It feels so good doing it. I'm actually here, mulching, raking, hoeing, and sowing! In Ireland we'd, all 40 of us, stand round and see a 5 minute demo of hoeing. Here, I have to hoe the polytunnel, rows of spinach and kale that have overwintered, sow lettuce and tomatoes and peppers and and and...
I don't even have to think, too much, about what I'm learning because it's all going in bit by bit, by body action (though I am making notes - less relevant here as I'll only be here a month, more where I'll be for most of the season).
The red sow who was having trouble.. continued to have trouble. Tony gave her penicillin and helped remove stillborn piglets from her, but she managed to tread on and kill the remaining live ones. Such a shame, as at least 3 looked good for a couple of days. She seemed very unwell for a while but is doing much better now, thankfully. The other mother is doing fine and is up and about, looking dandy, with her litter of 8. And the older 5 are getting more curious and entertaining.
I am, however, having thoughts of veganism. Not that the animals here are kept badly - they aren't, at all. I'm wondering if keeping animals in cages, ever, is really the right thing to do. Do I really think keeping a cow in milk production is right/fair/natural?
It'll take me a while to work this out, I think. I love cheese. I drink milk in all my hot drinks. I'm eating a lot of eggs at the moment, too...!
On Friday we have some meat birds coming (as day old chicks - I can't wait to see them!), and are trying to get one hen to incubate a clutch of eggs, so there's plenty going on here!
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