Our potatoes were planted a bit late this year but that doesn't seem to have stopped them growing well. The photo above was taken on 3rd July. The one below was taken just 17 days later. Potatoes are one of our key crops and probably our most important sources of carbohydrates.
Our two young billy goats Ant and Dec have recently turned a year old. They are both in excellent health and are thriving on the vegetation I pick for them each day. They consume between them a heaped barrowful of greenery every day - mainly willowherb, nettles, dock and goosegrass. There is an abundance of these weeds on local footpath verges so we have a ready supply for free food for the boys.
I recently found a day old chick wandering around our Nearside allotment following a hen which was clucking away. I have still not found the nest but I gathered up both and put them into the quail house. Both are doing well but I wonder if there are more unexpected nests waiting to be found.
The lane outside our smallholding has been getting a bit overgrown on the verges. We therefore took the haycutter and trimmed all the verges and the central strip. The byproduct was a large amount of cut grass and vegetation which after a few days was turning into hay. We fed as much as we could to the goats and the rams in the paddocks at the bottom of the site. We will run it over the bottom of field 2 soon to ensure we have another heap of feed for the animals.
This morning I experienced one of those rare occasions where all the animals lined up for an amusing shot at the same time as I was ready with my phone to get a good picture. Our chickens have taken a liking to sitting of Nettle's back. And Nettle herself doesn't mind.
Our two billy goats, Ant and Dec, are living temporarily in the secure paddock on our Farside allotment. We recently dismantled and moved it within the paddock. Ten minutes after finishing, the skies opened and there was a huge, if short, storm and downpour. Fantastic timing.
