38 replies to this topic

[Cornish Gems]

Hey everyone! We have suddenly realised that the title for our diary, 'Our quest for the good life' is possibly now totally out of date in our present circumstances.

Why? Because we feel we are already living the good life! And what a wonderful life it is! The F2F book is certainly giving us a chance to enjoy life to the full. It was one of the best buys we have ever made. Thank you Dave Acreman and Steve for all your input.

Much more to write and do, but will have to do it later at a more sociable time.

[Cornish Gems]

We have had to come in because of the heat and so thought we would add something to our diary about.....

Neighbours - they come in all shapes and sizes whichever matters not a jot - what does matter is their reaction to you/us in our efforts to make our land productive. One of ours is forever nattering the council about our latest doings, but so far has not had much effect on them once they have been to check it out. However, we willingly put up with them, because they are just one household and not even farming, whereas a couple of local farms have taken us under their wiing so to speak.

We have 3 fields, Homer, Yonder and Thrid Meadow. The first of the neighbouring farmers to be friendly may have come about because we did not make any kind of fuss when his bullocks broke into Third Meadow. Then later it was his sheep into Homer. He told us that if there was any help he could give us to please ask him. So we asked him to cut the grass in Thrid Meadow as it was beginning to look like a hayfield. He agreed and said he'd leave some hay for us, but we explained that hay was of no use to us as none of our animals seemed to like eating it. So he then offered us straw instead and we are extremely grateful to him for that offer. He duly came to cut the grass, but then arranged for another local farmer (or rather their farmworker) to turn it. He did the second turning but when it came to raking and baling it, 2 workers from the other farm came to do it. All of those who were involved in making the hay have been extremely encouraging to us and our 'smallholding' and we feel flattered as one of these farmers has over 1,500 acres, 800 of which are planted with corn and the other farmer has land surrounding ours on 3 sides!

So currently, Third Meadow has 40 round bales of hay in it and it looks so much neater. Also, having seen Darkstar's ad for hay, etc, for sale, we are hopeful that we should receive enough straw to see us through the winter. We are also hoping that he will keep it under cover for us until we need it.

It is still hard though that our immediate neighbour cannot feel pleased that the land adjoining his on 2 sides is being properly looked after and not being abandoned. Nor is the land being used for 'noisy drunken raves' like it was before the blueberries were planted. Why can't people appreciate the things they should be thankful for and remember Polyanna?

We started writing this in the heat of the day and thought that it had then been posted, but after the evening chores, supper and making up the beds, we realised that it had not yet been posted - hence the time of night.

[Cornish Gems]

Much more to write and do, but will have to do it later at a more sociable time.

Can't believe it. If 10.01 was not a sociable time, why was our next post timed at 10.40??

We need to tell you about produce, but we are falling asleep at our keyboards, so we apologise for not doing a proper entry in our diary of................

LIVING THE GOOD LIFE

Watch this topic!!!

[Cornish Gems]

Here is a quote from KC in aother topic which we think is self-explanatory

It would be good if other members also updated their diaries ........

so we thought we had better comply!!

Produce - Fruit and Veg

Daffodils These looked absolutely magnificent but other growers produced ones that flowered earlier and so they were a bit of a dead loss as far as making money is concerned. It did strike us though that if we could make them 2 weeks later still, then we would be producing them when others were not, but have not heard of such a thing having been done. Still, at least we were able to use them to decorate the church, so we 'saved' ourselves some money.

Strawberries We had planted the ones which couldn't read last autumn. They were exceedingly promising until the wind blew the mini-polytunnel up and over the chicken hut and pig paddock and before we could do anything about it they were caught by a frost. Unfortunately, this meant most of them did not survive the winter because they had used up all the goodness stored in their roots without having the opportunity to replace it. Fortunately, though, we bought some more from a seller on eBay and these did extremely well. We surrounded the strawberry patch with the electric fenceposts and straw bale wrap and these seemed to keep 'predators' at bay although it did not keep daughter out and so we did not end up with any spare! Then we took advantage of 15 free strawberry plants offered in one of the magazines we read and planted these in the polytunnel so were able to extend the strawberry season a bit. In fact we ate the last of them a week ago. Have of course used several runners to create more plants so we should not need to purchase any more.

Tomatoes We bought 2 Gardener's Delight, 4 Moneymaker, 2 Golden Sunrise and 4 Maskotka plants at Dean Prior Church's annual coffee morning. The only packet of seeds we bought was Hildares, but as these were not sown in a greenhouse or polytunnel, they were nowhere near as advanced as the plants we bought at the coffee morning. Then one of the packet of seeds we were given free from DT Brown was for a tomato called Favorita. South Brent Methodist Chapel sold off some young Moneymaker plants for 20p each and so we bought 18 of them. Finally, we purchased 2 very sorry looking specimens of Beefeater Tomato reduced to 15p each at Morrisons and much to our delight they made a good recovery. All these tomato plants have been planted in the bigger black flower bins that supermarkets used to have but which we can now only get from the Co-op. Forgot to mention that we also have a number of plants which have grown from the shoots we removed from other plants and some of these are only just beginning to show some flowers but if the weather turns then we probably won't get any fruit from them.

We will not be planting Hildares again. Not only is the flavour mediocre, but the off-putting thing is that one has to cut the stem in order to harvest the tomato and to our mind this is far too fiddly and time-consuming and the profit would in our opinion be neglible. Gardener's Delight are very tasty but as it takes quite a while to pick sufficient for a 'pack', we will probably just keep these in future for our own use. The 3 varieties that we liked are Moneymaker, Favorita and Golden Sunrise - we are really impressed with how well the Moneymaker is doing - largish fruits with lovely flavour; Favorita turn out to be 'plum' tomatoes - the flavour is out of this world and the fruits seem very easy to pick off the stems. In fact, we have to be careful not to knock the plants otherwise fruits drop off! As for Golden Sunrise we are definitely have more of those - they are the sweetest tomato we have growing in the polytunnel. Cannot comment on the Beefeater toms as they are not ready for eating yet.

Potatoes We planted enough potatoes for our own use as we could not envisage being able to justify the work involved in growing and selling any surplus. In the event, though, Cornwall Farmers had a half price offer and so we bought 8 more bags. The 'chits' were too long in our opinion but we thought we would try them out. Anyway, they seemed to be doing so well, that we went back to the shop and asked how much they wanted for the all the rest of them. They turned out to be less than a pound a bag and so we cleared the shelves. The only problem we had was that we were planting Second Earlies at the time when most people are harvesting theirs. What has pleased as though that of all the ones that have been used so far not one of them has had that slightly 'off' taste that one kind find in some of those sold in supermarkets. We marked the rows with white electric fenceposts and tied the empty potato string bag to them because that seemed to be the easiest way of naming them.

We are so far pleased with all of the varieties but Sharpes Express which we feel is a misleading name - we thought the word express related to speed of growing not the speed with which they can be boiling and then suddenly turn into mush!! However, we must admit we did not try using them for any other kind of cooking, so we may be being a bit unkind.

Runner Beans The ones we planted late in the polytunnel are doing extremely well, but those outside were struggling to get anywhere for a very long time, although they seem to be doing something now. Perhaps the ones in the tunnel were inspired by the sight of the tomato plants reaching up high!

Parsnips The seeds which germinated are doing very well indeed, but we need to learn more about the growing of them and how to aid germination. It was not encouraging though when one sister said that they can eventually germinate many years after one has sown them.

Peas Early Onward were the first ones we planted and we are very pleased indeed with the way in which they have performed. Unfortunately, we were a bit late in puting the netting up and so some of the pods near the ground opened and dropped their contents on the ground and, guess what, a second lot of plants are growing! Initial attempts at selling packs of pods might be promising, but we would need far more of them. It will help of course that we will be harvesting our own seed and so will not have that outlay next year. We also tried a pea called Twinkle which is not supposed to need netting/sticks/whatever. However, the ones which we did net are doing far, far better than the row which we did not and seem to be very prolific but they have not finished yet.

