Building Bridges

With little activity on the croft this month I had to take a look back at the last blog post to remind myself just how much has actually happened so far 2026!

May has been decidedly cool and somewhat grey. A month of nothingness really, in terms of both the weather and progress with on-croft work. That’s not to say I haven’t been busy. My off-croft electrical work has rapidly increased this month, leaving little time for actual croft work. It also doesn’t leave much to write about so this months post may be lacking content. At least it’s free and still more interesting than what’s on the TV right now I’ll bet…

The fencing did (finally) get delivered and I found the time to put Old Red to work again; laying the materials out around the lower field ready for the digging to commence. My friend from Croft Seventeen Lemreway will be coming over at the end of the month to help and I’m looking forward to finally getting some posts in the ground.

I also found time to build a bridge over the largest of the new drainage ditches and can report that it does indeed hold the weigh of the quad ( I never doubted it) and there’s nothing you’d want to see on a tractor down there anyway! I’m sure it won’t last as long as it could, but then it didn’t cost as much as it could either, so…that’ll do!

The grass has turned green and is growing rapidly, and there are some signs of buttercups and daisy showing. The land does look fantastic for grazing and should be in excellent condition for my first seven lambs due later this year. The geese have now left but evidence of their droppings are everywhere, and the rabbits enjoyed the mild winter and are out in such numbers that even Porter has no chance of catching them all. They’ve mastered the art of confusion by outnumbering her.

The deer are braving it onto the croft again with the grass obviously tempting enough for them to not let a working cocker scare them away. I tried throwing a ball in their direction but they just watched as it was quickly chased down and promptly returned to me without so much as a look at the deer.

So it seems anything smaller than a cocker spaniel is fair game (be that winged or legged) and anything larger is just not worth her interest. Lets hope the rabbits don’t get too big…

The Great Switch Off

I heard there is a heatwave in England and Wales, but I’ve just bought another bag of coal to keep the chill off!

It doesn’t help that the RTS (radio tele switch that controls the day/night electricity supply) has now been turned off so the house has no heating. I wasn’t give notice and was only made aware of this when my night storage heating stopped working.

Octopus Energy suggested I get an electrician to look at my heaters (erm, I did!), before offering to fit a new meter. It seems like they forgot they were supposed to fit this before switching the old one off.

I think I mentioned it last month, but yet again I am glad of the coal fire. Providing I keep a supply of solid fuel (be that coal, peat or wood) I can cope with someone at head office turning a switch off or he wind taking out a power line.

Speaking of peat I remember saying I was going to start cutting that this month. Well that hasn’t happened. I’m working six days a week and Sunday is a day of rest so I dare not be seen heading out with a spade and a bottle.

No, Sundays are beach days (as are any days when I am working near a beach, which is nearly all of them!) and I appreciate the time off. It still feels forced, and would be all to easy to fall into the routine of working on a Sunday as well. A friendly local told me that God can’t see indoors, and with that i mind I do put a wash load on. I just don’t hang it outside for all to see!

Beekeeping Update

There’s not much to report on the beekeeping front either. The bees are getting out and foraging on the odd days when it’s warm enough and not too windy or wet.

I popped a super on the second hive in preparation for the heatwave that didn’t manage to get over Hadrians Wall, then decided I’ll leave it on now rather than disturb them any further. Normally you’d want to keep the colony in as small a space as possibly when it’s cooler, to help the maintain the brood temperature, but I believe that these poly hives are well enough insulated that the bees are managing to regulate the temperature just fine.

A bonus is I am not concerned about swarming at the moment and I am grateful the bees have come through winter and staying strong through spring. I also know that once they get the chance these Buckfast bees are super fast at expanding and bringing in the honey!

So that’s about it for this update. I know most crofters are super busy at this time of year, but as my livestock aren’t here yet I’m not facing the excitement or exhaustion of spring that the lambing season brings with it.

I wasn’t sure if I should write a post this month or not, but I decided the reality of life on the croft is that sometimes it’ll just be about life and not so much about the croft.

Don’t forget you can subscribe below, or follow us on facebook for even more content (although probably not any more this month!)