For once I am ahead of the game in following Government policy. I forgot the sugar in the raspberry and white chocolate muffins for the holiday cottage guests. They were either too polite (being English) to say or didn’t notice. Mike treats sugar as if it is poisonous so didn’t comment when eating one of what we refer to as ‘the ugly ones’ that are not aesthetically pleasing, bit like wonky veg in supermarket. I once offered Mike a chocolate before 6.00 pm….you’d think from his reaction I had offered crack cocaine (while watching Antiques roadshow).
| We have babies, so cute, one popping out after the other, so we then had a blitz on tagging before we got in a muddle. You wouldn’t think it, but you grab a calf to identify the mum and five come charging over at the slightest baby moo noise. This is why we work together on tagging in case ‘mum’ decides we are harming her baby. Both our eldest sons have been knocked flying by a maternal cow. I just cannot wait to turn the stock out to grass, I am sick to death of bedding up cattle yards. One night I did the usual and fell asleep on the settee only to wake to a deserted house, Mike had gone to check the cows (late) and found one calving. Despite our best efforts we lost the calf which was premature. Nothing we could have done would have made a difference. I had the ‘Mr Grumpy’ mug all the next day but luckily my grump lifted. |  |
 | We have had Will Smith helping us over Easter and what a fantastic help he has been. The pattern usually with youth is:- Small children: Want to help like their life depends on it, but mostly (though I wouldn’t say anything to them) get in the way and take a huge amount of supervision as totally fearless and oblivious to danger. Teenage stage: They know everything, break stuff, strong as an ox but got a bit of an ‘attitude’*. In fact we have named a method of kicking straw around a pen as ‘the teenage method’. It has to be accompanied by moaning about the unfairness of life. Just realised that could apply to your average farmer! Late teens/early 20’s: (later for slow developers who will remain nameless). ACTUALLY useful, willing and able to get up in the morning but are savvy enough to want payment in exchange for work. The cheek of it! Go away to the ‘bright city lights’ declaring those left behind as a bunch of wurzels and boarder line ‘simpletons’. Come back several years later realising we live is a beautiful place with a great lifestyle and being a wurzel is cool (penniless and smelly but cool). NB: *this attitude applies to ‘home reared’ helpers, not bought in. |
| I often think it must be hard for Mike who has seen so many of these ‘helpers’ move on to become captains of industry with their own businesses/careers. Proper grown-ups, every one of them fantastic…..some still paying for the psychiatry bills after being put inside a silage bag to look for holes (Mike thought he could save money by using them twice in the 1980’s). This I hasten to add was ‘pre-me’ who keeps an eye on things. I love it when they come back to see us and Mike conveniently has an amnesia attack when they remind him of the list of ‘horror/character building jobs’ given to youngest member of team. |  Our helper booked up for 2030 |
We have had a spate of injured horses in the yard which we hope will make full recoveries soon. This sort of stuff is not uncommon; a slight twist in wrong direction on wet ground can be serious. It’s so tempting to put stock out too early and damage themselves and the paddocks. We are keeping cows/cattle in until it is properly dry. Paddock management is a real art which in fairness most have grasped really well. In part this may be down to the annual ‘Paddock management competition’ which means the winner has £50 off the livery invoice.
Right now I should be doing invoicing and the dreaded accounts but as Mike has ‘escaped’ back onto the farm under pretext of some emergency (yeah right?) and I decided I would rather be writing. Keeping Mike in the office is like hanging onto a lit firework.
The holiday cottage is booking up fast for the next few months. I have a three day gap at end of April if anybody is interested? I took a booking for five men who were going to Cheltenham races. As soon as I had done it I had doubts. Well I have to say, they left the cottage immaculate, everything in place, clean, tidy and a little gift to say thank you. But despite being policemen they didn’t find the chocolate orange. One of my helpers said “wow….are they all married? I want one like that”.
Nye’s album came out and (he will hate me for saying this) I am very proud of him. Nye James Music: Careworn: The Hill.
 Spring has sprung; at least Archie seems to think so. | I love these lighter evenings. Everything seems to become easier in the Spring/Summer. It's a pity that there was not enough snow to sledge. While the UK grinds to a halt in a thin layer of snow, we grease our toboggan runners and have fun. It’s sad to lose yet another old tree. Far too many have blown over; some of our neighbour’s trees seem to have become diseased so we are keeping a careful eye for damage to our own.  |
Have started to ‘dip my toe’ into equine holidays. I put an advert out and had a lot of interest but not a firm booking. In part that was probably because the only days I have free are at the end of April so it’s very short notice if somebody has to take time off work. If anybody is interested in a holiday please do not hesitate to contact me.
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