June 2005

We were woken one morning this month with a loud screeching... it would seem the fox visited and took one of our very free range farmyard birds. Claude has also taken a dislike to the baby cockerels and there was a fight which resulted in one of them loosing his eye. He recovered his dignity and the wound healed but he retreated with another boy to the back of the pig pens. By the end of the month, we decided to do the decent thing and put them in the pot. Although small, they were delicious!

In the breeding abundance of summer, the Ixworth eggs hatched in the incubator and the hens outside got on to laying on a regular basis... it's a veritable conveyor belt and we are doing our best to build our flock and contribute to the survival of this rare and delicious breed of bird... watch this space!

And whilst we're on the subject of poultry... our turkeys arrives this month. This year we're trying something new and in the hopes of bringing 50 to the Christmas tables, we have bought 60! 30 5 week old poults and 30 day old chicks. They're completely beautiful and settled easily into the pens at the back of the pig shed. However, something is amiss and we are currently fighting an unknown disease or illness or plague which is taking the little ones at an alarming rate. We have lost 12 and have moved the remainder into the house so we can keep a closer eye on them and perhaps keep the temperature more constant. There is another downside to all this... the smell of turkey is very distinct (ask anyone who's visited a turkey farm!).

Our friend Prudence is now enrolled in breeding Gloucester Old Spot pigs for us. It's clear that we just do not have the space or expertise to house and care for breeding stock, but we are getting good at growing pigs and making great sausages and bacon. Following our discussions, she has been offered "in-pig" sows from a variety of sources and we're getting very excited about the next stage of this side of our business. Having said all of that, one of her existing sows, Mary, has produced a litter and now will not stand up. In spite of homoeopathic remedies, lots of TLC and bribery, she is not happy and so the decision was made to send her to the abattoir. Prudence brought the carcass over and we spent a fun few hours making copious quantities of sausages. In the meanwhile, Lorraine sourced some Gloucester Old Spot piglets from the paper. They were crossed with Duroc, a large (well, more particularly tall) ginger pig. 8 of them are currently galavanting around the fields doing a great weeding job!

Our WWOOFer, Gloria, was away for a few weeks and we welcomed Jeong to the farm. Jeong came from Korea, a very slight and polite young girl. Having never travelled from her homeland before, I think it was quite a thing for her to experience jet lag and the shock of such a different culture. Her shoes were polished, her gloves were white and her skin unblemished. We gave her wellies and overalls and bought her the smallest gloves we could find (still too big!). Our challenge was to find ways to include her and give her meaningful work. We thought perhaps she could drive the tractor to help Mark collect the silage, but she couldn't depress the clutch pedal... feed buckets were too heavy, as was hay... but she made a great job of cleaning the huge number of feed buckets we had stacked up around the place, started painting the fence around the cow yard, cleared up around the yard and cooked us a wonderful Korean supper one night.

As the end of the month approaches, we are blessed with the presence of Fabienne, a French student of agriculture, who has lived and worked on her parent's farm all her life and knows more than we do about tractors, barns and fields (not difficult)... she's with us for 6 weeks and is a refreshingly strong and healthy addition to our community with a great sense of humour.