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| << October 2023 | November 2023 | December 2023 >> |
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1st: Strawberries OUr new outside strawberry bed, all ready and 'cat-proofed' for new plants. We will still grow some inside the greenhouse too but are hoping for more next year so we can freeze a load as we do with the raspberries. Here's hoping!  |
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2nd: Storm Ciaran All looking a bit wet and bedraggled after a wet walk around our windy 'Storm Ciaran' battered fields this morning.  |
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3rd: Bramble A fabulous morning with Bramble, aka Blue Collar from Roxy's second litter June 22! Coming in at 35kg he is head and shoulders above his sister Sparrow, 23.5kg, from Roxy's July 20 litter. Stunning looking and so well behaved. And afterwards Dragonfly found the best place to sleep and Roxy perfected her sitting on laps routine     |
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4th: No words!!! |
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5th: Wet The weather is not great just now, we are getting a lot of rain, and often during the night too - and the land is saturated. It's really, really wet and boggy and in place, muddy. We moved the sheep and alpacas from Oak to Swallow Field yesterday, our wettest field to our driest. And when we say 'driest', it's still very wet, just not 'as' wet! And it is full of grass. But we get some very dramatic and beautiful skies in the evenings, as this photo shows. We are not routinely feeding the 4-leggeds yet incidentally. This was a quick feed in order to allow us to grab Lime and treat her for scald - again!! We imagine if we carry on being this wet, we will be doing this a fair bit over the winter!  |
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6th: Weather Ten minutes before the top photo we had torrential rain. As the sun then came out and the blue sky appeared, the garden looked stunning. And then we managed a walk on the Moor without getting soaked - although it kept looking as though it might give it a try! Moody weather and skies abound.   |
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7th: Thank goodness for pallets.... The water is coming from under the building and then through the blockwork in the poultry stable - never been quite so bad before. Our water table is very very high...     |
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8th: Definitely feeling the love today!!!    |
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9th: Strawed out the 'cow' shed for the sheep this afternoon and Otter invited Sparrow to help spread the straw... She took a bit of persuading but she eventually accepted the challenge. |
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10th: Love this view  |
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11th: What season is it? So as this year's leaves die off, and turn the most amazing colours... the beech on our land decide it's time for new shoots to start opening!!!! We need some cold weather and a respite from the rain and then our flora and fauna (still seeing Red Admiral butterflies) may actually work out what season it is meant to be. Having said that, today has been totally beautiful!!!   |
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13th: Open Plan We are now 'open plan' in the barn complex with the top of the new barn now being accessible from the double field shelter. This is going to male life so much easier for us and the animals. It means we can shut the sheep and alpacas inside all together with three area for them to roam in as well as giving them access to the outside in a less restricted way as each of the three areas has two exits/ entrances each. It also means we can muck out more easily buy working through the whole area under cover, rather than having to go in and out. BUT we can of course still shut some of the animals inside one of the areas as all have gates. All the 4-leggeds are now shut in for a couple of days as it is soooo wet outside - and so far the arrangement is working a treat.    |
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14th: Oh dear!!!! Our post foot trimming 'we hate you, how dare you' faces!! And yes, the humans did need to shower afterwards... LOL  |
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15th: Morning walk Blue skies, autumn colours and inquisitive alpacas - all combine to make a fab morning dog walk!!  |
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17th: It truly is the end of an era: our first sheep, Mrs Brown! 13 years full of cheeky head nudges to get to the feed bucket, loud bleats when we ignored her and, until she got a bit too arthritic, always being first at the gate when it was time to move fields. She arrived Oct 2010 with her pal Mrs White and over the years gave us 17 lambs and raised them all with love and dedication. She is immortalized in several rugs and mats and is hopefully now gallivanting around a forever green meadow with Mrs White in tow (probably telling her to slow down).      |
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19th: Cockerels!! Isn't it annoying when at the age of four months, they suddenly decide they are a cockerel after all??   |
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22nd: Trees We don't have any woodland on our land but we do have a fabulous hedge-line full of very mature trees as well as a few scattered in our garden, drive and green lane. We are hard pushed to pick any favourites but these two oak trees would be up there as strong contenders. In the words of the Woodland Trust, 'Oak forests support more life forms than any other native forest.' We love everything about oak trees: the canopy they create, their shape, the shape of their leaves, the acorns... of course acorns in large quantities are not always great for our smallholding stock but pigs love them and our sheep and goats enjoy a few each year without any problems. Smallholdings and trees are an essential mix in our view - having an environment that can support wildlife as well as provide for our stock is perfect. Trees provide shelter, food and create a balance in any sound ecological system. They also help to stabilize soil structure and as they die back each year, they keep the land well-fed! And of course they provide fuel. For the first time this year we have not had to buy in wood as we are now burning our own from trees that have fallen or that we have had to fell. We have planted masses of willow on our land which is great food for our goats, sheep and alpacas as well as a lot of native hedging. We are currently wondering about turning one of our fields into a wood but currently we are very unsure.  |
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25th: 10am this morning! Our fields were still frosty, our neighbours below us were not. All down to our tree-lined hedges keeping the sun out that little bit longer. (the photo is facing west, so the sun was to the left). I prefer it this way!! What about you - what do you like/ not like about having frosty fields? We all know that the cold is great for killing off bugs in the winter and that a really hard frost can break up the soil on our land and so help to avoid compaction (a good thing). Of course frost can also kill some plants (although very rarely grass). Our rhea always sleep out, I love it when we go down first thing on a frosty morning and 'spot' their sleeping areas: warm, green grass in a sea of white!! Today has been a fabulous bit of light relief from rain and mud. Long may it continue!    |
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29th: And they're down. This shelter (in Fruit Field) has, over the years, become more and more squelchy - worse in fact than the land outside it. We have every confidence these mud mats will do the job of keeping it dry underfoot for our sheep and alpacas. These mud slabs are one hellavu product, so solid and so easy to lay down. They find their level on the ground such that there is virtually no wobble. Walking on them we are amazed at firm the whole surface is. Thank you to Jo Farwell for her recommendation, and this is a link to where you can get them. https://www.mudcontrol.co.uk/    |