THE MAYS 2006

Well, here we are again- mug of tea supped and mince pie eaten. Can’t believe how fast this year has gone - a sure sign of getting older!

We’ve had to say a couple of sad good byes this year. First to Jack the Jack Russell. He went on a glorious hunting spree in September from which he did not return. Our neighbour found his body a couple of months later. He had had a wonderful summer- had been really well so to go doing what he loved best….Still miss him like crazy. The second good bye was to my old landy. Yes the old multi coloured landy is finally done. She has been poorly most of the year with varying complaints. There was a time when we were going up the road performing a 10 gun salute. It became very interesting when she developed a leak in the fuel tank alongside the exhaust…Stew said there would only be a little fire….She did come back to life legally but only temporarily in October when she passed the MOT. Still it was very strange driving her without Jack supervising from the passenger seat. I am having a new old landy for Christmas- he best put a big red ribbon on it! Dead boring – all one colour and no 10 gun salute but reliable. There is a lot to be said for reliable…

Stew is still working in Wales. It certainly has made for some interesting trips home. The route was train from Newport to Crewe, sleeper from Crewe to Aberdeen, plane from Aberdeen to Kirkwall. As you can imagine with a journey as long as that a variety of things can go wrong… “The train is an hour late leaving Newport – I’ll miss the sleeper, do something”, “The sleeper is running late- I’ll miss the plane” the best was: “I’m on the wrong train- am going to Birmingham, not Crewe- get me from Birmingham to Crewe”. The rail service came up trumps every time, shoving him in a taxi, ensuring that he met whatever connection he needed to and picking up the tab.

January and February passed quite painlessly – weather mostly mild and undramatic. Winter happened in March – it snowed seriously and froze hard for here. I was snowed in for a couple of days. When the thaw came there were several leaks in various places about the farm. In fact we had one huge water leak which took us several months to find. It was not until the ground dried in the summer that we actually located it. Luckily the water board have a rule making an adjustment to the invoice in the case of a major leak but only once!  

Calving and lambing happened without any huge dramas. I wound up lambing one ewe on top of the straw stack- don’t ask- and she refused to speak to me again. The lamb was OK so that was fine. What was noticeable this year was how the older ewes drill their lambs. When I let them out of the pens a couple of days after lambing they leave the pen as one unit, lambs superglued one each side of the ewe. When I let the younger moms out it can be a complete shambles: the ewe shoots off, one lamb comes out of the pen but then goes the wrong side of the straw bale, the other stays in the pen, the ewe then remembers she’s left something but who does she collect first…The weather was a bit easier for lambing this year than last but again spring was along time coming with no real warmth or grass until mid June.

I did open the farm to visitors this year during the summer which was fun and brought in some money. The animals were the stars. The sheep started to look out for cars coming up the lane; they headed promptly for the feed troughs in spectacular fashion. What was better still was if they hadn’t spotted the vehicle so I would get folk suitably armed with their cameras then called the sheep. There would black streams converging to come through the gate and then one black river charging to the troughs. The calves were equally co-operative: coming to the gate to be admired and even licking proffered hands. While folk enjoyed seeing the horses it was the sheep really they couldn’t get over. I had the wool from the sheeps' fleeces for sale along with various hand knitted items, throws woven from the wool, postcards, a little book of true stories about the animals. I now also have some suiting fabric again woven from the wool from our own sheep.

Wwoofers were fairly thin on the ground this year. We started with two French Canadian guys who were great fun. During part of the time they were here, old friends of ours came to stay in the village. As this gave me a lot of manpower I thought it would be a good time to paint the stables so we had a painting party but, much to the disappointment of Imogen’s daughter, without the party food. She cheered up – as did Imogen's husband when they found out that we have a cow named Imogen- she was called that before she arrived here, I hasten to add. During their stay, on the last night the two boys were here we had a barbecue. The Canadians could not believe that we had a barbi in that weather; we saw nothing wrong with it, it wasn’t actually raining- perishing cold northerly wind but the house sheltered us from the wind …stop moaning, put more clothes on. Next came Amanda who waged serious war on the ragwort- a word of warning to any man in her life: do not buy her pretty yellow flowers- she now hates them! Amanda’s other claim to fame was the sterling work she did on Shapinsay Show day when she rescued the woollen stuff on our stand as the deluge hit- show day afternoon was seriously wet and cold-while I was stewarding the pet classes. After Amanda there was Liz who, thanks to Amanda’s devastation of the ragwort problem, was able to get to a job I’ve been longing to do, namely clear the west coast of the rubbish which had been thrown up by the tides. It was the ponies’ job to bring the bags home. Magda has a very smart pack saddle and she was not one bit bothered by these ungainly bags draped along her sides. June, on the other hand, was disgusted that she was expected to drag this stuff behind and she was going to run away... still, made for a good work out for all involved!

The summer carried on long into September and even didn’t quit completely in October. The highlight of the autumn was a trip to Shetland to the Scottish Crofting Foundation annual conference. You know how I love going to Shetland where they spoil me rotten- well, this was gold-plated spoiling! Gave me the chance to meet up with folk I’d met on previous visits and to meet a lot of new people. There were a lot of interesting speakers at the Conference, particularly inspirational were Alistair McIntosh, author of “Soil and Soul”, and Colin Tudge, author of “So Shall We Reap”. Just what I needed to set me up for the winter.

The rains came on October 26, big style. Easterly gales and continuous rain for at least 24 hours produced a flooded village and more water on the ground than anybody had ever seen before and would want to ever again! We were OK here- I had water pouring down the chimney which was interesting. Stew’s suggestion that I drained the ash can before lighting the fire was useful (!)- he, of course, was in Wales and not due home for a week. I did manage to light it which was useful as the power went off at 5pm not to return until 11 amish next day. At least I was warm and I had the means to cook and boil water.

November continued wet and windy- I’ve lost count of the number of times the ferry hasn’t run, including the afternoon when the Crofters Foundation came to Orkney and were supposed to spend time here before going into Kirkwall to have a meeting to set up a branch in Orkney. They were able to hold their meeting, which was very successful, but I couldn’t go – I did sulk! It was a very busy month with the vet coming out to do testing, wethers- 18 month old sheep-going away to slaughter and then the meat being shipped, and finally, heifer calves and ewe lambs going to new homes south and to Sanday, another Orkney Isle. This departure to pastures new was the most stressing for me as there were two boat journeys involved and with the weather we have been having…I waved them all good bye at lunchtime and later that I was bedding down the horses thinking: “I’ve got nothing more to worry about now!”

Wrong! Customer from Sanday at 5pm:”Where are my sheep?!” Despite arranging things so that the Shapinsay haulier would meet with the Sanday haulier in time for the sheep to catch the last ferry they missed each other- still don’t know why and probably better not to ask…Two days later they did arrive in Sanday, safe and well having been looked after by the staff at the Mart. So, now nothing to worry about except accounts work still to do, Christmas stuff still to do (when is it again) getting Stew home tomorrow with a force 8 gale predicted…..

Well here we are at the bottom of the page- so have a great Christmas and a darn good New Year- remember bring wellies or go to www.farmofgarth.co.uk.