Second-Cut Silage, Thriving Puppies, Eco Holidays, Farmer's Wife Throws Car Tyres

Despite the damp weather the Farmer & the boys cut grass yesterday for silage and though it rained quite heavily last night they are succeeding in getting it in today without further rainfall...so far.
I accompanied the Farmer to our local town this morning to fetch a vast roll of plastic silage sheeet that had to be wedged into our 4x4 at such an angle that the Farmer had to crouch in the very back as both the front passenger seat & the back seat had to be laid flat in order to accommodate the roll. It is enough sheeting to cover an area about 40' x 60' that is very neatly rolled up in such a way that when it comes to laying it out over the silage clamps it unfolds out of a series giant pleats which is amazing to see and makes the job much easier.
The really horrible part of the process of silage making comes when the hundreds of old car tyres have be distributed over the clamp...I dutifully did it for 20 years and then said enough was enough and I make cake instead for younger tyre hurlers who don't mind getting soaking wet with stinking water from the tyres that often contain livestock in the form of toads & frogs.

The puppies are doing very well and grow visibly day by day. Both their real & adoptive mothers are happy and there is more than enough milk for 13 tiny people so we are not having to supplement them at all.

Younger Son & S. went up to Alcester at the weekend for the CLA Game Fair and had a wonderful time. YS came home dreaming of beautiful guns at £19,000 a throw and enthusing about muzzle-loaders and other equally dangerous boys toys.

I am spending time at the moment working on my 'marketing strategy' for the holiday cottage. There is a increasing demand for 'green' & sustainable holidays (which is almost a contradiction in terms, I feel) and we fulfill much of the criteria for that market with the organic farming ethos and the emphasis on eco- friendly practice in the cottage in terms of the decor & furnishings as well as housekeeping materials & products. It is interesting to see what other holiday accommodation providers are doing in the same field and trying to find a USP (unique selling point) without getting too precious about sustainability and eco-friendliness.

Later.
I spoke rashly when I said I no longer hurl tyres...what I have I just been doing? Yup, heaving stinking, water-logged, filthy tyres off the silage clamp as the sheet needed to be removed in order to accommodate what is turning out to be a large crop of second-cut. And not just chucking tyres about ( and just for the record, I am not built like a Russian shot-putter!!), but dragging acres of wet black plastic sheet off the clamp and piling it up in a tangled mass which no doubt will have to sorted out to be re-used. What fun we have in the country making our own entertainment!
I suppose that is the mark of true farmer's wife when against her better judgement she just has to down tools and join in on urgent agricultural matters when the labour force is over-stretched and the work has to be done...my halo is gleaming!