Month: August 2013

Every bank holiday this year has had great weather so we can’t complain about that!

We have had a busy few days this week with one thing or another, the farrier came to do the horses feet and bought his very entertaining four year old with him, he had a captive audience of adoring women laughing at his stories about his pony, Mike the Knight and his wish to have two Dalmatians, so that he can have lots of Dalmatians lol.

We have had a party of campers over the weekend, my niece wanted to camp for her birthday and so friends and family arrived with tents and set up, it was a lovely evening, the rain stayed away, at least until the morning, we ate heartily, sat by the fire pit, and had breakfast on the barbie in the morning (which yet again was my favourite bit). We were expecting picnickers on Sunday from the other side of the family but the little girl went down with a sickness bug so that will wait for another time.

The never ending task of getting rid of the red mite has continued, all the small huts have now been taken apart, washed with jeyes fluid and creosoted, a most unpleasant job but one that had to be done. We re-assembled the hut that was completed, put Vaseline on the ends of the perches to catch any strays, put it into an empty pen then caught all the hens and dusted them before putting them in the pen. There are still red mite! Arrrrggghhh, the difference is that the numbers are small and hopefully we can keep on top of them, with Winter approaching they will be less of a problem.
With the lack of eggs from the hens, I decided to look around for some laying ducks, we picked up six today and I hope we will at least have plenty of ducks eggs on offer, trying to keep the customers coming back for when we have plenty is the main aim. I have been keeping the little shed full of produce so at least there is something to tempt them. The ducks seem to have settled in well with the others, although at the time of writing this we have not yet tried to put them to bed, could be a long evening when we do.
The cockerels finally had their last day on Saturday, seven birds to dispatch and sort, as they were all about two years old we decided to use them for dog feed, they were hybrid and quite lean so not enough for a good roast. Two more of them escaped the fate of the others, the one that free ranges permanently, if he suddenly disappears we will know there is a fox about, and the gold laced Orpington has been allowed to stay with his ladies for the time being. It is a little bit quieter round here at daylight now.

The cucumbers continue to sprout in magnificent numbers, they must be at their peak soon, if only the tomatoes were the same, I could sell lots of those, it’s always the way I guess. The runner beans seem to be slow, and a lot of them are shorter than usual but there are plenty on there, the soft fruit has now gone over with the exception of a few Autumn raspberries but not enough to fill a punnet each day sadly, must make a note to plant more for next year. The pumpkin patch is looking magnificent, the foliage is all dying off to reveal big balls of orange hiding underneath, it is probably the best pumpkin harvest I have had to date.

I finally got round to making some jam today, but not from anything I have grown, I made an impulse buy on the way back from collecting the ducks, the cherries for sale in the layby lured me in and so now I have a few jars of black cherry jam, mmm delish, I should make a Black Forest gateaux but I think a Victoria sponge will have to do. I have so many projects I want to get on with but day to day stuff always takes up the time, some of it very boring too, this week I will mainly be doing paperwork, I have a lot to get through, about three days worth I reckon, yawn, still once it’s done my mind will be free to think about cheese making and painting my milk urn.

The nighttime visitors seem to have increased with the darker nights, we have a hedgehog and last night I think, judging by Kai persistently barking, a fox is checking us out, we have set the trap just in case, but worse than that, on Saturday night, the biggest rat I have ever seen literally crossed the doorstep! Hubby managed to shoot it when we found it strolling across the drive, I think it was already poisoned as it was not as fast as I would have expected it to be, I hope it does not have extended family living near by!

Blackberry picking season is almost upon us which coincides nicely with the apple harvest, that means lots of pies and crumbles for the Winter nights, I have plenty of windfalls if anyone would like some, at the minute they are all over the drive and grass verge because I have not had time to pick them up, it is a shame to let them go to waste, I do have a sign saying help yourself and some customers do but obviously not enough to clear them up for me 😉

I try not to get political in the blog, we all have different points of view and that’s healthy, but the one thing we all have in common is that we need to eat to survive. Having just completed a survey on future food sustainability I thought I would air my views, small though they are!

