March 2022 ... Autumn days

Life again has moved along quickly and we are suddenly in March. Loving these beautiful Autumn days…still sunny and leaves are changing but night time is getting a little cooler and it won’t be long until the wood fire is going constantly. I have just bundled up a lot of bark for 28 gates for those cooler days and nights. I gather pine cones too so they are dry and an awesome fire lighter with bark too. The wood shed is full too for guests so happy days for awhile.

ON THE FARM ; we are waiting for Autumn rains, its the time you want it, as its still warm and it grows ready for the Winter period. However, unfortunately there is no tap so luckily we are able to irrigate our fodder crops for fattening of sheep. A lot of these sheep will be killed for the supermarkets. Our rams go out in April for 6 weeks with the ewes. 1 ram to 80 ewes ….happy days for them. Its quite an experience watching them. The ram generally has a harem of ewes around him and struts around feeling quite smug and proud! Then lambs are born in September.

Due to shortage of shearers, our workers have done all the crutching (taking off the wool around the sheeps face and bottom). This has been a huge job but one that has to be done.

I am very excited to have the Blacksmiths Shop all cleaned up and hoping to have it all working for Winter workshops. Its been a project I have wanted to do for awhile now and finally its nearly happening. We will be doing classes for up to 3 people or groups of up to 12 people to watch the Blacksmithy at work.

Covid has obviously been an interesting time and we continue to try and be as flexible as possible. Unfortunately we all came down with it and my health has not been the same since. If people know me, its hard for me to sit down and stop but this certainly has made me do it. Its a matter of pacing myself and makes you very aware of how important our health is.

Take care from all of us including ALL our pets (which is quite a few , I must say!)