December 2007

I'm almost too exhausted to write this month! We've been busier than ever... which is good news for the bank account, but means we need more hours in the day! The fox has done us a huge favour this year and left our little flock of turkeys untouched. This means that instead of the usual 60 turkeys to pluck and dress, we have 70... might not sound like a lot to you, but believe me, it made quite a difference to our workload.

Whilst leaving our turkeys alone, the fox did take a liking to the geese and Mark's best friend in the world, Grace, met her end (actually, he was a gander), along with two others one night. We have started to shut them up at dusk, not something they take very kindly to, but hopefully it will keep them safe.

We were blessed with the arrival of more calves. Spotty (he's the spotty one!), Sparky (so called because he keeps touching the electric fence at the back of the barn and creating sparks!), Pugh (born blind in one eye, but is just beginning to realise that mum has two sides!!!) and Lady Penelope (who couldn't be bothered to get up in spite of her mother's cajoling and requested that the teat be brought to her!). As you can imagine, they are all wonderful little characters and you'll see them in the front yard should you come and visit us.

Dougal continues to throw himself into various projects around the farm. Right now he's creating a floor across the pit in the old milking parlour so we can make that into a usable workshop. We were given a lorryload of "offcuts" - most of it whacking great lengths of timber - from a friend who has a lumber yard, and believe me, we're making the most of it!

The job between Christmas and New Year is to get the floor of the cutting room levelled and painted, but doing it is a challenge, not only because we could all do with a rest, but also because many products take an extra long time to dry when it's so cold.

So, as I write this from the warmth of the study, I am mindful of jobs that await us outside. Mark has taken to his bed, alternating with the sofa, feeling ill and something is attacking our chickens outside in the pig shed. So continues life on the farm.

We hope you have had a lovely Christmas and wish you well.