All Muck But Not A Lot Of Magic Yet

Saturday 11th March 2017

For those who enjoyed reading about Arthur's escapades,

here he is at the scene of the crime, the attractively named South Holland Main Drain

 And here's a spot the difference for you to play.

We have had a few trees topped off. They were looming over the neighbour's house (can't stand the neighbour, but not worth the hassle of a tree falling on their house!)
Anyway, I am hoping to effectively coppice them at head height so they thicken up at the bottom and remain manageable for me.
Meanwhile, I have a lovely pile of silver birch logs to put to creative use somewhere. I am thinking of a log pile by the new pond I am half way through constructing.

Main event for the weekend though is that tomorrow the four Shetland ewes will be coming down into the stables ready for lambing, hopefully in a couple of weeks time. As ever though, there is competition for stable space, especially with the chickens still in as a precaution against bird flu.

A new home for the laying flock.

I am hoping to be able to move them

outside in a few weeks time.

The main flock of layers, along with Cocky, had to vacate their stable and move into the smaller pad next door. In turn, the Ixworth trio have been allowed outside - to their great delight. There is a large chicken pen for them to scratch around in and nothing has been eating the bugs for three months. Chicken heaven!

The Ixworth trio enjoying the great outdoors.

With the Ixworths caught and moved, it was time for one of those glamorous jobs us smallholders just love - cleaning out the deep litter from the stables.



I don't want any sympathy, but I have just had my third bout of man flu this winter. Not many men even survive that sort of onslaught. What better way to get over it than to spend the day moving huge piles of compost around.
Sue emptied the stable, delivering barrel load after barrel load to me down at the compost bays.
I unloaded the straw and while I was waiting I mixed in the material from the other five compost bins. This was a killer of a job, but the mix of composting materials should come good once the weather warms up a little more. Most of it is destined to go onto the soft fruits to act as a mulch and to be taken down into the ground by the worms.

Boris supervises the compost mixing.