June 25, 2009
Time to harvest the grass from the fields to make hay to feed the sheep next winter. Here’s Megan looking very stylish whilst turning the hay …
Making hay whilst the sun shines ...
Next to be harvested is the volleyball court; will have to be soon, as there’s a match scheduled for two weeks time …
June 20, 2009
No, not a recipe …
It was a shock and surprise, not least to the mum, when we had another lamb born today. It seems that whilst separated from the pregnant ewes earlier this year, one of last year’s ram lambs, who’d not been fully castrated (he was firing on one cylinder …) managed to “catch” one of the ewes.
The dad has since gone into one of our freezers; we’re just wondering if he left any more legacies for us …
May 28, 2009
It doesn’t get much better than this – even if the parents are very noisy and can make a terrible mess of your conservatory roof …
May 25, 2009
The manager of Newcastle United awoke to the cold reality of relegation from the Premiership, but a more successful Shearer came to Hockerton today. We’d had a couple of blowfly strikes on Sunday, so it was critical to get the flock sheared ASAP. It took 3 shearers 1 hr and 15 mins to fleece 21 sheep – quite an impressive performance.
Shearer fleeces another
So what happens to the fleece? Well, it is rolled and tied …
Roll up, roll up
… and stored in a shed:
The best insulated shed in Nottinghamshire
The sheep then get a pedicure:
And are sprayed for foot rot:
And then they’re good to go:
"and I came in for extensions"
May 24, 2009
Whilst one of our neighbours, Lee, has been barbequing since the snow melted in February, we finally joined him this evening for some home-grown and home-BBQed lamb. Delicious.
The homemade charcoal programme is yet to be developed; there has been talk of it but that was for carbon capture rather than BBQ fuel!
May 23, 2009
Rob and I spent some time with the local Greenpeace group today collecting support for the Airplot. The response was pretty good, with everyone offering goodwill even if some people don’t feel able put their name to the campaign (yet).
Planning in the pub afterwards reminded me of the good ol’ days with Camden FOE, with ideas for Transition, for more showings of Age of Stupid, and wind turbines around the area.
The only negative was my feeling afterwards – resentment for the time that the Government is forcing people like us to spend on this issue – surely now is the time for a u-turn. BA reported losses this week, the public we spoke to recognise flying is not a good thing, and the Government wants people to ‘transition to a low energy economy’. We can’t do that when we have to campaign against their conflicting policies every weekend.
May 22, 2009
Hockerton Housing Project opened the doors of its carbon neutral cinema to 40 (full capacity!!) film-goers on 22nd May for our first showing of Age of Stupid. A great film with a great response.
Further showings are now likely in the area (through the churches and the Transition groups in Southwell and Newark); viewers signed up for more information on home energy efficiency advice, shares in our community turbine and events at Hockerton; and we’ll be looking into holding further film nights.
Should keep us busy!
May 3, 2009
Having reared 3 chicks last year, it turned out two of them were cockerels, and chief Rooster Bruce was not having any of it, and was starting to bully them. As a result Liz felt sorry for them, so today they sadly met their maker … of Coq au vin, aka Simon. Dispatched, skinned, gutted and beautifully cooked, all within 12 hours.
Just hope Liz never feels sorry for me …
April 29, 2009
If you raise sheep for meet, they’ll eventually end up like this …
