Farm diversification at its best.....

It is blowing an absolute ‘hoolie’ here today. The ferry boat has been diverted from one island port to another, and the library van just stopped by and reported seeing it sailing on past, heading off north, having failed to berth at any of the island’s ports….. But don’t let that put you off visiting our lovely little farm, in the middle of nowhere!

Today’s bed and breakfast guests were literally ‘blown’ here from Switzerland. They arrived looking mighty windswept, but nothing that a swift dram and a few distillery visits can’t put right, and so off they headed into the storms, Kilchoman bound.

The ‘roofers’ who are staying in one of our cottages have arrived home early for the day, no chance of being up on a roof in these gales, a roaring log fire beckons.

The happy farmer, complete with marigolds, is busy cleaning the other cottage, in preparation for more visitors tomorrow, farm diversification at its best, farmers in marigolds!! He is having his usual social time though as he side tracks another group of pottery visitors to do the grand tour of his sparkling cottage, booking sheet in hand!!

The pottery has been busy too, this week with little people painting various animals, while the big people tuck into pots of coffee and home baking. There is never a dull moment in the old byre that now houses the pottery, this summer we have had impromptu ceilidhs, with singing farmers, joining in the banter with our local jazz artist, and even songs in Japanese from our visiting guests….yes it is a pottery, an all singing and all dancing pottery!! This weekend we played host to the West of Scotland Highland cattle society, when about forty or so Highland cattle enthusiasts and breeders called by for refreshments and to visit our happy herd, Marmite, Toffee and the girls all providing the entertainment.

My lovely social butterfly fluttered home too, and it was so lovely to see her again, and she was so happy to see her horses again. Hansel galloped across the field to see her, and it wasn't long before his ever so long neck was nuzzling tightly round her. A little while later he was all tacked up and galloping round the fields with the butterfly safely on his back. The weekend then seemed to pass all too quickly, but  I got my ‘butterfly fix’, and she got to go to the party she was home for, and got her Hansel fix.

Until next time…..

A rare and beautiful butterfly...

Where does the time go?? Eldest has flown the nest....already...it only seems like yesterday that she made her dramatic entrance into the world.
We have got through the teething and potty training, the sleepless nights and the anxieties of childhood illnesses. Watching full of pride as she babbled her first few words and took her very first steps. The 'terrible twos' and  the tantrums phase, where the world revolved totally around our precious little one. The glimmers of a lovely young girl emerging as she learnt to sing and dance and follow that incredible imagination of hers that led to wonderful adventures of fairies and unicorns and mermaids. The teenage years of horses and ponies, with a dollop of teenage attitude thrown in, where nothing we said or did was quite right..... and then she emerges....like a fabulous butterfly, full of colour and vitality, amusing and good company, into someone you really love and appreciate having around, and just as she emerges as this well balanced, well rounded, talented individual, full of rock star dreams, she flaps her wings and flies...without even so much as a backwards glance!!
You fly girl and have the time of your life!
Until next time.....

It's a dog's life

I have become a human tornado, racing around the farmhouse at incredible speed. My new super-efficient self has a body that is adapting to the speed of light, my brain however seems a little slow to catch up. A point that keeps getting illustrated to me on a very regular basis, like yesterday when I was hovering over the very whingey cat’s bowl about to empty the contents of my muesli box into it, no wonder the cat was whining. I did stop short of feeding myself a very large bowl of cat food for breakfast.

Even the farm animals are noticing this transformation into super woman and are doing their best to join in. Mist, the sheepdog, was very inventive in acquiring a super new luxury pad for herself. I looked out of the French windows to see her huddled in my white plastic washing basket under the washing line. She did look remarkably cute, and I obligingly took photos of her new sleeping quarters, as I got closer I realised she had also pulled several items of washing off the line and nuzzled them into the basket to make an exceptionally cosy bed, and all with her exceptionally muddy paws. Having met the bed and breakfast guests, and having vacated her kennel to Charlie hen, I think she is demanding an upgrade on her own accommodation to five star residency.

Luckily I did not have much time to fret about dirty laundry scattered around the garden with the dog lying in the middle of it, the pottery and another successful kiln load of goodies was beckoning me, adding to the madness and mayhem of life on this particular farm.

Until next time…..