Restarting orders for 2012

We are restarting weekly orders for 2012, with first orders on Friday 3rd February. Please see list under ‘ this week’s produce’ for details.

Orders to be sent in by email, text or phone on Thursday please for Friday collection. Contact Elaine on elainegoodandgreen@gmail.com or 087 6187908

Rebecca the lamb and her friend Bailey

Rebecca was an orphan twin lamb that we were given to bottle feed in 2011. She provided much entertainment and frolics around the garden and was great to see growing and getting strong. Cathal and Oisin fed her faithfully, from four bottles a day down to one over a couple of months until she was fully weaned onto meal and eventually onto grass.

It did turn out, however that Rebecca (named after a special first cousin of the boys) didn’t see herself as a lamb at all. She resented having to stay in the field on her own. We had heard that she would probably want to be with the family, but it was her attachment to Bailey (our golden retriever) that surprised us really. She broke out of the field regularly – her coat was immune to the electric fence, and was outside the back door waiting for Bailey most mornings. On occasion she made her way into the house, but generally got overexcited and peed on the floor.

In the end she returned to her original flock to graze on the hillside as a young sheep should – it didn’t seem fair to keep such a social animal on her on her own. And it is said that sheep don’t have personality? No way!

Spring meadow

A blast of Spring colour from miniature daffodils and mascari bulbs in early Spring up in the meadow.

And for the GAA minded – in the Clare colours, you will note.

The geese in action…

Well, most of the animals we have had here have been very cute/productive/appealing, but I must note one quite cantankerous exception.

We handreared a small number of alyesbury ducks and two geese over summer 2010, who we thought we had a pretty good relationship with. The geese grew into two lovely looking birds – we didn’t know if male or female… until just after Christmas, when it turned out that one was a gander – and he developed the worst case of bad attitude ever!

From then on we generally saw him coming with his head stretched out, ready to bite whoever he could sink his (surprisingly sharp) teeth into. We tried to see it as protecting his lady, but he gave her a rough time too, and even the ducks suffered a couple of unspeakable attacks.

I still don’t know if all ganders are like that or what we did wrong. I do know, however that he tasted great and that his lady is now a very peaceful and elegant leader of the ducks around the garden and noone seemed to miss him much!

Spring colour

The tulips in 2011 gave a lovely mix of vibrant colours by Eastertime. They are coming up now – hopefully it won’t be long before we will have a similar show. Roll on Spring!

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