a kelpie dog from the state of Victoria. She was given to my Brother because she was a timid pup.
When she was a puppy at one of my brother's football games, she was so timid that she didn’t want to get out of the ute. She’s gotten more confident now and has a helicopter tail when she is happy and excited.
She loves working the sheep and is found in bed when she is not working. Belle is a mother of eight puppies who are causing mayhem with Barbara Gordon.
When we first got Barbara, Belle tried to round her up. Now Barbara tries to be one of the working dogs and rounds up the chickens with Belle and the other dogs.
Han Solo & Princess Layer
Han Solo and Princess Layer are my beautiful adventurous rooster and hen. They are gentle children of Donna the Hen. We had them as hatchlings. Now they are mother and father to many chickens.
I didn’t know what a rooster looked like before Han Solo. I used to pick him up a lot and now when he wants a cuddle I’m aware of his big spurs and have to be careful!
Princess Layer was a birthday present. She taught all the other chickens to stand at the back of the garage by the door because she learnt that’s where I come through with the food. She lays big eggs that are rocket-shaped that I like to paint faces on for a laugh.
I love painting chickens and did a whole series for an exhibition in 2023.
Gemma the Pony
Gemma is my old little pony, I had her when I was young. She was my very first pony who taught me how to ride. A friend of the family gave her to us, and we have gone on many adventures together.
She was a clown pony for a trick-riding team. Gemma has given me an interesting life for many years. She has a habit of eating grass non stop… so we had to put her on a diet. Now she has to share her food with a goat so she often has her ears back in annoyance at breakfast time.
Bobby the Clydesdale
Bobby is my Clydesdale cross. He was a Salamanca cart horse. But he is happy in the paddock with my little pony Gemma.
He is a gentle giant who loves food. Bobby is bay with black points and is big and slow. Mum and I had fallen in love with him at first sight so we got him and I was lucky to have him in our lives because he is the kindest horse I have ever met.
Because he’d been a cart horse his joints became sore in his old age. We found the beautiful Angie, a horse expert and hoof therapist, who taught me how to care for his feet to ease his discomfort.
When I rode Bobby for the first time I remember him being so gentle with me that he slowed down so much I had trouble getting him going again. He understood I lacked confidence and was taking care of me.
I continue to work with Bobby to build both of our confidences - his confidence around new or different objects and sounds; and my confidence in myself and caring for him.
Now together we go on interesting adventures. He loves food and he has taught my goat that if I'm around that means food.
Wattle the Border Collie
Wattle is mum's hyperactive Border Collie. During COVID, when the travel bans were in place, Mum needed a working dog trainee. We met some of my brother's friends who had a litter of three trial sheep dogs and Wattle was one of the puppies. She came home with us.
Wattle has gotten even crazier. She loves watching sports on TV, especially cricket. She tries to round up the shapes on the TV and she loves to chase shadows.
Her nature makes her a good working dog with the Sheep. She’s got a ‘sticky eye’, watching all the sheep when she's in the paddock, mum makes her work by whistling and using body commands.
I love that Wattle comes out with me to round up the chickens at the end of the day.
Megatron the Toy Poodle
I always wanted a poodle after our neighbour had a poodle in 2013. So we got Megatron with a mega personality because our neighbour who bred toy poodles, named him Megatron.
He has been through so much with three dog attacks resulting in him losing an eye so Megatron is now a one-eyed poodle. He was a playful energetic puppy who would run for hours and barely stop, now as an old man he mostly sleeps and eats chook scraps with other dogs and snuggles in a grey bed dubbed the great Cloud so we often say 'Upload the poodle to the cloud' for a laugh. Megatron is my therapy dog because when I'm anxious I often hold him and he calms me down. I love him because he is like a best friend.