We sheared all of our sheep last week. Bennet, a friend from Harlech, was kind enough to come over to help do the shearing. A tough job on a hot sunny day. I know I wouldn’t have the skill or the stamina to do it.

We don’t get paid much for the wool these days. The money we do get from the local depot just about covers the cost of hiring two helpers on the day. But it’s an essential process as it prevents the seep from overheating during the hot summer months and getting infected by flies and other bugs. Sheep aren’t Louise’s favorite topic at the moment. She was “run over” whilst protecting her roses by a couple of stray sheep who had jumped the cattle grid at the end of our lane. She’s still limping now, but I suspect she’s after a bit of sympathy.

I thought it might be fun to keep a record of the development of two pumpkin plants grown by Lowri and Seren. We chose ‘Jack of all Trades’. No idea why, except the packet said they were ‘perfect for Halloween carvings’ which is something else we can look forward to. I’ll try and write a post every now and again detailing their progress. Soon the 7th of June two seeds were placed in 11cm pots filled with standard compost. Then covered with half a lemonade bottle which is an idea I saw on the telly and placed on the kitchen windowsill.

There now outside being ‘hardened off’, still with their lemonade bottle covers. I’ll plant them out properly next week some time.

Click on pictures to enlarge

We had some unusual weather conditions last week. There was a a realy strong wind blowing in from the North-East. It played havock with my vetgetable beds unfortunetly. My newly constructed hazel climbing frame was completely blown away together with most of the french beans that were just begining to cling to it. I’ve also got greenfly on my parsnips. Nowhere else, just the parsnips. So if anybody out there has some tips on how to get rid of them I’d love to hear from you. Organic methods only naturally.

The rest of the vegetables are doing quite well. We’ve been eating a lot of the lettuce and rocket. And the tomatoes have just started producing tine little green fruit which is very exiting for a first timer like me. I’ll try and take some photo’s and post them on here in the next couple of days.

We gave Jonesi, our welsh black bull, a quick manicure today. Not the usual nail scissors and buffing brush job however. Rather a quick wiz round each hoof with an angle grinder. He finds it a bit upsetting to be in the cattle crush naturally, but the actual trim doesn’t hurt at all.

We’re rather desperate for rain here on the farm at the moment. It’s been astonishing to hear reports of flooding to the north and south of us while we haven’t seen as much as a drizzle. We had strong winds for a number of days but no rain whatsoever.

Dell’s growing up fast. She’s a lot bigger these days but still as energetic which makes it a bit harder to control her. I’ve started taking her with me when I go for my morning jog. It’s working out well. She’s staying at my heel even when I run through fields of sheep and lambs.

With the recent hot weather we’re quite busy with the B&B guests already. I’m a little worried that I won’t have enough time to introduce her to sheep next month as planned. It may have to wait until we get a little quieter again in September.

The picture above is Eirlys, our Welsh Black / Solair cross. Her calf, the black one at her heal, is called Eira (welsh for snow, it was snowing when she was born). The cows are all out of the cowshed now and enjoying the fresh new pasture. The hedgerows and the whitethorn are in flower, all the birds a busy finding food for their new chicks, It’s a great time to be on the farm. A pair of red kites are frequent visitors these days and a sparrow hawk made a brief appearance in our back garden on Tuesday. An impressive sight, but not good news for the young chicks perhaps.

I suspect there’s more new growth on the Oak than the Ash trees at the moment. ‘Oak before Ash only a splash’ would have us believe that it should be a dry summer. The weather this week has certainly been glorious.

I finally pulled myself together and thinned out my seedlings. Leaving only the lucky ones which happened to be the 6″ apart dictated on the seed packet. I suspect I should have done this weeks ago. The packet clearly stipulated, ‘pick out the weaker seedlings’. But they all looked so healthy to me, surely they all deserved a chance. But with a heavy heart the deed has now been done.

I’ve also had a go at putting a small selection of the spinach, and lettuce out into the raised beds just to see how they fare.

We have 17 calves in the barn at the moment all under 2 months old. They tend to cuddle up together of an evening to sleep. Very cute. But the weather is finally warming up a little, the swallows are back and nesting in the barn but no sound of the cookoo as yet. The warmer weather means it wont be long until the cows will be able to leave the cowshed for good and stretch their legs on the fresh new pasture.

Things haven’t gone well this week. Another stray sheep has eaten all my budding strawberries. They’re quite clinical in their munching. Not a single fruit or flower is left. A sharp frost has affected some of my seedlings, I guess I might have to think about running some power to the greenhouse for next year. And on top of all that I dropped a tray of plants when moving them yesterday. Young aubergine plants and compost all over the place. Nightmare!