Spring Photos

The Chicks in the shed are nearly a week old now and all seem robust and healthy little buggers. The smallest (above) is a part bantam mongrel and is an absolute sweetie!
With the pigs gone there is plenty of jobs to be getting on with. I cleaned their hut out, and cleared much of their enclosure of dirty straw and droppings before re seeding the ground.
The Bourbon red turkeys will be housed into the hut as soon as the chicks are old enough to go outside. The chicks will be housed in the present turkey house. All I have to do now is sort out a potential goose house! (if you remember, there are four giant goose eggs in the incubator!)

As I weeded the been and pea beds this afternoon, the sun has been blazing and the turkeys have been clumsily mating amid clouds of feathers and uncomfortable screaming. I have erected the runner, french bean and pea supports and was kept company by the dogs and the obligatory Albert who always refused to be left out of anything

The creeping buttercups have covered the Churchyard in a blanket of yellow, and the backdrop of colour and nature is, I am sure, some sort of comfort for the increased numbers of visitors to the graveyard.

There seems to have been a lot of burials recently, and the newly bereaved to and fro along the neat paths and green borders all day long....As I work, I wave to some that I recognise, and thank goodness for the nice weather, a country graveyard in the sun, must bring a great deal of peace and comfort to troubled minds.....I moved the turkeys down to the bottom of the field....so that their sexual antics didn't bother any of the visitors too much.

As I came in to wash up before collecting the Berlingo, I spied Auntie Gladys who was sat quietly in the sun on the far side of the Churchyard ("Auntie is her generic Village name!)!. She waved vaguely as I waved to her (at ninety I don't think she actually recognised me at that distance! and as she got up to slowly amble her way home I had a huge rush of affection for this old lady who always reminds me of a white haired and smiling Woody Allen, She is one of the nicest and most respected villagers I have met since our time here.

She has been a member of the Flower Show Committee ( and the village welfare committee before that) for 57 years!

I have only been Chairman for two!!!

On Line?

I couldn't get on line yesterday. Computer said an emphatic "NO!"
wasted an hour talking to a technical officer from the Indian subcontinent trying to solve the issue only to be told that the whole village had lost its connection to the world!
Feeling like a sad geek, I was rather bereft without my daily helping of blogdom.

I have been typing this diary without fail for four years now (internet crashes and the odd holiday apart)...and the ritual and discipline of sitting down with laptop and coffee is a daily joy

Having said this I am typing this entry at my sister's house before I take the trusty Berlingo in for it's second crack at an MOT....and Janet's A key does not work at all well......you try writing something without a soddin A in it......

Hopefully the diary of a man hurtling through a mid life country crisis will be back on line tomorrow!

Pastures new

The pigs on their arrival last year

The pigs left the field today.
They have been adopted by an animal park over in Cambridgeshire (http://www.hamertonzoopark.com/), as breeding mates for a rare breed boar, who has been alone for quite some time.
The park looks lovely and finally I am sort of glad that they have a large new home and a chance to experience piglets.
Just over a week ago, I was suddenly made aware that the Glebe field's lease prohibits the presence of pigs, and the very future of the allotment had been put into jeopardy by this fact as well as a series of oversights (on my part)
I won't go into too many details, there is no real need to do so now as, after much wringing of hands, anxiety and angst (it was awful!), most things have now been sorted out to a satisfactory level, however I thought it appropriate for the girls to be re-homed, so that my existence here is above board and legal and more importantly safe.
And so, Gladys and Nora have gone. They came to me over a year ago after a chance meeting with their owner at the animal feed shop. She needed a home for them immediately as she was unexpectedly moving to the US....and I was a sucker for a sob story.
The girls became minor celebrities here in the field. Over the past year, they have been visited by a whole string of villagers clutching loaves of bread and bags of veg clippings.and subsequently they turned from small,.slight sows who lived in a small concrete sty, into fat old girls who have charmed half the village and who have lived a comfortable life in a field with a lovely view.
I shall miss them.

Thought for the day

"The purity of a person's heart can be quickly measured by how they regard animals." - Anonymous

Camp Rosettes

The rosettes have arrived for the Flower Show Stewards, Show Secretary and me the Chairman......Humm they can only be described as being well....large........showey and just a tad......well camp!!!!
God Knows what the committee will say when they see them!

Chicken Course 2010

Another small group of affable despots completed their "Chicken Course for beginners" this morning. Today I had a chance to reinforce some of the areas we covered in the three weeks "theory" sessions and the "students" had a chance to closely examine a live chicken (Lily the tame buff was poked and prodded by a load of eager fingers!!!)

I taught them how to check for mites and lice then they had a go at wing clipping and general health checks, before I let them loose on the chicks.

It was all very relaxed and good natured fun.

Spring pace

It has felt a little like summer this afternoon.

The planting of more beans, cabbage and beetroot has been pleasantly interrupted by neighbours' visits and chats, so the pace of the day has felt somewhat plodding and pedestrian.

Ann from round the corner came to feed the pigs with her grandson who was wide eyed with silent admiration after he held a couple of the new chicks, and neighbours Ian and Helen from the Mill house from down the lane called in for eggs and a hopeful mention in today's blog!!

The red faced Welsh farmer dropped off a load of shavings for the hen coops as another neighbour Pippa ambled past ( she called around last night for eggs and taught me where to look in the night sky for Venus and Mercury)...earlier in the morning I talked to the widow who buried her husband earlier in the week , as she visited the graveyard, I had waved to her almost daily for months as she was always a regular visitor to the Church, but never had spoken to her before. It felt good to be able to offer my condolences

Let's hope this fine weather continues, it certainly lifts the spirits

Lambs

The guy that wanted his lambs rearing suddenly wanted payment for them and seemed unwilling to provide appropriate paperwork....
Given the nature of DEFRA regulations....I have now told him I am not interested
Hey ho