Image: Clydesdale Boys, Rocky and Jocky
Jocky to the left of me,
Rocky to the right.........
Our two retired Clydesdale boys.
Image: Grass fed free range rare breed pigs
Taking it easy is something we'd all like to do but can never find the time to do it, in fact we have several friends who having sold their large homes and "down-sized" to smaller houses, have found they not only do they no longer have the space they need but their businesses have got somewhat busier! and they themselves are left scratching their heads and asking themselves, why did we bother? It is a good question.
Some people just need a well earned rest from the hustle and bustle life throws at them and some people need a complete change of scenery altogether, much as we ourselves did!
Some farmers when they decide to slow down or decide they need a smaller holding, end up retiring from farming altogether and then they find life in slow lane can be painful, and that their lives are not really what they had hoped for themselves in retirement and some crofters or farmers just never retire,
and regardless of your take on life,
the work load and the routine remains one and the same,
whether you are a crofter or large farmer, smallholder or just someone who keeps a "few chickens".
Image: 1year on Brawl
An average day on Croft 29, is not that different to our days before our arrival on the main land.
Work really begins when the animals awaken and not when the crofter or farmer awakens (or would like to awaken)
and before you know it, you are out of doors and attending to their needs before you attend to your own!
If, you are lucky you might be up and about before them in which case you can have your breakfast before giving them theirs.
Then comes the dilemma
who should be attended to first, they are all making big noise even before the feed buckets are filled!
Then comes chaos (not for long though), cockerels squawking, hens joining in and geese squabbling and tame white doves swooping down and ever so close to your head (not to mention the apparent and new following of a variety of wild birds, all strategically perched nearby).
Birds fed tame and wild alike and then you move on to your next job of the day-----
Henry the 3rd and his sows are eagerly awaiting breakfast but! you are too slow in bringing it and they all join in verbal chorus just grunting at first and ending in a great roars of displeasure and I can only liken my daily routine of feeding these great heavy beasts with something I read earlier and written by "Joe"
Image: sheep awaiting breakfast
The sheep, being sheep, mill around aimlessly,
or so you think until you are alongside them,
and then you have to be quick to fill the troughs, or they will "help themselves" by whatever, means is open to them! and if you are knocked off your feet in the process, then so be it.
And failing that, you are threatened by a mass walkabout,
Image: Geese on the pond
The last of day of May, 2010
Other pages:
This is the text-only version of this page. Click here to see this page with graphics.
Edit this page |
Manage website
Make Your Own Website: 2-Minute-Website.com