Well , the weekend has been extremely productive, despite the sudden appearance of in-laws ! Actually , they were in a very productive mood too , so LOTS got . DH has finally managed to up-root my fantastic blackcurrant bush , divide it , and re-locate it into the field recently ploughed by the pigs . Fab! This leaves a now almost completely clear space to start erecting alpaca shelter for the winter.
Up
until now the alpacas have been housed ( only on very inclement nights , because they hate being indoors ) in our very large triple garage , now since a buildings name is derived from it's function I say barn - John says garage since he wants the space back for all his tools. Anyway, this winter there will be too many to
comfortably house in said barn(garage) and
since we also now own a very special stud he cannot overwinter with the girls 'cos they will be very stressed , and that is not good for pregnant alpacas ( did I mention that 6 out of 7 are pregnant !) so , we have a couple of stables ( they really are stables) and
an area in front which used to be home to the blackcurrant bush , this is now being fitted with proper drainage , roofing similar to a carport will be erected
connecting to the front of the stable , and the alpaca will then be free to choose where they sleep - either in or out , but at least under shelter in a confined space where I can feel that they are all safe .
With in-laws help , gutters have all been cleared ,paths swept and cleaned, drainage installed
fields fertilised ....
the neighbours will be tittering
into their pints tonight at the sight of me fertilising 3 fields by hand using a small
wheelie thing designed for the average suburban garden , but hey ho , the job is done and the fields will be going
great guns - lets just hope the stripes are not too obvious or I will never live it down!