Friday 19th April 2013 saw the birth of a beautiful new calf “Castanea Sativa” Casta for short as is customary for us he is named after part of his food system and the first letter of his name is the same as his mothers Camomile. Camomile gave birth to two calves a first for us but as Fiona and I were away teaching the last day of a permaculture course in the Morvan France we were not here to attend to any complications. The first born calf died of asphyxiation due to inhaling embryotic fluid a common complication during birth, our neighbours who were keeping an eye on Camomile found here in time to aid the second calf and see he came to no harm. Mother father (Persimmon) and baby are all doing well see pictures below. Castanea Sativa is the Latin name for sweat chestnut trees the nuts play a part in the autumn feeding of all our cows and they are a great source of bee pollen so a good addition to any permaculture design.
