Old bikes, new toys and little udders!

Has everyone survived the wind?  I just about managed to get through Balham market yesterday without too much damage, although I did spend most of the morning hanging onto the gazebo, even though it was well weighted down at each corner.  I think I had the windiest spot in the market - no shelter at all.  It's quite difficult trying to cut and wrap cheese with one arm so I had the customers hanging onto the awning while I served them.  Seemed like a fair deal to me and they were all happy to oblige!  I came home with windburn though - looked like I had been out in the sun for hours.

Our new market manager, Nathaniel, was on duty yesterday and had with him, as always, his gorgeous dog Asha.  She is the most lovely animal, about 13 years old, and SO well behaved.

Nathaniel first got her as a puppy when he lived in California and she used to run alongside him as he rode his bike everywhere.  Then they moved to Singapore and this was no longer safe for her due to the amount of traffic, so Nathaniel had a special side-car built for his old motorbike.  When he moved to the UK he brought it with him and now dog and man go everywhere in it - Asha just sits in the side-car and watches the world pass by!

And so to new toys ... Soon it will be hay-making season and David will be rushed off his feet, working hard to try and get all our hay in for this year.  He does all the work himself and it is often a frantic race against the clock to try and get hay made while the weather is exactly right.  Making good hay is not just a matter of cutting the grass and baling it ... it needs to be turned and spread at least twice every day for a few days, ideally in hot sun with a nice drying breeze.  And David does make excellent hay .. ask the goats!!

Haymaking also requires a lot of special equipment which all has to be in the same place at the same time.  To make life much easier (and quicker) this year, we decided that we needed to have a loader on the front of the big tractor (instead of just on the smaller old tractor).  And so it was ordered many months ago and was fitted on Friday .. lovely and shiny it is too.  He's very pleased with his new toy!

While I was feeding the goatlings this morning I noticed that there seem to be a number of little udders starting to appear.  Seems that puberty has reached the goat shed!  I always think that it's funny to see these little udders sprouting .. the girls still seem so young, yet really they are teenagers.  So, here you go - a few little bottoms for you!

The milkers were out and about in the field today as there was no wind.  Here are a few of them up their 'mountain':

Needless to say, they all ran indoors just before milking time when it started to rain again.  You cannot get your ears wet!!