Hill House Farm Blog

Question: How did the elders, Dave and Les, cope whilst the youngsters were on holiday? Answer: With a struggle! Luckily, one younger member of the family, studying landscape design in Falmouth, came home for the weekend and another younger member of the family swapped his archaeological wheelbarrow and shovel for a muck wheelbarrow and shovel or ‘father and mother’ would have definitely been in the manure!

May has seen the first of the OMSC0 sponsored hedgerow safaris on the farm.  Gill and her team of Cherie and Janey gave the visiting school children a wonderful insight into the resident wildlife. Using special humane traps they caught wood mice, bank voles and shrews in the hedge, looked for trails and burrows, discovered the plants growing in the hedge and grassland, listened to birds, searched for mini beasts with pooters and sweep nets. 

This was followed by a picnic lunch in the field and then craft activities of pipe cleaner bugs, flying bats, clay hedgehogs. Children also planted wildflower seeds in the cups which they had been given to taste some organic milk.  They then returned to the coach via the bat cave!  I’m sure all slept well that night – we certainly did.  Hopefully some things were learnt.  I never knew that moles’ fur smoothes both ways so that they can go backwards and forwards in tunnels and that shrews are carnivores.  Did you? 

We had glowing, positive feedback from teachers and children – so it seems to have been enjoyed by all.  A lull from visits this week as it’s half term and then next week starts with a group of 50 – help!  We’ve been scouting around for portaloos for extra toilet facilities – so, if you have a spare portaloo or two, which you’d like to donate to a worthy cause, we could really do with them.

The girls (cows) are enjoying being out – and giving more milk now they’re on grass.  One of the highlights for the school children is seeing the dairy cows grazing in the meadows as they arrive at the farm.   Guessing which wild flowers the cows like eating most and who’s the daddy (spotting Bart the bull amongst the cows) is good fun. 

There were three more births in May: two heifers and one bull calf.  The last one didn’t stay with us very long – nothing sad or serious;  another organic farmer in the area needed an organic calf for one of his cows.  Her own calf had died at birth and he had a cow with lots of milk needing a calf to rear. In a milking herd you have facilities to milk the cow if that happens, but this cow was in what is known as a suckler herd. This means the cows are just kept to breed from and aren’t milked.

We do, however, have one bit of sad news.  Jason our old sheepdog/cow dog has gone to the doggy heaven in the sky. He had to have an eye operation, which he coped with very well, but suddenly three weeks later he had a stroke.  At 15 he had been part of the family for quite a while and his ashes will be scattered in the fields he loved to run around.  A very lovable, if at times ‘daft’ dog, we will miss him and his peculiar ways, such as chewing through cables during a thunderstorm!  Even the cat who liked to torment him wonders why he isn’t stealing her food.

Soon we are looking to go silaging and haymaking, although we do need a bit more rain to get the grass growing a bit more. Not using any artificial fertilisers to speed up growth on an organic farm you are really reliant on nature.  The boys have a new toy to play with this summer, a big round baler so we can bale ourselves instead of the paying a contract baler. 

Hopefully, the rain won’t come on Wednesday as we are off on a family outing to the Bath and West show at Shepton Mallet.  Dave and Paul will be heading for machinery and pedigree cattle, (which our cows are definitely not. They are a mixture of Friesian, Belgian Blue and Guernsey crosses – David’s herd of many colours – but all give good milk, which is the main thing).  The ladies off to look for rural crafts, some retail therapy and ‘littler’ animals for little Kaia, age three.  Talking of small, we’ve been asked if we would like to rehome a pygmy goat to keep the garden grass down but goats really need company so we’d have to get another as well.  Two goats can eat a lot of grass along with bushes, flowers and vegetables and anything else that grows (and a few that don’t, like your clean washing!).  Maybe we will decline; I do like my garden, weeds and all!