Anything goes
On a roll (pardon the pun)
Tuesday 10 May, 2011
The breadmaker seems to have had an unexpected impact.
The yogurt maker has now been dug out from the back of the kitchen cupboard and put on and Dan's just taken delivery of two homebrew kits - Munton's Gold Imperial Stout and Woodforde's Norfolk Wherry Best Bitter.
Dan's now making a spiced fruit loaf in the breadmaker - it's bothering him that it's sitting idle for 19 hours a day :-)
Breadmaker
Tuesday 10 May, 2011
We've bought a breadmaker. Now I know if we were proper smallholders we'd be up to our elbows in dough daily - and we do make bread by hand sometimes - but time is limited and breadmaking isn't always top of the priority list. Mostly it's not even on the list.
However, we were fed up with shop bought bread, so Dan bought a breadmaker. It's fab. It's got a timer so you can set it up at night and the bread is ready in the morning. Yesterday, we awoke to the most wonderful smell of new baked white bread - extra large. We ate it at lunchtime. Not good for the diet.
A proper shepherd
Tuesday 26 April, 2011
I've just bought a crook. It's a Ritchey Conroy, as recommended by Tim Tyne. It's made of carbon fibre, so is light and strong. I feel a bit of a fraud but it will be useful, once I learn how to use it. Those lambs are fast, you know, and tricksy.
I'd really like a nice wood one with a horn top, just for leaning on :-) Oh, and a bunnet.
Dismal day Part 2
Monday 14 March, 2011
Didn't get to Forfar on Saturday - got as far as Muirdrum and the snow was 2" thick so came home. They wouldn't have been fencing in that weather anyway.
It's so wet - grateful it's not snow, but the fields are flooded again. We're going to have to do the drainage without any grant aid as the timing isn't right - we need to get the drains in now, or we're going to lose a whole season.
Dismal day
Saturday 12 March, 2011
but at least no earthquakes.
The fencing has been abandoned in favour of wood cutting, as John's got a stinking cold. Dan and his chainsaw - man and machine in perfect harmony :-)
Eddie Lovett (Black Rock man) called yesterday to say he had 40 day-olds for me - great! Phoned this morning to say that snow was heavy and lying with them, so maybe Monday.
Off to Forfar now to get fencing wire and hinges.
Spring has sprung today
Thursday 24 February, 2011
It's been lovely here today - I don't know what the temperature was but it was warm and sunny with a light breeze.
John put up some hooks in the feed store for me, so I spent a happy hour sorting out ropes and halters and harness neatly on the wall. You can never have too many hooks in a tack room.
I took Bugsy out for a walk along the golf course. Although he was on the halter, he had his bridle on and he seems much happier with the bit. He also had his roller on. After several months of a semi-feral existence, we're taking one step at a time until we get to where we were in the autumn of last year, then we can start to move forward. He was very good today, responding well to voice commands to whoa, walk and trot.
Water, water everywhere
Tuesday 15 February, 2011
Granted, we've had quite a lot of rain this week but parts of our fields are underwater. With only 12 acres, we can't afford to lose that much grass.
We had soil samples taken this week by a local firm, who will provide an analysis and advice on what to apply and when. The bloke that came out was very helpful and explained about liming and trace elements. The pH test was free but a full soil analysis was £25- we had 5 samples taken, but we reckon that £125 is a good investment if it helps us take good care of the land.
Pigs in the market
Tuesday 8 February, 2011
I had reason to be at our local livestock market today. While I was there, a load of pigs - cast sows and boars by the look of it - were delivered. These will be sold tomorrow.
They will, therefore, be kept overnight on concrete floors with no bedding other than a skim (and I mean a skim) of shavings. Some of the pens had no water dispensers. The market was freezing. I found this quite distressing. I have no difficulty with animals being slaughtered but this just didn't feel right.
No Focus
Tuesday 25 January, 2011
I've sold my car. For the first time in 22years, I don't have my own car. Since we moved here, we use the car less so we decided that we could manage with one (it's kind of two, since John and Linda have a car, but I like having the backup).
I had a Ford Focus - bought it in 2003 and I loved it. It was a real wee workhorse and never let me down. It was a bit dirty (understatement of the year) so I employed a local car valet company to clean it. Wow! It took him all yesterday morning but it looked like new. Although it was dirty (and strawy), it wasn't worn at all. Even better, he knew someone who was looking for a runabout.
Thawing again
Monday 27 December, 2010
We're thawing again - hopefully for a bit longer this time. We woke this morning to the sound of snow rushing of the roof. When the dogs rushed out the back door, as they do, they slithered and slipped - even 4-paw drive couldn't stop them. The feed store floor was a bit wet and a couple of gutters are leaking, but not badly.
On the plus side, none of the water buckets was frozen - I suspect the tap in the ponies' field will have thawed out too. We were also able to poo-pick a bit of the field now that the poo doesn't freeze solid - but that means no more "ice lollies" for the dogs.
