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| << September 2023 | October 2023 | November 2023 >> |
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1st: More 'graduated' rugs The 'graduated' colours is becoming a bit of a theme in our rug making - this rug is a mixture of Herdwick and Suffolk/Texel. When we spun the wool we spun some as single colours and then we mixed up the rest, starting with a bobbin where it was 3:1 white to brown, then 3:2 white to brown and then 2:3 white to brown, ending with 1:3 white to brown. We then wove them in that order with some thin lines of pure white and pure brown in between. Isn't it funny how when the photo is taken from the white end the whole rug looks more white and yet when taken from the brown end, it looks more brown? And isn't it also wonderful how even with just two colours the design possibilities are endless?   |
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2nd: Animals V Machines Andrew has not cut our allotment hedgerow, inside and out. We are not big on mechanically cutting back our hedging and most internal hedges are left to be trimmed by the stock, including the rather overgrown poultry area where the goats are currently doing a fabulous job! The allotment hedging however needs to have a bit more of a drastic haircut in order to allow as much light as possible onto the growing plots   |
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3rd: Bufo bufo On the allotment yesterday - one of this years. Definitely an animal to encourage. We get loads as they lay in our pond each year. One of my favourite animals. Latin name Bufo bufo which is just such a fab name (and the only latin name we ever remember... )   |
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4th: And the land keeps giving.... All these are from our community allotment, can only take credit for the pears!!!     |
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5th: Serious gardening Time for our front border to have a full trim - behind the green was a lot of dead wood, dead shrubs and bare branches - hopefully in the spring it will all burst into life again.   |
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6th: Buddleia Butterflies were out in force today... meanwhile on a dead stem, no further than a metre away, a snail has decided it's time to hibernate!    |
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7th: Dog agility, Otter-style!! |
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8th: Allotment Get-together Fabulous Community Allotment Get-together this afternoon, celebrating our first season of growing fruit and veg. Our old pig plot has done us proud!!  |
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9th: Misty Morning A stunning morning full of mist, spiders' webs and the gentle sight of rhea taking a drink!!     |
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11th: Definitely comfy!! And this was while we were still knotting it  |
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12th: Alert and handsome Otter and Roxy  |
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13th: Neat stripes or totally mixed up  |
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14th: Apple blossom - in October??  |
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15th: Very inviting |
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16th: Muckle The totally gorgeous Muckle, a Shetland, eight years old, mother to ten lambs (two of whom are part of our flock) and a sheep that loves her chuckles. She also has a gorgeous cream fleece that is a joy to work with. She is also a sheep that is more than happy to be apart from the crowd. Very often when I go in the field to check them all, I found 12 sheep happily grazing in one part, and way down the bottom (or top), there is Muckle! She is a sheep that most definitely doesn't feel the need to follow the crowd!!  |
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17th: Dragonfly |
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18th: Photogenic Some of our alpacas just cannot put on a serious face for the camera - LOL!!       |
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19th: Mrs B The utterly amazing Mrs Brown, 13 1/2, mum to 17 lambs and still going strong!! She can lie down, and she can walk, but standing still is now hard for her... she is a good weight though and very sensibly is often found snug inside the field shelters. And she can still lead the way when it comes to following the feed bucket. We do so hope we can get her through another winter.  |
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20th: Muck The allotment muck has arrived, thanks to Edward from Cadbury Farm - we are now all set to load up the beds and get them ready for next spring's growth!! Exciting!!  |
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21st: Got To Love Goats We have no real idea how she got here either - and tbh, neither had she...   |
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22nd: On the community allotment today!!! Raddishes, garlic, raspberrries and onions - amazing!     |
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23rd: Firefly Firelfy's stance when he knows it is the end of the walk!!  |
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24th: Skylines |
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25th: A quartet of rugs Four super soft rugs off to their new owner this week: the brown and white ones are Herdwick and a 3/4 Texel cross. The pure white are Mule/ Texel and Mule/ Suffolk. The fibre was a joy to spin. The curls in the Texel fleeces are gorgeous - there is a real sheen to this wool. It was the Herdwick's first shearing so the wool was very soft and not too kempy - I really enjoyed working with it. For the first Herdwick/ Texel rugs I put handfuls of both in a box and mixed it all up before then spinning. At first I put more texel in than Herdwick and then gradually more Herdwick than Texel. This produced a gratuated light to dark effect. For the second rug, I kept the two fibres separate and just kept grabbing randon handfuls as I spun. Each method produced quite different rugs!! Very sad to see these ones go!!!     |
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26th: Starlings We love starlings and this time of year we get to see them in reasonably large numbers in our fields as the UK in general fills with migratory birds from Northern Europe. When we moved here seven years ago, we saw them all year - sadly, numbers have declined by over 50% according to the BTO and as such, they are no longer all-year round resident birds in some places. We see the odd murmuration, small ones, but seeing hundreds on the electricity wires like this is quite common at the moment. The noise is just amazing! And the colours are quite spectacular! The decline in numbers is attributed to loss of pasture and chemical use (!!) although the numbers have gone down in cities too. They eat a huge range of invertebrates including beetle larva and as such can be beneficial to agricultural land, although in the autumn, they also eat berries and seeds and as such can be considered a pest if these berries and seeds happen to be agricultural crops. We are very happy to have them on our smallholding - one could argue they are good for aerating our wet clay soil as they use their beaks to make deep holes looking for food. They close their beak to create the hole and then open it once in the ground to make it bigger - clever!     |
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29th: Compatible?? Sometimes we feel that running a smallholding and making woolen rugs - often white woolen rugs - are not as compatible as they should be!!!!   |
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30th: Preening and drinking Why drink from your beautiful clean, deep water trough, when you can use a shallow, muddy puddle instead?? On a separate note, just love watching the early morning preening that goes on after a night sleeping out. Isn't it fascinating that the white rhea are 'all' white, both top and under feathers; whilst the greys have grey feathers on top and a mainly white under-layer. It's super warm under there, I can tell you that much!!! White rhea are leucistic, meaning a partial loss of pigmentation, unlike abinism which is a complete loss resulting in the classic red eyes. Both grey and white rhea have gorgeous blue eyes.     |
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31st: Autumn beauty Autumn reminds us that beauty can often be found even when something is dying.... ... a dandelion this morning in the middle of one of our fields, bravely hanging onto four seed heads (or florets). A promise of things to come.  |