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Some thoughts on living and working in France and conversations with my sheep! |
| This is a journal of the present but will also include reflections on the past 15 years which is the time I have been living in France.I hope it will generally be upbeat and amusing but as it is real life there will be some sad times aswell.I dont know yet how to include WritingML tags so my Journal will be unspiced for the time being! This is the first item I have posted in my Portfolio so I hope it will get better as I become more relaxed. |
| After the heavy snowfall of saturday today has been WET WET WET. It really is quite miserable getting wet every time you step outside. All the animals are looking fed up again I think even they must be searching for signs of Spring. There seems to be mud everywhere now which means that wellies are the only possible footwear. After a dry winter the rains have finally arrived but it is good news really because we had a serious drought last Summer with water restrictions which have continued through the Winter. The lack of rain caused us considerable problems in that we didn't have enough grass for all our animals and had to feed hay from the end of August onwards. Extra work which we didn't need. Anyway we are off tomorrow to our house down near Carcassonne so we are looking forward to a break and hopefully warmer weather. WE have some friends who will come in twice a day to take care of all the animals. Without them we wouldn't be able to get away so we are very gratefull to them. I hope these few days away will recharge our batteries as we have quite a lot of work that needs doing about the farm.There will be no entries to my Blog for a while as we don't yet have an internet connection in our other house. I shall bring this up to date next week. |
| I have decided to convert my journal into a Blog as I think I am more likely to post short items each day than write longer pieces in journal form. I will just write whatever comes into my mind. Yesterday we had quite a heavy fall of snow so I was out putting out hay for the ewes and the horses.I had to walk across the fields in a blizzard to bring the sheep over to the feeders. They all looked thoroughly fed up but very pleased to see the hay. Luckily snow is a relatively rare occurence in this region of France. I am really looking forward to Spring as Winter has gone on long enough. Having to feed the sheep and the horses twice a day is getting tedious and the weather has been cold and grey which leaves you feeling depressed. Bring on the sunshine and the spring flowers to lift the spirits. Today I went to visit a friend who has two of our ewes. When she bought them from us I promised to help her out with lambing and any other problems. The ewes have just had twin lambs each and I went over to put bands on their tails. My friend had told me that they were all females but she was a bit worried about one of them as it seemed to have a lump on it's rear end. I did all the tails and then had a look at the lamb with the lump. Yes you've guessed it was a male. My friend a married lady with grown up children was embarressed to say the least. We all fell about laughing and I shall look forward to telling all our friends. If only all problems were as easy to solve. |
| I think as I have introduced Number one I had better also intoduce Norah Batty.She was born in the middle of the night of the 2nd April 1995.At this time we were lambing outside,the ewes were in a small paddock close to the house and we were checking them every few hours during the day and also at about 3am.On this night one of the ewes had started and we were keeping an eye on her but despite the lamb being in the normal position not much progress was being made.We decided that we would have to help the lamb out.Picture the scene:it's the middle of the night and the only light we have is a torch,we also have our trusty book which we have consulted nany times over the years for advice on difficult lambings.I have checked the position of the lamb which is normal so according to the book all we have to do is gently draw the lamb out,pulling evenly on the front legs and easing the head out,then getting the shoulders through the neck of the womb.We got the head and legs so far and then the lamb was stuck we seemed to be pulling with all our might but to no avail.It's quite frightening to be responsible for the life or death of a living being with no possibility of getting help in the middle of the night.It seemed to take forever and we were convinced that we would damage the lamb with the amount of force we were using but eventually the lamb came out with a sound like a large cork being released from a bottle.We were delighted and perhaps a bit amazed that the lamb showed no ill effects from its traumatic entrance into the world.This was a large lamb with the sort of wrinkly skin you normally see on a Sharpei puppy or Norah Batty's wrinkly stockings,hence her name and her mother became Mrs Batty.For those of you who have never heard of Norah Batty she was a character in the Television series "Last of the Summer Wine" set in a Yorkshire town in England and her thick stockings were always in thick wrinkles round her ankles.Norah Batty is another one of our retirees although unfortunately her mother had been damaged internally by the difficult birth and eventually went for reform two years later in 1997.Since we started lambing in 1995 it has always been me who does the actual deliveries, my husband restrains the ewes and where necessary upends them to make manipulations easier for me and the ewe.We are a partnership. |
| This sounds very melodramatic but I honestly feel that finally putting "pen to paper" is like starting a new phase in my life.Fifteen years ago we bought this house in France and within a short space of time I was living here permanently.My husband still had to work in England to pay the bills so I spent quite a lot of time here on my own.This was the first time I had lived on my own and it was quite a challenge but my confidence grew with every passing day and I enjoyed the selfishness of only having myself to worry about.I think I am now a much stronger person and less reliant on other people. As I have called this the musings of a shepherd I would like to introduce some of my woolly friends.The first eight ewes arrived in the summer of 1994,we borrowed a ram from a neighbour and waited.I would add at this point that we had never owned sheep before and had no farming background. Lambing was due to start at the beginning of April and I was busy reading "Sheepkeeping for idiots".My husband was due to arrive here before lambing started as it is something that definitetly needs two people.Friday the 23rd March is forever engraved in my memory,the first ewe started lambing and I was alone!I read the book from cover to cover and even showed it to the ewe.Nothing was happening.I phoned my husband but he was no use at all.Typical male.Eventually I plucked up my courage and had a proper feel inside the ewe,it was a head only presentation.The lamb can only be born by pushing the head back inside the ewe and finding the legs.This was beyond me so I called our neighbour[we had bought the ewes from him]he came straight away but the lamb had been on its way for too long and was dead.He checked the ewe and found another lamb which he delivered safely.I was very grateful to him but also very upset because I blamed myself for the death of our first lamb.After he had gone I went indoors and shed a few tears then had a large brandy!Welcome to farming.The first ewe to lamb we called Number one not very original I know but we still have her and she is the boss of the troupe.She and I have got to know each other well over the past 11 years and although she no longer has lambs her place here is assured.More about her later.We have a small group of retirees and I will introduce them as I go along. |
| It's the 5th of February so I am only 5 days late in posting my first item.I made 3 New Year resolutions for the Newbies contest one of which was to post by the 31st of January.The other two where to learn to type [coming along slowly] and to start riding again[not much progress yet as its been too cold].I signed up to Writing.com in November but being something of a computer virgin it is taking quite along time to find my way round the site.I have written some reviews which seemed the easiest way to start and now I am starting this journal/blog.I am fairly self critical so it is difficult for me to write something for Public consumption so I hope that this will ease me in gently. I am taking the opportunity of my husband's absence for two days to start. I will start with a brief description of me. I am 50 something, I have a small flock of sheep[now only about 70] 2 horses,2 dogs,3 cats,3 chickens and as already mentionned 1 husband.I have 2 grown up children and 5 grandchildren who all live in England which is one of the only downsides to living in France.I enjoy reading,running,cooking and am trying to write.We have a small farm in a beautful setting with no neighbours we are surrounded by woods and pastures and we have a small river running through our valley. We are truly lucky to live here but as in all things there are negatives.As we are isolated we have to drive to get anywhere and as you get older it becomes more of a chore. We have to make an effort to see other human beings it is very easy to become cacooned in our own little world.Winter is always harder than Summer.More of this tomorrow as I am exhausted from concentrating on my typing it can only get easier! |
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... as long as you occasionally moan here. I do check in but I've been overwhelmed this past month. My bronchitis is getting better and my spirits are okay today. Some days that is as good as it gets. Get thee well.