Broad Beans What a dead loss they turned out to be! It's obvious we do not have green fingers when it comes to those!

Beetroot Another dead loss!

Carrots Yet another dead loss. These were a real disappointment as we had hoped to be able to grow lots of them because the pigs enjoy them so much. We took the advice of one gardener and planted seeds in cardboard rolls, but all the rolls did were encourage 'things' to lay eggs on their exteriors. Then the packet of 200 seeds we planted straight in to the ground did not do anything at all. However, we are aware that our soil needs an improvement programme.

Lettuce They all, inside and outside, bolted before we could harvest any and to make matters worse, even the chickens turned their beaks up at them! Ah well - another contribution to the compost heap!

Brassicas Cannot comment fully yet on cabbage and sprouts as they still have a lot of growing to do, but the Chinese Cabbage, caulis and broccoli are a failure. They all went to seed instead of 'hearting up'!

Courgettes These have been very impressive and have sold well. Do think though that we will not grow a larger patch next year.

Aubergines Looking good although the fruits are not large enough yet to try out.

Capsicums Only one of the Californian Wonder plants is producing red fruits - all the others are producing green ones. The cayenne and chilli peppers are also doing well. In fact, we are so pleased with the peppers, that we have decided that we will grow more next year and perhaps expand the varieties. But we do not know what is wrong with our Friggetello variety as the fruits don't look anything like the pictures we have seen - our fruits are almost now black!

Water Melon The plants are beside themselves! Masses of fruits everywhere even though we followed instructions and cut off side shoots - the plants just throw out another from its base! We are asking family and friends now to save the string bags which are around containers of fruit such as nectarines and peaches as we need them in order to support the melons. That way the melons will not have an unsightly mark where they have been resting on the 'shelf'. We are really looking forward to trying one out - just hope we recognise a ripe one when it appears!

Cucumber The variety we wanted to try was Marketmore and so we did. However, it was only after we had transplanted most of them and they had established themselves that we discovered they are supposed to be an outdoor variety so we put the rest outside. Yeah well - that was a waste of time! If we relied on the ones outside to help us form an opinion on them, then the answer would be, 'never again'. However, the ones in the tunnel - well - they too have been beside themselves! What lovely fruits they are! Once one has smoothed off all the prickles and peeled off the skin, the flesh inside has a truly remarkable flavour. They do not look prepossessing with their knobbly thick-looking skins and marbled colours varying from pale yellow to a medium green (nowhere near as dark as the ones in the supermarket) and so it takes quite a while to encourage someone to try them out, but once they have, they want more! We believe we can create a market for these.

Blueberries Do not see how we can turn these in to a commercial crop although we do think we might try selling the plants instead. Another local grower has lost one avenue for sales as the local shop to whom he sold his crop last year, is now purchasing through Growfair. This company started a 'brand' called 'Pride of Cornwall' Goodfair and one of the growers with a family farm of 1,000 acres, having been selling them potatoes and strawberries, branched out into blueberries as well.

Cape Gooseberry We acquired one of these at the end of a school fair and it was the only one there, but we are extremely impressed with the way it has grown and the amount of fruit it has produced and is continuing to do. Might this be a lucky find for us?

Finally, daughter learnt something at one of the local shows which makes her feel clever. She learnt how to tell the difference between a fruit and a vegetable because a fruit grows on a plant having started life as a flower.

 

She searched the internet and found a site which stated that

 

'The following are technically fruits: avocado, beans, peapods, corn kernels, cucumbers, grains, nuts, olives peppers, pumpkin, squash, sunflower seeds and tomatoes.'

 

and goes on to say that

 

'Vegetables include celery (stem), lettuce (leaves), cauliflower and broccoli (buds), and beets, carrots and potatoes (roots).'

[Cornish Gems]

Well - we attended the F2F Fest last Sunday and found it very entertaining. What is so very interesting is hearing about other people's experiences and we feel that it is a great pity that more of these aren't included in the Members Diaries section. As the section is for Members Diaries, in our opinion it does not matter whether one is a book owner or not - what is important is how others have handled their experiences.

Because we did not feel up to walking around the whole farm, we did not see the ducks SD mentions in his opening post of his diary, but we did climb up to the top of his hillock and agree with his description of the view therefrom.

We have come back feeling invigorated. This despite the fact that we had booked into a Travel Lodge; had a shower, dinner, put the television on and then got into bed..... which then broke....... so we had to get dressed, pack up, turn the television off and move all our stuff to another room, with the result that we overslept and were late for the Fest!

To catch up on events on our land, we have been inspired to read KC's entries about pig-farming, as our 3 GOS girls are lovely characters and have different personalities - all likeable. Because we did not know of anyone who had used AI on pigs, and as it was our first attempt, we convinced ourselves that we had not been successful with Sugar and so ordered some more stuff for Blossom and went through the whole caper again. Then Sugar's temperament started changing; she became more demanding at feeding-time and then we noticed that her nipples were growing. Now, with less than a month to go, the 'straight line from knee to tail' is very noticeable.

Now we are in a quandary, because it looks as though Blossom has 'fallen' as well and we only have 2 arks (one of which is called a farrowing ark), but 3 girls, 2 of which are expecting! We have moved all 3 of them up from the bottom of the field to the flat piece at the top where it is more sheltered and now think that we will use one of the former pig-pen areas for our fruit trees, which have been in tubs for at least a year.

The eggs produced by the Bats and older Light Sussex, are not in our opinion attractive enough for selling to the GP (general public) and so we have been feeding them to the pigs, along with cucumbers, tomatoes and water melons that we have rejected for selling. They will also eat the carrots that we purchase for £3 per 20kg bag, but turn their snouts up at raw potatoes and beans.

The same Light Sussex hen, 'Boody' went broody again for the 3rd time in less than a year. Her last hatchling was a male chick and she 'threw' it out of the run by laying eggs again when he was still rather young. Anyway, when she went broody this last time, we bought just 6 eggs and put them under her and because of her manner, we left the one she had been sitting on under her. Well, 19 days after this an egg hatched, but nothing from the remaining 6 which we discovered to be 'infertile' when we removed and examined them 2 days later. We can only assume that the egg which hatched was the one she herself had laid and which we had left with her.

In August, we made time to attend our first market and ended up buying all sorts of useful things, including round stakes and another posthole digger. Daughter bought herself 8 Wellsummer chicks (4 days old) for £9. Unfortunately, it was a hot day and one of them looked in poor shape by the time we got them home. We put them in a box in the polytunnel with wood shavings, but were dismayed to discover a dead chick the next morning and evening and 2 the next day. However, some information from SD helped us to cure the problem because we believe the chicks had been trying to peck at the shavings and so we covered these with an old sheet - result? ....... no more dead chicks. When they grew out of the cardboard box, we fixed them up with a pen in the polytunnel and in order to keep them warm we used an electric hen we had bought for Bobby which we ran using a batttery and suitable inverter.

We also discovered something about pigs at this market and we think we know how to gain a good price for a sow/guilt and her piglets - it all seemed to depend upon the appearance of the family and as our 3 pigs should have been registered and we are using registered GOS semen, we think we can put up a sign for each family we have for sale which may raise the price as it did for one of those we saw make a decent figure.

Then one of our Alpacas (Bertie - the disabled one) died and the autopsy showed that it had an aneurism which led to a heartattack, but left us with just one lonesome alpaca. So we went to the local auction again and were pleased when the first alpaca for sale only made £110 and it was a stud male, but dismayed when the 3 wethers which had been listed separately were lumped together in one lot and went for much more than we had available. In the meantime, though, the remaining alpaca, Buddy became friendly with Merlin, the Dartmoor Hill Pony. Daughter thought about buying some more chicks but nearly collapsed when she heard the auctioneer sell 5 Wellsummer chicks (2 weeks old) for £16!!!! She is looking forward to taking hers in as she seems to have one cock and 3 hens.

