Dorset lifestyle
A lovely crisp and frosty start to the day after a week of rain, all the animals were out and about and the donkeys‘ coats felt really warm. The paddocks are still very wet but will start to dry out if it stays dry for a week or two. The temperature started to drop at this time in January last year, with snow later in the month, so it’ll be interesting to see if the weather follows the same pattern this year. Bright and sunny all day with light winds.
The sun is rising later so the shadows are long well into the morning, it’s still warm but the wind is chilly. Lunch at The Baker Arms. Cut hawthorn for the donkeys and some soggy blackberries for the sheep and moved their arcs to a fresh patch of grass in Fallen Oak. A sunny day with strengthening winds.
Let through into the adjacent paddock they started eating as soon as they could although the grass looked the same in the paddock they’d just come from. The grass is growing really quickly after the rain and the sugar levels will be high until September so they should gain some weight before Autumn, Winnie especially could do with putting on a few extra pounds. The fleeces have arrived OK at Pocket House Studio. Collected more wood for the new sheep shelter in the square paddock, should have enough now. A lovely hot sunny day with light winds and a pale pink sunset sky.
Walking up the avenue to the stable for their vitamin mix having spent all day in the lower paddock. Their hearing is good so calling them in works ok, just takes ten minutes or so for them to arrive, Toby likes a rollover at some point and William stops to look and think. The pile of apple twigs is going down and the last of the D’Arcy Spice apples will be eaten by both the sheep and donkeys in the next couple of days, they’ve lasted really well piled in a dustbin since September. A misty start to a lovely warm sunny day.
Doing well in the raised beds, the elephant garlic has more space than the softneck, both varieties store well so the harvest in August should last most of the following year. Sowed sunflower, carrots, pumpkin, cucumber and lobelia seeds. Potted on the parsley plants sown six months ago, there’s a big difference between the plants, not sure why some are twice the size of others when they’ve all been treated in the same way. A cloudy start to the day with warm sunshine later, didn’t wear gloves first thing although the poo picker and wheelbarrow handles did feel quite cold.
William and Toby start their day with a breakfast of fresh straw in their feeder and then like to relax on an extra large straw bed, nodding off in the morning sunshine. They rarely lie at full stretch but do like to rollover and then flap their ears from side to side. The birds are all busy nest building, choosing and rejecting twigs and bits of leaves, the woodpecker is tapping and the buzzard sits preening in the oak tree. Watered the hedge, the hose was frozen solid until spread out in the sun and left for half an hour, the addition of compost mulch continues. A bright, sunny, cold day.
A lovely sunny start to the day with blue sky and light winds, the sheep are still enjoying the fringe of greener grass and escaped for a time into the garden. Soon coaxed back with hay they wanted to explore and run around somewhere new. The owl box has arrived, it’ll be positioned in the oak tree with its entrance away from the prevailing winds once the tree has been cut, the lower limbs are hollow so the higher branches must be removed. Light by six in the morning, the flower buds on the wisteria are starting to fatten. Another vivid orange sunset.
Countryfile have created an interactive website for recording the planting of trees, shrubs, flowers and vegetables across the UK, data collection will continue for two years and aims to encourage planting for wildlife and to combat climate change. Over 500 shrubs, native hedging and trees have been planted in our two acres so the entry should boost the Dorset total. Groomed the donkeys in the sunshine, hope they can go out on the drying grass soon, the spring has stopped running into the ditch; they watch the sheep grazing and want to join them. A drizzly start to the day with light winds and late warm sunshine. Fish and chips from the van in Child Okeford.
Groomed the donkeys and walked them down to the bottom paddock so they could graze for a few hours in what felt like spring sunshine. The ditch has drained as well as it can, several dams are holding back the water higher up and the spring had stopped running. Finished a jar of delicious home made lemon curd. Lovely and warm in the morning, wore one fleece instead of two! The day clouded over towards dusk and a shower of hailstones lowered the temperature significantly. Turned off the water supply to the stable in anticipation of a frosty night.
