Farming Friends

I am so pleased to have been given this award by my new blogging pal Dragonstar.

I don’t know what I have done to deserve it but I am thrilled and honoured, so thank you Dragonstar.

Here are a few of my blogging pals that I think are True Blue blogging pals as they have all helped me and supported my site for sometime now - so thanks all of you.

• TopVeg.
• BirdyTrish @ Bird Table News.
• Louise @ This is My Patch.
• Farmer Giles @ Farming Memories.
• Fiona @ Cottage Smallholder.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all my visitors and readers and say that I appreciate all your visits and comments which I read with great interest.

Calving of our beef cattle herd normally occurs during February and March, however in 2006 we introduced a new bull who was quite young. It took some time for our cows to get in calf and the result has been calves being born throughout the year. Our reliable Charolais bull had to be replaced as he had got an abscess on his stomach which kept re-appearing. It was a shame to lose this bull as he was a very gentle yet experienced bull. Our new bull is also very gentle and good to deal with.

In November three calves were born and one has been born in December so far. This month’s calf is a Charolais heifer calf - seen in the picture only a few hours old.

Lucky for us the cows have calved during the day and not in the middle of the night when the temperature drops and nobody really wants to get out of bed to check if the cow is calving!

Lucy from Smallest Smallholding sent me some seeds in the post a while ago. So thank you Lucy.

I was sent Sweetpea and Hollyhocks which I look forward to planting. I have tried to grow sweetpea before and produced a few but I have always been late with my seed sowing. I have never grown hollyhocks so this will be a first for me.

If anyone in the UK would like to exchange any seeds then I have:

Aquilegia (latin name) - Columbine. Purple and Pink varieties.
Dianthus (latin name) - Rockery pink. White variety.
Nigella (latin name) - Love in a mist. Light blue variety.
Primula japonica (latin name) - Candelabra Primrose. Yellow variety.
Primula variabilis (latin name) - Polyanthus.Yellow and red varieties.
Viola (latin name) - Pansy. Mixed colours.
Helianthus (latin name) - Sunflower. Yellow and ruby eclipse.

Colleen over at In The Garden Online has come up with the idea of garden bloggers exchanging seeds they collect from the plants and flowers in their gardens. I think this is a great idea but the problem is I live in the UK and Colleen lives in Michigan which makes seed swopping difficult due to the laws on exchanging seeds between countries.

Colleen and I would like to hear from anyone both in the UK and abroad who would also be interested in joining Colleen’s Gardenblogger seed exchange. So if you are interested please leave a comment here or click on this link for more information about the Gardenblogger Seed Exchange and leave a comment on Colleen’s website.

I would like to exchange the seeds I have collected as I am interested in creating an area in my garden that is made up of plants and seeds that I have exchanged with friends and fellow bloggers. BoggyWoggy gave me this idea as her Great Grandma had a “friendship garden” which was reserved for planting seeds that had been given to her.

If you are interested in taking part in the seed exchange or you are interested in any of my seeds that I have collected that please let me know by leaving a comment.

The quail chicks are doing well.

• It only takes quail chicks an hour or so before they start to peck for food and begin to drink.
• The chicks soon start to scratch the ground and quail have fairly large which allows them to scratch.
• Within a few days of hatching some of the chicks had already started to call out. I think this may be the males as they were trying to stand up tall as they called out.
• The male chicks produce a louder call.
• The female chicks have a quiet cooing type call.
• After a few days the quail were beginning to try to flutter their wings.
• Within a week their wing feathers have started to develop.

Did you know?

• It is only 6 weeks between hatching and laying eggs for quail hens.
• By week 3 it should be possible to clearly identify the male and female quail chicks.

Click on the image below to visit Amazon.co.uk to find out more about this book or visit one of the Farming Friends Bookshops.

I have been tagged for eight random facts, by 2GreenThumbsUp, who said,” Because I enjoy reading these blogs and I haven’t seen any evidence of previous meme participation, I’m tagging…… Sara at Farming Friends - I’m just getting to know the animals on her farm.” Since 2GreenThumbsUp is just getting to know my animals I thought that I would write 8 random facts about the animals on the farm.

The Rules

When tagged, you must link to the person who tagged you, then post the rules before your list, and list eight random things about yourself. At the end of the post, you must tag and link to eight other people.

Here are my 8 farm animal facts:

1. The family farm has been breeding Charolais cattle for 48 years.
2. The cattle breeds on the farm today include Charolais, Limousin, Blond D’Acquitaine and Saler breeds.
3. Between 2004 and 2007 I have raised approximately 60 guinea fowl from eggs in the incubator.
4. The farm has five resident cats that live outside and although they are supposed to be ferral cats are becoming more like pet cats as each day goes by!
5. The farm used to breed pigs when my husband’s Grandad was alive and this year we have started to successfully breed British Saddleback pigs, we currently have 2 sows and fifteen piglets.
6. Guinea fowl, partridge and quail are all game birds that I have raised on the farm in the last few years.
7. Hatty the hen, is the resident White Leghorn hen who lays white eggs through the Spring, has befriended the guinea fowl flock, rules the roost and has yet to get broody in the 3 years she has lived on the farm.
8. The cattle do not like the guinea fowl, although the guinea fowl are not afraid of the cattle but the farm cats are afraid of the guinea fowl.

If you would like to write eight facts about yourself then consider yourself tagged. I hope you have enjoyed my eight facts about the farm.

What an honour it is to be tagged by my new blogpal, DragonStar over @ Dragon Days.

Rules:
When tagged, you have to link to the person who tagged you. Post the rules just before your list, then list eight random facts about yourself. At the end of your post, you must tag and link to eight other people.

I have decided to write eight facts about the farm, so here they are:

1. The farm has been in my husband’s family for nearly 48 years.
2. The whole farm consists of approximately 250 acres of land.
3. Crops grown include potatoes, fodder beet, wheat, barley, beans and oilseed rape.
4. Livestock currently on the farm includes beef cattle, poultry, game birds and pigs.
5. The farm has it’s own orchard which grows plums, damsons, crab apples, pears, eating and cooking apples.
6. The farm has two farmsteads in different villages and the fields between the two houses meet up in the middle.
7. The other farmstead used to have a watermill unfortunately it was knocked down some years ago.
8. The farmhouse that we live in is approximately 150 years old.

If you would like to write eight facts about yourself then consider yourself tagged. I hope you have enjoyed my eight facts about the farm.

Last Sunday I went on a Christmas flower arranging course with my mum and had a thoroughly enjoyable day.

We learnt how to make a Christmas wreath and garland for the home or door. Both items were made from scratch using wire, moss, branches of alpine spruce and Christmas decorations.

Do you have any Christmas decorations that you have made from natural materials that you are proud of?

Join

Gardeners, Plant and Nature lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As The Garden Grows for more information.