Heat, Health, Sheep,

and a bucket list with a difference

Make Hay While the Sun Shines. Or Not.

Heat has finally arrived, and already we’re complaining about it. Not to be picky, but when I said I needed some warmth, I was thinking fairly specifically around the 22 - 24C mark.

What we’ve had is 28C or higher, and with 20,000% humidity. Or at least that’s what it felt like.

Once again we have been unable to find anyone to cut our hay. We did find one person with the kit to make small bales, but he wasn’t willing to come out for less than ten acres. I was supposed to make some with a scythe, but I’ve been feeling quite poorly for the last few weeks, and we went from hopelessly too wet to ridiculously hot without missing a beat. So my scything has been very much not happening.

The result is we will have to buy hay for the goats and the pony, and put the sheep over deferred grazing again. Sigh.

My Main Asset

I think muddling along not dealing with health and wellbeing is a common thread for a) anyone who runs a farm or smallholding, b) women during and after the menopause, c) un/diagnosed neuro-divergents and probably another half dozen subsets to which I belong as well, so I’m a beyond hope. I keep telling myself that if I had more energy, was stronger, and all round fitter, I’d be doing all this better.

We have a great local health club, which is a five minute drive away. We’ve joined before and because I love swimming, (it helps both my mental and physical health, particularly when some joints (I’m looking at you, left shoulder) aren’t playing the game,) just economising and buying myself a couple of weights and a skipping rope isn’t always a great option. The problem is of course, it costs money.  

The barn flooded so badly this winter, we simply cannot do another winter without having work done to lift the floor up.  The gateway into the main field ditto. We don’t have the time or the kit to do those jobs, so we are going to have to pay someone else to do them. This will run quietly into four figures, optimistically.

Why am I prepared to spend that money we haven’t got, over the money we haven’t got to improve my health.  I’m not really asking, by the way. I’m reflecting. It’s an uncomfortable conversation I’m having with myself here.

In the Sheep Seats

H and I went to the National Sheep Association sheep event, on another scorcher of a day, with no air con in the car, and a couple of sessions to attend inside a marquee which was inside a barn.  It’s a good job there were a lot of sheep there who smelled even worse than us. 

The seminars were informative and it was especially interesting to listen to a new government minister talk about his approach to food, farming, and rural communities. 

We are fiercely competitive for the freebies, and my entire biennial stock of pens is picked up at this event. I also ended  up with six cotton tote bags, several hats, a stress cow, numerous key rings and a car air freshener from a ewe milk replacer company. I hope to goodness it doesn’t smell like the milk replacer which makes me wretch.

Despite our best efforts, we failed to locate the stand which was dishing out free buckets - or to be more accurate, three stands. To our increasing dismay, everyone and his brother (or rather sister, to be fair) was carrying their loot around in one of three branded buckets - some of them had a full set!

It was late in the day when we tracked down the stands, and they had run out of free buckets! We were devastated. That will teach us to spend valuable grabbing time listening to the Defra minister and the NSA’s plans for sustainability in the sheep industry.

In a final twist of fate, H won a prize in the tombola which was in fact one of those buckets. Full of milk replacer!

The Heat Goes On

I wish I had been productive in the garden, but I have to admit, it’s been just too hot. I have been down a few times, but apart from observing a charm of goldfinches, failing to identify numerous butterflies (how do you even do that, they don’t stay still long enough!) and just about keeping everything alive, I have been in slow mode.

Gatekeeper? Who knows. They flit around too fast for me!

I am now able to do a certain amount of my VA work from the field - battery life of my laptop is the limiting factor.  I did have some big blocks of work to do though, and I fear opted for the office with the fan on instead. 

We sold eggs from the gate for a day or two, before it became really not sensible to leave eggs out in the ambient temperature. 

Dairy Dilemmas

Mabel’s kids have now been moved to the nursery at night. Mabel is over the moon. She’s properly fed up with the little terrorists. Now we slowly start to bring her into milk, which means we have a lot more of the white elixir.

My soft cheese making is hit and miss, and miss, and miss, and maybe hit. I really need to get back to a more scientific approach. It’s a tall order with my tiny urban kitchen, but I must find a way.  Yoghurt, now that’s another matter. 

I love yoghurt and could eat a lot of it. It’s a great food for diabetics, and arguably not too awful  all round. Can I make it? Not to save my life. I’ve tried every quick/easy slow/complicated natural/adulterated method known to man. I’ve had an actual yoghurt making thingy (actually just a warm plate and 7 jars) and I’ve tried using my slow cooker/Instantpot. Yes, I have tried everything. 

Goats’ milk is, I believe, a particular challenge but even so, after nearly 20 years with goats, I’m sure I should have cracked it. But no, stringy, paint like goop is my best offering.

Do please hit me with your infallible goats milk yoghurt recipes.