Where's Hare?
Run Primrose Run!
For weeks, the cows stood at the gate bawling to go out to grass.
It's been noisy.
But finally, the cows have left the buildings.
This week, we waved them off into the distance for a long-earned gallop around the fields.
But this looks far too placid...here are the cows in action:
Run, Primrose..Run!
Come and see the real thing on 9th June at Open Farm Sunday!
Your official invitation to...
Multicolour farming
The grassland looks beautiful this year, not with grass, but flowers. A variety of broadleaved plants have seized the opportunity afforded by the limited grass sward to populate the pasture. Some may call them weeds, but it is a wildlife frenzy out there this year!
Alongside the self-heal and aconites, Lady's smock or Cuckooflower (Cardamine pratensis L.) is out in force on Side Hill, adding a little delicacy to the pasture.
In folklore, this flower is considered highly unlucky, so one to admire from afar!
In the woods next door, an impressive bluebell display is building - Humbug and I took advantage of this on our way to vote yesterday.
Best of all, the kingcups (Caltha palustris L.) are brightening up the river bank, making this one of my favourite times of year. Without fail, however many floods and frosts are thrown at them, the kingcups return.
They may not be exotic or unusual plants, but it is a lot easier to haul water for the pigs and clean out water tanks when there's something pretty to distract you!
A little too basic...
OK, so when I said we were going "back to basics" recently, I wasn't quite meaning this basic:
Early Woman aka Mum was thrilled to find a new penknife whilst out walking our domesticated wolfhound. Proof positive that an early, possibly Neolithic Farmer Humph roamed this land.
But, the 'back-to-basics' jinx struck again this week, with Mum's discovery of a hand plough hidden under several decades of brambles. 
A one-furrow plough. So at last count, we have a one furrow, a two-furrow, two three-furrow and a four-furrow; The Evolution of the Plough, a new exhibit at Lower Dairy Farm. Join them all together and you could take on a prairie.
With the Massey 690s still out of action, Dad has worked very hard to complete the ploughing, cultivating and drilling with limited tractor power. It has been a long time coming, but finally, our last sugar beet crop is in the ground. Hurrah!
Actually, last year was supposed to be the last, but our agronomist bullied Dad into signing the contract for another season. We like him really, but if he attempts the same this year, I shall be invoicing him for 20 years of tea and cake - and even when you take into account inflation, it's good cake, so he should be very afraid.
For us, sugar beet is a lot of hassle and no longer suited to small acreages like ours. British Sugar are laughing all the way to the bank with the price they pay, and frankly, the NFU should be ashamed to put their name to the "deals" they "negotiate". Negotiating with a monopoly is never going to be an easy task, but as one wise farmer put it: "They must drink in the same pub..."
And so, the sugar beet drill will be put to rest. First looked at in 1982, it had lain unused in a field for so long, sheep had eaten the electric cabling. A year later, Dad decided to buy it, rewired it and two of the units have lasted without upgrades for thirty years. Seen here riding off into the sunset for the last time...
Note our state-of-the-art geolocation system: a bag on a pylon. When the satellites fail, we'll be okay. I'm off to knap flint tools for my survivalist shelter.
Sunshine in a jar
Just in case the sun goes away again, we've bottled it! So stock up survivalists, we may not be out of the woods yet!
Lemon Curd, made with our finest eggs, now in the farm shop.
Back to basics
Look! A three furrow plough.
Dad has worked like a demon to complete the ploughing. With only the Poor Field to go - poor by name, poor by nature, he went back to basics to get through some wet, heavy land without wrecking the tractor. Apparently, it is better adjusted than the four furrow. Bonus!
Unfortunately, with the ploughing completed, work stopped to rescue the JCB which was a little stuck in the barn.
Time to crack out the shovels and dig for victory, but with our muscles struggling and the tractor unable to pull it out, we needed the big guns...so The Mighty Nuffield swung into action.
Which makes you wonder why we use any modern machinery!
After my earlier destructive episode - bringing down the power cables to the farm with the JCB loader, it's safe to say we are being uber-careful as these things tend to come in threes.
Perhaps we should offer our first bull calf of 2013 to the Gods, and name it after JCB's founding father, 'Mr Bamford'?
Quite the Bulldozer!
Expedition Equinox
Departing Base Camp at 1400 hours, the intrepid Transition Nayland explorers conquered the elements to reach Destination Lower Dairy Farm.
The urn was on* and a splash of bunting arrayed the Mill House, where the brave Equinox Explorers refuelled on tea and cake (preferred expedition food of Sir Ranulph).
There's nothing like a cup of tea to melt the icicles in the relative warmth of a barn! A trip to see the calves, and our hardy explorers were back on the road, joined by Humbug, our resident Husky, for their return to Base Camp.
Woolly hats off to Transition Nayland for persevering so merrily in the lovely conditions!
We had great fun hosting our first event in the Mill House. For us, it is lovely to be able to share what we are doing on the farm and our barn restoration progress. There is a lot of work ahead of us, but the Mill House has come a long way in the last eighteen months.
Thanks to Transition Nayland for a lovely afternoon!
*Yes, I love tea urns so much, I take pictures of them. Go ahead, judge me.