The Kerry Hills

2nd December
On a beautiful winter afternoon we collected six Kerry Hill ewes, all hopefully in lamb, who are now settling in to life in the ridge and furrow grassfield opposite the house. Kerry Hills are a striking looking sheep who have until very recently been on the rare breeds list. They originate from the hills around the small town of Kerry on the English/Welsh borders and are a bold and strong sheep. They have a reputation for being excellent mothers - we keep our fingers crossed for the beginning of March!

Mists & mellow fruitfulness

7 October 2012

A lovely autumnal morning in Woodhurst

Autumn 2012

30 September 2012
Harvest 2012 will go down for most as one that they would rather forget. After a very promising start to the year with the crops showing heaps of potential the weather over the spring put pay to the bumper yields that we had hoped for. We had rain when we needed sun and drought when we needed rain and the wheat grains never really filled out. That said harvest in Cambridgeshire was better than many parts of the country with some farmers barely having any crop to collect in.

It was not without its problems ...

... such as when the combine sunk and got stuck in a wet spot and had to be pulled out backwards by a tractor. At least it wasn't as bad as one incident that we heard of where the farmer had to ask the army for some help to winch his combine out.

The nights are well and truly drawing in, there is a chill in the air and the big toys have come out for autumn cultivations at Fullards Farm. Once he had mastered the technology Neil was very happy in the John Deere with its computerised steering - hence no hands on the steering wheel in these pictures taken in Corner Field.

 

The orchard and hedgerow harvest has been disappointing so far with low yields of apples, pears and quince but the first batch of Woodhurst chutney has been made and is maturing in readiness for the Woodhurst Advent Fayre on the 24th November; it doesn't look as if we will have enough fruit to match last year's output of 48 jars! The crab apple jelly is boiling away and the Christmas chutney and spiced plum chutney production has also started. Next on the list is the bottling of some of the liqueurs that have been steeping, including some new recipes for 2012 such as apple and blackberry gin and spiced apple vodka; there are some upsides to autumn!

Bluebell & Pigs

21 July 2012
Every now and again Bluebell chugs through Woodhurst.  Luckily for us she stops outside the house to hitch up to the fire hydrant and get topped up with water.  Bluebell is based at Alconbury and was on her way to steam rally at Swavesey.

 

The pigs have enjoyed today's warmer weather with all four of them having a good wallow post breakfast; mud the natural sun cream and skin conditioner...

Owl Week at Fullards Farm

27 June 2012
A Barn Owl has become a regular 7pm visitor to the grassfield, obligingly sitting on the post and rail for a while whilst deciding what to have for supper.

To carry on the owly theme to the week the local "Owl Man", David, came today to check the Little Owl box, we are pleased to report two fine and healthy chicks which David checked over, weighed (125g and 105g), recorded and leg ringed.  There was a third egg but it didn't make it to hatching.

Little Owls & Feast Week

David, the Owl Man, put a Little Owl box up in winter/spring 2010/2011 on our field known as Courtaulds. Last year the box was used by squirrels but a visit a few weeks ago found that Little Owls were using it. This week David checked the box and confirmed that there were three Little Owl chicks. He will be back next week to leg ring and health check the chicks. 

David had a request for us to consider - a friend of his rehabilitates injured raptors and was looking for a good release site for a pair of injured Barn Owls, one found very locally and one from the Fens. We have an empty Barn Owl box and happily agreed to this being used for the Owls, hopefully they will thrive in their new surroundings. We will try and take some photos of both events next week.

The crops on the farm are looking very good at the moment, the spring drought was a great concern but it started raining just in time (and doesn't seem to have stopped!) and looks like it might be a barn busting year - so long as the rain stops in good time to allow the crops to ripen and be harvested at their peak.

The rain has led us to postpone the Feast Week Cream Teas which we usually host in the garden and which was due this Sunday, 17th June. The forecast rain and winds have led us to call it off until people will be better able to enjoy a relaxed Sunday afternoon tea on a lovely summer's day - any bets as to when that might be?

Spike

After the joys of a wonderful wedding on the 19th May we were brought down to earth with a bump on 31st May when our lovely labrador, Spike, was put down - four days short of his fourteenth birthday. He was a fabulous companion, a huge character and is very greatly missed by us and his many friends. Our thanks for the many messages of sympathy.