The English Paysanne

Most mornings have been frosty with the weather getting colder and staying until March my motivation to get in the veggie patch is nil. I must start soon as there is a lot to do with a new rabbit proof fence to be erected major clean up and putting down manure including emptying the compost heaps which hopefully have amazing compost inside them. Seeds need to be ordered and a plan drawn up - in time all will be done.  It is the time of year for the inseminater to come along for each cow when she comes into season. high tech stuff is in the boot of his car frozen bulls sperm, no need to go into details but his very efficient. Each insemination we get loyalty points, farmer J has just put in an order for new overalls with our points, you can never have enough clean overalls. Breakfast time gets the pigs up, not for long as they often go back to bed shortly after. Each have their individual bowls. It starts off calm then goes very wrong when one finishes first, usuall...

It was  lovely to have Master C and Miss F back for a long weekend, they stayed till Monday so were put to work cleaning out the hanger, our Monday morning ritual during the winter weeks. With short breaks in between waiting to refill the tractor with cow poo brother and sisterly loved ended with fighting as usual, M C couldn't resist breaking the ice he found on a water bucket and of course what do you have to do with that ice - wind your sister up. Once the cows were cleaned the pigs were replenished with straw in their arks and cabins, easier said than done as the pigs love new straw which proves a tad difficult to get in their beds as you need to get in the cabins too a bit scary when you have four or five pigs trying to get in to help sort out the straw your putting in, they get very excited and in your face as their not small piglets any more plus the mud adds to making the whole manoeuvre that bit harder. Farmer J started to chop the wood...

This week we were back at the vets with Franklin to have his stitches removed and find out the results of his biopsy of which are not clear so we are still none the wiser. He still is wearing his collar until one last stitch heals. Its been hard work these past days feeding the pigs with frozen water pipes there has been lots of water lugging and heavy food buckets carried up the hill to them. Although the pigs enjoy eating the ice from the water troughs they are not too sure about walking on frozen mud so have spent most of their days in their cabins. I finished my jumper, with the help of Fizz pressing the back its now sewn up, the neck band knitted, unpicked and re knitted as it was rather tight. It's now waiting to be blocked, although there are a few mistakes overall I'm quiet happy to finish a cable jumper. Miss F and Master C came back this weekend to celebrate C's 22nd Birthday, We even got them working on collecting the offc...

 Now we are in February the weather has started to change into mid winter weather, a flurry of snow, sleet, rain, wind and damp weather has made everywhere look a bit drab. Mud is everywhere, the cows are grounded to a small bit of the field and hanger as there big hoofed would rip the fields up making them no good for grass this year. Pigs keep digging, hiding their troughs under mud, four were moved after there was nowhere left to put there food troughs or for them to stand. I keep getting stuck, a small group of four managed to push me over in  their eagerness for food tonight. mud managed to get through my overalls, in my boots, inside my rubber gloves and up my sleeve. Then it started to snow, thankfully by the time we had got back to the house it had stopped. Franklin was back at the vets for a check on his stitches, a couple were removed for his leg to drain. it has had to be manipulated and sprayed with blue antiseptic spray twice a day thankf...

Franklin is now much better, with his wounds healing nicely. Being able to put weight on his paw means he has been caught a few times this week sniffing out anything that may of been left on the work surfaces. Maude didn't come back, fearing the worst I think Mr Fox has been around so Mabel is now own her own wondering around. Caught on camera resting with our old duck I'm hoping they will pair up and be friends. I managed to get in the veggie patch which has major weeding issues, the weather has been dry and mild still so Jerusalem artichokes were dug up. It has been windy here on two fronts this week the weather one with incedible winds and the digestion type with so many fartichokes being eaten. I'm hoping I got them all but cant be confident that next year there will be more. Gorgons happy, he loves artichokes and I found a recipe from Mark Diacono book a Year at Otter farm which had artichokes as a magic ingredient, along with brand...

 Having picked and re picked blackberries along the edges of our fields we ventured further afield to the woods not that far from us. A old dog walking haunt we haven't been over here for a couple of years, the old path had grown considerably, not good for blind dogs it turned into extreme berry picking for blackberries, rose hips and sloes. All having vicious thorny plants I'm not sure which was worse to pick. With our booty home sloes for sloe gin, rose hips for syrup and blackberries for farmer J's wine. The blackberries were put in the freezer, he needs 11kg so they are frozen in dribs and drabs until the required amount is collected, however miss F and I did hide some for crumbles which he doesn't know about. With one batch of sloe gin doing its thing I started another as it does go down very nicely in the winter months and one just didn't seem enough. Whether it will last for next year we shall see, each day they are stirred with the spoon lic...