Is Spring here??

Hellooo...A lot has been happening up here - illness (Jonathan in bed for a week with a nasty virus, then my friend here also with the same thing) more snow yet gorgeous Spring-like days too (see pics below) and this week, half term. Today is stunning and we had a lovely walk to Melmerby to our favourite cafe, the Village Bakery. To walk along with the fells one side of us and the Eden valley the other (and a latte to look forward to!) was just paradise..
There have been signs in the last couple of weeks that spring is coming - something about the 'air' and the birds singing, and the horses seem more interested in the grass, as do the sheep (the hay feeders are still sometimes quite full)
I had the vet to Dinky last week just for a check up as she is so old and I want her to be as comfortable as possible. He agreed she is quite stiff in her joints and also that she has cataracts (though she won't go blind yet) He recommended the anti inflammatory Bute as an ongoing thing (though may try the No Bute as a healthier option - didn't tell him that - I can tell he has absolutely no truck with anything 'alternative'!) but the main thing is that we can't ride her at all  : - (    We haven't ridden her a lot because she isn't shod and was a bit stumbly at times, and I wondered about her back, but in the summer we have had fun on her round the fields. When I used to get her in from the valley, I would take a lead rope and find a hillock to jump on from and ride her up bareback, so I will really miss that! But I know she could stumble and not be able to right herself.. We will need to think about this one as Morgan has expressed an interest in riding again...and I will definitely miss it if I can't do it at all.. Watch this space!
The other thing that happened recently was a spot inspection of the sheep by Defra - foolishly generated by a computer that sent them out to us only a few months ago! Anyway it was all fine - a very nice woman went through the paper work while we got the sheep in, and then she checked their tags. It was a gorgeous day and the sheep stood calmly in the pen enjoying the sunshine. I was able to give them lots of strokes and enjoy the Herdwick wool - it is amazing.. Surely almost criminal that wool goes mostly to waste these day and isn't valuable? 

So here are some photos from the last week..

The one below was taken last Wednesday before Beth and I got back from Yorkshire - it was so bad by that time that I couldn't get the car up the track and we had to trudge up in a blizzard!

                                                         

 In the wood...

And this was the next day..

One of the 'pet lambs' looking hopeful

I love this tree - when it's wild and windy, I don;t know how it stays upright.

And here's some 'Spring' - the sun was coming through the kitchen window onto these..

And here's a bulb called Rosalie! (the name of my niece)

These were taken today - the boys galloping down the hill at different times (thinking it was bucket of nuts time)

                                                                    

 The old girl's looking good...

and in the wood... the stream glinting in the background.

Colin waiting to come in.. (no he hasn't been on the slide!)

WHY??? (That's Jonathan's scarf round Robbie's neck)

And last but not least of course...Red the Menace in the yard, looking gormless as ever.
She has been on heat and her and Jack have driven us mad - the panting, licking and humping (usually her on him!!)   OH. MY. GOSH. (very polite for me)

Must do a proper post on the dogs - and Simba, of course! and the pigs...


Bye for now,

Sally

Proper snow!

We woke up to a proper snowfall this morning - must have been snowing all night.. Very exciting and we didn't know whether the kids would get to school. They were pleading with us to let them have the day off for sledging but Morgan's bus eventually turned up (respect!) and although we heard that Beth's bus was cancelled, we took her down to school.. (cruel parents!) Jonathan and I then went to the stone circle Long Meg, which is very near us at Little Salkeld..

                                                   The big stone herself, Long Meg.. (and me)

                                                             What's Jack doing??

Back at home, I didn't know how the horses would respond but they were keen to go out - Pickles galloping! and soon had heads down eating. The donkeys as ever were curious, following me about the field.

The next pic is hilarious - Billy, as ever following me close, got in the way just as I took the photo of Robbie and Dinky in the background, Great close up of his 'tuft'!!

 And here are a few of the sheep, round one of the feeders..

And just to end...these are pics I snapped of Red yesterday, obviously waiting for ...what???

And a close up - just to show the taped seat. Chewed of course by guess who???

The word 'ridiculous' doesn't begin to cover it...

Bye for now,
Sally

Snow in the Eden Valley

Hi from snowy Cumbria! We haven't got loads, but more up here than in Penrith  - and enough to make it all look really fresh and white - a nice change after the muddy, dull and damp days over the Xmas period. I don't think the sun came out at all for 2 weeks!
It started to snow on Sunday afternoon - that really silent snowing that is so atmospheric. We had friends here from London and we joked that if they had been getting a later train back they might have had to stay! but even though there was soon a covering, (and more by next morning) it was not enough to be a problem. It all disappeared once some sun came out but started again last night - a gorgeous frosty evening with a beautiful new moon hanging in the clear sky - and the snow seems set to stay today but we will see. The weather here changes so quickly - which is maybe why I bang on about it so much!? and that it really affects us, I suppose.  We are much more conscious of the elements, perhaps, than if we lived in a city...

