Stooks and Stirks

The Gotlands were blade-sheared a few days ago . A neighbour got to hear about it  and came to record a  piece for local radio whilst we were shearing one of them

February 2015 edition of 'Stooks and Stirks' - there is a piece about  shearing the Gotlands

 The Radio Orkney facebook page is here

https://www.facebook.com/pages/BBC-Radio-Orkney/31395967167


and the piece in February 2015 Stooks and Stirks   programme  starts at 38.46.
In case the radio program becomes unavailable , the mp3 file is also available as an mp3  download ( or your browser may decide to stream it)

something must be done

But what ?

There was an article in the local paper ( but there isnt an online summary on the Orcadian website) this week stating it has been the wettest year of the century.
The data comes from Keith Johnson , and there is a website - www.orkneyweather.co.uk .
On his website are a lots of graphs and tables, including the rainfall in Orkney.  And the graph here shows its the wettest year so far with rainfall in Birsay ( a few miles from here )  of 1266.8 mm ( almost 50 inches)

And its been wet and muddy for us as well. Here's the post from January .

The rainwater flows down the hill.  There are a couple of burns that over the year have got   quite full at times .

We had some snow and ice in January  . If you look closely at one of the pictures there is a little stream flowing across the drive.

As the evenings are getting lighter , ive been thinking about gardening.  So i had a look at the small garden and raised beds . All the water that has been flowing across the drive has been going somewhere  - and its been going into the vegetable garden .

across the drive

And then goes across the lawn

and is held up be the wall

and on the other side, carries on 

 


 until it gets to the vegetable garden , where it hangs round a  bit, rots the grass and converts soil to mud.
















Something must be done.


But what ?

Blade shearing the Gotlands

Sheared Sheep

We've got 4 Gotland sheep and a ram, Fraser. We went to get him in November  and then when the ewes were here Fraser got his chance.
The ewes came to us from Sanday but they were originally in the north of  Scotland  cared for by the  Transalpine Redemptorist monks on Papa Stronsay.  



The monks have a blog and I think I've found a picture of the Gotlands  when they had them  and when they were lambing.  The tle that came to us is that the monk who was responsible for the sheep moved on and so they stopped keeping them
 

We havent got the sheep just for lambing ( but hopefully Fraser has done the business) but also for their fleece. Gotlands can be sheared twice a year and  we decided that  now was the moment.  They are hopefully pregnant and  there were some concerns expressed about turning a pregnant ewe . Cant see  why it should be a problem is done expertly ( well, there is one problem) but nevertheless it was decided that we wouldnt.



 So catch a sheep . this was easier because theh had been penned inside overnight in case of rain, and then set to with some shears .










the sheep were done standing which makes it a bit harder because the   fleece doesn't fall  away but after a couple of hours we were becoming more adept , and speeding up a bit ( but  only a bit)












 And the end result. A few boxes of this , which will be washed and processed  and then turned into yarn.

 And the sheep - probably feeling sorry for themselves but its surprising what some sheep nuts will achieve. if the weather is bad they can  be inside for a few days if they wish

BEFORE

 

AFTER

Too many cockerels

We hatched a lot of chicks last year -  53 in total ,

The intention was always to become self-sufficient in chicken.  Weve been keeping the chickens through the winter. What we didn't realise is that they dont scavenge as well in the winter , perhaps something to do with the short days . And if they don't scavenge  then they will need additional feed or they will lose weight. So they have been getting  additional grain , which costs. And we suspect a ready source of grain has just attracted rats and other things to snack op the  available feed.

Ao we have decided that enough is enough. Its going to be a good few weeks before the days are long enough and its warm enough for the stuff that hens eat to  become more readily available. 

So over the last few days we've have been converting this

 into these

 There are a few intermediate steps. For those of a weak constitution who think  meat is laid into a blue polystyrene tray ready-wrapped in  plastic has best look away now.


You have been warned

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED 

. The chicken that comes in the blue polystyrene plastic is from broiler hens , who are killed at approximately 40 days. Here are details of broiler units ( from the farmers ) or here (from CIWF) . Our birds are approximately  6 months old. The birds need to be hung for a while.  

 

and before that they  need to be slaughtered and plucked. Thanks to a neighbour farmer its a life skill that has been picked up since we have been here ( its been a bit cold recently, hence the hat etc) but they still need to be plucked. Easiest to  do when the body is still warm .