Lou's Poo...

For those who read the blog regularly, you'll know I'm obsessed with gardening. Sadly I am also obsessed with poo! Not only does the word rhyme with my name but the merest mention of the word makes me smile. #sillysenseofhumour. It may be because most of my day is filled with stepping over poo, picking it up or finding a use for it: Breeding sheep, chickens and alpaca, means there's always a plentiful supply.

Anyhoo, for the past 16 months I have been putting my chicken poo, and occasionally the sheep poo, on my compost heap for use in a year or so when it is well rotted. There is no need for delayed gratification with the alpaca poo; I have been using that directly on my shrubs, flowers and veg because it's not a 'hot' manure and doesn't scorch the plants.

Good Lordy! The results are amazing in my garden this year. The growth on the roses is stunning, even though they are planted in a poor bed, with precious little soil thanks to a new soak-away! The sweet pea are bedded into a trench filled with alpaca poo and they are already almost 5ft tall with tons of flowers appearing. In the veg garden I'm already deluged by courgettes; ratatouille here we come! With all this nutrition I'm hoping for good results in the local horticultural shows this year!

Coming soon TheArchersAtTheLarches.com

My hand picked, air dried, alpaca poo is a wonderful slow release nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium soil enhancer, It is sweet smelling... in my humble opinion it smells like mowed grass and muesli, probably down to my clean paddocks and the great camelid food I feed the herd. All you need is a small handful in any indoor or outdoor potted plants or you can, like me, administer direct to soil or into a planting trench.

If you fancy a boost for the garden you can purchase the 550g dried version of Lou's Poo, Alpaca Manure, at The Plant Centre in Ludlow, Shropshire, UK. Open every day 9.30 - 5.30 Tel: 01584 856873. It comes, as per the pic, in a resealable, compostable, lined brown bag and retails at £9.99. A Gardener's Advantage!

Alternatively, you might like to buy it online from my new website, [launching in early August] TheArchersAtTheLarches.com.

Happy Gardening!

Lou

Catching one's breath......

Blimey is it May already? Mid May??? ..... Gosh.

When I last wrote we'd had 3 lambs and though I'd had no sleep, we Archers were broadly happy and healthy. This heath check extended to humans, sheep, alpaca, chickens and cats. Check.

On Sunday 13th April our last, and most huge, of our ewes decided to lamb. Snowy waited till I'd had a full night of broken sleep before lambing at 9am Sunday morning. She popped out two lovely boys with minimal assistance from me. Fab.

Two days later and the 11yo noticed an issue: The 1st of Snowy's twins was turning into a goat. His ears were flopped by the side of his head, giving him a very kid goat appearance. He was also on fire with a fever. Even with an injection of antibiotic he didn't really improve and so my sleepless nights continued as I napped on the couch in the kitchen, a small sickly lamb beside me. (In a dog crate I hasten to add. I'm not THAT soft!..... )

Having sworn I would not raise cade lambs this year, I was saddled with one! The children convinced us that buying another cade lamb would be best, so that this little one wouldn't be lonely in the stables. All of a sudden I was a full-time carer again, milk maker and mucker-outer for two babies.

May I say that some lambs' table manners are appalling.

With plenty of milk, a cool environment and advice from the vet, the little chap made it through, though of course, by now his mum had rejected him. I was the new Mummy on the block.

Anyhoo, I'm pleased to say he's all better now, he lives with the flock, sleeps in the hay box in the field shelter! and potters around with his purchased pal.

The pal lamb we purchased was a baby girl but the 11yo, (clearly the brightest in the Archer clan,) has since noticed that it is a boy..... It's tricky this farming malarky.

Sex-change cade followed by sickly cade....

H&S Advice: How NOT TO feed a strong cade lamb.....

H&S Advice: I rest my case....

Painted nails are a MUST!

