Lake Victoria Eatery: Simple Food. Simple Life.: The Funny Farm

Our animals have gone CRAZY! When you have 5 dogs, a cat, 8 hens, 1 rooster and baby chicks things can get a little funny on the farm. Our young puppy Mario has confidence much bigger than his little body can handle and he is growing more and more confident as each day passes. Here is our precious “innocent” looking puppy below with his partner in crime Omwenzi who is about a year old (also very much a puppy).

This is "Mara Ario" AKA Mario. Mara Ario means my second one. He is a little squirt

Bonnie and Clyde, AKA Mario and Omwenzi... always playing

Its hard to stay mad at these dogs because they are so cute!

Story number 1: A few weeks ago I was going down to the lake for a swim in my birthday suit when I see a beautiful goose swim by. All of a sudden Mario lunges at the goose and the other dogs join in! I am standing in the lake trying to run away from the situation while at the same time yelling at the dogs to back away from the goose! For those who don’t know, geese are VERY aggressive and territorial, so I was trying my best to dodge out of the way so it wouldn’t attack me! Meanwhile all the dogs join in and Mario, the little mess that he is, initiates the final attack and pins the goose down to the ground inviting all the other dogs to join in for the final kill. I couldn’t help but just sit back and watch at that point in order to keep myself safe. It felt like something out of the Planet Earth series as I stood there naked as a baby watching nature take its course.

Story number 2: Last week we let the hens out for their usual nightly roaming routine and we heard a loud tussle behind some bushes on the backside of the house. I looked out the window and much to my surprise (not really all THAT surprised) I see Mario attacking one of our chickens with Omwenzi pacing back and forth in front of the fence. Kelsi and I run out with sticks (being the cave women that we are) to capture the hen and Mario but the fence prevented our endeavor from being successful. All of a sudden the hen takes off with Mario fast behind and Kelsi and I chase after them along the perimeter of the fence. In the mean time Matt jumps on the other side of the fence with a machete to hack away at the brush so he could reach Mario and the hen now resting after the chase. After spotting Mario and the hen further down the fence line, Kelsi is able to pin the hen between her stick and the fence to keep Mario from eating it. I am poking Mario with a longer stick in order to keep him away from the hen and keep him in one spot while Matt continues to hack away at the brush to reach Mario. We couldn’t help but laugh at the scenario. As Mario was whining like a damsel in distress, Matt was approaching with a machete getting closer and closer like something out of a horror film. It was humorous but we were all very angry at the situation as well. Matt finally reached Mario and passed him over the fence to me so I could provide proper punishment and put him in a cage for the rest of the night. Matt was then able to hand over the chicken for inspection. We all decided that the chicken would not survive so we had to finish what Mario started and prepare a late chicken dinner (which took a LOT of time). Here is a picture of our meal cooking in the charcoal oven. We spiced up the roasted chicken with some rosemary growing in the garden and simple salt and pepper. The potatoes and carrots also had rosemary and thyme. Delicious, yet unexpected, meal.

Story number 3: October 28^th, someone had tied a cow to a tree on our property and upon hearing all of our dogs barking, we rushed to find our dogs circling the cow and barking. Mario, of course, takes the first leap to attack the cow followed by our dog Tonjo taking a first bite out of the cow (not injuring it, thank goodness). The cow began to buck but we were able to safely swat away all of the dogs and save the cow. The animals were properly punished… again. Later that day Tonjo and Mario try to attack ANOTHER hen. Again… punished. We took a vote and decided it is necessary for the health of our hens to tie Mario up during the chicken’s nightly feeding. Hopefully this will prevent future disasters.

Tonjo

Amalay - she is the BEST cat. I hate cats, but I love her.

Jonja - Alpha female of the pack

Shaka - my favorite dog. He is loyal and super protective

Story Number 4:

This past Tuesday, November 6^th at midnight, I woke up to the sound of one of our hens squawking really loudly, and all too familiar sound. Matt went down to the hen house with flashlight in hand and found a small wild cat inside the hen house!!! The wild cats are smaller than domestic cats with spots like a leopard. The dogs were all going crazy at this point! So crazy that they began jumping on top of the chicken coop roof trying to attack this cat! Kelsi come flying out of her tent with a flashlight to see what was happening while Matt opens the door to the chicken coop to provide an exit for the cat, but the dogs are swarming the coop and the baby chick escapes! Matt goes running after the chick to put it back into the coop when all of a sudden Tonjo, one of our dogs, bolts into the coop and leaps into the air to catch the cat who was pacing on one of the branches where the chicken perch at night. Tonjo shakes the cat vigorously in his mouth and immediately kills the cat! Sadly… the cat had already killed the mama hen to our newest baby chick. Here is a picture of the dead wild cat. Sorry for “dead” picture, but this is life on the farm. Don’t worry we did not cook the cat.