And here we are again Monday morning, I’m not knocking it, I’m grateful to be here, it just comes around so quickly 😜John is back to his day job this week so it’s me doing all the morning feeding, watering, letting out but at least it’s not raining at the moment.
I did most of the birds then went in to do the rabbits all was fine, as I went into the front paddock to fill up the water buckets I heard a ‘scream’ obviously a distress call, I looked in the rabbit run all appeared normal, the rabbits were all sat there so I walked away and again the scream? I went back into the rabbit run and where they had dug tunnels some earth had given way and one of the black rabbits had got her leg stuck in the grate on the top. Still screaming I managed to get her foot free and she seems none the worse for wear.
After everything was fed I picked a few bits of veg, the courgettes are getting few and far between and very much smaller, most of the veg that I was continually picking has slowed right down now including the tomatoes. I picked all the ripe ones then decided to pick all the green ones off and leave them to ripen indoors and then pull up the plants, got to start clearing up sometime might as well do it now. It’s been quite windy and so there are lots of hazelnuts on the ground to collect and a few walnuts too.
The weather was a tap on tap off kind of day, I put the washing out as it was nice and blowy, a couple of hours later out of nowhere came a burst of rain, too late I might as well leave the washing out there and so it continued through the day, eventually I got it in mostly dry and finished it off in the dryer 😝
Early evening we went to the annual ‘Feast’ fair with the grandchildren, I love all the sounds, smells, lights and of course, chips 😀
Tuesday: I was pleased to see the woodpecker had returned, sitting in the oak tree breaking nuts, we haven’t seen him since his favourite telegraph pole was changed last year. As the mornings are getting a little bit fresher I decided to start as I mean to go on and put enough layers on to keep warm, normally I hold out as long as possible and will actually feel cold rather than submit 😜 I was doing the hens in the back paddock when one of the liveries shouted that the rabbits were out, OFFS! I get to the front paddock to see Irene climbing over the fence with a net in her hand, it took a while to chase them and round them up and we only managed to get three of the four, all this chasing about and I was taking off my layers before I even got through the first part of the day! I did capture the forth rabbit about an hour later.
I picked some runner beans, there are an awful lot of older tougher ones so I bagged them up for chutney and put them out for sale. Mia arrived for the day and after Sam left for work we went for a stroll up the nearby lane, there are still plenty of blackberries to be had but I didn’t take anything to put them in so may have to go back another day. Mia enjoyed eating them from the bush though 😂 There is a weather warning in place for later this evening, gusts up to 75mph apparently, I guess there will be a lot of windfalls tomorrow.
I just discovered you can grow luffa gourds in the U.K. better know as loofahs, yep those things you wash your back with, whoo hoo I’m definitely going to try these next year.
Wednesday: Well that was a blowy night, the postman said it kept him awake, I must have been too tired to worry but there were signs of high winds all over the farm. Mostly just stuff that has been blown about and lots of nuts on the floor as well as the apples, I spotted plenty of hazels on the floor as I went past to feed the hens in the front, I will get those in a minute I thought to myself, then the chap that brings wood turned up and I was thinking argh he is gonna run over my nuts so I quickly finished the hens and went to rake them out of the way to pick up later. I have Mia today but not until later so I made a batch of apple turnovers and cooked down the tomatoes which I will sieve and freeze for use another time. Shelley and Josh came over for a visit. The wind has kept up all day and the weather has not been very nice, we shall light the Rayburn again tonight just to keep the chill off. I ordered some loofah seeds 😀 and also some new gloves for winter use.
Thursday: Had a great day today although the winds are still strong and getting on my nerves blowing everything around all the time. We had a dead duck in the pond, I say pond loosely as it’s more of a mud pit at the moment with all the rain, I’m guessing he got stuck in the mud poor thing and couldn’t get out, it wouldn’t take long for him to become hypothermic and die and he wasn’t in there yesterday morning or afternoon but John spotted him last night when he was putting everything to bed. I did the feed rounds and then you guessed it some more picking lol, I pulled up the swede as some of them are beginning to get rot, I also picked the sweet corn, this has not done very well this year, plenty of growth of the main stem but small cobs 😏. After working outside it was time to come in and process what I had picked, I peeled and cut the swede (while I am not a fan of prepared veg, this is one I can understand people buying already prepped 😜) I used a gadget my dad made, it’s a bit like a tiny guillotine, very sharp and better than using a hand held knife. After that I did a bit of ‘shucking’ 😝 that is basically taking the cob out of its sheath, I found the easy way works well, that is microwave the whole thing for two minutes, then make a cut through the green sheath about two inches from the bottom of the cob, hold each end and pull the top (hairy end) be careful because it’s hot so use a tea towel to hold it, and voila the whole foliage comes away together with the hair and you have a clean cob 😀
I have quite a few lbs of runner beans that have got big and tough, the chickens won’t eat them like that so I broke them up and put them in the food processor and blitzed them, now they will eat them so nothing is wasted. On my rounds in the afternoon I was feeding the hens at the back when I saw something white in the jump paddock, I went to investigate I found they were what I was hoping they would be, field mushrooms, yippee and a fair few of them as well. I was pretty sure that’s what they were, they look, smell and taste like it and they don’t stain yellow when you break them but I did just check with some more knowledgable folks online before I went back to pick the rest, they agreed, fabulous 😀 🍄
Friday: Did the morning rounds then Josh and Shelley came over and we went for a walk down the lane, I took my apple picker with me as there is a good apple tree just a little way up the lane. We picked blackberries on the way, then met Mrs Blackwell coming the other way who told me where there was another apple tree along the lane, I would never have seen it if she hadn’t mentioned it, we ended up with a good haul. I had my haircut at lunchtime then set about scratting and pressing the apples for juice, it was a bit of a faff getting it set up properly as I haven’t used the equipment before but eventually I got it sorted and made juice 😀 Later on in the day I pasteurised and bottled it, it will keep for a couple of years like that but to be honest it will probably be gone in a couple of weeks.
Saturday & Sunday: I will roll them into one because we basically did the same thing for two days running which was clearing and tidying the front area and drive way ready to put up new fencing. We had to clear up and burn cuttings from the hedge trimming and move the old fence posts and rail that had been lying there, shovelling debris from the driveway that has built up over time etc etc etc, it’s now looking tidy and we can start the new fence as soon as the wood arrives. I cut the front driveway grass and the verges out the front of the property, stopped for a nice long chat with a neighbour as you do, potted up the bulbs from the front boxes that we have taken down, John also cleaned out the hens at the front and back and that pretty much took up the weekend 😀
Oh yeah John slipped and fell in the mud pit that is the duck pond, I did shout and ask if he was ok, and then if he had face planted, because I was definitely gonna go and get a picture if he had 😂😂 but he just had a muddy backside and leg 😝
frieslandfarm (flowers) 