Pwy yw'r rhain?

The exciting news of the week is that we have some new sheep... A friend of ours is retiring from farming and although he has sold most of his sheep at mart, he wanted the last few to go to a good home (not quite sure if we qualify!) so here they are:

It will be an interesting experience having some sheep that are not Balwens...

In other news, Tony came to visit, and as you can see, he very much enjoyed feeding Sausage!

Malwod

Finally got my camera back yesterday (and I also bought another camera, but that's another story...) so here's a lovely picture of the slugs I caught this morning before breakfast:

Why I am so desperate to kill slugs you ask? Aside from the fact that they are evil horrible creatures of destruction, I want to protect my lovely little lettuces who were good enough to give me my first salad of the season today -- fresh from the garden with a twist of black pepper and a drizzle of British rapeseed oil...

We have finally had a bit of sun this week, but up until now, it's been a pretty horrible spring. This lilac, which only just really started flowering a couple of days ago, was in full flower two weeks earlier last year...

One last thought to leave you with -- this just arrived in my inbox -- if you live in the area, please try to come along Monday morning and show your support!

Protest against post office closure in Dryslwyn next Monday

Tony and Madeleine Graf are campaigning against the closure of Dryslwyn Post Office and shop. Tony writes:

We are desperately concerned about the proposed closure of Dryslwyn post office.The proprietor tells us that he cannot afford to continue with the shop/post office which already makes a loss, if the P.O. part is withdrawn. This a decision (to be announced on June 3) which must be challenged and reversed for the following reasons:
- It is the only such facility for more than 5 miles.
- The bus service is infrequent (one might say rare).
- With rising fuel costs many people (particularly older ones) will not be able to afford the extra 10- mile round trip to the nearest alternative.
- 3 others have closed in the surrounding areas in the last few years, which means that this is the last remaining place where people can meet as a community (apart from the pubs). This is so important in a dispersed community where isolation can lead to so many problems, including mental health issues.

The issue here is not about buying stamps, and any proposal to substitute the post office with a peripatetic van will not address the key issue, which is about social cohesion and sustainable development in the local community.

Dryslwyn post office, in common with many rural post offices, is more than a provider of stamps and other post related services, it is a focal point for the community. As such the proposal to close it is flying in the face of Westminster and WAG policy on social cohesion and sustainable communities.

Post peak oil, as we move into energy descent, it will be even more important to retain such services at a local level. Let us not "do a Beeching" on them, and repent at leisure.

Tony has organised a protest to be held outside Dryslwyn post office on Monday 12 May at 10am.

Our MP, Adam Price will be there, together with Assembly members and local councillors, and the Carmarthen Journal will be there with a photographer.

Tony wants to get an impressive number of local people to show we care, so anyone is more than welcome.

Yn yr ardd

Yr Etholiad

My camera is STILL in the shop, so this morning's photo comes courtesy of my friend John... No, we are not actually voting in the Abbey! But this is just a reminder to everybody to please vote today. If you don't vote, you can't complain when things go wrong later...

Mae oena wedi gorffen

Lambing has now officially finished, and we have four lambs. Here's a photo (taken by Greg's dad) of Rhodri, the proud father...

Dim pumed oen...

Caught the sheep this morning and the last ewe is showing no signs of pregnancy at all, so I think that's it -- only four lambs this year...

All five chicks and mummy are doing well.

Camera is still in the shop, but Greg's parents are coming up for the weekend, so if Greg's dad brings his camera, you can see what he finds interesting.

Cywion!!!

I know it's a bit difficult to see in this photo (my camera is in the shop again, so this was taken with Greg's phone), but we have FIVE CHICKS!!! (And one egg still, so perhaps we will have a sixth chick?) We have never had more than three chicks from one sitting before, so we are both rather excited as I'm sure you can tell...! :)

Wŷ Ffesant

From time to time, we have reason to suspect that somebody is not laying in the nest box like they should, and we do a search of the hedges and usually turn up some eggs. Yesterday, Greg did this -- and he found five hen eggs -- and this adorable little pheasant egg! Apparently they are quite trendy. I ate mine poached and it was lovely and creamy!

Things are coming along well in the greenhouse...

And we have finished building the doors for the shed and I am now treating them with preservative prior to staining and waterproofing.

Bwyd

Had our first "harvest" yesterday -- if you can call it that -- rhubarb and nettles! I'd been meaning to do something with nettles for ages (well, like, since last year) but just never got around to it and I suppose I was vaguely afraid. (And my fingers are still stinging this morning which is making typing this post slightly uncomfortable!)

