'Tis the season

to be busy!

Busy with actual proper paid work - Ady and I have both been doing shifts at the castle hostel to add money to the pot for the Masterplan. It grates rather, working for 'the man' and anything that takes us away from the things we actually moved here for and love comes at quite a price but we are making it work for us by enjoying chatting to the folk staying at the hostel, learning a little more about the castle and limiting our hours to just a couple of four or five hour shifts a week. I am also doing my two shifts a week at the shop / post office -one morning and one evening. We are determined to move forward this year and do everything we possibly can to stay over the coming winter by getting a Rum winter proof roof over our heads.

The Honesty Larder is doing well with eggs and jam all selling, Davies has been doing a brisk trade in his postcards and the midges are back this week so I will be harvesting new supplies to get making my midges in resin bits and pieces. All is growing well in the polytunnel and I have spent time this week doing what will probably be the final sowings of various things. It is all looking very productive and we'll soon be taking our first harvests of salad, strawberries and herbs. I have various things ready to plant out in the raised beds too and the fence around that area is only an afternoon or two away from being finished. I was out there today and have made the start of an archway entrance in and dedicated an area to be the compost heap ready to dump all used animal bedding rich in manure to rot down and feed the beds over the winter along with some collected seaweed from the beaches.

We lost all the goslings - the raven and crows simply picked them off one by one. It is very sad. Having read a little about geese as parents it seems they may get wiser with subsequent broods but I think we may also try and assist with a pen if they go broody again. We have constructed a very temporary duck run  to house the ducks over night so we can collect all their eggs.

The three wee piglets are doing really well and are very robust, curious and active. Barbara is doing a fine job of mothering them and is able to nimbly leap the low fence dividing her and Tom so she is happily spending half her time hanging out with Tom and the other half returning to her piglets to feed and sleep with them. So far that all seems to be working well.

I love this time of year, the days feel so long with daylight until 10pm and the island has a lovely buzz of busyness.