Our friendly neighbour cut Third Meadow and produced 40 large round bales of hay from it. Then we noticed that where we had been opening strawbales, there was a mass of ripening cornstalks and so this got us thinking about another use for Third Meadow. We had to bear in mind that KC appears to be achieving the financial target and yet still has some land left over to consider buying some sheep, and as she has less land than we do, we felt that Third Meadow was 'spare'. So spoke to friendly neighbour about winter corn. It did not take him long to convince us that it would be a good idea and that it would improve the land, but, best of all, when we asked how much he would like us to put up front, he said that he would bear the cost and we could have as much corn and straw as we needed. The next week, the bales were moved and the land 'sprayed'. Now that was a sight to behold. The sprayer had arms which opened up to 24 metres wide and the tank looked huge and it took the driver just 5 mins to do the whole field! He actually commented on the fact that the sprayer was not designed for small fields! The machine even had a foam marker which certaihnly was not on the sprayers we used to see when we were growing up!

By 21st Sept, the killer had done its job, and the ploughing was started that evening. The equiment was too long to get in through our gate and so friendly neighbour persuaded unfriendly neighbour to let him use gate which still connected one of his fields with Third Meadow. The next day, Third Meadow was attacked on 2 fronts - one by the plough and one by the seed drill which was too wide to enter field via unfriendly neighbour's gate, but did get through ours! Things have certainly improved since our childhood days. The drill incorporated harrow, roller, drill and then tynes. Friendly neighbour said that he had seeded 5.75 acres and that he was pleased with the look of the soil. Certainly, his efforts seem to be paying off as the field now is quite obviouly full of growing corn. We are reminded of something we read about Greece where ordinary people are more and more using a barter kind of system.

Friendly neighbour has planted corn but has no idea how he is going to get his combine into the field in order to harvest the corn!! His latest idea is to make use of an old ford which is between his land and our Third Meadow, but it will mean the removal of a tree and so we have asked him to ensure that unfriendly neighbour cannot cause us trouble if the tree is taken down. We have now noted that he has been working on the other side of the ford in order to make a proper access to it - the digger he is using is not his own and so we are feeling that he thinks he has made a bargain with us. Bearing in mind that before he sprayed, he also attacked some of the hedges, we think the feeling is reciprocated.

Speaking of unfriendly neighbour making trouble, he went on and on making complaints to the council and eventually, EO succumbed and contacted us in writing so that he would have a written response to put on record. We had to smile as his notice referred to THREE residential caravans and yet he had already sent us an email saying that 2 of them were not contravening any planning. For a moment, we considered saying that one caravan (the food store) was also the residence of a couple of rats; that another (the seed and equipment store) was also home to woodlice and ants and that we shared the thrid caravan with daddylonglegs and moths, but fortunately commonsense prevailed. We did however point out that we were desperately trying to complete all the building works listed under the first PN before its 5 years were up as we had come across several cases of councils demolishing works done so far if they were not all completed within the allotted time.

To finish, just to recap what we have here - with help via Farm and Country Finance, we obtained an interest only mortgage on a house which actually meant we were paying less each month and we bought 3 adjoining fields comprising just over 5ha for which a pd for a 100' tunnel and an L-shaped office/storage/packing complex had earned the words, 'Prior approval not required' and which expires in April 2013. The land had 4,000 or so blueberry plants and an unnecessary irrigation system. We also now have received notifications, 'Prior approval not required' for a barn in Yonder and the same for a shipping container and hardstanding near our entrance. It is not our intention to try to make money out of selling blueberries - far too time-consuming picking them and anyway there is no market for them. However, we are trying to propagate them to sell on eBay as we have had quite a bit of success previously in selling items online and of course from our website. We believe we have mentioned elsewhere that we once had an online business and the only reason why we gave it up was because there was one too many postal strikes! We sold sporting goods, especially wetsuits and cycling accessories. We were interested to learn recently that one of the companies for which we were dealers up until 2008 has now ceased trading.

This year has been an experimental one for us. We know what we have to achieve but we see no reason why we should not enjoy ourselves while trying to reach our goals. We have been here one year now and we have decided to breed pigs (currently ones that look like GOS pigs but are unregistered), keep hens for eggs and grow suitable and profitable easy-for-us-to-grow produce such as 2 different tomato varieties, Marketmore cucumbers, capsicums, Cape Gooseberries and water melons and propagate goji berry bushes and perhaps blueberry bushes. At the same time we intend to grow peas and potatoes for our own use as both of those have proved easy to grow outside. We still do not have a proper Business Plan yet as we do not wish to commit ourselves to the wrong thing. We have heard stories where people have come a cropper if they changed tactics in the middle of the course. However, we are hoping this diary will provide us with important details when it comes to making a proper application for some kind of planning permission.

We are puzzled about the 50 willow plants (not slips) that we bought. Our soil is at least 18" topsoil on top of a clay/shalin/quartz mixture and is usually muddier than we would like. We planted the 50 plants and then as a piece had broken off one of them we put it in a tub of compost which contained an apple tree. The only piece of willow to have really grown this year is the one in the compost which dried out over and over again during the summer!!!! The 50 plants which we had hoped would make screens whilst draining the soil are not much bigger than they were when we planted them!!!!!

We are pleased that we took friendly neighbour's advice and became VAT registered as the quarterly payment is very helpful. So far, none of the items we have sold have been vateable and we cannot see how any of those we intend selling in the future will be vateable, but we do have to cough up vat on all our equipment.

From our experiences so far and what we have learnt here and on the forum, we have to be honest and say that we do not think that we are capable of spreading out the building works to last 5 years whilst being on the land. We feel that LPA's are going to prevent us because at the moment it seems to be within their power so to do. However, we do feel that we can spread it out long enough to be able to successfully apply for 3yr temp at the very least. We even feel that maybe we can spread it out for long enough to feel able to apply for full planning permission but it will depend on what we can achieve business-wise. At the end of the day though, it really depends on what affect, if any, the draft NPPF has on LPA outlook.

[Cornish Gems]

We do apologise to those of you who have been following our efforts to be guided by THE BOOK!

Our main excuse is that by doing so we would appear to be doing not much more than 'HARD LABOUR'!!! LOL Which of course means that time for updating diary is at a premium.

However, hope to have some excellent news for lots of you in the very near future. In the meantime, bed calls and we must make the most of it before animals and chicks (who do not have the same alarm clock that we do) make their presence known!

[Cornish Gems]

Famous last words!!!

Since then, we have been working like Trojans to do building and engineering works, whilst making money through plant sales and increasing our pig herd. One of the things we did a couple of months ago was to fall for a pen of 4 saddleback weaners at a auction in Holsworthy. We asked whether the price was per pig or per pen as we missed out at the previous auction when a (Berrkshire we think) sow and all her piglets went for less than £70.00. On being told it was per pig, we decided that yes we would go for a couple. We won the auction and then could not decide which 2 we wanted and which 2 we did not and so ended up with all 4 (gilts) of them. They look very handsome, but are the first pigs we have had that are not prepared to settle down in their enclosure and not do their best to come out to say hello to everyone. When we come back having done some shopping, they dash out under the electric fence (making terrifying squeals when doing so) and gambol up to us squealing a welcome home noise to us. Then once we have said hello, they follow us back to their enclosure and when we lift up the fence, they go back in again as if they were the world's most obedient pigs possible!!

