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| << October 2022 | November 2022 | December 2022 >> |
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1st: A siesta of setters Is there an appropriate collective noun required here? A siesta of setters perhaps  |
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4th: Salt She's not going to....... is she???? ... ... ... uh oh, yes she is   |
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6th: The beginning... So, tomorrow, our 28 birds will go from a large grassy paddock to a 16 square metre cage alongside their 27 square metre stable. It's enough space but... On the other hand every day when I get the APHA updates. I think there go another 3/4/5 sets of birds, thousands of them sometimes: people's livelihoods, passions, pets, food sources...  |
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7th: Last of the Autumn produce?? Picked the last of the veg from our allotment - some of these will go into soups for us, some will go to the chickens now flockdown is upon us. (Pictures showed pre and post washed) There are still a few raspberries but they mainly succumb to the rain so will leave those for the birds now. Greenhouse also now emptied, last of the tomatoes were enjoyed by the poultry...    |
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8th: Busy, busy - well, some of us are It's was a vile night last night but here on the Relaxed Smallholding, the animals are all safe and dry inside shelters and barns 😊, whilst in the house, the woodburner is lit and the looms are busy. And then there are the dogs.....🥰 take a look!! |
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9th: Shall we take bets on how long the dog room will stay this clean?? |
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10th: Animals behaving badly This is why we don't have totally species-specific feed for our stock.... ... so that when Barrington leaps over two sets of stock fencing to eat with the sheep and alpacas, at least I know his rumen can take it... There is of course the worry he may get too fat.... which would be quite an achievement for an Anglo Nubian goat! . Barrington has always had hollow legs!! Animals behaving badly... all in a day's work on a smallholding.  |
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14th: The joys of flockdown They could go outside into their covered run and enjoy the veg and woodchip out there.... but it's slightly raining!! Think flockdown is making them soft?? (or bored??). No matter what we give them, it's not grass and space out there...  |
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16th: Niddy Noddy We do LOVE winding our spun yarn onto the niddy noddy - partly cos saying the words: 'niddy noddy' makes us grin every time and also because it is always really exciting to see how the yarn looks and feels as it comes off the bobbin. This Shetland sheep yarn is destined for a thick fluffy rug or two. And do you know why the niddy noddy is so called? This from the Spin Off Magazine... 'Some say the name stems from the odd nodding motion used to wind the yarn with a niddy-noddy. Another explanation is that since the job of skeining often fell to an elderly granny who was sometimes known as a "niddy", the combination of her name with the nodding motion used in winding led to the term. Isn't that fabulous? |
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17th: Go hug a goat.... There aren't many things in life that cannot be solved by a goat hug or two.  |
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18th: Follow that quad There are under Starters Orders - all it takes is one rattle of the feed bucket and they are off.... And it appears that overtaking the quad is no problem at all as they realise the feed bucket was a ruse and in fact what is waiting for them is an open gate to Oak Field and it's FULL of grass!! Even 12 year old Mrs Brown with her arthritic front right foot can put on a bit of speed, bless her. |
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19th: Colour Spent a happy hour flower, insect and garden colour spotting this morning!! It's amazing to think we are mid November!!       |
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20th: Those expressions Whilst Ceres tries to look alluring and coquettish (not quite sure she pulls it off), Hegemone looks at me with horror in his eyes and mouths 'I don't know what to do...' (Considering he is a wether, he probably doesn't either)  |
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21st: Header row Love doing the header row at the start of a new rug - it's a promise of things to come - and a fabulous neat edge for the first row of yarn to sit against. It's important to get the tension right so that the warp threads are nice and straight and not pulled in - this is the foundation for an even, straight edged rug (hopefully...).  |
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24th: We know what we like And just like that, almost every seed is picked out - chickens know what they like!!  |
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25th: Curls Adore the curls in this rug - it's made from the fleeces of four white/ fawn Suri alpacas. We combed the fibre a little to open up the locks before spinning which made the spinning both easier and also better for showing off these lustrous curls. This rug is also a whopper - it's slightly bigger than our usual standard size (30 by 55) and weighs in at an incredible 5.3kg.  |
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29th: Building up nicely Building up nicely: alpaca (brown, white and rose grey) and sheep (Oxford Down and Zwartble). Our afternoon and evenings are now filled with the gentle sounds of shuttles going backwards and forwards and the not so gentle sound of beaters beating!!! The dogs are move than happy though, as it means they get the sofa all to themselves. Happy days!!    |
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30th: Photo shoot At the end of today's rug photo shoot, David wrapped one the rugs around his shoulders as he was cold. I decided it suited him... And got him to pose!!! I think he does it rather well! He on the other hand threatened divorce if this video saw the light of day! |