Phew – what a scorcher. Sorry to sound like a tabloid headline but REALLY hot this month with no end in sight. Much as everything was growing fantastically in May, it has now all pretty much ground to a halt – great sunshine, but everything needs a little rain to grow. Sorry to be unpopular, but can we have a little rain please? While we are waiting, many buckets of water are being delivered to fill the water troughs and wallows in each of the paddocks. Pigs don’t sweat so they need the wallows to help keep them cool – and it looks as though they love it too! It’s proving a great work-out for me – if anyone feels the need to give their biceps a bit of a work-out, feel free to come and join in 🙂
June started with a party! Our annual Slow Pig Day was blessed again with wonderful weather as you can see in the photo above and our guests seemed to thoroughly enjoy their day – much conversation about the different rare breeds around the farm, about the concept behind the Slow Food movement and everyone worked up a hearty appetite for the delicious 18 hour slow cooked pulled pork supper. Visitors to Buttle Farm are always welcome 🙂
Most of the paddocks have now recovered from their winter excavations by the pigs and we’ve been busy moving groups to their new summer paddocks. Our 9 Oxford Sandy & Blacks are now running riot in a new field with a new ark – they seem to be happy with both. One early morning feed round, they didn’t hear breakfast coming and I captured the rush to get to the trough first! STAMPEDE !!
Early in the month, the hedgerows were in full bloom and abuzz with bees going about their work – and as well as the many pheasants that pop up in the pig fields for a snack at feeding time, we now have at least one pair of partridges as well. Such funny birds – more often seen stealing guinea fowl food rather than pig food.
The Guinea Fowl hatched last month continue to thrive – they have now moved into the final coop – next stop full free-ranging! They are not quite so easy to handle at this point – picking them up for the move is a bit stressful for both human and bird but we got it done, none any worse for the experience! Their wing feathers are growing fast and they now have room to practice their flying in safety – or more importantly, practice their landing which is a bit hit and miss at this stage 🙂
We’ve got the incubator full again – this time with a batch of eggs from a friend. Fingers crossed for a good hatch next month to add some fresh blood to the flock.
Quite an international mix to our visitors in the cottage this month from as far away as New Zealand and everyone’s loving the great weather. Still some availability this summer for weekends and short breaks so if you are looking for a bit of luxury on your ‘staycation’, let me know. 10% discount to readers of this blog!
And finishing up this month with a funny yet serious video – make you think! None of us is perfect, but if we all make a small change, they will all add up – what could you do to make a difference?