Monday, September 13, 2010

A catch up!

I must begin by saying I have been so slack with my blog but life has been very busy and exciting to say the least. Where to start well our girls had their babies. Patience had twin boys we named Justice and Honour. we were hand feeding Justice and he was going great guns. he would spend the night in the outdoor cage that is attached to the house and then in the morning he would walk out on his lead to the grass for the day, then back in at night and spend the evening getting his bottle feeds. He was just starting to really settle in as part of the family when unfortuately he got in to the old grown over veggie patch and ate something he shouldn't - unfortunately he is no longer with us. Probably a blessing that I wasn't blogging then. his brother Honour will now become our breeding ram. Hope had a lovely little girl who is very prissy and delightful. both are with their mums in the paddock doing well.

PJ and Justice

We have also added 4 new sheep to our flock. They are an early birthday present for me. Chastity is a Black Merino and she has a white bottom. Honesty is a Black/Grey Corridale and Mercy is a Grey Corridale, and last but not least is Purity who is a White Corridale. These girls a lovely addition to our flock and will supply some beutiful choices of wool for me to spin. Both the Merino and the Corridales will also cross well with our Border Leister Ram Honour to produce even nicer wool and lovely meat - We are looking forward to lots of BBQ's with friend in the years to come.

The New Girls


Life was also a bit chaotic here with Ian away for the only trip of the year that spans 2 weeks and a weekend and in true tradition I ended up with my arm in plaster the thursday before he left. This is a trick I really don't want to repeat. You think you know how much you use your hands/arms until you can't use one and then you really realise. Nish was amazing and picked up a lot of the slack helping me do things while Ian was gone. I think the toughest thing of all was not being able to knit or spin and even typing on the computer was very restricted (I'm not very good with the one finger approach and got very fustrated). Well the good news is that the plaster is off and I am back to my normal self now.

The Chickens have been supply many a tasty egg. I have added to our chickens with a Sussex Rooster and 2 Sussex Hens - I bought them home from my go to farming info friends the Johnsons - after a lovely trip over to visit them. They were laying within a day of travelling and they seem to have kick started some of the Ilsa browns to lay too. I have finally moved the out of their temporary accomodation into the big chicken house and I am now getting on about 3-5 eggs a day!

The new chickens

Talking of my friends the Johnsons, when I went over for a visit I took Heys and Spud with me and they had a lovely time running free with their mum, dad and brother tiny. I came home in the car with 2 dogs, 3 chickens and a little sickly lamb I was going to try and coax into surviving - Gracie. She put a good fight but went to supply all our spinners and knitters in heaven after about 5-6 days. The Johnsons returned the visit this weekend and taught a couple of city folk how to heard, hold, drench, tail and tag sheep and use the dogs to heard. I was so proud of Spud he was amazing at hearding the sheep, definately a natural. Heys also had a good go and is learning from Spud. Paul says we wouldn't have gotten the sheep into the pen without Spud and I was proud like a school mum really. I was also very impressed with my city boy hubby who really took to the farm boy skills and tag and drenched Patience and Honour and even tailed Honour. He had a ball and was so excited and motivated that today he went and worked on the fences and fiddled around all day on the place.
Grace


Knitting has been a bit on hold with the plaster but is back great guns. I finished a few jumpers and a hat for a friend and have started a few more projects (will update on them next time). I have also been doing a vest as a Knit-a-Long with my friend Delvene. KAL are a great way to keep motivated and I am loving doing them with her and are forever looking to the next project.

Well there are probably lots of holes in my update but I will let you know as I think of them so I will go for now and I will try to be a lot better with my blogging.

Catch you Later

Dell