Stwff/Pethau

We've had a big problem recently with starlings. They discovered our chicken feeder. At first we didn't think much of it because we thought they were migratory and would leave shortly. After a couple of weeks I looked them up on the internet -- they are migratory -- but they are HERE for the winter! We were going through about three times as much chicken feed as normal. Bridget the ever knowledgeable suggested that we move the chicken feed inside the hen house -- I replied that the feeder wouldn't fit -- and Bridget said, "So make something else that does!" Here it is:

In other news, I hit a pheasant with my car today, so with the one that Bart brought round on Sunday morning, that's two pheasants waiting for me to pluck and clean them...

I've also spent a bit of time making this scarf for Max, my cousin's son, who will be two on Friday -- note to all Max's relatives who read my blog -- don't tell him -- wait till it arrives in the post!!! :)

Yn y gegin

Winter is here, and we are now eating things like kale... Faith sent me these seeds all the way from America ages ago -- it is yummy!

Greg made this delicious beef & ale pie:

And we cured the belly from the 1/2 pig we bought from Nick -- home made bacon! It is really delicious...

In other news, Bridget has now said that the chick who we thought was a boy is really a girl! More eggs!

O godiad yr haul i fachlud...

There is not much in between sunrise and sunset these days... We have had several frosts and the garden is now well and truly finished for the year. It gets dark at 5 pm and I must get back in the habit of doing things with knitting needles on these long evenings...

Ac mae rhaid i fi ysgrifennu mwy o bethau yn Gymraeg yma hefyd!!!

Newyddion Sied

Katharina and I have clad three sides of the shed now!

Dydd Afalau Bwlchyrhyd

Bart gave us a ton of apples, and it was raining today, so I made apple butter...

...and Katharina made apple strudel!

Mae ein oen cyntaf wedi mynd...

The big news today is that we were up at the (rescheduled) NSA Ram Sale over the weekend and we have sold our little ram lamb and purchased a new ram for breeding. I was quite sad to see the little one go although I know he has gone to a good home -- but he was our first little lamb and it is still fresh in my mind how I felt the morning I first saw him. I know I am a bit biased, but I think that he had the best markings out of all the ram lambs at the sale, and several other people agreed with me as well, so we will see if perhaps we see him winning things in the future...

This is the new ram we bought -- he is a shearling ram, and he is rather tamer than ours, but hopefully he won't be too shy with the girls! He won second place in the shearling ram competition at the 2007 Smallholder Show...

We've got another WWOOFer here at the moment, and she is helping us get the cladding up on the shed -- mae e'n edrych fel tŷ bach twt nawr!

In other news, I've been doing lots of food preserving -- red tomatoes into ketchup:

Runner beans to be frozen:

Green tomatoes into chutney:

And sweetcorn also to be frozen:

Oen Hwrdd Ar Werth

We had planned to sell this ram at the NSA Ram Sale which was supposed to have been yesterday, but it was cancelled due to Foot & Mouth movement restrictions. However, as of this afternoon, farm to farm movements in low risk areas are now permitted. Ideally we would like to trade him for another ram, but we will also consider selling him assuming that we can then find another ram to buy for ourselves. He was born on 29 March 2007; his dam is 6635 and his sire is 7707. If you are interesting in buying him or trading us another ram for him, please get in touch asap.

Machlud Haul

The other day it was raining horribly all day, and stopped just in time to show me this:

Mae hanner cyntaf yn gorffen!

It looks even more like a little house now...

Mae'r tô yn dod ymlaen yn dda...

Llechi

Dave the builder came today and taught me how to slate the roof!

It was a lovely sunny day and I am hot and sweaty and covered in slate dust so I've rewarded myself with a lovely supper of fresh courgettes from the garden, Halloumi from the goat farm up the lane, and some of the lovely rhubarb wine Paul helped me make! Yum!

Mae rhai pethau yn tyfu...

Ymwelwyr

My Dad & Step-Mom have been visiting so we have been taking advantage of the opportunity to do touristy things. Today we went to the National Botanic Garden of Wales which is really lovely...

Yesterday we went to Newton House/Dinefwr Castle:

And then Greg and I went for a little walk up to the bandstand at the top of Penlan Park where I took this lovely view of Llandeilo!