January 2003

The first act of the New Year was for Lorraine to go shopping in the sales! Although more in a support role for our two daughters, I did manage to go into Jessops to do some research on a digital camera, much needed for photos for our natural HORSEMANSHIP magazine and web site production (!). Well, you know how it is... research can so easily turn into... well... something more... and I came away, the delighted owner of a new piece of technology. You can see some of the results of our initial playing on our photo's page. It's lovely for things that don't move very much, like trees and people... but horses and birds are a bit more tricky. There's a time delay of half a second or something, and that means that you have to anticipate quite a bit when the horse is galloping around, or the hens are flapping. So if you phone and I'm not available, I'm probably out practicing!

The rain it raineth everyday... well, that's what it seems like. If it's not wet, it's blowing a gale and in fact we've lost several pains of glass from the greenhouse. As the water table continues to rise, the horses are wallowing in mud and even the special matting that we put down in the hopes of keeping the gateways passable has sunk!

The whole farm feels like a lake with several inches of water laying on the grass. The geese are the ones happiest with this situation... the chickens are coping admirably but also like the shelter of their house when it gets just too silly out there... the cows will often stand out in the rain, apparently enjoying a "little shower", but again, the barn is a welcome shelter for them, and the horses, now fully recovered from their encounter with strangles last month, hunker down under hedges when it's wet and windy. But there comes a time when we all say, enough - not that the weather pays any attention to us - and this month we got close to it.

And in this time of wind and downpour, we welcomed two intrepid tree planters who have transformed the top of the hay field into a glorious woodland scheme. We had hoped to do this ourselves, but in truth, we ran out of time and got cold feet looking at the scale of operation. The two chaps from Silvanus, who supplied the trees, spend 3 days in driving rain and wind laying out stakes, digging in the saplings and protecting them with guards. It was a truely heroic feet. It all looks rather random and "natural" (well, what else would you expect here!) and they have planted in wavy lines to create that look. Needless to say, we're delighted and look forward to sharing this new and growing aspect of Vowley with you (recommend you wait until it's dried out a bit unless you have good fitting wellies). We especially invite those of you who have contributed to the Woodland Sponsorship Scheme. More woodland is planned to be planted next winter.

The animals on the farm are all well. The fence to the front yard is due to be fixed early in February and as soon as it is, we will look forward to welcoming some new steers and Prospect, the bull. Check in next month to see how THAT goes!

Having said they're all well, Brandy the dog, gave us a little cause for concern. She took to her bed, went off her food and got very attached to a small yellow rubber ball that has lost it's squeak. She dug holes and put it in, she carried it around from morning to night and was horrified when Mark, thinking she was wanting to play, took it from her and threw it across the living room. It turned out that this was her puppy and she was experiencing a phantom pregnancy. A phone call to my homoeopathic friend Linda and several doses of pulsatilla later, she's back to her usual playful self. We're very glad the pregnancy was phantom, as she's taken to running off on solo flights of fancy around the neighbouring fields and puppies just don't fit into our plan (but then again, when was that ever a stopper!).

So that's what springs to mind in my summary of January 2003. This page has been rather late in it's arrival and my apologies to those of you (especially Nicky) who have been waiting with baited breath for the next installment of our journey.

Thank you for your encouragement, your support and being with us.