October rocks up , fresh cold and clear blue skies.. (sometimes  🙂 The sheep were a high priority this month and the first thing to sort out as next month is Tupping time and we needed a new Ram .

So I trotted off to the lakes, Cockermouth Tup sale to be exact.

Herdwicks are a Lakeland breed and so the Lake district is the ideal place for a bit of sheep shopping ! The annual Herdwick Tup sale was my first choice and something we were keen to try out ,so first Saturday of the month I booked Henry and Harry into the auction at Cockermouth and headed off VERY  early one clear cold morning all loaded up with everything I needed to sell them and buy a new Ram for my girls ..

Get your best knickers on girls ..

The Tup sale started off with lots of showing , the competition is fierce .. winning  a rosette  will gain you a lot more  Guineas in the auction ring so primping and preening was paramount ( I didn’t even attempt it , I’d only just managed to get my two off the hill, feet trimmed and in a trailer never mind a pink rinse !

Love the way they judge them from the back end.

 

Notice their fleece colour , its an oxide powder called Raddle that’s used to mark the backs so they stand out (Its more pink than red I think ) Herdwick showing raddle is a very specific product and uncharacteristically EXPENSIVE !

Anyway time to get mine sold and to choose a pink Ram 

I found three I liked, and set to checking their teeth and boy bits ! yes I did , and no there’s no photo ( I was on my jack jones) all the Rams for sale were in either individual pens or grouped by owner to be sold individually .. You can see the picture I’m sure , me sneaking around trying not to be noticed in case I couldn’t catch the sheep ( tho I did and had em in a head hold so I could check them out .. thanks Tom C for the shepherd training )

One of the three became our new Grobdale herdy Ram .. meet Harold a slightly older gent so hopefully experienced, and I waved goodbye to Henry and Harry , sadly they sold separately but am sure their new jobs will keep them busy so they don’t miss each other too much….Job done tick

A bit later  in the month Andy came over all “Wallace and gromit” turning  up one Friday lugging a huge industrial oven he’d Skip dived , with an evil and cunning plan to morph it into a smoker ..

Cue lots of metal cutting noises , welding and banging sounds and smells for a few days then hey presto a contraption !!The finished article looks awesome, a bit

Heath robinson meets Aardman animations..

AND it conjured up the most mouth watering smoked duck . He’s a super hero inventor my hubby x

Talking about mouth watering dishes, our first

 

 

 

 

 

 

home bred piglet went off to his final destination at the rather fabulous  No 1 Fleet Street restaurant housed within  The ship Inn Hotel.

“roast porchetta, apple and butterbean puree, pork and cider steamed petite pudding, slow roast belly, parsnip puree, chorizo crumb, roast potatoes and sage juices “

Sorry I’m still drooling at the thought, clever chef that Callum Harvey .. book in if you get a chance .

The oven was a great up cycling project and we didn’t stop there, on a trip earlier this year we had seen some lovely furniture made from oak whisky barrels and it had been

Poking Andy’s brain ever since ,

So one Friday we took delivery of 18 pre used whisky barrels from Loch Lomond distillery .. cue sawing and banging noises x I didn’t get too involved but loved having a go at the “un coopering”.

The first creations were quite lovely and the jury is still out on which we like the best ..

 

I’m quite excited to see what my clever man makes next .

Furniture making and buying were a small part of the steading conversion project going on , the build itself was gaining in momentum as more trades joined our builders on site.

We had dykers (dry stone waller’s to us) , electricians, digger drivers, plumbers , zinc roofers and then at

the end of the month Scottish power rocked up with all sorts of vehicles and hardware to install ..

 

 

 

 

Up on the hill though, the sheep couldn’t care less .. they were enjoying the sunshine and their new boyfriend ..

 

Ding Dong

Fingers crossed ( not legs) we have lambs on the way ..