A Misty Morning

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The mist hung heavy over the farm this morning. The chickens were quiet in the henhouse, not even Normans' deep throated 'cock a doodle doo' was to be heard breaking the silence.

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Like a band of sea fog the mist slowly swirled around the trees, a long cold layer of moisture hovering above the wet grass.

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~ As it started to disperse the polytunnel came clearly into view, looking shiny and taut. There was an eerie stillness to the world at first, but now the sun is slowly but surely adding it's warmth to the morning and the mist will soon be a distant memory. ~

By the end of our doggie walk, the sun had warmed the branches of the trees, and the lovely red berries were glistening in its warmth, inviting the birds to breakfast. When I got back to the house, I did my bit for our feathered friends, and filled all our bird feeders with fat balls, wild seeds and peanuts. Within minutes there were two Finches tucking into the fat balls.

Later I must go out and put some fresh water in the bird bath, but for now they have the moisture that lingers all around in the puddles on the ground and the dips in the earth to wash down their breakfast.

Sue xx

Wow....what a weekend!!

Liz, Lulu, Jack and Lottie...the Large Blacks.

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Wow...what a weekend we've had here on the farm. Lots of jobs accomplished and at last we're on the home straight of tidying the farm for Winter.

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Lovely Hubby worked hard all day on Friday fencing off half of our 6 acre paddock so we could move the Large Blacks in on Saturday afternoon. We had them in while we were still attaching the electric fencing and this time, luckily for us, they actually stayed inside the fence once it was switched on, and didn't make the mad break for the M40 through the fence like they did last time we put them in there.

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All the fences have been strengthened and all the gaps have been filled in. The electric fence is a first line of defence inside the existing fences, and LH's new addition across the width of the field is the strongest of them all. The pigs are loving the abundant grass and hopefully, (fingers crossed), it won't be the same mud bath as in the orchard due to it being slightly better draining land. ~

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Of course little Rosy had to come with me to help feed the pigs this morning and check out the new living accommodation. We have given them two arks now as they are growing quickly and although four in a row in one ark is cosy, (and very cute), they will need more space very soon.

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~ Other jobs done this weekend....a very necessary mornings shopping done by me on Friday while LH was fencing, the complete clean out of all the pig arks, so the Middle Whites could move into the Large Blacks old pen, (it's the biggest one), a tidy up of the polytunnel, and at last we managed to get the grass cut, it was still a bit wet so we will give it another final tidy next week after we get the replacement parts for our broken strimmer, then we will be really tidy!

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Oh, and on top of all that we had a very successful morning at the Farmers Market yesterday, selling lots of lavender goodies and all of our eggs. And somehow I got us roped in to help with the painting of the inside of the Village Hall later this month. Me and my big mouth!!

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My next task is to do a bit of research about the next couple of animals we're buying. Lovely Hubby has given me the go-ahead, (I do like it when it's official.....no sweet talking involved!). I can't wait....they're GORGEOUS!! I promise you there will be LOADS of pictures.

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Sue xx

Fair Trade for British Farmers

image borrowed from the web

We were watching one of our new favourite programmes yesterday, 'Food - What goes in Your Basket?' on it they look at lots of aspects of food production, cooking, storage times....well everything about food really.

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A section yesterday was given to milk production in this country and in an interview with a busy farmer. It came out that he loses 3p on every litre of milk he produces....WHAT!! The supermarket (the seller) makes it's profit, the consumer gets cheap milk and the person that works all the hours that farmers work to milk cows makes a loss!! Is that fair.

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The next item that came on was about bananas, produced in St Lucia by some lovely, also hardworking farmers, but they are paid enough money to be able to send their children to school, look after their families properly and generally just improve themselves and their lives. In short they are paid the value of their product.

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Now I used to work for Oxfam and I am wholeheartedly, one hundred percent behind Fairtrade, I was a Shop Manager in the shops when the first products were launched, I was one of the ones that explained to customers why the coffee and the chocolate bars cost a few pennies more, and mostly people on hearing why, dug that little bit deeper into their pockets and paid the difference happily.

