It’s been a hectic time of late, with various things going on in all our lives which has meant that I haven’t had time to write the Foxglove Farm Blog. I think that Autumn, with its ‘mists and mellow fruitfulness’ is a good time to begin again. I love this time of year with its bounteous harvest, celebrated both in church and in the homes of those of us lucky enough to have room for a vegetable patch. It’s a wistful time with a few warmer days making us long for the heat of summer to return, whilst the chill evenings bring a premonition of the winter still to come.
The ponies have grown their winter coats and the sheep are looking very plush in their abundant wool. Benji, one of our wethers, needs shearing but we’re struggling to find someone who will come out to do a single sheep. The later it gets into the year, the more I worry that he’s going to be cold when he finally loses his magnificent locks. Once he’s been shorn I’m hoping to send all the wool I’ve collected this year off for processing.
Thanks to our local farmers we’ve got plenty of large bale hay and straw stored in the poly tunnel for the animals, although the first bale of hay has been almost completely eaten by the hungry hordes! I like to see nice full hay nets for the horses, stacked in my favourite light weight wheelbarrow, ready in case I need to keep them in due to high winds. We’ve already had a few noisy storms and some of the trees on the front lawn have lost limbs. Thankfully there’s been no real damage yet, but the wind remains our worst enemy up here on the hill.
The sheep get their hay in hay racks to keep it off the ground. As all animals know, stamping all over your hay (and worse) is fun, but then you have no food to eat and must start bleating for more every time you see a human approach your field.
When we muck them out and replace their straw bedding they also take a shine to the straw, especially Audrey who’s managed to ‘grow’ a beard! I was going to remove it, but somehow it disappeared of its own accord, possibly nibbled off by the two newest recruits, Ouessant wethers, Cammo and Hugo.
Finally, some human food in an autumnal vein – a tasty sausage and apple casserole made from our own apples and home-grown onions. I shall be making apple crumbles at the weekend too, as well as some apple sauce for the freezer.
Foxglove Farm 