July, 2003

This was thrown at us as an accusation this month... but come to think about it... why not?!

We live in a beautiful part of the country, surrounded by fields and trees, animals and wildlife. We are enjoying our direction and the way we spend our days. We refuse to get caught up in the "rat race" wherever that might run and we love each other. I would say that was pretty good too!

So, this month our good life has been hot - much like anyone else's, but to be honest, we have both been glad of the open air, rather than the commuter train.

Lorraine has been doing a meat safety course, learning more about butchery, food hygeine and the environmental health regulations.

Mark has been doing more work on the farm next door, helping out with the calves and learning how to milk. This is proving most interesting for him as he says the milking parlour's technology is like "rocket science" to him. Ask him about it someday!

Rabbit (Welsh Rarebit), one of our cows, went lame whilst she was in calf and we didn't want to put her through the stress of hoof trimming at that time... we have also found it hard to find someone who will trim sympathetically. (Those of you reading who have barefoot horses will know what I mean). During our annual TB testing (for which the cows all went clear) we asked our vet who gave us the name of Paul Clayton. He's turned out to be a real star. He handled the cattle gently and did a lovely job on all but Pattie, who turns out to be pregnant with Prospects calf - due in October-ish. Rabbit has sand cracks along her hoof wall and we have been putting homoeopathic silica in the water to help improve horn quality, spraying with calendula and hypericum tincture and giving her carrots laced with hypericum. She's looking much better and although the left front is still a bit sore, she has been seen running away from Prospect's advances, so seems to be on the mend.

We are challenged with a large number of docks in several patches around the farm. This month was an optimum time, bio-dynamically speaking, to do something about them. We collected seed and created an ash which we then potentised to 10x. With this ash we made a liquid which we sprayed over the worst affected areas - namely the hay field and the newly seeded bit of the winter field. This is a process which is supposed to have a negative effect on the seeds that will have been scattered naturally this year. It might take a while, but we're hopeful that in this way, and with some more careful pasture management, we can work towards eliminating them from the centre of the fields. We have however noticed once again that the turkeys like them and our cows like a little when they've got tough.

We were blessed by a visit from our old friend Peter and his partner Hannah towards the end of the month. They embarked upon a project to build a 5 sided chicken house for our new birds (due next month). The collecting yard is currently home to a workbench, an amazing array of tools and some architectural drawings! How posh.

Remember, if you'd like to share in the life we are privileged to lead, please join us for any helping hands weekends. These are not meant to be arduous, more an opportunity to share our lives with you whilst being encouraged and supported. Do give us a call.