My Dad

Happy Father's Day Dad

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We all have one, but mine's special.......to me!

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Sue xx

Walking away........

I'm walking away from the Blog for a couple of days to go and spend a bit of time with my Mum and Dad. Lovely Hubby will be holding the fort, the chickens have been informed and had a meeting behind henhouse number two yesterday, the outcome of the meeting has not been divulged to me. Oooh.....I do hope they are going to behave themselves. I think they could have planned some mischief............

.............maybe that's why they are doing the Monty Python walk!!

Sue xx

Meet Rachel Rock Star

Meet Rachel Rock Star.........she's one of the newer girls, bought from a farm sale at the end of May, reared by a young boy who buys day old chicks with his pocket money and sells them at Point of Lay. How did she get her name.....well she's a Black Rock chicken, one day I just knew her name was Rachel, and the next she was being such a little sweetie I said 'you're a star' and there you have it

... Rachel Rock Star!

She runs to greet me, whether she's hungry or not. If I pick up another chicken she wants a cuddle too, if I sit down she wants to sit on my knee, and when I'm cleaning out the chicken house (usually on my knees through the back door) she sits on the back of my legs. When I move from one house to the other she follows me and oversees all the work. Chunnering all the while in her unique little two note call. And then when I've finished she goes and joins the other hens for her breakfast.

A little star is Rachel Rock Star. How do you name yours? Sue xx

The Good Life, or The Simple Life?

Lots of thinking and re-jigging of ideas is going on here on the farm at the moment. Life is what you make it and we are making it simpler. We are taking the elements we love, keeping them and streamlining everything else, be it ways of thinking or possessions.

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What caused this shift is our perspective? One contributing factor for me was some friends losing everything they owned. While we were away on our little birthday holiday in April their beautiful thatched cottage burnt to the ground, taking with it everything they had worked for years to acquire and held dear. Because they had the good sense to have smoke detectors everywhere in the house, the family and all their pets were safe, their belongings were not. They are now having to re-locate miles from the village while the insurance company oversees the complete re-building of their much loved home.

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But now, just two months later, they have smiles back on their faces, they discovered during this terrible process that have SO many friends in the village. People they barely knew came forward with offers of help, both physical and material.

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Something like that makes you take stock. Well it did me!

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And we have.......

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As I looked around our home I tried to think what would I be most upset to lose, and when it came down to it there wasn't very much. Our photos and important documents have all been moved to metal filing cabinets (just in case), and our insurance documents were checked for adequate cover for our essentials.

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We all go through life acquiring things and looking after them, some things we bestow lots of love on, dusting, polishing, and giving so much care and attention to. Now, I'm not saying it's wrong to love your stuff, just that I have decided I would rather love the folk I'm with and cherish my animals for the love they give me in return.

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So we are in the process of returning to a more simple life.

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We will have the time for nuturing what is right and what is good. We are therefore, paring back on EVERYTHING. You will see at the top of my sidebar on the right, items popping up that I have loved for a while but that I am now hoping will find new homes, homes where they will be appreciated for the lovely things that they are.

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All the other unnecessary bits and pieces are being sold at the Car Boot sales that we are doing over the Summer this year. Some of my books I have listed for sale on Amazon. The things that don't sell by the end of Summer will be donated to the charity shop I used to work at.

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The things we are concentrating on are:

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1. Loving each other

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2. Loving and caring for our animals

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3. Growing our own food.

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4. Taking care of our new streamlined home.

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5. Planning our future.

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6. Spending quality, enjoyable time doing all the above.

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So.......The Good Life or The Simple Life? By this time next year we hope to be living both!!

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Sue xx

A Tale of Two Halves

Sometimes when you've let the weeds just get too far, you have to take a deep breath and get stuck in. This is what we've been doing this weekend, a BIG tidy up of the outdoor veggies beds. With all the glorious sunshine over the week before last and then all the soggy, grey rain last week, the weeds have been romping home. Well no more, I am claiming back my veggie beds for my vegetables.

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There are onions under there - honest! Told you!!

It was easier to do it a half at a time, although if I'm completely honest......I'm doing the second half today. After the first half, a hot bath and an ice cold cider were the order of the day.

Well, I had already done the lavender bed,

the lettuce and broccoli bed and the sixteen square bed! Now the onions can bask in the sunshine forecast for this week they should be almost ready for harvesting soon. Some of them are looking a very good size, last year we mainly had small ones but this year we should get a nice mix of sizes. On Sunday afternoon after the Farmers Market, we started work on the Sweetcorn patch. Forty plants in - only a hundred more to go!! Sue xx

Happy Anniversary

Fifty one years ago today, two very special people 'tied the knot'.

Last year we all celebrated with a surprise party for them, had lots of fun and helped them celebrate their love for each other in style.

This year could seem a let down after all that excitement. But it's not. A new milestone has been reached, one of continuing love, of understanding the very being of someone. Of learning afresh each day to love someone for all their foibles and annoying little habits. Something we all do on a daily basis when we share our lives so completely entwined with someone elses.

Young love is fantastic, learning to love each other and adapt.

But always....the best is still to come.

Happy 51st Anniversary Mum and Dad.

We model our lives around you and respect the individual people you are, but as a couple we hold your love in awe.

Love you lots,

Sue and Alan xx

Pigs for Sale

Martha and Betty

Now is the time to sell some of our pigs. We have decided from now on we will concentrate on breeding from our Large Blacks and we are on the look out for a suitable young boar to compliment our girls bloodline.

Maud and Martha in the background with our Large Blacks.

However, this means that our Berkshire, Betty and our Middle Whites, Maud and Martha are now surplus to requirements. Unfortunately, they are rather too large to be able to keep as pets, (although they are extremely lovable) and having to make our small farm pay is extremely important to our continuing to live 'the good life'.

Betty, a picture perfect Berkshire gilt, fully registered with the BPA.

D.o.B. 09/11/2008

Maud and Martha Middle White gilts, also fully registered with the BPA.

D.o.B June 2009

All our pigs have been handled since they were young and are very playful and personable. Betty is very well mannered and absolutely loves attention. Maud is very gentle and loves to watch you doing anything around the farm. Martha is the dominant sister and a bit more pushy when it comes to food, but she is easily controlled. All the pigs are ready for breeding immediately. They are only available to good homes where they will be loved and treated as well as they have been here. We can deliver locally or arrange for you to come to the farm to see them. They are also advertised for sale locally. It will be first come, first served, as Rare Breed pigs are very in demand at the moment. Berkshires and Middle Whites are both pork pigs and they are all of an age where they could be used for meat. If they are not sold as breeding girls this is what we are going to do. But we thought that first we would give someone the option of breeding from them. For more information please email me. Coming soon (hopefully) baby Lavender Pekin Bantams. Sue xx