Week beginning 6th May 2019

A calf managed to stray through a gap in the fence this week, and then not remember how to get back… the moos to it’s mother resulted in the mother cow jumping over the… not quite the moon, but indeed the gate! A herd really only stay within the boundaries of a field because they choose to, and if they did feel the need to break out, they are more than capable – even our short legged Herefords. Thankfully they don’t feel the need to break out too frequently!!

The weather hasn’t been altogether kind for the long bank holiday weekend – a cold wind meant the children based themselves in the little orchard tree’s, climbing and leaping down – and lambing is all but completed. With only a handful of ewe’s still left in the barn, the rest are now in the field – perhaps wishing they were back in the barn during these cold nights of late!

Back to school has been successfully accomplished after the easter holidays, (spelt bites help ease the pain a lot!) Plus, with only two weeks until half term (thanks to the late easter we suppose), we think we can make it 😉 xx

First there was easter, and then May arrives in fine style!

The glorious sunshine and warmth over the Easter weekend meant that the Easter bunny clearly had to be very careful where the eggs for the hunt were placed – thankfully the shady areas of the garden ensured that most of the chocolate hadn’t melted before it was found!!

As for lambing, the ewes had been finding it all a bit warm, but the lambs have enjoyed their first encounter with the outside world – warmth and sunshine were such lovely weather to arrive to!

We knew that the lovely weather was only for a few days, but how wonderful it was, and with school starting again before we knew it, the Ulula team split up so that we could take the children away for a few days while the rest of the team stayed home to pack your parcels 🙂

We found ourselves at Stonehenge – what a wonderful place to visit – and the photo doesn’t share the wind burn we all suffered!!

As well as a trip on the bus, the wonderful views, and seeing Stonehenge for themselves, there was also a great place where the children could interact – including the opportunity to try and pull one of the Sarsen Stones!

Then to the beach… and Storm Hannah, before the sun finally reached us x

Week beginning 4th March 2019

What a very exciting weekend!!! Not only did Storm Freya try very hard, unsuccessfully thankfully, to blow us all to Kansas City, but Ulula enjoyed a wonderful birthday sandwich weekend too! The youngest of the Farm’s sheepdogs turned 4 on Saturday, we celebrated on Sunday for Ulula’s birthday, and then on Monday it is eldest brother who has a birthday… It used to be a quiet birthday month for us, but not anymore!!

If I am being completely honest, we were quite glad of the storm winds on Sunday afternoon, as a walk against them helped us recover from the large amounts of birthday cake eaten 😉 What made us a little less jolly was seeing all the early blossom, which last week felt it was safe to bloom, being blown about like confetti – a reminder if we needed one to live in the moment, and so we enjoyed the scent from the plum blossom while the children danced under the falling petals. Beautiful.

Our soil is a heavy clay, which means that if the cows were outside on the fields during the winter the grass would quickly be churned up and turned to mud. The cows are normally let out of the barn around the end of March which is always a wonderful sight. For the younger calves, it will be their first experience of grass under their hooves and blue sky directly above them.

The Cow – Roy Wilkinson
Heavily, wearily, moves the cow
In the peaceful country scene,
Sleepily nodding towards the ground
As she grazes the pastures green.

Her big, bulky mass of a body
Flops on the earth and she seems,
Chewing and chewing and chewing
Lost in her own world of dreams.

Week beginning 25th February 2019

After a wonderful play-date with a school friend, the end of the half term was celebrated with a two night sleepover at their cousin’s house… two very happy and very tired children arrived home!! The sunshine this week has been simply glorious, and allowed for lots of rushing about outside, be it on foot, bike or scooter – everywhere was reached as fast as possible – I wish I was talking about the grown-ups, but no, it was the children who had the speed at their heels!!

The birds in our hedgerows, to the cattle in the barn, the farm is feeling this weather means spring is here, but they aren’t privy to watching the weather forecasters warn us about the cold making a return once March reaches us…eeek!

The bird song has been absolutely amazing. We hope that you can hear it on the following video we took at the spinney by the brook that runs through the farm.

Week beginning 18th February 2019

Hooray!!! We’ve reached half term, for which we are all very grateful – the children are tired out but very cheerful; there was a play to perform twice to an audience before the holidays started, and then an older class were putting on a play of Swallows and Amazons – top stuff and well worth a late bedtime!! And now, the sun is shining, the dogs are so happy to have their playmates with them all day long, and to top it all, the snowdrops and cyclamen are making the garden look so pretty too – all in all, this week looks like it will be the perfect setting for one or two Winnie The Pooh’s Expotitions… “sing ho for the life of a bear”, or in our case, sing ho for some very happy children.

At this time of year our ewes have their ultrasound scan. This happens at around 3 months into their pregnancy which lasts 5 months in total. Scanning was scheduled for 8am on Sunday morning, with our lovely scanning lady Stacey, who set up her machine at the barn. Stacey’s sister Sophie is also trained in scanning sheep. She lives in New Zealand and scans around 250,000 sheep a year! It took Stacey just 45 minutes to scan all our 130 Ulula ewes. The good news is that we are expecting 1 set of quads, 18 sets of triples, 84 sets of twins and 23 singles with a due date starting around the 10th of April!

Harbingers Of Spring – Poem by F. Kenrick

‘Springs just around the corner
The harbingers we see
The bulbs are pushing through the earth
And bulbs adorn the trees
Now days are getting longer
Nights not quite so dark
The sun rays getting stronger
And fields don’t look so stark
The hedgerow starts to thicken
As plants begin to grow
This forms a perfect hiding place
For the birds to go
They nest and fledge their young there
And fill the air with song
They know they’ve got to hurry
Spring doesn’t last for long’