Doubly proud.... Pink's babies

 

It is now 23:37 and I've just been awoken for my 12th consecutive night shift, having passed out slept earlier this evening from 7pm. Actually I feel rather refreshed after my four and a half hours. Our house guests of last weekend, Erin, Fen, Cate and X, were bemused by my nocturnal activity. Erin, a friend who writes the blog 'Cross The Pond, pointed out that I was operating in a similar fashion to Thomas Eddison [get me!] who allegedly thought sleep was for the weak, believing more in power napping. I found this interesting article on Eddison's opinion of sleep here on Brain Pickings. 

I must admit, that the house is calm and quiet at this time of the day, no one needing me to feed, muck out, cook, clean or water them but I do crave a little more shut-eye. On Wednesday I didn't even manage my early evening nap and went through from Tuesday night till the wee hours of Thursday. Mind you, it was worth it.

Wednesday: A good, bright, warm day where I managed to clean the house, see to the animals and take a picnic (with sproglets + guests) to a rural wildlife reserve where a craggy rivulet cuts a sway through miles of clay (significant.) In fact, while the children shrieked with delight slightly up steam of me, (out of sight but not of hearing,) I snoozed, dribbling into the grass. The sun felt hot on the back of my jeans - lovely.

I was rudely awoken by a tribe of dripping, pygmy, spa types who'd overdosed in the mud treatment room! It was terrifying. The mile or so hike to the car, across gorse and fern; the girls in swimming costumes and colourful Crocks, carrying their wellingtons and jeans, the boys in squelching boots and wearing their, by now, cardboard jeans, was interesting.

Later, having Googled how to fix the washing machine by emptying the filter of silt and mud, we designed home-made pizza and the kids settled to watch a movie. I cleaned up and waited for Hubby to relieve me of duties so I could sleep. He was due home from a meeting at 9pm.

Before Hubby arrived I'd managed to herd the children and their guests into their respective bedrooms. I took the opportunity to walk up the drive to check on the pregnant ewes in the stables. Pink, my cade lamb of two years ago, was definitely showing signs of lambing.

By the time hubby arrived Pink was pacing and her water sack was visible. Hubby left me to fix his dinner. By walkie-talkie I described each gory labour stage, while Hubby attempted to prepare and eat his pizza. Funny but he seemed reluctant to hear every detail.... [Lou: Smiling evilly - I'm overtired OK!]

Anyhoo, by 10.30pm we roused the children and they came to the barn to see Pink, (slightly aided by me as I could only find one little lamb foot initially,) give birth to her first lamb, a bonny baby girl. Mum and baby immediately bonded.

An hour later, as requested, we roused the children again as Pink began to deliver lamb number two. Unfortunately she only presented the head of this lamb and try as I may, I couldn't slide it back in to the ewe in order to recover both of the legs for a perfect birth, the canal was just too narrow and I felt very inexperienced. I did manage to find 1 leg but the shoulders were too wide to allow the lamb to birth. After a few moments and a stunned silence from the kids, Hubby phoned to ask our nearest farmer friend to help us. [All the ewes we're lambing this year were bought from him originally and he has been such an invaluable teacher for me.]

Within minutes he was with us. He flipped Pink on her side and had the lamb out moments later. My mistake had been to try to lamb Pink while she was standing, with her lying on her side the lamb slipped out easily and was given to mum to lick. Another lovely girl. I feel sure, having watched the technique used, I could repeat this on another occasion.

This lamb struggled a little through the night. I stayed to make sure all was OK. In the end, maybe an hour later, when the lamb was badly shivering and not attempting to stand like her sister, I intervened. I made up a little bottle of warmed colostrum and fed it to her, keeping her close to my body warmth. Next I wiped her in the birthing fluids that dripped from Pink's backside in order to disguise my smell and lay her next to her sister in the straw.

The result: two happy girls today and one happy mummy. Phew.

Snowy: You're next!

 

The Science Bit.....

I have been testing the theory, mainly at night, that a watched kettle does not boil. I can confirm this to be a very big truism.....

Though the sheep are the size of aircraft carriers, there is still no sign of their lambs.

Note to self: Next year, when the ram comes calling, I will be far more watchful of crayon colours on the girls' backs:..... of the 'servicing' date! Might even use this handy gestation table to save myself more night shifts.