STOVES, STOVES AND MORE STOVES.

Well there is more to the smallholding and eco life than wood burning stoves...stoves is most certainly the best place to start when going green, saving money, being the fuel bills etc but I did decide there might be a little more than stoves so decided to start this smallholder blog, as a test, see how it goes. Email anything you`d like added.

5th July 2010. Have not written much on the smallholders blog recently as I have been building a website for the sheep www.Texel-Sheep.com

23rd April 2010. The lambs are doing well although some as looking slightly grey from a bonfire in the field, the ash of which they roll in. Some are really large. We have a new pet lamb called the Knitted Character. Tom has her sitting on his knee for feeds and sitting on his lap watching TV on the settee. Been trying to point out the Knitted Character will grow, and grow and end up 120 kilos trying to sit on his lap to watch TV, but so far she still sits and watches TV.

12th March 2010. Most of the lambs have been born now, just two sheep left to birth. I`ll add some lamb piccies over the weekend. They are real beauties. And soon some beauty sleep...

6th March 2010

Half the sheep have lambed, the other half looking now, like beached whales. 7 days has passed since the last lamb born so I`m assuming Prospect stopped for a smoke! Good news for any new Turbine users. The feeder tarriff will increase this year to 0.267p for each unit produced. That`s not units used or sold, that is produced. For a tiny turbine 1.5kw and below the feeder tarriff is 0.345p for each kwh produced. You have to be ofgem registered by the end of March 2010 to benefit. The bad news is early adventurers with the wind technology on ROCS payment only recieves an increase to 0.09p per kwh. Turbine owners are petitioning the Government to have this altered but some are tied into 3/5 year contracts accepting the lower feeder payments. And Rodney James Davis from Spain commenting on our slug problem, debated last summer on the blog, says "A slug is just a smail with a housing problem."

24th February 2010. The first two lambs were born last night to Miss Piggy. Two beautiful texel boys. Tom and George assisted her because she was already prolapsed when lying down. The prolapse didn`t cause any damage to mum and seems to be back where it should be. Tom and George are delighted. Next!!

13th February 2010. Still no lambs, but the girls are lying around looking more like beached whales than sheep. Will keep you posted on our maternity suite. The sheep pens came from Solway Recycling. They are made from recycled plastic and won design awards for strength, easy to clean and preventing lamb theft by other ewes. We don`t know anyone else whose used them so we`ll keep you posted on those too.

22nd January 2010. Everyone survived the big freeze. The turkeys were especially delicious at Christmas, surprisingly better than the geese, who were plucked just as the snow started. I wasn`t sure, at one point how much was snow and how much feather was covering Tom and George, our wood burning stoves  fitter. Counting on fingers the 5 months less 5 days to estimate when the new seasons lambs are due. Valentines day, apparently.

15th December 2009

Very cold and very beautiful up here on our hill. The dawns and sunsets are phenominal. A fox got most of our turkeys, only two left for Christmas. One white and one Kerry Bronze. The geese are ready too. We are training a collie bitch for the sheep who joined us 3 weeks ago and Rob, who joined the Country Kiln Team at the start of this season, has a young collie pup too. George, our neighbours dad, has a young one too. So the collies have arrived. Come spring the serious training will start. Sheep all seem to be pregant however Tom`s been attending to their feet each day. The November rains having caused foot rot.

30th October 2009.

Another embarrassing agricultural moment: The chicken shed was proving hard to clean so Tom purchased a proper shed, so there would be no bending when cleaning. The chickens refused to move. Anyway he decided he`d get them to move by dismantling the orginal hut, so he ripped off the doors, they refused to move, he ripped off the sides, they refused to move, he ripped off the roof. Still all these chickens refused to move. Foghorn, the obedience trained cockrell, who is trained to jump on the gate and crow on command, was standing beside Tom watching all the chickens perching in a hut frame. So Tom decided to tip the hut, thinking tipping the hut would disperse the hens and then he`d be able to chase them into the new luxury shed. So Tom tips the hut and the chickens move. He rounds them into the new shed and looks for Foghorn. Foghorn is no-where to be seen so he starts to hunt for Foghorn. Tom finds him. Foghorns legs and body are sticking out from under the couped hut, his legs are girating and his wings flapping and his head is trapped under the hut. Death throes, Tom thinks and wonders how he is going to explain this because everyone LOVES Foghorn. Tom lifts the hut, expecting Foghorn to be a real mess. He was absolutely fine, just in quite a bad mood.

