Enjoying the hay!

Preparing the hay is very definitely the hardest job on the farm. You’re out sweating under the hot sun; cutting, turning and moving the hay, and there are always those itchy bits of grass that get down your back or in your shoes. 

Preparing hay

Raking hay ready for baling

Then you rake the hay over and over again looking for bits of prickly unpalatable weeds and getting scratched in the process. I guess it’s no wonder that many a time during the hay harvest I ask myself; do the sheep really appreciate all the trouble we go to so as to make them such nice hay?

Moving the straw bales

Stacking the bales of hay in the stable

Then the cold wet days of winter come and the sheep are often left nibbling unenthusiastically at the nutrient deficient bare pastures. That’s when I go into the stable where the bales of straw were nicely stacked in the summer and spread a bale of hay into the sheep’s feeding frame. Then it’s time to stand back and watch the sheep munching on the hay with a satisfied smile on their face and that’s when I feel satisfied too, knowing that all that hard work harvesting the hay really is appreciated.

Happy sheep and this is when you realise all the work has been worth while

Enjoy The Farm

One of our horses on the farm wanting some fuss

 The 8 hectare organic farm which surrounds the hotel clings on the side of a small mountain with beautiful views.  We’ve always tried to run the farm as a commercial holding and although it doesn’t make much money it generates sufficient income to pay for its own maintenance.  We produce cider apples for juice and cider, keep sheep for breeding and meat, and produce fruit and vegetables for the hotel restaurant. 

New signs on the farm trail

But as well as being a “commercial enterprise” the farm is also there for guests to enjoy; to wander round and relax, learn about sustainable and traditional production techniques or just have contact with nature and sustainable food production. We have a farm trail which takes you round the farm and this season we have put up new signs and small information boards to help people enjoy the experience.

One of the hay meadows

Heart Flowered Serapias

There are about 1,5 Has of traditional hay meadows which at this time of year are stunning; a collage of color with so many different wild flowers (we’ve recorded over 350 species of flora on the farm.) With this diversity of flowers comes a huge variety of butterflies which are a joy to watch fluttering around in the sun.   

Marbled White butterfly

Our Xalda sheep

Then there are the black and white xalda sheep happily grazing under the apple trees and tending to their playful lambs. The higher meadows are rockier and reminiscent of a mountain farm, the lower meadows more sheltered with a small forest and stream. Whilst walking around you may also come across our two Asturcon ponies which help with the grazing and pasture maintenance

Observing the flowers from the path

Although we want guests to enjoy themselves as much as possible on the farm we also ask them to collaborate and help make it easier for us to manage the farm.  For example we cut small paths through our wild flower meadows for guests to walk along and we ask guests to keep to these paths. This is because we cut the meadows by hand and if the grass is trampled on it’s very much more difficult to cut. With our flock of xalda sheep we have a white and black sheep dog which is there to protect the sheep and their lambs from predators (mainly foxes.) If guests start to fuss the dog she will start to abandon the sheep to come to look for fuss so we ask guests to ignore the dog.

The chickens waiting for some left overs!

We do have other animals on the farm which guests can fuss; such as the chickens which follow you every where hoping to be fed some leftovers, and then there are the cats which certainly love having their tummies tickled. Of the two horses you can stroke one of them whilst the other is a little more cautious of people, but a care is needed as they are both still half wild!

Guests investigating the vegetable garden

Funnily enough the most visited place on the farm is the vegetable garden and I suppose this reflects the growing interest in home grown vegetables.  In the vegetable garden we practice a bed system with a 4 year rotation, we do as little digging as possible and mulch as much as possible. The results are there to be seen in the vegetable garden as well as to be tasted in the restaurant. Come and enjoy the farm

Information on composting

Animal Farm Life

The horses on the farm

At this time of year we spend more time with the animals, it is a time to restock or rethink the well being of the farm. Meadows are grazed in a way that in the spring new life will come to the hillside bringing with it the flourish of wild flowers. The methodical way the animals are moved from plot to plot is to allow some of the land to rest and recuperate. The reason behind the mixed grazing, horses, sheep and hens is to benefit the animals and land reducing parasites. This mixed grazing means we have to give fewer medicines to the animals and is friendlier to the wild life. There still has to be some hard labour strimming the nettles and brambles that are left behind, but the animals do their share of strimming.

Xalda mother and lamb

Our flock of Xalda sheep now has about 35 mothers, these are used for keeping the grass down, lamb for the restaurant and wool for Samantha’s felt projects. The Xaldas are a very hardy breed of sheep, rarely giving any problems, except if you need to capture one, when they can run and jump well. This is how they survived in the mountains from predators, such as wolves.

Our flock of xalda sheep with the different colour fleeces

They are different shades of brown and white, which gives nice tones of wool for felting. Many years ago we stopped naming the sheep for obvious reasons, though we do still have one named sheep; Lucky, who fortunately escaped from the fox some years ago.

Max the sheep dog who was with us for 10 years

Sadly we lost Max the sheep dog last year, a very fine well natured Mastin. His replacement is Shiva who is now ten months old, she is slowly bonding to the sheep but as with most young animals is full of life. She is quite big for a female mastin, and very energetic and playful, and slowly doing her job of protecting the sheep.

Shiva the new young female sheep dog

Viboli one of our Asturcon ponies

The ponies we have are Asturcones, the Asturian breed of wild pony, and they are still a little wild. They are called Viboli and Tolivia, time passes but I think they must be about 10 years old. They finish the tough grass the sheep don’t manage to eat, we normally send them to graze after the sheep, and they really can keep the grass down.

The Asturcon ponies with their heavy hoofs

At this time of year they are supplemented with grain. Their heavy hoofs can also help with the battle against mole-rats, apparently it disturbs the underground creatures, and they move on, to another part of the farm……

The hens going round together

The hens which are my delight are wonderful to watch, anyone who likes eggs I think must really appreciate them when you see these birds, busy all day feeding but never getting fat. They are very social able creatures as I think any guest would say, whether it is the company or the thought they might get food that brings them forth I cannot say.

The Asturian breed of chicken

I have different breeds of hens, there are only three Asturian ones which are white and black, the reds which are more common are actually the friendliest and the bantam is the oldest. As with all birds they have an enemy, the hungry fox, just when I am thinking they are safe he strikes again.

The black chickens

Wednesday the goat has now been with us sixteen years, we brought her in the animal market in Cangas when we first arrived here. She is alone in her pen because she doesn’t want company, we did try with some sheep, and we had to grab them quick before she rammed them with her nasty horns. She is like a watchdog; she watches the farm from her privileged plot and calls out if something is amiss. I must admit she is affectionate to me, but I wouldn’t take many people in the pen. It is strange to think Wednesday has seen this project from the beginning and has out lived all the animals that have come and gone during the years.

Wednesday the goat

Cheers to Wednesday

Entrance written by Joe