Thursday 20 May 2010

A Bit of an Odd Day

The weather today has been better, still windy and cold but at least it's stayed dry. The horses and donkey have been doing a wonderful job of clearing the lovely, lush grass that is growing where my vegetables should be by now. And while bringing them in tonight I've noticed that the spring which appeared in the middle of the garden after the snow melted, has actually stopped flowing! Yeeha - maybe the garden will start to dry out properly now.


This time last year all of the tomatoes, peppers, chillies and many other vegetables were in the ground and doing ok, with the exception of potatoes and root veg which don't seem to do much here to be honest. I get so little crop from them that I haven't grown any this year.


Our egg hatching is not going to plan at all this year. I've had to remove 2 turkey hens from their eggs as they were long overdue and have a bantam hen that's been sitting on her clutch for far too long, unfortunately I can't reach to get her out of the way and take the eggs from her! Today, sadly, I found our oldest turkey hen dead, from the looks of her she'd been attacked by a Beech Marten Click HERE for more info on this animal. Two more of our bantam hens are also missing, presumed dead and probably taken by this polecat like predator. So now we're left with 2 bantam hens and 4 young cockerels from the 19 we were given late last year.


The piglets are no longer small and cute, they're big, boisterous, hilariously funny at times and still cute, although the kids would say differently. Charlotte their mum is in pig again and starting to put on weight rapidly. I've just been outside to do a late night check on everything and all I can hear is Charlotte snoring away contentedly! She's certainly not missing her babies now and is back in her old routine. It has been amazing keeping the pigs and piglets here and something I'm really glad we did. Hopefully the next litter will be just as satisfying and fun.


Well that's it for today, no philosophical rants, moans about rain or kids not behaving themselves. Not much gardening either.....but I enjoyed wandering around with the camera, taking pics of my everyday life and hoping that someone will appreciate the things that keep me happy, healthy and sane!

4 comments:

  1. I love those moments - known only to smallholders - when you tour the farm at twilight and all the animals are fed and sleeping happily. Although, in my case, they're probably dreaming up escape plans for the next day!

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  2. Ha you're not alone with the escape plans......once your back is turned the animals are plotting something.

    I loved listening to the piglets feed during the night when they were younger, maybe they bring out the maternal side of me.

    I'm finding more and more lately that wandering about, camera in hand, with no real meaning is very soothing, satisfying and great for de-stressing. Plus the kids let me get on with it because "Mum is taking random photos again!".

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  3. Wow, those animals are beautiful, especially the birds.

    You've got an award to collect at my blog, by the way. I hope you'll play along, because I think you've got a great blog that needs its first award, I reckon. :)

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  4. Thanks Michael.

    I'll pop along and see what this award is all about!

    SuzyJ

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