Fox Attack!!

The fox has eaten 2 of our chickens! Well, actually she got 1 and she injured another so that it died of its injuries. They were shut in their house at night but she managed to lift the sliding door up enough to get her nose in. It's lucky she didn't get right into the house or she would have killed them all. Another 1 had a bit gouged out of her neck and a fourth had a bit of her wing attacked, but they seem to be recovering well. No eggs for a while, I imagine, until they get over the shock.

I say "she" for the fox as I assume it is the mother of the cubs we hear making a racket in the field behind. I have 2 sets of friends who have lost all their chickens lately, including the next door neighbour, and not through lack of attention - they really are crafty things these foxes.

On a brighter note, Bacon & Sausage, the pigs, are loving the very wet weather we have been having today. It has made their field into a mud bath - and they are wallowing in it!

Here in the office we felt very important when a newspaper asked for some pictures of children on tractors. The ones we had weren't suitable - but of course they needed them now! Our ride-on tractors (apart from the youngest son's) are boxed, and generally need to have wheels and steering wheels attached, so we couldn't produce any immediately. A pop next door to borrow a John Deere pedal tractor resolved that one. Next problem - children! All but my smallest were at school, so a visit to another neighbour was called for. Unfortunately, they were on their way out - and one had chicken pox, which doesn't look great on camera. Eventually, I got some great pics of the youngest and middle (well, I might be slightly biased), let's hope they were in time for the article.

Julia
Farm Toys Online

Here's a picture of me pitching at The Pitch 2009. What they don't mention is that I dropped the basket of toys afterwards - perhaps that's on the video to be revealed later.

Julia

It has all been very tense here at Farm Toys Online, as we were shortlisted for the regional final of The Pitch 2009!! It's a bit like a Dragon's Den and I had to stand up in front of 5 judges (plus the cameras and press) and say why we should win the £50,000 worth of prizes! There were only 6 of us from the South West who got through and we were the only company from Somerset! It will all be on YouTube in July, so you will be able to laugh yourself silly then.

Being in the big city (well Bristol) for the day I thought it would be lovely to be back in that working environment.... but when I went out to feed the pigs and chickens before work this morning, and sneaked out for a walk through the rape fields, which are in beautiful yellow flower, at lunchtime I thought how ridiculous, this is the best working environment ever! Cities are great to visit but it's lovely to come home.

Julia

Great Farm Days Out With The Kids This Weekend

Are you wondering what to do with your children this weekend? We have come across some great ideas to get out into the country:

Firstly, for those of you who live in the south, Tractor Ted is having a Farm Show at Longleat in Wiltshire on both Saturday and Sunday (6th & 7th June). Not only can you meet Tractor Ted (isn't it every young boys dream?) but there are also farm animals, big machinery displays, falconry, duck herding, sheep shearing, stalls to visit...... and of course all the normal things to do at Longleat, like the safari park, train, boat ride and adventure playground, amongst other things!

The best thing is, we have some discount vouchers on offer. If you just want to go to the Tractor Ted event and visit the grounds it is only £2 per adult and £1 per child with our discount vouchers. We also have a £4 discount voucher off a Longleat passport, which entitles you to visit the safari park and all the other attractions.. but you don't have to visit it all in one day. The passport is valid for the season, each attraction is only valid once but you go back any time before the end of the season to visit the attractions previously missed. (See the voucher or Longleat website for all the details).

For those of you living further afield it is Open Farm Sunday, this weekend too. All sorts of farms around the country are open to the public, some are open that don't normally open to the public, others are putting on special events. Some of the events are free. Click here to find a farm near you.

The Pigs Have Arrived!

Last weekend saw the long awaited arrival of Bacon and Sausage (the children named them, not me, honest!). Bacon is a Gloucester Old Spot pig and Sausage a Saddleback. Sausage is (almost) famous - his mother was one of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall pigs that starred in his River Cottage programme on Channel 4 in his Bristol community project.

There were Peep Wars between the pigs and the sheep when Sausage & Bacon arrived, as our woolly friends thought it rather unfair that the pigs should get waitress service, when they had to use the self-service system. I thought they were going to jump over the rather low electric fencing and steal all the pigs food, but they bottled at the last minute. Now they just bleat and follow us down the field looking very hopeful every time we feed the pigs.

Talking of sausages and bacon, we don't sell any! But I know a really great farm shop that sells it online aptly named Pink Pig Farm. It is all homegrown, GM free, free-range pork from happy pigs!

We do have lots of piggy presents though - my favourite is a Pig Cuckoo Clock. A pig pops out every hour and oinks. The clever thing is when it goes dark, he goes quiet, so doesn't keep you awake all night. If you look at the product page on our website make sure you scroll to the bottom of the information and you can hear the noise he makes.

Must go, time to feed the pigs.

Julia

Our First Blog!

Welcome to our very first Farm Toys Online blog! My name is Julia and for those who don't know us, we have a website http://www.farmtoysonline.co.uk/ which specialises in fun farm toys for children - so lots of tractors, horse things and other funky animal stuff.

Here at Farm Toys we have a fantastic view from our office over the Somerset countryside. We share it with 3 sheep and our very first 2 lambs ever, Rosie and Charlie; 6 chickens, which are laying an egg each every day (once you have tried home-grown eggs you will never eat a supermarket one again!) and Elsa, the rescue puppy. Elsa is 6 months old and into chewing everything! Doesn't she look angelic?

We are very excited about the imminent arrival of 2 piglets, already labelled Bacon and Sausage by the children. Hopefully they will get them this weekend.

Our chief buyers and testers are:

Emily, age 8, who specialises in horse stuff, although she is quite keen on the children's gardening stuff too, having just planted her own bit of flowerbed in our jungle. She is currently road-testing a new pair of supersoft, organic Little Munchkin Pony Pyjamas.

Oliver, age 6, who is great at choosing tractors and other "big boy" things. The only problem is if he sees a brochure he tends to tick everything!

Harry, age 2, is tractor and digger mad, which is just as well, as he can't say many other distinguishable words. He is chief tester for our Little Ride-on Tractors and our Bruder Tractors, which he loves! He can't quite understand why he isn't allowed to help himself to any of our products, whenever he likes. He is very keen to road test one of our sandpit wheelbarrows but so far only managed to make it to the office door before being rumbled.

So do visit our website and I will be returning regularly to update you on exciting goings on at Farm Toys Online - and of course on the progress of Bacon and Sausage.... watch this space!