Dorset lifestyle
The depth of straw had become rather too deep on the area beside their yard so a dozen or so dumpy bags of straw have been donated to a local self-sufficiency site. They will spread it on their vegetable plot and grow succulent vegetables next year. The layer under the straw is full of worms and will go on the garden to help support the plants through this dry period. Another hot day with light winds.
Standing with his front hooves on the fence rail to eat the Willow, the tree looks to have grown wider in the last year, and reach lower to the ground. Arranged for regular delivery of straw bales to save collecting them, moved a stack of paving so the truck can get into the Square paddock and turn round. Fixed a few hooks in the tack room for the rakes and brooms, makes a big difference to the available floor area. Picked three mini cucumbers. A sunny cloudy day with a chilly wind.
Collected four bales from the farm a few miles away, their barn is full of a mix of hay and barley and wheat straw. The donkeys haven’t been out in the paddock for a few days so are really interested in their food, William rested his head on the workshop door and watched the bales come in and be stacked in the corner. Cut a few branches for them from the lane, the top of a tree had snapped off in the storm so collected that for firewood. A cold, breezy, showery day.
Light until 5pm, the sun drops quickly over the horizon. Collected three straw bales for the donkeys and a hay bale for the sheep, there’s still grass in the paddocks but with the first frosts it’ll stop growing and have much less sugar content. The gap in the hedge has been widened to give a better view of the stable from the garden so filled the car with the branches and went to the tip. The donkeys had a few apple twigs, the trees are starting to lose their leaves. A sunny cool day with light winds.
Another glorious sunset, the wall is warm from the day’s sunshine. Poppy weighs over seven pounds now, and is eating both wet and dry food, which is good. The donkeys don’t seem to like eating the remaining couple of bales of last year’s straw, may have to keep those for bedding and move on to giving them this year’s crop. Picked runner beans and courgettes. A warm sunny day, dark by 7.30.
Heavy rain showers are making the straw area very wet and the gateway to the avenue is especially muddy, which is unusual for this time of year. Not helped by the donkeys chasing each other around, kicking and bucking, may have to consider mud mats. Smudge was interested in joining me on the hardstanding, he thought better of it when the donkeys preferred sticking their heads through the rails and looking at him, to eating thistles. A cool day with squally showers.
Halfway through a rollover, it’s one of the first things the donkeys do when they are let into the paddock, always in the same place and now there’s a small depression of bare earth in which to roll. Went to the tip with three dumpy bags of hedge cuttings and weeds, the hedge is now higher than the buttercups and grasses so perhaps they can be left instead of weeded out. Collected four bales of straw, the hay making is well underway in the fields and the yield is ‘ok’, so better than last year. Watered the vegetables, a very hot day with light winds.
A mix of apple, willow and hazel twigs are worth pulling around the yard to get the best bits, groomed the boys and led them down to the bottom paddock without them having their breakfast, so they came back up to the stable early to eat straw from the feeder. Toby had a rollover on the way. Collected four bales of straw, the sheep won’t need any more hay now the grass is starting to grow. Repotted the sunflower seedlings and had lunch in the sunshine, a sunny cloudy day with a chilly wind.
Collected three bales of yellow wheat straw for the donkeys and one bale of soft green hay for the sheep, the grass is starting to grow in the paddocks so this may be the last bale of hay until the winter. Lovely dry cycle through Farnham and the Gussages with coffee and a sausage roll at Chettle with super views across newly ploughed fields, it started raining just as the bike was put on the car. Fed the fish, no sign of any toad spawn, perhaps there won’t be any this year. A wet end to a cloudy sunny day.
Looking better after a tidy up; the number of bales can be kept in single figures as there’s a year-round supplier of wheat straw and hay within five miles, so collecting four or six of what’s needed every couple of weeks shouldn’t be a problem. The hay is really soft and green and the sheep like it a lot, the wheat straw is golden and quiet tough so the donkeys prefer it to barley straw. Fitted bristle to the bottom of the doors to stop the rain driving underneath as the edges of the workshop are a bit damp, the donkeys noticed the new sweeping sounds. Heavy rain to start and end the day with fog and drizzle in between.
Trailway and quiet roads in the sunshine, one puncture and several hills in the 20 miles, the seasonal hedge cutting continues to take its toll on tyres and tubes so we carry the spares and tools to get us out of trouble. Doughnuts half way round were welcome as the temperature started to drop towards freezing and we upped the pace to keep warm. The donkeys looked at the straw entrance to the paddock before wandering in and grazing, the surface is dry but the inches deep hoof prints are puddled with water that doesn’t want to drain away, the last few dry days have helped, hoping for more sunshine.
A bright orange sun set behind the oak tree at 4.30, the days are still shortening and the afternoons soon become chilly. The donkeys have decided not to eat their straw, it looks fluffier than the bales they’ve had previously, not sure why they don’t like it. They’re eating the grass in the paddock, beech and apple branches and any apples that are cut up for them so I think we’ll have to persevere, especially as there are another twenty bales left. A little hay on top of the straw in the feeder may help. Most of the hedges have been trimmed so it’s time for another bonfire. A cloudy sunny day with rain overnight.
A foggy start to the day, the mist persisted in the vale until mid afternoon when the buzzards took off to fly in the sunshine. Cycled from Badbury Rings for a couple of hours and wore gloves as the wind was cold, warmer going uphill. Delivery of thirty bales of straw for the donkeys arrived, didn’t want the trailer turning round in the wet paddock so unloaded in the driveway and used the wheelbarrows to ferry them to the store, it was getting dark by the time we finished. Another lovely sunset.
All the straw has been taken out and put in the gateways to help with the mud in the winter, it gets trodden in and disappears over the course of a year so no straw goes on the compost heap. The floor has been washed with a few buckets of disinfectant solution and the top of the kickboards get very dusty so have been cleaned, the cobwebs appear overnight and then gather dust as well. Donkeys are particular about the water they drink so William and Toby often prefer to drink from a bucket outside rather than from the water trough in the stable. A hot day, a few gusts of wind would have helped dry the floor. Picked runner beans and tomatoes.
Eyes tight shut, smudge likes sleeping outside on the woodpile. Poppy prefers to be under a hedge and being a long haired cat she has a lot of grooming to do. Finished the sheep shelter today and had to add another rail to the softstanding as William managed to knock off one of the middle rails in an effort to reach through the fence to get to something tasty. Luckily, he didn’t step through onto the paddock driveway and into the little copse. Always need to keep a few spare rails and posts, I think. Collected fish and chips from the travelling van in a heavy and persistent drizzle, no watering required.
Dorset is great for cycling, lots of local groups and miles of trailways and waymarked routes some of which are part of the National Cycle Network. I cycle all year round and although there are lots of hills to struggle up the going down makes it all worthwhile! There was more rain overnight so the veg are looking good and there’s not much watering required, the straw delivery for the donkeys was just in time and we bought another salt lick to hang in their stable. The tadpoles were crowding round the fish eggs in the pond but they look just the same so hope to have tiddlers soon.