First I picked a bunch (about half a carrier bag full) and just washed them and then tossed them in a pan with some butter until they wilted -- like spinach. They require more butter than spinach or kale, but I can tell you that when they are cooked they don't sting any more and they are quite tasty!

Then I got a bit more ambitious and I made a quiche -- and I am particularly proud of this quiche as I know where almost all of the ingredients in it come from...

Butter -- from an organic dairy cooperative about 35 miles from here
Rapeseed Oil -- from a farm in the Cotswolds, about 150 miles from here -- if anybody knows of anybody in Wales making oil, please let me know!
Onions -- from the Coop supermarket in town, but they are organic and according to the label, were grown in Cambridgeshire, about 230 miles from here -- we have got onions starting in the greenhouse now, so I should have my own next year! :)
Garlic -- grown here last year
Nettles -- picked from the patch growing on the edge of the driveway
Cheddar -- Welsh cheese, made about 100 miles from here yn y Gogledd
Teifi with Nettles -- Welsh cheese, made about 25 miles from here
Wholemeal Flour -- stone ground at a mill in Powys, about 70 miles away
Eggs -- from the hens
Milk -- from the farm next door
Salt
Mustard Powder -- but it did occur to me the other day when buying some prepared mustard that really I should just grow mustard and harvest the seeds and make my own -- so it's on my list of things to plant this week
Worcestershire Sauce
Tabasco Sauce -- I have been using this same bottle of Tabasco sauce for so long now -- I think I brought it with me from America -- which would make it the item in the quiche with the most food miles!
Paprika -- purchased (locally) by Greg's parents when they were on holiday in Hungary...

I also picked some rhubarb which I soaked in water with a couple spoonfuls of bicarbonate of soda before cooking -- this takes away a lot of the acidity and I only needed to use one spoonful of honey to sweeten this whole batch!

We also opened a bottle of the rhubarb wine I made ages ago -- and it is quite drinkable!

In other wine news, this is a bottle of pear wine that I started back in the summer. I racked it about a month ago and it was quite tasty at that point, so I think I am just waiting for it to clear. But how clear is clear? Can I bottle this yet?

We put the little lamb back up the field with the rest of the flock yesterday morning and are now (with a bit of difficulty) bottle feeding him up there -- it's nice to see them all back together again...

Left to right: 2nd ewe lamb, bottle fed lamb, 1st ewe lamb, pink nosed lamb. There is one more ewe who hasn't lambed yet -- she's got until 28th April, but she's not showing any signs yet.

Dal lan...

In the end, the ewe just wouldn't let the other lamb suck, so the ewe and the pink nosed lamb are now up the field, and the other poor little thing is in the barn being bottle fed... In this photo I am teaching him how to do it -- but he has got the hang of it now and is coming along well. We were going to put him back up the field this morning and then feed him up there but it is raining today and I didn't want him to have a miserable first day out...

Things are coming along in the greenhouse -- we have got kale, Brussels sprouts, two types of cabbage, various lettuces, early strawberries, and onions, and have just started melons, pumpkins, cucumbers, courgettes, basil, parsley, coriander, and dwarf French beans. Now we just need outdoors to cooperate a bit so we can start things outside! The rhubarb is nearly ready though...


Yes, that's right, you do see snow... Both Sunday and Monday mornings, we woke to a light coating of snow, but of course it was gone by midday...

Meilartod

Bart showed up this afternoon with these three drakes who promptly started trying to kill each other... Bridget is going to come round tomorrow and help me dispatch them -- roast duck anybody? :)

And in case anybody else out there was experiencing confusion, the lambs that we slaughtered last week are LAST YEAR's lambs... All four lambs born so far this year are alive and well...

Pedwerydd Oen!

The fourth lamb was born Monday morning, and I've just spent over an hour chasing it around the field in a fruitless attempt to catch it and tell you what its gender is... If you fancy giving me a hand chasing the little one, come on up...

Interestingly, the ewes have now all lambed six days apart, in the reverse order that they lambed last year. Does this mean anything? Probably not. Will the last ewe lamb on Sunday and continue the six day pattern? Watch this space and see...

In other news, the other lambs are now all in the freezer, so we won't be starving to death here...!

Bywyd a marwolaeth

Three little lambs went to slaughter this morning, and now I am salting the skins in preparation for tanning which we are going to try to do ourselves this time instead of sending them off as we've done in the past... If anybody has had any experience with tanning skins themselves before, please let me know as I think we may need lots of help and advice!

