Bambi and Kit / Harrowing / Urquhart
Posted: Monday 25 February, 2019
Monday 18th February
Office day – finally finished the quarterly VAT return. My least favourite job, so it always feels good when it’s done.
Dan cut and packed a dozen orders for comfrey root cuttings.
Met with Kit Martin, who will be running some workshops here later in the year. All good! Very pleased.
Tuesday 19th February
Light ground frost this morning, then sun then rain this evening.
Dan and I had a business meeting. The plan is to meet weekly to decide what needs to be done and by whom – we’re using Trello now but I really prefer a paper list.
Finally got lime sorted out – we’re now “on the list”, which is a relief after two years of trying. I know we’re small but, hey.
Sorted out seeds and put some peas and beans on damp paper to sprout; going to put them in the polytunnel to fix nitrogen.
Wednesday 20th February
School visit this morning from a local school. First one, somewhat surprisingly. They walked round, which was great for them and us.
Ordered REMIN for the polytunnel. Wondered about doing the fields but blanched at the cost.
Picked up two bales of hay – should have been a hay and a straw for East PItkerro, so back tomorrow. It’s not a problem – we’ll use it here
Thursday 21st February
Mild and overcast all day. Picked up a bale of hay and a bale of straw for East Pitkerro. Will take it down tomorrow.
Packed up 50 comfrey root cuttings for a customer; quite pleased with how they look.
Comfrey to go.
Worked out how to use Gumtree and advertised some d0g cages, a milk churn, some harness and a poultry carry case. One dog cage sold right away. Not confident that it’s the right site for the other stuff.
Friday 22nd February
Mild, with light cloud and sunny intervals. Cleaned out the hens and washed the caravan. Hens will be going in there in April and it looked derelict. You wouldn't want to go on holiday in it but it looks far better and is much brighter inside.
Caravan before.
Caravan after.
And after.
Dan harrowed three paddocks – lots of moss coming out. I went round and scattered some grass seed on the bare bits and cleared up the rubbish.
Did some baking for the course tomorrow – gingerbread biscuits, fruit tea loaf and prepared for scones and chocolate brownie torte to be baked tomorrow morning.
Dan moved more woodchip mulch into the apiary – he said the bees were flying and were loaded with pollen.
Saturday 23rd February
Jane Wilkinson was here today running an introductory willow weaving course – the participants all made fruit baskets and mini obelisks.
Our new sheep arrived this morning – two in-lamb Shetland gimmers. One is fawn and has been called Bambi; the other is a katmoget and has been called Kit. They’re due second week in April but I don’t know if they are carrying singles or twins, so I’m going to put an energy bucket in for them.
Kit-katmoget and Bambi, with Teddy and Urquhart in the background.
Moved more woodchip to the apiary – almost finished and it looks really good.
Moved three buckets of strawberry plants into the polytunnel; I need to get on in there next week. Raked laves off the beds along the West Range – it’s a bit tidier – but I can see the weeds now.
Dan harrowed another paddock. The spring-tined harrow makes such a good job of breaking up dung and pulling out moss and dead tatch. One to go then we can get into Laing’s Field.
Harrowed paddock.
Sunday 24th February
Spring doesn’t seem so close today – thick mist, frosty and cold; didn’t really lift all day here, but it was better inland.
We jagged the sheep with Heptavac first thing and took some photos of Urquhart. Sadly, we need to move him on this year.
Cockairney Urquhart - sadly for sale.
Had afternoon tea at our friends’ – they’ve just bought some Bluefaced Leicesters. One lambed yesterday – a black ewe and a white ewe. We’ve bought the black ewe at weaning – she’ll be called Roo. Always wanted a black Blue.
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