muddy path...

It is rainy season and cyclone Pam has just passed us by. 

 The farm is muddy and today Claude and Sai plan to fix the muddy path that the goats have to follow twice a day...

Footrot in goats (and sheep) is caused by the 

  bacterial organisms Fusiformis nodosus, and Spirochaeta penortha.

 The infection spreads when goats walk over the soil or pasture contaminated by infected carrier goats or sheep and mud is an excellent breeding ground!

Mild to severe lameness in one or more goats is the first sign of footrot.

Once infected, a goat may be a carrier of footrot for years.

So, prevention is better than cure and this is a dirty, muddy job that simply has to be done for the welfare of our goats.

Claude is using old cement railway sleepers....

                        it has been 'stored' on the land for ages

 and I am always on about the 'rubbish' and 

                                                    he 'has to get rid of it'....

    Today Claude  proved how valuable the old sleepers are....

       The cement sleepers are very heavy and it is backbreaking work....

            

                        then they started to fill the gaps between the sleepers 
                                                                                   with sand....

                             and then it was all done...

                                                     very proud of the work . 

           well done Claude and Sai !

cyclone Pam - Friday, 13 March 2015

CYCLONE PAM  - 13 MARCH 2015

 

 This radar image shows the monster in colours....Pam was called 

a monster

 before she arrived and she turned into something even worse!

Although the initial track put the system very close to Fiji, Nature spared us this time.  She passed some 900 kilometers away from us, right over Vanuatu as a destructive category 5....

Smaller islands that are already affected by climate change, have been completely destroyed and swamped by the storm surge and destructive winds that were part of Pam.

Port Vila , Vanuatu had to endure 300 kilometer winds for hours....
                 Friends of ours said it sounded like a Boeing.....

Of the 30 yachts on moorings, only 5 made it.....

more than 50 000 children are without homes....no schools...

Watch this excellent report from CNN

VANUATU - Before and After....

 

On 17 December 2011 Fiji was struck by Cyclone Evan , a category 4/5 system.
You could read about it here...
      
                     It was destructive and we lost basically everything...



But now we have not forgotten those days and our empathy and thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, Kiribati, Solomon Islands , Tuvalu,

 and especially my little idyllic island...Tikopia!

                                             https://vimeo.com/116715533  
      a beautiful video of this unique place , please watch it



 Preparations on Naciriyawa were frantic...so much to do and we basically had 3 days to get ready...
The forecast put Fiji away from the track that they predicted the cyclone will follow....but one just never knows! 
Nature, she follows no man!

Claude secured the animals, we had to pack up our kitchen, stock up on provisions....water for us and the animals....the list went on and on......

-------------------------------

We were lucky. Pam passed us by and although hundreds of kilometers away, the wind did not reach more than 40 knots and the predicted torrents of rain, was minimal....

 our thoughts and positive energy are with our neighbours

cabin 1 - under construction....