Weather: The thermometer says 67 degrees, but it feels colder than that - cloud and sun alternating, with a chilly breeze.

Tasks for the day: bury the dead lamb, go to the farm shop for more goat food, make lemon curd

Rosie, the lamb who had wet mouth and bloat, died shortly after we got her back from the vet. I felt really sad about this one - we had nursed her and fed her for so long, and she was the daughter of Pet, Rich’s pet sheep who died giving birth to her. I was really hoping to have Pet’s daughter to grow up and take her place…

But, not meant to be. She was always a little sickly and scrawny, and Joli had nursed her along. I suppose in the natural scheme of things, she would have died right away. Poor thing.

Another fatality - one of my two Buff Orpington chicks. Mr. Mean, its nasty brother, pecked its nose and eye, which swelled shut. And then it just seemed to give up the will to live, even though I couldn’t see anything wrong with it aside from the eye, which I thought would heal. 

Mr. Mean carries on, however, feisty and noisy and stroppy as you like. Since he’s on his own, we’ve been taking him into the house to hang out with him, and he’s funny - he’ll attack your finger if he sees it! Rich said he had read that the way to cure them of that was to put your fingers down, as if they were another chick, and kick back. So Mr. Mean had a little training session…

Mr. Mean gets in the ring with his opponent...

On Saturday we all pitched in to muck out the lambing shed, where the ewes had been kept in to lamb. All the muck then goes into the muck spreader, and then it will get spread onto the fields, to grow the grass for next years lambs. A tidy little ecosystem…

Everyone helps, even Benjamin, age 3

And then we went inside for a play. ..

George tosses Benji

George, 19  just recently went to the SkillAuto competition in Bridgewater to compete against eight other aspiring ace mechanics. He came out first, with a 98%! He was in the newspaper and everything. He won the possibility of a job with Audi/BMW in Cardiff, and a multi-meter, that tests electrical circuits. Now he goes on to the next leg of the competition.

He also is now a fully qualified mechanic, and we were so proud of him that we all went out for supper! Since there are eight of us, we very rarely go out to eat…a treat that we reserve when one of the kids do something fantastic. Da iawn, George!

Just got interrupted by all the goats bleating outside - there are spatters of rain and they’re complaining.

The goats, complaining...

The goats don’t have waterproof coats like the sheep, so they hate to stand out in the rain. It makes it dicey to let them out, because it rains every ten minutes here. If we shut them in all the time the milk yield goes down…but if they come out, we can’t leave the house because it might rain while we’re gone! 

Rich is going to build them a little shed outside, so they can go in and shelter when they choose. But until it’s finished, I’m jumping up every few minutes to check that it’s not really raining…