The day before the farmers market is always hectic with a fair helping of stress thrown in for good measure, and last week was no exception. Everyone is welcome to view the animals on market day, and I always spend some time tidying the barn the day before, and this time decided at the last moment to "muck out" one side of the building and re arrange the pig pens. So I got to work with the tractor driving back and forwards between the pens and the trailer parked outside, trying not to drop too much of what I had on the loader muck fork. By 9.30 friday evening I had half mucked out the pens and had made a right fine mess of the yard by dropping stuff and then tracking it in with the wheels, the air was full of the smell of freshly disturbed pig manure just to add the final touch to the general ambience. I could see by Kirsties face that yet again my timing was impecable.
My apologies to anyone who visited the market and found the smell still lingering, but at least the yard was clean and various groups of pigs were enjoying their freshly littered pens, all completed by 9.00 the next morning.

Saturday morning I managed to lever the kids out of bed early to help by bribing with promises of bacon rolls from the cooked food stall.
Sam and his friend Tom erected the plastic tape fence around the car park. Tui and I with loads of help from my mate Jim the sheepdog gathered a flock from the field for shearing. Every month I try and have something different happening at the market according to where we are in the farming calender, May and June is shearing time.
It is still a little surprising to me that a lot of people are interested, sometimes fascinated with what goes on, on the farm. By having demonstrations at the farmers market such as shearing, helps make the connection between farming and food.