Blog 2014-16: ankommen in Mechelsdorf
The fruits of labour
Autumn seems to be turning into winter fast this year after a golden September and the last warm hours of this year spent at the beach. We went from several months of drought this summer to windy and wet weather in October. At least the pastures are looking better now than they did in September. […]
Getting serious
Our 3rd season is in the starting blocks. The sheep (2) and goats (3) lambed in February and March, and are now rearing their offspring: 5 kids and 4 lambs – a lively bunch. Gretchen must have lost her lamb in autumn, but luckily Olga, her daughter, had a little adventure with the ram at […]
A taste of self-sufficiency
This autumn we kept busy with extending our animal husbandry and were almost overwhelmed with brambles, apples, pears and nuts from the orchard… We clearly need to be better prepared next harvest. Paul vs. Elvis: When it turned out that little Elvis wasn’t being that successful with the goat ladies we had to look for […]
Taking stock
The summer is almost half-way through… The swifts, and their summer soundtrack, will be leaving us soon I expect, the melancholic calling of cranes has become a familiar sound again. I had been warned when we started; in about two years’ time we should be able to assess where we’re at and how we want […]
Lambs & more
1, 2 & 3 lambs… were born between February and March, 3 Xy’s and 3 girls: Soft white muzzles, little tails slapping the air while they’re drinking, round bellies full of milk, and growing so fast. Lambs are a pleasure to watch, no wonder they used to symbolise spring and the annual renewal of life… […]
Bad news – Good news
Beginning of January I was looking forward to pick-up our 3 goats from their love-holiday with the ram, when Hannes confessed that he had sad news: Jaqueline had died before Christmas (cause unknown, although Jan, the goat farmer, blames overly rich feed this summer making her a little overweight and prone to heart failure – […]
Anniversary
We forgot to celebrate our 1 year anniversary, I guess we are not very celebratory people: I’m not known for liking parties that much and Hannes isn’t one to care about dates… (it’s not as bad as it sounds) Although we are aware of the achievements these past 12 months: we moved in, Hannes built […]
Harvest time
As elsewhere in Europe, summer seems to be coming to an early end. Although we are certainly not worst off, with pretty sunny and warm weather throughout July and the first part of August. We’re in the middle of harvest time, plums, blackberries and pears need to be picked and processed to chutneys, jams, juice, […]
Cheese
We’ve been busy! Spring kicked-in with its share of milk, cheese, sunshine and guests. Some of the highlights and main events: The bad news first, Frieda’s lamb, Xy, did not survive the separation from his mother. At 1 month we decided that it was time for him to start sharing the milk that he had […]
New arrivals!
First things first… the arrival of Ursule (4 year old goat), her kid Jacqueline (little black goat – 1 month) and lovely Paquerette (little brown goat – 3 weeks). Jacqueline and Paquerette have become best friends and like to rest together in their lambbox, to climb on everything climbable including my back, Ursule or the […]