 Blencathra in the distance...

\Looking towards Appleby and the Yorkshire Dales..

The Lakeland Fells

Snow on the house and car,,(fascinating!?)



So, the tups have now come out of the fields with their girls and feeding is much easier - Colin and the tup lambs in one bit of the farm and all the ewes together in one field..(some are this years lambs who won't produce till next year and the others hopefully will have lambs in May) The sheep are mainly reliant on their hay racks whilst the fields are covered in snow, but because it's not that deep, they can dig a bit too.
The horses went out yesterday and because the snow had gone by afternoon, the were able to get some grass. They also 'dig' for grass, which I think is good for them - makes them 'work' for their food like they would in the wild.. Dinky is funny however - clearly doesn't like the grass in the valley and wants to go in one of the top fields where the grass is better. So she comes back up the track to stand looking over the gate! big hint...Fancy having 11 acres of valley to wander round in and not wanting it! However Jonathan doesn't want the field to get too chewed up by the horses, and we need to save the grass for the sheep when they are nearer to lambing..(so limited access, Dinky - sorry!)

Heads down - can't be too bad..

Looking down the track..

'Are you ready to go mum?'

I went for a walk round the valley last week, thinking how everything seems so 'dead' (not helped by the dull weather) but actually, this is how it is meant to be, isn't it?  Nature regenerating herself by resting. All that life force that becomes the activity in Spring is still there, under the earth, just waiting.. I love that miracle! and it made me realise that possibly it's why christmas-time doesn't work easily for me. Maybe people also should be resting - reflecting and just 'being' whilst the nights are long and dark, instead of rushing about shops and being busy and sociable (and usually stressed!)
So that's my little Thought for the Day! I heard the birds singing the other day and the days are definitely getting lighter so although we have a long way to go yet - and all sorts of weather (snow, rain, gales??)  Spring WILL COME!!!  Yay..  And this is where we are 'meant to be' at the moment....
bye fir now,
Sally

Tupping time

Hi, it is 'tupping' time here!! Yes, there have been floods all over the country, snow and ice...but we are focused on the activities of our male sheep. Soem people call them rams but we call them tups. Many tups have already been on the job (you can tell by the number of ewes in the fields with dye rubbed on their backs fron the tup's harness) but because we like to lamb relatively late, in May, when the weather is (supposed to be) milder and the ewes can lamb outside, then the tups go in about now (5 months gestation for sheep)
We have a Herdwick tup called Colin who is very handsome.

Here, the girls are waiting for him to get into the field... !

and...he goes right to it!! Good lad..

He is registered, which makes him more valuable) and for this there are certain criteria, as Jonathan found out when he took him to see if he was up to being registered. Lets just say that at one point, it involved feeling Colins testicles (as well as other more sensible (?) things things like looking at the colour of his legs) Mm..  so Colin goes in with the Herdwick ewes for a month and hopefully in May we will have some healthy lambs. We had 2 Hampshire Down tups called Ant and Dec (Morgan's idea) and these were for the 'Mule' sheep who are alresdy cross bred. The idea is to put a chunky ram (like Suffolk, Texel or Hampshire) to get big lambs for meat, but breeds like Herdwick are kept pure and you'r always trying to imptove the stock. So we have 34 Herdwick ewes (any more and we would need anothe tup) and  just 6 mules (all ex pet lambs that we didn't want to part with!! - some farmers we are!!?) - and this year, because we sold Ant and Dec, they are being served by a neighbours shearling tup we have borrowed, a Suffolk, to see if he can do the business! Morgan has called him Bart - he is so sweet with his black face and ears... Think we would like to breed Suffolks at some point...

Not a great photo. sorry Bart. Will do some more..

So it all gets a bit complicated - tups are normally kept on their own (and this year we have 5 tup lambs as well as Colin and Bart) and the ewes all together but now everyone is split up - Colin and Herdwicks in one field,  Bart and Mules in another,  little ewe lambs who are not breeding in another paddock and tup lambs who will be going for meat (another story) in a cosy stable . We used to have Angora goats and that was another space needed but they have gone now.. Luckily we have done lots of fencing to create more paddocks since we came here.. (well Jonathan has!)
The ewes bottoms have been clipped in preparation (think waxing?!) I am excited because our pet lambs Miranda and Lou Lou (Morgan again)  from 2 years ago are able to get in lamb now, so lets see what they ptoduce and what sort of mums thsy will be..They are still friendly - during this years lambing, when I went into the field to 'top up' a lamb with milk,  they decided they remembered the bottle and wantted a go too! (not for long)

I STARTED WRITING THIS WEEKS AGO!! THE XMAS MONSTER HAS TAKEN OVER..
Will be more reliable next year I hope..

