The Billy Goats Gruff

No, despite the title, this post is not the long promised Fairy Tale Friday story (sorry, sorry, sorry for the ongoing delay. It goes without saying that I am aiming for this Friday, but then again I am always aiming for 'this Friday'...)

Anyway...

This is a post about goats. Not the three billy goats gruff but two real-life lovely (non-gruff) goats. Goats that are coming to live with me in six weeks time. Huge excitement!

Gluckskafer wooden barn with Ostheimer goats (and some of Humphrey's hay!)

Obviously they will be joining the crack team that is the Cottontails workforce, along with Humphrey and the runner ducks. I'm not quite sure what their roles will be yet. But if it's based on their skill set it's going to have to involve a lot of leaping, bleating and nibbling. All valuable skills in the online retail sector.

A bit of background... I have always loved goats (not as much as rabbits obviously, such a thing would not be possible) and when my other half was trying to persuade to move to a small holding last year, goats were mentioned.

So I joined the Hereforshire Goat Club last summer to start finding out more about them, and in the autumn agreed to take two kids from a nearby farm community, Canon Frome Court. They kindly offered to keep the kids for us until this spring, by which time we hoped to be moved into our small holding.

In fact, we won't be moving into the small holding ourselves in until the summer now, but the kids will be moving in ahead of us - Easter weekend to be exact.

For months I have been spending Tuesdays at Canon Frome Court, helping with their small herd of goats and bonding with the kids. It's been an incredible learning experience and will hopefully make things a bit less daunting come Easter weekend.

The kids, now nine months old, are a lovely nanny goat called Martha, and her neutered brother Rufus. They are already alarmingly huge... This morning I took Martha for a walk - about 50 yards. It took half an hour and was a truly exhausting experience. And then Rufus ate the buckle off my left wellington boot.

Anyway, I will be uploading photos and telling you all about them in the months ahead, and hopefully sharing lots of goat antics (of which there are sure to be many).

But in the meantime, I haven't been able to resist stocking a few goats at Cottontails....

Ostheimer wooden goat - looks a lot like Rufus!

Ostheimer wooden goat - yes, this is a typical stance

Gluckskafer felted wool goat

They are all available on the Cottontails website, just look in the Tiny Animals - Felt and Wood department.

Things to do...

My to-do list is as long as my leg at the moment. And it seems to be growing. Here is a sample:

1. Emails
2. Orders - packaging
3. Place ordrs
4. Put new Ostheimer products on website
5. (And new Gluckskafer)
6. (And new Snapdragon)
7. (And new Sting in Tail)
8. Edit photography of all the above
9. Finish first Fairy Tale Friday film
10. Branding course
11. Upload photos to Press Loft
12. Create Easter category
13. Add more to sale / more discounts
14. Email 10,000 people re sale
15. Stock count - urgent!!

I am not complaining, I am inspired and happy at the moment. Really the above list is there as an explanation and apology for the fact I have yet to finish my first Fairy Tale Friday film (number nine on the list) - which should be launching today (delayed from last Friday, delayed from the Friday before...).

Here is a little picture from it. Can you guess what the fairy tale is? It's not hard!

'take this basket of food to your grandmother....'

So, it looks like Fairy Tale Friday is going to be late again - I am sorry. The worst of it is that I have been promising it on our Facebook page for weeks now - I am worried that folks will be expecting something epic. Believe me, it's just a series of pics and a little story, quite why I can't find time to finish it is beyond me....

So - next Friday!

Knitted guinea pigs and silver rabbits

I have been um-ing and ah-ing about whether to stock a little bit of jewellery at Cottontails.

In fact I have decided against it for the moment, but I thought it wouldn't hurt to introduce you to one of the lovely brands I have been considering - a small company called Just Trade who design and import some beautiful fairtrade jewellery and brooches.

Who could resist a knitted guinea pig brooch? And some veggies for him to munch on of course...




And their silver necklaces are simply lovely. My other half rarely reads my blog, but if anyone who knows him wants to point him at the rabbit necklace and mutter 'Valentines Day', feel free!

And as if the products themselves aren't gorgeous enough, they lady who runs Just Trade has recently acquired two house rabbits. I know how demanding such creatures can be so it's important to support Just Trade and help keep the rabbits in carrots!

They tell me they will be introducing some more rabbity items this year, so perhaps the range will be appearing at Cottontails one day, but in the meantime, do visit their own website and have a browse.

Big Garden Birdwatch - get ready!

Don't forget this weekend is the The RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch. It's easy to take part and simply involves sitting by a window for one hour and recording all the birds you see (i.e. enforced relaxing bird watching time - bliss!) All the details are on the website here, along with a sheet to help with bird identification.

In the meantime, to help you get ready, can you identify any of the birds in this photograph?




The photo is an area of wilderness on the farm we are moving to and the birds are little handmade wooden creations from Ostheimer.

All our Ostheimer toys are on the website here, we don't stock a lot of the birds but can get them in pretty quickly. And I am awaiting an order from them at the moment with lots more little animals - woodland and farm animals. Even a little wooden snail is on his way. Slowly.

