Well we are well into November now and, while many of the shops have been stocking Christmas for months now, the season is creeping up on us here at the farm.
We have endured weeks of renovations and decorating which I am sure I will be sharing with you at some point but do keep your eye on my Instagram account where I am sharing bits with you.
It is definitely true that when you start one area, it makes everywhere else look shabby so I have even been round with a mini roller touching up places that haven’t been given any attention for a long time and it made me quite nostalgic as I painted over the little hand prints that dot my walls.
Christmas is literally piling up in several parts of the house too as I have decided, with the new decorating to change the theme of my Christmas tree, a mammoth task in itself.
I usually dress the tree in reds and golds but I have bought some bronze baubles and a couple of natural decorations which I am very excited to see up. I am hoping some of my old decorations will still go and I hope to get a smaller tree for the children to have in their play room which can use up the old things. Nothing will be wasted.
This is my third colour change. Before we moved to the farm, my tree theme was pink and I do still have those baubles somewhere such are my hoarding tendencies.
Some years we have had up to 15 for Christmas dinner but this year it is a much quieter affair with either seven or eight of us which I am secretly relieved about. I am hoping smaller numbers will be less stressful and I may even be able to squeeze in a starter which I never attempt when the numbers are large.
Talk is quite often focussed on where are we going to get the turkey from this year and we are yet to make a solid decision. There are a few options locally which we like as at least you know where they come from. I wonder if we will be still having the turkey conversation the time next month. I just wish my lovely friend Jade from Out and About Poultry either lived nearer or would courier me a bird.
The rams went on the ewes earlier this month so next year’s lambs are on schedule for the end of March which is when we always lamb. The farmer took the first lot of lambs to market too and we were relieved to see the price has improved a bit.
I am just wondering if he is planning a trip to the abbatoir before Christmas as my big freezer is looking a bit bare. Saying that, I am going through it at the moment trying to use up what we have before the big Christmas shop.
Every month I say I will meal plan more but I just find the whole thing so tedious-just as tedious as deciding what to eat every day so I can’t win really.
We are down to seven hens after Mr fox paid a visit last month and the remaining birds are being a bit slow to lay-probably because of the decreased hours of daylight. I will replenish come spring.
I had hoped Chip the pygmy goat was pregnant but I had been so worried about Cuccake getting caught that I don’t think I left her with the billy goat for long enough so more baby goats will have to wait until next year.
Winter tends to be a quiet period on the farm so we will see what December brings.