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Lovely Hubby at the end of last nights programme looked at me and said "Why don't British farmers deserve Fairtrade?"

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Do you have an answer?

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Sue xx

Tidying for Winter and pink knickers......

Another batch of chutney.

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One of the more pressing jobs at the moment is tidying the farm for Winter. It is all too easy to overlook day to day mess around the house and polytunnel, but at this time of year it's nice to get everything 'ship shape'. As well as making the place look better, if we tidy away all the extras that we aren't using on a day to day basis, they aren't just out there getting wet and worse blowing around in the wind. We sometimes seem to live in a wind-tunnel and things you can't imagine get blown into the hedges around the places.

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I'd hate to give ramblers a shock with the sight of my pink knickers festooning a hedge!! (They were white, but you know what happens when you have red socks!!) Yes, I did hang some washing on the line yesterday....why do you think it rained!!

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Sue xx

Sunshine on a rainy day.......

My stall on Saturday.

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On Saturday while Lovely Hubby was putting up the new fence across the paddock ready for the Large Blacks to move into, I was busy at the Craft Fair in Wheatley. It was a lovely sunny morning, quite the opposite from Friday when it rained and stayed dark for most of the day. ~

The Craft Fair was pretty well attended and but us stallholders all had time for a chat with each other, so it made for a lovely atmosphere. There were some new stalls this time, and all in all a lovely mix of goodies for sale. I'm already looking forward to the next one on 6th November - blatant plug!!

~ I must get on with making a fresh batch of soaps today, as my stock was very quickly depleted and I have my Farmers Market coming up this Sunday. ~

When I got back to the farm there was a parcel waiting for me, a gorgeous splash of colour that would brighten any day.

~ And inside........my lovely new bag from Pam at hortensia ... ......and also in the parcel another little gift, a gorgeous notebook and little gift tag. I'm a lucky girl to have made such lovely Blogging pals. Thank you Pam, I love it all. ~ The main reason I'm not putting on pictures of the farm at the moment is that I'm fighting against a sea of mud, it's not a pretty picture the farm at present and I need to see pretty pictures. Summer vanished way before I was ready, Autumn leapt in with both feet and caught me unawares. ~ There is lots of tidying needed to be done to make the farm look ready for Winter. It's a sparser view from the windows during Winter but I still like it to be a tidy one! So I'm off out in a short while to make a start on tidying the patio area while the sun is briefly shining. Have a lovely day. Sue xx

Then and Now....

October 2009, Betty the Berkshire Pig, with Maud and Martha, the Middle Whites

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October 2010 - Maud and Martha with Little Lovely the chicken, in the next pen!

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Our little baby piggies are now huge, and now one of them hopefully is having babies of her own, although not the babies we were hoping for......Jack, the Large Black Boar jumped the fence two weeks ago and took advantage!!

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Sue xx

Archie the Cat

A post dedicated to Missy! ~

Hello....I'm Archie, I hear you're the sister of Gorgeous George, Sophie's penpal, well I'm Sophies little brother. Although I do believe I am the boss of all the animals in this house.

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I choose the most comfortable chair to sprawl on.....sprawling is SO much better than curling.....no-one else can fit on the chair that way!

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I like to sit on top of the Henhouse to check on what the big birds are doing (unfortunately I'm not allowed to eat these). But I do like to direct their day for them.

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I take Sophie for walks...sometimes she's a good girl and other times she just chases around after sticks....have you ever heard of anything so silly. Why fetch a stick back, just for Mum to throw it away again......I ask you! ~ This is Toby, my big brother, off in a huff because people think I'm prettier.....well I am!!

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And this is me and Rosy, curled up at the end of a hard day of mousing on the farm, I have almost completed her training now. We work hard and play hard together, at least she KNOWS I'm the Boss.

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Archie (formerley Shop Cat, now Farm Cat) xx

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Help....my Blog has been hijacked by an animal appreciation society.

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I've posted these pictures today because believe me, you do not want to see pictures of the farm, it's wet, muddy and decidedly unphotogenic today. An indoor day for us then, so much for fencing!!

Sue xx