Visitors

We have had lots of visitors to Ochre And Ocre HQ recently; as well as the numerous well wishers for Baby Ochre, there have been some of the winged variety.
We were surprised to come across a swarm of bees that had decided to make their home in the end of a roll of fencing wire in our orchard. Fortunately we have a friendly local beekeeper, who came to investigate. It turns out the bees were probably from one of the pollinating hives on a nearby field of oil seed rape. Unfortunately the Queen Bee was no where in sight, and without their queen the swarm was slowly dying, and there was nothing that could be done to help them. The bees were tipped onto the grass and as the beekeeper rather quaintly put it, they could go back into the life cycle as bird feed. Later on that evening the orchard was filled with 100's of little songbirds eating up the bees.
Apologies for the poor image but Baby Ochre and I were advised to stay well back whilst the bee keeper investigated.

Also recently arrived are our own mini flock of sheep and lambs; whose main employment is to eat the grass in the orchard, thus saving time mowing. (We are very keen for any time saving schemes at the moment!). The lambs are at an age when they are just starting to play independently from their mums, and have spent the first few days roaming their new home, checking out all the places to hide and jump off!

With all the sun and rain we are having at the moment everything seems to be growing very quickly - Baby Ochre is nearly out of his newborn sleepsuits, and our veg plot is quickly filling up with radishes and lettuce. If only our new kitchen extension would grow so quickly!

Baby Ochre

I think I have a fairly good excuse for not updating my blog for nearly a month - we were somewhat taken by surprise by the early arrival of Baby Ochre. 4 weeks early, and weighing in at a light 5lb 8oz, our daily routine has been slightly disrupted.

Fortunately he sleeps most of the day, unfortunately not much at night time. So although I have peace to sort things out in the office, make calls and pack orders during the daytime, lack of sleep is making it hard to concentrate, and stay awake!
I know the common advice given is to sleep during the day, but unfortunately it wasn't just us who were caught out by the early arrivals, the builders were still in full demolishing mode, so during the day jack hammers, steel saws and cement mixers whirl. Whilst Baby Ochre seems blissfully unaware, and snores away softly, I cannot sleep through the noise. So instead I blurringly try to continue with my daily jobs, inbetween feeding, nappy changing, and making countless cups of tea for the builders.
Once again our lovely customers have been very understanding, and patiently leaving phone messages with the answer service, so that I can call them back when I have a free hand, (I quickly realised I couldn't hold the phone, baby and write at the same time!). I also had to time the calls in between the power tools, so I could at least hear the customer at the other end of the line!
I know when it's all done it will be fab - I'm hoping it will be ready in time for an Autumn photoshoot with the lovely Miss Spivey, so we can shoot the new ranges for our Spring brochure. In the meantime I am getting quite adept at cooking on a single ring camping stove, and typing one handed as Baby Ochre snores softly in the crook of my arm.