interesting weekends

May 25. 2014

We are having
interesting weekends. Last week our son in law organised an event on Puffing
Billy (the tourist train in the hills) for “good beer week”. He invited Edd to
go along with him, which was really nice. The chef from Bo’s restaurant used
really innovative methods to serve a three-course meal whilst the train was
running and the beer talks were going on. This was a challenge because the
train and station had no kitchen or preparation area. I think that the fact it
all went well and was booked out was a minor miracle!

This weekend we joined
the rest of the family at the other end of the valley because a friend of
theirs had organised a benefit concert to raise money to help our eldest
grandson who lost his swag and schoolbooks when his car was set alight. We all
gathered in the outdoor section of a café by the river and listened to live
music. Bo was the first act singing some of the songs she has written. It was a
big stretch for her because she has never performed them in public before and
she had no chance to practice on the gear.

She had to accompany
herself on something called a Wurlitzer that was not working at full capacity,
which added to the challenge. Some how she overcame all the difficulties in her
usual professional manner. We then had a very young kid with a double base
backed by an assortment of adults and then Bo’s boys did a song with the eldest
playing his ukulele and his brother singing. I was so happy to see the boys
working together and having the confidence to perform up front. They really
have come a long way since they started their new school.

The afternoon went on
with some locals putting together a band to play country music and a young girl
playing and singing covers. (She had all the same difficulties with the Wurlitzer
that Bo had). I am not sure much money was raised but it was a fun afternoon
and great for the younger members of the family to get a low-key place to start
public performance in. The only thing that went wrong was that my grandson’s
girl friend fell over and injured her hand badly enough to need a hospital
check up. We found out later that luckily she had not broken anything.

Back on the farm we
are trying to get the pregnant goats to dry off and get more vegetables
planted. Edd has been working on fences but we have had to confine the heifers in
one of the crofts because they managed to get out every week and it was wasting
time doing all the work needed to get them back with the older cows. We will
sell them as soon as possible.

Zulu warrior arrives

May 16. 2014

It is really warm
today, in the twenties anyway; no coats or boots needed. Our new alpaca, Zulu
Warrior was delivered this morning. He is larger than the goats, even the
bucks, but smaller than Bo’s tiny pony, which is a good thing, as he does not
like being handled. We have brought him so that he can act as a guard for the
sheep in the lambing season. At present he does not look much of a guard or a
warrior. Our moorit ram chased him round the paddock until the novelty wore
off. He is also white, a colour his name does not suggest, but he has a good
spinning fleece so we cannot complain. Coloured alpacas are more expensive so
we will start with this one.

With all the sunshine
I am back to garden work. Today I finally dug out the zucchinis and transplanted
the remaining garlic and onions so that we have another bed clear for
replanting. I will need to put more composted manure in first and some lime.
Our ride on mower that pulls the trailer for fetching compost has broken down
in un-obvious ways so we borrowed a friends trailer and took it to the garage
yesterday. We are all a bit lost with out the mower. Edd uses it for transport
around the farm to save his sore knee, I use it to mow the grass and cart heavy
things and the grandkids use it as a go-cart. No wonder it is over worked and a
bit battered.

All our goats selected
for this year are now mated with some of them into the second month of
pregnancy. They take five months to produce so in theory we should be going
into the quiet time of the year, with less dairy work. In reality I am still
making cheese twice a week. I think that after this year we will get a Boer
goat for mating so that the kids will be more suitable for meat production. My
herd is now full of really good goats and I keep the best of them up to ten
years before they go to retirement homes.

The youngest chooks
have still not started to lay but the others are doing well. So far we are
keeping the fox at bay, but I can smell that they have been nosing around when
I do the morning feeds. Our dogs are living next to the chook run during the
day when they are free range and they give an alert if anyone or anything comes
near them that they are not sure about. It is possible to get a maremma sheep
dog to live with the sheep as a guard but I think the cost would be fairly high
and it might be dangerous to children.

We have kept sheep
here for thirty-five years and it was only last year that the usual protection
methods failed.

more wedding pics

Ceremony in the poly house and Bo's boys being groom's men

wedding pics

Family group day after wedding.From left, Indi, Pip in front of parents, Al in front of Edd and I, Wayne behind. Eldest grandson, Pip's brother,his partner and Al's youngest son.

Brides maids , Edd and I behind.

Al ,Pip, and Rimpoche.

recovering from the wedding

May 12. 2014

This week has been
chaotic. The wedding party continued most of Saturday night with music and dancing.
I got up at 5am when it was still very dark to make sure the rimpoche was
picked up for his trip to the airport. There was no sound from anyone at this
time but soon campers emerged and drifted towards the polyhouse for breakfast.
Someone estimated that about 120 people had stayed the night but luckily there
was enough food for all.

Some hardy souls even
had a swim in the dam but I was most amused to find the polyhouse looking like
a hospital ward with beds made up on top of the straw bale seats in rows down
both sides. By the time I had milked the goats every one was up and partying
again. There was a band with a banjo and guitars to provide music and it was
well after lunch before the guests started to drift off home.

