[Wizard]

So hopefully you have the keys Jackie Update Update Update wot happened am here all agog and awaiting a report Wot say gimme time to get me breath.XXX George and Kath

[Jackie]

lol George we have just got back from NK and Im drinking my first coffee.

Well, we walked the land and the place looked worse than we remembered cos the vandals got at the kennels and the house. Hubby said "omg Jackie what have we done?"

The render is falling off the house and hubby thinks it may be concrete cancer  the internal walls are so wet trout could live there.

There was no electricity or water on untill 2 pm today. And the water is on a meter and the electrcity is a card meter, so we have to get that changed.

We started to just tidy up the offices as HARA folk had left EVERYTHING including the ashes of a pet dog! We will need huge bonfire just for the accounts alone.

We took 2 workers over with us and the ideea was that they stay the night in the offices to provide on site security and we were to got home (80 miles) but we left it too long to drive home and so decided to find a hotel or B&b. Ill tell you that any bed in Grimsby or surrounding area is as rare as hens teeth cos Conoco has a shut down and 2.5k extra contractors getting the beds.

At 5 to 10 we finally found a really, really grotty place to stay, it stunk and there was puke on one wall, I checked the 2 single beds for bugs and didnt even get undressed it was so horrid.

Anyway after being awake most of the night we went back to NK then hubby drove home to collect our 45 cob chickens, they are 35 days old and from a huge unit of 100,000 chickens.
They are now in a very large kennel area looking so sad with hardly any feathers but I know all will be well soon.

We had a meeting with a person from the council to move the public right of way to the edge of our field and thats going ahead.

Tomorrow Im getting my bitches hips xrayed and elbows checked so wont be going over but hubby is.

Im spending some time getting my CPH and phoning around for some lambs as the land has been neglected for many years and hopefully they will bring it back for us.

The pigs I want arent even born yet so Im ok with no stock movement after the lambs.

Son and I cleaned out the cattery with Jeyes as the smell made our eyes water!! Yuk!!
We cleaned the rabbit house and made sure the outside cages were secure.

Feel free george to come over at the weekend if you fancy a nose around as hubby and I are there in our caravan. I can offer only tea or coffee (and a biccy or two) having no kitchen etc.

So thats it in a nutshell. Hard work, very little sleep and shear panic at the state of the place.

[egglady]

Jackie, i dont know what NK stands for but it sounds like it will be great when you've got it all sorted.  kind of like us - 3 years in and still nowhere near where we want to be, but loving every minute of poverty i have to say! 

[little blue]

What great fun, sorting all that out!
And bl**dy hard work too.....

[Wizard]

WHoooooooo egglady NK means where Jackie is going to live North Killingholme next to South Killingholme one way and Thornton Abbey the other hey Jackie you aren't interested yet but Bill Spinks has a Garden Center type place at Thornton.Sorry to hear of your plight in a room.Wasn't there on at the Oaklands?Sorry I cannot offer we have a 2up 2down in the middle of them 2 I wont call without prior arrangement it's not fair people always call when you are at your busiest and hold you up

[egglady]

thanks wizard

[Jackie]

Part 2

This is the place we have bought

http://www.harasanctuary.co.uk/

Although it really doesnt look as nice as the pictures as it had been empty for approx 2 years.  The village itself is very, very quiet with just a hotel but no shop.  We cant hear or smell the refinery (place is approx 1 mile away from refinery) but the guys told me that at night when walking the land they could see the refinery and it looked quite mgical with twinkling tiny lights all over it.  We are thinking of having a small shop on the land in the future, certainly to sell our own stuff if not milk and papers as well.

Yesterday I should have taken my bitches or their hip xray but couldnt find the paper work needed (microchip documents) so had to cancel the appointment with the vet so decided to spend the day over at NK although I didnt do very much.
The lads mowed the land surrounding the house and rabbit hutch and weed killered (glysopahte)the entrance area and the courtyard so it is looking better.

