Down to the dilatory dozen in the lambing polytunnel – and the ewe with the cute but poorly premature twins who will probably never make it despite endless attention. Our vet student has got everything organized and the bunch that has gone out to what passes for grass is doing well.
The three bottle-fed piglets are still sleeping next to the lambing pens in their house of straw which despite Lily the sheepdog’s efforts is surprisingly hard to blow down. This weekend they move back in with their own species where they can go in the piglet creep and try their luck with the sows.
Stitchy got an infection in his wound, mainly because the other pigs wouldn’t leave it alone, and has gone to a better place where pigs with three and a half legs don’t get picked on and are valued as individuals.
Pentland Plants turned up yesterday with an artic load of woodchip for the outdoor pig run. We’ve scraped off the topsoil for landscaping round the new shop and now we’re spreading the chip to give the pigs in the shed a place to go out and root during the winter. It will also be their designated smoking area.
Onion sets all planted and the rooks have left most of them where we put them. On our scale this is a time-consuming crop to plant, harvest and dry but at least the ones planted through the plastic mulch shouldn’t need much weeding. Latest plans for the community bakery include an onion drying area above the wood-fired oven just in case the September sun at Whitmuir isn’t enough to bake them outside.
Potatoes to go in next – though we are still getting ice on the chicken drinkers most mornings the frost won’t do them any harm now – and then the carrots, swedes, beetroot and parsnips. The Ford 3000 which we use for the vegetable work started without fuss after the winter, and we get by without satnav and a cd player in the cab.
Busy evenings next week, with the talk on sustainable fish rescheduled for Monday and then a planning meeting for the community bakery on Tuesday. On Wednesday we’re talking about the bee education project and the community veg garden – the more people we can get to grow their own, the fewer onion sets we need to plant ourselves..
Good that people have finally been able to get home after that volcano, but the fall-out will last a lot longer. After bird flu and swine flu, people may assume that government always exaggerates the risks – and is doing the same with issues like climate change and food security. Or maybe more people will holiday at home this year rather than risk getting stuck. Perhaps the case for investing in rail rather than air travel will get a boost. But let’s hope that a light dusting of micronutrients brings a little magic to the onions.
