On TenderHooks

Ooooh the waiting is starting to get to me and I think poor Charlotte is starting to feel the same! For those of you who haven't been following my random ramblings Charlotte is our lovely female pig. A hopefully very pregnant female pig.

In about 6 days time she's due to give birth to her first lot of piglets and as we're quite new to pig breeding it's all a learning curve for us (and her!) We're counting on the knowledge of one of our neighbours who has bred pigs for years and says she is definitely going to be a mum.

We're all looking forward to seeing the new arrivals and will be taking pics just as soon as they decide to get here. Here's a pic of Charlotte taken yesterday enjoying some time in the garden looking for apples.

Mud, Mud Everywhere!

I hate mud! Sticky, dirty, oozing, caked on every pair of shoes or boots and not good for the animals either.

Things have gone from green to white, back again and now to brown as the snow melted and mud formed where cars drive and people/animals walk. The horses have had great fun rolling in the mud and are caked with it, dogs constantly bringing it into the house on their feet and I've not got one pair of shoes that are clean. Oh the life of a rural ex-pat!

On a more sombre note there have been a spate of burglaries in our area over the last week, by all accounts they seem to be random, quick attacks on properties left unattended even for short periods of time.  It's certainly made us start thinking more about security. We do have an alarm on the main house and also a camera but are now thinking that we will probably make and fit security grills to the downstairs windows and door just in case. Our bungalow was broken into last weekend but nothing was taken - possibly because everything in there is large and too heavy to be carried out of small windows (the door was locked securely). We'll be putting some more security lights around the place and hope that nothing else happens.

No doubt the same thing is also happening in other areas as the winter goes on and people don't have any money for firewood or food, this is a poor country let's not forget and crime does happen. It's never nice to have your property broken into and things taken but we can try and minimise the chances of that happening.

Back to Normality-ish!

The kids are back at school now, the Chritmas tree is packed away in it's box for another year, all of the chocolates have been eaten and it's back to normality here. Of course my idea of "Normality" may not be yours and vice versa!

The horses are out today as the weather is ok and the snow is melting. I've been out and cleared the yard of snow and ice and made sure the storm drainage is clear. Time for another coffee now and a small break before I get stuck into housework yet again. With 2 children in the house the mess is never ending, plus the wet weather means that every time the dogs go out for a wee the floor is covered in water/mud/slush grrrrr.

The best thing about winter is eating comfort food - casseroles, soups and the like, tonight's tea is toad in the hole, another favourite mmmm and on that note I best go get the sausages out of the freezer!

All Change Again!

No sooner do we get used to the snow being here then it's gone and replaced with glorious sunshine......Oh I'm not complaining though, but it's about to happen again.

We've had snow and it's still here and below freezing temperatures, although to be honest it has been much colder in other years. The forecast for the next few days is more mild weather on it's way with a possible high of +22 degrees C on Saturday! T-shirts and shorts weather lol.

I do seem to write a fair bit about the weather and am undecided if that's a good or bad thing?? You tell me?
If there's anything in particular you'd like to hear about just ask, I hope that news will change over the months and as the weather warms up there'll be new stuff to include on here. Just a fortnight to go and we should have baby piglets here and I'm really looking forward to seeing our first lot of home bred pigs arrive. Charlotte, our sow, is looking really well and eating everything in sight - which is normal for her!

There's a possibility that I may put one of our mares in foal this spring too but I'm still trying to weigh that up properly and of course we'll be breeding more turkeys and chickens again. Busy times lay ahead!

Do you have anything special planned for 2010?

Whiteout

We've woken up this morning to snow again, a complete whiteout that doesn't look like stopping at least for the moment. The weather forecast shows a few days of colder weather and more snow on the way then just as quick as it arrived it should hopefully disappear again.

At least the melt water will keep the Cheshma (water spring) going for a while, we're lucky to have a free water spring almost outside of the door and the water is wonderfully clear and cold all year round. It's fine to drink and saves us money on animal drinking water every day. The villagers use it to wash rugs and their cars during the warmer months and some of them use it as their only source of drinking water.

So for the next few days we're stuck home while the weather does it's thing, not that I mind! Shopping is a necessary evil and not something I really enjoy, in fact I'm quite content to stay in the village and at home most of the time.

First Post of 2010

Here's toasting to the start of 2010, I hope it will be a good year although I for one can't say that 2009 was a bad year for us. True that things could have been a bit better or certainly different, but in total 2009 was a good year.

So what are you hoping for in 2010? I'd like some regular work, a good crop from the garden and maybe even some more work on the house done and finished. Hopefully there will be some changes made this year which may benefit us all, nothing major but still some things need a little improvement.

I'll continue to post on this blog and keep you up to date on what's happening here. For anyone reading please feel free to post comments and criticisms if you have any ideas on how this blog could be improved. Thanks to a friend I've found some garden planning software to play around with and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into planting soon. Especially since we've been having nice weather lately - 18 degrees Celsius today!

Totally Muddled

The weather here is totally muddled up again - today hit a high of around 13 degrees C, the sun was shining, all the animals were happily grazing or pecking around outside and it was like spring had come early! According to our friends we are expecting temperatures of up to 20 degrees C in the next week and then 4 weeks of bad weather between mid February and mid March.

On checking the 10 day forecast for the closest city it's showing +14 on new years day and then a fall in temperatures dropping to -2 on Monday, but nothing worse than that so far. I do tend to check the forecast quite regularly and find they're usually right within a couple of degrees. The summer we reached well over 40 degrees C and it was unbearable to work in. Our house doesn't have air conditioning and we have no plans to put any in as we're getting quite good at coping with the temperature changes now. Plus the fact that air con does cost a fair amount to run, we're happy to live without it.

I've been looking today for a downloadable FREE garden planner but not yet found really what I'm looking for. I want something based on vegetable growers and not where to put your fountain and reading bench! If I find one I shall post details as I'm sure there are others out there like me who forget where everything is planted or draw a plan only to lose it in a week!

It's almost time to start planting seeds in trays to get ready for the garden. So far I've sorted out a few things to start off with, they are :- Broad Beans, Peas, Chilli Peppers, Lemon Balm, Sage, White Cabbage, Leeks, Brussels Sprouts, Broccoli, Swede, Melons and Lettuce. All of the packs came from the UK so the planting times are a little out on the packets but I'll give them a try. I still have Red Cabbage, Garlic, Black Radish and some Lettuce in the ground overwintering and they seem to be doing well.

What are you growing this year?