A new roof over our heads

Last year it was the porches, this year the project is the roof of our steading.  The L shaped building is filled to the rafters with “stuff” and since it has been leaking for a very long time we have had to carefully place things out of the way of the drips.  It’s incredible that it hasn’t collapsed before now, especially with the weight of snow we had last year.

Relatives and friends are here on a working “holiday” helping us remove the ancient slates and fit a not quite so beautiful box profile.  We would have loved to replace the slate but in the time we have available, it was just not possible.

As usual the weather is proving a challenge, not only for the roof but also for the hay.  We cut one field last week and almost immediately the rain came down.  We only need mention the word “hay” for black clouds to gather overhead.  A good crop is looking doubtful.

Belinda produced her kids on time and now has two lovely black and white girls – Betsy and Bethany.  They look tiny compared with Lily’s two who are huge now and very naughty.  Out of the two goats, Belinda’s milk is far superior and much creamier than Lily’s which is strange as they are mother and daughter.  As a result of our massive increase in milk production we are now eating vast quantities of homemade ice cream.  Shame we don’t have the weather to go with it!