Afton / Polytunnel / Peas

Diary

Posted: Monday 19 April, 2021

by Rosemary at 1:31pm in Smallholding Comments closed

Monday 12^th April

Finally confirmed that the steer / heifer swap is on this week. Wednesday, in fact.

Wednesday 14^th April

So, Afton went off to the Selbie Hill herd and Harvie joined ours. He’s a bit wee and skinny but I’m sure he’ll fill out. It all went rather well; we confined Afton to the far end of the shed and let the three steers out, after doing them with Closamectin. They had a gallop around the stockyard before heading out. They have a bale of hay and a licky bucket. When Harvie arrived, he went straight out, then Afton was loaded – she went on quietly at the second attempt. Job done.

afton Rosedean Afton.

Thursday 15^th April

The pear blossom is out and the courgettes and cucumbers are peeking through. So dry, we put the sprinkler on in the vegetable garden this evening.

Courgette Tosca.

pear Pear blossom.

Friday 16^th April

Kit gave birth to two white lambs this morning – a ewe and a tup. All well. As usual, I saw nothing happening at 6am and by 09am, the lambs were up and fed and bouncing round the pen. Scoot’s due 20^th, so I get a couple of night’s sleep before starting the 2am check. I hope Scoot likes her own lambs better than she likes her young half siblings.

Kit Kit and her twins.

Saturday 17^th April

What a glorious day! We had lunch outside – just lovely.

The main crop peas (Hurst Greenshaft) have sprouted – that came as a surprise this quick. I’ve potted up about 30 – the contents of one of four bags of 40. Some didn’t germinate and some had gone a bit mouldy.

sprouts Sprouted peas.

Dan fixed the electric fence then went off to harrow. He finished Laing’s Field, and then did our two Top paddocks. It’s so dry and no rain forecast. There were some well-grown early peas (Douce Provence) in the greenhouse so I planted them out and covered them – surprisingly, we had marked up the netting for the whole bed when we put it away.

netting We're not always this organised.

After “cluckdown”, the polytunnel looked a bit rough so Dan set off to restore it. And a great job he’s done. Just need to get the sprinkler on.

Rejuvenated polytunnel.

For a wee treat, I baked some raspberry and dark chocolate muffins. They are one of my favourites. In truth, my favourite is probably what I’m eating at the time.

Sunday 18^th April

We’ve had rain. Just a wee smidge – wish it had been more. First thing, Dan took a load of manure to the local allotments. One of the allotmenteers is a volunteer at the local football club – and they’re having a new all-weather pitch laid. So we’re getting three rolls of the old “grass”. We’re going to use it for the walkway from the barn to the fields so it’s comfier for the cattle. Karma!

walkway Rubber mats to be replaced with astroturf!

First thing, I baked ginger nuts for the week – our biscuit of choice with the first cuppa of the day.

Andy and Dan measured up the pig ark for its makeover and Dan potted up the rest of the peas. I planted out the sweet peas and some of the tomatoes in the polytunnel. It was so warm.

peas Just over 100 peas potted on.

The dogs are feeling the pace of being up at 6am and outside for most of the day. Tara and I took the ponies for an amble. It was lovely and both were good as gold.

dogs Puppers are feeling the pace.