Month: February 2017

Monday: So today I started on some outstanding paperwork, paying some bills etc then I decided to give my website a long overdue update, 4 hrs later I was still trying to get to grips with ‘widgets’ that was after an hour or so on the support line trying to log in first. Anyway http://www.frieslandfarm.co.uk is up and running still needs a bit of work but I have even managed to link the blog through it 😀
Tuesday: Man this cold is an absolute stinker I think I have sinusitis as well, felt so ill in the night that I contemplated needing a hospital bed! Still I have to get up and get on this morning, that’s the thing when animals are relying on you there is no time to wallow in self pity, oh ok, I am wallowing now but they are all fed and watered so it’s allowed. Dead rat discovered this morning out the back by the wood pile, however it’s not the one I saw in the back area as this one is much smaller, probably a relative though 😜 We are due a dump truck full of rain ☔️ sometime soon, joy, it was just drying out nicely, still at least the temps are getting a bit warmer even if it’s only short lived. The little Tete a Tete daffodils have their buds, swollen pods of colourful promise, I will have a huge smile when they start to unfold, they are one of my favourite spring flowers, small but mighty 🌼 I still have more paperwork to do this week, the VAT quarter, I won’t be sorry to see the end of that particular chore when John goes on his own, VAT, CITB, RTI, CIS, PAYE goodbye, hello more time for gardening 😀 

Wednesday: The winds overnight have knocked the egg shed over, luckily there was only one box in there, still a bit of a mess though. First job after doing the animals is to move the shed around so that the prevailing winds can’t knock it over again. Of course IF John had done what I asked in the first place it wouldn’t have gone over. I asked him to secure the shed to the fence as it was leaning forwards, instead he shoved two bits of wood under the front to make it upright again, yes it stopped the shed leaning but I had visions of someone pulling the door open and it flattening them which is why I asked for it to be secured. Then when I say ‘I told you so’ it’s classed as nagging, I would have thought that nearly 34 years together he worked have worked out that I’m always right 😂😂

Other jobs today include cleaning the bathroom and making bread, I still have this awful head cold but am trying to ignore it.

The gander bit me this afternoon, my fault I forgot to turn on the eyes in the back of my head, to be fair they are quite aggressive at this time of year due to mating and egg laying, I should be more careful.

SOAP BOX ALERT: to be honest I no longer have the energy or inclination these days to bother with topics that wind me up or debates, I seek a quieter life. Don’t be fooled I have in the past had my say and stood my ground but I like think I was always fair and would consider the opposing arguments and maybe even concede some points when seen from a different point of view. What has got me all up in arms…..The Food Standard Agency, I have read two reports this week of the proposals to license and therefore charge ALL food providers, if you think that doesn’t cover you think again, the proposals will include all those fundraising cake stalls and village fete jam makers etc. A nominal charge maybe, nope, £300 twice a year to inspect the kitchens the produce is prepared in, if it’s not right and they make a return visit they will charge you for having to come back, if this isn’t a Sheriff of Nottingham type of activity I don’t know what is, soon you will have to have a licence to have guests round for dinner or for kiddies birthday parties. What really winds me up is that there is hardly any representation for the small guy, most of the panel in this instance is made up of representatives from the big names, as usual they bully their way into getting what they want in place, corporates my pet hate, throw their weight and their money around will little regard to individuality and think that’s ok. At this point I have to break off otherwise this would turn into a piece of writing of dissertation proportions, covering greed, stupidity and the grating of life so that everyone fits the same spec. And breathe………

Thursday: Storm Doris! Sure is windy out there, to be honest I couldn’t give a monkeys, this bloody virus thing has seen fit to give me extras this morning, conjunctivitis and blocked ears as well as blocked nostrils and sinuses, the ibrufen or paracetamol are hardly touching the symptoms and due to regular meds I can’t take cold and flu stuff. I can mostly just hear ringing in my ears due to the tinnitus and all other sounds being blocked out by bunged up ears, feeling very sorry for myself today, very sorry indeed. 

On the up side the Tete a Tete are flowering, I will try to get a photo later if I remember

Spent most of the day doing end of month paperwork and VAT, the straw delivery arrived and then just as I thought the winds were easing off they began to pick up. As I write this I can hear the wind moaning constantly, apparently a tree has gone over down the road and there are things rolling round the yard. I have been out and picked up the garden furniture and noticed that the brassica cage is down and the side of the fruit cage is going over 😖 I don’t mind telling you I’m a little bit scared as I sit here writing this, hope it settles down soon. Don’t suppose there is much point putting the dustbins out!  

