Raising the Baaaaa......

I got the call and immediately mobilized. My friends, proper farmers, had located some cade ewe lambs for me to raise by bottle.

It's not that I specifically want to give myself the added expense in time and finance to raise baby lambs, it's just that by raising lambs by hand, you really bond with them. You get to know quirky personality traits and they get to know you, which seriously helps when they grow up and you need to move or manipulate them. My current ewes were all raised this way and they are the most biddable, loving, want-to-be-petted-like-dogs, creatures ever. It doesn't make commercial sense but it makes sense to me, (and saves me time in the long run.)

My 'big' girls were all raised by bottle and are so easy to manage. I don't have a sheep dog to round my ewes up, so, standing by a gate, I merely call them and they come running from three fields away. I'm the Barbara Woodhouse of sheep!

Dog crate in the boot of my car, my friend and I drove to a commercial farm where barns and sheds, and even a huge wedding marquee, housed extensive sheep maternity wards. Hundreds of sheep, hundreds and hundreds of lambs. In specially created hot boxes, (intensive care) we saw some tiny tiddlers, most seemed to be perking up and the commercial farmer assured us that most would survive to be raised by bottle. My lamb-dealer shook her head and we were off to shop for perkier lambs.

In hay filled pens, cades, (3rd and 4th sibling lambs or orphan lambs,) huddled together in the straw. Some of the long-term inmates, brave individuals, pottered over to sniff us through the bars of the hurdles. Suddenly a lamb was handed to me, then another.... then another. We were urged to follow the farmer who went pen to pen, handing us suitable babies, most taken from their mums who already had two healthy lambs to feed. All looked fit and well, all had clearly had an initial feed of colostrum, the essential protection for any baby.

We made mini trips to the car to pop warm, bleating lambs into the dog crate. I felt sad to have pulled them from their mums but also assured that they were due to be pulled anyway and besides, I'm a lovely mummy too and they were coming to a lovely home.

And so I've decided, in terms of shopping; lamb shopping is the best. You can keep your shoe shopping, the Manolo Blahniks etc and clothes shopping, you can even keep your make-up and jewellry style shopping, lamb shopping is the best.

Fourteen days on, approximately 672 feeds later, (1344 to go) and all 8 babies are drinking happily from the bottle, most have sussed that there is also milk in the free-feed bucket that is bolted to the wall.

Clockwise: Sproglet1, Smudge, Spots and Noche

It's not easy feeding 8 hungry lambs, fortunately I have had a multitude of volunteers and some who didn't volunteer (sorry Spanish guests!) It may not be easy but it is lots of snuggly fun.

As these baby girls will join our other breeding ewes in two years time, we have named them. (Also not very commercial) There is Una, Smudge, Blanca, Squeek, Nibble, Lady, Noche and Spots.  They join our original ewes: Snowy, Moon, Pink, Oreo, Bourbon, Cocoa and Bino.

Our proper lambing from our own ewes begins tomorrow for the next two weeks.... goodbye bed, hello night-shift!

Easter Holiday Ideas. Save 20%.

From famine to feast!

There was a definite temperature lift this morning and a smell of spring. Partly this was due to my daily faceful of hay as I fed the pregnant sheep and alpaca at the crack of dawn, but mainly life just felt a tadge different. The chickens have finally started laying and now from a famine, I'm in feast mode desperately thinking of what to cook next! [Never happy, me]

In the greenhouse my dahlia seedlings are happy and alert and throughout the garden, stuff's emerging. Love it. 

In an effort to be organised I've looked at my yearly diary and planned ahead. Circumnavigating lambing and alpaca birthing carefully so as not to cause an issue, I have booked a holiday with the sproglets. Dad, unfortunately will be promoted to Director of Farming while I'm away, though he has kindly declined the role of Head of Poo! (Drat!)

Crabbing at nearby Padstow

So, early summer we three and mates shall depart for our favourite spot in Cornland..... (Cornwall to you) Trevella Park near Newquay. Last time I stayed with Trevella I confess that it was as the guest of the Park in return for my bloggy opinion of their service, facilities and accommodation. It was a dream assignment - we loved it and the kids (aged 12 and 10) have nagged and nagged to return (at our own expense I hasten to add) ever since. 

