The Circle of Life

My Grandmother used to tell me when I was a child complaining I was bored that I was lucky, she didn't have time to be bored. I can now say the same thing. Sometimes people ask if its not boring living where we do and having to look after all the animals.


Yes there is a certain amount of routine in what we do, there has to be otherwise we wouldn't get the jobs done before we went to work. Similarly when we return from work there is a a long list of jobs to do before we can start anything new.

Everyday the animals rely on us for food and water. Inevitably there are problems to solve whilst we do this. So its never boring, its never repetitive as there is such a difference between what a smallholder plans to do and what a smallholder actually ends up doing.

Tonight for example I planned to get the animals sorted out and then get into the garden to plant at least another two rows of late potatoes. But this was destined to fail as we ran out of time. I collected the eggs while Tracey fed the horses, a good division of labour I felt as I walked down the lane in the sunshine to the Black Rocks. 14 eggs collected today, things are looking up for the Black Rocks, a reprieve from the freezer while they earn their keep.

I put the eggs in the kitchen and went out into the garden and gave the chicks in the run some water. Tracey wasn't in the garden yet so I checked on the Turkey that's made a nest under the conifer on the bank overlooking the garden. She was sat tight and I left her alone to hatch out my Christmas dinner. Still no sign of Tracey. I watered the plants in the greenhouses, checked the progress of the seedlings and watered the main beds.

Still no Tracey.

As I had not got my radio I couldn't find out where she was so I went back up to the stable where I had last seen her. She was inside the stable and leaning on the half stable door with William next to her. I smiled. She didn't.

I waved.

She didn't.

I started to walk past to go and check on the sheep. It was obvious that Tracey was talking to me and I just caught the sentence containing "locked me in". I stopped. She couldn't get out. One of the dogs or possibly one of the goats had knocked over the kick bolt at the bottom of the door meaning Tracey was stuck. That's why she hadn't joined me in the garden. I got there just before she had a sense of humour failure.

Never mind easily solved, I opened the door. As I did I heard a sound that made my heart sink. The geese were up on the cliff again. Off I set to persuade them down. Again. This took a while but I caught them all and passed them over the six foot high stock fence at the base of the cliff to Tracey who carefully put them the right side of the enclosure. I eventually got myself back over the fence, an improvement on three weeks ago when my arm wouldn't allow such antics.

Time was running out if we wanted to do the spuds. I got the dog feed and took the dogs back to the kennels, an almighty fight broke out between Holly the visiting Golden Retriever and all the rest which was only stopped by Geisha the goat leaping off the retaining wall and jumping amongst them all. As the dogs scrambled away in panic from the Ninja Goat she got a bit carried away in the excitement of the peace keeping role and she bit my elbow. Realising her mistake she ran after the pack who in turn thought she was after a piece of them. Literally.

Soon the traumatised canines were rounded up, coaxed, persuaded, bribed or threatened into their kennels and another job was done. Once the rabbits were fed and watered, the water in the goat house replaced and the sheep fed we were done.

Only the Berners left to feed.

And the cats.

Now we can plant the spuds.

Except its nearly dark.

Boring?

Never.

Repetitious?

Not a chance.

You never know whats going to happen at Rock HQ. Its never the same, and tonight as you can see from the picture we had a fantastic sunset to watch whilst we did our jobs.

You can never tire of a sight like that.

Or smallholding.