Week 5

Monday - No David - he was ill, and no Ben, so Mike was our volunteer along with Hilary.   He and William spent a happy morning planning and making a 'hatch' through the fence to the sheep field, to make a pen for the hens & ducks.  We felt they needed more 'grass' stuff to scratch about in.  Coln House School arrived at lunch time, with 5 students.  We split up, girls doing mucking out horses, and the boys with me.  One of them came up with a really bright idea!  We couldn't find Lucy (sister's) electric pig fencing anywhere, so made a temporary fence out of some of the hundreds of tyres left from the 'sylage pit', we had cleared away from the site in August.
Meanwhile, William and Curtis helped with the 'trap door'.   Hilary & I have marked out a path at the back of the poly tunnel leading from the double doors.

the hens make their bid for freedom!

Wednesday, we had Danny, Simon & Tom.  Great excitement from Danny, as we had heard that one of the ewes in the main flock, had signs of a 'prolapse' (stomach starting to fall out the back end!)  Of course he was desperate to go and see if we could find it!  The guys finished off the hatch in the hen/duck pen, and watched as the first hens escaped into their new field (see photo) Bob & Simon had made a bird box for Danny the week before, and Danny painted it with Bob.  He and the guys then (when the paint was barely dry!) marched off up the track to find a suitable resting place for the box - the first tree he saw i think!   We took Danny off before he left and did indeed find the 'prolapse' ewe - with the green spot & blue eartag - thank goodness!  Actually it had only just started, so hopefully the special harness designed for prolapsing, will hold the stomach back inside until she lambs next month.  The guys worked really hard all afternoon, raking & working the beds for the soft fruit area out back of the poly tunnel, and filled our 'herb wall' ready to plant up.  They also finished filling our first raised bed.  Tom was so tired he apparently fell asleep before they'd got to the end of the drive on the way home!

Cerney House Gardens

Thursday, we had a more peaceful day - planting sweet peas, and sugar snaps with Tom.  We have been given a ladybird house, and Si and Mike de-constructed it, so that we can work out how to make one ourselves.  They had used silver birch wood for the main 'house' - our ash was much tougher to drill - we may have to re-think, or raid Mum & Dad's garden for a softer wood!  In the afternoon, we walked down to Cerney House Gardens, just below the farm.   We spent a lovely hour wandering around, getting ideas for ours, and admiring all the snow drops.  It really is a lovely garden, and we can't wait to visit again to see the tulips in April!  It's certainly given us a great idea for our paths...using wood chips; it would be much more accessible for disabled users, in the future.