Good school news - for now...

Changeovers had to be done at Haunn yesterday, and Farmer's Daughter brought her ipod with her, so took a few photographs of West (results above). It was a lovely spring like day, birds singing, heron flying overhead, garden sheltered, warm and sunny, quiet, and when leaving the cottage ready for the next guests (who arrived on bicycles) we both wanted to spend the weekend there ourselves.

On Thursday morning the Agenda papers were published for the 3rd of March Council meeting (Argyll and Bute). This revealed the list of schools the Council are hoping to close. No Mull school was on the list so we have a reprieve. Good news for Mull schools then, and a huge relief, but the Council are intending to keep reviewing the situation which means we cannot think it is over. Our hearts go out to the 10 schools who are on the new list, including Ashfield, a school similar to Ulva in size and with a long single track road journey from the end of their catchment area to the receiving school. One new school is on the list - Clachan - which was a receiving school in the last set of proposals.

Closer to home, the building work on the house continues with an enthusiastic team of local independent builders, who are racing through the work. We should be able to move back in by April 1st when Studio starts being rented for the summer, but we may well be camping.... The woodfibre insulation should arrive this week along with the various tapes and seals that have been specified round the replacement windows to make an airtight seal.

Toechtamhor filled me with dread in 1995 when we first moved here. It was dark, cold and had way too many beds. It always cheers me now when I go into prepare it for guests, that it is not like that any more. Over our first winter we started to banish the dark coldness and took away many of the beds, and I remember a frantic panic trying to finish off the hand built new kitchen for the first guests of 1996. When they arrived we had to advise them not to touch the still wet paint. Over the years we made regular improvements, but the dread memory seems to have stuck, long after the cottage undertook its last transformation in 2005/6 to being bright, light and spacious! Above are Farmer's Daughter's 3 pictures - looking inviting, and below the less inviting appearance of the Farmhouse at the beginning of the week!

Calves, snowdrops, rubble and possible trouble

Snow drops in the farmhouse garden.

So much has been going on on the farm and in the farmhouse that it is quite difficult to think straight. Over the last few weeks the farmyard has been filled with different trades vans and delivery vans swooping in and out, feeding the farmhouse with building materials and builders' energies.

Farmer has been busy keeping up with winter feeding regimes: the cattle indoors, the hoggs in one field, the cheviot gimmers in another, and the tups in a field over by the Point.

And calving is well underway. 9 gorgeous healthy calves so far, and 6 cows still to calve. Three of our four home bred heifers have calved for the first time and without trouble! Sometimes they can be confused after the birth and not realise the calf is theirs. Alternatively they can assume someone else's calf is their own before they have actually calves themselves. Confusion in the cattle shed!

A little joke between builders and electricians.

In between checking that the cows are alright and the feeding regimes, Farmer is working as labourer for the builder brother team working in the farmhouse, wheelbarrows of rubble out, bringing materials in, sweeping up, taking out rotten beams, taking down ceilings, recycling whatever can be re-used. The original re-plumbing job has grown into rebuilding internal walls, rewiring, and goodness knows what else. And a deadline of April 2nd before we move out of Studio back into the house. Should be a fun few weeks.

The generation meter showing 2.3kW production around midday.

A week on and the PV panels are now registered, and the meter is running. Actually that is not quite true - the wind turbine has both Generation and Export Meter on it but the PV Panels only have a Generation Meter - the export to the grid is 'deemed' not measured by meter readings.

Toechtamhor sunshine in February - ready for half term guests.

Ongoing school issues mean that office work has gone awry recently. Closure proposals were halted on January 5th, but the new list of threatened schools is to be published this week. The amazing support locally for the school and the strong feeling that we had to DO something led to the formation of the Ulva School Community Association in January. Aims include actively supporting the school, writing a 20 year plan, encouraging sustainable development, increasing the number of affordable homes in the area... We have already embarked on a Housing Needs Survey, and 2 of us are off to a Rural Housing Conference in Dunkeld this week. www.uscamull.org.uk.

And the possible trouble? Jan, the collie we bought in the summer, is definitely pregnant! We think she will produce her litter at the beginning of March. So Farmer's Daughter is getting hopeful that we will keep a puppy...and that's going to be the trouble.

