Its not so wet now on Hambrook hill farm, we now have a postbox, so any goat related post can be recieved!
Well the pigs are getting fat, and extremely naughty, getting out on a daily basis seems to be this months game!! Talking of getting out: this is something the ponies havent done since the fence has been mended in their field and its now secure!
We have decided to sell one of the shetland ponies so hopefully Norman will be snapped up soon.
On the goat front, we travelled down to the Wytsend Herd of AN goats in west Devon last weekend and picked up our lovely new buck called Jacob! who's pretty much smashing!! He escaped twice but only wend as far as the girls shed! bless...only one thing on his mind!
we have one field to fence now, and the whole place will be stock proof, so when ive worked myself into the ground for a few months ill have enough money to do that :)
Also the new piglets should arrive this month, so fingers crossed we'll get there soon :)
Monday, 7 February 2011
Wednesday, 19 January 2011
January 2011!!!
Well well, we've arrived in 2011 and its wet! Hambrook hill is a lake, but we're surviving! and alots changed!!
Firstly, Richard has fenced one paddock with stockmesh, so we have one safe place at least where livestock cant get out! and the ponies field is being fenced and secured this week, as Di the black beast decided to walk through the hedge and take herself off on a jolly, luckily was rescued by a passer by!
The piggies are doing well, just under 2 months until the final journey, and theyre loving every minute, especially as the ground is wet and extra muddy.
On the 1st of the month we perchased 2 lovely Anglo Nubian goat does, called Olga and Ethel:
i think this is Ethel?
Firstly, Richard has fenced one paddock with stockmesh, so we have one safe place at least where livestock cant get out! and the ponies field is being fenced and secured this week, as Di the black beast decided to walk through the hedge and take herself off on a jolly, luckily was rescued by a passer by!
The piggies are doing well, just under 2 months until the final journey, and theyre loving every minute, especially as the ground is wet and extra muddy.
On the 1st of the month we perchased 2 lovely Anglo Nubian goat does, called Olga and Ethel:
i think this is Ethel?Sunday coming we have a nice billy called 'Stoneycombe Maximus' arriving to settle in and hopefully mate the girls later this year!
i think thats it! appart from julia has been ill and all lurgied up so caravan hasnt progressed very far!
Monday, 6 December 2010
piggies!
Secondly we have fence posts but no wire attached, Jennifer went to get wire but Mark has dissapeared and thus the wire hasnt been fixed to the fence yet. but nevermind, we now have a man named richard coming this very week to start said job..good times.
Thirdly, piggies have arrived!!!!! how exciting, 5 saddleback weaners for fattening YUM!
Tuesday, 9 November 2010
ITS RAINING!!!
ok, generally i dont have much time to update hambrooks blog, but today is reallllly hammering down with rain and im not working, so heres an update on progress so far:
Since moving in, the brambles have been cut down, the fencing that needed felling, has been felled, we have THE biggest bonfire to set light to when we have a dry week. The 2 ponies, Di and Oli were moved in and did a super job of ground clearence and fertilisation. The caravan/farm office is in place, washed and is now being decorated by super designer Julia DeKlerk, so that'll be proper swanky when done, my dad is making me a mini woodburner to go in it to, so it'll be nice and cozy!
The new fence posts arrived, from the local saw mill, and will be put up in a weeks time by Mark and his tractor. And we're waiting on a discount day at the local farming store to get the stockmesh cheap!
Two new arrivals onsite are Norman and George the shetland ponies, straight off the New Forest, they arent the tamest of creatures, but are getting there slowly with Jennifers attention.
Since moving in, the brambles have been cut down, the fencing that needed felling, has been felled, we have THE biggest bonfire to set light to when we have a dry week. The 2 ponies, Di and Oli were moved in and did a super job of ground clearence and fertilisation. The caravan/farm office is in place, washed and is now being decorated by super designer Julia DeKlerk, so that'll be proper swanky when done, my dad is making me a mini woodburner to go in it to, so it'll be nice and cozy!
The new fence posts arrived, from the local saw mill, and will be put up in a weeks time by Mark and his tractor. And we're waiting on a discount day at the local farming store to get the stockmesh cheap!
Two new arrivals onsite are Norman and George the shetland ponies, straight off the New Forest, they arent the tamest of creatures, but are getting there slowly with Jennifers attention.
All the field shelters are flooded this morning, the ground just cant take anymore water, the road is a river and the ditches either side of the field are overflowing, so all ponies onsite are wet, but dont seem to care much!
Monday, 11 October 2010
Arriving at a bramble patch.
On the 1st of Aug 2010, we arrive in a wilderness on Hambrook hill, West Sussex. 5 acres of brambles, wild grassland and bog. All this was left around 10 years ago when we moved our horse at the time to a field in the next village, and Hambrook hill was left to go wild.
2010 saw the need for the field to become inhabited once again, when i had to move 2 foals off the land they had occupied previously. Diana, a 2 year old black welsh sec D cob and Oliver, a one year old gypsy cob moved into the fields in Hambrook hill and set about eating everything in sight. 5 acres seems too much for 2 native ponies who get fat just by looking at a blade of grass, so an idea was born in my mind......
For ever and a day i have kept animals: Horses; goats;chickens; rabbits, and everything in between. Im a shepherd by trade, and have previously worked in the dairy industry, so farming isnt a new concept to me. on 5 acres i can keep myself self sufficient, and probably keep alot of other people too!
With alot of interested friends the smallholding idea is taking shape, where i cant do it myself and dont have a friend who can do it either, local tradesmen are being drafted in to lend a hand: Mark is a man in a tractor, who turned brambles into dust...we like mark, he made life alot easier! also the man in the watercress farm opposite tidyed the hedges, so it looks like someone cares.
6th oct 2010, caravan arrived onsite, to provide an office and somewhere to have a cuppa :) it was mostly covered in dust, and had been stored in a barn at the farm i work at for 20 years. so it shall be undergoing a make over.
2010 saw the need for the field to become inhabited once again, when i had to move 2 foals off the land they had occupied previously. Diana, a 2 year old black welsh sec D cob and Oliver, a one year old gypsy cob moved into the fields in Hambrook hill and set about eating everything in sight. 5 acres seems too much for 2 native ponies who get fat just by looking at a blade of grass, so an idea was born in my mind......
For ever and a day i have kept animals: Horses; goats;chickens; rabbits, and everything in between. Im a shepherd by trade, and have previously worked in the dairy industry, so farming isnt a new concept to me. on 5 acres i can keep myself self sufficient, and probably keep alot of other people too!
With alot of interested friends the smallholding idea is taking shape, where i cant do it myself and dont have a friend who can do it either, local tradesmen are being drafted in to lend a hand: Mark is a man in a tractor, who turned brambles into dust...we like mark, he made life alot easier! also the man in the watercress farm opposite tidyed the hedges, so it looks like someone cares.
6th oct 2010, caravan arrived onsite, to provide an office and somewhere to have a cuppa :) it was mostly covered in dust, and had been stored in a barn at the farm i work at for 20 years. so it shall be undergoing a make over.
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