Wonderful Eden

I've been thinking about what makes Trevella so special and here are my top banana bullet points. 

• The site feels safe

• The site has interest for the smallest child to the biggest child (me) with fishing, pond dipping, games room and tons of space to play outdoors. 

• The caravans were spotless and roomy and warm, with all mod cons. We were last there when it was rainy and muddy and we still had a ball. 

• The location is fab for beaches, crabbing, Eden, supermarkets, surf school and lots more. Cornwall has it all, including better weather (for us)

• During the rapidly approaching two-week school holiday break 3-17 April 2015, Trevella are offering free Park Ranger Adventures, with guests challenged to discover local insects and wildlife, learn to fish and develop their survival skills. 

• Also this Easter Holidays on offer are night-time moth and bat walks, insect hunts, rockpooling, shelter building and map reading. [Hopefully the little darlings will be exhaused after all that, leaving parents to sip a wine on the balcony in the evening.... ahhh bliss...) 

To watch a fab video of Trevella click here 

NB. Savings of up to 20% are available on Easter holidays for bookings made and paid in full before 28 February. Prices for a four-night midweek break from 6 April start from £196 for up to four people sharing a static caravan.

Contact Trevella to book your own adventure www.trevella.co.uk or call 01637 830 308

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.

A Spring day at The Larches....

Mahoosive spawn this year

'Hello Grass, it's been a long muddy winter..'

Nigella seedlings

 

Broad Beans... delicious young

 

Perpetual Spinach

Lupin for colour this year

 

Figs are growing well

 

Chooks a'chookin'

Delightful Caramel

Shadow and her shadow

Bracken

Fudge and Darcy

Annabel (the Boss)

Hot-bed of yucky love stuff - hence the spawn!

My most sincere apologies if you can't see the pictures above ...(you're missing out!) Something to do with Apple / Explorer interface??? In order to rectify this, click here and you will be magically transported to my blog. Thanks for stopping by. Why not leave a comment, I'd love to chat with you. xx

Batteries low and being head-butted....

We've almost made it to spring....

I feel as if I'm crawling toward spring, I'm tired and feel sure my wellingtons have rubber fatigue too. It has been a funny week, warm temperatures, low wind, a definite promise of better, more consistent weather. However, last night we had more monsoon rain, yay! and this morning the fields that were beginning to dry out were sodden again.

Stuff is appearing in the greenhouse, on windowsills and, more gratifyingly, in the beds and borders planted over the past four years. Herbaceous perennials like astrantia, lupins and hydrangea are now able to compete with the grass thanks to hubby and I battling. We should have some wonderful flowers this year. I constantly check in with The Flower Farmer at Common Farm for hints and tips on growing British flowers, she is a goddess, check her out if you can.

Hope you're not eating while reading this: One of our alpaca mums has an enormous pus-filled spot on her face that I'm cleaning daily. [Did I mention I'm from St John's Wood!!] According to the vet who came out on Saturday, it's likely she was spiked by a blackthorn in the hedge which then turned nasty. The 11yo, who has expressed an interest in being a veterinarian, (I'm light-headed with the thought of the cost-savings,) was an excellent nurse and handed swabs, as the vet disgorged a tablespoon or more of goo from a held, but nonetheless compliant, alpaca. The 9yo meanwhile, was no-where near this carnage.

Yesterday I was head-butted by a giddy baby alpaca. All fun here at The Larches. I've been gently stroking the younger members of the pack in order to get them used to us. Next month I plan to start halter training..... should be hilarious... anyhoo, Fudge, Caramel and Shadow think the 'touching game' is great fun and delight in kicking their legs, tossing heads and running about each time I manage even the slightest caress. I was just reaching for Fudge yesterday when she anticipated my move and with one great giddy bounce, she managed to butt my nose with the top of her head. Lordy did my eyes stream. Hope I don't get black eyes, I'm supposed to be at a black tie do this weekend, though I guess the colour would be in keeping!

I've made pork cassoulet for tea with pinto beans and smoked bacon, plus home-made crusty bread. I very roughly followed this Hairy Biker's recipe. Fancy popping over?... xx

Garden of the future...

