Archie / Bees / Pears

Diary

Posted: Monday 13 May, 2019

by Rosemary at 12:10pm in Smallholding Comments closed

Monday 6^th May

Lovely warm, sunny day. Dan got into the bees – all hives have queen cells, so he’ll have to take anti-swarming action this week. He also did some weeding in the apiary – loads of thistles – and started to harrow Laing’s Field.

bees Busy hive.

I weeded the strawberries – loads of couch –and sowed seeds – Parsnip Tender and True, Swede Ruby and Joan, Cornflower Polka Dot,Gypsophila Monarch White, Nigella Persian Jewel and Larkspur Dwarf Double Mixed.

Took Leo for a walk. He was very good.

Tuesday 7^th May

Went for two bales of hay – usage is, thankfully, dropping. Popped into B&Q for seed compost – they didn’t have any but they did have half price dahlias and peonies, so I bought some for the cutting garden.

Picked up Bravoxin for doing the lambs and Zephyr at the weekend. Going to give the lambs a dose of white wormer against Nematodirus. We have a red warning in place.

Wednesday 8^th May

Who stole Spring? It’s cold, windy and pouring rain. The cows refused to go out this morning so I let the ponies into their paddock for a wee while. Boy, were they excited.

Our planned farm tour was cancelled so spent a lovely couple of hours planning my cutting garden – really quite excited about this.

tulips Tulip arrangement.

tulips1 Tulip arrangement.

Thursday 9^th May

Dry, cool and breezy but the sun’s trying to get through. Annie calved about 12 noon. She was due today and I thought she’d go this morning as she was well bagged up and was walking around with her tail up when I let them out this morning.

I had a little wobble – I didn’t realise how much losing Blizzard’s calf last year had shaken my confidence – and called the vet. Then I went out to check and two feet were showing; had a wee feel and the nose was just behind so called the vet and said all was well. Braw big bull calf – we’re calling him Archie.

Archie Annie and Archie.

Friday 10^th May

Dan mulched another paddock in the orchard – looking good. Then he did some harrowing in Laing’s Field – we’re going to have to find somewhere pdq to put all the cut rushes. There are huge amounts.

Spent most of the day in a Smallholding Scotland meeting with the Crofting Commission. One of the topics was the problem of neglected land.

land Typical neglected land.

Saturday 11^th May

Lovely day! And busy. Tagged the calves and vaccinated Zeph with Bravoxin. We intended to ring Archie but there was nothing to ring. Turned them out and now that Archie is steady on his pins, I let Ace out to meet his son. It was pretty anti-climactic- Ace was more interested in the grass.

Then it was on to sheep – lambs vaccinated with Bravoxin and dosed with Albex 10%, as we have a high risk nematodirus warning for the area. Tagged the ewe lambs, so I can register them next week. Turned them out into Sheepfold after adapting the electric fence to let the sheep move about but keep the ponies off the grass.

ewes Ewes and lambs in Sheepfold.

The pet lambs are now on two feeds a day – 8am and 8pm.

Dan finished mucking out the byre; it wasn’t very dirty but the waste straw is going up to the orchard for more mulching. After lunch, we both got into the veg garden and weeded the new comfrey bed, ready for planting.

Sunday 12^th May

Beautiful day - warm and sunny. We had a farm tour this afternoon, so I did a couple of hours baking before breakfast.

Happy 22^nd birthday to my lovely Smokey (Munro of Millfield)!

We were a bit worried that the apple trees might no have a good pollination because of the cool, changeable weather - but the pears seem to have set fruit OK.

pears Lots of tiny pears.

Gave the pigs a fresh bed – that was very exciting. They are really nice pigs; very calm and friendly, considering I don’t spend much time with them.

While I was baking and pottering around, Dan weeded and manured the established comfrey bed. We need to get a manure bay empty and ready to refill. Then he went into the bees to check hive No2 – he was a bit worried it might be getting ready to swarm but all is well.

Then he put the electric fence up in Laing’s Field to section it off for the cattle. They’re now happily munching in there.

fence Electric fence in Laing's Field.