Woe is me!

Violet and Lilly are converted to pork. It's so sad.

Violet and Lilly had brilliant, natural lives, enriched with good food, companionship, space and the Five Freedoms. They were curious about the trailer and stuck their snouts thru the narrow windows on the side to sniff the countryside in a very un-panic-y way. They stopped in a nice shady place, went for short walk and then .... nothing! No stress, no fear, a quick and painless end. We should all have such a final chapter.

I'm still sad. But not as sad as Winston and Daisy!

More later with pictures of the remaining sad pair!

Tally-ho!

Hello and Goodbye!

We've had some new babies! I took grateful delivery of 5 baby Welsummer Banties today! Four of them are tiny like this one.

And then there's the bigger one - hatched a few weeks earlier than the others. Difficult to photograph, just like the little ones, tho!

And the goodbye goes to Lilly and Winston, who will leave next Tuesday to become wonderful deliciousnesses! Oh, and sausages!

That's the way it goes. Sad, isn't it?

Sheeps! New ones! Aaah!

Hi, everybody! Still suffering from the effects of the rain here. How about where you are?
Never mind, tho' the "beefsteak" tomatoes (as recommended by Chef Roux) "Marmande" are growing and looking quite good in the greenhouse. The Son sent me some dosh for my recent umpteenth birthday and part of it was spent on an automatic window opener for the greenhouse. Since then, everything has been doing much better - what with me not remembering either to open or close the thing at least once a day!
Outside in the hanging baskets, the little cherry tomatoes - kindly donated by a very good friend, a landscape gardener of my aquaint, are coming along nicely. I tasted one myself this morning and, guess what, it's true! Homegrown tomatoes are nice! I don't like 'em but these are so sweet and non-acidic! I was amazed and can't wait for the other 30 plants to start ripening!
Some plants are not doing so well. These are in a large planter just outside my office window. They have "Leaf Curl" problems. There are plenty of fruits, but they don't seem to be very healthy plants. I'm not holding out much hope, but am still feeding weekly - as with all the other toms.
Harvey is settled more now. He will allow certain people into the house without performing a full inspection of their genital area, sometimes forgetting to bark! He's still a bit anxious about some of the farmer types, tho'!
Others of our creatures are doing well, too. This little cock canary is prone to singing his little heart out - even at this time of the year, he sings first thing in the morning and in the evening. We had a hawk try to get them the other week and so the roof of the aviary was changed to discourage this - so far, success!
Sharon (left) is not too perky at the moment, so I have started giving them both Ferretone in their food. Known by a local keeper as Ferret Heroin, they absolutely love the stuff - and her coat is improving by the day. Harvey still wants them - BADLY!
On a surprisingly small plant, cucumbers that actually taste of something are growing. We've eaten one, and these three are still swelling up. There are other babies on the way and plenty of flowers.
Peppers are swelling and looking very exotic in the greenhouse. These are those long, finger-shaped, very sweet capiscum-type ones that will turn red in the end.

Lilly and Daisy are taking the air. Nothing like a good wallow to improve the complexion and lower the risk of sunburn to the ears, apparently.
A snooze makes the time between feeds go more quickly. So it's worth a go. I bet she's dreaming of peaches!
Shy ears.
This nasty weather has had one good facet. The apples are doing really well! These are only babies, tho, so we are hoping for a bit less rain for a while so that they don't split and get diseases. Pretty, tho, aren't they?
The Soays are looking really scruffy as they self-shear this year. They don't get fly-strike because they shed their coats in a series of lumps!Twothree is now bigger and more dominant than both Mother and Auntie, the other two ewes. Incidentaly, can you see one of the next-door-neighbour's emus in the background of this picture? They have proper dinosaur's feet! Very scary indeed!
Now then, this is what we have been waiting for! The baby sheep arrived during the week and they are SO pretty! They have little faces just like Rosie!
They have little round tummies and are absolutely terrified of everything. Strangely, this includes a bucket of lamb creep-nuts (baby-sheep food). They are escapologists, an have been in with the pigs a couple of times - this is dangerous because pig nuts tend to include small amounts of copper and that's poison to a sheep. That bottom rail on the fence is about 18" high!

We also have had another 8 turkeys arrive - replacing the white ones that David sold on - at cost, of course! - to some very nice people. There wasalso another bronze in the bunch. We're hoping to get four more sold off, to the sheep supplier man, over the next week or two.

It has been (sadly) decided that two of the pigs, Winston and Violet or Lilly, will be going to slaughter at the beginning of August, when we get back from the Wedding we are attending in Southampton. Our niece is getting wed! Good luck to her! I shall, of course, cry at both of these events - the wedding and the demise of the piggies!

Freecycle continues to come good - such nice and generous people! We have collected two fridges, one that works and one that does not. The latter is to be converted into a smoker for the bacon we will be, hopefully, producing shortly, however, the former is to go into my tiny shed! Not so that I can enjoy a cold one without the long trek to the kitchen, but because I have finally been authorised as a DEFRA End User. This means that I am permitted to collect and use (for dog food!) any and all parts of the pigs that we slaughter. Also, horns and fleeces for sheep - although I wouldn't bother, really, that's a lot of work!

What ho! Till next time!

Merry Christmas!

In case you haven't seen one, this is what a "Broody" hen looks like. While in this zombie-like state they will lay no eggs. They will, however, steal any that are laid by the other hens and try to hide them from me. If you lift a broody up to look beneath her she may take exception and lash out with her formidable beak and give you a nasty jab. This, they learn, will lead to a chicken flying thru the air in a most un-chickeny way! Anyway, from six hens and a cock, we are only getting about 2 eggs a day! In the height of the season, too. Ho hum!

We have had a good day, today! This is a picture of a complete box of nectarines. No, we didn't grow them, silly - it is one of EIGHT boxes we were given by the Market Lady for the pigs! That will be all the food for the whole weekend! It's good for them, higher in calories than the usual cabbage leaves and will make them taste luvverley! Oh, and FREE! Much cheaper than pig nuts which are about £6 per 25Kg. My pigs can eat two bags in three days!

Not only those, but we got 4 boxes of cherries as a garnish! Since cherries are one of my favourite fruits, I may just sort out a few, wash them and not give them to the pigs!

The Girls have arrived! We now have a total of 14 Turkey Poults; 4 White, 3 Bronze and the rest Norfolk Blacks! They are so cute at this age - and were a bargain. The going rate seems to be about £8 this year, but we got these from our 'usual' Lady and they were £4.75! Not much meat on them yet, tho. They are a bit worried at the moment but will be settled in by the morning after their journey from Lincolnshire. Gotta luvvem!

You can see all the colours in this picture - I bet we have a brown one for our Christmas Dinner!

Note the fashionable headgear ...!

So, quite an eventful week, really. We have baby capsicum peppers, loads of tiny green tomatoes and have been eating loads of veggies! This is a picture of a day's produce (on 1st July). Don't it look nice?? You'll have to come round for tea!

That's all my news for now, so Toodle-Pip, Old Fruit! Anyone for tennis??