The Bowes Show

 

On Saturday we headed to the Bowes Agricultural Show. It was cancelled last year because of the pandemic so I was delighted it was back on this year. We won no first prizes but got one second, two thirds and a fourth. Now that we keep sheep, we spend lots of time watching the sheep competitions.

Deer in the distance

 

I filmed this a few days ago while walking to our smallholding in the evening: two deer on the neighbouring field though they are regular visitors to our land. The camera was on maximum zoom as the deer were is the distance, hence the occasional jumpy image.

Ramesses wrecks the henhouses

 

Ramesses, our latest goat kid, is growing remarkably quickly. This video was filmed a month ago. He had taken a shine to jumping on the henhouses. The bigger and heavier he got, the more damage was done. One of the henhouses ended up with a smashed up roof!

Gooseberry, blackcurrant and apple jelly

 

14 jars of gooseberry, blackcurrant and apple jelly came off the self-sufficiency production line this morning. Sone of the jars will be swapped, some will be sold at craft fairs, the rest will be used by us.

Jam production line

 

Coming off the self-sufficiency production line today: gooseberry jam.

More chicks

 

5 chicks have hatched in one of our incubators over the last 24 hours. They were timed to hatch when one of our hens had been brooding some plastic eggs in the hedge on our livestock allotment and had done her 21 days. I'm pleased to report that the hen has now adopted the chicks.

Making brawn

 

The pigs went to slaughter a couple of weeks ago. We then had five pig heads to use. We made one into brawn,