Glorious Gloria

Gloria, the storm that is currently passing over Catalonia, has left its mark at the Croft. We've had more rain in one night than we've had since records began (my records, anyway), with 128 litres per square metre (128mm) which is the maximum that my rain meter can read. My neighbour up the  track emptied his 45mm rain meter three times during the night, so likely ours ran over. The last rainfall to get near this figure was on 12th September 2006 when we had 122mm.

The donkeys don't like it:

Jings it's gey dreich here, pal

...and for the humans,  there is currently no way in, or out, except on foot. The track has been washed away, and is currently on the way to the Mediterranean:

Sink or swim

But the house is fine, we've got supplies and plenty of wood to keep us cosy, so nae worries, hen.

Update

The storm has gone, leaving us to clear up the remains. The good news is that we  now have a beach by the stream, so will be offering sun 'n' sand holidays to anyone who wants them:

Just add sun umbrella and a pink gin

Dumpy Donkeys

It's a cruel alliteration, but really, my donkeys are a wee bit too chubby. 

I have been aware of it for some time, but it took a visit from Amber to confirm my worst suspicions. They have been feasting on cream buns and fly cemetries, sweet drinks and ice creams, and it really has to stop. She gave me a very useful guide from the excellent Donkey Sanctuary, and told me it was time to change the diet.

So here is Marguerita on the new diet.

A life of roughage

It's a diet of mainly barley straw, with a wee bit of hay now and again. It's spring time here, so there is lots to eat - either in the fields, or in the areas of woodland that I enclose for them.

They will be slim for the summer. Or at least, slimmer...

Donkey Tears

Arran the donkey has a swollen eye.

A week ago, the swelling completely closed the eye, and he looked very dejected. We started washing it with a tea made from thyme (the local treatment for eye infections) and called Vicenç the donkey vet. By then, Laialuing had also developed a similarly swollen eye.

With the help of Vicenç we managed to get the swelling down so that he could use fluorescent eye drops to look for injury in the eye. He found a tiny spine. This means that the probable cause of the swelling is the falling spines from Pine Processionary (Thaumetopoea pityocampa) larvae. These spines have a barbed end like a wee harpoon, and cause stinging and a rash. Perhaps because of the mild winter we have a serious outbreak of Pine Processionary nests across the Croft and neighbouring land, so the donkeys can easily be infected. 

We are looking into ways of controlling the Processionary population but the blighters live at the top of our tallest pine trees so they are hard to reach...

Stripped Ease

I am trying out strip grazing at the Croft, and it's working well.

My pink half of the drainpipe...

The donkeys get a fresh strip each week (as do Barcelona FC...) and I get a neatly trimmed and manured field. Marguerita is especially keen because she is eating for two:

Yum for Mum

It takes about 45 minutes to move the strip along - I'm using chestnut posts and what is called here "pastor electric" ("electric shepherd"). Easy, really.

Christmas morning on the Croft

Up sharpish to feed the donkeys. It's a magical time, a totally silent Christmas Day, with the gentle rhythm of  three donkeys chewing their hay:

Hay, Santa