The survey throws in big words such as, intensification, biodiversity, global distribution etc, most of this means nothing to your average shopper and nor should it, the message in my opinion should be much simpler, Think about what you buy! Do you need it, will you use it or will it end up in that awful little food waste bin, those in my opinion should never have got past the drawing board. The simple fact is that we waste far too much food as a country, and the beginning of the process starts way back at the docks, importing thousands of tons of food from around the world when common sense tell us we should be using local resources first. Now I am no saint and I do grab and buy if I am in a hurry but I use these rules if I can, LOCAL, ENGLISH, EUROPEAN, WORLDWIDE, it is after all difficult to grow bananas in Oxfordshire and I do like bananas. What happened to the bubble and squeak dinner on a Monday, or using up what is in the fridge once a week, or the simple task of freezing leftovers, these are all things I do on a weekly basis but is it just me? Seasonal is another word that should be used more forcefully, you can buy almost anything all year round these days, is that good practice? Would we go into meltdown if we couldn’t buy a certain vegetable or ingredient for our recipe or would we be more like our ancestors and use what was available at the time. It’s complex I know and we have become a nation that expects it to be there when we want it, BUT at what cost, will it be there when we NEED it, a global food Armageddon is on the horizon, might be a few years away yet but you don’t have to be clever to do the maths, Earths population is growing and there is finite land available for growing on.

If you think about one topic this week, make it your shopping, do you need it, will you use it, if not can you freeze it and use it for soup or feed it to the dog instead if his usual biscuits. Be proud of yourself if you don’t have to put out that stinky little food waste bin, or there is as little as possible in it. Make an effort to use up what you already have, you might even been surprised by the results, don’t waste anything, it’s your hard earned money you are throwing away, and don’t think for one minute that your small effort alone is not worth it, as someone once said, ‘one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind’ if we all take small steps we can make a difference.

This morning I have picked 40 of the little blighters, it has been the best year year for cucumbers, I need a bigger outlet for some things I think!

This is the time of year I love the most, fresh mornings with the promise of warmth through the day, I have been getting up early just to enjoy the cold air, an early start also means I can rattle through the feeding then go onto picking. It takes a couple of hours every other day to pick and pack the veg ready for putting out into the shed, but it disappears quicker than anything, especially the runner beans, which is brilliant. This is also the time of year when I start to think about next year, not as premature as you might think, time to assess what grew well, what sold well, what to grow more of next year and where to grow it. The disappointment this year has been the tomatoes and melon in the new tunnel, mostly because we used grow bags instead of planting into the ground, so that is something that will go on the list to change. I also start thinking about what can be grown in the poly tunnel over winter to give us a fresh crop of veg, mostly greens and brassicas, probably a few potatoes and carrots for Christmas time as well.

The hens have started to pick up their laying a little bit, still nowhere near the numbers we were getting before, one of the problems has been the red mite and we decided to bite the bullet and get proper creosote to paint the huts in, the mite do not like the smell and hopefully will stay away, the modern alternatives just do not do the job as well as the old fashioned methods but sometimes you just have to resort to a chemical or two. I have just come in from reassembling the hut that we did, spraying the big hut and shutting them out until we can do that one, I have put out a dust bath with louse powder in and put powder in the nesting boxes, urgh it’s horrible. I burnt the bedding straight away and spray the hut I took apart, I will sort these little buggers if its the last thing I ever do!
The baby quail have been selling well and I now only have four left, I may decide to hatch some more so that there are always a few for sale, they are so easy to keep and look after, no trouble at all. One of my ducks is still trying to nest but she is not setting, so she gets off every day to go and play with the others, this is not much use at all and I need to work out a way to encourage her to stay on, although its a bit late in the year now so that will have to wait until spring I think.

