It must be Spring!

First lambs of the season, with Granda's eager helpers....no coats it really was a Spring day today!

The way we were!

This is a photograph of a scanned image of a photograph taken at this time of year when there were hay stooks in the fields....I'm guessing about 60 years ago.....that's our white house on the left... looks a bit of a drieke kind of a day but it is an old photograph!

This is the same view taken this evening at 7.30pm...the little stone bothy is gone and there's a new hay shed, a cattle shed on the left, two big sheep sheds on the right and lots more trees for shelter belts...this can be a windy valley....silage bales are in the field these days....

I can't say 'all is safely gathered in' just yet but you have to take advantage of this good weather while you can!

Look what we got!

Our tractor man could hardly believe his eyes when he came across this out in the fields yesterday.....

Luckily my DH brought them inside as it was minus 15 celsius here this morning!

DH said....'Well it's a start'!

Sure is....we don't start lambing till April 1st...lol...!

In the line up today.....

It's that time of year again, when the boys (tups) get together with the girls (ewes)!

Doesn't he like the camera!

You would think that I had set up this photo when in fact I took it on a zoom lens......that's a new tup, handsome isn't he!  

When you sell a tup at the mart, you have to show him off at his best...the 'fashion' at the moment is to dye the wool this golden colour, (sometimes even darker), polish up their horns and faces with baby oil and wash their legs.....the dye in the wool does eventually fade!

His 'ladies' think he's OK! 

'Pastures New'!

It's time for the puppies to go, they all have new homes to go to, (except for 'Ruby', she is staying here with Jed)...two of them are off to Ireland....it's sad but good news too....hopefully they will turn out to be good sheepdogs..........

They are so cute.....

Our New Farrier!

We had the Farriers here today to shoe three horses...Bess, Moth and Dibbley all had new shoes,

This is David the 'Boss', he's seating the shoe on Bess...

Neil is an apprentice in his second year of training (still has three more years to go, UK rules) and the DS of some our friends and neighboring farmers, Neil got to put back shoes on Dibbley today, he did a great job...'Well Done" Neil!

Clematis Mary Rose!

This is a beautiful clematis...I love the yellow stamens againt the pink petals...nature gives us some wonderful colour schemes!

Educating Jed!

Guess Jed has never seen ponies before.....

I think She's hiding something!

What could it be?

Play the video to find out!
Sorry...there is a bit of noise pollution...




Last night one of the six chicks got left behind when mother hen and the rest of her clutch went into hiding for the night but fortunately he was making plenty of little cheep cheep noises to attract our attention, the little chick spent the night in the house in the warm.  Today we caught them all up and put them in a coup for safety!

So cute and it's not even Easter.....

A New addition to the family?

Look at the new addition to the family........

This is Jed, she's a bitch, I know but my DH chose the name (a strong name is very important),?????

Jed isn't going to be a house dog, hopefully she will be a really good sheepdog,  when she's older and my DH has trained her..... he's very good at that!!!!

It's Lambing Time in the Scottish Borders!

Spring is a busy time for farmers.. thought you might like to see a few photograghs taken at random over the past few weeks!

In the lambing sheds....

Newly born, still wet and wobbly...

My Grandson taking a break from helping his Granda...

Two of our homebred two year old fillys waiting to be fed a couple of weeks ago when  it snowed! 

It's wonderful when the weather is fine...just what young lambs need!

Down by the riverside!

The men are busy in the sheep pens dosing sheep!

Great view from where I am sitting!!!

I had a bit of company while filling the hay nets...

Can you see her?

 

She was busy...

Eggs for breakfast!!

Home is where the 'Heart' is!

So what is the heart of your home?




This is mine!

It's an AGA and I love it!

This stove just sits there pumping out heat 24 hours a day.... unlike my previous stove, you don't have to stoke it, clean out the flues or chimney, or take out the ashes (which always used to scatter and fall leaving a trail of dust everywhere). It doesn't belch out smoke, soot or fumes and we don't have to carry in endless supplies of wood and stove nuts! I used to paint my kitchen every year, but with this stove every 2 or 3 years is fine!

This stove is oil fed, now I know maybe it is not so environmentally friendly but after 25 years of carrying fuel and ashes I love that it is oil fed!

Agas were designed in 1922, originally made in Sweden out of cast iron and are still made today the only thing that has changed about them is the ability to burn fuel more economically and there is now a more varied range of colours, ours is a dark royal blue.  We've had this stove for three years now, it only needs to be serviced every 12 - 18 months.  It's actually a refurbished stove and has been totally re-enamelled, so I have done something to save the planet!

You can cook on the top, the Aga’s ovens really look after your food, you can put a casserole in the bottom oven and leave it all day and it will be perfect when you return home cold, wet and tired.You can cook your Christmas turkey over night and it's always lovely and juicy!

I even made quilted hob covers to stop the stainless steel tops from being scratched, my husband calls them hand warmers.

The Aga makes a farmhouse kitchen into what it should be, the heart of your home, always warm and inviting, and over lambing time its also a great place to warm up those cold and weary lambs that just need a little help in front of the Aga to get going!

No affiliation to the company.... On days like today, I just love my Aga!!!

It's Calving time!!!

There is always something going on around here, at the moment it's calving time!

The cows have to be checked regularly throughout the day to make sure there are no complications....

If a cow calves on her own that's just great but often there has to be human intervention, maybe the calf has a leg back or is coming totally backwards, (that's a dangerous situation and has to be dealt with quickly or the calf will die).

Most times everything goes along fine and everyone is happy!!!!!