Oen Pedwerydd!

So I am walking up the field this morning counting the sheep as I go, and if they're lying down, it's hard to see them until you're right on top of them because they hide behind the tall reeds, so as I get closer, they stand up -- and suddenly I realise I've counted 10 sheep. So I recount, and what do you know, there are now four lambs! Of course, the daddy of this one is also last year's ram lamb, so it (haven't checked its gender yet) will be for the freezer, but both mother and lamb seem to be well. The lamb is small but running about vigorously already!

For a few weeks now people have been asking if I think either of the two remaining ewes were with lamb and I said that I thought they weren't but I have now been proved wrong! I am not making any predictions about the last ewe, so don't even ask!

Lluniau!

Right, we had the camera back for a few days, so I took lots of pictures of what's been happening... Firstly, the shed -- we've put the roof up, so it looks quite like a little house now!

Lots of things are growing -- the strawberries in the greenhouse are ripening and I've got enough for a bowlful every few days.

The tomatoes are starting to flower:

The blackcurrants are fruiting:

As are the gooseberries:

We have planted out our runner beans:

And here are the ducks, back in their little run where I know they are safe at night... We are currently clearing an area up by the pond where we can put up an electric fence so they will be safe and have access to fresh water at all times -- but until that is ready, I don't want to risk them going walkies again!

NEWYDDION

Panic over -- ducks are fine. They bedded down for the night under an old black currant bush and they have now been caught and put back in their enclosure until we can build them a more secure run...

Ble mae hwyad wedi mynd???

Dai & Del have vanished... :( I came back late from my shearing course last night to find that they had got out of their run and found the stream. I tried to get them out of the stream but my efforts only resulted in their going right under a tangled mass of growth where I couldn't reach them. This morning when I went out, they weren't where I last saw them, and I can't find them anywhere else either... There aren't any signs of a struggle or anything, but I have no idea where they are...

Cywion

Right, well, the last hen that we thought was broody turned out not to be, so after she ate three of her eggs we put her back in with the rest of the flock. We are now trying again with New Girl -- I put 7 eggs under her this morning so we will see what happens...

Ble mae wyau wedi mynd???

We have three pot eggs that we keep in the nest boxes to remind the hens where they should be laying. This morning when I let the hens out, all three pot eggs were in the nest boxes as usual. At about midday, Greg checked for eggs, and two of the pot eggs were gone. We have completely cleaned out the hen house in case the pot eggs somehow got buried under the bedding but they are just gone. Does anybody know of an animal that would steal them? We are completely baffled...

Pethau...

The strawberries in the greenhouse are starting to ripen -- yum!

The little lamb born Sunday is doing well, and it is (or was before I took this photo) a boy. As he's not registrable (out of an unregistered ewe and an unregistered ram) we will not be breeding from him, and we would like to avoid the situation we had last year where a ram lamb destined for the freezer started making babies!

He is still fairly small -- see Shiva for comparison -- but he is much more energetic now, and he didn't faint when I ringed him...

Cuteness! (Yes, it's raining...)

In other news, Dai and Del have now been moved to a larger enclosure and they seem to be enjoying it...

I know I have lots of plant ID questions, but can anybody ID this little bird for me?

Unfortunately, the digital camera has been playing up, so I am sending it off today to be repaired. Will try to update the blog with text, but you will have to wait a while for more photos I'm afraid...

Oen Trydydd!

Sunday morning, the ewe lamb had a lamb. She was still suckling her mommy when she first came here, and now she is a mommy herself! The lamb was quite small and wet and poorly in the beginning, but now, two days later, it is a healthy little bouncing thing. I don't know what sex it is yet, but as the ewe lamb herself is not registered, this little one is destined for the freezer.

And in other baby news, we've put this hen on some eggs, so hopefully she'll hatch them for us and then we can see how this new cockerel's fertility compares to Big Boy...

Diwrnod prysur iawn...

Unfortunately Big Boy wasn't making enough progress recovering, so in the end we decided that the best thing to do was to put him out of his misery. His wound had almost completely healed, but he never really got the hang of walking again properly. Thanks to everybody who kept asking after him...

We caught the lamb today, and I am pleased to report that it is a girl, and that we think that she might be registrable as well! Isn't she adorable?!

I know I wrote about this a long time ago, but Jimmy recently emailed to tell me that his girlfriend was inspired by my rubbish, so I thought I would say something about it again in case I have new readers who weren't here the first time. Last Tuesday (rubbish day) I was ill and Greg forgot that it was rubbish day as did I, so nobody put the rubbish out. What you see here in this photo is two weeks rubbish -- AND Greg has been home for nearly two weeks now as well, so this is two people's rubbish for two weeks! If it weren't for the fact that I put things in there that smell, I could easily fit a month's rubbish in a single bag... Bring on the fees!