Friday: Up early to get the bins out now the storm has subsided, I noticed a pair of sparrows have decided my bird box on the front of the house will make a good nest 😀usually it has blue tits but ‘you snooze you lose’ 😝 Sent John off to get more rat poison, honestly they are relentless, you just get rid of one lot and another lot move in, might have to think about getting a terrier at this rate be cheaper in the long run and more environmentally friendly 😜

John and I took a walk round the far back paddocks to inspect the boundary fences/walls we hadn’t realised how bad they had got over the last year, the stone wall has collapsed in a couple of places and there are rotten tree branches causing problems as well, all this is pushing the post and rail fencing over, this will be a big job taking a good few weeks to sort out! Meanwhile there are a fair few rails need replacing and posts that need bracing, that’s this weekends work sorted then 😝 hope the weather is good. 

Saturday: We did exactly what we planned to do, the fences in the middle, back paddock, so they are safe again now and the weather held although the wind was a tad cold. Then onto clearing up some rubbish and burning odds and sods, I did a bit of raking up leaves in my garden area and took branches that the SEB cut down round to be burnt, pretty good day all in all. 

Sunday: More fixing to be done, the corner posts in the jump paddock and a couple of rails, then onto the ménage gates that blew open in storm Doris and bent the hinges plus took out the hook up post. After that it John went to fix the back door so that it locks again while I cleaned out (and got a soaking from the hose which became detached from the nozzle, just what you want on a winters day) and disinfected the quail cage to get it ready for the hatchlings. I dug out the heat lamp to make sure it works and the chick feeder, plus made some steps up to the water bottle as they will be very tiny when they first hatch, don’t be fooled though they soon now how to get in the feeder and flick it all around the cage 😝I’m just hoping it will be warm enough for them, it is draught free though so should be fine. Then John fixed the light in the back toilet which has been on the floor for a good couple of months after he tried to fix it before! It turns out the light fitting was faulty but we tried the bulb, then the switch first no joy, then he stripped out the wires thinking they had been chewed, they hadn’t and so the lot sat on the floor until today, but all fixed now, oh yes while he was doing that I unblocked the utility room sink which became blocked, I took the trap off and gave it a clean out, draining beautifully now. 

We decided that after the quail have hatched we will set some ducks eggs for incubation as they are laying nearly a dozen a day now, ah ducklings (smelly but cute). 

The chickens will not be going out any time soon, it appears we are in a high risk zone, it’s all bloody poppycock really as we are only just inside the zone, a mile up the road the zone finishes so anyone outside that area can let theirs out, what’s to stop a wild bird flying a mile up the road and infecting a flock for goodness sake, nothing that’s what, the usual clap trap from an organisation that couldn’t organise a piss up in a brewery, honestly the people in these jobs want certifying I swear, complete madness. 

We had chicken all weekend, I bought one Friday, roasted it and we have been feasting on it since then, sandwiches etc so tonight we are having a nice piece of sirloin, it would be nice to raise our own meat chickens again but in the current climate we don’t have room so it will have to wait a while, in the meantime I still have ducks to cull and prep, I have a feeling we will be sick of duck by the end of the year lol. By the way if anyone ever wants a lesson in preparing a bird for the oven from start to finish give me a shout, I’m happy to help. 

And into the next week 😜

Monday: Settled back into routine now and out to do the animals first thing, nothing untoward today they all seemed to be getting used to being inside. Came in a lit the fire, Mum popped in for a coffee and I gave her some of the Camembert cheese to take and share with my brother, she is off to Southampton to stay with him for a couple of days as he has had a shoulder op. We tried the cheese last night after dinner, it was lovely, probably could have been left a bit longer to soften in the middle, I’m not sure if it gets softer or not but still it tastes good 😀After a coffee or two I went outside as it’s such a lovely sunny day and did a bit of tidying up of plant foliage on the garden by the back door ready for the new green shoots to come through, there are a lot of squishy rotting apples on there but I will leave them to carry on rotting and feeding the soil with any nutrients they have left. 

If you pick the right spot today it is beautiful outside, I picked the greenhouse next, I’m glad to see the Lemon and Orange tree seem to have done well over wintering, then I spotted some lavender seeds that needed sowing so I did that and watered the broad beans as the soil was very dry, shame there wasn’t more to do in there it could have been a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.

