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| << September 2022 | October 2022 | November 2022 >> |
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1st: Abundant honeysuckle Every year at this time these honeysuckle berries attract such a variety of birds: bullfinches, blackcaps and marsh tits to name but three. Today was the turn of this gorgeous looking male blackbird, and my goodness did he have a feast. (photos taken at full zoom and through a rain splattered window so not the best quality).     |
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2nd: Enjoying their apples We picked the last of our apples from the 4-fruit tree area today (we still have more to pick in the Grren Lane). All were cored and whilst we now have a large pan full of stewed fruit, the poultry thoroughly enjoyed polishing off the remains. About an hour after this photo was taken, there was not a lot left!!  |
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3rd: Quick, where's the camera Getting a 'natural' photo of all our seven setters together is pretty bloomin' rare and when it does happen, we usually have them looking in eight different directions, at least one of them drooling and then a last minute head flick causing a motion blur right in the middle of the photo. This is the most recent attempt - rather like the black and white version even if we do say so ourselves!!   |
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4th: Veg Peelings and ends from the allottment-grown marrows and tromboncinos before we take the veg inside to make yet more soup!! The birds are very grateful!  |
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5th: Spinning Two videos that show the very different types of spinning we. David is spinning washed raw alpaca and Jack washed sheep slithers. These produce very different rugs - the former are fluffy and look like the fibre as it is on the animal's backs, the latter is smoother and far more homogenous. Both are incredibly soft, long lasting and beautiful additions to any home. How licky are we to get to work in this way!! |
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6th: Thirsty work It's thirsty work, racing round the smallholding!!!  |
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7th: Eko Alpaka Jack sent the afternoon at the amazing Eko Alpaka here in Devon with David, Anila and Sami (British Alpaca Fashion Company). The real purpose of the visit was to see their guanacos so we could learn a bit more about our rescue boys and how best to care for them as they settle in with us. Whilst there, Jack was also treated to a tour of their amazing design studio and got to see and feel a huge range of their stunning alpaca fabric. If you fancy your alpaca fibre being turned into scarves, jumpers, slippers, suits, throws, furnishings etc, this is the place to go. Have a look at their website: http://www.ekoalpaka.com/ (And of course if you fancy an alpaca rug, you can still come to us 😉)  |
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8th: Successful move What a stunning day it has been here in North Devon - and for us, the first time for moving the guanacos to fresh grazing with the rest of the 4-leggeds - or SAGGs as we call them (Sheep, Alpacas, Goats and Guanacos). Delighted to say that after a bit of anxiety, they totally got it - as the (rather shaky) video shows. Very happy!! Bearing in mind that within 24 hours of getting these two, a mere month ago, they had leapt over a five-bar wooden gate and two sets of 4 foot high stock fencing, all in their desire to get as far away from us as possible!!! Think maybe, just maybe, they are now part of the gang!!! |
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9th: SLHs (Smallholding Little Helpers) We all have our SLHs. This was ours yesterday: White Toe rearranging the spent hay we were raking up, adjusting the tines in the actual rake and inspecting the quad. And THEN, deciding it was all way too beneath him and walking off. 🤣 |
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10th: Stunning October colours It's the second week of October and two of our favourite wild flowers are in fab bloom still: yellow poppies and fox and cubs. Pictures also of fuchsia and a pink rose cos we rather like them too. Such stunning colours.     |
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11th: Game changer Game changer: sticking a few rows of LED lights under the top shelves on our looms - it is now so easy to see - and no more moving portable lights around to try to get the right positions for warping and weaving. 🥰 Thank you David!!!   |
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12th: Bullfinches Today we had no less than 'five' bullfinches feasting on our honeysuckle: three females and two males. My camera is not really up to the task of capturing these beauties (mainly due to too much grit now residing behind the lens 🙈) but these are the best of the not so good!! We are astounded at how much food these berries are still providing!! Note how in all these pictures, the bird has a berry in its mouth 😊. Need to take cuttings and get more planted around our garden and smallholding!!     |
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13th: Early morning on the smallholding today Incredible that we get views like this!  |
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14th: So proud of our dogs! We like to walk them round all our smallholding fields and as such, they have to get used to our stock - and of course vice versa. As some of you know, last month, we rescued two guanacos with the hope they would settle in happily with our mixed herd of goats, sheep and alpacas. We weren't however, quite prepared for how much they really didn't like dogs. They spent the first two plus weeks screaming any time they saw or heard the dogs, torn between running away and wanting to know where they were - and as such we knew it might be a while before they could go in the same field together. This week we decided to see what would happen if we allowed one dog in their field at a time, hoping that as they are now pretty bonded with the alpacas, that they would group together and follow their behaviour where they pretty much ignore the canine instrusions into their land. After just a few days, we have been able to let all seven dogs in their field at once and whilst they certainly are aware of them, the guanacos haven't screamed, run away in fright or tried to leap over any fences. The dogs have kept a respectful distance and we couldn't be more pleased!! Fingers crossed this continues...   |
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16th: Alert, bright, handsome, happy!! Firefly, Stonefly and Otter: 7 years, 4 years and 10 months! Life is good with setters in your world!! (and for my next trick, I will now get all four Gordons lined up like this - look out for the post next month, as in November 2030)  |
