Chicken dinner...

Today we harvested the last of hedge hen's cockerel chicks.  This boy is about seven months old and only just started crowing -- we didn't even realise he was a cockerel until a few weeks ago -- is this because this lot of chicks grew up over winter and therefore grew up more slowly?

Deadweight of 1.6 kg which is the biggest so far -- based on weight and body shape, we think that the pheasant may have had a hand in some of the other cockerel chick as well as the phicken -- but this one we are fairly sure is the offspring of the big black Jersey Giant cockerel.  Now, as we get ready to start hatching eggs again this year, how on earth can we be sure that the pheasant hasn't been in with the hens again???!

It never fails to amaze me how the feathers get EVERYWHERE...  Including up my nose!  They are so nice and compact on the bird, but once you pluck them...!

And here's Cookie, in yet another absurd sleeping pose...  :)

Lamb-a-palooza!

Following on from Black ewe kicking things off last Saturday, it has been a week of lambs!

On Monday it became evident that both Curly and Brown ewes were pretty close.

Curly had these two unassisted Tuesday afternoon...

...and the thing that has most made my week is that both of these are girls -- so I finally have an all black girl lamb!  Woo hoo!  Black sheep for the win!  :)

Brown ewe was still acting like she was going to have a lamb but by last light on Tuesday nothing had started.  I was particularly worried about her as she was the only one I had to assist last year plus the weather overnight Tuesday was wet & windy, so I prayed to the lambing gods to let her hold on until morning when I could be there...

Turns out there was no need for my concern as I went out at first light on Wednesday to find that she'd also had twins and they were dry and up on their feet!

These are both boys, so that's potentially two black tups that will be looking for new homes come autumn...

On a side note, the fact that Brown ewe was in my face the whole time I was tagging her lambs is definitely progress on the taming front -- last year, the ewes came nowhere near us when we were tagging!

So that's just Greedy left to lamb now as we didn't put Shy ewe or White ewe with Pete this year. 

Couple of interesting observations thus far:

1.  The ewes are lambing in exactly the same order as they did last year.

2.  Each of them has had one black lamb and one not black lamb.

No idea if there's any significance to either of these....

And here's Cookie -- who came out to help us with the tagging -- NOT!  :)

Lambing 2024 is here!

Black ewe was the first to lamb again this year, but two weeks earlier than last year (same tupping start date).  No warning at all -- on Friday evening she was acting perfectly normal.  On Saturday morning, she'd separated herself from the flock and didn't come for food.  I left her to it and came back an hour later to see this little beauty, already up and on its feet -- and then, as I was photographing them, she turned around and I saw little feet on their way -- twins!

Went away again to give her a bit of privacy and about 10 minutes later the second one was out -- and a beautiful black lamb!

They survived a horrible first night of wind and rain, but the weather is looking a bit calmer and more settled for the next week.

This morning at feeding black ewe came to the bucket and brought her twins with her -- which really amazed me as last year it was a few days after giving birth before the ewes would come to the bucket.  Hopefully this is another step forward towards the goal of friendly sheep!  :)

The mostly white lamb is a girl, and the black lamb, sadly, is another boy!  What is it with me and black tup lambs?!  I want a black ewe lamb please!  :)  But they both seem fit and healthy so that's good.

Three more ewes to go; hopefully none of them have twins or else I will have more sheep than I know what to do with!  :)

Bag the Bruck

Bruck is the Orcadian word for rubbish, and so Bag the Bruck is an annual beach clean event...  

The Selkies did a fairly small area of beach and managed to collect a TON of rubbish in not very much time, the vast part of which is marine waste from the fishing industry...

Spring update

The weather has been a bit back and forth -- not as nice as I want it to be, but plenty of nice days scattered throughout.  I've been swimming more frequently now -- hopefully it won't be long before that's a daily possibility -- had my 18th swim of 2024 today!

We've been taking advantage of the weather as much as we can -- Danny is today replacing the very rotted frame on the back door:

 

The barn doors are also getting rotten wood replaced and a fresh coat of paint.  I considered bright pink but on reflection thought it might be better to stick with blue!

It is fairly amazing how quickly the driving rain removes paint from surfaces -- it's like having everything powerwashed all winter long...

On the egg front, the ducks have finally decided to start laying and the hens have finally gotten into their swing...

After eating several goose eggs, we decided that we want to see if they will hatch us some little goosies -- so Danny built them this little shelter out of pallets and presto, she's started laying in it and they are being VERY aggressive if we try to go near it.  Hopefully in about another week she'll decided that she's laid enough eggs and start sitting on them. 

I did make hamantaschen last week for Purim but totally forgot to take a photo at the time.  Here are the last three -- I am showing such restraint!!!  Once upon a time I would have eaten the whole batch within 24 hours...  :)  Not to worry though -- hot cross buns are about to go into the oven, so we won't starve to death...  :)

We've got a new cover on the polytunnel -- fingers crossed we get a good few years out of this one as getting it on is a major PITA...