The reason though that we are adding to our diary today, is to point out to everyone the harm that wet weather can do to building and engineering works, but whether the powers to be will have the same understanding (having read several newspapers articles, etc) is debatable. We, yet again, hired a digger for digging works as doing the work by hand was really time-consuming, and because of the fact that last time the digger could only put one load in the trailer we had each time before we had to empty the trailer, we also hired a dumper truck. We eventually managed to dig out the foundations for our L-shaped storage complex and ordered the hardcore, only to realise that we ought to have a roller! We cannot recommend Dave Cholwill to highly - we really feel that luck was on our side when we first contacted him for plant hire. The first time, the track came off the digger and he hotfooted it out to us to show us how to put it back on again and then gave us some extra time to make up for the time that we had not been able to use the digger without one track.

And now we come to the effects of poor weather. The first thing that happened was that the roller got stuck! We did not have the right kind of strap to be able to use the digger to pull it back out again and thankfully Dave came to our rescue yet again. Then the poor weather meant that the one side of the hole we had dug for the sewage system, collapsed. and of course the hole has filled up with water! At least, though, we have not (yet) had as much rain as those poor people in Lancs.

Still determined to make the most of the time we had left with the digger, we pressed (dug?) on with the digger to make the channels for all the pipework! It was an excellent idea, until the rain weakened the earth under the digger tracks and in so doing, undermined its support with the result, that one track sank into wet soggy mud!! The poor digger now lies on one side with one track down in the mud and the other one up where it is supposed to be! Whether, however, it stays there or decides to join its partner down below is anyone's guess!

Will let you know more later......

[Cornish Gems]

We have to say thank you to Shepie - he was the one who recommended Dave Cholwill and over and over again we have been glad that he so did. We do not know the area that Dave Cholwill hereinafter referred to as DC) covers, but we would recommend his firm to anyone needing to use plant hire.

DC came over with a worker to survey the situation and then sent said worker off to pick up another digger from up the road. The two diggers worked in unison to enable the stuck one to become level and then bit by bit be able to climb back out of the pit. It was not the worst scenario they had come across. Whilst DC was filling in the resultant crater, the other man told us that they had come across much worse situations thatn what had happened to us. He told us a story about someone who wanted to create a pathway along a waters edge - everything was going extremely well until, totally unexpectedly, the digger started sinking, and continued sinking, until it had sunk so far that it was barely visible - of course by that time the driver had vacated the cab and watched helplessly as the digger, for which he was responsible sank lower and lower.

Anyway, before the digger was returned we had finished the hole for the Tricel6, the trench for the pipework and started one of the 3 trenches needed for the foundations. DC is an excellent driver and can get his vehicles into places that a lot of others cannot. He came to collect the digger on the day that the pipes, risers, etc were delivered and he could not believe the hash that the other driver made with his smaller vehicle.

We arranged with DCl for the hire of the digger again when the Tricel6 unit was delivered because it was our idea to lift the unit off the flatbed using towing chains.

Between then and this week, it has rained and rained! Oh yes! It has definitely rained. The rain attacked the banks of the trenches so much that it would have been totally impractical to use them for the purpose for which they had been dug, so, when the digger arrived at the beginning of this week, one of the first jobs it was made to do, was fill in the remains of the trenches it had dug 3 weeks ago!!

The Tricel6 was supposed to have been delivered on a flatbed - we had explained that we did not have a forklift truck and that therefore we would have to lift the unit off using chains and a digger. So the unit arrived in a covered wagon! There was no room for lifting it up and off without damaging the wagon. So off it went back home. Gloucester Composites apologised for the misunderstanding and arranged for another carrier and today the unit was delivered as per our original request and is now safely ensconced next to where its next hole is to be dug. The interesting thing though is that one of the unit's chamber covers has been damaged and we can't help but wonder whether that happened when the first carrier tried taking it off their covered wagon!!

Isn't life exciting!!

[Cornish Gems]

Yesterday was a very special and memorable day for us. Following the advice given elsewhere on the forum, we were able to decide which male weaner to choose and which one to reject for breeding purposes. Actually, the one we chose ticked all the boxes and also has the nicer nature, or so we think. So we put him in a pen with Blossom and her latest daughter, Flower, and the 3 of them settled down together. We christened him Star because he he has a distinctive 'spot' on the middle of his forehead - he is also spottier that the females we have.

Well Star is nearly 8 months old, and yesterday did something he had not done before. He broke out of his pen!! We wondered why and then as we watched him make a bee-line for the enclosure in which Patch and Sugar are currently ensconced we began to have an inkling of what was up. Sugar was becoming very excited and noisy - Star started frothing at the mouth and in no time at all had knocked the fence down so that he could get at Sugar. Sugar is fully-gown and Star looks very small in comparison, but he did seem to manage to do the job, or so we hope. We now believe that he had already practised on Flower as she looks as though she might be in the family way. This is wonderful news for us because we had realised that AI was going to become very very time-consuming, which is why we had asked forum members about how to choose a 'boar'. Afterwards, he had a sniff around Patch, but she was not receptive - we do not expect her to be in season until next week.

We knew we needed more pig arks and so made an order for 5 of them, but unfortunately the guy was no longer able to buy small quantities of pig arks sheets from his supplier and so we realised we would have to solve the problem in another way. So a phonecall was made to our local Mole Valley Farmers who said that they were expecting some in by the end of that week and so every day we called them to see whether the sheets had arrived. On the Thursday, we were told that they had 23 of them and so we bought the lot! Many thanks to Mole Valley Farmers who, you might be interested to know, will offer small discounts on largish quantities of items. Every penny counts!!

The first two arks have been put together and we put Sugar in one of them. Our next problem is going to be energisers and batteries. We had already done something about the fences. Originally, we were using electric fencing wire and posts, but we have now realised that moving the 'fence' is rather time-consuming and so we contacted someone on eBay from whom we had bought some sheep netting previously which we had found ideal for pigs and asked her if there were any discounts for large quantities of 5 or more and once again we were lucky.

By the way, just in case anyone is wondering about how we are able to build a pig ark when it is doing nothing but 'chucking' it down, well, we have been using the polytunnel!

[Cornish Gems]

Have just realised that we have forgotten to share the best news with you all! The unfriendly neighbour's property has been put on the market and a sign has now appeared which says, 'SOLD stc'. We just hope that the new people are a little friendlier as the 'lane' over all of which we have a right of way (can you imagine trying to make animals stick to a particular part/side of a 'lane'?) needs some attention and we have equipment which could help do the job.

Hope to write more later about polytunnel, auctions, plants, etc, etc.

[Cornish Gems]

Hope to write more later about polytunnel, auctions, plants, etc, etc.

Still hoping to find time to bring you up to date regarding these, but had to share a little gem with you first.

Completion of sale of next door took place on 3rd August. Neighbours were absent for quite a while, so when we saw an unmarked van with 2 men in it go through the open gate, we called the police and reported them. We had thanks for the concern but it turned out that they were delivering a quote for some fencing.

Now all sorts of things are happening. Some of the family are in 'residence' and there are builders vans and lorries going in and out over and over again. We took details of the wind turbine over to them for them to peruse and then yesterday went over again with details of an offer if they were willing to agree to the wind turbine being erected on our land. A few months ago it would not have been necessary, but the distance that any neighbouring property has to be away from the wind turbine has been increased by the powers that be to 250metres and the neighbouring house is just within this distance. Anyway, we were told quite firmly that there is no offer that could be made to her that would make her write a letter of agreement as she is going to have horses and is worried that the noise might upset them. We mentioned the aircraft but the noise of the Red Arrows flying across to places like Fowey does not bother her, nor does that by a C130, Eurojet, F116, Tornado, Lynx helicopter and of course Chinook, to name just a few. So we mentioned the nuisance caused by the generator and she said that she could hardly hear it.

We have added to this in another thread in which we are requesting help to find a suitable generator.