22nd October 2009.

I still can`t find a number for insulation grants for England and Wales but have found the name of the scheme. With high fuel bills for gas and electricity still on-going I thought, for those not changing to wood, and possibly vulnerable, the following information might be useful on electricity and gas:

You may be eligible for a social tariff which offers cheaper prices to low-income or vulnerable customers, such as older people, or people with long-term ill health. For more information, contact your fuel supplier.

You may be able to take advantage of one of the various energy efficiency schemes and grants that are available, such as the Warm Front scheme in England and the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme in Wales.

If you’re over 60 you could be entitled to Winter Fuel Payments, or Cold Weather Payments if you’re under 60 but on a low income. The Home Heat Helpline 0800 33 66 99

10th October 2009

The government has a new fruit growing programme called Commonwealth Orchard. They are encouraging everyone to plant fruit trees now, so we have fruit for the time of the Commonwealth Games. They are hoping for fruit trees in city streets and every garden. The growing of such trees has depreciated over the last 20/30 years so the Government is hoping to replenish stocks and enhance our culture by replanting. Butterworths Organic Nursery mail orders rare and old brands of apple trees capable of surviving in cold climates. Some of John Butterworths varieties date back as far as 1745. The Scottish Government has a new programme giving loans to home owners to green up their homes. I`ll try to find out how to qualify and write more. Full 100% grants for cavity wall and roof insulation are available UK wide for any home owner or tenant on benefits, working tax credit, child credit or pension. If you live in Scotland you can arrange this with John on 07717404249. I don`t have a number to give out for England, Wales or Ireland so email it if you have one. These grants will reduce your fuel bills and carbon footprint. 

3rd October 2009.

One of the turkeys drowned this week in the sheep water trough. Several ewes have blue marks on their backs, first touch of frost and the blue marks appeared on their backs from Prospects` blue stained cheast. This is good news. The ugliest sheep, Miss Piggy, seems to have some on her head too. Bright blue back, bright blue head. Could just be the ram is young and aimed badly. Some of you have been asking if we could go back and do the installation of the wind turbine again, would we? Yes would be the answer. We are now on free green electricity, which has a really excellent feel-good factor. We sometimes top up areas the stove doesn`t reach with an occasional blast from a fan heater powered by the free electricity so the oil consumption is way down. We contacted DM Hall, our local, very conservative, surveyors to ask if they could assess the value of having a turbine installed. If you offset the cost of the turbine and installation to the value accrued on your home, the turbine basically takes 5 years in leccy savings to pay for it`self. So after 5 years, at todays rates, the turbine has paid for it`self and all the leccy is free and profit....and Bright Luminous GREEN! (well not literally)

29th September 2009. Embarrassing moments 2009: Jeffery, our chinese crested, had a really sore face and mouth. We knew his teeth have never been the best but this deterioration was faster and worse than we anticipated. Of to the Vet who says "You`re those wood burning stoves people, aren`t you?" "Yes, we`re Country Kiln." "Well, if you stop your dog eating the logs the splinters won`t lodge in his cheeks!"

19th September 2009.

Just re-read the blog. I seem to be missing a lot of commas, apologies for that. Mind you better missing commas than marbles! Not a lot happening farmwise this week. I mean not a lot over all and not a lot in the direction of Prospect tupping. So we wait. We moved the young turkeys into a small brooder hut and Jeffery killed one in the run so we are not happy with him. One of the hens who has been sitting on eggs has hatched 3 red chicks which look like walking red, fluffy ping-pongs. Gorgeous. We evicted the 8 week old hatched chicks from their enclosed run/brooder and moved the motherhen and three chicks in there. The 17 young hens proceeded to evict the full size hens from their shed. Our neighbours father, the teacher from the agricultural college, sold us one of his lambs to keep Sheila, the Soay Pet Lamb, company in the front field. Looks tasty but one has to resist this temptation. Anyone like the new pictures on line of Sheila with the chickens on her head?

