Farmageddon...and of being cheated.

Our summer holidays can be summarised in three words.  Far. Too. Short.  We were cheated. 

Well actually, the truth is, the small girl changed schools.  The old school finished quite late, and the new school started back quite early.  As a result we lost about two weeks.  Never mind, we'll probably catch up in the future.  As a result we packed quite a lot of holiday stuff into our five and a bit weeks.  Lots of trips to the beach; a trip via Exeter Airport (we are so lucky to have an International airport on our doorstep!) a bit of swimming in our pond, and of course lots of time at home on the farm just kicking around as we do best. 

An old school friend invited us to hang out with her and her children on the north Devon coast - it was just a few days but we made memories.  The weather was lovely, the evenings were warm and bad Mummies that we were we couldn't resist sunset on the beach one night.  This was after bath time with children in pyjamas.  Of course, the inevitable happened - all children gamboling in the evening surf - which then required another round of baths and dry nightwear. But oh what fun!

We invited ourselves to stay with another friend and her children in Holland, The Hague.  We had a great time, cycled everywhere, enjoyed the many beautiful parks and playgrounds and had some more trips to the beach.  It was a total surprise to me that The Hague had such a beach scene.  We were lucky to get some great weather while we were there so we could enjoy plenty of the great Dutch outdoors.

Back to reality and our building project.  One good reason to spend a bit of time away is that most of our outdoor space directly around the house and cottage has been turned into farmageddon.  Trenches have been dug just about everywhere to lay the main umbilical's that
will lead out of our plant room to feed the farmhouse, cottage and two holiday homes with mains water, electricity, heating and comms.  On a dry day its ok, but as soon as it gets wet the lack of grass turns everywhere to a sea of mud and the open trenches become rivers. 

The garage/plant room has now been completed and the roof is intact.  The solar panels have been installed.  The biomass boiler has been installed in the plant room section of the garage and within the next few weeks the hopper will be built in the pellet room and we should get 10 tonnes of wood pellets delivered.  Its all a bit space age and I fear I'll need a week's tutorial just to understand how to turn it on.

The farmhouse is rising from her haggard state slowly. The new porch has been completed, while the old damaged render has been removed and replaced.  All the windows have now been removed while we wait for the new ones to arrive.  The first fix plumbing and electrics are almost complete and downstairs the flooring has been re-screeded and levelled with underfloor heating pipes beneath.

Our two holiday homes are well underway with all the foundations now complete.  The frame is rising and we can start to see the shape of things to come.

On the farm side our lambs are close to being ready for market.  We thought we'd been very clever and created what we called The 'Lammock'.  We looked and looked for some kind of weighing device that we could use - other than a very expensive weigh crate that we didn't wish to purchase.  When we didn't find anything we made one.  A supermarket bag and suspended scales.  It was a great idea.  Until we started to get lambs over 30 kilos.  Then we realised why no lammock exists.  It requires two people to catch and suspend a 30 kilo plus lamb and no bag can withstand that kind of wriggling lamb weight!  Finally the Ologist managed to track down a second hand weigh crate and we now have the luxury of driving them down a race and into the crate where they get more accurately weighed, with less stress and back ache for all involved.

They have all been treated over the summer with worming meds and fly repellent.  Although the weather hasn't been all that hot this summer, we have had a sustained period of warm humid days which is perfect for flystrike to occur.  Blowflies lay their eggs in the wool of the sheep often at the rear end or round the horn base.  When the eggs hatch the maggots will eat into the skin and flesh of the sheep and that can be fatal if it goes undetected.  We had one bad case, but luckily caught it in time and the lamb in question has healed well and recovered.  We also had a couple of cases of bad foot rot.  I think I can cope with most things, but crawling maggots in the hoof bed of a ewe requires a strong stomach.  The smell alone is quite something - however, its all part of the job and someone's gotta do it.

With the lambs a few weeks away from market, or our freezer, the rams will shortly be back in action with our existing ewes.  This is our first batch of home born lambs off to market which will be our first full circle.  It has taken its time to get to this stage, but all good things take time and we are pleased to be in this position now. 



I have done very little gardening this
summer other than necessary mowing, but with the winter mounding of mulch the weeds in my hot bed have been minimal.  I have a five metre stretch of bed that so far I have managed to control and it has proven to me that the more mulch, the merrier!  Just this week I had a surprise delivery of gratis mulch...it has filled up my bays and will do me for the whole of this winter.  We will also use it for pathways once we start to landscape around the holiday homes, and between vegetable beds in the Kitchen Garden. 

The only vegetables we have managed to grow are in potato bags.  We planted a dozen or so runner beans, and the rest of the bags were used for potatoes.  We have had a great harvest, albeit small, of delicious fresh Pink Fir and King Edward seasonal potatoes.  The runner beans, as always, take ages to flower and set beans.  You blink and they are suddenly a foot long and plentiful.  So we are enjoying and savouring them, and starting to plan how our Kitchen Garden will pan out and decide what and where we will plant in the spring.

Couldn't help but post this photo...saw it in a vegan café in The Hague...made me chortle.






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