And then it all turned white

This was the view from my study window this afternoon. Very picturesque - from the inside.....

It continues to snow... we are told that we are locked into this weather pattern for the next fortnight; it seems the jet stream is helping to block high pressure in the north of the UK and steer raw northerly and easterly winds over the country. The pundits say it will take a "hefty jolt to the atmosphere's circulation to unblock the present pattern".

"What on earth was that?!?!" I asked the Boss this evening as we were toasting our toes by the fireside.....
"Forked lightening" he replied, matter-of-factly "and thunder" - with minus several degrees and snowing? Wierd.

Isn't that "hefty jolt" enough? Seemingly not: when I went out to do evening stables and walk the dogs it was still snowing persistently....... all the tracks we'd made this afternoon were completely obliterated already....

"Surely you'll not be going bush-beating for the Guns tomorrow?" said the Boss shortly before retiring for the night.

Must say, I wonder myself: doubtless the Keeper will ring at dawn to advise us that the day's sport is cancelled......

Meanwhile, our curly coated family are going about their business in disdainful disregard for the conditions: although they do struggle with walking over the lumpy frozen ground.

That said, Samson - knowing, no doubt that there's something better down South - has spent a fair part of the day digging his way down to warmer ground.... or maybe he's been observing Pilot's attempts at digging up rabbits...... Whichever, he was very pleased with himself and when I went out on the Water round later in the day he was happily sleeping in his new dug-out!

Ginger's still-nameless piglets, just two weeks old, have also been out and about playing in the snow under Mum's watchful eye..... they're light and bouncy so just skip over the surface.

Ginger, on the other hand, finds it a little more difficult to manoeuvre so moves slowly and gracefully around her patch, taking great care not to tread on the little ones...... who'll probably be making snowboars tomorrow if the white stuff continues to fall......

What's in a Nose?

Went out to take a few photos of Ginger and her family now the snow's come: no sooner had I got to her pen than a family of hikers came by:

"Gosh!" said the young lady "She's big--- and what a big nose!" . Luckily, Ginger wasn't affronted: any attention is good attention..... She was just nosing around to make sure it was safe for her little ones to have a bit of a run-around;

"They were through the fence a little while ago" Linda remarked, pushing the barrow with goodies around..... "Saw me and all but one managed to find his way back through to Mum.... probably won't be long till they're off down the bridleway.....!!!" Uh Oh, I thought: more complaints from The Neighbour (aka The Big Giant who lives Down the Road).

Ginger's so huge and they're so tiny and she spends a great deal of her time making sure they are comfortable, the nest is dry and warm and they get enough fresh air and attention: often

she's nose to nose with one or other of them, maybe explaining the Laws of Life according to The Great Hog.... who knows...... but, struck by great shafts of light, they absorb her every instruction.......

Meanwhile, on the subject of noses: The Bestest Gundog in All the World and I were invited to 'beat' on a shoot which was one of our favourites during our first season but, owing to politics and family disagreements, didn't take place last year. We went this morning: in the snow: with blizzards tumbling all around: interspersed with glorious sunshine and views: the farm across which we were shooting, as one of the Guns remarked: "Hadn't a flat field across the whole of it" so we were up hill and down dale all day - in the snow: Bracing, Brisk, Fresh and Challenging were just a few of the words that were bandied about by our colleagues.

The Dog loves snow and was delighted to be out and did his job enthusiastically and thoroughly until at the end of the last drive before lunch he came out of the kale sneezing and sneezing for all he was worth.

"Doesn't sound good" I remarked to one of my colleagues but put his fleece on and left him in the back of the car whilst we had lunch. Came back almost an hour later to find him still sneezing, and now wheezing as well. Well, who wouldn't after sneezing all that time....?

"Don't think he can do any more today" I said to the keeper and arranged to leave early to take Gunner to the vet - luckily our 'pig' vet was on call. Leaving the dog in the car I joined in the first drive after lunch but then took him off for our appointment.

He stopped sneezing en route so I thought it the vet would say it was just a case of overanxious owner.

However, Gunner sneezed again when we entered the vet's surgery so the man looked up the poor dog's nose, remarking that it was easier to look up a horse's nostril, it being so much bigger. "Best thing" he said "Is to put him under anaesthetic and drench the cavity". OK" I said, agreeing to leave him there.... "I'll just have another look though if you'll hold him" said the Man, switching off the lights and peering up the dog's snout with his lighted magnifier.....

"AHHaH, I think I see something..... hang on...." he said going off into the back room and coming back with a very long pair of tweezers....

"Just keep him still" he instructed, sticking the tweezers up the dog's nostril....... "Ahhh, yes" he said, "There it is... just a moment... got it!" pulling out a very long piece of kale stalk - see photo - which I would never have believed could have been lodged up a dog's nostril. No wonder the poor chap was sneezing and sneezing.....

