We return to that time of year again – when I receive a message from Transition Turriefield asking me if I would like to come and help plant seeds.

Too right, I said and off I went this morning.

Last week was my first week back and I planted lettuce and beans, I think.  But this week it was the most difficult planting – celeriac.  An unhelpful teensy tinesy little seed that is fiddly at best and unhelpful at worst.  Three seeds per wee pot.  Yer, right.

The skills required for this job are a damp-ended pencil and the patience of a Saint.

Once done and labelled, we covered the pots with bags and took them, along with something else I planted – possibly dill and coriander – down to the polytunnel.

Things are already starting to grow.

For me, this is the best part.  Seeing such amazing results and so quickly too.

“My” lettuces, apparently.

I was given a bag of small swedes for the ponies and decided that if Fivla and Vitamin could manage them (teeth), then they could have one a day each for a while.

Apparently Fivla and Vitamin still have the necessary and when I returned later, there was not one scrap of swede left.

So a daily swede for the old ladies is now on offer.

The wind has started to get up now and, while everything is drying up beautifully, it means there is less water around for the horses to drink.

So I drove the Jimny with large containers of water for the Icelandic horses over the scattald (open grazing).  It is much easier to move water this way rather than me carrying it over and the four-wheel-drive proved invaluable.

(I also secretly love off-roading too.)

The horses came over to see why I had arrived and what I was doing.

Luckily I had also brought three carrots with me.

Phew! I would not’ve been popular to have come empty handied.

Afterwards, OH mentioned the wind is going to get up now for the foreseeable so it might be better to have the horses nearer the house. It was a good idea and we brought all three home!  The water can stay in its containers.  It will be used some day, I tell myself.  Nothing is ever wasted.

Today is the last of the quiet calm days that we’ve been having recently.

The weather revs up again on Tuesday for the foreseeable.  It was lovely while it lasted.  Everyone thinks that and it is all anyone talks about at the moment.  Not that I am obssessed with the weather, but I am, totally!

Having said that, it is still very cold and once the wind starts blowing, the temperature will rise – so that’s the plus side.

The old ladies enjoy being around the house and I trust them to behave themselves.  Others possibly less so, but Fivla and Vitamin would never do anything energetic like kick out or destroy anything.

They have better manners than that.

And I secretly love having them around too.    Fivla has been in our family for 29 years.  We know each other very well.

Vitamin and I have an understanding.  Basically, I do whatever she says.  She bosses me around as much as the Shetland ponies.

The others are getting on fairly well without the old ladies in their field.  I think Waffle is the boss of them all now.

Albie knows he will be alright if he sticks with Waffle.  Albie always needs a role model around.  Independent thought is not his strong point.

And Silver is staunchly refusing to mind about his enforced diet.

He looks like he swallowed a button in this photo – and that would be the only thing he’s eaten all day, though there are small pickings in their field.

I am determined to stay strong on this diet front.

A cruel cold wind out there today so I didn’t do much outside apart from the essentials and very quickly too.

I spent my morning cooking as we have friends coming over for supper and I always believe that curry tastes better if it can sit for a while.

The old ladies were mooching around happy enough outside, finding stuff to eat and I could see them from my kitchen window while I worked.

Ted said he was particularly feeling the cold these days so I dug about and found Harrel’s wee Icelandic lopapeysa that Monika knitted for him specially when he was a little lamb.  It fits rather well and looks like it could’ve been made just for Ted. I think we will put it on him when he goes outside in the morning as he just tends to stand around waiting for OH, who he worships.

(I had forgotten just how darn cute Harrel was when he was little)

Anyway, the gansey fits Ted and I might look online at the Equifleece range but when I put in Ted’s measurements, they said no dog could be that shape!

So, it’s been a quiet indoors sort of day for us all.

And when I had to go outside this afternoon to put everyone to bed, I couldn’t feel my fingers for the cold, despite two layers of gloves (one was silk too) while I was poo-picking miserably.  Inside now and I am thawing slowly.

Monika from Sandness Equine Services kindly popped by with her weighing scales.  She offers an invaluable service.

It is all well and good to hope everyone is losing weight but actual science fact is so much more accurate for me to make, hopefully, the right decisions.

We weighed all the Shetland ponies.  They were last done about 3 weeks ago and since then things have drastically changed.

Monika did a body condition check too.

It is so good to have a second opinion.  I don’t feel like I am alone in this endless miserable battle.

And the results are in.  Vitamin and Fivla are negligible – I didn’t want them to lose weight – but the rest have all lost weight and a good amount too.

Tiddles – 5kg (ok)
Newt – 4kg (he is determinedly hanging onto everything and should be trying harder)
Albie – 5kg (ok)
Silver – 7kg (good boy)
Waffle – 5kg (keep going)

So, I am pleased.  The new regimen for them all is obviously working well. I will remain tough and they will continue to lose weight.  And with this accurate information, it helps to make me even more determined to stick to their diet especially before spring arrives and everything changes again.

And Pepper weighs 9 very special kilogrammes of helpfulness!