We have 4 feral ex rescue cats left over from HARA days and we feed them 2x per day and cant get near them, the ex memebr of HARA board who lives in the village said she would get us some food as technically the cats are the charity's responsibilty.

The cattery smells much better after the jeyes fluid, now we have to paint the outside wood on the cat runs and thats all set then to clean the cat kitchen for the cat licence.

Oh btw prior to us actually buying the place we had a meeting on site with the boarding kennels and cattery licence woman from the council and asked her what we needed to do to bring it up to scratch for the licence. Apparently charity dog runs and cat cages dont need the same criteria as boarding does.

 We havent touched the dog runs yet but have ordered everything we need for them ie waterproof and dog safe paint, plaster boards for the ceilings, plastic pipes for the central heating (vandals knicked the copper pipes) New window frames for where the vandals ripped out the windows to try to knick the washing machine and tumbles dryers in there etc etc.

Today hubby is taking our best plaster over to NK so they can assess the state of the place and then decide whether to knock down the house and rebuild or upgrade it. Either way we have to contact an architecht to incorporate the offices into the house area as we need 8 bedrooms with on suites (8 family members and 1 nurse for Mum) in the new house and its worth paying for an architecht to design something and see through the plans with the council.

I wont be going to NK today as I came down with a migraine yesterday with all the travelling we were doing.

Friday Im going over to spend the weekend at NK and the lads are going home, but we have found out that it only costs £20 return for them on the train from Stalling borough to Grantham. This will save us a round trip of 160 miles plus 4 hours driving. They can catch the train back on Monday so another 160 miles and 4 hours saved.

I did have a scare yesterday as the lads told me that 1 chicken had a broken beak so when i got to NK I picked it up and had a look. I did ask if either of the lads would kill it for me if it needed it, the answer from both was a resounding 'No!'

 It seems that the chicken was born that way and its crop was as full as a couple of others and I watched it eating so all is well.  The chickens wont venture out from where we actually put them when we first got them to NK although the gate is open. I guess they like the thick straw under their featherless buttocks lol
On Friday if they still havent ventured out Im doing a Crumb trail for them to follow to the outside cos they need grass etc.

At the weekend hubby and I are exploring the area so will probably pop into the garden centre George.
 No George Oaklands was full and dont worry we dont need anywhere as we now towed our caravan onto the land and we can sleep in that. Its very comfortable.

Dont worry George about you and Kath popping in at anytime as we dont have a telephone connected yet and a break is sometimes very welcome lol Just remember you are both very welcome but I wont push it, whenever you want to is fine by us. 

[Wizard]

Hello Jackie where did you get to any where nice I stayed home as we always do b/h's there is enough loons about especially those leaving Cadwell after the races and all the tin snails going home from the coast  

[Hilarysmum]

Jackie it will look wonderful when you have completed all the renovations.   

[Sylvia]

I hope all goes well with your venture, it sounds like the sort of thing I dreamed of years ago! Too old now, even if the opportunity arose so I'll enjoy watching your progress.

[Wizard]

Hello Sylvia I go nearly every week to the Earl of Yarborough's Farms The field at the X roads is one of Brocklesby Farms I'm sure so I shall sneak in an video it so I can see what headway Jackie is making eh!Only joking Jackie its to far from the X roads any way intit .We will let you know when we are expecting to be in SK Then we can come a mile up the road can't we

[Jackie]

Part 3

Ivejjust got back from staying at NK for a few days.

LOl we went to Morrisons the scenic route of 40 miles cos we got lost, and when we finally found it I asked at the till for the post code of the store so we wont get lost again and explained we actually live in Melton, the girl at the till light up and said my auntie lives there! I asked where and her reply was the same road as my Mum used to live in. My reply to that was,,,,, of all the tills, in all the supermarkets, I picked yours! Small world eh?

