Casey and Chris take care of little lamb Loki

It was great to be back with a blog last week, thank you to everyone who's back reading and everyone who's just joining. Of course I published and realised so many things I'd forgotten, but I'm back with my trusty tick list full of things to mention, so let's see how I get on this week, where I of course have to start with Storm Franklin.

No, this isn't a member of Chris' family, Chris with a bit of a problem, or him in a bad mood (which I'm almost sure never happens). This is one of the storms that hit the U.K. over the last week. It brought strong winds and rain to the farm and while it wasn't fun for the team to work out in it, thankfully there was no real damage. Even through stronger storm Eunice last week we only had a couple of sheds blown out of place and a tree down, so I'd say we were really lucky with no major repair work on the cards for now.

Thankfully for us the storms hit while our students were on half term, probably not such great news for their parents, but at the farm it meant it was easy to keep our core team to a minimum. We just had one cancellation for a group of young carers on Monday for safety reasons, but we opened our gates to the group planned on Tuesday and I think everyone had a fantastic time. The children loved meeting the animals, grooming our donkeys and helping with work in the barn and they were all such a credit to their families. Thank you to everyone involved for helping to make the day happen and giving 20 children a day they will remember in their half term.

It's not all about students or hosting youth groups and clubs. Some days we get to open our gates for followers, families, friends or couples to enjoy. Although it's getting more difficult to host tours around our work schedule, we were able to open the gates for a couple of special family friendly tours this week. Plus, we also get to take our farm stories on the road and Chris did his first public talk in a few years this week. Thank you to the Kennet Friendship Circle for asking Chris along to talk about the farm, I hear the talk was a fantastic success, even without a red button to cut Chris off. If you'd like Chris to host a talk for you please get in touch and we will see what we can do, he'll certainly keep a crowd entertained.

The stories wouldn't quite be the same without our animals of course and our big topic at the moment is lambs. Yes, we still have them arriving, Chris isn't off duty just yet. Ruby had her very first lamb this week, both mother and baby are doing well. While Anita had triplets towards the end of this week, which we'd love to say went well, but unfortunately we can't say yet whether they'll all be ok.

Chris with our zoomie donkeys

Little Loki, who is probably the smallest lamb I've personally met, wasn't strong enough to stay with his mum, Anita, so Chris has taken him in to give regular feeds and keep him warm. It's a very demanding job meaning Chris' time is a bit stretched, especially with even more visits planned in next week, but as always with his animals, Chris is giving the little one the very best care. It's too early to say whether Chris' efforts will pay off, but we will keep you updated.

Meanwhile there's still no lambing news for Midnight, so she's outdoors enjoying the sun which we hope will help speed things along. With no spicy foods or special teas we can give her like with humans, it's just a matter of keeping her comfortable. She has some great company while she waits though with our bigger lambs and their mums getting some grazing time. Even our donkeys popped by to say hello between zoomies yesterday which was the craziest sight in a while, but it just goes to show the happiness the sunshine brings to animals as well. Once the ground is a little dryer everyone will move outside a little more permanently, but we'll keep up the short visits out for our non-feathered friends when we can.

I think that's about everything but I just want to say a very belated thank you for Farmer Casey's Birthday wishes, how do I have a four year old now? He had a great mini celebration at the farm plus, he's now all set for whatever the weather brings thanks to your kindness on our wish list. I'm not sure who sent the thermal tops or boots, but whoever was so kind has made his year. Also sending out a very big thank you to Zoe and Lois for all of their support at the farm this week.

It's another busy week again next week with our students starting to return after half term, some school visits, Super Sarah still in training for her fundraising run and lots of work for Chris, but we'll still be here sharing the same magic.

Thinking of everyone out there, keep safe. 

Kara, Casey, Dexter and Teddy