 Here are some photos of the very friendly tup lambs in the valley at the moment (sometimes inside when the weather is bad)

Hiding under Beth's wendy house..

Is it wrong to say that I LOVE SHEEP??

If I don't get back on this in the next week, wishing everyone a wonderful Solstice (we are having an acoustic fire Gathering here, to celebrate the beginning of a positive shift in consciousness we hope) and a happy RELAXED christmastime..
Sally..

(and just to clarify, though it has Jonathan's name on it - a blip we haven't sorted yet) these blogs are written by me!

Pony stuff

Wow - we have got some weather here today (Thursday)!! So wild and wet... Think it's all over the north and I'm sure there will be some flooding. Our stream in the bottom of the valley is flooded - not quite come over the little bridge but it has all backed up at one point and a large area of grass is under water. I am so grateful that we are up on the top because although the house gets battered in wind, at least we don't get water inside. The cattlegrid in the yard is overflowing with water and the small paddock I use for the Shetlands is like a paddling pool! Water is also leaking into the big shed where the horses are. I let them out today but they were very glad to come in!  I can tell the grass is not great at the moment because they are keen to get their nuts (tho they only get a couple of handfuls each) They are whinnying and barging about a bit when I've got the bucket so I need to be careful... It was just a silly accident but I was knocked over by Ben a while back and because I held on to his lead rein, he trampled on me while I was on the ground... Had some belting bruises. But mainly I was embarassed - who gets trampled by a 9hh shetland???

Pickles did some serious work last week with Nicola (our friend and Grazers colleague) She feels she needs a horsey challenge at the moment as her horse is out of action so she has been lungeing Pickles. He has made progress - stays out in his own circle space instead of trying to be near her and is responding to voice and rope commands to trot and canter.. BUT it is all rather tiring for him as he is learning new stuff and though he can cope with it physically, you can see in his eyes (as Nicola pointed out) that he is mentally tired!! Awww..








      So cute with his little bridle on (he has a proper

       bit in his mouth)













       'Do I have to??'






       He is cantering here - on the wrong leg (it should be the       inside leg for better balance) but he did get there eventually..













   'WOT ARE YOU LOOKING AT??'









Now a bit later - just been out to feed horses (again!!) and it is all calm. No wind or rain and the horses are all snug... Yay!!
Bye..

Donkeys

Hi, it has got cold here  - I just wanted to stay by the fire today...(no chance!) and I noticed it felt like it was getting dark as I went to the school bus stop at 4... yuck.. Oh and Beth has got the fever - singing Jingle Bells (loudly) at 7 this morning and all the christmas songs from school...   Mm.  And So It Begins.    However she is playing Mary in the play so there is that entertainment to look forward to! (it is Sally here, not Scrooge..)

So .. DONKEYS! (is there a theme here?)
We saw an ad in the local paper 2 years ago 'donkeys for sale' and immediately went 'oooh!' and phoned up.. (this was in our mad phase - the first year here, when we totally indulged our animal passion) We went along to a farm near Appleby and saw donkeys of all kinds - a cute baby one just born unexpectedly, black ones, coloured ones - heaven! The farm belongs to the people who rent out the field for the Appleby Horse Fair, which is a huge Traveller and Gypsy event that has happened every year for hundreds of years The travellers bring donkeys as well as horses with them and that's how the woman got involved (don't think her husbands so keen!) - she adores them but sometimes has to admit she's got too many....(lucky for us)

   And so we ended up with Billy.                                                           And Robbie....

       


         They are both just delightful characters!
           
                                       






Did we need them?? NO! but we wouldn't be without them and actually there is method in our madness because we want to train them to be able to pull dead tree trunks and logs. They will be able to get into the wood and manoeuvre around without doing too much damage..
Billy is a classic grey donkey - with the loudest bray you have ever heard! (poor people that stay here, with him and Cedric the cockerel in the morning....) Someone said to me that it is a strangely ugly sound to come out of such a beautiful animal! Robbie tries to bray but it is a pathetic srtangled sound.. He is more brown and white - and always looks scruffy! He is the BIG personality, playful and friendly.






Robbie on the left, Billy on the right. The woman asked us to take them together because they have been good friends since they were young..

 I was amazed to watch them play - they are like dogs somehow.. They nip each others legs, gallop round the valley chasing each other making a terrible racket, they play tug of war with whatever they can find and carry things in their mouths! They love people and will hang around you just for the fun of it...

They never fight over food (like horses do) and even let Arthur the goat share their hay (more about him another time)

                                                               'Funny old life, in it?'


Bye until next time.. Will probably have some Pickles the Pony news next..