I wanted to go to Pelham Pillar as it was an open day but couldn't find it! We did go to a car boot and it was soo expensive, in fact a lot of things are more expensive in Lincs. We are planning to buy our chicken food in Melton as its £3 a sack cheaper so will load the stock trailer and van up now we are home. Son and worker are back at NK so the chickens are not on their own.
We are thinking of becoming a retailer for cheaper chicken food as we have a dry barn we can store loads in, I'm gonna phone the manufacturer tomorrow.

The chickens are coming on a treat and I now call 'Come on Ladies, dinner.' Son asked me why I call them 'Ladies', my reply was cos they look like ladies wearing crinolines and sound like a load of old biddys!!

The Gypsies broke into a few places in NK over the weekend but we were OK as my dogs bark really loudly.
The front is now secure so nothing can get in and it looks much better. Tomorrow we are painting the cattery.

We have now come to the sad conclusion that this year is a gonna for boarding as everyone will have booked where their animals are gong so will probably take in some rescues this year. Ah well such is life!

I'm gong to ask hubby or son how I post pics on here so expect some soon.

Must go as we just got in and the kettle has boiled and I'm gasping.

[Wizard]

Aw Jackie I wish I had known.Turn Left out of your gate up to the X roads (roundabout now) straight across straight on at the Habrough roundabout and follow the road through to Brocklesby keep until you can join the A18 at Kirmington keep going at the fork toward the airport not far is Kirmington Xroads Turn Left up the side of the airport and keep going that road joins the road from Limber at Pelham's Pillar Of course its nearer to come from Brocklesby X roads to Limber and then you will end up at the pillar Its about 10 miles.What a shame.To go to Morrisons go to Brocklesby  Xroads and turn left keep on that road to Keelby and join the A18 and turn left go to Laceby Roundabout and turn Left go up the A46 towards Grimsby to the next roundabout and turn left into Morrisons Complex They usually one of the cheapest petrol in Town By the way Morrisons is in Cleethorpe It is Morrison PLC.Hilmore Road, Laceby,Lincs DN37 7SQ Please Email me if you need to know where something like this I will Email you back same day.Do you know about Pillar ? The surname of Lord Yarborough who built it was Pelham The current Lord Yarborough the 8th Earl is Charles John Pelham who  is now known as Abdul Mateen after his convert to Islam

[Jackie 2]

Well Ive bought 6 pigs. They are 5 gilts and 1 boar, 2 lop/Wild boar x's, 2 lops, and 2 tamworth/Gos x's.
We put them in the pig pen we had sorted out for them and they disappeared into the long grass and stinging nettles to reappear 30 mins later with sore and stung ears so we strimmed the nettles down for them and they are digging up the roots for us. Good little piggies.

The first morning they were at the farm I woke at 4.30am and went to look at them AND I COULDN'T FIND THEM!!!
I searched all over their pen, peered hard into their ark, NO PIGS!!!!!!
I ran back to hubby and woke him with the news that the pigs had been stolen, he shot up and in his underpants ran to the pen (not a nice sight) he looked all around the pen and opened the gate and went into the pen and shouted me to follow him.
 OOPPPSSS! Bless the little piggies!!! They were fast asleep buried in the straw with just 1 ear poking above the straw. 

Funnily enough hubby was grumpy all that day.

The poor little boar gets bullied by the gilts at feed time so I have put the pellets in 2 different places now so he at least gets a chance to eat.

After a few days the lops and the boar is eating bread out of our hands but the wild board X'S are very skittish still.

The chickens have now ventured out of their pen and onto the grass. Yesterday I saw 2 of the biggest facing up to each other to sort out the top chicken I suppose, they pecked at each others eyes until I sprayed them with the hose.

I'm not surprised about how much Cobs eat but heck don't they drink a lot!! 

The German shepherds now live permanently at the farm but I haven't yet allowed them to see any of the animals.

We have discovered that we have 5 apple trees on the land but I have no idea which variety so Im still buying some fruit trees in.