Hurray for the Array

Job done. 3kW of solar PV. When it was commissioned yesterday, it was generating 2.8kW (apparently good for February!) Full story to follow.

Hatches battened down

Stag and lone tree on skyline near Dervaig. (photo by Farmers Daughter)

Highland cow and calf on road near Ulva Ferry (for quite some time before moving on)

Wild winds whip round corners and move inanimate objects. Dustbin lids become flying saucers if not tied on to their base. Colourful buoys collected on walks taken in more clement weather blow and lurch along fence lines and back again as the direction of the wind changes. Wheelbarrow tips upside down by itself in the burn beside the house caught by a gust. Spare sheet of corrugated iron roofing must have flown across the stack yard by the cattle shed (now safely secure again).

The turbine is working hard, and as we are living in the Studio we are enjoying the direct connection to home produced power. This morning when I took this photograph it was producing approximately 4 kW/h.

Over the last 23 hours it averages 3.3 kW/h so we are pleased. And at times overnight it did step up a gear - with the usual associated concerns for roofs and slates, and things going bump in the night.

Today has not been quite as wild. But every bit as wet.

A downsized upgrade AKA the temporary house move

Farmer and family are living it up in the Studio, enjoying bright sunshine in the sunroom (above), its lovely views, adjustable cosy central heating, comfortable beds and the unexpected feeling of 'being away' without leaving the farm. We have internet in the Studio but not a phone.

Having lived without central heating of any sorts for nearly a year, through no fault of our highly efficient wood chip boiler, it is total luxury to be warm at the touch of a button, rather than as a result of Farmer carrying basket loads of logs into the house constantly. Alot of time during the last couple of weeks has been spent packing our things and moving furniture so that the plumber and builder could move in...(well, I think that was why we did it). Weren't we supposed to be installing a new central heating system with thermostatically controlled radiators? And at the same time, eco-insulate roof spaces and cut down heat loss through blocking up drafts round windows, floors and doors? Only... yesterday morning, the expected start date (2 weeks after the first start date), no one turned up...a sinister stillness and lack of activity within the chilled house....And no one today either! Oh well...

The same cannot be said for feeding time. Everyone turns up here! The hoggs, led by the tame 'Zwarties', mob Farmer when he goes to feed them - almost tripping him up in their eagerness to get to the line of troughs.

And the tups wait their turn in the wind turbine field.

Radical steps taken last weekend, after months of research and deliberations, to do a bit of machinery upgrading. Sometimes it has to be done in order to pre-empt aged machinery and inevitable breakdowns. First to go was the old digger, which has helped with all sorts of jobs over the last 10 years. To my inexperienced eye it looked pretty knackered, but it may just be the rust on the cab and the fading paintwork. Photographs of our digger were sent off so Farmer and Dealer could agree its value before it left the farm. Satisfactory deals were eventually done and on Saturday a younger (and much smaller) digger appeared to replace the older one.

This is the old digger being loaded up onto the lorry.

And this is the newer one. Much smaller tracks, and not so many rusty bits.

It has already been put to use, by a neighbour who is helping us out when he can - putting a new layer of fine 'dust' on the farm track.

The schools issue rumbles on. We had a visit from the Education Spokesperson yesterday, who was on a fact finding mission. Looking at every school. I hope she enjoyed the time she spent - they arrived in time to join in on the school Burns Supper, another of those special 'school in its community' events when the school was packed with family and friends of the school enjoying a traditional Burns Supper cooked by the Boathouse girls from Ulva. The children entertained us confidently with Gaelic songs and Burns poetry as well as some poetry of their own. After her visit we were none the wiser as to what she thought about the school, and we have no more idea about our chances of survival.

Looking back, looking around, looking forward

Happy New Year! Farmer and family spent Hogmanay at a ceilidh cum party held at Ulva School - though we did get home before the bells as Daughter was totally exhausted and was not going to make midnight! Members of the community of all ages from 5 weeks to 70+ years turned out on a cold still night, and it was a lovely evening. The snow before the end of term cut short the usual Christmas greetings and parties so it was good to get together and celebrate.

