Sorry!

Sorry it has been a while since my last blog. However, I do, sort of, have an excuse. I have had food poisoning; I think it was some cheesecake that had been left out of the fridge for too long. Anyhow, I am still paying for the privilege of the cheesecakes. That will teach me! Although I have been a little under the weather since my last blog, things have still been happening.

The alpacas are coming along brilliantly. However, I did decide to take a sideway step with them, as I wanted to build a stronger bond between us, instead of them thinking that every time they saw me, I would be doing something with them. I have therefore used their first love, food, to help me along. The girls are much more friendly with me now and those around, who feed them, so things are going well. I still do my weekly checks of them and give them a tickle when feeding but all in all, it has mainly been building trust. I will be starting back with the halter training very soon, but I need to feel better to do this and they also need to be in a good place. Their shelter needs a good clean out so that will be being carried out tomorrow. The only issue is that a little wren has decided to try and make nests in the hay wrack. Do I leave the hay and just change the others? I don’t have the heart to pull down all her hard work. I think that I will see if she is using it and if so, leave it.

The chickens are all doing well but they are well and truly fed up with flockdown. Flockdown, is due to avian flu outbreaks. However, to cheer them up, we have erected a larger run and prepared a shed for them, so that they will have much more room and we can also add to the flock. However, we are waiting for the shed to dry properly, following being treated, before putting the birds in there. I think that is as frustrating for us as it is for them, we are desperate to see how much they like their new home.

The plants are coming along well, although I haven’t had as much time as I would like seed sowing. My broad beans from last year have grown well and have started to get flowers. I was a bit worried as we had a hard frost a couple of nights ago, but all seems well. I had covered plants over, but you never know if the cold will penetrate what you have put in place. I fluffed up some sheep fleece and draped it over my peas and that seems to have done the trick. I have started to use sheep fleece a lot for one thing and another. I place it on the raised bed as a mulch to stop weeds etc; I use it to warm the soil or cover over seeds when planted, to keep warm and keep moisture in. Also, the slugs don’t like it so that’s another bonus. It can also go in your compost bin, but I have far better use of it than this. The one issue I have had, is that something found my sweet pea seeds extremely yummy and eat every single one!

That’s about it from me this week. I promise, I will try and update on a weekly basis again now. Remember to check out my and Facebook pages for updates. I hope you like the photos to go with the blog.

Take care all and catch you soon x