Pink Moon, Crisp Morning, Heart Full

Good morning...

It's been a while since I wrote on here. Looking back at my recent posts it seems I've started a few like this!  Well, I hope to write more about what is going on in my life as I've realised that nowhere but here on my blog, can I explore fully some of the experiences I'm having and some of the eye opening things I've been learning. For now though, here's a blether about my morning...

My wee hoose

The weather this year has been astonishingly wet and cloudy. That means not much Sun. That means lots of work trying to keep the animals healthy, as well as ourselves. Living under canvas in this weather is fine but it's a very careful juggling act to stay healthy (physically and mentally), especially when the weather is wet but not cold as it's unpleasant to keep the wood burner going but of course to keep dry & prevent moulds, you have to! No such problems at the moment though, it's blooming freezing so we're back to happily running the woodburner all the time, making toast and stews all day!

Today it's a beautiful, crisp, clear day and all of a sudden I've forgotten the wettest year for 100yrs and I'm filled with the joy of it all! Sunrise this morning was utterly magic, as last nights Full Moon set in the purple sky.

Some of our ex-battery hens free ranging (pic from a couple of months ago!)

In the morning I get up at sunrise to do my animal rounds. Letting out the poultry first and making sure they've got a ton of food and fresh water.  I don't let them out to free range fully until lunch time because I like to see they've got a full crop before sending them on their adventures.

Goatforms (this was them last month!)

Then it's off to give the goats their breakfast and let them out to go exploring. None of the girls are in milk at the moment, which is a real shame, I miss my goats milk!

I take a few moments to enjoy the gorgeous morning, let the beauty of it seep into my soul and give thanks to the Holy Moles for this rare dry, still day to collect my thoughts in.

My boy, Jingo the Shetland ram

I love my Shetland sheep and I particularly love Jingo, my main ram. He's a beaut, with a loving soul, a penchant for the fleecy ladies, fresh hay and head scratches.  The Shetland and Castlemilk moorit girls are looking strong and healthy, so I'll be getting them a ram in within a couple of weeks. Jingo doesn't get a go this year poor lad!

Cheeky stinkdog pinching the warm spot!

Finally, I get to come back into the yurt for my coffee and breakfast in the warm chair by the woodburner... or not...


hen xx

Meet the ducks & chickens & goats & sheep!

Got no time to write very much so I just thought I'd share some photo's!

Indian runner duck- BATHTIME!

Small-1 the black Indian Runner duck has gone all broody and is sitting on 10 eggs. I took a sneaky picture of her nest when she wasn't looking! 

This is the gorgeous Heidi. She is sitting on 3 very dark brown eggs from my Cuckoo Marans. They only have a week to go! I'm very excited about getting lots and lots of eggs in the incubators in the next week too! 

Storm and Lightening. My shadows.. I can't go anywhere without them following me (whether there's a fence/giant bank/gate or hedge in the way!)

I watched these two like this for AGES the other day. Sleepily chewing the cud cheek by cheek. So, so sweet! 

Hebridean Ewe.. Lordy she's impressive.

These two Shetlands (well the one on the right is a Shetland/Hebridean cross) right freak me out.. "Look into my eyes.. bring us nuts bring us nuts"

Finnhe the Katmoget Shetland ewe. She's very pretty.

Finnhe puckering up.. she might be pretty but she's NOT my type!

Jingo.. my pride and joy! Shetland ram (fawn)

Hope you enjoyed meeting a few of the animals :)

hen xx

Feeding time with the Shetland sheep, goats, Willow & Adventure Hen!

If you've followed this blog awhile you might recognise some of the ewes in this wee film, especially Nibble and Mini-Finnhe! Some of the girls have started to moult so I've been collecting lots of gorgeous fleece. You can see some strewn about the field, in the film.

Adventure Hen is one of the ex-battery hens we rescued in December 2011. She's getting a bit too explore-y for my liking but I'd rather she was mooching about far and wide than not.

So here is a wee peek into a bit of my evening animal rounds...



Nibble last year:

Mini-Finnhe Mulletina Moonface last year:

hen xx

Our 1st Lamb, Skunk, is born!

*Warning* Over use of exclamation marks in this post!!!!!

This is about 30minutes after Skunk was born. Skunks mother chose a good spot by the bank in the shade and there were no complications.

I watched him try and stand up for the first time and he did a front flip! When he finally found his feet he went straight for some food. His little tail was going like the clappers! Amazing how they know exactly what to do. I was relieved to see him have this first drink as I didn't have to worry he got plenty of colostrum. I left them be after that to be sure they bonded well and went to my make shift office next to the field shelter.

The other ewes came to investigate and Skunk saw them off by rushing them with a head butt! Couldn't believe it, he actually headbutted Magik! Hilarious!

Skunks mum is being amazing but was upset when I picked up Skunk & used him to get her into the field shelter. That was the first time I have ever held a lamb- ever. They're both in shelter now and very settled. Just look....

