Category Archives: Farming

At Last: Late Spring Flowers

Posted on April 27, 2013 by

Lambing has finished and yesterday we gave the last batch their protective inoculations before releasing them from the barn and out to pasture. They still have open access to the shelter of the barn, should they need it, but they … Continue reading →

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A Festive Spring (With Gynaecological Rhubarb)

Posted on March 31, 2013 by

This cold weather has held everything back, except one or two of our ewes who have had prolapses. This normally happens in the last weeks before lambing and is a result of a shortage of space in the body cavity, … Continue reading →

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In the deep mid-spring

Posted on March 11, 2013 by

These last few days have been as cold and unpleasant as any I’ve experienced. Three days ago we had 19mm of rain, so the garden flooded. The following night it froze hard, so heaven knows what damage was done to … Continue reading →

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Lambing: a good start, fingers crossed

Posted on March 5, 2013 by

Like every sheep and cattle farmer in Britain, we’re keeping our fingers crossed in case we’re hit by the dreaded Schmallenberg Disease which could easily cause us to lose 80 of our expected 200 lambs. But worse even than that, … Continue reading →

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Lambing 2013 Kicks off with healthy twins!

Posted on March 1, 2013 by

Lambing officially (i.e. 21 weeks after we put the tups to the ewes in early October) starts tomorrow, but when I went out for the dawn patrol this morning, I came across these two lovely lambs wandering around near the … Continue reading →

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The Autumn Clear-Out

Posted on November 22, 2012 by

Houses have their spring cleans, gardens their autumn clear-out. Personally, I don’t go over-board  on my autumn clear-out too early, because if you dead-head everything in the borders, the poor garden birds are denied their seed larder for the winter. … Continue reading →

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The New Year Begins

Posted on October 7, 2012 by

Life is an extraordinary process and nothing is more remarkable than its inception. It’s a great shame that in our hung-up society we choose either to ignore it or, worse, make smutty jokes about it – and I’ve been as … Continue reading →

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Coma, Semi-Coma – Full Stop.

Posted on September 8, 2012 by

It has been an exhausting series of Time Team. The sites have been demanding and as for the weather, well, the least said the better. I think it was at the Machine Gun Corps camp that Raksha told me about … Continue reading →

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Haymaking, 2012: Gasp, Grunt, Groan – then Collapse with large Cava

Posted on July 30, 2012 by

I got back from filming on Friday afternoon, then it was off to get pink (agricultural) diesel. Next it was into the barn, clearing all the hurdles etc. that we used for shearing, to make way for hay bales. That … Continue reading →

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Time Team series 20, My Fifth Episode: Day Two

Posted on July 25, 2012 by

At last the clouds have lifted and the rain has gone. Farewell Gor-Tex. Late last night Maisie phoned to say the hay at home had been cut and would be turned later today, with baling on Friday and Saturday. That … Continue reading →

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