March moments on the farm

 

Spanner in the works.

It has been one of those days.  

This morning, Farmer needed to level the wood-chip as we are trying to use every last bit before we get another load, so that we can do some maintenence to the store.  In the process he discovered that parts of the floor are rotting through, because the flooring used does not seem to have been made using marine ply.. so the moisture in the chip has slowly been dampening and rotting the floor.  Replacing it will be a big job.

The orange flowers in the right hand corner of this photograph are the Bog Asphodel seed heads.

Then Farmer went off to cut some more bracken and the gear box on the mower went.  He came back to the farm and the final straw..

 ...was breaking his spanner doing this.  What was there left for the poor man to do?  He came for a walk with me to Haunn.

 It has been very windy today, so not very good for capturing flowers.

The week in pictures at Treshnish

Winter sun on reeds near Haunn.

Hopefully not. New chicken shed door.

Our oldest hen. Scots Dumpy.

Getting cottages ready for half term guests.

Ancient geranium in Shian window.

Signs of growth in the garden. Rhubarb.

Mist over Caliach Point.

Blue light over Sound of Coll.

Concentrating sheep dog.

Winter maintenence.

Changeover day at Haunn; counting little angels

It was lovely at Haunn today. The sun was shining and the air was clear. Birds singing, swallows diving in under the eaves of the blackhouses to carefully hidden nests. It isnt often I get a chance to help on a Saturday, and it was so nice being down there, and working in the cottages. In between times when I don't work down there, I sometimes forget the cottages now have electricity, and that the changeovers are more straightforward now because of that! No need to lug a generator in case you needed a hoover! I did have time to take some photos and look for orchids.

Buoys collected by guests and left as mementos. We have been at Treshnish for 17 years, but these cottages at Haunn have been holiday cottages for alot longer than that, and there are families who have been coming here on holiday for more than 30 years! Our first summer one of the regular families left a little carved cross (made from driftwood) on the mantelpiece in West Cottage. It is still there 17 years later, along side a pretty painted stone which they also made. It started a 'tradition' of guests leaving tiny little tokens - whether it is a painted stone, or a carving, or an oil painting of a mermaid. We have a collection of buoys from the shore behind the Studio, but I liked the way these ones had been left here, so I have left them too.

10 days after the storms, the bracken is putting up fresh fronds - alarmingly quickly. The young trees near the house still look very dead, fingers crossed they will produce a second leaf. We worry about the 2,000 trees we planted 3 years ago, whether they will survive.

Small white orchid, slightly battered and still to unfurl. Near Toechtamhor.

Ferns in the kail-yard beside West Cottage, Haunn. Fresh shoots in contrast to the storm battered burnt fronds behind.

The garden around East, Middle and West looking lovely. The foxgloves have appeared after the storms of 10 days ago, unscathed.

East Cottage windowsill.

This fuchsia was hit by the storm.

This one was not.

Farmer has been busy today. The cheviot gimmers (now ewes) were brought up with their lambs, so they can be checked over and counted. The lambs so quickly grow in size from the skinny loose skinned 'little angels' 6 weeks ago! Gimmers are less likely to have twins first time round, so Farmer was fairly pleased with the result we got, and J. who was helping him was kind about the size of the lambs!

The not quite so little 'angels'.

One of our neighbours tups, with the natural re-gen woodland in the distance.