15th September 2009.

Last month the economist wrote that the electricity supply in the UK will be intermittent from 2012 due to a shortfall estimated at around 30% of production required. Then last week the 100 watt lightbulb was outlawed and will closely be followed next year by the outlawing of the 60 watt lightbulb. This is a drive towards low energy bulb use. The government has decided that no more 100 watt bulbs can be produced and when current shop stock is sold, these will be illegal to replace. It`s basically a drive to reduce unnessicary consumption. The low energy bulbs last far longer, 8000 hours of use, they cost, from memory only 10% of the cost of the usual 100 watt bulb and although some people say they are duller, it is possible to run two bulbs and still have a lower consumption rate than one 100 watt. I`ve also heard that new low energy bulbs which can be used in dimmer units are now available. Personally I think the outlawing of the 100 watt bulb is a change for the better, legislating against wastefulness.

9th September 2009.

I can`t believe how beautiful this boy sheep, Prospect, is in nature. He`s like a big teddy bear. I`d read about rams, how hard they are to handle, how uncontrollable and wild. Prospect runs to the gate to greet us, loves having his face rubbed, his neck massaged and he`s like a big rug when you cuddle him. Yip, he stands to be cuddled. Last night we had to move him. I asked him to walk from one field to the other, expecting him to turn into a ravenous sex machine, bouncing around the field trying to get at the ewes, never to be seen or touched for the next decade. Guess what he did? He walked to heel. Walked like a big friendly and enthusiastic puppy. He is absolutely beautiful. His harness has arrived, the one with the dye crayon on, so now we will introduce to the girls. Possibly buy him a book on what is required! Tom says after Prospect has been with the ewes his nature will change and he`ll not be so affable. I`m really hoping his nature (Tom`s and Prospect`s) stays the same!

6th September 2009.

Our boy sheep, called Teiglum Prospect, has arrived. He`s gorgeous, let`s hope the ewes share this opinion and more! Let`s hope it`s not another repeat episode like the goose breeding programme of spring time where the gander on loan had to be returned as our geese did not feel romantically inclined. Anyway, Prospect has to be separated from the ewes for around 3 weeks, called "teasing", so basically he romances them across a fence before a full introduction. It`s difficult for a small flock owner to produce lambs without AI and it`s difficult to even get the AI man out to attend to a small flock. I`m sure many people don`t have the facility to engage in that activity with ewes so, going along the lines of breeding as natually as possible, I`m wondering about offering Prospect next year to service small flocks, if correctly vetted, naturally. At the very least it would keep him a happy sheep.

Our neighbours` father was at the Agricultural College for 15 years. Yesterday he was over chatting, while Tom called the sheep over and began patting and wrestling them. The sheep are tame now and friendly. Our neighbours dad said he`d never seen that happen, sheep coming to socialise and be patted, not in all his stocksmans` years. Tom has that way with animals. The sheep now surround him in the field and pull his waterproofs competing for attention.

The hedgerows are out in force with fruit now. Brambles, elderberries, hip and haws being our main offerings. No jam however, too many calories, so we`ve settled for socialising with the sheep and raiding the bramble bushes. Child hood revisited.

Turkeys are doing well, almost two weeks old. Surprisingly nice natured and attractive birds. They come over to have their heads stroked. Much cleaner than chickens. I`d heard they were great ugly dinosaurs, but they aren`t. They are easy birds. Friendly, clean, not messers. The water consumption is higher than that of chicks but the poops (trying to find an inoffensive word) are drier. 

5th September 2009.

A TIP FROM BRIAN EDWARDS: Hi,Really enjoying reading your blog, bought a stove from you around 18 months ago and its doing well! Going to try some peat in it this week and see how it does! A wee tip for your veg next year, get some rhubarb leaves and put in a drum of water and put on a lid. Leave to rot down until you plant out next season then water the area with it 2 to three times as they grow....you'll never get another slug! Won't help with the rabbits though....sorry!
 