A great demonstration of Fire Poi by Ellie.

Farmer has brought the cows in off the hill. One morning last week when he went to feed them on the hill above Toechtamhor, they were not hanging round the feed troughs but were waiting at the upper hill park gate as if to remind him they needed some more shelter. So now the weather can do what it likes, whilst they wait for their calves to arrive in the dry.

The hoggs had been indoors throughout the last spell of cold weather and snow but they are now turned out into the field beside Shian and Duill. And heads up rushing towards the gate as soon as they hear quad, buggy or Farmer's voice - so they would seem to be well trained to the bag (of food). In the morning looking out of our window these earnest brown faces look up at you imploring you to hurry up with the food.

On Wednesday 5th January the schools story turned a corner - not a full stop, more a pause. A Special Council Meeting called by 9 Councillors (SNP and Independents including Mull's Mary Jean Devon and Gordon Chalmers) brought nearly all of the Councillors into the meeting at Kilmory. The Provost declared that information made public by SRSN (Scottish Rural Schools Network) made a Material Change to the Council Vote on the Proposals in November 2010, and therefore the Consultation period should be halted, the Proposals withdrawn.

There followed some disappointing politicking and posturing but the end result was that new Proposals will be prepared following a review of the entire school estate, not just the 25 schools on the initial closures list. So we are in a time of suspension. We don't know if we will be on the next list or not. We won't know until March 3rd at the earliest, and the uncertainty is exhausting, but at least the 'dodgy dossier' has been ripped up, and for now we can catch up with other chores - like looking for eco paintfor the bathrooms at West, Middle and East, and changing East living room around a bit! Looking, too, for a shower over bath for Duill, though whether that will happen this winter depends on whether the plumber has time to install it or not before the bookings start again.

Ulva School and the turning to Ulva Ferry (where the ferry crosses to Ulva and where the Turus Mara trips leave from).

Still lots of starlings on the bird feeders in the garden. And we have acquired 2 handsome cock pheasants who join the hens at the base of the tall bird feeder waiting for dropped seed from above. We didn't see any bramblings here but have been enjoying lots of golden eagle activity - see Prasad's blog for photographs.

White Treshnish, white Solstice

It is not often we can remember seeing Coll covered in snow, or Tiree for that matter. And not hanging onto the snow for so long.

Moonlight path across the sky bright line across the sea, between here and Arinagour. Early morning slight cloud obscuring the lunar eclipse but we did see part of it redden through the cloud. Farmer was further west out feeding the cows and he saw the full red disc.

All the cliches about sparkling snow, crunching underfoot. White fields lit up in the moon light. It is all true. It is all very beautiful but alot of extra hard work for the Farmer, making sure the animals are all okay, that there is water in the cattle building - still relying on the old tubs and large buckets to carry it in.

We spent an enjoyable few hours yesterday out on the Point wandering quietly around checking that the ewes and the tups were okay. This golden eagle sat on a rock and allowed me to get about 40 feet away before lifting off and flying past, only to drop down and sit on a more distant rock in the Haunn field.

It is important when there is snow on the ground to ensure the sheep have enough fodder. In the early stages of pregnancy the ewes can re-absorb the tiny foetus if the nutrition is not right, so it is important to make sure they are not too densely stocked if they are in the fields. The Point is actually quite a large area so gates already open in to the neighbouring fields they have alot of space. We watched Cheviot hoggs digging with their feet through the snow to get at the grass underneath in a field near us. On the Point there are alot of tufts poking through the snow and it would be easy to imagine that there was enough to keep them going, but Farmer decided to make sure they really do have enough and took out some hay. The bales are quite large, they make the tractor look pretty small.

Ulva School was closed Friday and Monday because of the snow - no one could get there, so the Christmas holidays have started early and the Parent Council meetings about the school closures are taking a break until the New Year.

The tracks of the hares in the snow have been amazing to see. Their 'footprint' so much larger than a rabbit, and there have been hare tracks around Shian and Duill, as well as across the Haunn field. And there is no hiding the tracks of a stag who has got into the natural re-generation woodland by the Ensay Burn. Huge hoof prints.

We wish you a Happy Christmas and a Healthy New Year.