And when it was out he jumped around and wagged his little tail and looked totally happy and relieved.... well, who wouldn't after having that removed from a nose......???? And I walked off saying to the vet; "That was the best thing that could've happened this weekend!" cos I'd been seriously worried that the incident would have had a far more serious and longlasting outcome..... The snow fairies were clearly on our side.....

Patience and piglets

"What do you think this is?" said one little piglet poking an ear...

"I don't know" said the other little piglet poking an eye "but look what I've found here"......

And through it all, Ginger just lies there patiently dozing. Sometimes they climb over her and sometimes they slide down her face: sometimes they just sit on her back and other times they take a running jump and bump into her: many times they bully her into giving them more milk and occasionally they toddle off outside to "do their business".

When she's had enough, she gruntles quietly but firmly and they quickly curl up on top of each other warmly protected on all sides: Mum's legs - front and back on each side - her capacious tummy to the front and the back of the ark behind them. Who'd be a piglet?

The weather's been very wet and it's just starting to turn cold. Each morning after breakfast I give Ginger a couple of wedges of clean straw which she takes purposefully into her house and packs around the edges to keep out the draughts. Her young family couldn't wish for a better mum.

"We've yet to give them a name" I remarked to the Big Boss just a little while ago..."No hurry" he said. I think that's what Ginger thinks too. No hurry. Piglets're only a week old. Plenty of time yet.......

Little stripies

She didn't disappoint....

It was all quiet when I went out the following morning...

Then, when half the herd had started squealing for their breakfast, out came Ginger..... so I took the opportunity to have a look and sure enough.... there they were.... 7 little stripey squiggly piglets......

Clever lady..... more anon....

Mum's the word

The underlying sound all last week was Delila calling back her little ones - who were gaily trotting all over the estate, hither and thither, to and fro.

Many the time The Big Boss chuckled to himself (and anyone listening) as he observed them 'streaming' - in various combinations of 1's, 2's, 4's and 5's - past the Study window en route to or from Church, or Rectory, Field - with or without help from The Bestest Pig Dog. It seemed to Delila, and us, that they hardly returned home except to say "hello" and "good night".

Foraging whilst wandering had made them grow strong and big. So Last Friday was Weaning day. We thought we'd be able to get them to 'stream' into the trailer but they were too smart - and quick - for that. In the end, we had to distract Delila with food whilst catching each of the 10 individually in their ark and manually transporting them to the trailer. From whence to the barn..... where they will now remain for the worst of the winter months. Nice and snug and dry and with the background sound of the horses snorting and chomping to lull them to sleep. Aaaaahhhhh

Poor old Delila, used to them being away so frequently and so long, didn't really suss that they had been weaned from her. Poor thing spent the next couple of days almost constantly calling for them to come back........ We gave her favourite treats and back rubs and much attention to console her and finally this morning she was back to normal - only appearing for breakfast when called and then snoozing for much of the day........ It'll not be long before she's reunited with Samson and that'll bring a smile to her little chops.......

Meanwhile, Ginger - The Matriarch of them all, spent the best part of today preparing her nest for her next - 7th - litter. Knowing her time was due I inspected her ark yesterday:

"She's piled all her bedding up into a large platform on which she lies like a queen" I said to The Big Boss "Whilst there're huge gaps around the base where the wind can get in" ....

"Probably air conditioning" he said.

"Yes, but what about the Little Ones?" I said

"Just leave it up to Ginger" he replied "She's an experienced mum and will sort it all out when the time's right".

Well, sure enough whenever I observed her today it was - straw this way, rubbish that way, sticks here, hay there, and no gaps round the edges anywhere and a heck of a lot of banging and grunting whilst she got her nursery in order.

There'll be piglets tomorrow................

Down the garden path

In the 'Olden Days' - let's say up until the early 1950's - it was common practice for cottagers to keep a pig or two down the garden. The pig often formed part of the wages for a farm labourer; it would be 'given' in spring, fattened throughout the year and killed before Christmas. It would take three days to "put the pig away" with the immediate and extended family benefitting from good food throughout the long winter months.

Lucky the man who had a sow which regularly gave birth to a litter: his income could be bolstered by selling a weaner "down the garden path" to his neighbours.

The pig was a treasured element in the rural economy. My trips to market with our Provisions are greatly enhanced by the numerous pig-tales and incidents which the 'older' generation love to relate: there cannot have been many rural families which did not have a much-loved pig. And not just country dwellers: my own mother is happy to regale us with the story of her younger brother riding the family pig before school every morning (much to the consternation of my grandmother) and that was in the outskirts of a city, and in Germany! Small wonder that so much porcine terminology is embedded in our language: pig-headed, hog-tied, happy as a pig in muck, telling porkies, lucky pig, silk purses from sows' ears.......

Unfortunately, the practice of selling the pig "down the garden path" has long been outlawed - not least through changing tastes and Government regulation.

However, the habit of going "down the garden path" is far from dead"!

Delila's Little B's, such a quiet stay-at-home bunch until just a week ago, have brought a totally modern interpretation to the old phrase!

