Snowdrops / Sunshine / Spring cleaning

Diary

Posted: Monday 22 February, 2021

by Rosemary at 4:30am in Smallholding Comments closed

Monday 15^th February

The thaw is well underway now. The ditch is high but running freely. I let the cattle out this morning but it’s going to be too wet to let them out again for a wee while.

ditch High but flowing.

Got the farm maps out and was pleased to see that we can take Home paddock for a pond (officially) and wildlife area without taking us below the 3ha minimum area for agricultural support. Contacted the firm that built the ponds at the golf course.

home Home.

Tuesday 16^th February

The snow has almost gone; I went for hay first thing and there was a bit of water on the roads but not as bad as I expected. It was 8C on the car temperature gauge – quite windy but sunny too.

The roof is on the new WC.

roof WC roof on.

Forfar for some feed for us and the animals.

Wednesday 17^th February

There’s been some rain overnight and it was cooler this morning than yesterday, but the level in the ditch has dropped a bit.

ditch17 Water levels dropping.

Off to East Pitkerro with hay and half a bale of straw. Charlie was very excited by the new bed, half hearted though it was. Dan unloaded the car for me yesterday and unloaded the licky bucket and salt lick for the steers; back tomorrow. Plus I need to pay my rent in beef.

Thursday 18^th February

EP with licky bucket and salt lick; rent paid.

My wellies have given up the ghost. Full of holes. New ones ordered.

wellies Goodbye, old wellies.

Ave went back to her owner today; Euro’s no a happy boy. Smokey is less bothered because he and Ave never really bonded.

Friday 19^th February

Felt a bit off today; did my chores and went back to bed – a bad combination of a PMR flare-up and the Covid vaccine. And heavy rain. Will be better tomorrow.

The door is on the WC and it's had a coat of wood preservative. Dave the Spark is coming on Tuesday to sort out the light, water heater and space heater.

WC progress.

The ewes decided to explore the cow shed. The Shetlands lead the way but the Blues stay to eat.

ewes BFLs hanging out in the cowshed.

Euro was very unsettled this morning.

Saturday 20^th February

Didn’t sleep well last night – increased steroid dose and Lego was a bad combination – couldn’t stop my mind racing over building a Lego bathroom. That and data collection on Shetland cattle. However, felt quite chirpy, so started the spring cleaning. Upstairs is nearly done, apart from the office / craft / store room. Dan’s talking about moving back into the office now that the weather is better. Next week, I’ll get downstairs done. Probably.

Managed to get out into the garden – out of the wind, it’s just damp. Put sweet peas and early peas (Douce Provence) on damp kitchen paper to germinate. Pulled out the nasturtiums from the fruit garden so Dan can prune the gooseberries. I think we’ll have a lot of nasturtiums this year again. Tidied up round he barn and raked up the hay in the wee paddock where the tup lambs were. I’m going to put Niamh and the BFL carrying triplets in there at the start of March so I can feed them.

And we have snowdrops.

Snowdrops.

Euro is much more relaxed today, thank goodness. He’s a big horse to be throwing himself about.

Dan put up all the remaining bird sparrow boxes (eight) and the invertebrate box first thing. Then he went off to prune apple trees; this needs to be done by the end of March. After lunch, he processed more wood for kindling. Roll on winter, I say.

Sunday 21^st February

What a lovely day it’s been – mild, still and sunny. Dan was back pruning apple trees. I was pottering – I seem to spend an inordinate amount of time just moving things from one place to another – and it was a pleasure. I don’t think I did any job that lasted longer than 15 minutes, apart from weeding in the vegetable garden. I wouldn’t have said the soil was warm exactly, but with raised beds and sandy soil, it was quite dry and certainly comfortable enough to work in for an hour without gloves.

The cattle were out for a sunny loafing session. There's not a blade of grass - it's horribly over grazed, butthey have hay and they do like the sunshine and exercise.

cattle A fine day for a loafing session in the sun.