Brian

31st August 2009

The turkeys have now hatched. We have 8, 6 Kerry Bronze and two white. They seem to be much friendlier than the hatched chicks and eat less. Actually they are surprisingly pleasant attractive young birds. Tom has clipped my wings and there is to be no more hatching this year as these experiments have been slightly too successful. We`ve had to register our flock with Defra due to the hatching, anyone with over 50 birds must inform Defra for prevention of infectious diseases, basically they notify you if any infections come to the area.

Talking of new flocks, the new sheep are doing well. Waterlands Texels. This weekend we invested in a tup from the Teiglum and Garngour Texel flock. After exploring exactly what AI entails we simply can`t do that so we`re hoping to produce as naturally as possible and as near to Organic as possible. I have to say as near to Organic as possible because filling in the Soil Association forms for Organic Statue has been on the "to do" list for a while...a long while. The Texels are much easier to deal with, so far, none of these high speed field chases we had with the Soays.

Turbine is doing well, now on completely free leccy. We also had the loft insulated last week. Extra insulation, working on the theory that the best green things are often the simplest. We selected non itchy insulation in poly bags. Sheeps wool insulation being too expensive and the ordinary fiberous stuff too dusty for asthma and excema in the family. We were £224 in total for dust free insulation although it was difficult to source. Even this weekend the difference in warmth is evident. Again extra insulation gives a really quick return on the green investment, it`s supposed to pay for it`self in one year. Confessions, as the soays were being sheared I did wonder if we could make enough insulation to do the loft. Lol, well, it was worth a thought at least!

22nd August 2009.

What the books don`t tell about chickens is that after 4 weeks in the brooder (now extended into two stoves crates) they can`t just be introduced to our other girls. They have to go into a run on their own until they are 12 weeks. Had to take advice from Homers daddy at the Craigdu Stained Glass Gallery on this matter and then run out trying to locate a hut into which they could be transferred. Gosh I hope they survive the change in temperature.

The new sheep are doing well, rather larger than the soays. Still suffering from a rather painful knee after have been charged at during dosing with fly strike. Much easier than the dipping of 20 years ago but I`ll never make the grade as a matador. It`s just that in order to remember which had been dosed we needed to make a mark on them. The only facility we had for this was stoves black so we now have a flock marked with stoves black, including one with a large stripe down her back from when she ran past. Well, suppose no-one else around has a stoves blacked flock brand.

14th August 2009

The turbine seems to be producing more leccy, after the initial shock of very little production. The latest count is that our bill due to the grid is currently running at £5 per month, the rest being produced by the turbine. The chicks are doing well although we`ve has to extend the brooder into 2 stoves crates joined by a small door. The Soay sheep are away apart from Sheila the pet lamb and next week is the Fenwick Garden Club show and I am sloshed, beaten and obliterated before I even get one plant there. The rabbits got the veg nothing worth even writing home about, never mind blogging has grown on the flower front, so totally dreading having nothing pretty at all to show. Turkey eggs still turning, they were candled last week and one of the 20 disposed of. Our head warehouseman, who flies competition pigeons, or doos, as they are called in Scotland, has volunteered to do the honors before Christmas with the turkeys. He`s even volunteered to pluck any we are successful with. This has gone down well with a few friends who didn`t really want to pluck at the plucking party and...Tom who was envisaging a bit of a mess.

There has been an uproar in the Sunday papers up here since the anouncement the Haggis is a dish originating from a 1615 English recipe. I mean a big fuss, an even bigger fuss than the first time the Haggis was curried and made into a pakora by an award winning restaurant.

Gosh why can`t we just share!! The Haggis, a Great British dish first recorded by an English Chef in 1615, surely that would be the solution?

Lunch time, not haggis however.

7th August 2009.

