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| << February 2023 | March 2023 | April 2023 >> |
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1st: Latest additions Meet the latest additions to our mini fibre flock! Aren't these adorable: they are Gotland/Bluefaced Leicester crosses, 5 days old and were two of a set of quads born to a Gotland/BFL mum and a Gotland dad. They are going to have the most amazing fleeces and we are massively in love already!! HUGE thanks to Dawn and Mark from Gotland Gin for entrusting us with them. And their names: Lemon and Lime!!!   |
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2nd: Poultry cage The fruit cage for the poultry is nearing completion - got half the netting on today!!  |
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4th: Grass Life is so much better when you can get your chickens back on grass: we have now finished building our new, bigger run and with just six birds and (fingers crossed) maybe only two months to go before flockdown ends (based on last year), hopefully the grass will last!! VERY happy!!!  |
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5th: Nesting has begun Nesting has begun down in our rhea field. Beta takes his job very seriously and though he doesn't look it, was very grateful for the straw!!! Today, a couple of the girls could be seen 'hovering' near by!!!! We are undecided whether to let him sit, to hatch in the incubator or to not have any chicks at all!!! We expect the first egg in a week or two and so have a little while to decide!! Meanwhile we will enjoy all the courtship and flirting displays - they know how to put on a good show!!  |
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6th: Cat in a bag Cat in a bag - a bag full of alpaca fibre. Cannot begin to describe how warm it was in there!!  |
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7th: More lambs We picked up two more lambs from Gotland Gin today! These two pure Gotlands sadly lost their mum very unexpectedly this morning and so needed a new home. The plan is that they will go to live with a friend on her farm in Wales but live here till she can get down to Devon, hopefully at the end of the month. With any luck, they will bond with Lemon and Lime and quickly learn how to bottle feed. They are obviously missing mum hugely and everything must be very odd for them just now but it shouldn't take long for them to settle. We have decided to continue with the botanicals theme and have called them Juniper (female) and Peppercorn (male - at the front)  |
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8th: Just a 'bit' of sleet! Bit more than the forecast 'bit of sleet'!! Then we has several hours of rain. Now we have severe slush and a huge potential for mud.. slightly annoying when we the fencing contractors have just started work. And the 4-leggeds are seriously unimpressed.   |
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9th: Lamb snuggles Lamb snuggles are sometimes just what the doctor ordered....   |
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10th: Smallholding highlight Seeing newly fenced land is amongst our top ten smallholding highlights - sad but true!! 186m of stock fencing plus 4 additional top wires all completed in three days where it snowed, sleeted and rained - 'and' virtually no muddy mess. Mike Ford Fencing are miracle workers.   |
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11th: Doing really well After a few days Juniper and Peppercorn have settled really well and now all four are as eager for their four-times daily bottle feeds as each other. They are the bonniest, friendliest lambs we have ever had the pleasure to bottle feed. Having them here is a total joy!!   |
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12th: Twice the height Two weeks old (one, two and a half weeks) and these guys are now virtually TWICE the height they were when they hatched! From 7 inches to around 15 (the height of David's wellies). They have have to be the cutest hatchlings ever - so inquisitive, so confident, they literally race over to say hi when we enter the barn. We had 'little people' visitors today, aged three and five, and to think that in a few months, the emu will be looking down on these two!!    |
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13th: Caramel This is the latest alpaca rug in the loom. Very lush. We love the flecks of white amongst all that caramel!!  |
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14th: Spring Today has been so spring-like. The hedgerows are really starting to flush and the bird song increases on a daily basis.     |
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15th: Experts
These four are now experts at the shepherdess - look at those tails go!! |
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17th: Moving We moved the 4-leggeds from Fruit to Goat field today - there is more grass here and and with the weather a bit better (!!) , hopefully it won't get too muddy!! It's always lovely to see them in a new space!  |
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18th: And here are the ones that will get to live another day... ready and waiting to be collected this coming week!!! Another batch of rescues that are being distributed to local friends.    |
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20th: Hmmmmm.... If you are going to be caught in the act, you might as well act as though you really don't give a .... (LOL) |
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21st: And then there were six We collected three emu chicks today from Helen, the same lady we got our eggs from - six feels a fab number now and it was just wonderful to see how quickly they bonded. One is the same age as ours and the other two about three weeks younger. So now we have Fred, Harold and Olive and Bill, Alice and George.  |
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24th: Growing a-pace and as cute as ever...    |
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25th: Bailer twine use number 132 Bailer twine use number 132: Emu toy!!! Fell out of Jack's pocket whilst she was filling up their feed - and so let them have their five minutes of fun!! (Yes, we did take it away eventually....) |
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26th: The hive of activity that is our 'weaving room' this evening - unless you are a dog of course and then the word 'activity' isn't quite right!! As for the humans though: David is weaving our latest alpaca rug commission with some beautiful shades of caramel, brown and white, and Jack is warping up and spinning for a second sheep rug for a client using Zwartble and Oxford Down fleeces. Super eaten, fire lit, not a bad way to spend a blustery March evening!! No voice-over, just the dulcet sounds of Peter Gabriel and Genesis!!! |
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27th: Warping up The delights of warping up - this part is so much easier with two of you - one to hold the tension, the other to wind the wrap threads onto the warp beam at the back of the loom. So much of the prep before weaving is an art-form in itself!!  |
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28th: Getting wet We are in for a wet week - Neptune looks out on Goat field and wonders how much time he may need to spend inside over the next few days.  |
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29th: Back in the stable The chickens are back in their stable as the run is now getting rather muddy - hey ho!! But it's a big, bright space and they do love their straw (especially when we scatter corn throughout it)! We are lucky we have two places for them so we can choose!!  |
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30th: Chilling Love it that the garden has so many places for the dogs to just chill and relax - this is Stonefly looking out over her fiefdom.  |
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31st: Just a little wet!!!   |