Feb 2020

What a busy few months! Since last posting a fair few things have changed here.

In December 2019 we welcomed our herd of Alpacas to West Heads and Agnethea, Baina, Amyra and Sienna became the latest additions to join us here. Very exciting!! Big learning curve though I must admit. I knew there was a reason why I HATE rushes sorry “ Rashes” so much. Liver Fluke. Now I have even more vigour to annihilate them!

The weather has not been on our side. The relentless rain and snow fall has made things tough and very very slow.

Remedial roofing works have been set back by months due to the prolonged periods of rain or winds gusting at crazy speeds no thanks to Caira, Dennis and Jorge of late. The thought of a paragliding with a cambrit sheet down the Irvine Valley is less than appealing.

Albeit, our plans are moving forward…..

August 19

Broody Hen incubates ducklings, Kune Kune’s arrive and Flowers

What a busy month! Maleficent the broody hen got her wish and was provided with 6 fertilised duck eggs, three of which made it to being the cutest wee balls of fluff. Maleficent has been the most attentive albeit confused dook momma ( dook being an amalgamation of chook and duck :) especially when they happily splash an entire water feeders worth of drinking water around the hen house.

My three wee ( or not so wee now) Kune Kune piglets came home to become collectively known as the pylon pigs due to the location of their new home. Penelope, Wallace and Bruce have become firm favourites on the farm! They really are adorable, fun and quite captivating creatures. They will happily roll over for a tummy rub, massage and lots of attention.

And finally the flowers have appeared!! The 200 upwards mixtures of bulbs and countless amounts of seeds have emerged and I must say mother nature really does look beautiful this year.

July 19- All change!

It’s been a while since I last graced the pages of this blog. I last posted in the midst of winter when pretty much nothing worked here.

After the caravan toilet froze ( technically the water did) and we evacuated for a few days to the coast we fast forward a few months.

Bella lived out her days and went to chook heaven. I was a bit traumatised by her passing. So in memorandum I bought four new girls who are all named after Disney characters, different from their psychopathic counterparts.

Maleficent is currently broody. Having never experienced a broody hen I took advice and she’s now sat on six fertilised duck eggs. Tbc….

The house has continued to plod along. At points I expected Kevin McLeod to appear and rattle off an adage about how slow the project was going whilst marvelling at our tenacity for finding the strength to keep going…

In honesty a visit from the postcode lottery people would of been much more appreciated, big cheque in hand and a sense of impending renovation turn arounds….

Alas that was not the case. Crap weather and other things took over .

Thank the lord for Carl the master craftsman who can do eveything in the house and not forgetting the marvel that is Ayrshire’s strongest man aka Gareth. They are the dream team! Unlike today’s duo sucking shit from the septic tank.

Don’t ask - I have brain rot from dealing with it.

Chooks!!! February

The snow is still with us. How joyous. Just what we want to kickstart February. Alas my chooks from my recently christened “ Chooktopia” were out and about experiencing snow for the first time.

I would never of thought chickens would be such fun pets. I was wrong, completely wrong. After inheriting Giles ( RIP) and Bella the (chook formally known as Scabella) we, sorry I, was given four more.

Harlequin - Mamma chook, total bitch, do not trust she will go full cannibal if left un-reprimanded.

Thelma - 3rd in command after Bella put her in her place. Bit dotty but doesn’t take any messing around.

Bella - I was really worried about Bella being introduced to the others as she had been pals with Giles. Thelma went for her and Bella pecked her down that order. She’s a doll.

Louise - Shy, allows others to be mean. Likes ready brek and bananas

Vilanelle - God love her. She like the others bar Bella was an ex bat and had cleary had an awful time of it being bullied. Her wing feathers have been badly damaged and the vet isn’t sure they will come back. Needless to say this wee lady has perked up no end and has recently started to fight her wee corner. She equally loves ready brek and follows you around like me chasing David to do something for me.

So there you have it. I sound a bit mental.They are cool wee characters to have bumbling around. They are like living garden installation art. ( How ridiculous does that sounds haha) I’ve been informed that having a “ Chooktopia” set up with a massive light on a timer, a selection of fine chook feeds and supplements as well as a daily treat of fruit salad is not the norm…..Lets face it, none of what we are doing is in any vague sphere of the “norm”.