I did a bit more tidying outside as it was so nice, cut back the Japanese honeysuckle and then tidied up a couple of the gooseberry bushes. Then Sam arrived with Mia to do the horse, Mia wasn’t keen to sit in the stable block or watch me so I took her indoors where she fell asleep on me 😀 Sam then did the afternoon feed and egg collecting. After they left I decided to tidy the utility room up a bit and chatted to the lonely quail, I thought, it’s not moving much so went to stroke it and it was sat there stone cold dead, it was fine this morning! That’s the lot gone now and so I need to decide on either trying to find point of lay hens or hatching eggs. 

Tuesday: lovely morning, fresh but the sun was shinning so that’s always a bonus, I changed my schedule around a bit and did the indoor stuff first, made bread, hoovered, set the fire to light later then went out to do the animals while the bread was proving. All is well outside, I put the sitting dead quail in the cage out the back to see what would happen as the ‘thing’ has not been near the traps, lol and behold it has been into the cage to nibble on the body, I’m hoping I can lure it into a false sense of security and it will go for the trap eventually! We have decided to buy in some hatching eggs and rear baby quail, that way we know how old they are and won’t get ripped off buying old birds. I will get the incubator out later and make sure it’s working correctly before I order 48 eggs, they take 16 days to hatch then 6 weeks before they begin to lay enough time to put the outdoor cage up on legs to prevent anything getting in (fingers crossed) meanwhile the quail egg customers will have to wait 😔 

Ordered some new work trousers as these are going the same way as the last pair, I tried not to bend down to harshly as I can hear them going 😂😂😂

I saw the critter in the back bit, it’s a rat, it ran under the cupboard as I went out there then obviously couldn’t get away and ran back out, I called the dogs in but by the time they got there it had disappeared. I got a torch and had a look under but it was gone, however, so was the poison I had put under there the other week so I put some more under, I guess we will have a stink again but at least it won’t be able to kill any new babies I hatch out. 

Wednesday: I have Mia all day today so apart from the basics not much else will get done, I did managed to set up the incubator and order 48 quail hatching eggs, both will need settling time so they probably won’t get put in until Sunday or Monday depending on if they arrive by Friday. Most don’t post out over the weekend because of no deliveries on a Sunday, the incubator is safe in the utility room and is a closed, fully automated unit so they will be safe in there, then once hatched they remain in the utility room in a bigger cage with a heat lamp until they are at least 3/4 weeks old by which time the weather may be warm enough to put them into the outside run, that’s the plan anyhow. On average there will be a 50/50 split of males and females so potentially 24 males some of which will be sold along with some of the females as we don’t need that many, the others we ought to rear for the freezer I guess but they are so small and fiddly, in the past I have taken them down to the bottom corner paddock and let them go, but they came back to the run! I’ve just had a quick look online about killing and dressing them, seems easy enough so maybe I will give it a go.

Power cut this afternoon, I tell you, you couldn’t write it, I always joke that the power goes off when I have the incubator on and lol and behold off it goes, I checked it wasn’t our main fuse obviously and prepared to shut the Rayburn right down but it was only off for a couple of minutes luckily. 

Thursday: Time to catch up a bit after having Mia for the day yesterday, trying to clean out chickens with them all under your feet is not an easy task at all, I end up treading on their feet mostly, as yet I have not tripped over and fallen which is a surprise as they stoop down and still the minute I go near them. I keep wondering the what the point of the lockdown is really, it’s not like you can control the wild birds and if they get it we are all doomed so keeping the chickens in seems a pointless exercise, if they put a stop to all movement that would make more sense but of course they won’t do that because of the big commercial chicken providers. I cleaned out the geese in the front, that was heavy work, 3 barrowfuls of wet hay/straw, my hands hurt, they have been hurting for a couple of days now, I hope it’s not the Lupus and just that they are overworked! The sun is shinning beautifully today lifting the spirits and making you want to be outside for a change. 

