Saturday 29 October 2011

29th October 2011



We had a fantastic night out. The theme was "the boat that rocks" 70's night. The girls went down to Kutz and co Barry for a bit of hair styling. They looked brilliant. It was in aid of Velindre Hospital and held in The Bear Hotel. We danced the night away, all the moves came flooding, back John Travolta watch out!

                                        The Thom Family... fully trained egg collectors.

We had a lovely family stay at Sutton Mawr over the half term break.  We got them fully trained, so they were collecting, packing and stamping the eggs!



This morning woke up to no water. Called welsh water, who very politely told me, its nothing to do with them. Our water main crosses under another farmer field to the main road. All in all ,its about 200 mtrs. As the man from welsh water said "finding a burst pipe in that lot, is like looking for a nettle in a haystack". He advised me to lay a new water main. This would mean digging up the farmers field, which has recently been seeded. The farmer  Edward Thomas kindly shot  over and we sorted out a route. I ordered the digger....


Well luckily we found it!  I had to dig the area out, which resulted in me getting very dirty and wet. After finding the problem, I was a bit stuck so I had to refer matters to my very patient neighbour Martyn David (plumbing expert) who directed me through the whole process.


In addition to this  BT arrived for the 5th time to sort out our telephone line as our broadband has been down for the last month. Vicci has being going nuts. I have wasted hours on the phone to Sky. We have had a new modem, new power supply, new filter, some rewiring of the internal phone lines.

But today they find the real problem. When I  was giving the house a haircut as it was covered in ivy and goodness know what else, I accidently nicked the phone line with the hedge trimmer!  It is always my fault.....


Anyway we are now with water and broadband, Hooray!

Thursday 27 October 2011

19th October 2011

We had a family gathering at Sutton Mawr over the weekend.  We had a massive evening meal in the village hall, everybody stayed and enjoyed a cooked breakfast in the morning.



It was great fun, we loved every minute.


No more calves born this week, but we hope to have  some in the next few day..

One job that needs to be done is the hanging of hams.  They have been laying in salt for the last month. I need to wipe them down with white wine vinegar and cover with olive oil, before hanging in our back porch for a year!

Monday 17 October 2011

17th October 2011

For the last month we have been struggling to see out of our windows, the house has been so dark that we thought it was the middle of winter. So Martyn David our very helpful and patient neighbour came round with his tractor and bucket and we gave the house a good haircut!








The views were amazing, so I took a few pictures....

I have been trying to get Poppy and her calf in all day, as they forecast a storm tonight. Unfortunately, she is not keen to play ball, so she is still out in the field.  I hope they will be ok?










Sunday 16 October 2011

16th October 2011

I finished the half marathon in 1hr and 55mins which I am very pleased with.  It was brilliant day, 15000 runner all in great spirits. The only trouble was when I got back I had to spend the next 1hr and half chasing piglets about..


Luckly  Ross and his family turned up, just when I was giving up. Emily their daughter had brought a friend to see Grace (Scarlet) the new calf.

Had difficulties getting down stairs this morning, legs were very stiff.  So had to hop, one step at a time!


Jamie ,Jacke Kovicak and their kids came to stay this weekend. Jacke is an expert at Half marathons. This morning they help me collect the eggs, at the same time as looking round the farm.  The kids are natural chicken handlers!  They have just left to travel down to the Gower, where there are stunning beaches

Jacke encouraged me to try a marathon, so I am tempted to do the Edinburgh Marathon in next year..

Saturday 15 October 2011

15th october 2011

Scarlet doing really well, and Poppy is being a brilliant mum. We let them all out into the field. Scarlet is already one of the gang.
I am doing the Cardiff half marathon tomorrow, along with 15000 other people, so wish me luck!

Friday 14 October 2011

14th October 2011

We had a surprise yestersday. Poppy are oldest cow had a lovely red calve. We have called her Scarlet.
Poppy has been trying to have a calve for 3 years so this was her last chance. Scarlet is very like her mum. All the other cows are very jealous. Their calves are due any time in the next 3 weeks!


Tomorrow we are going to move Ruby and Stella into the large paddock, and wean off the piglets. So I expect there to be chaos.

Wednesday 5 October 2011

6th October 2011

The quince jelly and paste was a great success.!  We baked the whole quinces in the aga for 2 hours. Then pureed them, sieved it and then returned it to the heat, add sugar and stir.Wait for the mixture to go dark and become quite thick.  Beware it can take along time!

I had some with my cheese for lunch and it was delicious. We are going to make it available to all guest for breakfast.

Victoria is now on a mission and has ordered some damsons, plums and oranges to make some more jams..

Saturday 1 October 2011

1st October 2011

What a fantastic day!  We started the day by moving the chicken huts closer to the house. This makes it easier to lock up at night and allow us to fix electric lights.  Chickens need 14 hours of daylight to produce the maximum number of eggs. So with the shorter day, our egg produce would be slowing down, if we didn't trick them into thinking it was still summer
Andrew Studley delivered 40 bales of hay, to keep us going through the winter. Last winter was a stocker with animal feed in very short supply, so this year I being organised (for once).


all the animals had such a good day.....

The chickens out in the field


the piglets with ruby...

The dexter cows enjoying the lush green grass.....


Great picture of Teddy who was born in February...

The pigs don't like the sun, so they are very happy in the shady woodland
We gave the pigs all the fallen apples, which they absolutely loved...

This stella our oldest oxford sandy black sow, she is 4 years old and weights 210 kilos..


Leaves are falling from the Lime Avenue, it doesn't feel like Autumn...
Vicci is in the process of making Quince jelly for the first time , we will let you know how she gets on....