Sheep Checking

On Sunday Farmer Daughter took her Grandma off to check the sheep.

The advantage of this vehicle is that no walking is involved!

Fun in the Field

The last couple of days I have been showing a little of the Somerset Young Farmers Rally. There were also some activities going on in the field.

 The 'lawnmower ' races were highly amusing to watch. 

The lads took this very seriously and were all on hand for any emergency repairs or help needed. 

The ditch of water certainly added to the fun causing lots of splashes and several  minor breakdowns.

There was a tug of war which had been carefully prepared for with lots of training. The winning team will go on to compete at the national rally.

One of the most enjoyable events for spectators and participants was the obstacle course which included a pool of foamy water.

There was plenty of over and under. 

Two of the lads had come in appropriate dress and entertained the audience with their antics.

Let's hope they all brought a change of clothing for the evening event!

Memos, Mail, Me and Monday: Fun Challenges

 Good Morning to all and particularly Sian and the Monday morning bloggers. Hoping you all had a lovely weekend. Well the weather has changed overnight and this morning we are having some much needed rain. The fields and garden  have become very dry. The potatoes and arable crops are in need of a good soaking. Lets just hope that it knows when to stop!

 It was however lucky that the rain held off for most of the weekend. I mentioned yesterday that the Somerset Young Farmers had their rally close by over the weekend. Farmer daughter was involved in the setting up and was helping on the day.

 I decided to wander along to see what they were all up to. This was a first for me so I wasn't certain what to expect. You can see a few of their antics in my post yesterday too. The theme incidentally as I mentioned then is "Down Under "

 A lot of preparation had gone into the youngsters work. There were a lot of skills being exhibited many of which have been passed down the generations and it was good to previous young farmers of all ages on hand to help, advise and judge this new generation of farmers. The more traditional skills included showing stock such as these dairy calves.

A lot of work and ingenuity was being shown on this challenge of building a Sidney Opera House out of pallets. This shows an early and later shot.

Some challenges were of a more frivolous nature such as the Bush Tucker challenge based on a "I'm a celebrity..." style. The delicacies to eat in the shortest time included prunes, olives, anchovies, cockles and edible worms. That is without mentioning chocolate covered sprouts and raw eggs.... Farmer daughter and her friend were up to the challenge.

Not everyone found it so easy.

Everyone was busy. There was a wetsuit challenge.

Preparing a chicken, changing a wheel, archery and cooking.

Tomorrow I will show some of the other fun activities that took part in the field.

A Surf Board Challenge

This weekend is the Somerset Young Farmers' Rally when all the local Young Farmers gather together for a bit of a challenge and a bit of a social. This year the theme was 'Down Under' so there were many Ausralian antics going on.

Quite a lot of thought had gone into the activities even down to the signage for the road crossing.

The handicrafts were all on an Australian theme and the Aboriginal bunting was particularly good.

I have however chosen a couple of the challenges to show you. One was how many people could you get on one surf board. This was something that seemed to progress in intuition with each group.

Luckily nobody wobbled!

A more creative activity was the sand sculpture competition. Farmer daughter was always keen on her sand pit as a child so she was in her element!

A pretty good job they made of it too!

This group were however some stiff competition.

I'll be telling you a bit more of what went on tomorrow. Well some of it anyway!

All Shapes and Sizes

The farmer and I bought a bargain box of allium bulbs in B&Q in the autumn. I popped them in the garden rather randomly and they are now popping up. The bulbs were all sorts of sizes. One of the biggest is in a tub by the conservatory next to my agapanthus. I have taken a few snaps of it along the way.

What has suprised me is that for the size of the bulb and the length of the stalk the flower is not enormous.

Here are a few of the others and when the sun shines again I'll show you some more.

These last four pictures were all taken on the same day so you can see they are all at different stages.

A Judas Tree Story and Other Flower Pictures

You may recall the other day that I showed some pictures of the beautiful Judas tree in the Churchyard at Frampton on Severn. It's proper name you may recall is Cercis Siiquastrum. My mum has one in her garden which last week was in flower.

There is a bit of a story behind this tree. She bought it some years ago at Westonbirt Arboretum along with another tree. She bought it believing it to be pink. When it flowered however it turned out to be white. It's still very beautiful.

While I had my camera out I went walk about to see what else I could find. This pretty flower grows over an archway by the drive. It has a powerful scent when you get out of the car.

There is still blossom out.

This wisteria reminds me of a house I pass on my way home. It has a wisteria that is totally out of control covering half the house and all of the roof. It is now in flower and looks amazing for that very short time while it is flowering. It is unfortunately not in an easy place to stop and photograph.

This deeply red rose is covered in buds and flowers.

A few more snippets.