By this stage Pip’s sister,
mother and I had been washing glasses and dishes for hours. The washing work
continued all week and the search began for missing items we needed for the
farm work. Where on earth have all my milk jugs gone? Why would anyone
disappear litre milk jugs? We use them all the time in the dairy so I decided
to replace them. So far I have shopped at four towns with out finding a single
suitable jug. I did manage to find replacements for kitchen items that Bo was missing,
though.

Al and Pip arrived
home at the weekend and have been over to collect their dog, gift plants and as
much else as they could stuff into their car. Edd has managed to sell some of
the straw bales to a neighbour and we are now trying to remember exactly what
we were doing before wedding plans took over our lives. Luckily it is dry and
sunny today so I have started working in the garden. I have removed and stored
the tomato nets and poles and even planted one of the trees we have been
growing on in pots.

The vegetables I
planted a few weeks ago are ready to start eating so we have a new supply of
lettuces, rocket and parsley. There is plenty more to go in so I started today
with some garlic. We are still getting plenty of milk but we are hoping that
the pregnant goats will start to dry off soon. The mating is just about
finished for the goats but some of the sheep are heavily pregnant. Today I have
ordered an alpaca as a herd guard. All going well, Zulu warrior will arrive on
Friday. Edd is trying to fix some fences. The two heifers we reared last year
are a complete nuisance and go through all the fences. I had hoped they would
be sold by now but we still have not put up the stockyards.

The ride on mower has
broken down so we have an emerging problem there too. We need to get it fixed
before the grass grows too tall to be mowed. Each year I reduce the mown area
by adding stock and fences. Bo’s pony kept the old drive under control and the
chickens in the new yard do the front area. A fence under the oak and olive
trees would reduce the work there too. This year we have grown enough olives to
make it worth while preserving them. I found a fairly simple process that is
working well, which is rather exciting. I like the idea of eating our own
cheese, bread and olives.

The long dark evens
are enlivened by the winter bike races that have started with three very wet
days in Ireland. Yesterday we watched the Eurovision song contest being won by
Austria. Their contestant was a trans-sexual with a beard. I could not work out
at first why she was so acceptable to watch and did not challenge my
expectations. This morning the penny dropped. She looked just like all the images
we have been surrounded with all our lives of Jesus. Even the long plain
coloured dress and thick flowing hair were just right. I wonder if it was
intentional.

wedding campers on the roof

May 6. 2014

We have survived a
crazy weekend and are all in various stages of recovery. Most of the wedding
stuff is now washed and sorted or returned to owners. Luckily the polyhouse is
huge so storing stuff waiting to be claimed is not a problem.

In theory we expected
campers to arrive on Friday and help set everything up for the big ceremony on
Saturday evening. In reality we woke to a wintery mixture of rain and cold that
deterred all campers. Luckily the rain stopped by the afternoon and with all
available help in full action the marquees were erected and firmly lashed down.
Pip and Al had planned to have the ceremony outside but it was obvious to all
that we were going to use plan B and all squeeze into the poly house.

Pip and her friends
had screen-printed a great many white prayer flags and Al set them up to create
a dramatic entrance. I was greatly relieved when I woke on Saturday to find
that the flags and tents were all still standing. The weather had cleared a bit
too which all helped.

The milk room was
converted into a preparation room for food, and Bo, Indi, and who knows who
else, crammed in there to prepare starter and salads. The main meal was paellas
and Al and a friend set up cookers made from old 44gal drums with massive steel
dishes to do the cooking in another orange marquee that conveniently fitted
onto the end of our tents.

Soon campers started
to arrive and tents went up everywhere. Two brave parties even made camp behind
the chimneys on out house roof. The camper van below Edd’s work shed looked
best settled and organised to me. Pip, and her friends, disappeared so that
they could all get ready and dressed and I brought the various celebrants down
to our house so they could prepare. The official work was to be done by a
friend of Pip’s parents, but the Pip was really keen that a Tibetan Rimpoche
she knew and a lama would conduct the ceremony itself.

This worked out
brilliantly. About 220 guests arrived almost at the same time. Bo’s boys
organised parking until they ran out of spaces and then they roped in adults
who could authorise the use of extra places. I lined up with Pip’s mother and
father so that we could greet everyone as they arrived and store umbrellas and
gifts. The bar was over run with customers but friends and family stepped up
and helped

the paid staff.

When everyone was
finally settled on their straw bale seats the mass of tiny led lights overhead
were put on like a private milky way, and the bridal party arrived. Pip looked
lovely in a simple white dress and the girls wore cream dresses and had bare
feet. Al’s daughter had to carry in the flower girl, Bo’s daughter, who is
still not walking on her broken leg. Al had asked Bo’s two sons to do the best
man role and they were so smart and well behaved that we all felt very proud of
them. The rimpoche definitely out classed everyone. He began with a deep traditional
chant and we all realised that we were part of something very special.