For the last week or so I've been trying to get a better look at our piglets, not easy to do when they're running around like nutters and only stop to eat. I just had a feeling that we'd got a little bit mixed up when we sexed them because as they're getting older (7 weeks now) the males have a much wider, fatter head and face and their ears are slightly different from the girls.
So yesterday hubby and I watched them for a while and tried to have a look at who was what while they were having a snack....and each time we tried we got a different answer! Finally we got it right and our 3 girls, 3 boys have now become 2 boys and 4 girls! Oops lol
The snow here is rapidly melting again, and we have streams running down the field and across parts of our garden, hopefully that means that the spring won't run dry later in the year and we'll have free water for the animals all of the time. I sometimes wish the spring was on our land as we'd run a water wheel from it for electricity, put in pipes for watering crops and also not have to be on mains water at all, not that mains water costs that much here but every little bit we could save on would help.
There's no point having a wind turbine here as in summer and autumn it would barely move, solar power would work well here but the cost of installing it is beyond us. Some things are turning out the way I'd hoped though - we're growing chemical and pesticide free crops, recycling what we can and starting to understand much more about living off the land and becoming more self sufficient. All those years of watching re-runs of "The Goodlife" with Felicity Kendall must have had some effect on me!
Saturday, 13 March 2010
Thursday, 11 March 2010
120 Posts!
I've realised today that this is my 120th post on this blog, mostly my random ramblings but I've enjoyed writing them so far.
I guess like most things in life you don't take stock and look back very often and when you do it can be a shock. When I think back to 5 years ago there's no way I'd have imagined life could have changed so much. And photo's of our house here in Bulgaria show me exactly how much work has been done but I also know there's more to do so when the place is finally finished we really will have achieved something.
Do you have any life changing plans for the future? I hope we'll find some more work this year and also have a good crop from the garden, would also like to find another school for the children to attend and lose some of the weight I've put on over the winter months. I'd say my future plans have downscaled some since moving here, I never was a day dreamer but I'm probably more realistic now than ever. Smaller things make me happy - birds singing, sunshine, my garden doing well. Money does not make you happy and even though we don't have much we can make the best of what we have got.
If you had to choose something to live without for a year what would it be? For me it's cigarettes and I'm going to have another go at quitting for good after my birthday in April.....why then? I'm not sure but it seems like a good idea and something to aim for.
I guess like most things in life you don't take stock and look back very often and when you do it can be a shock. When I think back to 5 years ago there's no way I'd have imagined life could have changed so much. And photo's of our house here in Bulgaria show me exactly how much work has been done but I also know there's more to do so when the place is finally finished we really will have achieved something.
Do you have any life changing plans for the future? I hope we'll find some more work this year and also have a good crop from the garden, would also like to find another school for the children to attend and lose some of the weight I've put on over the winter months. I'd say my future plans have downscaled some since moving here, I never was a day dreamer but I'm probably more realistic now than ever. Smaller things make me happy - birds singing, sunshine, my garden doing well. Money does not make you happy and even though we don't have much we can make the best of what we have got.
If you had to choose something to live without for a year what would it be? For me it's cigarettes and I'm going to have another go at quitting for good after my birthday in April.....why then? I'm not sure but it seems like a good idea and something to aim for.
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Housework Day
As it's still snowing outside and we can't get much done we're having a cleaning day inside. During the winter months here the dust from the wood burner can be awful and covers everything so quickly, summer is no better as the ground becomes so baked that the dust appears every time a window is left open.
The dogs bring a lot of muck, mud and bits of trees etc in from the garden daily and as much as I try to keep on top of things sometimes I don't quite succeed and other things take precedence over housework. I don't worry too much if the house becomes untidy or dusty, I'm not a cleaning freak and although the house looks so much better when it is clean we still don't have enough storage for some of the stuff we brought over with us from the UK. Maybe one day we'll get round to having some cupboards built in so I can hide the junk away!
Most of the stuff lying about is either fishing or horse related as we brought it all with us, it will get used again we're just not sure when. At one point we did think about opening a trekking centre for tourists so I did bring extra saddlery equipment, but plans change and I still have it all but may consider selling some items if anyone is interested. A trekking centre was a good idea but the reality of having a minimum of 6 horses and caring for them during the winter months took hold, summer is fine when they're out grazing for most of the day but at times like these I'm glad we only have the 2 horses and a donkey to feed and care for.
I'm still promising myself that I'll get back on and ride Maya when the weather improves as I do think she'll make a lovely riding horse, happy to plod about and do some hacking around the local fields etc, fingers crossed eh?
The dogs bring a lot of muck, mud and bits of trees etc in from the garden daily and as much as I try to keep on top of things sometimes I don't quite succeed and other things take precedence over housework. I don't worry too much if the house becomes untidy or dusty, I'm not a cleaning freak and although the house looks so much better when it is clean we still don't have enough storage for some of the stuff we brought over with us from the UK. Maybe one day we'll get round to having some cupboards built in so I can hide the junk away!
Most of the stuff lying about is either fishing or horse related as we brought it all with us, it will get used again we're just not sure when. At one point we did think about opening a trekking centre for tourists so I did bring extra saddlery equipment, but plans change and I still have it all but may consider selling some items if anyone is interested. A trekking centre was a good idea but the reality of having a minimum of 6 horses and caring for them during the winter months took hold, summer is fine when they're out grazing for most of the day but at times like these I'm glad we only have the 2 horses and a donkey to feed and care for.
I'm still promising myself that I'll get back on and ride Maya when the weather improves as I do think she'll make a lovely riding horse, happy to plod about and do some hacking around the local fields etc, fingers crossed eh?
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