Honey!

The first honey from the Wild End - I'm just soooo chuffed!

I got 4 jars out of 3 frames... crush and strain, simple. 
Wasn't that hard really (once I got the bees off the frames).

The big field is alive!

And about time it was: donkeys & sheep now happily grazing together.

The field sat more or less unused for the past year, as the fencing had to be fixed/partly redone before I could seriously consider putting any animals in it. Now that this has been done (with the invaluable help of Jo & Brett, the lovely HelpX couple that stayed with me last month) the field can finally come alive.
Lots of lush green grass there too (while the small field looks pretty bare at this point.) Maybe not surprising then, that the donekys threw a proper tantrum yesterday when they couldn't go to the field because of bad weather!

Gazelles? Goats? Sheep!

I'm thrilled at the arrival of 4 gorgeous, gazelle-like Soay sheep!
It all happened somewhat accidentally - the internet is a great place for coincidental discoveries. I was, really, looking for infomation on hay (making/byuing/selling) which led me to a link of a local breeder selling Soay pet lambs, which led me to read up on this unusual breed, which made me think they'd be just perfect for here, and they'd be perfect for me, too.
I never really intended keeping any sheep, as everyone else does here anyway. But this is a wild, primitive breed, not messed about with moderns stock breeding ideas, so it's hardy and able to get on with its life without human interference. Just my kind of animal, in theory. Then we went to look at them 'for real' at a farm on Anglesey, and that did the rest for me:
I have fallen in love with these sheep!

By the way, the ram is called Elton.

Wonky beans fixed

Spent some time today switching the beans from a wonky, wind-blown bamboo-with-link-balls frame, to a couple of 3-cane tepees, that seem a lot more stable (at least for now). 

Why didn't I do that ages ago??

The new arrangement also means that I had to remove the netting that was (kind of) protecting the plants from invading chickens. The plants should be big enough now to be in real danger, but I fear a good scratching session could still uproot the lot, so what to do?

Maybe I had good idea: I put down a patchwork of old slate pieces - there are still lots of gaps so that should be OK for water but enough of a solid hard surfarce to deter any scratching. Or so I hope.

You can probably tell I'm a veg-patch beginner.... In London I had a few herbs pots, tomato plant and potatoes in grow sacks out on the patio, but never really got my head around doing it properly. Not that I'm doing anything properly now, despite having tried to ingest a lot of information about the subject over the winter. The long winter and my newbie status put me off sowing anything, so I ended up sticking in a hotch potch of plug plants in late May; whatever I could find locally, with no plan or system. Still, after a slow start everything seems to be doing really well now, and we are struggling with the quantities of chard, lettuce and calabrese, and that's only the start!
Coming from Greece, where the hot summers scortch everything from une onwards, I am still shocked at the ease and abundance of lush green growth in this country!

The girls

The newst additon to our homestead in the Welsh hills.
They arrived in early December and started laying in early February, 5 perfectly formed eggs every day, unfailingly (and occasionally a mishapen extra egg).

A perfect reason to learn how to make poached eggs (just not worth trying this with supermarket eggs!)

March snow

Long time no hear...

It's been an awfully long time since I last posted, sorry folks!
Indeed an awful lot has happened since... after the cats came, then a dog came, then I left the big city, and now we all live in the middle of the loveliest countryside North Wales.
Life is weird and wonderful and full of surprises. High time to revieve this blog!