Hay Making.

We've never regretted our 'tree change' into the ranges. When driving home from the city one feels the stresses fall away the closer home gets and the freedom to walk across our fields with the dogs is wonderful. So it was a shock to us during our first spring when the once cropped, short grasses suddenly shot up to thigh height and then there were all the fire prevention messages and so panic set in! What to do? There's the expense of buying your own grass cutting equipment but there's a big difference in price between a ride-on-mower and a tractor plus parts, so we got a ride-on. That's when learning about the local contractor or a friendly neighbour becomes vital and they can then come to the rescue. Every year our hay field is cut then left to dry. Yesterday it was raked and then baled by our neighbours and those bales will be shared between us. Across the district hay making is in full swing and a patch work pattern covers the landscape.



Keeping chickens.

I never realised that owning chickens would be such a pleasure and that two would be such a handful. After a few weeks settling into their new coop we let them out into an extended run and also our covered vegetable garden. They loved it, being able to scratch around and digging up our seedlings! At bedtime one was easy to catch, she'd sit down and tuck her head down as if she thought; 'This is it, I'm going to die!' The other is a free spirit, she runs and twists away as we attempt to grab her.  We finally resorted to an old fishing net. All this just to put them to bed! The only down side so far is the lack of eggs. Only a 50% production rate, one of them has to get its act together.

Iris's

These are last years iris's however this year there are only a few spikes and I blame the unusally warm September!