Soggy land.

It is too depressing to post a picture of the last 2 days so I have posted one of a drier summer 3 years ago. This show the extent of the reeds in "Rushy Field"and one of Cloud's calves. Then we didn't have the equipment to manage the field. Now it is because

the rain has been extremely heavy and the result is the land has become saturated once again.

I have strimmed around the essential bits, pulled ragwort and picked crops but even though the sun is now shining, I am not walking on the ground any more, trying to keep the damage minimal.

The sun is shining now and the forecast is good for tomorrow. Luckily for us, the butcher hasn't started on his job with our beef so we are free tomorrow and are heading off to the wood. Saturday looks grim and that is when it will be ready for collection.

Although we don't butcher ourselves, the meat comes in plastic sacks and has to be sorted out for freezing and distribution. Last time it took 5 hours to divide into two and bag up our half. This time we are dividing into 3 and bagging our third. It is also a smaller bullock, so I'm hoping it won't take quite so long.

A gruesome job.

Cloud meantime is munching on grass and seemingly content enough. There are 2 Highland cows in the field at the end of hers so she has made that end of her field her desired resting place. She isn't moo-ing at them and is still meandering around the field to graze, and actually helping us by keeping the top half of the field to grow new grass.

I wish we could get this field sorted...

Neighbours.

I have described about how our farm is attached to two other houses, occupied by families. I am not sure I said that one is for sale, the one attached to us and therefore the one with whom we have most contact.

Worrying times...

But last night while OH was digging drainage holes at the end of the cow field, the neighbours from across the road invited us round for a G&T in the warm evening sunshine.

They are an agreeable couple that we see only occasionally and they are a very agreeable couple. So what started as a drink in the garden became a full-blown evening in with wine and pizzas.

In fact the midges drove us in before we took a first sip.
I wonder how to dispense with midges when it is such a lovely evening. Usually there is too much wind for them to bother. Wind - difficult to grow things, gets on your nerves, cold versa wind - dries the soil, keeps the midges away, cools it down on a hot day.

So there you have your plus points and minus points;

neighbours - share tasks, have a drink together, look after the chickens in an emergency (maybe) versa -neighbours, resent sharing their space with you, getting bothered by their requests for help, having to entertain their children. (picture - which I have made small to protect identies)

I am rambling. Time to go and pick the rest of the gooseberries.

I'm back.

This picture was taken last August. This time the dogs stayed at home with OH who was on holiday. I have just returned to an ecstatic welcome (from the dogs not OH who has disappeared to dig a trench somewhere) and I am off to survey a week's worth of weeds, say hello to Cloud and the sheep andrecover from the 7 hour journey home.

PS, the picture is of Moss in the woods at Grantown on Spey.

What a day!

Can you see the rain on my window? This is the view from the office and the computer sits under the window. Usually at this time of the day, the sun streams in, making it the best part of the house to sit in. Not today, it is relentless.

Can you see my model sheep, I bet my little flock wish they could be as dry. They have a shelter and rarely use it, prefering to huddle by a stone wall or in the long reeds. Silly sheep.

It is 10.9c and the wind blowing at 15mph with gusts up to 22 mph. Yuk. I have had a day at work anyway and the dogs weren't that bothered about a walk, they told me. We have played "Find the Ball" and "Fight Each Other Because we're Bored" and eventually they'll give up and sulk quietly.

I won't be posting for over a week now, so don't forget to catch up on sandal farm news for the rest of the July and hear the thrilling news about Arthington Show and OH's week solo at sandalfarm.

Soooo many gooseberries...

And I don't even like them that much...I have picked pounds and pounds of them and still the bushes are graoning under the weight of them. I like them best raw and ripe or made into a fool or with oily fish but don't like them at all in a crumble.

Our collie that had a taste for them (Fly circa 1982 - 1996) would get terrible diahorrea after eating the fallen ones so Moss and Pip are not being allowed to discover them. Both like to eat the bluberries which are ripe now and Moss can pick her own, but as we only pass them when out walking she doesn't get much chance to consume many. We walk quickly...

As a quick sad note, the bull went today. It was very stressful, none of us like this part of farming. He loaded well and travelled reasonable well but wouldn't leave the trailer. Horrible. Anyway, the deed is done with Cloud now quietly chewing on the cud alone at home and unperturbed, seemingly.

OH said, lets become veggies, no doubt living on gooseberries.

Wood photos at last!

Here are some pictures of our beautiful (steep) wood. My path, above left, which now reaches the top of the wood and left me exhausted yesterday. My path, above right, which leads from the "Fairy Glen" into a birch woodland. OH at the chainsaw, removing dead and over-crowded trees. Please no messages about suitable gear to wear while doing this task...it is a sore point as I saw a pair of chain mail trousers in a charity shop for £8 and didn't buy them. OH went back the next day and they had gone and I've not lived it down.

It was a peaceful day as the road was closed and no neighbours appeared. We didn't have a barbeque this time but it was warm and sunny and the flowers were so beautiful! I took 3 photos of the wild flowers but none are of reproduction quality.

