Kinloch Farm Blog

January 21, 2008: Rain, Sleet and Snow.
It's been a very wet week here in Scotland. We have had torrential rain, sleet, and now snow. The dogs are getting bored although they love playing in the snow and look forward to the many walks they get during the day. They look longingly at the sheep in the in-bye fields but a few days rest won't hurt any of them - and the sheep will like that also. The sun peeked out for a few moments on Sunday but this was a wee tease before more rain and snow today. This brief respite, however, gave us the opportunity to give all the dogs a go on sheep. If dogs can grin, we had 10 beaming faces...not to mention Bailey who spent all day diving on, and destroying, fresh mole hills.

Although we love the rain, it has tested us a bit over the last week when our heating system broke-down leaving us without heat for almost 6 days. Thankfully the weather here is not unbearably cold and a few extra layers of clothing did the trick. Some days, however, it was warmer outside than in so this was a perfect excuse to take the dogs exploring around the hill. We are totally thankful for electric blankets; a luxury that many people cannot afford and we don't take this blessing lightly.

With outside work almost at a standstill, bar feeding the cows and exercising dogs, we have had time to catch up on some 'indoor' things. Foremost on the list was skinning the pheasants we had hanging in our garage. Kelvin's job. It seems somewhat decadent eating fresh roast pheasant marinated in kiwifruit with roast winter vegetables. We might not have heat but we eat well! One does feel a little sad, however, to be eating such magnificent and majestic birds. Well, at least they have lived a good life compared to the battery chickens one purchases in supermarkets.

While the week has been quiet, it has not been without sadness to hear of the deaths of two New Zealand cultural "icons". The first was Sir Edmund Hillary who, together with Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, was the first person to climb Mount Everest. Sir Edmund Hillary was one of the 20th Century's greatest adventurers and humanitarians. Not only was he the first to conquer Everest but he later made the first motorized overland trip to the South Pole, and he led a jet boat expedition from "sea-to-sky" up India's Ganges River. But his most remarkable contribution to mankind came from his more than 40 years doing charity work for the Sherpa people of Nepal's Solu Khumbu mountain region. Not bad for a humble beekeeper! His humanity is both an example and reminder to us all that the great value of life is to spend it doing something that will outlast it. Sir Edmund Hillary certainly did that.

The second loss was Hone Tuwhare, New Zealand's most distinguished Maori poets (from the Nga Puhi tribe), in addition to being a playright and short fiction author. He was the first Maori poet to be published in English and one of New Zealand’s most celebrated verse writers. Hone was a much-loved "people's poet" whose work touched both the ordinary person and the scholar. A boiler-maker by trade with very little education, Hone Tuwhare's poetry contained powerful imagery of land, sea and legends, and often expressed strong views on contemporary (political) issues. He was an ordinary man, a man of true modesty - and a man of sheer literary brilliance.

Michel de Montaigne, a French writer and philopsher wrote: "The value of life is not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them; a man may live long yet very little." Sir Edmund Hillary and Hone Tuwhare made good use of their days. We pay tribute and say 'thank you' to them both for giving us many proud moments growing up in New Zealand.

Archives:

January 13 , 2008: Black Sheep and Unsung Heroes

January 6 , 2008: A Quiet Week

December 29, 2007: If the Queen can, so can we.

December 19, 2007: Shepherd's Crooks and Irish Shamrocks

December 12, 2007: Gathering in the Snow

December 4 , 2007: Rain, Rain and more Rain

November 20, 2007: A Day to Forget

November 13, 2007: Back out Gathering

November 6, 2007: Some Down Time at Last.

October 26, 2007: A Day Out at the Up (Ram) Sale.

October 22, 2007: Pheasant Shooters.