Introducing me!

Well as this is my first post i guess i'd better use it to explain a little about who i am and what i do!

I'm Sian. I'm almost 28. I have a wonderful husband, Nick and a beautiful 17 month old daughter, Grace. We share our home with two spaniels and we share our lives with two ponies a flock of chickens and at the moment three little pigs. We have lived at Old Barn Cottage, in the Lincolnshire countryside for around 6 years now. When my maternity leave ended after having Grace we made the decision for me to stay at home and concentrate on raising her rather than returning to work. As a result the idea behind 'Old Barn Pigs and Poultry' was born. This blog will hopefully tell the story of how it, and our lives develop.

We have kept laying hens for several years and enjoyed the yummy eggs ourselves as well as selling the surplus to friends and family. We are now venturing into the world of poultry breeding. We are breeding hens specifically for their ability to lay a good number of 'eggciting eggs'! Our first batch of 24 eggs are currently in the incubator with 6 also under a broody. They will lay dark brown and olive coloured eggs with sky blue and speckledy eggs also in the pipe line. Some of the chicks will be for our own laying flock and some will be for sale.

We are also for the first time raising our own rare breed pigs for meat. We have two (i realise there are three in the photo we are keeping one for someone else!) British Lop boars who are currently 3 1/2 months and due to go to slaughter in August. We have had great fun with them so far and plan to raise more next spring so will have home reared rare breed pork available soon!

As well as this we grow as much of our own fruit and veg as possible, although this is more my husbands area of expertise at the moment but i am learning!

I also dabble in a bit of sewing and knitting. I knit fabric into rugs and am currently making fabric chickens and bunting to sell.

That probably enough ramblings for now. I hope to update this blog regularly with the goings on at the Old Barn, our very own version of 'The Good Life'!