Anyway, this morning, her plumber came on over to ask for information about the water pipe which passes under our land to their property and we told him that we knew where it must go through the hedge as we had a 'water trough' up against the hedge. He was very interested in this and went away to pass on the information to others. The next thing we know was that there was this very loud banging - the builders from next door were only smashing up our water trough! They even said that they were entitled so to do!

We sent them away and later the plumber came back to apologise to us and even said that they had spent quite a long time on the phone to the solicitor and that we were in the right (sic) and that the solicitor had not found out about that before completion. To ourselves we thought that he should have used proper pre-contract enquiries desgned for property with some land attached!

Then finally, a firm called 'Pump Rescue' which we had contacted in order to facilitate a proper water supply, instead of using IBC tanks, came to us. And blow us down - back came the plumber to ask them if they would please call next door because the lady of the house is thinking of restoring the old well!

BTW, we did not show them another 'water trough' which is in Yonder field. We have never used either of the troughs as our old neighbours told us that it was metered water and there was only one meter - THEIRS!!

[Cornish Gems]

We feel the need to impart the following story in the hopes that no-one else does what we did. If we ever win the lottery we will set up a charity to ensure that this sort of thing does not have to happen ever again.

WARNING - PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU FAIRLY EASILY UPSET. IT HAS BEEN OVER A FORTNIGHT AND WE ARE STILL FEELING TEARFUL ABOUT MERLIN.

Dear Merlin

We bought you when you were 3 years old and you had been halter-trained and easily came in answer to your name. You were so keen and eager and delighted in learning the new skills we tried to teach you. You did not mind the blanket we put on you and then when we put a felt saddle on you, you gave us a nuzzle. So we decided the time was right to put our daughter up into the saddle and you were as good as gold. She loved you and would spend hours with you and even spent time with you telling you things that she did not feel she could say to us.

You were a Dartmoor Hill Pony and loved the fact that you could easily find food to eat. What a difference from your origins! Food! Glorious Food! You should have been called 'Oliver'!

We had arranged for the farrier to come shortly after you joined us, and he warned us that there were indications of the onset of laminitis and he pointed out to us that the fat on your neck under your mane was not a good sign.

So we started trying to cut down on the amount you were eating. The first idea was to limit the size of your paddock and this seemed to be working extremely well and we received a compliment from the farrier. BUT - in the next paddock there were 2 alpacas - Buddy and Bertie. Bertie had been born slightly disabled and it turned out that he had a weak heart because one day we found him lying dead at the bottom of the paddock. Buddy was really upset by this and started keening very loudly. We went to an auction, but instead of selling the wethers individually, there were unexpectedly put together in one lot and we could not afford the price they fetched. We put an ad in Mole Valley Farmers and Cornwall Farmers asking for help - either by a companion for Buddy or for a home for him but there was no reply.

We talked to various people, but the solution was taken out of our hands. Dear Merlin - you, who used to chase the alpacas around when the 3 of you shared the same paddock, broke down the fence and joined Buddy in the now larger new paddock. Buddy was suddenly miraculously happy and still so were you!

The farrier came and showed us the flecks of blood in the offcuts of your hooves and warned us that we should curb your eating or it would get worse. So we tried fastening you to a chain held to the ground by a storm stake heavily anchored down, but it did not take you long to realise that if you could rub off your halter, you would be free again. So we tried putting 2 halters on you, but they started rubbing you so badly, that you started showing blood. So we stopped that idea and instead tried you with a muzzle. The first time we put one on you, we had no problems, but when it came to the next time, you refused to have anything to do with it. So Gem tried the trick of putting her hand up in it with some treats on her hand and when you nuzzled her hand to get at the treats, she promptly whipped the muzzle up and over. But you only let this work once. She tried disguising the muzzle, but you soon cottoned on to that little trick. Next, we tried to blindfold you, but it only worked the once!
We tried lunging you and when that didn't work. we built you a 'gallop' in which we would encourage you to gallop up and down. You really should have been called, 'Houdini'.

We were running out of more ideas and we received yet another warning from the farrier. So we decided that we had to pen you in and so put you into the field shelter. Dear Merlin, we do so hope that you did not hurt yourself too much when you kicked out the side of the shelter.

Then we had a visitor - a relative of ours who is a Dartmoor farmer and he looked at you and said that if we were not careful we would have a welfare problem in which case we would have to send you to the 'dog food factory' unless a miracle happened..

You were now spending hours lying around. It was beginning to hurt you to move. We could not bear to watch you. You were still trying to be keen and eager, but although your heart was in it, your body was not responding.

We made a decision - it seemed to fairly easy. All we had to do was to contact Stattons and they would provide the answer. In the meantime, we discovered that had you been a foal you would have been taken in by a charity, but at 6 years old, you were too old. Then we were told that had you been a mare, we could have got you in foal and then the Mare and Foal Sanctuary would take care of you both. But you were a 6 year old gelding and much as we wanted to keep you we could not bear to see you suffering.

Gem went away for a week on a PGL holiday (thanks to Groupon) and before she went, we told her to say 'goodbye' to you as we had found at long last found a place which would know how to look after you, and then took the next step and contacted Stattons again and an appointment was made. There was no problem with that - it was in the future and anything could happen in the meantime. After all, we had been contacting all those people and surely someone would come up with a good idea.

The Statton van arrived - the driver was really nice and friendly. Whilst, you were being fetched, the driver was consulted about a different solution for your laminitis. He watched you come up the track and told us that we had made the right decision. Dear Merlin - you came up that track with so much determination. You did not shun or try to avoid the driver the way you did with the farrier. Did you know?

The driver asked us if we wanted to stay with you, but we gave you a treat and you did not seem to mind. We watched him clear away the parts of your mane that were in the way and then we both went into the polytunnel.
Surely a miracle would happen. Then we heard a shot, but it did not really register with us as being a reality. For quite a while we did not hear anything else.

We did one or two things in the polytunnel and then heard the vehicle going back up the lane. Why had he gone? Where were you? Oh Merlin! That is when we realised that miracles do not always happen. All that was really left of you was your halter on the concrete.

BUT we tell a lie! We will always remember you and your willingness to do your best. It was not your fault that you were born a Dartmoor Hill Pony and it was most certainly not your fault that you were sold to people who did not have a proper stable yard in which you could be kept out of food's way.

We are telling your story now so that perhaps somewhere, somehow, this kind of thing will never ever happen again to another Dartmoor Hill Pony. Dartmoor Hill Ponies ought to belong on Dartmoor. You were completely true to your breeding, which meant that you had to forage for food whenever and wherever you could. OR, perhaps it is time that a proper solution was found to prevent laminitis from happening.

Thank you for everything. Gem believes that you are being very well looked after. She misses you and so do we all. If we ever come into some money we will set up a charity in your name - MERLIN!

[Cornish Gems]

To state the obvious, the weather this year has not been good. In fact, that is an understatement! Last year, we had oodles of potatoes - this year we had none. Last year, we had several rows of peas - this year, the slugs beat us to them! In fact, talking of slugs, our friendly neighbour planted some of his winter wheat fields with rape seed after ploughing, etc, once the harvesting had been finished. He was advised to spread a lot of slug pellets - more than usual - and so he did, but to no avail. Slugs not only devoured the rape seed but the slug pellets as well! He calculates that it has cost him £8,000! Everyone who is growing things is praying for a really cold spell this winter so that the 'eggs' will be killed, otherwise there could be real problems next year.

We have been selling our plants at auctions. At Hallworthy and then we found a weekly one at Hatherleigh. Then last week a couple of the usual bidders were not there and we were left with a lot of plants which did not reach their reserves. It's not easy carrying the plants to and from the trailer - it is quite a trek and there is no trolley to help. So we asked a fruit and veg stallholder, how he got his pitch and he told us what to do. We found out that the charge is £1 per foot and yesterday we were given our first pitch. We were pleased to find that we were able to get higher prices for our plants and a lot of interest was shown in our goods. We received several requests and intend having a go at fulfilling them. Indeed, it was so successful, that we have been looking in to other possible places. A stallholder next to us told us that she goes to Newquay on Thursdays and so we think we will do a recce tomorrow.

