May 2002

According to (my understanding of) biodynamic principles, the first thing to take care of in the order of things is the land, because if the land and soil is healthy then the plants that grow will be healthy then the animals that feed on those plants will be healthy and that will be passed on to the people who eat the animals... and so on...

So in the interests of focusing on improving the soil Mark spent much time deliberating on how to make the "best" compost heap and built a monster out of the deep litter in the back yard inserting the biodynamic preparations as required. It looks great - but what do we know! Time will tell I guess. It is clear that we really need to review the site as it is apparently better for it to be outside and on the earth, rather than under shelter on concrete. It seems that it would be better for it to be left for a year, whereas we only have 6 months as we'll need that yard for our mums in the winter. But what we have done is better than nothing and we hope is a reasonable place to start. We continue to learn.

On the subject of mums, we have finally found a bull. The old boy who was going to come and play isn't, mainly because as a much loved pet, it seemed too risky to have him come to us where the risk of TB in cattle is quite high. The poor boys next door have just gone down with it and lost some of their prize milkers. We are still waiting our test and are using a nosode in the drinking troughs in the hopes that that will strengthen our cattle. So, the bull's name is Windsor and he will be with us sometime next month, frolicking in the field with Patsy, Mum, Rabbit, Sea Lop and Morning Glory.

Meanwhile the first of our British White beef returned from the butcher and was duly snapped up by locals at the farmers market and our friends. It's just as delicious as the stuff from last year and we feel very proud of this produce. There will be a consignment every month between now and August, then there'll be a bit of a lull, mainly 'cos we made a mistake in our enthusiasm to try to meet demand and bought animals that all had birthdays around the same date. This means that they all need to be slaughtered by the same date - mid august! We won't make that mistake again!

We still find it hard to come to terms with this death thing. Last month we wrote with some excitement about our little fluffy goslings, this month I write with great sadness of the demise of 4 of these little ones. Apparently one of the most tasty things is a baby gosling, especially to rats. They got into the goose house one night and had a feast. We moved the community and remaining 2 goslings to a safe house, the horse trailer, but it didn't take long before they were hunted down. So, we are down to one and we have turned them loose. They wander around day and night, currently camping out on the neighbours' pond overnight. Now, here's the interesting thing. I always thought that it was the runt of the litter that would go first, but in this case, not so. Fiver was hatched a few days after the others. You could always tell him because he was very bright yellow with a black eye and constantly trying to keep up, being knocked about and pushed out of the way. He is the one who has survived and is growing very fast!

We have also been visited by the fox. Suffice it to say that eggs are off. She has taken 4 hens and, some of you will be pleased to hear, our cockerel Louis. We returned home one Sunday afternoon to a pile of striking white and black feathers in the field and a silent farmyard. Life just isn't the same without him...

The next job on the list is a good outdoor hen house and an electric fencing system that will keep them all safe.

And finally, the winter field is having a face lift. The horses left it looking like the moons surface with giant hoof prints and deep poaching all over the place. Mark has dug a monster of a ditch along one side (I knew that digger would come in handy one day!) and our neighbour came along with his power harrow... as if by magic, it smooth and flattened it. We bought some grass and herb seed and, during our helping hands weekend, scattered it around - ably assisted by the wind! Now we need is some rain and sun to make it all grow.