Tabby isn't interested in gardening..



Spring will come. Spring will come. SPRING WILL COME!!!!

Each year I lie to myself on 21st December (the herald of lengthening days,) telling myself that this date [not 1st of March] is the (slow) beginning of spring. This fat fib works till about mid January and the distraction of Christmas and my Birthday passes. I'm now just beginning to lose patience with the weather, though I know there is still approximately 8 more weeks of cold, stinky-stuff ahead. Sigh.

Salvia Seascape

In any case, I am sowing a new garden display on every available warm, bright spot indoors. I'm having to use indoor space because the greenhouse is already full of sweet-pea, lupin, spinach, nigella and cornflowers! My newer sowings are not as tough as the Autumn gang and therefore need that extra bit of love to get them going.

So, in the proper, posh propagator located on the windowsill of the utility room 50 tiny Thompson and Morgan Salvia Seascape are just emerging.

DIY Propagator - Sandwich Trays!

Also on the deep windowsill, but in makeshift propagator, (catering sandwich tray,) is a bed of Sutton's Statice Sinuata, next to that another of Sutton's BandQ Stock, Cinderella Mix and yet another of Thompson and Morgan's White Bride Snapdragons.

It seems without noticing I'm doing it, I've chosen to grow tall spires this year. This could be a subconscious effort to lift the flower garden above the height of the natural meadow grasses that invade. I've had to concede that I cannot pull every piece of couch grass so I'm going to garden on a higher plane from now on.



Stock, Cinderella Mix



Cinderella Stock

 

 

We are even growing chicks in an incubator.... though I suspect, after doing a bit of amateur candling with a torch the other night, that we are actually just warming and humidifying rotten eggs.... I'm quite nervous for the utility room as they are due to hatch or explode this weekend...

Having a think......

There's plenty in my head to write about, maybe too much.

Since last I wittered, (a long time ago,) the seasons have stagnated and I'm fairly convinced that just one season remains - a wet one. The fields are still sodden, our animals are damp and though the snowdrops are still showing off, (if your snowdrops have come and gone by now you must remember we are high above sea level here and consequently a couple of weeks behind warmer parts of the UK) and the daff heads are swelling for their turn, the jury's out whether this will be a good year.

I heard a lovely story, though can't recall where, was it Bob Flowerdew?.... he called a garden centre and asked if they had any snowdrops for sale in the green....... 'Sorry' said the lady on the end of the phone, 'We only have white ones.' Bless.

***

Another excuse for not writing is that I'm back to work, supporting a vocational school. A worthy cause actually.

I've sowed some seeds. Some have foundered, some have not. There must be a glimmer of optimism.

Chilli (Tabasco), tomato and Cerinthe are all doing well. Modules of Rose Campion are beginning to spurt. I'm checking the Dahlia and Cosmos plants of last year, protected over winter. Life looks unlikely, but then again I'm surprised by plants each and every year. They may just need a little more warmth; I'm hoping that rumours of last Tuesday being the summer of 2013 are untrue.

Sweet Pea, sown in October, December and then again in January are also doing well. I gazed at a label for one of the sowings, wondering what variety Leominster was. I couldn't find or recall the packet. It came to me later; these were the perpetual strong pink Sweet Pea pods I'd pilfered from a pub in Leominster.

Plant pilfering seems less of a crime as I head towards 50. 50! I remember my mother taking cuttings from some concrete and pebble planters, (must have been the 70's,) outside an impressive insurance company. I was mortified, especially when I looked up and saw the security guard inside, heading towards the glass entrance doors. We'd been spotted.

My mum was totally engrossed and there was nowhere to hide, we were going to prison and my younger sister and brother would have to go into care, as all dad could cook was breakfast egg-flips, a revolting mixture of warm milk, sugar and raw egg shaken to a frenzy and gulped down. Urgh!

The guard descended the steps towards us, instantly authoritative in his dark suit, shiny buttons and banded cap.

'There's better bits round the back in the car park; reds and blues.' he said and smiled. Clearly a fellow pilferer. Holy cow, who can you trust nowadays?

