It’s well into July, and the summer holidays here in Denmark.  This gives us time to do some well needed maintenance on the farm and get on with the renovations.  Combining has already started around us for the barley and oilseed rape: the kitties seem to be interested in this and don’t seem phased by the tractors and trailers going up and down the lane.  Oats and wheat to follow in the other fields!

Peter has fixed the leaking gutters on the milking parlour and he fitted some large water collection tanks so we can collect water for the garden later in the year.  The only problem was that he collected the tanks the day after our last downpour and we haven’t had any rain since then, so the tanks are still empty!

I’ve been keeping the greenhouse under control (just).  The cucumbers have slowed down, but we still get a few.  Now the tomatoes have come into season, and they’re really great, along with the French Beans and the salad crops from the cold frame.

We have a wasp nest in the old garage block: what a super thing it is.  Also, we have a lovely bumble bee nest in an old mouse hole outside our back door. We also have a couple of ground nesting wasp nests in the lawn, too.  These interfere with our daily croquet game, so we’ve had to introduce a local rule that if a ball gets stuck in the wasp nest the opponent player has to retrieve it and place it a yard away. The other local rules are that if the ball ends up in the mole holes, the player has to move it to a flat spot and if it ends up in the Bamboo area, it has to be moved a yard into the court.  And, if anyone hits any of the kitties, they lose their turn! So, you can see that our croquet lawn is not up to championship standard, but who cares when we have a glass of bubbly and some cucumber sandwiches to enjoy during the game!

Our Swallows reared 4 healthy young fledglings in their first nest – well done them.  Now they’re planning on a second brood, but not in the same nest.  Their first nest was in the most stupid place, in full view of the kitties, and right above the door, but they got away with it.  Now, they seem to have taken over an old nest higher up in the big barn, much more sensible.

Horus, our Alpha Male cat, got involved in a fight with the cat from the next door farm a couple of days ago.  He got bitten on the foot but it only took him 2 days to recover (with lots of luvvies from us, of course).  Now, he’s up and about as usual at 5am with Peter and all the rest of the gang.

I’m going to Copenhagen for a few days to see my friend Julia from Saudi Arabia.  She’s coming all the way from Dhahran for a few days so we can meet up during the Eid Holiday at the end of Ramadan.  Naturally, we have a list of fabric and quilting shops to go and see – what fun that will be.