Another lamb to the flock this evening, Bambi has lambed – healthy looking and black.
Nora is now in the byre with her 2 ewe lambs as they are looking fairly spindly and weak. Geese and goslings also closed up in the salmon bin
Nora gave birth to twin lambs this morning both very small, we’ll have to get them in the byre overnight as it is still very cold and showery. Geraldine’s lamb, born 3 days ago, is looking very healthy, which is remarkable given the conditions.
Down to 4 goslings now – another one has succumbed to the cold and wet overnight. Will try to corral them into the salmon bin overnight to ensure that they stay safe and dry.
This is the worst weather for May that we have experienced since coming to Shetland 8 years ago, the animals are really suffering for it and the grass has stopped growing. Just hope is starts improving soon.
Day of horrendous weather – gale force winds and driving rain. Lost one gosling overnight and another later. Moved the geese from North Park to the salmon bin shelter on the rigs as they tried to cross the burn in flood and the goslings got swept down, which is what caused the second fatality. Subsequently lost a third gosling to a Raven – came out to see it flying off with gosling in it’s beak.
Had to move one ewe and lamb to the byre as it wasn’t doing very well outside in the wind and rain.
Also had to move another ewe as she was about to lamb in an inappropriate place, on the bank of the burn in flood between to ditches full of running water. With water logged ground behind her she was effectively on a island, one false stagger from the lamb and it would be swept away! She ,Geraldine, eventually lambed late in the evening when mercifully the worst of the weather had passed and we now have our 4th lamb of the season.
Finally got the tatties in the ground today, ground still to wet to work extensively but dry enough to get the tatties in. They will still need to be mulched but that can be done over the next couple of weeks. List of varieties listed below:-
Broad beans also planted out – they were sown in modules in the polytunnel in March and were desperate to get out.
Carrot bed also forked over, will need raking before planting but looking good.
Our Faorese geese have hatched out 8 goslings who are now happily wandering around the park. Hopefully they’ll fare better than last year when they also hatched out 8 but only 3 made it to maturity the rest were lost to predators, most likely blackbacks or bonxies. It’s also fair to say that of the 3 that made it to adulthood only one survived past christmas (and very tasty they were too!). The survivor has joined the flock so there ae now 3 geese protecting the young which should enhance their chances of survival
Lambing is going reasonably well from our modest flock of Shetland sheep, we currently have 3 lambs from 3 ewes. Still have 5 more to lamb but as they were on the hill over winter not expecting them to lamb for another week or so, which is probably just as well given the atrocious weather we have had so far this spring!
Unfortunately we did lose our oldest ewe during lambing, she was OK last thing at night but dead in the park in the morning – RIP Tornyear
Sunday 8th Jan seemed to be the first dry, still day we’ve had for weeks and we managed to get out and take some photos and do some work
The lambs are doing well and looking healthy, although they do seem to be permanently hungry.
The 4 ewes we have left in-bye have been tupped and I assume the 5 left to their own devices on the hill are fine. As soon as it’s a nice day I’ll take a walk to see if I can find them just to make sure.
Dogs are enjoying a nice day (relatively) for a change, even Josh is growling less at the pups.
Nearly time to start work on the garden and polytunnel. We leave the old dead foliage and stems on for as long as possible in the garden to provide shelter and food for the birds. Started clearing the polytunnel beds ready for planting – early tatties will be planted at the end of the month.
I made some buttons earlier, here is a small sample all packed and ready for selling!
Geraldine’s fleece has been soaking in a large bucket of soft water for a few days, which was changed daily to loosen dirt etc – this process is very suited to ancient breeds like the Shetland, something to do with how much lanolin is in fleece but in any case it really makes the eventual wash much easier.
Several very hot washes with no agitation but plenty of soap later, thank goodness I have a large deep sink.
Oops think the camera has steamed up! Now in the huge pot with lots of vinegar just coming up to simmer. The fleece needs to be just covered with liquid but I’m afraid I don’t measure anything and just eyeball the amounts of distilled white vinegar. This fleece has been divided into two and probably about 750mls of white distilled vinegar added. Be warned the kitchen (and house) will smell very vinegary for a while but it is needed to set the dye.
Again sorry about the pic, you can’t see it but the fleece is starting to gently bubble – just before that I splodged (technical term) food grade acid dye in a variety of colours – cooked until the surrounding water was clear. My house is sort of off the grid as we have a septic tank which has lots of little beasties doing what they do best in it and woe betide anyone who puts any nasty chemicals in. When the dye is exhausted (phew by this time I know I am) I turn the whole fleece over with tongs or masher which I keep just for these occasions and check for any white bits. These in themselves are not a problem and if left to be spun in when dry would just make the colours lighter and more pastel. If there are lots of white bits I just chuck in more vinegar and more dye and leave for another 15 to 20 mins or so. Much of this technique was inspired by Ashley Martineau of Neauveau Fiber Art who is a very talented fibre female and one whom I admire.
This is one fleece now drying outside in the sun, but two batches of dyebath. This means I split the wet fleece into two batches but they went in after one another. This really saves on water and heating etc. So once the dye has exhausted remove the fleece – I just pull it out with the masher into the sink to drain. The waiting fleece goes into the remaining liquid with a vinegar refresher and another set of colours. One batch was yellows, reds, orange and green and the second was purples, blues and pinks. It does take a while to dry here and as yet I haven’t been able to spin as I’m still waiting.
Cotton grass in the late evening sun and the sheep up on the hill
