March 2016
Longer days
Monday 7 March, 2016
Pleased to say that our 13 fleeces are on their way to The Natural Fibre Company – in fact, I’d guess they are already there. I managed to squeeze seven into the first sack, so thought getting six in the second would be easy but the last fleece was Taylor’s and it was mahoosive. So it was another tight squeeze but with Dan’s superior weight, we managed it.
So that cleared a space in the workshop but there’s still quite a lot of “stuff”. The car boot sale will take care of quite a lot of it though. The joiner was here to measure up this week. We had proper drawings done years ago to convert it to a multi-use space, with a wet room and small kitchen area but we couldn’t afford it and applying for SRDP was just too daunting (plus we were told we wouldn’t get it anyway), so we’ve been getting bits and pieces done as we can afford it.
Planting and planning
Tuesday 15 March, 2016
Well, it’s starting to feel like spring might be on the way. It’s been pretty dry and we’ve had a couple of really nice sunny days. However, we’ve also had a wee outbreak of Norovirus, so that interrupted things for a bit but we’re all fine now.
Bryn’s chum, Angus the Springer Spaniel, is with us for three weeks while his humans are on holiday. Poor Angus has been well tormented but is quite able to sort out Bryn when he oversteps the mark. Bentley, Bryn’s Labrador chum, get’s on fine with Angus, once he accepted that humping Angus was really not acceptable behavior. A friend of ours compared Bryn to the Duracell bunny – and I can see it. I honestly can. The batteries are currently flat though.
Officially Spring
Monday 21 March, 2016
So, weather-wise, it’s been a pretty good week. Yesterday (Sunday) was officially the first day of Spring or the Festival of Ostara or the vernal equinox – and that means the days are now longer than the nights.
I vaccinated the four cows with Bravoxin 10 last week and the two big cows, Blizz and Annie, went up to our rented grazing on Saturday, to run with the bull and steers until mid May, when we bring them home to calve in early June. Two of the steers are Blizzard’s sons – Hamish and Robbie. Robbie thought he might try a wee feed but Blizz wasn’t impressed. We moved them all to three fresh paddocks. There’s not much grass so they also have a bale of straw and their licky bucket.
Corgi floof and nosebleeds
Tuesday 29 March, 2016
Well, that’s the clock changed and we are officially into British Summer Time. It’s been a mixed bag of weather, but mainly dry with some nice sun too. Looks like the grass is starting to come away a bit but it’s still my “panic” time of the year.
Having ewes expecting singles, twins and triplets plus ewe hoggs means that I have had four groups of sheep – so four paddocks being used plus two groups of cattle and the ponies. This means that the grass coming in is being eaten – and it looks like it’s not growing. Not really sure how I can get round this though.
First bee inspection
Wednesday 30 March, 2016
When we moved to Dalmore in 2010 the prospect of establishing an apiary was something that excited us all. We got our first bees in 2011, and since then my dad has been looking after them with very little help from the rest of us, other than to eat the honey.
Last year he decided he'd like a break from the responsibility, so over the winter I took a beginner's bee-keeping course at the East of Scotland Beekeepers' Association, and now have the terrifying prospect of taking charge of the apiary!
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