Balmy weather

I can't quite believe it has been five days since I last posted. Time sure flies when you're having fun.

Firstly, a series of calm, clear morning sunrises (apart from 17th, which let the side down).

Thursday 16th August 2012

Friday 17th August 2012

Saturday 18th August 2012

Sunday 19th August 2012

These beautiful daybreaks have been followed by balmy days, with temperatures peaking at over 30 degrees. And we have been taking full advantage of the good weather. I'd like to say that we were making hay while the sun shone, but dealing with the swards of grassland will have to wait just a bit longer while other priorities take over.

No, instead, in the hot sun we have been strenuously building fences, scratting apples (yes, more cider is on the way!) and wrestling with sheep (more on this tomorrow).

Unfortunately, as is so often the case when we are at our busiest, photos of what we've been up to are thin on the ground.
I've been trying to persuade Sue that our journey to collect rubble and our visit to the wood yard count as two of the days out which I promised at the beginning of the holidays!

The fencing project.
One day, soon, I promise, all the fences and gates will be finished. We've been busy fencing one side of the corridor which runs down our land. When the task is complete there will be a continuous run from the stables right down to the pigpen, with gates off to the various garden rooms either side. Unfortunately, work has had to come to a temporary halt as Lady Guinea is still sitting on her seventeen eggs and her nest is nestled in right along the intended line of the fence. I'll be surprised if she actually manages to raise any young though, especially since there was a stoat bouncing around in that area a few days ago.

Cider making
On Saturday we spent another very enjoyable day cutting, bashing (officially known as scratting), shredding and squeezing (pressing) apples. We picked the hottest day for such strenuous effort, but the four demijohns of juice have already started bubbling away furiously and it won't be long till we're supping cider!
The whole process is surprisingly straightforward. Just make sure everything's sterilised, filter the juice into the demijohns, bung in the airlock and wait until everything settles down again. Then drink!

Sheep
These merit their own post, but suffice to say that we had a crash course in sheep handling and have come back with two delightful sheep. Technically they are lambs, but they are pretty big. Unfortunately they won't be staying with us very long. They just need finishing before they go off in late autumn.

The Tale of the Wild Pig.

Friday 10th August 2012

The rape field, as it appeared this morning.

The Tale of the Wild Pig.
Speak to any farmers around here and they'll tell the tale of the last occupants who took delivery of a group of weaners and on the first count were one down! Seven months later a pig, somewhat larger in stature, turned up in a nearby farmer's field. As far as I know, having looked after itself for all this time, it unfortunately could not be captured and had to be shot.

With this tale in mind, every time we move the pigs from the stables to their pen, there is a fear that they will overshoot and break through the rather flimsy chicken wire which we place to deter them going off into the meadow and out into the big, wide world.

So for the past few days, bit by bit, I've been constructing this...

I am very happy with my the result.
It will make moving the pigs much less stressful as, once I've completed one last bit of fencing, there'll be no way for them to effect an escape (famous last words!).
This will be tested out shortly, as Gerald is about to head off to stay with his owner having done his job here.

Good news from the bee hives
Meanwhile, some very good news on the bee front. Sue has been moving frames of brood from hive to hive, trying to keep up with the bees' insistence on swarming. The original queen (easy to spot with a white mark) seems to have departed, or to have been usurped. But finally we have young brood (eggs and larvae at various ages) in both hives. The bees have been out and about this week, so hopefully there will still be time for both colonies to build up enough strength to get through the winter. The rape is long over, but there are plenty of bean fields around and they are beginning to find the flowers in the veg garden and herb bed too.
This week there have been a good number of peacock butterflies around too, and while mowing a track through the meadow I came across a good number of grasshoppers. I sometimes wish I had a little more time to stop and admire them.

Again, apologies for the lack of bee pictures, but Snappy cam has finally returned from its adventures in Hong Kong where it went to be fixed (it has been there and back twice due to a paperwork glitch in customs) so next time we inspect the hives there will be piccies.

Meet the fencing team

Wednesday 8th August 2012
High pressure is on its way

Left to right:
Mr Spade, Grabber, Thumper, Bubble, Lanky, MC Hammer and Mr Driver.

All male characters I'm afraid.

Mr Spade - you've met him before. An old friend, recently returned from reconstructive surgery. Always having a dig.

Grabber - official name: Post Hole Digger. Likes to get down and dirty. Most useful when your arms become too short to reach the soil at the bottom of the hole. Saves those back muscles too.

Thumper - a real heavyweight. Main use - compacting the soil so it fits back in the hole where you've just taken it out from!

Bubble - a level-headed character. Lots of spirit. Often to be found horizontal.

Lanky - reaches the parts other spades cannot reach. Best friends with grabber.

MC - a hard-headed character. Another old friend. Really hits the mark.

Mr Driver - always looking for a new post. A super heavyweight for putting those fenceposts in their place.

Is Fencing still an Olympic Sport?

If so I want a medal.  And if it is, do they have to run the gauntlet of the geese?

This is to be my extension to the veg plot, to house the polytunnel. Although we've hardly any rabbits this year, the rest of the plot was laboriously rabbit-fenced last year. This means trenching in the bottom of the fence, making the job take about three times as long. It would be foolhardy to skimp on effort for the last little bit.

At least our land, reclaimed from the sea as it was at some point in the past, has stoneless soil. And with it being generously watered for the last two months, getting the spade in was not a problem.
I always start by marking out the area to be fenced, ramming the post into the ground by hand so they at least stand up.

There ensues much walking up and down the line, squinting along the posts and making adjustments so that they are roughly in a straight line.
(Two people would be ideal for this).




I then use the post rammer (gets the muscles nicely pumped up) to drive the posts half way in before digging the trench out. At this point they can still easily be shoved and kicked into an upright position, or even extracted from the ground and shifted if need be. Finally I drive the posts almost all the way home.

Now the job has to stop until Saturday, when I'm picking up the telegraph posts and railway sleepers which will act as my gate posts. Being the strongest posts, dug furthest into the ground and secured by tamping hardcore all around them, they make an obvious straining post for one end of the wire. The posts at the other end will require diagonal struts to stop them being pulled inwards.

Hopefully the weather will be half decent at the weekend and I'll be able to show you the next steps towards my completed fence.

After that, we just need a warm, windless day and the polytunnel can go up. Some time in 2013 then I'm guessing!