Smallholding
Zenith / Barn / Tours
Monday 29 July, 2019
Monday 22nd July
Cloudy, damp, warm and windy. Blizzard’s calf was born at 8.30am – a week earlier than we expected, but she’s perfect. I was lucky enough to be there. She’s dun like her mum, with a little white. She’s been called Rosedean Zenith. We already have a buyer interested, on Skye.
Blizzard and Zenith.
Flowers / Cordial / Mats
Monday 22 July, 2019
Monday 15th July
Cloudy and warm, but the sun came out at lunchtime. Made more blackcurrant cordial.
The ponies escaped again – it will be good when the fence is up. They rub on the hurdles and knock them over. Fortunately, they just go as far as the hay bale, but gthey do make a mess.
Tuesday 16th July
Another lovely day. Jane was here to trim Leo’s feet.
Blizzard has a wee discharge, but seems fine. Two weeks to go. Moved the cattle out of Laing’s Field into one of our paddocks – smaller and closer. Annie’s udder is much improved and is sound.
Bees / Blackcurrants / Field Shelter
Monday 15 July, 2019
Monday 8th July
Lovely day, so ditched the office and spent the day outside. Dan saw two foxes last night – a big dog fox and a smaller one, either a youngster or a vixen. His late night apple thinning is keeping them away from the hens.
Picked and cooked more strawberries; they really have been amazing.
The cheeps seem quite settled in their pen.
I carried on weeding; Dan made elderflower cordial and checked the bees.
The strip grazing is going well – you can see where the ponies have been!
Fox (again) / Wildflowers / Penfold
Tuesday 9 July, 2019
Monday 1st July
The summer continues with warm, sunny weather. Hopefully, Lindsay’s getting in lots of plenty good hay! I spent the morning doing some paperwork. It never goes away. I try to deal with emails promptly and there can be a lot of them.
Gave Limpy Lamb his second dose of antibiotic. I keep thinking about Wallace and his long struggle with joint ill, and cross my fingers and toes.
Decided to stop milking for now; Archie is now taking most of Annie’s milk and I don’t want to take the calves off. So back to Graham’s Organic, until Blizzard calves at the end of the month.
Lightning / Barn / Beans
Tuesday 2 July, 2019
Monday 24th June
Heavy rain overnight, as forecast. Access to the barn is now restricted, so Ace wasn’t allowed in this morning.
Ace, wanting in.
The duck has gone. I guess the crows took all her ducklings and she left. Sad.
Urquhart tried to make me think he was dead. Wish he wouldn’t do that.
Urquhart, not dead.
Barn / Strawberries / Rosie
Monday 24 June, 2019
Monday 17th June
So changeable today – warm, cold, sunny, raining. Four seasons in one day and just a few days to the Summer Solstice. Dan topped our neighbours paddocks but it was too long and wet for a good job, so he’ll need to go back. Then he went back to his thistle pulling!! The man’s on a mission.
Moved the sheep to Near Top – they do get excited about it, bless ‘em.
The pears are developig well - looks like a good crop.
Pears.
Dead lamb and mucky straw
Monday 17 June, 2019
Monday 10th June
Sunny and breezy today. Moved the sheep to Home, with access to the wee paddock the caravan is in. The grass is pretty long in there and I’d rather they ate it down than us cut it.
Dan topped Near Top – nice to be topping, in comparison to last year, when we were scrabbling around for grass. Then he checked the bees – all way well; they are very busy and he should be able to take some honey in the next couple of weeks.
Did some paperwork, sowed three varieties of beetroot and did some weeding in the veg garden.
Swarm / Gooseberries / Grass
Monday 10 June, 2019
Monday 3rd June
Not a bad day, weatherwise. This combination of sun and showers is great – just need a few nice dry days for the hay.
We had one very heavy shower - and Ace wanted to come in. Wuss.
Ace, not enjoying the rain
Our new farrier came to trim Smokey, who was as good as gold so the farrier will be back in eight weeks. It’s not easy getting a farrier and even harder to get a good and reliable one.
Travels / Strimmer / Courses
Monday 3 June, 2019
Monday 27th May
Between the fox last week, eating the meat chickens, and crows egg stealing this week, I think Mother Nature is trying to put us out of business. So baffles are in place at the henhouses to discourage winged thieves.
Off to Inverness to take part in some workshops for the EU SALSA project, run in Scotland by the James Hutton Institute. Looking forward to meeting small farmers from Norway and France, and to visiting a couple of crofts, as well as meeting some form from ScotGov, Crofting Commission and Scottish Crofting Federation.
Scything / Fox / Shearing
Monday 27 May, 2019
Monday 20th May
As usual, Monday is paperwork day. With it being the start of the new financial year and with the business reorganisation we’ve done, the systems are just settling down. I will admit to finding this quite stressful. I also seem to have done something weird to the spreadsheets we use while transferring them to the new year. Dan is not best pleased at having to sort them out. Again.
Shearing is arranged for Friday afternoon. The ewes are peching.