Came in to make bread and light the fire, check on the incubator, it has got up to temperature but the humidity is still low, the pump seems to be taking ages to pump water from the jar into the unit, I may have to force the water through to get it going properly (hubby popped in for a cuppa mid day, being a plumber, I got him on the case and success we have water pumping in to the unit to raise the humidity 😀)  

I have a massage booked for tonight, looking forward to that I will get her to work on my hands as well I think. I first went to Anette with a problem area caused by raking, sweeping and hoeing, and burning patch on the back of my shoulder, after two sessions it never returned and so every now and again I have massage to make sure it stays away, it’s a luxury but one I feel I deserve 😜 

My neighbour is having her fencing replaced in the paddocks today, I’m amazed at how quickly the old came down and the new went up with a contractor doing it, poor John spends days on ours he may be inclined to get someone in when he sees how quick it was lol, the bonus is we get the old stuff to cut and burn on the Rayburn, more wood for the pile. 

Random thought for the week, I have a ceramic egg holder that takes 9 eggs???? Why 9 when mostly eggs are bought in 6 or 12? Weird. Had the realisation that I haven’t actually left the farm since last Friday! Need to remedy that I think 😝

Gorgeous sunset this evening made me smile when I saw it through the window

Friday: I had decided this mornings job was to clean out the hens in the stable block and remove clumps of hard dirt that has built up on some of their toes. Not all of them have it and it seems to be on the right foot more than the left for some reason, I took a bucket of hot soapy water in to soak their feet then used some round ended scissors to cut bits off. Luckily none of the hens lost toes or nails which was good, in chicks it is much harder to get it off without taking a nail or two. The only injury was mine, one blister on my scissor finger and a dead thumb from pressing quite hard. Then I went to Bourton on the Water for lunch and a much needed escape 😀

Saturday: Big job on this morning, the pen at the back has become disgusting and smelly due to layers of hay on top of the mud area in the middle, this needed to be dug out and then the pen cleaned. It was very heavy very smelly work good job John was on hand to do most of the digging out 😝 Then over to clean out the front lot and put some new sawdust in their beds while John went to get some bags of sand for the birds to dust bath in.

The quail eggs arrived in the post all bar 1 was intact so 47 eggs to put in the incubator, I will leave them to settle for 24hrs before putting them in.

Sunday: I don’t feel so good yesterday afternoon so I had the rest of the day off under a blanket while John looked after everything, consequently I have much to catch up on today, up early to make bread and put washing on etc. We have Sunday lunch out later to celebrate my Sisters birthday and I have made a fresh loaf as a present for her together with some goose eggs and maybe a slice of home made cheese, hope she likes it. 

Monday: Good morning 😀 it’s not as bad as I expected it to be after all that rain and at least the sun is trying to shine a little bit. It’s a whole week since I bought my cheese home and I have been turning the Camembert every day as instructed, it’s definitely taking on a different smell and texture although it still has a week to go. The Caerphilly is sitting in the cupboard and that also has another week left until it’s ready, it’s a long process lol I hope it’s worth it at the end. 
The morning routine was as normal today, I still worry a little about the geese and hope that after the next 20 something days the enforcement is lifted for their sakes if not any of the other birds.

I’ve been thinking about salt lately, I was intrigued by the use of it at different stages of the cheese making process and it got me thinking. If I don’t put enough salt in my bread dough it’s quite bland, also if you don’t salt your cooking it’s bland, so I began to wonder if what we taste all the time is just salt in which case does food generally not have any taste of its own? I know, there are more serious issues going on in the world lol, but once I began thinking about it, I needed to know, so I did what we modern folk do and googled it. I found the answer quite quickly and found it very interesting, I also found I wasn’t the only one wondering 😝

‘Salt is used as a universal flavour improver because at low concentrations it will reduce bitterness, but increase sweet, sour and umami, which is desirable for sweet recipes. But at higher concentrations it suppresses sweetness and enhances umami, which is good for savoury things. It’s also easily obtained in a pure form without any interfering flavours.’

I wonder what other random thoughts I will have this week? 

I decided to clean the oven this morning, I don’t know what possessed me but I soon realised I made a mistake choosing that job lol. I wasn’t 100% committed to it and soon got bored, yawn, so it was a half hearted attempt, not that it was too bad but it does have all the little brown splashes all over the walls etc you know the ones that probably wouldn’t come off even with a nuclear blast. Anyhow it’s a little cleaner but still has some remnants there, I’m not one for presenting a shiny clean oven to people so it really doesn’t matter that much, I’ve found the best thing is not to replace the oven light when it blows, you can’t see in there then 😜

Tuesday: I have Mia later today so a whizz round to get everything done in the early morning, feeding, watering, light the Rayburn, make bread, collect eggs and sort the egg shed out for the day. The egg numbers have increased despite the chickens being inside, the ducks have finally begun to lay more eggs, the quail are laying regularly and today I spotted the first goose egg of the year at the back of their hut whoo hoo 😀 To me that indicates the seasons are on the turn although we still have a few weeks to get through yet before the temps start to rise slowly. 

