Ewes / Brash / Wreaths
Posted: Monday 16 December, 2019
Monday 2nd December
Grey and drizzly, but the water’s unfrozen. No sign of Septic Tank Man. Picked up four bales of hay.
Kit has a green bum. If they are all in lamb, this will be the most drawn out lambing ever. Actually, that's not true. We always have one tail-end-Charlie.
Went for a hack on Smokey, with Rebecca on Ave.
Archie, the steer calf, has discovered the delights of the beet pulp pellet bucket.
Archie and his bucket. Finally.
Tuesday 3rd December
Cool, breezy and sunny so Rebecca and I took Ave and Smokey for a wee walk in hand.
Cleaned out the green henhouse, then got distracted by the greenhouse and started clearing it out, so when I went to do the brown henhouse, the hens had started going to bed.
Wednesday 4th December
Well, that’s Urquhart’s job done. Took him out this morning and put him back in with Teddy, Timmy and the three tup lambs. He’s had 13 ewes for five weeks and No2 for about 17 days; seven Ryelands have yellow bums, two Ryelands, Kit and Skippy (BFL) have green bums and Bambi and two BFL are not marked. I’ve texted dates to the scanner, so come the end of January, we’ll know how many lambs we’re expecting. The fourteen ewes are now in with the six 2019 ewe lambs and they have a lick and a big bale of hay.
Ewes and ewe lambs reunited.
Thursday 5th December
Dry, breezy and overcast. Out for a wee hack with Tara and Ave then cleaned out the brown henhouse and the caravan.
Picked up a half tonne of mixed corn and half a tonne of beet pulp pellets, plus some lick buckets. Should do us well into the new year.
Friday 6th December
Smallholding Scotland trustees meeting today. Had lunch with Martin and Jackie, which is always good craic. Baking this evening for the wreath making courses this weekend.
Duncan the Treeman was here, taking down a couple of trees for us and some for our next door neighbour – we’ve shared the cost and the firewood, so lots to keep Andy busy over winter. Lots of brash too.
Brash.
Saturday 7th December
Drizzly and breezy. Not nice really, but the fairy lights and the stove are lit in the classroom, ready for Christmas wreath making. Dan and Rebecca went foraging and found some lovely berries and foliage. We had some seed pods of Honesty and they are lovely sprayed with gold paint.
I did some more clearing out the greenhouse, as well as serving the refreshments for the course – some lovely wreaths made. Dan did some outstanding wee repair jobs – wheel barrows and gate latches and I cleaned out the field shelter, in preparation for Urquhart's "procedure" next week.
Dirty shelter.
Clean(er) shelter.
Sunday 8th December
Horrible overnight and this morning - really heavy rain and very strong winds.
Picked up a bale of hay and a bale of straw for East PItkerro; the steers look fine and had half a bale of hay left. Picked up another two bales for here.
I prepared for today’s wreath making course and Dan took down the old fence beside the barn, in preparation for Septic Tank Man and his subbies coming on Thursday and Friday to effect the repair. Yay! Hopefully by the time I get back from Centreparcs, we’ll have a working indoor lavvy. While they are here with a digger, they’re going to scrape the Triangle and part of the track – get rid of the ooze. And the new fence will be straight.
Old fence down.
