Yikes
spring has sprung and we are halfway through April, and not a blog to show for
it…
The
cyclical nature of farming life continues here on the ‘croft’, lambing is well
underway and just as the Happy Farmer thought that he was getting an easy time
of it, a dab hand at the old ‘lambing’ job now, and the weather turned. The
heavens opened. The wild winds blew, and a whole load of lambs fought in vain
to survive the night. Each year the happy farmer toys with the idea of lambing
indoors….on the plus side; youngest has a new friend to care for. Sugar lump,
checked into the five star lambing suite in the byre, just as the weather
turned particularly horrible, and has now left the confines of her cosy
cardboard pen and is bleating happily outside, awaiting youngest’s return from
school, so she can get another feed of milk.
The
farm has been very busy with visitors, Easter really heralds the beginning of a
new season and ‘team Balerno’ arrived en masse, all 39 of them, for a week of
island life. Tractor rides out the hill to feed the Highland cows, and daily
quad bike hurls around through the sheep, interspersed with trips to the
beaches, and lashings of food and drink, together with the ultimate pottery
party (of course), and a good time was had by all. 
More
family and friends followed, with of course the necessary cask visit to
Bruichladdich distillery, which always comes at this time of year, as wee
Hughie gathers the farming fraternity to sample his cask and see how the amber
nectar is maturing. This year it seems to be maturing particularly well going
on the state of the Happy Farmer and his cousin upon their return to farmland.
The cousin went for a short nap and did not surface again until the next day. Stories
are gradually pouring forth as the days unfold and the blurry haze is becoming
one of clarity with fine tales of balancing garden fences crashing, and the
case of the missing spectacles, which incidentally still have not turned up, in
fact if you do happen to be visiting a butcher’s shop in Tiree be sure not to
mention glasses, whisky or otherwise. I am actually beginning to wonder if
there will indeed be any whisky left in that cask for next year’s gleeful
reunion.Until next time.....
10 comments:
Thank heavens for the Happy Chappy - it doesn't sound like cask sampling and lambing go all that well together!
If 'spring has sprung like a leak in a whiskey barrel' at your place, it's seeping in through a hole in the umbrella here!
Great to read your blog Posie. We had a few days of fantastic weather at the end of March and then it howled and snowed and all the rest. Hope the little lambs survived the cold. Sugar Lump is beautiful.
Good job she made it to the 5 star lambing byre before the bad weather. Wee Hughie's cask sampling could n't have come too early.
Oh Posie, how can I tell you how much I enjoyed reading this post of yours! You might already have been over to my place and learned that I had a very short trip to the UK. I did see some very young lambs and saw them have their very first experience of rain.
Some of my Country Dreams came true.
They were just a quick rehearsal for what I hope will be a longer experience later this year or the next.
I am trying to cling on to the impressions from my recent trip and not to let the insistent pressures from my NYC life be a blotter.
xo
lol, THAT's Island life at its best - for whisky loving men at least. Dear, oh dear. Has this hen been made in your kiln? So sorry to hear that your new camera has been a victim of salt water. Hope you get another good one soon. Great spring impressions, dear Posie.
Ah thank you for all of your lovely comments it is good to catch up with you all. Frances, you need to head north on your next visit and come over here, I am so thrilled that you enjoy reading the posts, life is pressured everywhere unfortunately, even here...but a change is as good as a rest and your trip sounded just that.
Bayou, yes the hen came out of the kiln the other day, it was one the happy potters cast and then I glazed it...
Ah Posie, your blog could serve as a text for the temperance movement on the devilish danger of the demon drink! But having been coasting a little under the weather myself (which outside is not one mite better than yours despite the hundreds of miles to the south) I have myself succumbed to a wee glass of the amber nectar this lunchtime to top up my spirits and drive the bugs away. Sadly it wasn't from your distillery, though my favourite tipple does come from an island - but in this case Orkney.
Good luck with the lambs and I do hope you find your glasses. I have to have at least three pairs as I lose them all the time, fortunately I can make do with cheap reading glasses.
How good to find you blogging. I love the way your life is both so similar to mine and so different. We have lambs in the fields all around now but of course none of them are ours. That makes life easier! But the garden and the veg patch and the kitchen are calling and the holiday cottage is full of visitors again. I love spring.
Me too Elizabeth :-) I always envy your garden though, I never seem to manage to get the results you do, I love the photos of your garden and all its produce through the various seasons.
Hi there! Happy to be back here again and how time flies! Sounds like those lambs could do with a wee dram of the amber nectar too to keep out the weather! Please post a picture of your pots? XCathy
How lovely to read your blog again - and to picture all those animals - How tough it must be for those young lambs - lets hope for a few sunny days for them - how is Charlie the chicken? - Jane x
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