It seems strange to think that we were still picking tomatoes at Christmas last year. Compared with some people, we have been very fortunate with our tomato plants but we do not feel we will still be picking them so late in the season.

Meanwhile, work has started on proper pig pens in Yonder field, but it is time consuming as they are intended to be permanent fixtures. Our entrance access has been widened by 6ft and the same again at the gate.

[Cornish Gems]

We do not think we have told you about the second part of the polytunnel, but if we have so done, we sincerely apologise. On that memorable day there were 4 of us ready to pull the polythene sheet over the new framework. Now this part of the polytunnel was the same height and width as the first part, but it was over twice as long! We thought we had had fun doing the first part, but it did not really prepare us for the second part.

The polythene sheeting for the plastic covering of the polytunnel is heavy! It arrives as a cylinder having been folded concertina fashion and then rolled up. So we unrolled it and laid out the 'concertina' along the base of the framework. Then we tried pulling the corners - yes - well - it was too heavy and the sheer weight of it prevented it from 'rising' up in the middle. So 'Charlie and Me had another cup of tea' and then had a brainwave! We built 2 smallish 'towers' from pallets - one towards each side. Then two of the strongest of us went one at each corner. Then one of the remaining 2 went to help pull at one corner whilst the fourth member climbed up on top of the closest pallet tower complete with a hiking pole. The said hiking pole was to help pull/push up some of the weight on that side of the tunnel whilst the 2 on that corner pulled with all their might! Then it was a quick prayer and a rush to do the same to the other side - whilst saying another prayer that the one left holding the 'baby' would not let go! The 2 responsible for the corners actually had quite an easy time at it. Just a bit of puling when they had an assistant and then a 'rest'. It was the 'assistant' who had to run from one end of the tunnel to the other and back again in order to help with the pulling, plus the poor person who had to climb up the pallet tower, pull/push with the trekking stick, then clamber off the 'tower; and race to the other 'tower' and repeat the exercise who had drawn the short straws!! LOL.

Last year we had a tunnel which was 30' by 30'. This year we had the second part as well which was twice the size. We had fallen for the idea of aquaponics and so one of the first things we did was to dig a hole. We even had a half of a 300gal water butt which we thought would do for the fish. The only problem we had was the fact that the half did not have a screw top and so we tried using a massive strap to fasten part of a bucket to the butt. Hmmm! We later discovered that this was not a success. This was when there had been even more rain than usual - so much so that the hole we had dug filled up with water which seeped through the bottom fastening of the butt. What a good job we had not yet bought the fish!

Another thing we discovered this year was that the kind of compost one uses can make a big difference. Last year we used Arthur J Bowers and were pleased with the results. This year because the supplier did not have any of that in stock, we went somewhere else and purchased some of their compost. Our plants have not done so well and we suspect that it could be because of a difference in the quality of compost, Our own compost was fine but we have not yet been able to produce enough of it for our needs.

One of the successes we had this year was runner beans. Somehow or other a couple of labels were mixed up and what we thought were special plants which would take 7 years before they would flower were put into the large tubs which had originally 'housed' the fruit trees. It was not long before we realised our mistake, but decided to let them continue growing. On the end of their pallet 'bench' we had planted some sweet peas. We were pleased to discover that these may have helped to discourage some of the problems that can afflict runner beans grown indoors. Another interesting tidbit is the fact that when we thought the plants needed a bit of a rest, we trimmed off all the top pieces and let the plants start again and so we had a second crop. It turned out that our first cropping was earlier that outside crops and our second cropping a little bit later than the same. We think we will experiment a bit more with this next year.

In a rash moment and basking from the euphoria of a highly successful auction we treated ourselves to a couple of banana plants and a kiwi fruit plant. All 3 are doing as well as expected - BUT - why oh why do not the plant labels tell you that kiwi fruit plants have sex? Which means of course that you need a male and female plant in order to produce fruit. A bit like the holly bush really - because that too has the same problem. The label on our kiwi fruit plant does not tell us whether it is a male or a female plant. So does anyone know how to tell the difference?

BTW, we have been told one way or another many interesting things about members of the community forum. It would be so good if more of you would put it in writing in this forum. Several people have told us that the diaries make interesting reading and then we learn that they too have a good story to tell.

[Cornish Gems]

It has not all been toil and trouble this year, even if the mud seems to want to hubble-bubble!

We have been keeping our pigs on clay soil. They are outdoors with arks for shelter. Everything went extremely well with the pigs whilst their pens were on slightly sloping land, but we became concerned about the way in which the arks would move down the hill and so we moved the pigs up the hill and onto the flat.

It was the biggest mistake of our enterprise. Because of the wet weather we have had, the water had nowhere to go and so the land was water-logged. This meant that although the pigs were clean in their habits and always pooped and peed in the same place, the dangerous bacteria spread everywhere. The first intimation we had that something was wrong was when we found that Blossom had died during the night. The vet diagnosed Erysipelas due to wet weather and poor drainage of clay soil. The good news she gave us was that Erysipelas can be prevented or if caught in time treated but that it would be another 28 days before the animal could go into the food chain. So we injected against Erysipelas. Firstly this was twice four weeks apart and then its going to be every six months. The Erysipelas bacteria is supposed to be in all pigs - it is found around their tonsils and basically it is caused by a build up in the soil as the bacteria can be viable out of the pig for up to 6 months in some cases. We found that the best way to inject the pigs (in the neck just behind the ear at the top of the shoulder), was when they were feeding. It is only a 2ml dose and is over in a flash and the pigs (being pigs) were too busy scoffing to notice!

And so of the total of 14 pigs we had after purchasing the saddlebacks, we only have 7 left........................... The 2 oldest GOS are very willing to go to the boar (or rather let him come to them) but so far without success (as far as we are concerned as we cannot comment on what the pigs think or feel and we are not going to put our smutty thoughts into writing!)

It turned out that Flower was not expecting - she was just filling out after recovering from the dreaded Erysipelas,but this seems to have left her with arthritis. She is however extremely lively and seems content with her lot. Of the 2 remaining saddlebacks, we think that one of them is due next month - if she is, then any piglets she has are going to be half-breeds and we had hoped to avoid that but we suppose it serves us right for not sticking to one breed of pig. We were rather ruled by our hearts and not our heads when we first saw the saddlebacks.

We now can hear you saying 'But that is only 6 pigs and you said you had 7'.Well you are right! Patch and Sugar are the 2 sexy elderly gilts; Flower is their younger half-sister; the 2 saddlebacks which may eventually be christened Twiggy and Snowdrop; our boar called Star and the missing one is a nameless boar who is was born in the same litter as Flower but is taking a very very long time to recover from Erysipelas but not showing any signs of arthritis.

Auctions should be banned! One of our farming fathers kept RIR-Light Sussex Cross and at an auction at Hallworthy there was a box of chicks up for auction and so we purchased, not only it, but the second lot as well as an option. Hmm - Of the 20 chicks, the smallest of them expired during an extremely hot day and left us with 19. Only one of the remaining birds looks like a cross and ELEVEN of them look like extremely handsome RIR COCKERELS! Do you know anyone who would like one? LOL

At a more recent auction however, we believe we made a wise decision. A man called John came all the way from Ilchester we think it was. We believe he said that he had taken over Scotts Nursery which ran into financial difficulties and he was slowly disposing of 12,000 pus cider apple trees. Well, he brought 29 of these to Hatherleigh and we bought the first 3 of them at £10 apiece. More sold at £9 each but we were not really paying attention until we heard the auctioneer saying the figure £4,etc etc and we realised that someone was about to have some cider apple trees for only £4 each when we had been willing to pay £10 each. So, guess what! Yep! We put in a bid of £5 and then were flabbergasted when no-one made another bid!! The auctioneer asked us how many we wanted and so, rather piqued, we asked how many were left and he said 20. Then we asked when we would have to move them by and he said that they could stay there until the next morning and so we said that in that case we would take all the remaining ones. We feel that these trees are very good value - they are 4/5 years old and 12' plus high. They have now all been planted and make the other trees in the orchard look like miniature village ones! We also have John's telephone number and so if anyone would like to take advantage of these clearance sale prices, please ask and we will let you have his number. There are several varieties of cider apple trees - we think we have at least 7 different ones.

