Bank Holiday Monday: Phew what a scorcher of a day that was, hottest on record for the time of year, floods and hurricanes in Texas, wildfires in Oregon and also Australia these are coming up on my news feeds from Facebook friends around the world so I better not complain it’s too hot 😝
I got an early start and yes the customer arrived at 6.30am for their eggs, there were some out there so that’s ok as I was not going to save any. Got on with feeding and watering then went into the garden to get some weeding done and some beds cleared and sorted, until it got too hot for me and I went inside. John on the other hand spent most of the day outside creosoting the front hut, then it even got too hot for him to be out there so we popped to get a bit of shopping, milk etc and lingered more than normal in the chilled section lol. The hens that we moved the night before were let out and wondered where on earth they were, had a few escape and one even laid an egg on the floor of the hut John was working in, there were no boxes in there and no perches as he had taken them all out but the urge to lay where she normally does was obviously strong. Did some watering in the evening as some things are looking a bit dry and that was bank holiday over.
Tuesday: Supposed to another hot day but it didn’t really pan out like that as the cooler weather has made an early appearance. John did the chickens at the back before he went to work and I sorted out the geese, ducks, quail and rabbits, I cleaned out the ducks and quail, gave the quail a dust bath to play in and also took a dust bath up the back for the hens up there to get in. Collected a few nuts that have fallen on the ground and raked up the area under the trees so that I can see them more easily when they drop. There are a lot of nuts this year and I only want what I can use so the squirrel will have a good haul for Winter.
Mum came over early and got started on some clearing in the garden, she worked on the areas I can’t get to very easily, once the sun hits it on a hot day I can’t work and so it great to have someone who can do it for me 😀 She cleared the artichoke plants that I don’t want there next year and also the cucumber plants I had put there because they were spare and had nowhere else to go, I didn’t realise there were that many fruits on the plants, about 12 in all.
Wednesday: I have Mia today but first an early start feeding etc then as much as last week was plums, this week it’s apples so I need to get them sorted. I had a few eaters on the small tree in the garden, the wasps haven’t started to attack them yet so I picked them the other evening, I have cooking apples this year thank goodness and they need picking fairly soon, the windfalls are being used up as they fall and in the front paddock I have an eating apple tree that is a ‘keeper’. Keepers do just that, keep, provided they are unblemished, wrapped and stored properly they will keep through Winter to be used as and when needed, it’s actually a bit early to pick them but I picked a few as Jack has gone into that paddock for a few days and I picked the good ones that were in his reach (well within my reach mostly) the rest will get picked later on in the month with the apple picker. I got them wrapped up in newspaper and will get the storage rack out and dust it off before I put them in there to store.
Thursday: Did the feeding etc then some picking lol same old routine, took the chickens at the back some odd shaped courgettes and cucumbers then I came inside to prep some stuff for the freezer. Apple and blackberries that I picked this morning, and as I have a lot of tomatoes coming on and will soon be swamped with them I made some pasta sauce to freeze. It smells amazing and everything in it but the salt and oil is home grown, herbs, onions, garlic and of course the toms. In the slow cooker today is duck and again everything in there is home grown or produced so it’s a good day food wise 😀
I had a fair few small cucumbers so I decided to have a go at fermenting these in a salt brine with coriander seeds, peppercorns, garlic and some fresh fennel, I tasted the tomato one and they are like little burst bombs of goodness. It’s an ideal way to get some freshness in your diet during the winter months, and I shall be looking at what else I would like to ferment, and of course it’s very good for your gut bacteria 😀 In the afternoon I decided to pick some of the cooking apples, we didn’t have any last year so I am making sure we have enough for this year and next if needs be lol, my apple picking gadget is great but you still get hit on the head by rouge fallers and end up with neck ache in the process, still, a good couple of hours work, well executed.
And there are plenty of windfalls going free if you want to pop down and get some 😀
An order of Aronia berry (chokeberry) bushes arrived, the new super berry on the block apparently, and also a strawberry tree, I didn’t realise you could eat the fruits of this tree so I will be looking forward to tasting them next year.
I haven’t seen Josh and Shelley this week as Josh has been poorly and it’s risky for me with my crap immune system so have missed them but I can now announce that Josh is having a baby brother or sister due March next year 😀😀👶 yay.
Friday: I seem to have missed note making for today, prob did the usual, then a bit of picking, then Josh and Shelley came over to visit and Sam and Mia arrived too, can’t remember what else I did 😜 I did remember that Mum came over and cleared the brassica cage 😀
Saturday: Oh my days, I’m sitting down to write this and ache all over having put in a hard days work, seriously my knees ache, my neck aches, my back aches. I did the usual stuff first thing then, weedkillered the front driveway, then pulled up the now dead peas and tided up some of the veg bed then decided to remove the bed under the nut trees. First I had dahlias growing in there then eventually they died after about 4 years so I used it for veg and this year I had garlic and potatoes in it but because of the shade of the trees they didn’t do very well. I had already decided it was going to be removed and set about the task, obviously it is filled with soil and I riddled every bit of it to turn it into the smaller raised beds I have put on top one of the bigger beds. The soil depth is too shallow on the big beds and someone gave me some pallet retainers (so I am told) and they make perfect little beds, actually even my hands are aching, I will turn the area into a little seating place as it is in the shade and I have a picnic table that can go there, what it really needs is a deck chair that I can fall asleep in!
Meanwhile John has still been plugging away at doing the front chicken hut ready for the new arrivals, he has taken everything out, creosoted, put a new floor in, taken walls apart to creosote and is putting everything back together again, he has used a whole big container of creosote and every night stinks of it, hopefully any red mite have been obliterated! We need a day off I reckon 😝
Sunday: Morning routine completed first, then I burnt the rubbish while John cleaned out the hens at the back, the apples in the buckets are now all wrapped in newspaper and stored in the apple rack for use over the next few months. We then turned our attention to Rosie the Rayburn and she had a thorough clean ready for the cold weather, she has a broken firebrick which we need to repair but apart from that she is good to go when the temps drop. Went for Sunday roast at a local pub which was a lovely treat and basically took the rest of the day off apart from feeding and collecting the eggs.
frieslandfarm (flowers) 