Ac un arall!

Born about an hour ago!

Thankfully just the one this time... :)

Newyddion am yr efeilliaid

By Thursday morning, it had become pretty clear that the ewe without a lamb had stolen one of the twins -- which was a big problem because despite the lamb was trying to suck from her -- and she had no milk!

Greg was away, so I got our neighbour from next door to come with his dog and help me catch the four of them. We took the bad ewe away but then the mother didn't want the other lamb any more and kept headbutting him and kicking him when he tried to suck, so in the end we brought the three of them down into the barn where the ewe is now restrained in Bridget's adopter so the little ones can suck to their heart's content. Hopefully, after a few more days, she will come to accept them both again and then we will be able to let them back out in the field.

Also, Bridget came and castrated the two little lambs -- they are both boys, and neither of them is registrable, so that's that...

Gefeilliaid!

So we have been watching this ewe (the one in the foreground of the photo above) since I spotted her udder on Friday. Last night, when I checked the sheep at about 6:30 pm, she was making herself a little nest and wouldn't move from that spot even when the other ewes ran away from me, so I figured she would lamb this morning.

I went up this morning -- and, as you can see, there are two lambs! Now the other ewe in the photo is one of the original lambs that came from Lyn who accidentally had a lamb of her own last year. There is absolutely no way that she was anywhere near a ram this year, so is it possible that she is just helping out the other ewe with her twins??? I am so confused!

Wŷ Hwyad

Does dim oen eto, ond mae Del wedi dodwy ŵy cyntaf o'r tymor bore ma.

Dwr dwr ymhobman...

It started out as a fairly innocuous leaking cold water pipe... We got the plumber out, he replaced the relevant section of pipe, we tested it, everything seemed fine, he put the floorboards back down, and he left.

About 20 minutes later, the central heating comes on, and all of a sudden, there's water everywhere! It turned out that prior to putting the floor boards back, the plumber pulled out a nail that was sticking out in the way (I would have done the same thing.) Well, this nail ran though one of the pipes to the radiators -- so incredibly for at least the last three years (since we have been here, and possibly longer) the central heating has been running with a nail stuck through a pipe and no leaks!!! Yikes...

In other news, I did finally get my camera back yesterday, but I'm not sure how many pictures I'll take today as the weather is still pretty miserable...

Wyth!

Eight eggs today -- so just one more and then I will know that all the hens are laying.

No lambs yet -- where are they???

Pam dyn ni'n cadw Balwen...

Got to bottle feed this lovely little lamb yesterday at Bridget's. Her name is Neela and she is a triplet. As much as I love feeding other people's lambs, I don't want to have to get up in the middle of the night to feed my own, and this is why we keep Balwen! No lambs here yet...

My camera is still in the shop so I am unable to take a photo of the frozen hail all over the side of the mountain which looks like snow but isn't...

Bridget was asking me some questions about waterglass yesterday, and I know I've written about waterglass many times here, but I thought I'd post a quick primer for those of you who have never done it before. Waterglass is the common name for sodium silicate, a compound of sodium carbonate and silicon dioxide. Its function in egg preservation is to stop air passing through the shell (egg shells are porous, this is why eggs will eventually go bad) and thus extend their shelf life. If you are planning on preserving any of your eggs this way, I would do it NOW as this seems to be the time of year when eggs are most in abundance.

1. Find a container to store your eggs in. Ours is a large earthenware crock that Angela found for me in the antiques store in Llandeilo, but I imagine that an empty lick bucket would probably work just as well. You need a lid to keep dust and such out, but it doesn't need to be airtight.

2. You will want to fill your container about half full with waterglass solution (9 parts water, 1 part waterglass). Boil your water and then let it cool completely to room temperature before mixing with waterglass. Put it in your container and voila. You will want to site your container somewhere cool -- ie NOT in your centrally heated house. You don't want the eggs to freeze, but a barn is a good place.

3. Only put clean eggs with no cracks or chips and strong shells into the waterglass. As you get near the top, make sure that the top layer of eggs is always completely covered with at least 1 inch of waterglass.

4. When you want to use the eggs in November or something, just reach in, take out the ones you want, rinse off the waterglass under the tap, and use as normal. The consistency of the egg will be different to a fresh egg -- they are more watery -- so you won't be able to separate the white and the yolk, and I don't think you could make a very successful fried egg either, but I use them for scrambled eggs and in baking and I can't tell the difference.

Any questions?