[Cornish Gems]

We are wet and muddy! So we have come inside to do the VAT Return and to catch up a bit on our diary.

Talking of mud - our clothes get so plastered in it that we have to rinse them under a tap before we even dare to think of putting them into a washing machine. Incidentally, we are curious to know why, when snowshoes have proved to be so successful, no-one has invented mudshoes. The absolutely worst thing about mud is the way in which it pulls off one's wellies! And if that hasn't happened to you yet - well - you are in for a real treat! The first couple of times it can seem a lot of fun! It is only when you are struggling to get all the work done and your legs start aching through the effort of trying to pull your boot free only to find that the other one is stuck instead that one wishes one had learnt some really appropriate curse words!

One of our consolations is the fact that we are glad we listened to that man at the Environment Agency building in Exmouth and avoided any area that was on any kind of flood plain. We have seen some very distressful situations where land has been flooded.

On Thursday night, the winds reached horrendous speeds. We were pleased when we got up (please note we did not say 'woke up' as we do not remember being able to fall asleep because of the noise) to find that the caravans, storage container and field shelter were ok. The pig arks were still the right way up but had been moved off their original sites. A hole was blown in the polythene cover at the far end of the new part of the polytunnel. One chicken coop was blown over and, later on when we counted chickens, we realised that 2 were missing and eventually found their bodies. Of the newly planted cider apple trees, those that had not been staked because we did not have enough stakes left were blown over. It's only when you buy bare-rooted cider apple trees that you realise that their roots seem to spread out and not grow down. Oh well - one consolation is the fact that we were advised to keep them well-watered after planting them!

One of the many things that attracted us to this parcel of land was that the previous owners had not chopped down all the hedges which meant an abundance of hazelnut trees and of course their nuts - we have not yet seen any squirrels here which would otherwise pinch them all before we could. Well, the new next door neighbours had different ideas and employed someone to cut down the hedges. Now the hedges are distinctly mentioned in the Deeds as being shared boundary hedges and we were greatly upset when the trimmer not only cut down their half of the hedge but most of ours as well! When we went next door to remonstrate we were told, ' Well it is not as though there were any mature oaks!'. How does she think acorns can grow into mature oaks if the seedlings are chopped up into little pieces when they are only 10-15 years old? She also mentioned that the land had not been well-maintained before they bought the place and yet we think the chopped up parts of the hedges look an unsightly mess.

Following the destruction of our water trough (hereinabove-mentioned in an earlier posting), we learnt that they were going to lay a new mains water pipe. They own the freehold of the lane which gives access to both our properties and also other fields and there was a narrow drainage channel to take rainwater so that undue damage was not caused to the lane surface. The builder they hired to do the job was apparently someone who was desperate for any kind of work at all and he brought in a manned-digger which dug out a large trench (and we mean LARGE) and having put the blue water pipe in piled all the dug out soil on top of it. This trench also passed by our access on which we had spent some considerable time on making it wider and smarter. Basically, the idea was good. What was not good was the carrying-out thereof. Once, the soil had been piled up, it should have been compacted as much as possible so that then the narrow drainage ditch could be reinstated. Instead, there is no kind of drainage ditch at all so that all the rain water races down the lane and into our gateway instead of the soakaway which was at the bottom of the original drainage ditch and which had now been filled in. Also, the lane was then levelled off by the removal of the soil above the lane level.

Now, as anyone who has visited the seaside knows, if the cliffs are eroded from below, eventually the tops are going to slip downwards. And this is what happened when a crane came down the lane - the edge of the lane slipped sideways into the soft soil taking the crane with it which in turn eventually ended up in the hedge! The same thing would have happened eventually with any one other of the many lorries that use the lane. It's the laws of nature!

What is so daft, is that the neighbour had already had a warning about this when their car had on an earlier occasion slipped into the soft soil! Then the tractor which tried to rescue the car also slipped in sideways. And, the same thing could happen again and again until the problem is put right.

We cannot praise enough all the locals who took part in clearing up the 'mess' that had been caused by someone else's ill-conceived actions in not dealing properly with the laying of a mains water pipe. What was a good idea has been turned into a disaster area and at the moment the problem is being made bigger because of the amount of rain water cascading down onto the lane.

[Cornish Gems]

Just over a year ago, Sugar, having looked as though she were in the advancing stages of pregnancy, made herself a comfortable nest and went through all the motions of labour - and produced absolutely nothing!

She is one of our 'sexy' gilts and because she is such a big girl, we put her in one of the farrowing arks as they are larger than the ordinary ones. She seemed very content in there.

Then we had a full moon. It was Romany who mentioned several episodes of animals 'escaping' for want of a better word. On Tuesday afternoon, Sugar broke out from her pen and when we went to find her, found that she had ensconced herself in the field shelter. Because we do not have the storage complex yet, the shelter has loads of stuff in it which ought instead to be in the complex. It also houses the 2 large round bales of straw - we would have more but there is not enough room.

Late that night when we went to check up on her, we discovered that we only had one complete bale left. The other one had been demolished and was spread over what area there was - plus a lot of straw had been thrown over the equipment which was being stored inside the shelter. Sugar had not just made herself a nest - she had made herself a veritable mansion!

As we were concerned about the possibility of her being bothered by other livestock we carried hurdles over to the shelter in order to pen off the entrance and were rather pleased with ourselves. We left an area outside the shelter but inside the hurdles so that Sugar would have somewhere to defecate and have a pee.

The next morning, Phill went out extra early to check up on Sugar because we were concerned that she may have hurt herself on some of the equipment to discover that she had had 2 piglets - one was dead but the other was alive! She also appeared to be still having contractions but, when 3 hours later nothing had happened, we phoned the vet and she came out almost immediately. In fact, the only thing that had really happened in the shelter was a chicken poking up its head from down behind one of the bicycles!

After a very quick short examination (very quick and short as Sugar was not in the least bit cooperative and the vet pointed out to us that neither would we be with a hand being stuck up 'you-know-what' ) the vet announced that there was still a pig stuck inside as she had felt the legs but couldn't get hold of them to give it a pull. So she tried to give Sugar an injection of Oxytocin in Sugar's rump but didn't succeed in delivering all of the half dose because of Sugar's immediate uncooperative reaction.

The vet was about to leave when the Oxytocin must have taken some effect as legs of the stuck pig began to appear. Despite all best attempts though, it could not be revived and vet pointed to the dark area in the following placenta which indicated the stress the piglet had been through in trying to be born.

In the meantime, we were very concerned about piglet number one as Sugar did not seem to be taking any notice of it at all. Indeed, she buried it a number of times when she got up to readjust her bedding. It didn't even seem to worry her when she tried lying down on it and we wonder whether that it was what went wrong with the first dead one - that it had been squashed.

During the morning the sun had been shining in on the entrance, but by noon, the wind could be felt instead. And so we used a windbreak outside the hurdles to try and limit the amount of cold air reaching Sugar and her only child.

Vet had told us that if nothing more happened within an hour then to give half of a dose of Oxytocin. We pointed out that we only ever injected in to the shoulder muscle and she did not have a problem with that - and nor did Sugar! Pig number 4 arrived before it was time to go and collect daughter from College.