Project One Million Uses of a Recycled Country Kiln Stoves Crate Phase 42 isn`t going well. I`d been using the crate of a Woodmaster as a brooder for the chicks. Heat lamp over the top, a string across with a CD on for a toy and was supposed to hand a mop over to mimick a hen. Today there`s been escapees so a taller rethink is needed.

How`s this for some historical facts? WORD HISTORY   The word stove first referred not to a cooking or heating device but to a room for taking a hot-air or steam bath (first recorded in 1456). Around 1545 the word stove is recorded with reference to another room, such as a bedroom, heated with a furnace. The devices used to heat these rooms came to be called stoves as well, a use first found sometime between 1550 and 1625. Of course, heating devices that we would call stoves had long been in existence, going back to Roman times. However, stoves as the chief cooking device, taking the place of the fireplace, dates only to around the mid-19th century with the widespread use of wood burning or coal-burning cooking stoves.

Another historcial fact, and possibly more useless information is that the famous Scottish dish the Haggis is not in fact a Scottish dish. It orginated in England but was made fashionable in Scotland by the Rabbie Burns poem in the same way as Dickens made fashionable the Turkey for Christmas by writing Christmas Carol. How shocking a fact is that for our national pride?? We were thinking of rearing Haggis on our smallholding but I have heard they are even harder to cage than our week old chicks, so more consideration is needed on that front!! 

4th August 2009.

The Soays go tomorrow but the one pet lamb, Sheila, whose mother died, is staying, for ever. There was an article in the economist about soays two months or so ago, the breed is about 4000 years old and from St Kilda, anyway it has been being monitored over the past 20 years and they write that in their studies whoever is spending time monitoring the breed has discovered that the Soay breed is changing. It has become smaller! It was already one of the smallert breeds living on sea weed. Anyway the importance of this is that is the first species which has been monitored as adapting to climate change, other species having become extinct or on the verge of extinction. The article said that the reasons for the Soay becoming smaller was that with the winters becoming less severe the breed did not need to lay on fat to protect it in fallow times or for protection from the cold. Also, because of a more temperate climate more Soays are surviving and so more sheep were competing for the same food.

I wondered if the speed of their adaptation has caused them to survive as one of the oldest species, from the bronze age, wondered if everytime they required to adapt they simply changed slightly. Well it seems likely they changed slightly but what in their genes makes that change possible when other species just die. Suppose that will take another 20 years to answer.

Chickens are doing well, a week old and no mortality. Turkey eggs baking nicely. Oh, did you know that Turkeys are not from Turkey? I didn`t. It turns out they are from South America, brought to Europe in 1500 by a spanish explorer and then to the UK a decade or so later when Columbus made his return journey, map in hand! Goose was the fashionable Xmas dinner until Dickens wrote a Christmas Carol, where Scrooge buys the Turkey, it was only after that novel that Turkey became of bird of choice for Victorian England.

Right, enough of this. Been editing the site all day, putting new photos of the latest stoves designs on so enough time on the computer today Here are the new stoves  http://www.woodburningstoveslimited.com/index.php?action=cms.shop&categoryid=34&expanded=0

1st August 2009.

Hugh Fearnley Whittinstall is having chicken out marches all over the UK this month. There isn`t one near us but good luck to him. Intensively reared chickens was intended as a temporary solution to produce more food in war torn Britain after WWII. The intention by the fellow who came up with the idea of intensively reared birds was never that 60 years on would they be maintained in the same state.

17 of the 26 eggs from our incubator have now hatched and all birds are healthy, no mortality from the ones who hatched. We now have 20 turkey eggs which we bought for £20, hatching, a mixture of Bronze and White. The big Christmas plan is we hope to hatch 10 for friends Christmas Dinner. 10 friends have asked for one but the deal we made was that we didn`t think at Christmas we`d be able to pluck 10 turkeys by hand so we are having a plucking party the week before.

The turkey breeder says incubating now and hatching in 28 days should bring on turkeys at 10lb by the time Christmas nears which are large enough. Larger ones should have resulted in 6 week old birds being bought now for fattening on. The idea is really not too large and to experiment with the incubator. So Turkeys are 25 days at 37.5C turning and 3 days pipping at 35C. Mr Turkey Eggs guarantees a 93% hatch rate but being new to hatching we figured a 50% rate would be more than satisfactory.