The 'John Lewis' model

Last week Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg urged companies to follow the 'John Lewis' model and offer shares to their employees - apparently it will improve productivity and unlock growth.

With this in mind I have decided to offer shares in Cottontails to Humphrey and the ducks.

New shareholder: Humphrey

New shareholders: Mary, Dick and Jim

Also, from now on Humphrey will be sitting on the Cottontails remuneration committee - to make sure I don't award myself any huge bonuses at the expense of employees' carrots, corn etc.

Humphrey consults other workers ahead of remuneration committee

This will surely be the start of a new period of unprecedented productivity and growth at Cottontails!

Cottontails Bunny Biscuits

This is a lovely simple recipe I tried and tested ahead of putting it in our little Cottontails Book - they are simple, sweet, delicious little biscuits and Humphrey and I cannot recommend them enough....

Cottontails Bunny Biscuits

Ingredients
1 tsp vanilla essence
100g golden caster sugar
200g butter
300g plain flour, sifted

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then stir in vanilla essence.

Add sifted flour and mix together until crumbs come together - don't overwork the mixture.

Turn out, wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least an hour. (Overnight is fine - I tried!)

Preheat oven to 160*c / fan 140*c / gas 3 and cover baking trays with baking parchment

Place dough on floured surface, cover with clingfilm (to prevent rolling pin sticking) and roll out to 5mm thick.

Carefully cut out bunny shapes using our bunny cutters and place on baking trays.

Use a cocktail stick to give each bunny an eye.

Bake for about 15 minutes until golden.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool and crisp up.

Finally, GOBBLE THEM UP!!

This really is a nice recipe - I tried several different ones - the biscuits are really light and crispy.

Well worth a try...

UPDATE: I made a batch of these biscuits on Monday in a bit of a rush and 'rested' the pastry for five mins in the freezer - this is probably a dreadful baking faux pas, but it worked perfectly.

Dream Toys 2011 - The Cottontails Alternatives

Every year the Toy Retailers Association publish a list of 'dream toys' for Christmas and I have just been looking over the list for 2011. A world away from what I do here at Cottontails, it is a list rich in plastic and electronics - in at number one is 'Doggie Doo', a pooing plastic dog.

But I'm not too worried about this - after all I am not trying to compete with Argos or Toys r Us - what I try to do is offer an alternative to the mainstream - and thank goodness - I have just returned from a shopping trip to the dreaded Tesco where children's toys are piled high as you walk in. It's a relief not to be going head to head with that.

However, I'm not completely out of touch and I know that lots of children will really love a pooing dog or Full-auto Long Range Nerf-Disc Blaster (yes, really). These toys are bright, active, instant. The have big box packaging appeal and are doubtlessly being promoted all over children's tv.

But maybe there is room in the stocking for something a bit more traditional too? And, with this in mind, I have put together some alternatives. Here are five toys from the original list along with some rather more traditional, quirky and charming alternatives...


1. Doggie Doo vs Philbert the velvet sausage dog



Doggie Doo (£34.99) - the aforementioned plastic pooch produces his own poo. Philbert (£19.99) is a velvet sausage dog who lives in his own little cardboard kennel. He has Liberty print ears and he does not poo. (This is a good thing, right?)


2. Fijit Friends vs Bunny & Mouse Little Wardrobe



A 'Fijit Friend' (£55) is a funny dancing robot doll billed as "your interactive BFF". As an alternative I have selected a couple of more traditional 'best friends'... The Bunny and Mouse Little Wardrobe (£55) play set includes two little soft toys in their own carry case (wardrobe) along with a whole host of outfits - perfect for plenty of 'interactive' playing.


3. Milky Bunny vs oooh too many to choose from!



Milky Bunny (£59.99) is from the 'Emotion Pets' series and has batteries so she moves, snores and makes little noises. Scary eyes though. We have so many alternatives at Cottontails, where rabbits are our forte, that I couldn't choose just one. A few favourites though include the lovely French bunnies Lola, Sylvain or Jeanette who comes in her own a sturdy gift box. Or for something more interactive how about a handmade wooden hutch from Ostheimer with some wooden bunnies and a bag of hay.


4. Moshi Monsters Moshlings Treehouse vs Maileg Mouse House



The Moshi Monsters Moshlings Treehouse (£20) is a plastic moulded tree which opens up to reveal a place to play with and store your Moshlings (small plastic collectible things, I think). Maileg make two homes for mice. There is a wooden home (£35) fashioned on a cheese which also includes some furnishings and a little bell on the doorway*, or there is a much larger sturdy cardboard home based on a milk carton (£43). It might be nice to buy some mice to live in the house too - how about these little babies that come in their own matchbox bed with blanket? (£20)

(*Sorry I have sold out of wooden mouse houses.)


5. Let's Rock Elmo vs Moulin Roty Orchestra in a Bag



'Rock out' with Let's Rock Elmo (£69.99) - a plush toy who sings and comes with his own plastic drums and tambourine, or play percussion with Moulin Roty's Orchestra in a Bag (£73) - a cloth carry case full of eight traditional wooden instruments including xylophone, tambourine, bells, and whistle. Either way, it's not going to be a peaceful Christmas!