Monday 5 February 2018

What to do........

First of all, do we sell the cows, or not? 
- Do we convert back to having goats as the provider of our milk, or not?
Shall we keep the sheep? Yes, definitely. We have managed to get the flock numbers down to a manageable size, so no probs there.
- The chickens...... definitely keep them, and increase their numbers, probably using the old pig pens.
- What about the Market Garden Project? Haven't a clue what to do about that so waiting for Divine Intervention to show me the way. 
- All in all, everything has got pushed up into the air, and this is because Lester is now having to go back to the UK several times a year, leaving me Home Alone.

Now it is a good thing that he is able to work from home, not so good that he is going to have to make that long twelve hour trip back to London. We know it takes that long because he has just got back from such a trip. I, meanwhile, did Home Alone with the farm, and I managed quite well, in fact better than I thought I would.

- I enticed the sheep to and fro the Side Field each day by bribing them with armfuls of hay. 
Fortunately the lambs are only a few days old so stayed close to their mums. In a few days time they will be confident enough to get up to all sorts of shenanigans, which will include having gang romps anywhere else but where they should be going. 

- The Chicken Gang and myself got used to being in close proximity to each other, and I learnt not to get impatient when waiting for them to go to bed at night, most of the hens preferring to climb through small holes in the fencing wire rather than come through the open gate, and them getting in to a fluster because they did not have the sense to understand that the reason that the hole in the wire was getting to be such a tight fit was because they were getting bigger as they headed towards maturity. 

- Fortunately we do not have any pigs to look after at the moment, so just the cows. 
Oh they are such big animals, with occasional attitude, and horns.

But I did manage to get ten big bags of hay brought from off the hay bales out on the Front Drive, which needed to be done daily. Day One of Home Alone saw me not being able lift one bag very well, but my Day Three I could manage three at once. 
The cleaning of the pen, though, was not done with any efficiently. Lester uses a long shovel and a scoop to pick the poo up, but both were too heavy for me to lift at the same time, particularly if loaded with manure. So I 'borrowed' my washing up gloves and a bucket from the kitchen, and got the bigger clods up by hand, but only the piles of poo which were not anywhere near the feet of the cows. Those were left for Lester to sort out when he came home again.
But we have come to realise that looking after the cows is going to be too big a job for me when left Home Alone again, especially in the warmer weather when they will have to be got out on to the fields to graze, then brought in twice a day to be milked.
So we are now thinking that we might have to sell them, and buy goats. 
This topic is an ongoing one with us, the solution not yet settled upon. 

So, onwards we gallop towards the Spring.
I can feel the need to sort out seeds starting to whisper inside me.
Meanwhile I shall continue to enjoy the endless hours of doing crochet, knitting, and all the other things that there is no time to do once the warmer weather arrives.

Off to do something, not sure what, but it will probably be creative!

Bye for now,

Vx

13 comments:

John Going Gently said...

Go with your head not your heart xx

Cassie said...

It's good to hear from you again, I understand now how busy you have been.

Vera said...

JOHN, ..... be sensible then, that is what we need to do! Thanks for the advice, John. Sending blessings to you.

CASSIE, I have been lazy actually, and blaming it on the time of the year! But hey ho... Soon we shall be picking up speed with all things to do with the smallholding!

Dawn said...

I agree with John dont let your heart rule

Rhodesia said...

Wow Vera, a lot for you to cope with alone, I agree with John go with your head and not your heart. I thought Lester had stopped work and it was all go in France now. Take care and do not overdo it. Have a good week, Diane

Vera said...

DAWN, unfortunately the cows are under Lester's care so he is the one who needs to make the ultimate decision as to whether or not to part with them. We are not downsizing, just readjusting ourselves to changing circumstances!

DIANE, it was always going to be likely that Lester would continue working, at least for a while. Not to worry, it keeps him mentally occupied and the income is very useful! Thank you for your concern.

Coco said...

One thing to keep in mind about goats is fencing. At least that´s what I read. On the plus side, there´s goats milk cheese.

Glad to hear your managing. And lambs! Pics please!

I´m sure you´ll sort it all out in the end. Are you having Siberian weather too? Or is it just us. I´ve started seeds too early, of course.

Cheers

Janice said...

Home Alone! It's amazing what you can do when you have to. I'm not home along but DH now has spinal stenosis so can not do many of the things he used to do so it's up to me! I'm managing. I'm sure your situation will sort itself out, and as you say, the extra income is always very useful! Take care of yourself!

Vera said...

COCO, we have kept goats before, so know the ways of them, so we do have sturdy fencing already in place!
'Siberian weather' today, but it has not been too cold this winter, just wet and chilly, which I think is worse, at least with the colder weather we do get sunshine. As for getting seeds started, ...no, not one little seed planted at all yet!

JANICE, sorry to hear about your DH, but you are right about being able to do things that one didn't think one could..... I did surprise myself last week when Lester was away at what I managed to do!

Old School said...

You will adapt, as the Borg say. And you are very resourceful. Will he be gone for long periods?

Su

Vera said...

SU, Lester will only be back in the UK for a few days at a time, and you are right.....I am very adaptive and will get used to his absences. And it is true, absence does make the heart grow fonder. Watching him walking towards me at the train station made me feel like a teenage girl again!

Jean said...

One thing I learned rather late in life is that making life difficult for yourself simply doesn't work.
A challenge is one thing but the perils of things going wrong are another. I would cut right back and make life easily manageable, as you can always go back to it if and when life returns to normal.

Vera said...

JEAN, 'cutting back' is not an option for us, it is rather a case of 'repositioning' ourselves!