Monday 11th June: An idyllic day, those are my thoughts of today, of course I haven’t done much again his morning so I can take the time to just enjoy what’s around me, sunshine, birdsong, gentle breeze, totally idyllic, I need to take more time to appreciate it in future I think. It is in fact a perfect morning for collecting elderflower heads, the sun has warmed them and the heady smell is wonderful, it’s something gentle I can do as the tree i use is just out the front, I picked 25 heads, added a couple of slices of lemon and lime and poured on boiling water, it will steep for 24hrs then I will decide what to make with it, cordial, syrup, jelly who knows? It is such an underrated, bountiful tree because of course later on in the year you get those glorious vitamin packed berries as well.
The Epsom salts arrived so I will be using them later providing my joints will co operate.
ELDERFLOWER CORDIAL
Tuesday: I pretty much didn’t do anything other than make some bread and the dinner today. Getting better slowly.
Wednesday: Same again today, I haven’t done much in the way of the farm/garden.
I did however notice something on the dog, Mia, Charlie bathed her on Sunday and said she had a sore, today I noticed another and my suspicions were aroused, mange from a mangey fox, Mia is the only dog who loves to roll in fox poo and seeing as they don’t go off the farm that’s the only way she could have caught it. She is off to the vet tomorrow for confirmation and decontamination will begin!
Mum called in today and bought the aubergine plants I had given her to nurture, they were started at the same time as my others which are in the tunnel but they are three times bigger and flowering! What am I doing wrong I keep asking myself?
Thursday: Feeling capable again today although John still did the morning routine. I got up showered took painkillers and set about a few tasks that needed doing, water the poly tunnels, we have misty drizzle today so outside will be fine. While I was out there I pulled the onions and garlic that are ready and will need a week or so to ‘cure’ there are still onions growing that I planted later so I have left those in. Then empty the brooder unit that the goslings were in as I am expecting a hatch of light Sussex this weekend, onto burning the card/paper rubbish that was piling up. Before all that I had put a wash load on but the red light was telling me that the filter was blocked so I had to drain off the water and empty that, I found two Kirby grips, a piece of wood and a small plastic bag! Time for coffee and a sit down I don’t want to over do it, though I know I’m feeling better as I keep thinking of all the jobs that need doing, I’m not muscly by any means but have noticed some muscle loss especially in my arms from not doing anything all week 😝 I also found some mesh and made a leaf guard for the new bit of guttering John put up over the rabbit run, best to keep as much rubbish out as possible.
The drizzle turned to very windy, great for drying the washing, not so good for plants 😜 normally I would fret about the runner beans being wind ravaged after they had only just been planted out but these were sown straight into the ground and are good strong plants with strong roots hopefully, so I’m not too worried.
In the afternoon Sam came over and we sorted out the dog area and fed the birds before taking Mia to the vets, I ordered some antibacterial shampoo which had arrived by the time we got back which was useful. Mia is on antibiotics as there is a bit of infection on one of the areas, we bathed her, put the spot on for the mites (it kills about a hundred other things too!) then on went the buster collar 😩 and I fed her the antibiotics, Patch and Alfie had a wash and the spot on as well, though they show no signs of having anything, better to be thorough. By this time my feet and ankles were killing and I had a lay down, John made dinner, well eggs on toast, popped to the shop to get some wet food so Mia will take the tablets, quick cuppa at my sisters and the day is done.
Oh, we had a lovely note in the egg money box today, some visitors from Singapore that were staying up the lane wrote to tell us that they had never had farm fresh eggs before and that the absolutely loved them and the children had adored seeing the birds in the front paddock, positive feedback, lovely.
Friday: Up early, painkillers, then a bit of early morning gardening 😀 John did the birds at the front early and I did the others a bit later on.
I did a bit of tidying up, planted some flowers, repotted some bits, picked the rest of the peas in the tunnel and then pulled up the plants, I have sweet potato growing there now, emptied out a large pot that had broken and was full of bulbs, all kinds of little jobs that needed doing. An hours sit down and I’m good to go again 😀
Slightly concerned about Molly the cat, I haven’t seen her for a couple of days, normally she is hanging around the garden, she does go off sometimes but the older she gets the less likely she is to come back and she is around 13/14 years old.
The light Sussex are starting to hatch, at the moment there is just one, I hope I get a few more than that!
Saturday: 10 little fluffy chicks in total, not great from 24 eggs but not too bad all in all. After morning jobs I did a bit of pottering again in the garden, I can’t actually get my teeth stuck into any great jobs as I still can’t bend at the knee terribly well but getting there slowly. Mostly pulling weeds which the rabbits were very grateful for as they have been on pellets all week with John feeding them, well I can’t really ask him to spend half an hour foraging for them on top of everything else he was doing can I 🤣 John did a bit of digging up docks in the big side paddock and then did a bit of weeding in the garden to help out. In the afternoon we went to look at greenhouses 😀 I decided I definitely need to get a new one, have decided which one I want and went to have a look at one that is up just to make sure. All we have to do is put a base down and they will come and install it, so watch this space 😀
Sunday: Father’s Day and we are off out for lunch later on, in the meantime we did a little bit of goodness knows what because I can’t remember but one of the things was make a planter out of an old pallet, I wanted it for lavenders in the front which is an idea I had right from when we first came but couldn’t do it because Kai would have just trodden all over it. Now I’m not so sure that’s what I want or need so I need to rethink what it is I want to achieve 😝 better do it soon as the lavender plants arrived yesterday!
Put the onions and garlic in the greenhouse to cure for a week or so before storing.
This week I have managed to pick broad beans, strawberries, raspberries, broccoli and cauliflower for our meals, I haven’t had much to put out for sale as yet but I’m sure there will be plenty soon.
frieslandfarm (flowers) 