Wednesday: My goodness that is soggy out there and more rain forecast 😖 The laying of eggs has certainly increased by about 1/3 I would say and we have plenty to put out in The little shed. The birds seem happy enough and I have topped up and cleaned out this morning, I did let the geese out while I put in fresh bedding and picked up the egg from their hut, I shouldn’t but it’s almost impossible not to mention stressful for them if I try to get in there with them. They made the most of the puddles and had a bath in them 😀 then I shut them away again with fresh bedding, water and feed. It is very mild out, yesterday by late evening it was very warm in the house as the heat builds over the day, this morning I was getting a bit hot doing the rounds with my big coat on and I will probably wait until later to light the Rayburn so it doesn’t get too hot again. 

I’m going to roast a duck for tea tonight, probably with orange, I think that will be tasty, I will let you know. 

Exciting news on the cheese front, I have been turning the Camembert everyday and it is now beginning to develop the characteristic white furry mould 😜

Thursday: The rain still keeps coming down and now the paddocks are saturated with the familiar lake in the bottom fields 😖 

This morning I had an early visitor in the form of my Mum who came to walk the rounds with me as she will be looking after everything while we are away for a few days. It’s very hard to explain everything in detail on paper so a walk round and seeing or even doing it is much more likely to stay in her mind than reading a list. As long as everything gets fed and watered and nothing gets forgotten it will be fine lol. It is the worst time of the year to look after the place to be honest as with the rain everything wooden is swelling which means gates, doors etc are hard to open or close, last night I had to get John to move the bolts on the duck stable as once I opened it they no longer lined up to close them again. This is due to the amount of ground water pushing the wooden uprights upwards just slightly, even thought they are concreted in! Hopefully after this wet spell it will dry up and we will have to move the bolts back again. The duck we had for dinner last night was delicious, there is more to cooking a duck than I thought, it needs turning three times during cooking, it needs the skin pricking but taking care not to prick into the meat and needs resting before carving, all in all I think I achieved that as it was nice and moist, very enjoyable. I cooked it with orange and honey, it seemed like a good combination, and there was just enough to feed two of us with Kai being treated to the carcass when it had cooled down.

Well the wind is picking up which is great as it will dry things out abit, don’t want it to get too strong mind you, I don’t want any structural disasters before I go away. 

Friday: Another goose egg this morning 😀 nothing to untoward on my rounds except that my fears were confirmed about something that woke me in the night, I had left the tap from the water barrel into the back chicken pen on and had flooded it! For some reason I woke up in the night and suddenly realised that I had asked Sam to turn it on as she went past and I had forgotten to turn it off when I came out of the pen 😖 

When I was putting the horse out the gate seemed a bit stuck and the actual pinned hinge has come right out of the post it was knocked into, a job for John first thing tomorrow morning. I bought the chickens some reduced greens with the shopping yesterday, they ravaged them in seconds, the rabbits were happy to have some greens and carrots this morning too. I burnt some rubbish, paper feed sacks and cardboard rubbish then I spent the morning doing some paperwork while getting bread mixed, proved and baked and in the afternoon my seed potatoes arrived whoop whoop we are getting nearer to planting season. This year I have opted for Kestrel, Pentland Javelin and Picasso, I will leave them in the box for now and set them to chit when I come back. I have decided to have a go at growing chickpeas as well this year after reading a fellow Facebookers post, I had no idea you could grow them in the UK but apparently it is possible so along with the butter beans and the edamame beans I should have some pulses for next year.  

Saturday: Did a lot of cleaning out this morning in preparation for going away, the amount I need to get done means I will be ready for a change and a rest, lots of little things as well to make sure things run smoothly while we are away, bolts on doors that should have been done months ago etc. Another goose must be laying as there was an egg again today, each goose lays every other day just need the other two to get going and we will have lots of yummy eggs, mind you they are getting snapped up as soon as they go out for sale.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning and packing, I did have a taste of the Caerphilly cheese, it is delicious, I have left a slice for Mum in the fridge to try as a treat, hope she likes it too. 

We have a plane to catch in the morning so I am posting this tonight as I will be leaving the iPad at home 😜😜

Have a good week x