Also the birds...I wish I knew what they were, but I can't identify anything by song alone and in the trees it is impossible to see them. I only saw the wood pigeons and heard a cuckoo cuckoo

Meet Little Eagle.

Little Eagle is the chick. She has been with us for 5 years and was our first home bred chicken. She doesn't lay eggs anymore but when she did they were lovely blue ones being as she is part Aracana and part hybrid.

The dog is Mist, our two and a half year old collie that died of poisoning on the moors near here, that was 3 and a half years ago. This story is another one because tonight is Little Eagle's page.

I've always loved this photo and I'm feeling lazy...

Introducing Billy.

This is an old photo of Billy, our ram, he is now 4 years older and not quite so pretty.

Billy, like the Shetlands (he is not full bred Shetland, a bit meatier for lamb production) does not need to be sheared as his wool kind of drops off. It is a slow process and he gets quite itchy so round about this time of the year he becomes very happy for me to tug it out.

He stands, leaning against me, even if there is food on the ground, while I pull off his fleece. If he was a cat, he would purr. The other Shetlands are not happy to be pulled manually so I leave their rugs to drop off in their own time. Consequently they look a little wierd with skinny necks poking out of a ragged rug.

It costs a lot of money to have them sheared, even commercial farmers don't always bother as there is no market for the fleece. In flocks that are a bit more intensive than ours and perhaps where they are in a more sheltered environment, the fleece can encourage fly strike, where a nasty fly lays eggs in the fleece which then burrow into the skin to feed.

We have never had a problem with our hardy little band of Shetlands. They may not be the most productive so definitley fit the "Low in-put, low output" expression.

Woodland day

Yesterday we spent the day at the wood. How lovely it was in bright sunshine. The trouble is, I forgot my camera again! So the picture is NOTHING to do with woodland.

ONLY, we met the owners of the next section of woodland and had a long chat about what their ambitions are. He is a young man with a wife and2 young children and they had come to camp overnight with friend and brother and brother's daughter (and others? I lost count). He has cleared some land, and planted some trees, put in some bird boxes and daffodils and made some tidy piles of logs to dry off. We were just off as the extended family arrived as we had spent all day there, doing the same as last Saturday.

Only this time we had a barbecue lunch of sausages (our own) and black pudding. It was lovely to sit under the trees and eat with Saturday's papers spread about. We used dry twigs to set the brickettes alight, although I felt we should really have made a campfire and cooked over that.

I found a new path that went across the wood, so was easier to clear. I did some more of the steps to take us up to the top of the wood and then returned to the horizontal path which was a lot easier.

I found another clearing and many beautiful silver birch in excellent condition which was great as I thought we only had ash, hawthorn and sycamore. Silver birch are probably my favourite tree.

Our neighbour is thinking of grazing some of his clearing, with a native rare breed. So the picutre of our Wensleydale lamb with his blue pot on has a vague relevence.

Ponies and horses.

I have owned and loaned ponies since 2001.
First loan was Boo Boo. He stayed 1 month and nearly killed me and OH by his behaviour on separating from his field mate.
Second loan was Jess. She was a gentle giant and may have stayed a bit longer only the field I kept her in was trashed with over-grazing. She was sold to the riding school where I had lessons. She was too big for me anyway, although she was sweet.
I borrowed one of their ponies but she bolted with me on the first day so she went back to them,
Then I bought Tanzy and after she backed into walls at alarming speed, galloped around the school and wasn't safe to hack out in company or alone, she went back before the end of the one month trial.
I then got Sophie, pictured. I had Sophie for 18 months. This picture was taken from her new home with her teenage owner. Sophie wasn't as fat then! She lived at a farm and small riding place and the owners, with whom I became friendly, helped me a lot to get her going out alone. She was ridden by others and the arrangement worked well. I had an idyllic summer with Sophie but then we moved to sandalfarm. I had Storm, a retired pony from the same school that took Jess. After only 6 weeks Storm died and Sophie went back to the farm with my friends.
Lacking the facilities (no stables at that time) or a companion for Sophie, I sold her reluctantly.
I rode other people's horses for a while, Brandy being the most long term of these, then bought Paddy without too much consideration and sold him just as quickly. He just didn't like me, nor me him. He wasn't cuddly at all. 2 months after I sold him he died of a heart attack at 12 years old.
I went back to riding schools then found a nice local place for livery, a woman wanted to have company for her own horse.
I bought Thor, a Norwegian Fjord. I had him for a year. It was a miserable year and I only rode him with fear and trepidation. He had a massive "nap" and just set off for home without any pre-warning.
I kept on riding at a local school which was fun and stress free. Then I hurt my back and 18 months later have not done much with horses at all.
The yearning doesn't go away but I promised I would never never buy a horse again and stick to dogs, cows, sheep etc. But my friend is down-sizing and she mentioned putting one of her school horses out on loan.
What should I do?