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!

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.

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..

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....

 

22nd September 2011

You can not believe it ..... It has finally stopped raining!!!

This is a photo I took in the spring, it seems like the last time we had some sun..

Our broadband has been playing up so sorry for the lack of blogs.. I am going to put lots of animal photos  on this week, so look out.

Autumn is definitely here

Not only are the leaves falling, but the blackberries are looking a bit shrivelled - never a good idea to collect them after 15th September which is when the devil spits on them and makes them bitter, according to legend!
The bees are still working when they can.  Of course, clover and balsam are still evident in fields and hedgerows but the surprise of the season to most people is IVY.  The beautiful flowers are now very evident and are attractive to all sorts of pollinating insects.

Ivy is everywhere - on trees, walls, fences.  It's fabulous for insects now that food is beginning to get scarce and with its shiny green leaves and beautiful flowers it is a real plant of Autumn.

It was difficult to get the leaves, bees and flowers to pose for this photograph so it's slightly out of focus but have a look at the worker bee on the right.  You can just make out the pollen baskets on its back legs with pollen the same colour as the ivy flowers.  This is where the pollen is raked into hairs on the back legs to form the distinctive kidney-shaped pellet that is taken back to the hive and used to feed the young brood.  There is a central hair that 'spears' the pellet and holds it securely so that it doesn't fall off.  When the worker bee transfers the pellet to a cell in the wax comb back at the hive, there is a little hole in the pellet where it was held on by this hair.  Isn't nature wonderful and efficient!

Very exciting news??? Rosy had a sleepover with Ralph last night he is a very dashing jack russell of our pig friends Terry and Jude so we are hoping for great things around the 10th November.
Extra thick togs put back on all our duvets today for guests to snuggle up in this wintry weather.
Have a small but special wedding party this weekend, whom we send our many congratulations.
Rubys piglets are beautiful she is a wonderful mum they are not keen to leave her side  in this blustery weather dont blame them so its cuddles in the shed when it stops raining I will take some pictures.