Hay making

Bailing

We've had a good, dry week this past week and so had our hay cut on Monday and then bailed after a couple of days drying in brilliant sunshine. Its great to have that sorted now after the previous week of threatened rain. The sheep are currently trimming down part of the field and, once the bails are in and stored, we will let the goats sort out the remaining stalks. Really not intending to make a corny pun, but I'm sure they'll have a field day. Talking of which, the kestrels and buzzards are so prevalent right now, making the most of the lack of cover left for their

All done and dusted

prey.

New piglets

Today we had some new piglets arrive from Adam Henson's farm. These are 3 Tamworths that have only just been weaned, so are a little under 10 weeks old. We had a dramatic few moments as one of them slipped out of the back of the pickup and headed for some undergrowth. I envisaged a few hours of trying to catch the slippery little fella or chasing him down miles of hedgerows, but fortunately I managed to distract him behind the greenhouse and John, who delivered them, sneaked up on him from behind and grabbed him securely.
My son's not mad about the experience of transferring piglets to their new home, as they squeal and squeal until they're released.

As you could guess from the photos, they're quite happy with bags of runaround space. They're now in a run next door to our older pigs and are getting used to each other. Once we send two of the older ones to the abattoir next week, I'll put them in with our Old Spot sow.    

Plum collapse

fallen branch

We're located just a short distance from the Vale of Evesham, famous for its fruit and vegetable production and, true to form, we have an abundance of fruit in this season. Our plum, pear and apple trees are well laden, to the point that our main plum tree partially collapsed earlier this week. One of the main branches of the tree in our front garden snapped off at the weekend, and I'm still in the process of clearing it up.

Still plenty of fruit on the wounded tree

As well as salvaging the wood for our log fires over winter, I'm collecting as many of the unripe plums as I can to hopefully use them for chutney, green plum jam, and maybe even some plum liqueur. We've also been foisting them on (sorry, offering them) to friends. So far I've collected four baskets worth, and we still have most of the plums on the tree.
The branches and any slightly damaged plums are going to the goats, who now seem to have developed quite a taste for all things plum.
Nothing goes to waste here if we can help it!

Fairford Air Tattoo

Took the kids down to the Fairford Air show on Sunday. Despite it being a pretty dreary day weatherwise, we had a great time. Managed to see the Red Arrows as well as some other international display teams, the last remaining Vulcan in flight, and a fully armoured Eurofighter Typhoon, which stymied any conversation. Meredith was fascinated by the grumbling feeling that we all got in our stomachs due to the percussion from the engine noise.
There are always a few unlikely display bonuses at these events, and the Ford Display Team did it for us. The 'stunt' driver spun his car around to park between other vehicles, as well as circuiting the ring on 2 wheels.

A good day out. Despite performing Chinooks, Spitfires and all the rest of it, I'm sure that, bizarrely, the highlight of the day for Darius was still seeing two guys dressed as Star Wars troopers!