This time of year is also great for tidying up which is what we have been doing, cutting hedges and trimming trees, clearing up anything that has gone over, not too much though there are still seed heads and a few flowers around for the birds and bees. One of the trees we leave until spring is the buddliea, they flowered about a month ago and this weekend you probably could have counted around 200 butterflies of all colours flitting around them, they are big bushes but I was amazed at how much activity was going on.

We are contemplating the idea of glamping in one of the fields, we were considering caravans but the chap up the road has just got permission for fifteen so we thought a different angle might be more suitable to our rustic look. We will spend the winter months researching it and see if it will be viable so watch this space next year.

I have been so busy catching up on jobs that were not done when I was feeling poorly that I have not had time to do any baking or freezing, just the one batch of pickle so far, not that it matters too much as we still have stuff in the freezer from last year, especially plums. The plum harvest looks good again this year, I have been round to check them and see how they are progressing, not quite ready to pick just yet, and the nuts are just beginning to form inside the shell so they will be a few more weeks yet as well.

The cats are very busy catching their own dinner at the minute, there is an abundance of baby rabbits and mice to be had after the harvesting in the fields around us, you can tell when they have a catch they make a noise that sounds like a young child crying, they come wandering up the farm track very proudly with it in their mouths, then leave the entrails lying around for us to step on, still it saves me feeding them for a while. They usually spend all night hunting and then laying around all day in the hay barn so to look at them you would think they were quite lazy, but I can assure you they are doing their job well.

Right, I am off to do some more work while I have the inclination, if anyone has a recipe for cucumbers I would be interested!

Well it’s Monday again and I have been a bit intermittent with the blogging so I need to get back on track if only to remind myself of where I am at!

After weeks of not being able to do much, I am on the road to recovery and of course raring to get at all the jobs that have been left, I need to pace myself though as I will be in danger of burning myself out, so a good idea to take some time to sit down and blog to you all.

We spent the weekend in Wales visiting Dad and it was a lovely restful time, the lush green valleys are peaceful and the weather was not bad this time. I noticed a complete contrast when we got back over the border, the green fields become gold and the activity of harvesting is well underway here, combines and tractors full of seed are on every road doing their best to get it all in and feed the masses. I have spent most of the morning picking veg, there was plenty to put out for sale, the runner beans have at last become long enough to pick, I have purple sprouting, French beans, courgettes, tomatoes and the biggest pile of cucumbers again! I was chuffed to find just one single pear on the tree we planted about three years ago, everything comes to those that wait as they they say. The plum trees are laden and we had a discussion about trying to get to the greengages before the birds and wasps, because they are so incredibly sweet, nature is far more aware of the ripeness of them before we are and it is a race to see who notices first.

Our eldest daughter and her boyfriend looked after the farm while we were away, I was very thankful to see that they had done a good few jobs for us, strimming, mowing, and servicing the tractor, brilliant, thanks guys the front entrance looks so much better without all the weeds!

The second round of jobs on my list today was to clean out the chickens, well a couple of the runs anyway, not quite up to doing them all in one hit yet. The gold laced orpingtons were my first target and although I sprayed the hut before going away the red mite are still rife, this is not good news, they are proving so difficult to control this Summer. One of the hens died last week, partly because they had been brooding for a while and that saps all their energy especially if like mine they won’t eat or drink for nearly three weeks, and partly because the mites are staging a second attack on their blood supply! Mites come out at night from the dark crevices and suck the blood from the chickens so keeping them under control is vital, I dispute the fact the you can completely eradicate them as they can be dormant for months. I know they are rife because you can see them crawling up the bucket to which I emptied the old nesting material into, so I promptly burnt all the bedding and then had to spray the hut again, as well as my shoes and the cleaning equipment. I looked on my sleeve and they were crawling up my arm, I am still itching now, I bet you are too, glad I am back aren’t ya lol!