Teehee! My first ever lamb! Yay!

hen xx

Lambing Field Shelter

It was rather lovely while we were finishing the field shelter yesterday evening. I say 'we', actually Leo was finishing it and I was taking pictures of ducks and chickens and pretty views and sunsets... *flaky* 

It was so beautiful though!

This was built to be a compost bin but it was so perfect for lambing I demanded it for a field shelter! It's made of recycled decking planks and the roofing/walls are corrugated sheets made of bitumen saturated organic fibres. Holds the heat and doesn't condense moisture as badly as tin.

Just the other side of the lambing pen is where I'll be setting up my field office/camp. It will consist of a a huge tarp, my Terra Nova tent, a table, laptop and generator. That way I can keep my beedy eye on the ewes and protect the lambs from corvids, foxes and badgers. Looking forward to it as it's been ages since I camped out in my tent! 

Here's my beautiful boy, Jingo. It's impossible to get a picture of him, as he doesn't stay still for a minute!

Just pulling together my lambing kit and I'm ready to go.

erm.....

*help!*

hen xx

A few hours chilling with the sheep n poultry gang...

Willow and Small

Willow and Small have a few issues.. Willow delights in winding Small up and Small delights in chasing Willow. Small will zone in on Willow from the other side of the field, then sneak up on her while she sleeps, then let out a massive honk alarm in her ear! Suffice to say they don't get to hang out much together... I fear for their lives! Well.. I fear for Small's life anyway!

Little Blue and the heavily pregnant HebXsuffolks

At the moment I'm spending a lot of time just hanging out with the sheep. They're due to give birth any week now and so I'm keeping a beedy eye on them. This is my first ever lambing. I'm nervous but confident I've practiced enough. We're finishing their field shelter today and I'm going to set up a field office in their field, so I can continue to work on the Save Our Woods campaign but stay alert to any attacks by ravens/foxes/badgers.. some might say its not necessary but as it's my first time I think I'm going to spend as much time as I can with them!

Cockeral. Cuckoo Marans.

You might remember Cockeral. I got him and a couple of Cuckoo Marans hens a few months ago. Well, he's matured into a real beauty. I love the way he herds the hens and settles any disputes! He's very good at his job but mostly the ex-batts ignore him when he's trying to make them move somewhere they don't want to go! The hens lay the most beautiful eggs ever. Dark brown shells and deep orange giant yolks.. droOOol!

Cockerals holy bum.

My beautiful poultry gang

Hope you're enjoying this beautiful Spring weather!

hen xx

A Snowy morning on Exmoor.. meet the Shetland lambs!

Click on the photies to see them in better quality & a bit bigger

(especially the Shetland sheep pic!! Teehee!)

Shetland Lambs

Here are four of our new Shetland lambs! This is the first photograph where they're not wriggling about. There is 2 moorits, a light one (on the far left) & a dark one (in front, smiling at you!), the others are grey. The one on the far right is a grey katmoget & the one poking her head out is Little blue. Her fleece is a blue grey, extraordinary colour!

They don't have names yet. I really need to get on and pick some for their pedigree certification. Any suggestions welcome!

So, yet again we're under a blanket of snow. It's just beautiful and I love being able to track birds! Trying to work out which tracks fit which birds is really hard but very interesting. Learning about tracking forces you to understand the animal better, really connect, I love it and think it might feature heavily in my life next year!

The poultry are not impressed at all with the snow. At least they're warm now though, the insulation we put into their house has made such a difference. Phew!

Steve, Open Country producer & all round lovely chap

We were interviewed by Radio 4's Open Country the other day.  They wanted to talk about what its like staying in a yurt in this freezing cold weather. 

Richard, Open Country presenter & another lovely chap!

The guys were so lovely and made us feel really comfortable. We ended up hanging out for a good few hours! Goodness knows how long its going to take poor Steve to sift through all our bletherings!  After interviewing us we wandered over to Hidden Valley Pigs farm so they could have a quick chat with Simon and Debbie.  The show goes out just after the 6am news on Jan 15th (on iplayer a few hours after) and its repeated at 3pm on the 20th Jan. Can't wait to hear what it is we said!

hen xx

New Shetland Sheep!

Jingo, Beth & Majik

Yesterday I picked up these GORGEOUS, beautiful & very sweet Shetland sheep. They're from a lovely local lady & are very well handled. They eat out of my hand!

Beth & Jingo

Beth, the white shearling ewe, has the sweetest nature and the softest, pure white fleece. 

Jingo

Jingo the ram was born earlier this year. He's a stunning little fella and has got me thinking about showing! Never thought I'd ever even consider showing! His fleece is a gorgeous fawn, with a good crimp. Very similar to Majik below. She has my favourite coloured fleece. A sort of light moorit/fawn. Oh, they're all so beautiful! :) 

Majik

I am desperately in love with these Shetlands... the obsession has begun!

*Update* In 2 weeks I go to see a lady about a grey ram & another couple of ewes! :) 

hen xx