Something's Brewing

edit - some parts of this post have been somewhat superseded by subsequent events, which account for the delays in posting.
19th March 2018
Something's Brewing
My new hobby is to be making country wines. I have bought all the gear, which is surprisingly inexpensive as far as hobbies go.

Sitting in  a cupboard for about 6 years has been a beer-making kit so I decided to start with this. The kit was well out of date, as was the yeast, but I thought I might as well give it a go. If it fails to ferment I have purchased a new sachet of brewers ale which I'll throw in to save the day.



The can of malt surprised me. It was just like the malt extract I used to take as a youngster. I don't know what I was expecting really.
So with a bit of luck I'll have 40 pints of tasty beer quite soon. If it works, it could become a regular feature. As for the wine, I am going to start off with mangel wurzel wine. It should be ready in about two years.

20th March 2018
Tending to the sick
Sick animals take up an awful lot of time. I spent much of the morning tending to Ewe 004 and Wonky the Wry-necked Silkie hen. To be fair, I was actually tending to all the sheep and chickens. On the whole the animals don't take up too much of my time, but when things go wrong then I need to be able to give them all the time they need.

It's a bit tricky to see in amongst the mass of black feathers, but Wonky

is the one on the left. 

Things are hopefully looking up for Ewe 0004

The Ewe is, I think getting better, though we are still not out of the woods. We continue to hand feed the hen with a mixture of scrambled egg, sunflower seeds and cider vinegar. Every day we pierce a vitamin E tablet and tip the contents into her beak. As yet we are seeing no change in her condition.

It was almost gardening weather today, so I spent most of the afternoon doing general trimming and tidying, cutting back perennials and taking out dead growth. The dogs came out with me too and Arthur in particular busied himself trying to flush a rabbit out of one of the compost heaps.
In the end he was actually successful and Boris got lucky being in the right place as the rabbit ran into the wire fence.
I know rabbits are quite cute, but not when they constantly destroy your work in the garden. Besides, they are a good free food source for Gerry our cat and for the dogs. They usually steal Gerry's catches rather than hunting their own.
Boris didn't quite know what to do with the rabbit once he had played with it like a toy. All he knew was that Arthur wasn't allowed to take it. Once he got bored I threw it to Arthur who did what Arthur does with rabbits.

21st March 2018
Lamb Surprise
I got home to find the young brown ewe lamb nose to nose with the two rams. It had made its way up towards the stables!
I decided to put it in the stable with Ewe 004, who is looking much better now. It will give her some company. I will move them both back outside at the weekend, when I can keep an eye on them.
Hopefully a bit of company will help Ewe 0004 to make a full recovery.

22nd March 2018

The beer yeast, despite its age, has finally started working. It just shows there's life in the old dog yet!

The Silkie hen seems to be on the mend too. She is still holding her head to one side and occasionally goes into spasms, but she is now able to feed unaided. Fingers crossed.

Sue is camping with school children tonight. Only on the school field, but I am sure she will be shattered come the morning. Meanwhile I am looking after everything on the farm.