June this year was super busy on the farm, starting relatively gently, then flying into chaos. And I really do mean flying- off my motorcycle and into the hospital. However, before the smashing end to the month, we brought in the grass, laid the foundations, and installed drainage for something I didn’t realise we’d need so much!
Not covered in this month’s round up;
- Gory details of my motorcycle accident, I’ll leave them for another day.
- Bailing of the field, which I’ll cover in a separate article.
- Our family trip to the Kelsall Steam Rally: there simply isn’t space.
Husbandry
The Kune Kune pigs continue to grow weekly, mostly hitting their targeted growth rate. That’s a visual-only assessment, though! However, it’s the cats that seem to be the most active on the farm. Possibly a result of all the ‘young’ wildlife.
Felis Catus
The farm manager has told me that the recent updates have been short on cat updates: “There have been no cats, and they are very cute cats”, apparently. As critical vermin control on the farm, they are a very important part of the family, and I apologise to the farm manager for this lack of content.
Both Bonnie and Clyde have settled into a mouse-hunting routine. They generally sleep through the day, then hunt by night. Clyde gets in such a stuper that he’s hard to rouse, especially when he’s in ‘my’ seat.
The nighttime hunting routine would be fine if they didn’t bring their prey inside and leave just the stomach in the middle of the floor in the dark. And there is usually more than one. Stomachs are horrible to stand on, in case you were wondering.
Clyde excelled himself in June, having graduated from caterpillars as a kitten, into a whole rabbit. It was hard to tell if this was a kit or an adult by the time I was allowed near it, but there was certainly a lot of it. And once Clyde had turned his back, Bonnie, Clyde’s sister, was straight in.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, after such a rich meal, Clyde needed a time-out and found ‘Bale One’ the best resting spot. But then Clyde will sleep just about anywhere, usually looking like he’s melted into shape.
After a long night of stalking prey, bringing fledglings or field mice tributes back to us, Clyde loves nothing more than to snuggle down on a recently vacated bed. Even if he’s not meant to sleep on beds!!
Porcine
As June rolled through, the temperature seemed to get hotter and for longer. I forget how many ‘official’ heatwaves we’ve had, but the last weekend in June was by far the hottest. It hit over 40c in the Midlands, where I was camping.
This adds a challenge to the raising of the bacon. Because pigs can’t sweat and regulate their body temperature in high heat, they need a little help. The girl Kune Kunes love nothing better than to climb into their bramble hedge, enjoy a tender green snack and chill out.
Despite the effort in May to build the Pig Pergola and create a large shaded spot, the boys weren’t great at seeking shelter. Instead, they much preferred to wallow and take advantage of the medicinal-like benefits of natural sun lotion. Who knew that mud was so good at stopping your testicles from becoming sunburnt?
You know that farm life is starting to take over when animal doodles start to appear all over the place. This piggie wallowing, drawn by the farm manager, is one of my favourites.
Fools on the Hill
Despite having been forced ‘townies’ for so many years, rural life is definitely suiting us. Away from the chaos and commotion, the loving community we’ve found ourselves in has given us a freedom we knew we missed, but didn’t realise how amazing it is.
After a long day farming or working, there is a definite calming satisfaction from ‘walking the grounds’. Not just to inspect the boundary conditions, but to see and feel the changes through the seasons and be far closer to the natural cycles of the world than ever before.
One of the best ways to enjoy the farm, the community, the freedom, and the beauty is to hike up the hill (it’s steeper than it looks) and just watch. Take it all in, and say to ourselves, ‘this is living’.
Washhouse
As the farmhouse rebuild is planned to start at the beginning of July, we must vacate the building completely. For just over a year, the farmhouse utility room and kitchen have been in regular use, but as the eviction approaches, we need somewhere to do laundry and make jam.
My usual construction techniques are deployed, albeit on such a small scale, it seems hard to call it ‘mega’. Outside dimensions are about 4m by 2m, making this the smallest shed I’ve built to date. However, this little room will have a LOT to do.
With the base assembled, levelled, and allowed to ‘settle’, the wall started to take shape. I’ve learned a lot about tackling the builds from the previous Mega Sheds. Like previous builds, the back wall is hard up against the barn wall, so it needed to be fully clad before being raised. However, this time, the lighter build meant it could be lifted by two of us!
Improving Drainage
Since arriving at the farm and moving straight into a box in a field, we’ve had an issue with drainage on the ground outside. Perhaps drainage is the wrong description; the rainwater certainly hasn’t been going where it was best served, and a lot of dirt was being dragged inside.
So one quiet Friday afternoon, I finally decided to get stuck in. I graded the soil and dug a trench for a cloth-lined French drain duct. We then buried the pipe in pea shingle to help drainage through the soil, into the pipe, and into the ‘allotment’.
Over one-half of the path, a few bags of MOT1 were laid and whacked flat. This was a little trickier than it looked. To improve drainage, the path has a gentle drop toward the centre line, allowing rain to run toward the pipe. This meant whacking two slopes and not just beating a level surface into the ground.
Over the Mot1, a weed membrane was installed and topped with 20mm washed aggregate. Nice crunch aggregate so no one can sneak up on you, but it also takes up mud from wellies quite well and is generally smooth enough to walk on.
It did seem a little bonkers to be doing this work in the middle of a heatwave, but as we will see next month, there is method to the madness. Not to mention, the materials have been on site for more than half a year without a chance to get them in the ground.
The End, nearly!
By the end of the month, I received some forced time off. I’d had a fantastic weekend of biking, getting to the ABR festival (the whole aim of learning to bike), and I was enjoying the return journey a LOT. A lovely flow, unrushed, a spot of breakfast on the way. Then I lost the back end of the bike, fish-tailed and went airborne. And man, did the first few impacts hurt. Unfortunately, with a broken back, farm work has taken a bit of a back seat, but it has been amazing watching friends and family rally and pick up some of the farm projects. So there will be a July article, but it might be a little differently paced than the usual monthly write-up.