Karon's thoughts 3rd December 2010

Well I hope you are all warm, we at the Stackyard Nursery are keeping warm in the office. The Mike and Tim are at home and the only one happy with the snow is Poppy our dog she is jumping, playing and loving it.

The customers that we have had this week have been very brave souls, but as we are so close to the village most have walked. Simon braved the roads on Tuesday to go to East Harling to pick up our Norfolk Horn lambs from the butchers, quite a trip but worth it. We have put a heater in the farm shop to keep the temperatures correct for the fridge and freezers and it has make it feel quite cosy. We spent Monday and Tuesday ripping out the old shelving and installing new, what a difference all comments are very positive. Thank you!

We have been carrying water up and down to the pigs, we insulated the automatic drinkers well, but the bowls are metal and the water has frozen! I spent two hours on Tuesday when Si got back picking at the ice with a screw driver and managed to get the water flowing in all the pens but the temperature has dropped since then to -6 at night and -2 throughout the day so not a hope of them defrosting for some time.

The piglets seem to love the snow but the Mamas are keeping their heads down and snuggling up in their arcs. Pork Chops our boar is developing a lovely thick coat of hair to keep him warm and he is no longer lying across the arc door trying to keep his ‘wife’ out, typical man, I hope she has cold trotters to but on his back.

We took advantage of the ground being hard and moved a few thousand saplings into the wind proof holding area on the back field, so if you are wondering what all the green netting is, it is the sapling area where I hope they will not be blown over by the wind. We needed the ground to be hard as the tractor and mud make a dreadful mess, not a pretty site. Tim did a great job but after a day of sitting on the tractor and carrying the saplings he gave up at three and went home for a hot bath. Mike battled on welding and getting a job ready for when the weather breaks, but after an hour yesterday morning decided that he would go home to his new wife!

I must admit to loving the site of the sun coming up and reflecting off the ice crystals it’s like living in a fairy land.

Just a reminder that we are open 7 days a week 10am – 4pm

Take care

Karon x