Life seems to change so rapidly! Just one month ago, I was in Toulouse in the middle of winter, madly preparing with friends an animal rights school program. Now I am in Coorabell (near Byron Bay NSW) living above a barn in an awesome studio with Lily (pig); Dave (calf); Lucy (lamb); Tom (rooster) and Hannah (hen) about 100m away in a lovely paddock. This is where they all stayed whilst I was in France – (thanks Joel and Melinda) and where we will live until we find a property to continue our project for rescued animals.

It’s so great to be with them on a daily basis again, life is never dull. These guys have been eating leftovers from the local organic store and café – Santos; we are lucky enough to pick up their all-organic compost every few days. Today I watched with amusement as David was chewing on ¼ raw beetroot, he ended up with it everywhere and looked he was wearing bright pink lipstick – very cute. Dave and Lucy went and spent the day in another paddock next to theirs with a group of cows. Lily does not mind being by herself, she busily roots around and then flops down to sleep every now and then. She has already dug up a whole row of organic ginger on this property so we have to be careful which paddocks she goes into, plus she doesn’t have the large grazing requirements like the other two.

Lucy is having some special herbs the moment as she has been getting a bit sad. In her younger days she would come with me or our friends Kelly and Anton everywhere and she loves being out and about meeting people. She seems to get sad not having human company all the time. We are working on solution so she can get out and about again, and last week we went for a special one on one walk together, searching out all the good things to eat. She was stoked! Hannah is a real sweetie and she gets on very well with the resident chickens here. She can often be found with Pepper. I love when she pecks me on the leg when I crouch down. She spends a lot of time waiting near Tom as he has been temporarily separated from the hens.

He clawed under Hannah’s wing when trying to do manly stuff with her and has been too rough with the smaller chickens. He is also taking some herbs to calm him down a bit. Talk about rough, he seems to have forgotten when he was a little chick and following me around, he has taken an absolute disliking to me since getting back and launches himself at me. Flapping and kicking out both legs at me – he is huge now, a fully-grown ex broiler chicken so he is pretty scary. I am trying to stay calm (not always successfully) and spend time with him so he gets used to my presence again. He is super friendly with Joel, and I know he is truly a sweetie at heart, I totally respect his important role of protecting his flock.

A few days ago I found myself in a piggery taking pictures. Same old story, beautiful pigs with only enough room to lie down or stand up. They were living it farrowing crates, mothers stay here just before they give birth and afterwards. They lie down most of the time whilst their piglets suckle off them. They were on concrete floors, bars all around them. One enjoyed a nice scratch on the back and, another peered into Sal’s eyes wondering what was going to happen after she gives birth. Sow stalls and piggeries are horrific places; please consider this before choosing to eat ham, bacon or pork. There are so many other delicious, compassionate choices available.

Best wishes for 2012; hope you may get to get to visit us all sometime soon. Lots love, Jodi