Kids everywhere

8.8.2019

Goat kids have dominated our life recently.   We now have about 16.  I am not sure if Ziggie is going to kid or not.   She is the only goat still due and unless we got her mating date wrong it is well past her expected kidding date.  Luckily most of the kids are now feeding well on the feeder and some are already only having three feeds each day.   Life will get much simpler when they are all settled into a do-able routine.

We have had some warm spring days and luckily, we found time to prune the fruit trees. They are now covered in blossom and the leaves on the oak trees are breaking bud too.  We could still get a late frost but that is becoming less likely as the days pass.  If this continues, we will have a mulberry crop and the potatoes will have kept growing all winter!

Our Camelia is covered in deep pink flowers.   I always think of my father when I see this.  I remember him getting really excited about a camelia he planted by our family home at Broomfield.  He loved gardening, but mostly he paid someone else to do the work and just stuck to planning.  I really wanted an English style garden around our old house, and it took me ages to work out that without a paid gardener it would be too much work.

Wayne brought Ella up to the farm last week to see the baby animals. She is still a bit warry of them, but she did pat a few of the kids whilst they were feeding.  I showed Ella how she could draw in the wet mud with a stick and she immediately wrote her own name everywhere she found enough mud. How fast she is growing up!  Danni send regular picture of their new daughter who looks like a cute cabbage patch doll!

We have not seen Al’s youngest this week because he has spent the week with his other grandparents. Pip has terrible morning sickness and has not been well enough to look after herself let alone anyone else.  She has been put on a drip in hospital when she gets too dehydrated, but there is not much anyone can do at this stage. We are all really worried about the stress this has put on her and on their whole family.  Pip’s mother was a nurse so at least she can be well looked after when she stays with her parents, which is reassuring.

Today is a wet. miserable Sunday.  Edd and I miss Bo’s restaurant. We always retreated there on difficult days and enjoyed time with family and friends.   Bo is now just as busy establishing her music therapy business but sadly we do not see her so much.  She came over last Sunday for Father’s Day and cooked us all a delicious breakfast, so we should not complain.

Morden spends all his time doing mechanics. He has brought several cars that he is doing up and is going to college to start getting qualifications.  It is wonderful to see a young person so happy and motivated.  There is no garage or at home for him to work in, so he parks on the drive outside his front door. This makes getting into the house a bit of an obstacle course, but we are all putting up with it.