Now we had been given instructions as to what to do if such and such happened and what to do if such and such did NOT happen. Well such and such did not happen but something else did - Sugar produced a slither of placenta and so we telephoned the vet again - this time a different one came out - and he was unable to be positive about whether Sugar was play-acting or still had more pigs inside her, especially when he heard what happened last year, but he did say to call and collect another dose of Oxytocin before the time the surgery was due to close at 6.30 if nothing happened. He did not seem as concerned as we were by the pigless placenta.

It has been a long night! We rigged up the heat lamp in the shelter running it off a petrol genny for which petrol had been purchased when Oxytocin was collected. Then the chicken came back. It negotiated the hurdles and then gingerly made its way through/over the straw to the bicycle, but she was unable to make herself comfortable although she tried several different 'perches' so she got back down again. To our horror, she climbed on top of Sugar's rump. Now she could almost feel the heat lamp. However, Sugar did not seem to mind until chicken started squirming around in order to get even more comfortable! The resultant noise was almost a pantomime - what with Sugar's vociferous noises of complaint, squeals of protest from the piglets as their mother moved around and the resultant squawking from the chicken! And, of course, other pigs joined in the cacophony of livestock noises. Just hope it all did not waken the neighbours!

Chicken was put back into chicken pen but could be heard complaining about such cavalier treatment for some time thereafter.

This morning, it would appear that Sugar has ceased any play-acting and two piglets are revelling in having such a large choice of feeding tubes!

It works out that those two piglets are the most expensive items of livestock that we have 'bought' so far - one vet visit and one dose of Oxytocin EACH!!! The first one is definitely a boar and our daughter says the other is a girl.

Finally, please read Dave Acreman's topic about board usage and so if you have any comments you would like to make about any of the things we have said, please will you do so in the General Chat Forum or even send us a pm.

[Cornish Gems]

Daughter is right! She was successful in lifting up tail of second live piglet yesterday whereas we were unable to copy her. Today, however, the both piglets' tails lifted up into the classic curly tail position and we could clearly see that funny little 'tongue' that looks a bit like a closed up jug spout. When they were born, their ears lay back along between their shoulders and backs, but today they have started sticking out a bit. Eventually, these should hang down and almost cover their eyes.

There is something else Daughter is correct about. Last night she commented on the fact that the boy did not sound much like a piglet - indeed she maintained that he sounded more like a duck. AND not only was she right, but he still does! However, we dare not call him 'Ducky' as usually the boys are destined for meat.

What is amazing about piglets is how they are so quick to learn how to do things. Bearing in mind that pregnancy lasts we believe 115 days, about one day after birth they start showing character. Both piglets do not mind coming outside the field shelter, although the female, even though she was much the younger, is far more adventurous. Indeed, we had to make a hasty alteration with the hurdles as she found a space through which she could squeeze and thus try to struggle through the mud outside! She is also the one who makes a burrow in the straw and then lets her older brother use it whilst she makes another one for herself.

Sugar is becoming a little bit more responsible despite the fact that she is rather elderly to be a mum for the first time (she was born in August 2010). When she has finished feeding, she goes back inside the shelter and starts tossing the straw around until she has found both piglets and then lies down so that they can feed. They are still trying out all the feeding tubes!

[Cornish Gems]

It is hard to believe that it is 11 months since we last wrote in our diary and we thought it was definitely time that we added something more to it!

 

Shortly after our last entry, we laid the concrete for the shed base and were lucky that the delivery guy was so friendly and helpful. The guy did not stop working until we had received all the concrete we needed - all in all, it took 4 loads and we are very proud of the results of our efforts!

 

Last year, we decided to upgrade our touring caravan that we had been using for accommodation to something a bit more comfortable. The unit had to arrive in kit form because of problems with access and it seemed to take the workmen forever to get anywhere. Anyway, the upside was that we two adults were able to share a double bed for the first time on the land in time for Christmas although as there was no water, gas, etc, everything else still happened in the tourer.

 

In the New Year we went to see relatives on Hayling Island leaving son A to landsit for us. On the 3rd Jan, he called to ask how many pigs there should be altogether and then told us that one of the saddlebacks had had 4 babies. Later on he amended the figure to 10 babies and so we christened the mother Tenna.. Upon our return, the second saddleback went into labour producing a total of 8 piglets, but the silly sow had had her rear too close to the doorway with the result that piglets kept on falling out as they were born whereupon they tried burrowing themselves under the ark. We rescued 7 of them but the eighth was too far gone to survive. We christened their mother Heaven to rhyme with seven and decided to start reducing the number of pigs we had. The first to go was Patch - the sexy gilt which did not get pregnant and as the trailer had an interior gate, we threw the 2 sugarbabes in the back. Patch was a very big girl and made good money, whilst the sugarbabes realised more than other weaners on offer.

 

In the meantime, we had realised that Tenna had in fact had 11 babies - 8 boys (4 looking like Mum and the other 4, Dad), one girl like Mum;one girl like Dad and then a tiddlywee all black girl. As soon as we could, we sent  Heaven and her family to market and a month after that, Tenna's 8 boys followed. We put the last 8 in 2 pens depending on what they looked like and were pleased with the sums received. Finally,it was Star's turn so that we would not have to carry on feeding him while Tenna's girls were growing. We recently heard that his new owner is pleased as punch with his performance..

 

Whilst this reorganisation was being carried out, we were able to move out of the tourer properly and the shed arrived at the same time!  This too was in kit form but we were going to erect it ourselves. We were fortunate that the Council allowed us to change the original design of a rather swish L-shaped building complex to a standard shed and then it was all systems go as the letter relating to the pd stated that we had to notify the Council within 5 years that all the work had been substantially completed and the deadline was April of this year. First we laid the damp-proof membrane and screwed base-plates down on top of the membrane. Then we had a really hard day of slog erecting the 3 panels of the end wall with one side panel at each end of the end wall and then braced each bit and hoped that the 5 panels would be secure should the wind blow. On the next fine day, we erected more side panels and then we had an almighty storm. It blew one of the sides over and one of the base plates was pulled up. The other side did not fall down as it fell against the rest of the shed components. Nothing daunted, we waited until the next fine period and arranged for nice neighbour to send worker with telehandler for the day after we had completed the repair work necessary. This included the brackets to hold the A-frames

 

Now, there were no instructions supplied with the kit, but the website had lots of pictures and diagrams and so we had put up the side walls abutting the end wall so that all the measurements would be correct.  Hmmmmm! Guess what! The end A-frame would not fit into the brackets at each side of the end wall! So off went the telehandler and we resigned ourselves to having to take down the side walls and moving them, base-plates and damp-proof membrane out a bit so that the width of the shed would be over 8" wider than shown on the diagrams! But of course because they were now 'outside' the end wall, the shed would not be as long as shown in diagrams! Absolutely crazy!

 

Then we found that the tractor and telehandller would not be available again for a month or so and we were anxious about time and April. So we hired a telehandler from Saltash and were amazed that they assumed we knew how to use it. We had it for one week and it was all systems go. Fortunately, son A was able to give us a helping hand. Putting up an A-frame was okay - as was the first one of the pair of roof panels. It was the second of the roof panels that caused the problem each time as it had to share the slots already occupied by its partner on the other side. Anyway once we had put up 5 pairs, we then put up the end wall with the door in it so that the other end A-frame could go up together with the 2 final roof panels. We did our best but despite all our efforts the very last of the roof panels is not completely sitting in its brackets and we had to stop worrying because they came to collect the telehandler.

 

Then the EO came for a visit and recommended that we protected the roof panels as soon as possible and so we purchased a tarpaulin and put that up using battens as we thought it would make a lining for the roofing sheets. He also agreed that once this was done we could say that the building works were substantially complete.

 

Hooray! And then all we would have to worry about was ensuring that the building of the barn was also substantially complete by December 2015! Isn't life exciting?!!!!