August to Autumn
Sorry for the delay in news from us here!
Farm/Wildlife News
Nothing major to report really apart from our lovely ‘Bluebell Hens’ are looking beautiful now. The cockeral learnt to ‘cockle-doodle-doo’ as they do which is always an amusing sound. Something like someone trying to sing but not sure about their words with a frog in their throat!
The piglets fattened along nicely through our lovely summer & finally went off during September having had a good, healthy & happy life! All those people who have pork from us are enjoying very tasty meat. For ourselves we spent two productive days making sausages, chorizo’s, Salami’s!! I think we processed 14 kilo’s of meat in two days! Exhausting but rewarding…One more fattener to go off soon which will be turned into tasty hams for christmas.
During August we saw sparrowhawks quite frequently around the farm. I seemed to surprise them when I went out a couple of times & saw them twist & turn overhead as they quickly changed direction. There had been quite a few reports of Sparrowhawks this summer. A wren seemed to take up residence & daily we would hear its distinctive call. It was often seen hopping along the ground in the garden. One morning it even came in through the kitchen window much to ‘Selkie’s’ (our dog) excitement! Starting to see more Hen Harrier’s again hunting our neighbouring fields which is always a majestic sight. We have seen quite a few Kestrals hanging mid air & perched on the farm fence posts. Certainly at the end of August we began to see Geese flying in. That sight & sound always is a sign that autumn is in the air & it will soon be time for cosy fires….
Craiglands
Well the shows during the summer continued to enjoy splendid sunny weather. The whole week at the beginning of August dedicates its time to all the hardwork from the year to displaying farm animals, poultry, pets, vegetable, fruit & produce. It is a time of great excitement & stress! I (Jo) always take part in the produce section as it is a really good community event. Due to having had such a good spring & summer here on Orkney I was able to put in a cross section of items. I happily came away with a second prize for my pointed cabbage, 3rd prize for a loaf of bread & a 2nd & 3rd prize for my single marguerite’s & double’s. So I was more than happy! The vegetables were excellent this year & the show certainly portrayed this. We have been enjoying amazing broccoli this year, plentiful broad beans, enormous leeks & cabbages. Salad crops were really good, beautiful celery & good old tatties. Sweet cucumbers & courgettes & tomatoes from the greenhouse! So all in all a very good growing season! The whole garden looked lovely this year & was a joy to work in. I wonder what next year might bring??
Fluke News
Again it has been lovely to see so many familiar faces this summer & catch up on news etc. Roger has been busy designing & making new pieces to add to our range. He has made a children’s ‘Groatie Buckie’ collection using coloured cord & silver groatie buckies which we tried successfully at the county show in August. Unfortunately it is only available at the gallery for the moment but please don’t hesitate to contact us for more information. We are just launching our beautiful handmade ‘Fire & Ice’ collection based on the sun, moon & frost. It uses a mix of silver, polished & textured & 9ct gold. There will only be 50 made of the pendant & drop earrings therefore making it quite collectable. See photo on Flickr. If you are interested in this collection then please feel free to contact us as it isn’t available online yet!
So that’s our news for the moment as we build up to christmas. However, we can enjoy our cosy fires this time of the year & experience some wild weather. The sunsets are ever present too as is the beautiful winter light.
So enjoy your planning for this time of the year…Until next time.
Keep well & warm
Jo & Roger