***

According to our cats spring is deffo here; their gifts of the hindquarters of Easter bunnies secreted behind the sofa in the kitchen bearing testimony to the fact.

Well, it's been nice chatting, I've enjoyed dipping my toe in the wittering water..... I'll be back soon I hope..

Lou

Spinach Wars and Spring at The Larches

Well, after all that wet stuff yesterday it's quite nice here today, not as nice as when I took the photos the other day, but acceptable. The warm wet weather has spurred on the spinach planted last Autumn and yesterday I waged war, making a strange but tasty Spinach and Sweet Chilli Pesto. I've frozen pots of it as a vegetarian option with a kick.

Recipe:

Wash spinach (I had approximately 1000g)
Place in huge cook pot with lid and a small glass of water, season to taste with salt and pepper
Chop garlic finely and add to pot
Wilt leaves till they are good and soft
Drain
Add butter, a generous amount of olive oil and a bottle of good Sweet Chilli Sauce
Blend to a smooth paste
Add caster sugar and extra chilli if required

Serve hot over pasta or cool and add mayonnaise to use as a dip.

 

Tabby



Cosmos

Dahlia seedlings

Tagged......

Ooooo I've been tagged by Victoria over at hibiscus bloem and need to answer 5 questions... being that the questions are not too scary I have acquiesced...

BTW, I love Victoria's site, a British girl living in the Netherlands, she has an eclectic site, filled with things that take her (and my) fancy.

1. What's your favourite season?
Spring without a doubt. My spring starts in February and ends in July. This is my personal planting season.

2. Best holiday/vacation you've ever had?
Possibly the one where I went to Corfu in 1986'ish and came home in 1987'ish!!! Shirley Valentine eat your heart out. I was young and unattached'ish!

3. Would you consider any form of cosmetic surgery?
OMG! I consider it EVERY day. Bosoms need to be lifted about 2 storeys, oh and reduced. Stomach flattened. Bingo wings pinned up. Waddle neck stretched back. Witch chin amended! .....(Can I just say that I would never get these things done as I'm too chicken, but a girl can dream. Also, although I joke about wanting this restoration work done, I'm utterly happy in my current body. Poor hubby.)

4. Do you have a favourite recipe you'd like to share?
Slow Baked Lamb. Get a shoulder of lamb (it's a cheaper cut and has a little marbled fat = more flavour.) Turn oven to 170°. On the skin side score into it, making diamond incisions. Anoint the meat with olive oil, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar, garlic salt, lime juice and some vegetable seasoning. Place in a deep roasting tray over washed, halved potatoes (I leave their skins on as I'm lazy.) Drizzle more oil and salt on potatoes, place a sprig/bunch of rosemary on top of the meat and roast for about 2 hours or until the fat has turned crispy and the meat runs clear. Serve with mint sauce and a big cold salad. Juice from the roasting tray makes great gravy.

5. If you won a million (euros, pounds, dollars etc) what would you do?
Wotstheexchangerate?! I'd mend the house, buying in original features from c.1840 and ripping out THAT hideous ensuite!

Springwatch back on 31st.......

Obviously, I only watch it for the nature stuff........cough, cough.

Picture courtesy of http://www.wildlifeextra.com. Where Mr Packham talks about invasive species...sigh....

Raised beds

Husband made me some raised beds in October or November. They are all constructed from reclaimed scraps of wood he found around the site. I must finish filling them with soil in the next couple of weeks in order to begin planting in March. I'm going to enjoy using this Blog to document changes in the garden, successes and failures.

The chickens are doing a good job, they have guzzled slugs and snails. Mind you, they don't care what they uproot to get to them so I'll need to create some protective domes for seedlings. I don't mind those kinds of tasks, spring is definitely the best season. Imagine the edible produce for our summer and autumn meals. I may even enter the village fete which has a 'best in class' for veg. Steady on now girl!!!!



This will be the first spring in the garden. Already I can see buds appearing on plants that I do not recognise. It will be fantastic to see things emerge and bloom.

Well, must go. Off over Clee Hill again to collect the children. Wonder what the view will be like this afternoon?

[Update 2014: 5 years on and our new website is launched here come visit us online.]