AND, last year's ram lamb has started "shedding" -- so I sheared him today (with a little help from my friend!)

After: Doesn't he look like a goat?!

Wyn...

Tried to photograph the little one last night but I think this mother is even more protective than the last one was! In this first photo you see, left to right, the first mother, the first lamb, and then, together, the new mother and her lamb. I was trying to show the size difference between the lambs -- the first one being 4 1/2 weeks old now...

Here's the new mother and her baby on their own. No idea as to its gender yet, but we are going to have a go at catching it later, so will keep you posted...

The lamb got to spend it's first night under a nearly full moon...

Just realised as I looked at the clock while writing this -- the little thing is not even 24 hours old yet! :)

Ein ail oen ni!

Spent a good part of a day running extension leads all over the kitchen. Most rooms in this house only have one socket each. In the kitchen we are lucky enough to have three, but as you can see in this photo, two of them are helpfully on the other wall opposite the counter tops -- doh! So we had the cooker, washing machine, toaster, kettle, and coffee grinder all plugged into a single outlet, which melted the other day... We've now divided the load up a bit, so hopefully nothing should melt now...

The concrete floor in the shed has gone down and the last wall has gone on, so it is starting to look a bit more like a shed now:

And the post woman arrived the other morning bearing a load of tomato plants that another one of her customers was trying to get rid of as she had too many -- so we have now given them a good home...

AND, the reward for those of you who have read all the way to the bottom of the post is the translation of the title -- our second lamb! Yes, that's right folks -- it was born just before 10:30 this morning. No photos yet but there will be some up by the end of the day. If you need something to visualise in the meantime, it looks remarkably like the first lamb... No idea as to gender yet, but it is up on its feet and seems healthy.

Er Côf Am Special K

Special K died yesterday morning. She was a stray originally -- I found her near an ATM machine in Long Island City one night back in 1996 and she moved all the way to the UK with me. Those of you who have met her know that she was the most loving wonderful snuggly special cat ever, and she can never be replaced. I love you sweetie!

Llawer o hen newyddion...

Firstly -- another mystery plant... Can anybody ID this one for me?

Life is starting to get hectic now. The scaffolding was delivered yesterday. Now we just have to put it up. We are looking for somebody with a JCB to do some ground works for us -- does anybody in the area have a recommendation of a good JCB operator?

Sunrise one day last week:

I know this just looks like yet another egg, but this egg, laid last Wednesday, was the 9th egg of the day (found for me by Georginia) -- and it was the first time we've had 9 eggs in a single day this year -- which means that all the hens are laying...

Now the duck eggs: We've only had two so far, and then she seems to have stopped, but Bridget says that she won't lay continuously like the hens so, so I'm not worried. They are much richer than the hen eggs and more gelatinous if that makes any sense. In this measuring cup, the two on the sides are the duck eggs, and the top and bottom are the hen eggs -- see how much more clearly defined the duck eggs seem?

The ram lamb celebrated his two week birthday last Thursday -- he has grown an incredible amount in a very short period of time!

This morning it was bright and clear up top, but lots of mist and fog hanging lower down in the valley...

Assorted eggs:

Newyddion Hwyad Cyffrous

The most exciting news of the day is -- I came back from town to find that little Del has laid her first egg! Da iawn Del! I am so proud of her...

In other news, I had an exciting parcel in the post this morning. Cyndy from Riverrim sent me some wool to learn to spin with and also some lovely stitch markers that she made -- I almost wish it would rain now so I could start playing with it!

Flowers are blooming everywhere -- we have a rainbow of primroses:

We have started harvesting the rhubarb -- it is delicious!

The rosemary is flowering:

The gooseberry is about to:

As is the magnolia:


The clematis:


The blackcurrant:


The blackthorn -- which I hate when I have to touch because it is so horrible, but I love it in the spring when it has lovely flowers:

The blueberry is also starting to flower, so hopefully we will have a slightly bigger crop this year than we did last year:

And some broad beans which I thought I planted far too late have also come up -- whether they will produce beans is another question, but we will see...

Greg had a four-day weekend over the Easter Bank Holiday so we took advantage of the lovely weather to work on the shed. We built the middle partition wall:

The gable ends:

And the A-frames for the roof:

The little ram lamb is growing rapidly and becoming more adventurous daily. (He's the one in the back, behind last year's ewe lamb.) Still no new lambs yet, but watch this space...