Summers here.....

I know, I'm hopeless when it comes to keeping you all posted on the blog. No excuse, but I'll try and bring you up to date. Biomass is now up and running, along with the solar power set up. The smoke from the biomass burner was the first indicator of hot water for us. Either that or we had a new Pope!

The Monkey Puzzle tree that has stood in front of the main house fir many years was discovered to be rotting at the roots, not uncommon following huge variation in temperature and water levels that we have seen over past few years. As a result we invited number one Brother in Law down for a busmans holiday. The tree was taken down in three stages and the wood is now stored at a local wood suppliers whilst we decide what to do with it. Talk of having some GG ukuleles made is being ignored.....

Lambs have grown well, with only the odd hiccup along the way and we have just brought all sheep in closer to the barn in preparation for shearing on Thursday. Pigs Dotty and Noël have also grown well and been a welcome addition to the farm, although today they were loaded into the trailer ready for their road trip tomorrow. It's a one way trip I'm afraid, but we shall remember them fondly when we have our celebration in the Barn in August, with a hog roast! 

Sticking with the animal theme, we welcomed a young deer which was brought to the farm by a friend who found her abandoned on a busy footpath. Cue plenty of oohing, ahhhing and non stop cuddles and eventually she seemed to come back to life, to the point she was able to stand and take some water. We called the local animal rescue, they collected her and I'm pleased to report she made a full recovery. Totally and utterly gorgeous ........

Hmmmm, What else has been going on. Honestly it always seems to be so busy round here, guests are always commenting how whilst it's the perfect place to relax, there is always something happening. Pool is running at a delicious 32 degrees as a result of our new Green energy supply, and couple this with the recent warm spell and it really is rather tropical down in Devon at the moment!

One last thing, we woke early yesterday morning to go to the Tiverton Balloon Festival. Beautiful morning, despite the 5.15 start and we were able to see the magnificent collection of Hot air balloons being inflated and finally rising up into the clearest of morning skies. Simply magical......

Time flies when you're having fun......

I do think I live in a time warp, or maybe it's just I'm having such a good time I don't notice the pages turning on the calendar? Suddenly after a long and oh so wet winter, signs of spring are all around, the lambs are arriving and clocks go forward tonight. The installation of the Biomass and solar panels is nearly reaching completion, but I'm not talking about the whole project until it's absolutely up and running as simply cannot tempt any further delays.

Despite the weather and ongoing ground work, we have managed to welcome our lovely guests and the wonderful guests in turn have made the most of time at Great Gutton. It always make me smile, when on arrival guests often ask about local things going on, tell me their exhaustive plans of what they are going to do and see and show me their list of activities. Then at some point the next day we spot them just wandering about the farm, checking out the livestock, discovering the good old faithful tyre swing and just chilling out. This is part of the magic of the place, it lets people just stop, take a breath and simply catch up with each other. Of course we do host gatherings for all sorts of occasions, Hen weekends, Wedding celebrations, special Birthdays, re unions and friends or families "get togethers". I love the variety.

To business......lambs have started to arrive and the children were thrilled ( and maybe a tiny bit eugh!) to witness one ewe being given a helping hand in delivering her twin lambs. but mother and sons are doing well now and word has spread that Suzi had her hand up the sheeps bottom!

Today, buoyed on by glorious sunshine, we had a bit of a sort out of ewes to lamb and they are now in the "Bonfire field" which is close to the house and doesn't involve the long walk up the steep "Ski field" when we want to check on them. On the whole the ewes tend to manage to deliver their lambs without any intervention but it's nice to know we can keep an eye on them just in case. Once born they are then brought into the "Orchard Maternity" unit for some TLC and some extra nutrition, just to ensure  mum and babies get a good start and again so we can check on them easily. here are our first pair of lambs to arrive  at Great Gutton Farm 2014

After about 12-24 hours I'm afraid it's time for the male lambs to step up to the mark and be introduced to the harsher side of life, when they are castrated. We cannot keep any entire males within the flock and so this has to be done to make good the gene pool. We then "buy in" the use of a ram for our girls from a completely separate flock. That's the science bit and below is a picture of one of our more experienced ewes watching over Johns shoulder as he delivers the rubber ring to her lamb! It's the safest and kindest way to carry the process out and I promise you the young fella was up and running about within moments! 

