After a few hot days, a cool autumnal morning surprised us, and was a reminder that summer doesn't hold all of the aces when it comes to the best weather...our girls grazed contentedly in the mist, yet it was still warm enough to be in a T-shirt (us not them...which now has me wondering what caption or logo would be on the front...mind wandering again). In the far field the calves were lounging on the hillside, from time to time stretching out all four legs and risking a backwards roll down into the combe.
The rams came back from the orchard for a pedicure, and from the smell of them, they are getting ready for tupping. This year we kept three of the ram lambs as "teasers" - not pure-bred, they've each had a vasectomy and will be put in with the ewe lambs before someone else arrives to do the necessary. Apparently, this gets the women-folk ready for action...who knew?
Meanwhile, we now have a slate roof, solar panels, windows, doors and installed under-floor heating...another step closer to completion, but it will still be a while yet.
Front door and wee chimney (small, not something you wee into...)
The outside-inside to-be-decked area.
My desk will go here.
Not being on-site, the garden has done its own thing for most of the summer. A scattering of marigold seeds from Crangs House in spring has given us a nice splash of colour.
Without the grazers, the wildflowers have come up and made the mud-pit their home. The challenge will be keeping the grass down so that they can stay.
All species welcome, excepting thistles, docks and stinging nettles that would spread into the fields and upset the stock. Ignominious deracination for them.
The plan is to encourage as much wildlife as possible, and even without doing anything yet, we have rabbits (grrr!), stoats, two partridges that were living in the doorless house, swallows roosting in the rafters (and crapping on the screed), lizards on the rockery, yellowhammers on the fenceposts, and various bumblebees, bees and butterflies that I will one day identify when the books come out of storage.