When you see something everyday you don’t notice the change in it or them but having been away for a couple of days I noticed that the lambs have got quite big now, I was beginning to think they were stunted but thankfully not, I suppose measuring them against the two older ewes does not help much as they are always going to be smaller! Looking at them now it won’t be long before we are making preparations for their final journey, the idea is to wind down as much as possible for the Winter months, we may have a great winter but experience has taught us to prepare for the worst and anything better than that is a bonus. The chicken numbers will also be reduced by then and the plan is to have just two pens to look after instead of seven, sounds like a good plan to me. The chickens are still not laying enough eggs, it didn’t take long for them to go off lay but it sure is taking ages for them to come back, just three weeks ago we had around sixteen dozen eggs sitting on the side and now we are barely picking up a dozen a day, come on girls, pull your fingers out we have desperate customers!

As mentioned I have an abundance of cucumbers if you want any, there are dozens more coming along behind them as well, Dad was telling me about cucumber gin, might have to give it a go. The pumpkins are enormous too ( quick muse: if only i knew how to turn them into coaches) as are the spaghetti squash, they have all obviously loved the weather patterns more than we have, I am not quite sure why we worry so much about getting the planting in and cosseting them, they seem to have taken care of themselves very well!

Sorry it’s been a couple of weeks since the last blog, I am still struggling on a day to day basis with this wretched illness, whatever it is, hopefully get some answers tomorrow at the hospital and with luck some wonder drugs!

I am still managing on the whole to get round and do the feeding and watering, then a bit of tidying up then a sleep usually so that I have some energy for later on in the day. Hubby has been a tremendous help as has my Mum, she has been coming over and helping to keep the garden up together, picking veg and hoeing and tidying, it would look a bit of a mess by now if she didn’t!

The fruit and veg are in abundance now and we are selling plenty at the farm gate, the egg numbers took a bit of a dive this week from, 60 a day down to12, I had noticed that the feed had changed colour and shape and wonder if something went wrong in the processing plant as the new bag I opened this morning seems back to normal, fingers crossed the egg count comes back up quickly before we lose too many customers.

The sheep are continuing to munch away in the paddock, they must be growing but as I see them on a daily basis I can’t really tell. We have had to keep the fly spraying up in this weather and luckily so far not had fly strike even though one of the lambs had scour there were no sign of maggots. The red mite in the chicken huts is a different story however, I have been spraying every three days but they are rife with the humid weather, very difficult to bring under control even with the strong chemical sprays, just have to keep doing it until we win I suppose.

We have had a bit of a change over with the horses, the little Shetland has now been sold on to a new home that is going to do some inhand showing with him, he will get more exercise and handling than he did here and hopefully he will be happy. That meant Jack needed a new companion and so we have Maddy on loan, she is a 15h gypsy cob and she is a unit! We will be able to ride her once she has been bought back into work as she has not been ridden for a couple of years. She is a very sociable horse and likes people so if you come up just call over the gate and she comes for a bit if a stroke and a chat.

Sadly I have not been up to making any jam yet or anything else for that matter, I keep hoping each day I wake up, I will feel better but it’s not happening, there are plenty of jobs on the farm that are just getting left at the minute but none that won’t wait until I feel up to it. Our produce is not going to waste though what we don’t sell either gets fed to the chickens or we juice it and drink it fresh, we decided to juice after watching a programme and we are enjoying doing it, even the veg juice is not so bad once you get used to it, today we have orange, celery and carrot as the veg juice and a combination of fruits for the fruit one, the pulp gets fed to the chickens as well so no waste there either.

At the moment we are picking, cucumber, courgettes (lots), carrots, beet root, rhubarb, mange tout, purple sprouting, raspberries and the beginnings of the runner beans which are always very popular, I have also been digging up a few potatoes and selling those. The onions are not far off ripening as well as the garlic. The only things that are lagging behind at the moment are the tomatoes and peppers oh and the melons are pretty non existent despite the hot weather we had. Most of the products are available on a daily basis in the shed but if you want a veg bag made up for a fiver send me a message and we can do that for you.