Smallholding
Highland Show / Strawberries / Toes
Sunday 2 July, 2023
Monday 19th June
There’s been a fair bit or rain overnight; today has been intermittent cloud and sun, and windy.
Dentist this morning – nothing needing done, thankfully. I’ve spent most of the day at my desk doing Festival stuff and other bits and pieces.
Dan moved two sinks from the patio to the classroom door. I will plant them up with geraniums or something equally hardy.
Pleasingly, Skip had drawn Socks into his sugar beet addiction.
Doors / Docks / Rain
Monday 19 June, 2023
Monday 12th June
Rain early this morning, and then warm sun so hopefully the grass will get a bit of a boost.
Dan spent an hour in the sunken garden. Found a pipe. Don’t know where it goes or what it’s for, so we shall leave it undisturbed.
Office day and a Zoom call, then a meeting in Arbroath in the evening. My head’s a bit all over the place – I received a message from the son of an old friend to say that his sister, her daughter, had died. L was thirty-eight years old and she leaves a seven-year-old daughter. I’ve known the family since the late 1990s and they are the best and nicest people. Funeral is tomorrow. Dan and I will go. L was so full of life and joy and adored her daughter; she was a talented singer and dancer; she could probably have been a professional but chose instead to become a teacher. She sang at our wedding – “One hand, one heart” from “West Side Story” and “Secret Love” from “Calamity Jane”. She will be so missed. A light has gone out.
Sweet Peas / Potting Shed / Escaped calves
Monday 12 June, 2023
Monday 5th June
Summer seems to have moved on – it’s cold, well 12C, and dry. Grass has stopped growing or is growing imperceptibly slowly.
Rebecca and I walked the ponies out this evening. Heard Tree Sparrow and Reed Bunting, as well as Blackbird, Wren and Robin.
Tuesday 6th June
The polytunnel is filling up; we’re getting a couple of handfuls of strawberries every day and the sweet peas are starting to flower.
Polytunnel.
Garlic bread / Calves / Treasure
Thursday 8 June, 2023
Monday 29th May
Office day, mainly. Dropped the car at the garage for its MOT with more than a little trepidation, but it passed first time. Bills paid, spread sheets updated, website diary done. Not bad considering TBDG (that bloody dog, Gwenna) had me up at 4.30am. Let the dogs out, let the hens down, fed the wild birds and Penfold, then fed the dogs. Took a cup of tea back to bed – at 7.30am, when the alarm went off, my eyes were glued shut. Gwenna, was back in HER bed by 5am, and sound asleep.
Brassicas / Merlin / Sunken garden
Monday 29 May, 2023
Monday 22nd May
The week started well when I have the opportunity to save a bumblebee. It had fallen in the ponies’ water bucket; I thought it was dead but it’s legs were still moving, so I swept it up and gave it a saucer of sugar water. When I returned, half an hour later, it had gone, so I’m counting that as a save.
I registered the heifer calves; it’s a D year, so Baby’s calf is Rosedean Duibhe, which is Gaelic for black and Rora’s is Rosedean Dorcha, which is Gaelic for dark.
Strawberries / Pizza / Beech
Monday 22 May, 2023
Monday 15th May
Sun, interspersed with ninja showers of rain and hail. Desk day and started work on the Festival. Seemed like a good time to scatter some grass seed on the bare bits in Sheepfold, now that it’s been harrowed again.
While I was grass seeding, Dan was trimming the mats in the cow shed. Over time, they’ve lifted a bit and become a trip hazard, so he trimmed them to fit perfectly. Or near enough.
Dan sorting mats in the cow shed.
Bronte calves! It's a bull.
Monday 15 May, 2023
Monday 8th May
Still dismal weather, but warmer. The grass is growing steadily, if not fast.
It’s almost our anniversary of moving here, so it’s time to review our insurance. It’s making my head hurt.
Tuesday 9th May
Hallelujah! We have sun.
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Here comes the sun.
Mainly calf spam
Tuesday 9 May, 2023
Monday 1st May
May Day, Beltane, first day of summer. Well, it didn’t rain but it wasn’t taps aff weather either. My brain is like cotton wool – come on, Bronte.
Three calves.
After the chores, I did the monthly shop. It’s great to get it out of the way. Dan was doing his monthly chores – invoices and the like. At lunchtime, our washing machine went BANG and we couldn’t get the door open. Manged to get the washing out by prising open the door. And it looks like we’ll need a new machine.
Calves / Milking or not / Ponies
Monday 1 May, 2023
So, Monday morning, I had to drive to Stirling to collect our meat chicks and two Maran pullets for a friend. I was supposed to collect them last Friday, but I wrote the time down wrong. Anyway, it worked fine because it meant I was able to fit in a visit to UA Mart, which may be the new venue for the Scottish Smallholder Festival. Forfar Mart, where we’ve held the event for the last two or three years, is closing next month, leaving us homeless.
It was sunny first thing but as I prepared to leave at 10am, we had this huge ninja shower. Temperature dropped from 8C to 2C. Within a couple of miles, I was into sunshine again, then ninja showers all the way. I did say last week that we needed rain – this wasn’t quite what I had in mind.
First calf of 2023 / Tatties / Hens
Monday 24 April, 2023
Week ending Sunday 23rd April
We’ve had the loveliest weather this week , and better than forecast. I hate to say it, but we could really do with some rain. We’d had the sprinklers on in the garden Saturday and Sunday evening.
However, that made it a good week for a calf to be born and Blizzard obliged at about 3.30am on Friday. Her due date was the 1st May, but when they’re cooked, they’re cooked. Dan said he thought she was close so I checked at 2am, and right enough she was starting.