Above - Inside the politics and workings of Chooktopia. Note Harlequin, top perch overseeing her minions.

December - January- Xmas and Snow

December - January -Not much happens. Festivities take over. January is the most depressing month of the year and the snow once again returns.

Below are some pretty pictures. I’ll return to the blog in February.

Roof begins and David turns King of the Trees - December

FINALLY ……… The totally knackered roof and subsequent repair works are underway.

Fifteen years has taken its toll on the house and the roof was looking worse for wear to say the least. After a fair amount of let downs and speculation as to how actually to go about doing it our contractor finally got it moving.

And in true Scottish fashion the weather was 100% not on our side. Every time the guys go near the roof you are guaranteed from nowhere, regardless of how much weather watching you have done, the rain will appear in all its glory.

In between the persistent rain and overall dire weather spells David and our neighbour Troy started collecting wood from the wee glen from the fallen trees.

Our life now has the ambient (or not so) playlist of driving rain bouncing off everything or the variable power hmmm of working chain saws….. Bose noise cancelling headphones. I applaud you!

Mini Diggers and Bricks - November

This was the month in which David learnt how to use a mini digger. Upon realising that it requires a degree of expertise, patience and skill the digger has subsequently been used by those who have adequate training :)

I shouldn’t scoff as I was really really hoping that gigantic pile of bricks which had lain there for a few months had been either crushed or moved by now.

The illusive rubble crusher. Whilst going through this project you really do start to learn about the most random things and believe me a mid sized rubble crusher is like finding a golden fleece from one of the escapee wooly nibblers from someone else farm a few miles away.

Work is slow, morale has dipped but the universe is laughing… just look at the rainbow over those bricks….

Visits, Food festival and Giles - September - October

The site is still plodding along! its taken a good while but most of the debris has been either taken away or piled up ready to be repurposed. Who would of thought used bricks would actually end up being of use!

Ruben from Locavore came down to visit us to chat over some of our initial ideas which was great to have a fresh pair of eyes on the place. He also managed to do a spot of wild foraging whilst on site and found a rather large puff ball mushroom. ( expanding foam continuation)

On the subject of food we also attended our first food festival in the shape of Newmilns Food festival.

For a local initiative its a fantastic thing to do and have for the local community. It was really encouraging to see so many local folk and producers coming together to showcase their produce and to engage with the community in such a positive and informed manner.

And Giles the rooster and his pal Bella unexpectedly came to live with us ….

Aug - Topping and Puffballs

You simply have no idea unless your David or Drew ( Farmer Drew) as to how excited I was about getting the fields topped. The thing is I seemed to have acquired a bizarre and almost obsessive fascination/ hatred of the rushes ( pronounced “ Rashes” in Ayrshire) that had been left to colonise and plague the fields.

As much fun ( not the word many would choose to associate with doing so) as it is to try and decapitate them with a bush cutter - strimmer you really need a tractor , some attachments and a few hours of work to make any sort of difference.

So during the glorious spell of weather we had the tractor top and bail the fields and boy, they looked oh so pretty.

Another curious thing popped up in the drive garden… much to my annoyance it looked like someone had dumped expanding foam in the garden over night. Enraged by such clatty behaviour I went to inspect, however, upon closer inspection it became apparent that the “ expanding foam” liked to grow when it rained.

Obviously it wasn’t foam. It was a rather bizarre mushroom called a puff ball ( which was later taken and eaten by Ruben). Another of many firsts here.

June - Growing

Doesn’t it all look rather wholesome? We actually managed to grow veg and fruits without causing some repercussive chaos theory type endeavour. Yes that is a bath. (Yes that was the bath out of the house which matches the avocado loo and sink)

June really was a magical month in terms of general plant growth around the farm. After clearing out masses of crap and impressively sized ( 6-10ft high 2 -3 ft deep) swathes of brambles the previous residents plants and trees started to shine through.

Nancy had clearly loved her garden. The trees dotted about the place are timed to suit the seasons, as are the plants which come to life throughout winter to summer. Snow drops to daffodils. and not forgetting our potatoes…and David’s labour intensive potato stacks!