Michael is now busy out on the farm getting all the ground ready for planting potatoes. That is all 280 acres of it.
It is a battle against the elements to get them in before it gets too late for planting, tons of potatoes are waiting to get planted.
The ground has to be ploughed, the bed formed ,de - stoned, fertilizer spread and then finally planted.
This means that in each field  the ground is worked over 3  times, multiplied by 45  fields so you can see how much work it takes just to get the crop planted.
Once planted the crop needs lots of after care to be able to produce a good crop of potatoes in July/August  for your  McCoys crisps.
 
Here in the farmhouse I am busy either taking B&B bookings for the coming season or decorating again. All the bedrooms are going to be repainted
and the outside of the house will be getting a spruce up as well.!! Let alone the fencing, garden and driveway !!
Doesn't sound much but believe me keeping things up to scratch is like painting the Forth Bridge - never ending !!!
Well it will certainly keep me out of mischief !!
 
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I have also  just had the chip and pin machine fitted in the house so good news for all you lovely people that come to stay for B&B you will now be able to pay with your card so much more user friendly for everyone all round !!
 

Tuesday 26th May 2009
Max accidently got knocked down by Michaels pickup on Saturday afternoon. It all happened so fast we are not sure exactly what happened. As you know Max has just had his 14th birthday and is now deaf and very poor sighted with cataracts. We think that he just didn't hear the pickup which was just about to park outside of the barn and he must have got up and went under the wheels.I heard the yelp from inside of the house and when Michael shouted for me I thought that Max was dead. Poor boy - his eyes were rolling round and round, he was beathing very heavy and bleeding badly from his leg.

We phoned the vet and within 25mins Michael and I had got him into Penzance vets. Because of not knowing if he had internal injuries and his age going against him we left him at the vets and didn't think he would last the night. He had almost ripped his front pad off and was very battered and bruised and shocked but No broken bones. He spent 3 1/2 days/nights in vets with a drip, injections for painkillers and antibiotics and I brought him home today. He can just about walk with the aid of a splint on his front leg but is very weak, so will need lots of looking after.

His mates Jess and Ash, the labradors gave him a huge welcome home and I think Max was glad to know that they were around.

We are glad that he is back home.

I will keep you posted about his progress

Silage has just been completed at Ardensawah. Fortunately the weather was kind to us as we had 140 acres of grass to cut.After a few machinery breakdowns and unable to get the spare parts in time, the guys were nearly having breakdowns themselves! However several phone calls later Adrian Semmens, Michaels cousin came to the rescue with his mower so all was not lost and they managed to get it all into the pit by 10pm before the rain and gales came.Covering the pit the following morning was another story with everyone getting blown to bits on top of the pit with plastic blowing in all directions. It took several hours of hard work to get
the plastic held down in place with all the tyres, especially as there was a force 8 blowing!!

The weather is still windy and we have had lots of heavy showers every day. This is so annoying as we are waiting to have the drive and front tarmaced. Hopefully it should be done this wednesday so pray for good weather for us.