Catch up

It seems a while since my last up date, most of my postings have been on my chicken blog. It is a busy time of the year for the poultry. Everything else is just ticking along, fairly uneventful.

The sheep have lambed, been vaccinated and sheared so now other than worry about flystrike and if they have enough grazing ( which they don't ) there is very little else happening with them.
Fred is off tomorrow. He has been belly clipped, crutched and ear tagged in readiness. Now I am just hoping the rain holds off until 6 am. tomorrow. They won't take him if he is wet. The only other thing I need to do is draw up a cutting list for the butcher.

Not having pigs this year is strange but with the lack of grass and so much other work to do, quite a relief.

The garden - although still a little behind on last year is coming good. We are harvesting rhubarb, strawberries, parsley, radish, salad leaves, lettuce and spring onions. Next weekend we should be able to have our first full home grown meal of the year with broad beans, potatoes, carrots and turnips, as well as our own lamb or pork.
The mole is still with us, just occasionally making an appearance so we don't get too complacent.

The bees - the mating hives weren't very successful. One hive, all the bees cleared off, the other, a little quiet. The two main hives not sure, if the wind drops we will check on them today.

Tabatha our elderly cat never came home so we must assume she is dead. The other one is really beginning to suffer with her age, she is very thin and stiff in her joints. It won't be too long before a decision will need to be made on her future. Our dog is also getting on in years, he is becoming greyer by the day, slow to walk and stiff after too much activity.

The pond - is becoming more established, the plants are finally spreading. The newts are still with us and yesterday we saw the first newt tadpole.

The renovation work on the house, ours nothing at all. The one to rent, slow as we are still waiting for the conditions to the plans to be approved.

That's it really,