SO, THERE I was admiring these lovely yellow flowers we have in abundance around the farm, but I was oblivious to what evil lurked behind their oh, so innocent appearance. How was I to know what damage they could do. In fact this was no ordinary plant, it was ragwort! I had no idea that ragwort poisoning could have a disastrous effect on horses, cattle and other animals.
Well, the very next day after being given this wake up call, “Thanks Marie”, I got Sam, one of our sons who comes over to help out for a couple of days each week, to walk the length and breadth of our 8 acres and dig up every last root of the plant and build a bonfire with it. Let me tell you, it took him a while, but we have a mighty fine bonfire to torch when it’s a good day for burning.
Have you ever had a depressed dog in your home? Well, for the last week that’s what we have been contending with and it’s been a whole new experience for us. Naomi, our 16 year old has been away and as a result ‘Boo’ who is generally spoilt rotten by Naomi and gets far too much attention, has had a right monk on, all week!
‘The mardy One’ has spent much of the week laying on Naomi’s bed and only occasionally would she snap out of her daze and go mad by throwing a teddy or two off the bed in a moment of madness. Thankfully, Naomi arrived home safely on Saturday and so ‘Boo’ is once again back to the normal over exuberant dog we know and love, thank goodness for that.
This week we have been winding things down in our ‘Tea Garden’ as we have so much to do ahead of our building work commencing around the end of the month. It’s unfortunate that we have had to close and ordinarily would have continued until the weather got too bad, but we need to get work underway ahead of the bad weather arriving over the coming months. What has been really satisfying is that with no tea shop experience at all, in just 10 weeks, Wendy has, from a standing start, turned a little piece of our heaven into a place where others could come and enjoy what we have, including the views and they could get a cream tea or a piece of cake in the process.
We would never have known what potential could be tapped into, if Wendy hadn’t come up with her ‘hairbrain’ plan in the first place. So many friends and family have been roped in to help and although it’s often been just a little manic at times, it has been a really good experience for the future development of ‘The Ginger Cow Company’ and we have met so many lovely people too.
Finally, we were lucky enough to have a young hedgehog released back into the wild, here on the farm. Sonic, was brought to our attention by our good friend Jan, who has been caring for Sonic for quite some weeks, since he tragically lost his mother in a road accident.
The time had come for him to be reunited with the outside world and we jumped at the chance to help out. So, Aunty Jan and a couple of friends came over on Saturday lunchtime and with his home and a little food was able to release him back into the wild. We’re sure he won’t take long to settle down with his lovely neighbours.
