Autumn is by far my favourite times of year on the farm. The sensational colours across the valley, the cold crisp mornings brought by the first frosts, the bellowing roars of red stags and the beginning of the new sheep calendar!
October is one of the noisiest times of the year with Red stag's roars echoing up and down the valley as they fight to keep hold of a group of hinds. Completely wild, the deer travel freely up and down the valley, but this year they stayed on our land for the majority of the rutting season. It was wonderful to listen and test out our "roars" to see if we could get a response, harder than it seems!
Autumn also sees the beginning of our sheep calendar, the time to put the ram in with the ewes.
Smarty, our ram aka: the one bollock wonder, went in with our Zwartble ewes at the beginning of November in the hope we get lots of lovely lambs in April.
We also purchased a new Herdwick ram, Glenn Huckleberry to run with our 2 Herdwick ewes, Gloria and Gladys. He has got it pretty easy with just 2 ewes but we hope for lovely Herdwick lambs in the spring!
With 20 lambs from last spring still grazing we will be providing lamb boxes throughout the winter.
Our last batch of pigs for the year are going this week, they've enjoyed roaming their woodland pen doing what pigs do best; rooting up the soil! They've been treated to the bumper crop of apples us and our neighbours have had this year, so much so you may not need any apple sauce with your roast!
The start of the shoot season has been a welcomed relief throughout the week. Allowing us a day each week to enjoy ourselves and let the dogs do what they love!
Sika our 3 year old Labrador has taken it in her stride, proving to be a very reliable picker up and patient when on the peg.
Podrick our 8 year old springer shows no sign of slowing down. Going from being the laziest dog in the house to the one with abundant energy on the shoot.
The Devon Croft is also adding another aspect into the mix, an off-grid holiday let.
We have been working for months to get our new off-grid Cabin up and running. We still have a way to go but it is looking fantastic and we can't wait to share a little slice of our Devonshire heaven with our guests.
Coming Spring 2023!
We wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Jake, Alice, Pod, Bean, Sika and Sybil
xxx
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