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17th: And the veg patch still keeps giving We are still harvesting raspberries, blackberries, tromboncinos, squash, sweetcorn, cougettes and marrow; and strawberries, tomatoes and cape gooseberries from the greenhouse.   |
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18th: Happiness Happiness is a new bale of hay in the hay trolley, a fine view over the Devon countryside and having a good old eat and greet with your friends.  |
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19th: Wind Frenzy As ex-teachers, we recall playtime duty on windy days - groaning in the sure and certain knowledge that when we got outside, it would be to supervise a playground of hyper children whose whoops and cries and screams would be totally heightened in blustery conditions. When we started keeping dogs, we quickly learnt that the same applied to them. And now as smallholders, guess what, as we are sure you all know, livestock get the 'wind frenzy too' (in more ways than one, but that's a whole different story). Just take a look at our rhea - the dogs don't stand a chance |
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21st: Not yet forgiven The faces of three dogs that we haven't quite forgiven yet (well, actually we have but please don't tell them...). It has to be said that heart rates, blood pressure and general calmness haven't quite returned to normal levels. After the HUGE relief at having these three reprobates back home, came all the 'what-if' thoughts about what 'might' have happened and what if we hadn't found them when we did. This post is actually about the humans though - all you wonderful people who shared posts, commented, sent messages, phoned, offered help and in several cases joined in the search. So, to the following, a HUGE HUGE thank you and then some. To Lynda Pons (who drove round for hours - literally) - and was the one who spotted eyes in a field that turned out to be Stonefly and Sparrow - we simply can never thank you enough; to Marie Chells and Dee Brend who met up and drove over to trawl the lanes on the outskirts of the village; to Andrew and Inge who walked across the fields on their farm up towards the woods where we think the dogs initially headed to; to both our farming neighbours who not only didn't express concern at the thought of dogs running around their sheep-filled land but hopped on their quads to see if they could spot them; to locals Mandy, Peter and Mel who drove round/ walked the lanes. And to everyone else - seeing all those comments and seeing how many times the original post had been shared, David and I are humbled, touched, and totally in awe of just how gorgeous people are. THANK YOU EVERYONE SO SO MUCH!! XXXX    |
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26th: Different spinning We love the different types of spinning we do for our rug making - so here we have three different types of skeins 1) Devon Closewool and Herdwick slivers, lightly spun; 2) washed raw Shetland, woolen spun (as opposed to worsted) so it is light, fluffy and bouncy - it isn't a true woolen spun as the fibre isn't prepared (carded) and 3) washed, raw alpaca fibre with short and long fibres, spun to be as thick and fluffy as possible!! I think we don't tend to follow convention when it comes to our spinning - in a way I'd like to suggest that we 'listen' to the fibre and allow it to lead us. We have learnt that every single fleece comes with its own properties, qualities and 'voice' and that from the minute the animal is born, how its fleece will develop, is led by everything that then happens throughout its life!! We feel lucky to be able to work with all the different fleeces we do - and hope we maximise them all to the full!!   |
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28th: The worburner, rug and a dog! A woodburner isn't complete without an alpaca rug and a dog - preferably a setter!!  |
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29th: Horridge Moor Horridge Moor is a ten minute walk from our front door and a fabulous place for the dogs to run in the long grasses and explore the hedgerows and trees round its borders. Late afternooon walks at this time of year are just beautiful, with stunning views over the Devon countryside. Yesterday I walked with Roxy, Firefly and Stonefly. For them it is a lovely change from racing round our own fields!!     |
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31st: Moving animals on.... un-expectantly Eight weeks ago we rescued our guanacos. Yesterday we moved them on!! When we first got them, they began by showing us how easily they could clear 4/5 foot fencing/ gates and they also showed their disapproval of our dogs - very loudly. One was a lot more skittish than the other but we hoped the tamer one might help settle his pal. After an up and down few weeks with them, we felt we were perhaps winning and that they had started to feel a part of our 21-strong alpaca/sheep/goat herd. We even started to walk the dogs in their field and whilst they noticed them and moved away, they no longer screamed or raced off. Then we moved them, as in we moved all the stock into another field, part of our usual rotational grazing regime. Sadly, as far as the guanacos were concerned, the clock was wound back and all their 'stressed' behaviours returned, and worse, they withdrew from the herd a little, no longer coming over to the gate with the rest when they saw us, often hanging well back. They also began fence pacing.... (I hate to see animals fence pacing..). And the screaming returned - loudly. Our land is split into two 2-acre fields and two 3-acre fields and it was obvious to us that it was only our bottom 3-acre field that they felt vaguely comfortable in. Leaving them there all the time was obviously not an option both in terms of land management and for the difficulties of still rotating the other animals round all our fields. We reached the very sad conclusion that we weren't able to provide a safe enough environment for them, both in terms of space, companions and routines, and so yesterday afternoon they were collected by Gemma Earl from Taw River Dairy to join or rather re-join their group of 11, also rescued at the same time as ours. Gemma sent me a video of their unloading where we saw a great meet and greet of their original field mates in a HUGE field - maybe the size of our entire smallholding!! I know they will be happier - as indeed will we be knowing this, sad though we are as well at the outcome of our attempts to rescue these beautiful animals... Sometimes, these things just don't work out BUT guilt is a very wasted emotion as is regret (not that we don't feel rather a lot of both..).   |