27th July 2009

The wind turbine is in and running. The idea was free electricity and enough in ROX payments and spare electricity sold back to the grid that we would pay our Council Tax. That very much now seems a pipe dream...or should that be a copper wire dream. I know for green energy appliances the best return pound for pound is from a wood burning stove but surely some of the other technology must work....somewhere...and do what it says on the tin.

On the happy side we bought a second hand incubator, a brinsea hatchmaster for £150, figuring if that failed we would get out money back at least. We took eggs from the white hens, serviced by our West Sussex Foghorn Leghorn Cockrell (incidentally Tom has trained Foghorn the Cockrell to get on the gate and crow on command) The eggs were in for 18 days being turned at a temperature of 37.5 C and then 3 days without turning at 35C and the chicks hatched today. Wonderful.

25th June 2009

Today the turbine is going up. It`s just been hoisted right now. I`m watching from the office to see when it starts to turn. Took pictures.

We`ve been on holiday so Farnheit and the rest of the Country Kiln team have been running the wood burning stoves show. We returned to 4 goslings however the overprotective gander stood on one which died so now we have three. Chickens are now laying rather too many eggs so if you are up at the showroom ask for some. They are delicious. Sheila the pet Soay/Shetland lamb has been returned to the flock and doing well. Things are dire on the veg front most being eaten by baby rabbits.

29th April 2009

Seedlings beginning to show. I learnt some new eco tips this week which even as an eco-engineer I did not know. The most surprising is that is it considered more eco-friendly to do your weekly, fortnightly, monthly shop and have it delivered by something like asda.com or tesco.com. I did not know this. It`s also considered to be credit crunch busting to shop in that manner.

It turns out that the major supermarkets have anthrapologists in stores observing our behaviour, watching how our eyes progress from shelf to shelf in order goods can be positioned to encourage us to buy more, buy more expensively, and buy things we simply don`t need or would not buy under normal rational circumstances. Like bread always being at the far end of the store so to nip in for bread we have to walk past every other product which means to buy bread and bread only in a supermarket is basically the anthrapologists version of an assault course in self control. However, I`m being told that all the anthrapological tricks are avoided by shopping on line for groceries resulting in money saved and less carbon in the fact we don`t use fuel going back and forth to the supermarket, the delivery van already being en-route. I may try this...Remember to recycle the delivery bags for an extra green boost.

Another interesting thing, completely unrelated to supermarket shopping, I learnt this week was about a hill village called Fintry. Fintry sits in the Campsie Fells between Glasgow and Stirling. A few years back a wind farm planning application was submitted in their area for 12 wind turbines. The villagers told the wind farmers that they would object enmass to a windfarm for 12 turbines however, if the application was made for 13 wind turbines and one of the turbines was donated to the village then there would be no objections. Now that, I consider, to be a stroke of brilliance.

15th May 2009 Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall wrote this in his River Cottage Newsletter. I thought it might be of interest. "You may well have heard of Charles Clover’s excellent and eye-opening book, The End of The Line (Ebury), which deals with the far-reaching effects of over-fishing in our seas. The book has now been made into a film, under the same title. Using Clover’s superb research and some stunning cinematography, it brings home the point, perhaps with even greater impact than the book, that we cannot continue fishing in the way we do. It is simply unsustainable – so much so that some scientists predict a total collapse of pretty much all our fish stocks within the next 40 years. I can’t call The End of The Line easy viewing – I found it shocking, in fact -  but it is compelling, and essential for anyone who cares about the state of our oceans. The good news is that the film is not merely a tolling bell – Clover offers genuine, practical solutions which could turn the tide."

"The End of The Line is launched on June 8 (World Ocean’s Day) – go to endoftheline.com for screening details or to buy the book"

25th April 2009

Loaded on Maisie the goose having bath. So we thought at last our goose breding was improving, yes there has been some mating and yes there were eggs in the nest...and last night we found Jeffery, our Chinese Crested stealing the possibly fertile goose eggs, presenting them to Declan, our youngest Chinese crested. This is no good.