I finally got the magic phone call about the rescue battery hens.  And Im picking 20 of them up next Saturday.  Oooh fresh eggs for breakfast from now on.

At the farm we have no cooker so Im trying to manage cooking for 4 adults with a microwave only, it isnt easy so we have tried to make use of takeaways but they are positively disgusting. We have tried 2 different Chinese takeaways and both times non of us could eat it. We tried a kebab place and the dogs loved it. The fish and chip shop near us serves re-cooked chips and very, very greasy fish.
However we have found a good reasonable priced pub called the Trawl (Hungry Horse chain) which is about 30 mins from us so Im working my way down the menu. lol

Im still waiting for Smiffy's pigs to be ready and Im having 6 more of those I think cos if the quality of the takeaways says anything then they are gonna love my pork!!!!    and ckicken and rabbit and duck and turkey and goose!!!! 

[Jackie 2]

On Thursday Hubby and I went to Louth cattle market. I was quite shocked as it was so very small with no stalls etc compared to Melton cattle market. I was carrying a big note pad and people moved out of my way and kept looking at me oddly. Finally one brave farmer asked who I was, I explained I was just looking cos we have bought a smallholding etc and he laughed and said everyone thought we were some one 'official' and thats why we were being given a wide birth lol

Anyway we went to look at the sheep pens and not knowing what exactly I was looking at I asked a young girl who was off loading some sheep and she pointed me to a guy called Ken who knew everything that I needed to know about sheep. He did. We asked Ken to bid on the lambs for us but he suggested we bid and if he sees us going wrong he would step in to help and with his help we bought 6 ewe lambs. Ken told us before the bidding that they would go over the £30 each we wanted to pay as they were nice strong lambs, they went up to £33 each.

We bought some healthy 5 week old cade lambs, 4 sussex cross and 2 charolaise. Ken suggested that if we wanted to breed from the lambs as they got older to only breed from the sussex crosses and send the other 2 to slaughter for meat as they arent such good mothers.

Ken is 85 and still going to markets as a day out. Funnily enough I asked if Lord Yaxley brought and of their sheep for sale there and he said no they go straight to slaughter. I asked if he knew my auntie Shirley and he said 'Yes I know her!!! He knew that she looks after Lords Yaxleys pigs etc and Im to remember him to her when I see her next. 

It never ceases to amaze me just how small this world really is!!!!

Ken also pointed out the animal health lady for me to talk to and she was lovely and really helpful, she gave me lots of books and movement stuff, and introduced me to the feed sellers etc

I got back to the farm after being deafened by these lambs to see that I had a letter from our local Animal Health lady, Linda somebody, who wants to come to visit to show me how to fill in all the paperwork, apparently its a requirement of their job.

The lambs came with a 'How to care for them' typed up instructions with feed times and amounts etc so thats been really helpful. It cost £88 for the food, fly stuff and wormer. Sheep are expensive.
Today I sprayed them to prevent fly strike as its fly season  Yes Im very ignorant, I will worm them in 2 weeks.
I bought 6 teats that fit on coke bottles so its a mad scramble come feed time as I only have 2 hands. lol The lambs are inside still with a deep bed of straw and fresh hay from our own field that they chomp on as well as the lamb creep.

I walked one of my big brave german shepherds past the piglets and 1 poked her nose through the fence and grunted, the dog jumped 6 feet in the air and took off at supersonic speed. A very brave shep eh? lol
The other shep escaped to where the piglets are and I found her nose to nose with a piglet. the dog trying to lick the pigs nose and the pig trying to bite the dogs nose. lol
The baby boar is still getting bullied but now I sling the pellets all over the pen so he doesnt get pushed out of feeding.

I found 1 chicken dead when I went to let them out 3 days ago and I have no idea why she died. All the others are fine, no sign of illness etc.

Im home in Melton until Sunday, Hubby, son and worker, Smiley, are back at the farm and Im taking my mum back to the farm on Sunday so my son and Smiley can have a week off.