Having finally found their way out of Delila's confined homestead they rapidly tired of the immediate surrounds: even the driveway and its verges soon lost their appeal.

On my way to pick apples in the orchard last Friday afternoon, I chanced across Linda who asked:

"How far are you happy for the piglets to roam?"

In saying which she looked down towards the field where the horses were grazing.

"Funny" I replied "I couldn't find them this morning when I took the dogs for a walk and assumed - after looking hi and lo - that they must, after all, have been piled up in the corner of their ark out of sight!"

But clearly they were not.... for there they were, plain as day, running around between and

among the horses, trotting up to see all their aunts and uncles and cousins, popping in to the chickens en route and then, with a sudden "whoops" of realising they were perhaps a little far from home, off they all scampered through the dense rusting leaves - back to Mum. Since when it has become a common sight: piglets mooching along the garden path in front of the house, down the path beside what used to be a rock garden and via the path past the summer house via the top of the orchard and down the track to the field........

And just yesterday, perhaps tiring of going down all our paths, they decided to go down via the bridleway path to say "hello" to the bantams in front of the garage and to Ginger and all the chaps at that end of the Reserve grounds.........

"Where next?" I ask...... I suppose there is always the path up to the Village........

Now, that would give the neighbours something to talk about......

It's a Good Job we've got Gunner to round them all up and see they get to their Proper Place at the end of the day (or any other time, come to that).....

Busy, Busy, Busy

The year may be winding down for winter but here it's all go, go, go!

The clock's gone back, the nights are drawing in, Halloween's been and gone (heralding

the annual 'pumpkin marmalade making' season) and it's almost Guy Fawkes' night........ Mark, our smiley butcher, has just won a Silver Medal for his Mangalitza sausages and his wife, Mandy, won Gold with pork pies made with Mangalitza meat.... what could be better?

Well, according to Andromeda and her sisters, not the weather! It's absolutely perfect - mild and damp - for rootling, a sentiment seemingly shared by all the pigs at the moment.

They really didn't like the dry hot bits of summer (not that there were too many of them) when their noses and trotters became bruised and sore on the inpenetrable ground. Pigs are just far happier in the soft and splodgy mud.......

Despite the unseasonably warm spell, the maiden aunts in the woods have grown the most wonderful curly coats, a consequence of which is that they are spending most nights sleeping under the trees and stars, the confines of their ark presumably proving far too warm.

Delila's latest brood, meanwhile - the Little B's (so named 'cos they were born on the eve of The Big Boss's Birthday!) - have just started venturing out, having been uncommonly stay-at-home for their first few weeks.

"There's piglets on your drive!"

Said a neighbour when he drove down this morning.

"Did they look healthy?" I replied.

"Very" said he.

"Good" said I.

Well, what else is there to say?

Driving back from town yesterday afternoon I myself was surprised by the sight of the 10 Little B's milling around under the trees scrumping chestnuts and whatever else their little snouts could dig up - busy, busy, busy: I had to smile: startled by the sound of the car, they looked up, squealed and scampered back to mum! It really is the most amusing thing......Truly free range pigs!

When we can tear ourselves away from all the fun of the farm, The Bestest Gundog in all the World and I have returned to our favourite winter occupation.

We're working on the same three shoots as last year and it's been heartwarming to get back

with the 'old gangs' and catch up on all the news of summer: who's fished what, who's won prizes at the flower/veg. shows; who's been where and built what: who's lost an old dog or got a new one.... so many tales to tell between the drives. And then on the drives - the anxious moments of wondering if The BGiatW will listen to the familiar commands (always), respond to the new ones learned in the summer (joyous - almost instant response to "Over" to flush the ducks on the pond), peg the not-yet-flying-pheasants (only one, but still despair) and will his nose be still as keen (better than ever when he retrieved the well lost duck). Such a joy to work with and he so eager and happy to be doing what he loves best. Who could not delight in a working springer spaniel doing his job so well........

And talking of jobs to do: there has been the on-going marketing of the Pork Provisions. Fortunately for us, the Smiley Lady known as Lucy kept up our presence in the Market place whilst we were away on holiday - for which brave effort she was dubiously rewarded at one event by torrential rain which poured all day and soaked her and all the wares and, worst of all, kept all but the hardiest customers away - but was she downhearted? Nope.

"All part of the Adventure!" she exclaimed................... still smiling......

But,this past weekend, she finally succumbed to a cold so it was my turn to go to the local town market on Saturday - not particularly good business done: not many people about.

"This market used to be so full of traders" remarked one lady as she wandered past with her son. She bought nothing. From anyone. Perhaps that's why market traders stop turning up?

Then off to another local town's Victorian Market on Sunday - great crowds, great atmosphere (complete with Morris Dancers), lots of dressing up and lots and lots of business done....... the lows and highs of markets all in one weekend.

And whilst some of us are having fun, frolicking in the fresh air, The Big Boss is busy co-ordinating people, pigs and products for the growing hotel trade, our new direct-delivery service and the forthcoming Christmas season..... there truly never is a dull moment