Of all the animals we have at Alledal, the least understood and appreciated are the goats. In fact most peoples first response is ‘Goats!! Why?’ It seems they have a reputation for being smelly, trouble-making mobile rubbish bins that will eat anything. The main point of this entry in my blog is to defend the reputation of goats. They are amazing creatures and the more I understand them the more I recognise how amazing and animal a goat is and just how undeserved their bad reputation is.

Switch to a sustainable power supply. Get your organic vegetables delivered. Cycle. Recycle. I am as keen as the next person to go along with those goals, and happily tick the boxes in my own life. I too get a nice warm glow from putting scraps in the compost bin and growing my own vegetables. I too resolve to do even more and be even better next month and next year. And I can see and admire where the most committed proponents of this kind of ethical living want us to go — all the way to a thoroughly Thoreauvian life lived close to the land that would eventually be embraced by everyone in society. In the ideal progression, as you buy your fair-trade coffee and plant your carrot seeds in your wildlife friendly garden, you would become part of a widespread revolution in the way people relate to the land and the market, and seamlessly move on towards a society in which we would live lightly on the land and gently with one another.

I wanted some new jeans, but in light of some horror stories I’d heard I wanted them to be ethical – but ethical fashion that's like the old joke about the world's shortest books (Italian War Heroes, Swiss Comedians, Interesting Belgians - clichés all). 'Ethical Fashion' really could be the shortest story in the world because I'm not sure it really exists, or if it does it’s keeping a damn low profile. There are ethical clothes of course - baggy, shapeless, beige t-shirts made in third world worker co-operatives from organic fairtrade cotton - but not proper catwalk, designer label type fashion.

A question to those of you in a long-term romantic relationship: How do you refer to your partner? Is he your husband, your boyfriend, or your better half? Is he your partner, him indoors, your significant other, or your spouse? Are you married? How much of the way you define your relationship is determined by your legal status? How much is it defined by the language you use?

It’s something that I had suspected for a long time. That some of the sparrows here were different. I admit I’m no David Attenborough and definitely no Bill Oddie, but something seemed different. I am happy to say that the mystery has been resolved. We have two types of sparrow.