Monday: Another week begins and we had rain overnight, the temperature has gone up and I’m sweating doing the rounds this morning, gotta love this country when one day is nearly always different to the next and nothing to do with the weather is ever a dead cert!
On my way round I looked for the bantam, nowhere to be seen which is a worry, I suspect a John saw a different one eating and this one was still hunched up somewhere and didn’t go inside at night, a worry because it means something has been able to get in a take her, bearing in mind it’s a six foot fence all the way round that’s not good.
Cleaned the floor of the back pen and by the looks of it there is no more rat activity at the back either, maybe we are winning the battle, as I have said before it’s not huge but even one or two rats causes a problem with egg/food stealing. This time of year eggs are few and far between as it is without them being stolen, the daylight hours or lack of them, affect the egg numbers drastically and we are almost at a stage when we will begin to sell out each morning again, roll on 21st December when the nights begin to draw back out.
Having had a couple of days when we can walk around the frozen ground without getting muddy we are back to slop this morning, slippery slop that’s they only way to describe it and you gotta be sure on your feet otherwise over you go.
John and I are off on a mini break to Belgium and Amsterdam next week so I need to make sure everything is up together and that all will run smoothly when Shelley, Martin and Josh are here looking after the place, it’s a little bit easier in the winter months, well not so manic at least, the hardest job will be keeping the Rayburn going especially if the temps drop again.
Cleaned out the quail and put the large rabbit run back to normal after fencing a piece off for the baby rabbits, I’m a bit concerned about what is getting into the orchard pen though, the bantams are shut in at night but the mesh is quite flimsy so I think I’m going to have to go out and beef it up somehow.
Tuesday: Last night I set the camera and after getting the morning rounds finished I had a look at what if anything I captured, I was right something was getting in, a big fat fox! It is scaling the six foot fence and we have a plan in place to try and stop it being able to, the orchard will look like stalag 17 but hopefully it will stop it otherwise drastic measures will be taken.
I made the cranberry and orange sauce with my 5p cranberries lol, it’s now in the freezer and will be a great accompaniment for cold meats on Boxing Day.
Wednesday: ‘The North wind doth blow and we shall have snow’ I don’t know about that but the wind is certainly blowing from the North it feels perishing out there this morning, a red face and runny nose morning. The proverbial Robin should be fine as I keep topping up the bird feeders for him and his friends. I saw two deer grazing in the field behind our back paddocks this morning, that always lifts my spirits and makes me smile, their heads keep bobbing up from eating just to make sure there is nothing threatening close by.
Both yesterday and today I have lit the Rayburn early in the morning to ward off the chill that the wind is bringing with it, it gets a bit toasty at some points of the day but I’d rather that than shivering.
The ducks have been free ranging everyday for about two months now so next years slugs should be well and truly taken care of, to start with thy didn’t venture far and now they are getting all over the garden and side paddocks, as a result they are laying really well which is more than can be said for the hens! We are in the shortest daylight hours now which profoundly affects the number of eggs laid, we don’t keep them under an artificial light as it’s not very natural and messes with their body clocks, sometimes when we are running out of eggs daily we think about doing it but to be honest I’d rather not, customers will just have to wait until the egg laying gets back to full strength. It is surprising how many customers don’t realise the above fact so I have now put an explanation on the board, they want free range because of the welfare and with it comes natural living and a drop in available eggs 😜
Made lemon buttered cod for dinner and a self saucing chocolate pud that I saw on tv (save money: good food) last night yum.
I also ordered a proving basket from my fav online outlet store, when I make bread, which is every other day, I generally prove it free form but sometimes it spreads a bit too much making a shallow loaf which is okay for toast but not so good for a decent sandwich so I thought it was about time I had an authentic basket to do it in 😀
Thursday: Another cold start, luckily I got John to fill up all the water buckets yesterday afternoon so I only needed to break the ice this morning. By the time I had finished the rounds my toes were hurting even though I had thick socks on. The sun is set to make an appearance though so at least things will thaw out even if the temperatures remain cold. My proving basket arrived last night so I will make the first loaf of bread in it today, it needs ‘seasoning’ beforehand, basically wet it slightly and sprinkle flour in it, shake it around and let it dry, once it is, it’s ready to use. Or rather it would have been if my dough had risen on the first proving, it didn’t! So google to the rescue and find out how to remedy the situation, put the dough in an oven or microwave with a cup of hot water and hopefully the steam will activate the yeast. Normally I use fast acting but I didn’t have any so I used the one that you have to mix with water and sugar to get it going, it’s obviously on strike, fingers crossed the steam works 😜
Made a banana bread with the ones going over and that’s cooking in the Rayburn as I type.
Well the bread and steam didn’t work so I abandoned it, not entirely as I have baked it, the ducks will eat it even if it’s dense, I will have to get some more easy yeast and stick to what I know lol.
Friday: Slightly warmer today but not much, the wind is still biting. Did the usual stuff, not much else going on today in terms of the farm.
Saturday: John did the rounds then went off to stock up on feed while I packed the suitcase for our few days away. “Ive had a shave and haircut and got a battery for my watch” said John, great you’re all ready to go then, I will do the rest! Looking forward to a break and a not doing the cooking and cleaning, not trudging round in the mud 😀 Shelley is in charge 😀
When I get back it will be directly into Christmas mode, presents to shop for, food to prepare 😝
We had a few last minute bright ideas to put into place before we go, one is to get carpet gripper to go on top of the fence that the fox is jumping, presumably he is landing on the top and not clearing right over it, anyway he will get a bit of a shock if that’s the case 😝 secondly we decided as the egg numbers have dropped drastically we would worm the birds (should have done it earlier but didn’t 😛) it takes seven days and obviously we won’t be here for some of them so I have now prepared 7 buckets of medicated feed to be given in the afternoons. And we came up with an ideal plan so shelley doesn’t have to go in with the geese, she is six months pregnant and not as agile as normal so won’t be able to nip past them readily, problems solved hopefully and hopefully the egg numbers will go back up though I’m still convinced it’s to do with daylight hours and not worms, we shall see.
I’m off to the cinema with Charlie tonight and then relax for a few days.
frieslandfarm (flowers) 