HAPPY DAYS!

Great Gutton Ghosts and Ghoulies.

Never one to miss out on a chance to party, we had a gathering of ghoulish guests for the annual Halloween Bash. Once again every one got in the mood and spirit of the night and we had horrors of all kinds.

Dragons blood soup and ogres fingers for those that hadn't overdosed on the apple bobbing, doughnut dangling and mighty mayhem as well as all the chocolates apples, sweety treats, garishly coloured baked goods and assorted skull jellies and gooey stuff. Mulled wine kept the grown ups happy while the kids charged around on sugar overload and had a great time. Head count at the end of the evening showed we had lost no one to the horrors of the Halloween.......unless things went bump in the night!

All things Appley

Two weekends down and the shelves are nearly filled with Apple juice, although the trees still have fruit a plenty. Our first weekend of juicing welcomed over 70 guests, friends and neighbours and the sun shone throughout. Trailer loads of apples were gathered in a trice and then the real work began. We soon realised there was an awful lot of lifting, squashing, washing, squeezing, wheeling, pressing, pulling and shoving and yet somehow folk found their spot where they could be useful. Those without a job helped to prepare the feast for afterwards which took place in the barn, and once we had filled every available barrel, container and bucket with juice, we downed tools, tidied up and started emptying bottles for our own consumption! whether you were a guest staying at great Gutton Farm, a friend or simply had some apples that needed pressing, there was a real  "Community spirit" over the whole weekend and everyone went home with some juice of their own, with many returning the following week to repeat the whole process. Fun Fun times and next week we are handing over to the men as they have a go at some cider making........uh oh, I sense trouble!

Guilty as charged......

........No excuses for having abandoned the blog. Too busy enjoying the summer and watching all our guests enjoy themselves at the same time. Suddenly though the nights are drawing in, wood fires are being lit and the woolly jumpers are appearing once more. I love the autumn but this year we really have had such a wonderful summer and I'm still not sure I'm quite ready to wave it goodbye. 

However, the blossom that was so fantastic in the spring, has turned to what is looking like a bumper crop for October.

 branches of the trees have actually been breaking with the weight of their fruit, and we have filled  basket upon basket already of fallen apples. Our apple juicing weekends in October are now set and we hope to produce more juice than ever as the trees continue to mature.

And as if we are not spoilt with all the apples, there are pears ripening in the front garden, blackberries coming to an end after a seemingly never ending supply from the hedgerows and a quick walk with the dogs this morning saw my basket filled with field mushrooms before even reaching the top of the hill. The recent damp and warm weather does have some positive after all - I wonder if apple and mushroom crumble would work?

Making Hay while the sun shines.....

....and boy has the sun been shining these past two weeks. Simply fabulous to have warm summer evenings, followed by bright sunny mornings. Sheep and lambs continue to thrive and as you can see, our two pet lambs have remained as friendly as ever. They were weaned off the bottle mid June, but still like to come and say hello if ever we are in the fields - be it to let us sit on them or just to get a lick of an ice lolly! Here's Ella to demonstrate with Jeremy Nom Nom;

And all this sunshine means the grass has been growing like crazy,  so we have made hay to be used next winter- it's all in the planning you know! Neighbouring friends and farmers came to our two fields on Monday to cut, Tuesday was turning time, Wednesday it was all swished into rows in time for the baler to come along, scoop it up and push out the lovely string tied small bales - easy to handle and perfect for our small Shetland flock.

The only down side was walking up and down the steep fields in the heat of the sun - but nothing that another ice lolly all to myself couldn't cure! 

Baaaaa time

Here's the very gorgeous Rachel and her Mummy Helen looking after pet lambs Jeremy Nom

Nom and Lamby whammy ( ridiculous names I know but our kids are to blame!). Of course bottle feeding couldn't take place without our Peggy ably assisting all our holiday makers.my how they've grown and continue to do so in all this glorious sunshine.