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Tales from the Happy Farmer

4/26/2015

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Once upon a time there was a house with a family of 5 living in it where the supply  of hot water was never quite enough for everyone in the house to have a comfortable shower in the evening, especially if all the long haired family members had all washed their hair on the same day. Try as he might the Daddy in the house could not make the hot water tank have more hot water without turning it on during the day when electricity was more expensive. 
One day the slightly dripping mixer tap in the kitchen suddenly started to drip with more intensity and the cold water that filled the small bowl in the sink filled a medium sized bowl. The Mummy in the house said when she was asked what she would like for a present for her birthday said that she would like a new tap for the kitchen, so that she could sleep through the night without an uncomfortable noise making her nights restless. Dutifully Daddy bought a shiny new silver mixer tap and it sat for a while on the kitchen table waiting for Daddy to have a spare moment to attach it to the sink.
Then one day Daddy woke up and the medium sized bowl in the sink that was always full of cold water was now a very large saucepan and was full of warm water. So Daddy decided that today was the day to change the tap. Being a curious sort of a chap Daddy opened up the old tap, after he had removed it, and took it apart to discover that all the wear inside the tap was on the hot side of the switch and none at all was on the cold side. 
Since the shiny silver tap has been living on top of the kitchen sink the family of five have yet to run out of hot water. And they all lived happily ever after.......
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Goats and Donkeys

4/16/2015

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Hello All
This is Spot doing what all goats do, showing off. She is balancing on top of a mineral block on top of a bucket in a food trough just because she can. As you can see the shed is nearly empty as we have been busy putting all the animals outside on the lovely, fresh, green, free, pre-loaded, grass and are down to 20 buckets of silage to load per day. Gavin thinks he is on holiday ;-) .....well kinda. He arrived at one of our fields today and discovered 1 set of twins and 4 singles fortunately all with their correct mothers and perfectly content. We have been supremely lucky with the weather for this second lambing, which happens outside, long sunny days and warm nights.
However, the tranquility was shattered the other night with the arrival of Mr Fox next to the field where the lambs are being born so Gavin spent a fun midnight fencing the flock behind an electric fence to dissuade him from being a naughty Mr Fox. 
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This year we have also enlisted the assistance of Nougat to help with fox control. Donkeys are actually recommended as a fox deterrent if you don't want to have a Pyrenean Mountain Dog. I have to say I was very dubious about their effectiveness but any excuse for Old McDonanld (Gavin) to have another animal. Having seen him in action the other night, that is Nougat not Old McDonald, when he woke me at 2 in the morning because he was herding the sheep around the field, we now realise that he was probably moving them around to stop the fox being able to snatch one of the babies. So yes, he has proved his value and even though when he brays it feels like all the air has been sucked out of the atmosphere, I guess he will be staying. 
Below are our twin/triplet section who get to hide away in the pens at night time this is them this morning just as they were waking for their first feed.
I am looking forward to next week, the girls are on holiday and that means no getting up every day at 6am, just getting up one morning at 5 am, spending one night sleeping on a chair next to a bed and 2 mornings at 6am. Yes I sure am a girl who knows how to have fun fun fun. Emily goes in to have a tonsillectomy next week and apparently parents of minors are expected to stay in the hospital with their children after an operation so if I seem less than awake next weekend at the markets bear with me, and if there is no blog think of me curled up on that hospital chair....zzzzzzz.
See you all soon
Helen

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The Sun has Arrived

4/8/2015

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And with it some more children. It looks like the girls have crossed their legs for sunshine and then exploded babies all over the place as soon as we brought them home and put them back on lovely green grass. The second lambing has arrived sooner than anticipated. Spot the babies in photo No.3.
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Here is the Mummy who opened the floodgates. Number 88 and though it is a little deceiving she has twins in the trailer with her. She got cross waiting for Gavin to move them from one field to another for more green grass and took her children on walkabout for 24 hours. We thought that would be it and the foxes would help themselves to the babies during the night, but she turned up the following day next to the gate like she had just been down to the shops, and requested to have the gate opened and be let back in with her children. Not so stupid hey.
Inevitably there are a few children who make it into the house and here is Ben the dog babysitting one of the now 3 that have moved in.
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Finally today after managing to find more than 5 spare minutes in his day Gavin has evicted some sheep from the sheds onto the grass next to the sheds which means that he only has half the amount of silage to shovel. 42 buckets, compared with the staggering 80 something at its height in the depths of winter. He says it is a huge relief. Now all he has to do is move fences all the time....At least he has a friendly Quad to assist him this year. One last piccie before I sign off. Our new rouge de l'ouest sheep released with children. enjoying the sunshine and space.
See you all soon
Helen
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    Helen Franklin

    I am farming sheep and goats on the Dordogne/Gironde border with my husband and our 3 children. We have an on farm butchery and sell our meat direct to the public via the markets and delivery points in our local area

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