Goings On

Wood Chips and Turtle Eggs

What a combination!  Wood chips and turtle eggs?  Yes, really, they are related.

With the new tractor, Oz, and its front end loader we have much work for it to do.  The previous owners played with wood and lots of it.  Near the barn is a hill made mostly of wood chips and littered with wood in need of splitting.

So, what do you do with wood chips?  Since this is a hill and there are a lot of chips, down deep the chips are dark and damp and smelly, like a good growing medium should be.  So, we're using those chips for gardening projects.  The largest project has been the new herb garden.  You know, the former Sumo Wrestling pit.  So hubby put Oz through his paces and moved a lot of wood chips to fill the pit and create the garden.  In doing so, he made quite a dent in the wood chip hill.  Okay, it's only a little dent.  Most interestingly, he found a lot of turtle eggs in the hill. 

There seemed to be a line of eggs running from the top of the hill to the bottom.  However, it is likely that disturbing the hill caused the eggs to move downward in the hill.

We figured these were last year's eggs.  We were surprised by how very few hatched.  We have only seen a few turtles laying this year compared to last year.


 

Happy Maremmas

We have now had Millie for one year.  What a huge number of changes she has had to deal with.  Yet, she is happy.  She is so very much happier than when she first came here. 

In the photo below, Millie is curled up on the door mat at the back door.  This a common site in the morning.  Having gained a lot of weight over the winter, she does not jump fences very much or very well; but will do so if she must.  I turn off the electric fence at night so that the dogs have no constraints.  She gets out to do her patrolling and then parks near the back door near morning in anticipation of breakfast.


 


 
 And then there is Ruby.  Just a bit too happy in this photo!  She sails over fences and routinely jumps out and then back in.  Here she is near the back door. 

The dogs are great clock watchers.  If they are at the back door I check my watch since it may be near feeding time.






 Sunsets

We have learned by observation that the best vantage point for taking in a sunset is the north-east side of the wrap around veranda.  From here we can take in the vast horizon above the Front Field and we can also see the barn.  So, at sunset and twilight this is a very lovely spot from which to imbibe in a brew or wine to mellow out after a busy day.

The camera's auto flash decided it should be on for this photo and thus the 'aura' in the photo.  It's pretty neat.  The sky was exceptionally red on this evening.

Same viewpoint, no flash, no 'aura'.  Stunning colours....!

Spinning

I have to be careful now when I say I'm a Spinner.   Many years ago the joke was that the spinners and weavers imbibed a bit too much.  Nowadays, spinning class is on a bicycle.  So, I am a Handspinner.

A few weeks ago I volunteered down the road to demonstrate handspinning and handweaving at the library branch's open house.  They are located in a historical building and one room upstairs in the historic coach house is dedicated to the memories of local weavers.  It was unusual at that time that so many women were handweaving in their homes and delightful that this room pays homage to them.

So, I took one of my spinning wheels and there I met a few local handspinners.  And they meet Friday afternoons while another group meets Tuesdays.  I have been going to the Friday sessions for a few weeks now and having a delightful time.  I am getting to know some local women.  Handspinning is so very relaxing and I am working through a project. 

Some weeks this is the only handspinning I get done.  Yet, this alone inspires me to do more and a few evenings now I have taken my spinning wheel out onto the veranda at sunset time. 

The Weekend

Another week begins today.  The weekend, like always, was fairly busy.  On Saturday we went for a long motorbike ride and went to a friend's for Thai lunch.  And we were sent home with leftovers - yes, on the motorbike.  It was a terrific day for a ride.  I am much more confident riding now than ever and am less perturbed in traffic.

On Sunday, hubby and Oz moved a great pile of debris to the vegetable garden.  This is perfect for mulching between the rows.  Mulching saves so much time and work.  In addition this stuff will compost and add goodness to the soil for next year.  Basically, Oz the tractor was put to work scraping up the hay leavings where I fed the sheep in winter.  Some of it is a bit 'hot' from underneath the top layer, but in between the rows in the garden it should be fine.  I managed to get most of it in place before the rain began in late afternoon.

In addition my dairy farmer friend delivered a load of hay.  Just the rams and an ill sheep are getting hay.  And I do try to get them outside for green eating when I can.  Hopefully this is the last load of last year's hay we will need to purchase.  I discussed with him the new crop of hay.  With Oz we have a fork for lifting large bales of hay.  This will make hay management less labour intensive.  This is progress on the farm!