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
