A "tidy up" week

Autumn has well and truly arrived, the swallows have gone and we've had our first frosts, not hard ones, but enough to whiten the grass. I managed to get the shelter that Ghilli and Grommet will be using this winter "dug out" of the old straw and manure. With having the sheep in this field for part of the summer they have well and truly paddled everything down. But it's now dug out, the sides repaired, the panels were coming away from the frame, disinfectant put down, followed by a full bale of straw. All nice and snug ready for the bad weather.
We are starting to eat the winter veg out of the garden, the sweetcorn has nearly all gone, so the stalks will need to go through the shredder, some of the sprouts and cabbages are ready. Tim had pickled a couple of jars of red cabbage that were ready. The potatoes are still O.K despite the blight. All their peeling, tops and any suspect potatoes go straight into the bin, not the compost bin. I'm slowly filling the empty beds with compost to give the worms chance to take it all into the soil through the winter and hopefully to add some body to the soil. Next door keep a few calves and they have said I can "raid" last years manure heap for my garden


We've moved the ewes into the field at the back of the house and this evening the "girls" were busy grazing just in front of the study window, I couldn't resist taking this photo of them all. The grass is very long, so they will be in this field for some time, but be moved out before the really bad weather sets in after Christmas, as there is no shelter for them to go in. They do hide down the bank sides, but it's not the same as being in a warm, dry barn .

This is Spotty Dog the Suffolk ram lamb we are borrowing this year, all raddle'd up and raring to go. He's in with the Scotch Blackfaced ewes at the moment. We don't really expect him to cover any of the girls for another couple of weeks yet, but he was creating quite a fuss about being on his own, we decide to put him in with a raddle and see what happens. Ariadne, Abbi, Astrid, Allium and Missy will be joining his harem at the beginning of November.

Whilst I was out with my camera, Missy came strolling up and I took this picture of her, She is looking so well, especially after the scare we had with her before lambing. Will be interesting to see what she produces next year.

Looks like it's going to be a mixed week next week, so when it's fine I'll be doing outside jobs (digging veg garden, re-pointing back of house) and inside jobs (chopping and splitting wood, paperwork). Let's hope there are more fine days than wet days!!!