And last but certainly not least -- my favourite vegetable(!) is poking its head up!  :)

Spring equinox

Beautiful day for the equinox yesterday -- sunny, no wind -- it really felt like spring was finally here!

I had a lovely solo swim -- first of the year...

We are not at peak daffodil yet, but they are starting to come out...

And we FINALLY got to have a fire!  We didn't have one for autumn equinox because Danny had just had his hernia op and wasn't up to it, and we tried to start one for winter solstice but a sudden hail storm put a stop to that, so I'm glad we finally succeeded this time -- and we had nearly a full moon watching over us!

But now we are back to the 40+ mph winds and rain and tomorrow morning's boat has been cancelled so I guess it is not really spring yet!  Fingers crossed it comes soon!  :)

Mend & Make Do

I bought this coat sometime in the early 90s at Dollar a Pound in Kenmore Square.  It's quite light really, so maybe it cost 50 cents?  I've just spent an hour or so mending and reinforcing tears and seams and it's good as new again -- ready to give me another 30 or so years of use -- and remember -- it was second hand to start with! 

I think the label says it all really!

Our first goose egg!

On the left, a normal hen egg.  On the right the whopper of a goose egg that Danny just stole from their nest!  It weighs 206 grams, so about 4 hen eggs.

We plan to steal a few and then let them sit and hatch us some little baby geese fingers crossed!

Shipwreck update

X marks the spot where some long ago ship builder made his mark on this piece of wood!

We had Ben Saunders from Wessex Archaeology on the island on Thursday and Friday, and with the help of various residents, all the pieces of the ship were tagged and numbered and then dismantled and moved off the beach.

Lots of measurements and photographs were taken, as well as slices of the wood -- the next step now is that they will take this information and attempt to figure out where the trees grew and when they were harvested.  Ben thinks that there's a possibility that this could be 17th Century!

The Receiver of Wrecks has also been notified about the ship, and assuming that the owner (LOL!) does not come forward to claim it, it will eventually belong to the island and then we, as a community, will get to decide what we want to do with it.

Freya of course has no interest in the ship at all -- she is just happy to have a good stretch in the sunshine!

Throwback Wednesday

Still haven't managed to do anything with the wool from last summer's shearing, and before you know it, it will be shearing time all over again, but here's a jumper/pullover/vest (not sure what to call it!) that Rachel knitted with wool from my Balwens!

Rachel says it's warm and she loves it -- but it is not a next to skin layer because ITCHY.  In this detail here you can actually see how itchy it is.  Balwen have quite a short staple length -- this means more ends and more itching.  Looking forward to spinning the Shetland wool as it should be much softer...

Archaeology

This amazing piece of a ship either washed up or was uncovered by the storms the other day.  It's constructed completely using wooden pegs -- no metal at all!  How incredible is this?!

Appropriate archaeological organisations have been contacted so we will undoubtedly find out more about it in due course, but it's clearly several hundred years old at least...

Just trying to imagine the lives of the people who built it and sailed on it...

This is clearly more modern and I meant to photograph it ages ago but as it's not far from the ship I had my chance today -- somebody clearly parked this car here once upon a time and then the sea just destroyed it to the point where all that remains is the tyres and the engine block!

Signs of Spring

Snowdrops galore everywhere, and buds on trees, and it's starting to get light now not long after I get up in the morning -- spring must be on its way!

First egg of 2024!

Here it is kids, the moment we've all been waiting for -- the first egg of 2024!  

We last had an egg on 30th September, so we've been waiting for this one for a while.  Our first egg last year was in the week between Xmas and New Year, so significantly later this year.  Because of the weather?  I don't know...

For those of you who don't know, once upon a time, eggs were a seasonal food, like asparagus or strawberries.  Egg laying is linked to light levels, so when days start getting shorter, laying tails off, and when the light starts to come back, laying resumes.  The reason you can buy eggs year round in the supermarket is because they give hens artificial light to trick them into laying all the time, but we think that our hens deserve a break and a rest from their hard work...

In other news, somebody on the island ended up with more Seville oranges than she ordered -- which meant that I got to make marmalade -- and somehow I managed to end up with more marmalade than I was expecting, but it is so delicious that an oversupply will not be a problem!

Spotted this earlier -- Cookie and Freya probably as close as they ever get to each other -- separated by a pane of glass!  And now I am off to wash my windows!  :)

Glorious Snow!

Today is the FOURTH day of this glorious snow and I am loving it!  Sadly, tomorrow it looks like it is going to warm up again and we will have sleet and this will all go away...  Best to enjoy it while it's here -- so amazingly beautiful!  Never thought I would get to experience snow like this again...