Does anyone want to buy some mud? Fiver a bag? Anybody? No? Please?

When we lived in the city, rain meant I dug out our raincoats and took an umbrella to work, strong winds meant I moved the kids toys out of the garden and stayed indoors a little more. I didn't consider what it was like for those that worked the land or cared for farm animals. Why would I? It's just not something that crosses your mind when you're wrapped up in your own little world. 

But here I am years later 'living my best life'....mmmmm.... this year has tested that theory to the limits, that's for sure! 

The endless amount of rain, day in and day out, has made caring for the animals more of a chore than a pleasure. Wading through knee deep mud with buckets of animal feed, has given Tom and I workouts well above and beyond any gym instructor! Just getting the hay out to the top end of the farm has felt like a marathon every single day! We started off the season driving around in Tom's truck to replenish the feed and hay in the further pastures, but the mud soon put an end to that, with the truck constantly getting stuck and grounded for days on end. So out came the trusty old tractor, that surely wouldn't let us down in the worst of conditions - right? Well, er, no, not quite. The ground had got so muddy the tractor got stuck! Yes the very machine designed for those conditions couldn't hack the pace! So then we got the truck out to pull the tractor out of the mud, or was it the other way round? Actually it was both..... many times this winter. I think we could enter one of those strong man competitions from all the pushing and pulling of vehicles we've done! 

Anyway now we're back to feeding on foot again. I can tell you my abs have never looked so good, and believe me I didn't think there was any chance of them regenerating after five kids! :-D We can't leave the house unless we're tooled up head to toe in waterproofs, because even if the heavens are having a day off from drowning us, the mud is so bad no self respecting pair of jeans would want to come into contact with the unholy mud, for fear of having to be binned! No washing machine can get those bad boys clean after a day out on the farm I can tell you! 

You're probably wondering how the animals have coped with this never ending winter. Well thankfully not too bad! Animals are amazingly resilient and most of them very hardy. Yes there's been a few glum faces when the rain has hammered down for days on end, yes they've huddled a little closer at times and yes even the alpacas have on occasion headed for their shelters. But otherwise they've faired really well. BUT they've consumed so much more food than in a normal winter. With our gorgeous, green grass turned to brown, gunky, gloop - hay and hard feed consumption has doubled which means, yep massive feed bills and a huge financial struggle! This weather has really done a number on us, that's for sure. 

But hey, when you decide to move to the countryside, start a farm and adopt dozens of animals it can't all be roses can it? OK so to most people our life looks like a cross between 'The Good Life' and 'The Darling Buds of May'. It's not... let's put that straight here and now. But would I change waking up to the cockerel crowing, to the heron landing on the pool at the front of our house or to the geese squawking 'good morning'? Would I change the bunnies jumping around in excitement when breakfast is heading their way, or the goats climbing all over me at feeding time, wagging their little tails and head butting me for strokes? And then of course there's Misty the llama and her gorgeous kisses and that super cute way the alpacas bomb over to me when they see feed bucket in hand..... We may have done 'our chores' knee deep in mud and soaked to the bone for MONTHS. We may have done hundreds of alpaca walks with the heavens pouring and our bodies aching, but would we give it all up, would we go back to a warm house in the city, stay dry and never have to plough through mud again? NO, not never, not ever!!!! Our animals are worth every damn raindrop and every last struggle through the mud. They're worth all the body aches, the tears and the full on exhaustion. They're our world and our family! 

But am I looking forward to summer? Oh yes like never before! Right now I'm dreaming of my farmers tan, of walks in t-shirt and shorts, of feeding the animals in a fraction of the time using so much less energy, of poo picking firm poo rather than the sloppy gloop the rain has turned it to, and yes, oh yes, sipping on lovely glasses of wine staring out over the lake with the sun beating down and bones nicely warmed. 

Yep, you can go now winter  - enough is enough. But you haven't beat us. We'll still be here to see what you throw at us next year! 

With love, 

Andie xxx

P.S. If you fancy checking out our mud, grab your wellies and come alpaca walking! Doesn't matter what the weather throws at us, we'll have fun! Life is what you make of it and we all need to live it to the full! <3