A lovely spring day full of flowers and sheep!

I bought a new vinyl (sp?) table cloth and WOW did it brighten up the kitchen! (Even the clutter got brighter...)

The Wooly Ladies meet me at the gate with all sorts of happy beys!

And now they are leading me to the trough in the hopes that a bucket of grain will materialize!

Spring has sprung! This is the upper half of our lawn - lush, green and full of flowers! There are no barefoot strolls through the grass though! Think of the song, "Thistle of Scotland"!!! (I found that flip-flops are risky too. Shucks! I miss bare feet and grass...)

Even the mint has come to life! I know it looks innocent...but it is plotting to take over the world...

Aroond and aboot the fairm

"Aroond and aboot the fairm" in February:

Here are some of the older calves in the byre saying hello as I pass through.

The daffodils are beginning to show!


Here are some bonnie Snow Drop flowers.

Erlend has been busy putting up wall-to-wall shelving in our middle bedroom. This will help me to organize the house and keep it tidy!

Here is Erlend hard at work fixing the roof so that it does not leak into the sheep pen.

The sheep are out of the fields and in the barns for lambing season.

Erlend built a lovely pen for our flock of sheep and now they are indoors until they lamb. Here are some pictures!

This smaller pen is for the ram, the two male lambs and the two yows (ewes) that are only having single lambs. This keeps the yows from over-eating and having big fat lambs.

Here is the rest of the flock in the main pen. 17 of them are having twins and 3 of them are having triplets.

Erlend built a little corral so that the sheep can enjoy fresh air and sunshine! They can freely access the outdoor pen from the main pen.

Here is how the sheep eat their silage: through a feed fence designed in such a way that they cannot use the "deflate and slither" method of escape! (They won't slither *over* a board unless in danger.)

Photos of our farmhoose

Some folk have been asking about our farmhoose so before I take off I'll post some photos and give you all a rundown on this awesome house I've moved into.

This hoose was built in 1922 in the classic Scottish style. We have a fireplace in the livingroom and that really cool old-fashioned stove in the kitchen. It is an oil stove and has two huge and one small hot plates on top and an oven for baking.

Our house is solid stone but Erlend had three sides of the house faced with this plaster stuff with wee bits of quartz blown on to help make the house more weather proof. We have a beautiful Welsh slate roof - with the original slates still in action!

The walls are two feet thick on the sides and three feet thick on the ends so we have these lovely deep windows!!

The inside dementions are approx 15' by 30'. We have two stories and three bedrooms upstairs. The middle bedroom is being turned into our library. (Don't we sound posh??)

On the back of the house is a small extention (built in 1922 along with the rest of the house) which we call the "Mudroom." There's a small bathroom so we don't have to take off our farm clothes, Erlend's narrow office, an small attic over his office, a utility sink and our washer and dryer.

In front of the house we have a long narrow lawn and of course...the walled garden to the left of the house. To the right of the house is the "old dairy" where we have our fridge, freezer and our winter supply of potatoes.

Here is a picture tour:

The fireplace in the livingroom

Our bright sunny kitchen!

The only time I can get a good photo of the walled garden is in winter when all of the greenery has died down. This is only half of the garden - it's bigger then the hoose!

Our lovely front yard that overlooks several of our pastures. In the background you can see the end of one of our cattle barns.

This is the rear of the house - where we have our main entry. Note the extention where our mudroom etc is located! The farmstead is directly behind the house. Erlend literally walks out of the door and onto the farm!

Here is the hoose in summer.

Hogmanay! The Scottish New Year - And First Footing too!

THE LAST DAY OF 2006 !!!!!!

Today I will celebrate my very first Hogmanay! This is what they call New Year here in Scotland/Orkney. I quizzed Frances about Hogmanay and First footing. Frances visited on her pony Thorfinn. She often stops by on Thorfinn and taps on the front door with her crop from here lofty perch in the saddle. (Sadly we don't have room in our stable for Thorfinn at the moment so she's stuck visiting outside in the weather!) He's a lovely pony - I give him plenty of scratches and pets while I visit with his human.

I asked Frances about this Hogmanay and First Footing. Apparently Hogmanay is New Year. First Footing refers to all of the visiting that takes place over the next three days. From what I've gathered Hogmanay and First Footing was very popular because folk were not able to celebrate Christmas. (Calvinism at its best!) But the emphasis on Hogmanay/First Footing is starting to fade a bit now that it's ok to celebrate Christmas. I hope it doesn't fade away too much because it sure seems like a fun way to bring in the New Year!!

I just hope people don't try and force me to drink. I hate drinking. I'll have a glass of wine or a bit of drink here and there - but lots of drinking just isn't my thing.

A lovely thistle!

It amazes me how many beautiful useful plants are dismissed as horrible "weeds." Here is a lovely shot of a bonnie thistle just ootside of the kitchen winow. I hope it comes back every year!

Visiting the bonnie heefers (young cows that haven't calved yet)

It was so beautiful out I decided tae take a stroll across the fields and visit the young female cows, as they are called around here: "The Heefers."
There's ALWAYS time to stop and enjoy the jolly buttercups!!!!! The heefers stampede to the gate and say "hello."
"Pepper" (heefier #38) is the big Boss Heefer.
The girls are ENDLESSLY curious and come to sniff me and cover me in nose-slime...
This heefer got creative when it came tae finding a way to have a peek.
In the distance you can see, over the curious heefers' backs, some farm fields that have had the grass mowed off of them and made into silage in the silage pits.
The heefers cheerfully escort me en masse as I make my way back to the house.
My heefer escort bids me farewell as I strike off across the other field. "Cheerio lasses!!"

Adventures amongst the Sheep Cats

Here's Brodgar's furry little butt disapearing intae the eyeball-high rubarb. It grows along the inside of the Walled Garden near the lambs. Not a Brodgar in sight!

Mmmmm! Fresh tasty grass. Being slowly weaned really isn't all that bad!
Brodgar finally got brave enough tae creep intae the lambs' yard for a quick visit. She's nae tae keen on the lambs as they always try tae suck her head... (Always in search of The Elusive Teats!!)
The lambs enjoy the warm evening and take off running across the paddock while Brodgar watches from behind the distant gate...
My ever-present wee companion decided that the lambs got tae be a bit overwhelming and is noo visiting from atop o' The Wall. (I think the flash took her a bit by surprise...)
A lamb's eye view o' the paddock.

Gardening and Farm pictures!

This is what a typical Orcadian ultra wind-proof byre (barn) looks like. They are built to withstand the pounding rains and gale-force winds of winter! These puppies are SOLID.


One of our farm roads.
Here is one of our Angus bulls, "Prince Chan."
Here is Prince Chan up close. He's been rubbing his face in the dirt and just now noticed that I'm available for some neck scratches. In wich he indulged.
Here is my beautiful Walled Garden...a tad bit on the eh...wild side.
My first two lambs, Sigured and Swayne.
Here are some lovely flowers growing under the kitchen window.
My lovely Sweet Rocket.
Here is a close-up of my "Livingroom Tomatoes." I won't have a greenhoose until next spring so...Erlend planted them in April and we've been nursing them along in the windows! So far so good...
Some American imports :-)