The trees

We brought the apple trees up with us  and they really haven't done anything, regardless of what we have tried to  protect them.
Putting treed in the polycrub has been a success - but there is a limit to how many we put in  without comprimising any other stuff we want to grow.

The tree in the polycrub produced some apples last year - hopefully more this year.









 But one , planted in a sheltered spot near the house has  at least put on a lot of growth .












So I decided to build a raised bed

Which got filled with soil and decoartively enclosed with some stone that is lying around

And now has 6  apple trees  in it

 So we shall see what happens later in the year.

Its english .....

a bit of rain

Its rained quitea lot in the last 24 hours, the tail end of Storm Erik working its way across Scotland .
the pond was very full and the outlet almost over-run

and the rest of the burn has quite alot of water coming down it

  ane the field is flooded

as is the road

Shapinsay and back

Its been arranged for a while that we would take a couple of sheep

To Shapinsay ,  the nearest Island and a 30 minute ferry trip



 The snow is still lying here , and the first bit of the trip, getting to the end of the drive could have been the most challenging .



But the road to the Ferry terminal ( checkin time 15 minutes before departure)  was fine

And we waited for the incoming  ferry

 And the next bit was taking the car and trailer onto the ferry.
Reversing on . Down the slipway ansd the length of ferry .
At least the only people watching were the crew,
unlike the last time I had to reverse onto a ferry 





We can see Shapinsay from the house , so we had the chance of the 'reverse' view

And 30 minutes later, Balfour village, Shapinsay came into view

 And sheep taken to join the  flock  of Borerays in Shapinsay

And coming back, you can see how the Cathedral  dominates the skyline of Kirkwall

PS Ive got a new camera - can you tell ?

winter has come

A bit late this year - but nevertheless .

Looking down the hill  .  We are clearly above the snowline !

  but the road is a bit dodgy

Job done

Cuthbert 

We think the ewes are  have all been tupped, so we take the rams out and they  go bak into the field all together. 

And we are putting the  varous pregnant ewes all together for a few weeks.

Polycrub in January

So it has withstood the 70mph winds - must be somthign to do with the 3.4tonne of concrete round the  posts.

And we had a fair bit of produce out of it last year , in spite of the late start.

And its January , so  there isnt much daylight at the moment , and anyway the polycrub (and house) dont get direct sunlight for another couple of weeks .

And stuff is still growing in the polycrub

Weve got purple sprouting brocolli  - this thing is almost 5' tall , but with no  purple heads yet

And a pea must have fallen from where they were growing last year .
And its sprouted, so ive put a few more alongside it and we'll see if we get some early peas.

And the artichokes are continuing to grow
















And the vine has picked up , after an initial stumble



















And i didnt think this was supposed to happen  in January .