Tiraislin Farm - Ontario: An Impression.

A little flyer in the kitchen gives the perfect description of our new home in Maberly:

"Tiraislin' is a Gaelic word meaning "land of my dreams." For Rosemary, the 722-acre farm that she purchased in 2000 is indeed the place where she can apply and enjoy both the scientific and the artistic passions that form her life. She raises Tibetan yaks, Highland cattle, sheep and goats in a manner that promises them "the happiest life they can have." Rosemary firmly believes in the many benefits that this stress-free farming practice brings to consumers.

It's pretty crazy how a woman of sixty-seven survives all by herself on this enormous piece of land, baptised Tiraislin. Well she does it and she does it pretty well! She has some help of friends, wwoofers and two Karabash to protect the livestock from wolves.

This large turkish breed is an exellent guard against all kinds of predators. Normally they live between the herd and become part of it. Daisy is three feet high and very gentle, she protects the property together with Ismir. This Anatolian shepherd is very common in Belgium especially in the sanctuaries. People bring them into our country as pets but after six months they don't turn out to be the lovely housedog they expected, sad isn't it!

 

 

A big part of the livestock is Highland cattle, these beautiful animals are very resistant against all kind of things. Rufus, son of Decklan is a massive bull but gentle as a little baby! The calfs look like little rockstars and are very cute. In Europe they use Highland cattle to graze in protected green areas because they graze very selective and they don't need much care and shelter.

  

 

Mister Rufus has some black offsprings. This breed grows very slowly so it's not good for any commercial use but if you have enough patience they do produce very good meat.

The second group of cattle are Tibetan yaks, these long-haired bovines are pretty wild so you have to watch out for their big horns! Did you know that they can cross with the Highland cattle, they call the crossbreed Highyaks.

 

The domesticated yak is used in Tibet as a transport animal. They also breed it for milk, meat and their warm fleeces. Can you see the difference between a purebred yakcalf and the running Highyak?

A whole bunch of other animals on this farm cross my camera every day...

This young handsomeboy is the last born of the big flock of sheep that graze on the property. He was very weak the first days so we had to keep him warm and give him some extra collostrum. He's doing great now...We call him Hent.

Meet Taschi, unfortunately this 18 year old Guanaco died the night before yesterday. We don't know the exact cause but his loss makes us all very sad! He was a beautiful animal, this is the last picture ever taken of him.  



And ofcourse every farm has his feathered friends everywhere, making a lot of noise and dropping a lot of eggs! Chickens, roosters, geese et les pintades...

 

Rosemary Kralik is an artist. She started drawing when she was six! She paints, she makes sculptures portraits and all kinds of stuff artists make! Some of her works decorate her house, that and many other things...: )

So here it is, the beginning of a new story! I think we'll have to write a book one day anyway... this blog is already a good start. Enjoy whatever you are doing and seize the day...SMILE!

Kind regards

T&H.