Anyhow ... I have to say that it was rather on the chilly side when I left for Balham yesterday morning. It was -13 as I left the farm and I struggled to get my little van up the lane on the ice. As I drove past Leeds Castle I saw -14.5 on the van temperature. Didn't think it went that low! But it was an absolutely gorgeous morning. So cold but no wind .. just very still freezing cold air. Absolutely gorgeous. And then the sun came out and it was a balmy -7 standing at market. But the good people of Balham did us proud once again and I came home with a lot less than I went with.
Sal, the Mad Parrot Woman, came along to pick up a leg of goat and some milk. I didn't see her arrive but heard this faint bleating in the distance as she walked along the road towards the market! The market was quite quiet when she came and so it was lovely to have a bit of time to spend having a good chat with her and hearing some more of her stories. She was wrapped up warm against the cold but still looked so damn elegant! Don't you just hate people like that?!
Isn't it about time for another GeeGee Parrot picture? This is a totally gorgeous one taken by Sal:
Called in on the little girls on the way home to find that their water had finally frozen up during the day. They had been doing so well as most of their water pipe runs underground and there is only a very short part that rises up to feed their trough. I was unable to defrost it and so had to call in the cavalry. David arrived with large troughs and a tank full of water - this is how we get water to remote animals during bad weather:
So it looks like we will be doing that for the next few days as well! Needless to say - everyone else in the main barn has frozen up again and so it's buckets and buckets and more buckets!
We had a quick visit from Jane the Cheese's partner, Dave, and her daughter Kelly yesterday evening. Kelly was amazed at the size of Footsie goat and took a pretty good picture of her ..
Poor Footsie. Not long to go now!
Today is murky and foggy, although we did have a quick blast of snow earlier this morning. The goats are not impressed with the weather and were much more interested in the contents of their hayracks that were filled up after milking.
Seems that we have a different goat in the hayrack each day now. This is Aretha (yes, as in Franklin). Notice how she has her head down, butting at the other goats who are trying to eat HER hay:
Footsie, why is your kid sticking out of your sides like that? She had some of your lovely Goaty cheese and didn't leave any for me! By the way, Ellie writes David and I have to dig out 'our' frocks, what colour is David's frock? Hahaha... you must be joking Ellie when you say she looks elegant, it is very sweet of you but I think she looks like a Russian babushka, muffled to the eyebrows, that is why she bleated at you, so you would know it was her, I don't think too many of your customers speak Goat, do they? We hope the thaw is going to happen soon for you all.. norty water pipes. Stay well and warm. Best wishes to all, GeeGee Parrot.
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