Tatties

William Shearers is a shop on the main street through Kirkwall. A quick  perusal of the website ( eg this page) shows the type of things they stock ( ie lots and lots).

And they also  have seasonal goods. Liz Lovick has a blog post of Christmas at Shearers and some pictures of the Christmas stock they have ( ie lots and lots).




But at this time of the year they have seed potatoes, and as you might expect , they have lots and lots.

And ample stocks of each variety.

So we came away with Red Duke of York, Charlotte and International Kidney (which I dont think we have grown before)

Chitting and then planting next

Walling - first attempt

We have had a quite a lot of rain, and I think it has exacerbated a problem with one of the walls. The wall has slipped down the hill a little - probably worsened by the adjacent tree roots. The wall bows out just where the tree is

  and the hardcore retained by the wall  has slipped , probably all the rain hs washed out some soil and the hardcore has slipped and compacted.

Nothing for it but to repair it. There is some information online and  a drystone waller  lent me a  couple of books  before we came. I'm signed up to  do a course but i don't think this will wait. Its a short length so i can always redo it once I've been on the course ( if necessary).
 First step was to remove some of the hardcore behind the wall to take the weight off , and then start removing the stones




IN removing the stones ive found part of the problem.

Tree roots growing into the wall and pushing the lower stones out.
So they have.
And gradually replacing the wall, putting through-stones in and filling in the hardcore.
One of those "just a matter of........" jobs. At least its getting light in the evenings and the mud is starting to dry out  
 

Muddy Ducks

Since the otters got Victoria **(see footnote for explanation about the name), the ducks have been prevented from venturing onto the adjacent moorland, where we think the otters roam.


So they have been restricted to the area we call the lawn. The lawn is a bit muddy at the moment  -well, almost everywhere is a bit muddy.
The  remaining 3 ducks have been restricted to exploring the lawn.

And they have been  very assiduous in exploring . And getting very muddy



** Well, the drake is a Saxony Duck that originate from the Saxony region of Germany so he was named Albert after another famous character in British history from the same area. So if the drake is Albert, the duck has to be Victoria, after Alberts' famous spouse .

smallest, big, biggest

the pullets that we hatched back here are living in the field with one of the cockerels and have started to lay eggs as shown here .
But the other thing is that the (remaining) ducks have also started laying eggs.
So we now have 3 different sizes of eggs.  Anyone want to buy half-a-dozen eggs of widely differing sizes. ?

And then there were three.

Victoria the duck

Victoria the duck ( remains of )

And the otters have been back and  taken Victoria , the duck. The remains were found on the moorland that adjoins the pond. When this land is fenced with sheep-fencing it should be easier,   adding  chicken-wire to the fencing and  hopefully discourage the otters from encroaching on the ducks and pond, and the ducks onto the moorland. In the meantime  some improvised fencing  around the pond

 And some pictures from a few days ago when Victoria was happy on the pond with the others. 

Could do better

we hatched some chicks in September 9 of them . The 2 females have been put in a field with one of the males, and they have started laying .
Splendid, about time .
But when you compare it to one of the eggs produced by the regular layer, they may be a problem .

 To compare the sizes, here they both are in an eggbox.

Could do better, I think.

Anne and Andrew

The sorry tale of the ducks  is related here  and then here and then here and finally In Memoriam for our 2 ducks .

A kind benefactor felt sorry for me and offered to pay for any  replacements. We aren't replacing the ducks just yet   -there may be  some fencing to do around the pond, and they may need to be moved, the duck house needs a bit of a sortout.

But we have got some new chickens - Bantams  because they regularly go broody so can sit on clutches of eggs and we can have a more reliable supply of home-hatched chicks.
And so I welcome our new Pekin Bantams, named after the generous benefactor

 

 

Andrew

Anne