Originally the Chinese Crested were bred to guard the palace of the first emperor from the Han Dynasty, which was about 2000 years ago. Later around 1421 they sailed on discovery and mapping voyages circumnavigating the globe as food for the sailers. It`s been found that a) Columbus had a map!!! And b)in Argentina or an Island near Argentina there is a species of fox which is genetically descended from the Chinese Food Dog and the local fox. This is seriously bad news for us, as small holders with a fox problem. The ancient ancestors of our dogs like foxes and like them rather too much!!! Incidentally anyone got a Border Terrier going free? Or Border Terrier pups?

The BBC are running a Dig In Campaign through Gardeners World giving free vegetable seeds and planting lessons via the Gardeners World programme to encourage vegetable growing. Last night the planted carrots in drain pipes, for straight growth. We`ve some ceramic pipes here which i failed dismally at growing leeks in last year so fancy giving the carrot idea a try. My carrots usually end up looking like Freddy Crugers hands. Maybe, just maybem if these carrots grow long and straight I could slosh the girls at the gardening club for a prize this year. So anyone from Fenwick Gardening Club reading the blog..the carrot challenge is on!!

Saturday morning here, we work until 1 so I better get back to the business of wood burning stoves and stop gabbing on line. Is anyone actually reading this? Want to email how to grow veg or tips for small holders? We`ll put the comments on line.

22nd April 2009.

Good news on the goose front. It appears the huge goose is in fact a gander. It was caught in the act with a smaller goose which two days since has started putting feathers around the communal nest. This is an improvement. Homer was returned to the gallery.

Two lambs died. Oh, did I tell you about the sheep. They are Sowie Sheep. Originally from St Kilda. I believe there were only 4000 of the breed left last year in total. Most of them have had twins so last lamb count was 22. In St Kilda they lived grazing sea weed.

20TH April 2009.

The goose breeding programme isn`t going well. Firstly, we shouldn`t actually have any geese. They were supposed to be culled for Christmase day 2008 however, it was unanimously decided they would remain. We had three geese, all girls. Or maybe not. Maybe the largest was a gander.

Spring came and so did the goose eggs. We waited the manditory 31 days hoping for goslings....Nothing... so last weekend we borrowed a gander, Homer, from Craigdu Stained Glass Gallery.

I was expecting a scene like Reginald Perrin running opened armed across a beach towards Joan when our girls saw Homer. No chance. It was war at first sight. They detested him. Two nights Homer was forced to sleep in the log shed and the other five nights from this week he emerged each morning looking like he was needing to start a Zero Tolerance Campaign for battered ganders. Possibly if he had tried flowers, chocolates and a seranade..but he didn`t so yesterday we returned him to his owner.

Possibly, just possibly, our largest goose is a boy. He has no lump at the top of his beak but since Homer arrived he`s been herding and protecting the two smaller, definitely female ones.

I`m told now that female geese begin laying but it can take longer for the males to mature so maybe, just maybe there will be goslings later our geese currently being just under the year.

The hens arrived this week too. 4 Blackrocks, 4 white ones, 10 Isa Browns, a grey chick, a Light Sussex and a Light Sussex cockrell who looks like Fog Horn leg horn. Ok, it`s a complete disarray for breeding but we opted for eggs and a colourful display. The fox wiped us out twice last year so the coop has been moved to the front away from any bushes. We`re hoping the hens will be better protected there. If you are coming to the Country Kiln stoves showroom we might have eggs. Here`s hoping.

The green house was started again this weekend. Cleaned and the initial seed trays laid out. 2 years ago was very successful, we grew enough veg and salads to keep us eco fed for a good few months. Last year was a disaster.

Later this summer we also hope to be off grid with a 6kw turbine so I`ll update you on that as the project progresses. Now I better dodge off, back to stoves and more stoves but first I`ll load a picture of baby hares raised in the garden last year

Susan