The rain has been
going on with few breaks for days now. The mud is starting to appear
around the smallholding. As is traditional the pigs area is the first
to go. They had already done a good job of turning it all over so it
didn't take long with a bit of rain to turn into serious mud. Luckily
they are tall enough now so that they are out of it most of the time.
I was hoping that during the weekend we could fence them off a new
area so they have some grass. However a forecast of rain all weekend
has meant the CSA day is cancelled and so I am not sure we'll get it
done. However I will do at some stage in the next week. I'm letting
the pigs in an area to do some ploughing for me. They can root up any
potatoes left in the ground, which is great for blight prevention.
They will also turn over the soil ready for it to be grown in next
year. This year we grew squash and potatoes here. Next year I am
hoping to make the area much larger and growing some fodder crops for
both the pigs and the sheep. It's handy that we can keep the pigs
happy and get all that work done it one go. It might save me from
having to hire a Rotavator in the spring.
I have put it off
long enough now and I am going to have to bite the bullet and get
some decorating done. As it's pouring down at the weekend I might
have to actually have to get going with it.
The chicks are all
now getting quite large but still none of them have either layed an
egg or cock-a-doodled. I thought I heard one of them cock-a-doodle
several weeks ago but it must have been me as I haven't heard
anything since. As it's coming into winter it could now be a good
while before the girls start to lay. We suspect that the Light Sussex
is a cockerel but it's only a guess as he's so much bigger than the
rest.
The sheep are
getting to the time of the year where their feet start to be an
issue. I have already have to deal with two of them going lame in the
last week or two. One seems to be on the mend. The other one still
doesn't seem to be right. They also start to look rather bedraggled
on stormy or wet mornings as they tend to wedge themselves as deep as
they can into the hedge (this hedge is about 12 feet wide and you can
walk around inside it). So they appear looking soggy and with various
branches and brambles stuck in their wool. One of the lambs left us a
week or so ago and we now have more excellent lamb in the freezer. We
have already had liver and bacon, liver pate as well as some great
lamb shanks. Still haven't done anything with the wool from the
sheep. I'll add it to the list of winter jobs.
