Revisiting an old friend

Don't know if you know but before we moved here its fair to say I was a bit of a workaholic. I spent most of my time at work when in many instances I didn't really need to be just that I was very proud of what I achieved even though this put my family and social life down at the bottom of the list which I know isn't anything to be proud of but I suppose anyone that knows me knows that if I do something I do it 100% and no less. Well it was bound to happen sooner or later and last month just happened to be it, for one reason or another I found myself during most of October working full-time hours when for the past 2 years I have worked 2 days a week.
So what! I am sure some folk will say but bearing in mind all the work that needs carried out routinely each day then the work that seems to need sorted desperately then I am sure you get the picture as to how I felt.
One thing I did confirm to myself is that I truly believe the powers that be put a whole list of obstacles in our way to make us live the 9-5 exsistence, the powers that be will label this a 'productive person's' way of life. Wonder what that makes me! I suppose philosophically I have revisited an old friend and didn't like what I found and if nothing else it did remind me how lucky we are to be here.
On the smallholding front we have had the good fortune to have been offered the use of our neighbours field next door, around 3 acres of what would be described as unsprayed, organic pastureland in a property's details. In reality it is a jungle of thistles, docks, and ragwort. A prime example of what happens to land that is not well cared for so beware when you see this kind of land advertised.
Over the last week I have spent a full two days cutting the whole area twice with a flail mower to get the jungle chopped back. On inspection there is a good base of pasture although I think over the next few years we have a lot of work ahead to get the weeds under control. Fencing still isn't complete a full day was spent pounding in 85 posts no easy way to do this other than just get on with it. Today I have finished stapling the 5 strands of barb along one side and hopefully tomorrow shall complete the other side. The other two sides are already fenced thank goodness!
For this year we shall just use the extra land for the ewes we have now and see how it goes when the lambs arrive in May time before making any decision about the amount of ewes we shall be keeping. We were quite lucky this year as those ewes that lambed all had twins equal numbers of rams and ewes. We have kept two ewe lambs to start our very own flock and should in around 4 years have our own home bred flock of ewes keeping a few each year to maintain a good mix of young and old ewes for breeding. This year we shall be keeping all the rams for the freezer even though we can get around £50 each for them at the abattoir. The lure of the lolly just doesn't have the same appeal once you have tasted your own meat products!