Sheep!

Well ewes actually, but they are white and woolly and look the same from a distance! It is so nice to see animals on the land, using it as intended. We have about 20 at the moment but hopefully more will arrive as time goes on. Pictures to follow.

Apologies for the long, long silence - but to bring you up to date. The house is coming along. the plumber has left and the house is getting painted but it is a long process and as soon as we paint a wall the electrician puts a hole in it! Most depressing at times. But nearly all workmen will have gone soon and we can do the decoration in peace.

It has been a hard slog and we still have to di a 30metre trench and lay another cable before we can use the heat pump. I do wonder if it will b worth it. I think though when it finally kicks in we will feel a huge sense of both relief and achievement.

The stream banks have been cleared and the fencing for the sheep repaired. The garden has produced and continues to produce good food and salads. The next project will be chickens.  Fresh eggs and in time some for the pot.   Along with the pheasants next month.

The tractor has been upgraded but still seems to lack breaks although the mechanic said - 'there;s nothing wrong with the breaks. They just don't work for some reason!  I think that they are beginning to bite but it is a bit hairy on the hills with the tractor!

We also have a trailer which we exchanged for 130 bales of hay. Yet to use it but will need to hitch it up soon to collect the old dead wood from the woodland for winter warmth. Hopefully the ewes will not mind the intrusion. 

All our own-home grown

Well the other night we had a lovely meal overlooking the woods and pasture. So a meal I hear you ,but this was all home grown.. Garlic, onions, sweet mange tou, green and back. Broad beans and lovely potatoes plus a big salad with lots of goodies. all freshly picked or dug up an hour before eating. True there was no meat but we did have wonderful elderflower juice, also picked from the elderflower trees on the farm and made into delicious refreshing drink.

So after just a few months a whole meal from the land, Not that we aim to be self sufficient but it is good to do it once in a while

Snake!

Snake & Woods

Getting diesel the other day we came across a young man who felled trees. We spoke and he was interested in our wood for coppicing. We invited him over and we took a long stroll through the woods looking at trees. I learnt a lot about the wood and the things chestnut, hornbeam and other trees are good for.

On out return we checked the bridge over the stream for strength – it had to get a heavy tractor and trailer over it. The young man jumped onto the side of the stream and there was a load hiss. He had just missed jumping on a snake! His boot inches away for it. The snake was more scared than the lad, who had quickly jumped up again onto the bridge, was wriggling away, or trying to as it was stuck in some hardcore.

It was a beautiful creature, dark, over two feet long and quite fat. It had obviously just eaten and was resting on the mud in the hot sun. We stood and watched it for a while until it finally managed to escape. It was an Adder, the only poisonous snake in Britain.  So a good warning for us to watch out and to be aware one is in nature. Safer than the city but with its own dangers for the unaware.

Walking the Woods

Today the longest day began miserable but not raining. Both had had a bad night so decided to enjoy the wood not visited for a while. What a change the dampness and the heavy rain had g=brought down a lot of rotten wood. The paths we had made in May still held though and the wood once inside was welcoming. We decided to head into the centre. So much still really unexplored in terms of location, work and maintenance.

Found two magnificent Oaks surrounded by bramble and bracken so we has our first job to clear a space around them. Then there were two small spindly Beech trees within two feet of one of the Oaks and as much as I hate cutting down trees these two had to b removed both for the Oak an the ground around. They would have grown and caused too much cover and hence little light for wood life to develop well.

A morning well spent. On our return the scaffolding was begging taken down from the house so we can now sit and admire the PV solar panels without distraction!

Onions

Well the first crop of the season in bulk we had to harvest over 100 onions today as the weather was taking its toll in terms of them going  off and damp
First thing was tonight make a wonderful French Onion soup YUM YUM
The rest are airing out ready to be both eaten and stored over the next few months

look forward to the rest of the crop

Solar Panels and Wasps

Back from Italy
new builders etc getting on with the job making lots of mess but wires appearing all over the place - new plumbing going in.
hay is growing getting ready to be cut - need some good weather for that, hope it comes soon needs to be cut before it seeds.

The big change is that we now have an array of solar panels on the roof which will supply some of our electricity and what we don't use we will sell back to the grid. hopefully paying for the installation over about 9 years. The guys who put it up were great and did a grand job, even if it rained most of the time and e had to clear 4  wasp nests before they could really get going.
The wasp man ripped up off well and truly. saying it would be so much then when he arrived it would be something else much higher. People can be so untruthful about things when it comes to making a buck.


Now as it is a root day we need to plant out the leeks

keep going

Buildings
more builders, electricians, plumbers descends to offer their services. Each one disparaging about the other, each one commenting on the poor work of the previous work done. No support each for his own. So different from TESOL where one supports, gives advice, helps and is not out for their own. Although of course there are many who are, especially once they leave teaching and head into positions of power.
But enough. The week has been good, The flower borders have been tamed to a certain extent, the roses are magnificent and the Dog Rose in the trees amazing. The new mower arrived. Gave up on the previous company - the new one delivered in two days and it worked so we now have cut grass. Not too low cut as we don't want it to be yellow.
The vegetable garden has now full leaky pipe watering from the well so now instead of holding the hose for a couple of hours we turn on a tap ad presto. However a few bit not reachable,so a bit of hose work left.

Overall it is good. The sun has shone none stop for over three weeks and the water still flows. the place looks good and Open Day is closer.