It’s Monday already and I’m not entirely sure how the weekend went by in such a blur.  But go by it did, in fact it whizzed by.  It was a busy one, filled with celebrating (it was a certain chaps mumblemumble birthday) and learning, working and planning, reorganising and just plain cleaning up.

In preparation for the new bees coming (hopefully in the next week) we spent Friday night cleaning out the beehive boxes ready for the new occupants.  We took the extra honey out giving us a bit of a surplus that might even been put to brewing purposes…I’ll keep you posted.

Stephen attended a great tech transfer course on Saturday so he’s all fired up and ready to beekeep as the new season springs fully into life.  It’s great to see him all inspired and full of plans, even nicer to know that he’s the one doing all the actual bee work and not me!  While I’m happy to work my processing mojo on anything Stephen brings into the house I’m a tad nervous of our buzzing friends, they are wonderful and marvellous as long as they are a little way off from where I am standing.

Sunday was spent partly relaxing and having a nice Mothering Sunday time of it and partly working really hard on all the farm stuff that needed doing.  There were chickens to clean out, coops to move, new pasture to be opened up, electric fences to string and animals to be looked after.  Despite the weather taking an extremely gusty turn we got it all done in time to enjoy a delicious home grown and home cooked chicken stew.  Bliss.

Last night was more than cold enough to warrant a fire so Stephen got one going and we all snuggled up cosily.  Once Neirin was in bed I got on the sofa with Huwyl, my special quilt (a beautiful hand made birthday gift from my sister) and a fun book, ready for a quiet night.  But fate played her hand of course and, after doing his final rounds, Stephen came in from the cold with a meat chicken who looked to be on his last legs.

It may seem odd to care for an animal that is intended for slaughter but our whole mission with the farm is to give the animals the best quality of life we can before than moment comes.  So I duly snuggled the frozen little chap under my quilt with me and hoped for the best.  Not too long after little peeps started emanating from my freezing little friend, letting me know that he was still in the land of the living, thank you very much.  The fire and the quilt had worked their magic and we all sat quietly reading, enjoying each other’s company and the occasional peeping of the little bird.

Huwyl fell asleep on the sofa next to me, twitching occasionally when the peeping got a bit louder.  I tucked the quilt around him, made with love by my beautiful sister and he soon fell back to snoozing, the chick following suit, snuggling against me in the quiet evening of a busy day.  The fire burned on into the night, long after we were tucked up in bed, keeping us all warm and safe even as we dreamed.