happy animals

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Ben waiting to round up the sheep

Hello Everyone
Well apparently time has flown by, I have not noticed and have been extraordinarily neglectful of my blog posts. Quite a lot has happened in the last 5 weeks including the arrival of our shiny new vacuum packer, which I am still learning how to use. Also the return of our old, now fully functioning machine which has undergone a complete transformation during its holiday and is working with even greater enthusiasm. What a joy to have 2 excellent quality pieces of equipment to pack with, they will certainly be saving us some time in the future.

At home we are great advocates of the kids lending a hand when required, preferably with joy in their hearts and a spring in their step. Interestingly Patrick was always dead keen to go farming and avoid his homework, Emily more keen to do her homework until the butchery arrived then it could go either way depending on the subject for her homework. Alice falls somewhere in between the two big ones for both enthusiasm and for which department. Until the quad arrived firewood collection was always bottom of the list for any of them. Gavin would rather do everything on his own than have to go out with long faced children, but I tend to favour my Dads method. "Get them outside anyway, they probably need the exercise and they will usually enjoy it once they are out", if not, complain at your own peril. To make Alices trips outside a little more interesting I sometimes arm her with a camera  and see what she comes back with so some of the photos are her efforts from the holidays. Obviously not the one above of her and "Pudding" who is a single female piglet from a Gacoigne pig called "Gasket". She is extrememly tame, and will be another one of our animals that ends up never leaving. I do wonder how we ever run a business with all these favourite animals hanging around. If I recall correctly our oldest sheep which was one of our first, is 13 and not looking like she is about to check out.

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Below are some photos of the characters who accompany me to the butchery. It is a wise chicken that knows where some interesting scraps might come from. Brown Chicken 1 and 2 and Mimi and Bluey my sphinxes on the chairs. I can honestly say that I am never Home Alone.

We recently put some of our bottle reared lambs outside to enjoy the last of the autumn sunshine. These ones have the luxury of a shed if they are cold and wet  later in the year. Abbey is in the background to check they are going in the right direction. The lambs are an obssesion for her. If we are not watching she likes to try and bite them through the fence.
​The rams have gone to do some work down the hill with the main flock this week. Gavin says they have already been quite busy. ;)

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Our Tobacco barn has had a much needed coat or three of linseed oil this year and is looking quite glamorous again. I will take a photo for next time to show it in all its splendour. I have even squeezed in a shopping trip with Alice in Bordeaux looking for new clothes. Attended my first French wedding ceremony where I met more lovely Canadians, caught up with some gossip with people I have not seen for far too long and only live down the road. Oh yes I have also finally sat my French exam to enable me to ask if the lovely French will take me to be my lawfully wedded country to have and to hold, from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do us part. Which probably means I will have to do some blogging in French which should provide a serious amount of hilarity for my french friends, not due to the top notch quality writing I hasten to add.

See you all very soon,
Helen
Btw 49 days to go ;) ;)
Btw again, I just googled images for Gascoigne pig to check my spelling...am I the only one who doesn't know there is a Father Gascoigne in a game called Bloodbourne. Google my road to further education! Or destruction???