Monday 3rd September 😝 What, September already! A busy morning this morning, John is home this week, and by that I mean not going out to do plumbing work, I would say he is not working but he still has to work for his supper here 🤪 We do however have some help this week so they got an early start on the mountain of wood that needs cutting up and stacking away. We don’t usually say no to free wood but we have got so much at the minute we can hardly move, if we have a cold winter then we will be totally grateful, to be honest I think we have enough for about 3 winters at the minute. I will be both looking forward to lighting the Rayburn and dreading it lol, once it’s going full time I will spend a lot of my time feeding it but in return we have FREE hot water, cooking, heating and washing drying facilities so I can’t complain 😀
The other thing happening today is Dad and Sue arriving to stay until the weekend so plenty of preparations in the way of good food, the bread is proving, the veg and meat are prepped for dinner later, the ham is in the oven cooking ready for lunchtime sarnies, they both appreciate good, home grown, home cooked food and so it’s a pleasure to provide the very best of what we have to offer, just need to make apple pie and I’m sorted 😀
Tuesday: Blimey it’s a hive of industry here today, I kid you not, John and his helper are working flat out on the wood mountain, Dad is busy on the ride on lawn mower cutting the paddocks, Sue is out picking vegetables. We have had numerous deliveries and egg customers and I have Mia so it’s been chaotic at times but all very productive indeed 😀 I have been busy on a never ending round of coffees and teas, sausage sarnies and lunch I am definitely going to need that holiday next week 🤪
I have powdery mildew on the summer squash, these were a heritage variety and that’s probably why they are heritage so maybe I will stick to newer resistant varieties in future 😜 The butternut squash are ready to harvest and it looks like the melons are on the turn too, the hazelnuts have begun dropping so Mia and I have been collecting some of those and the Miribelle plums are just about ready to pick though I have only had time to pick a few so far, they are very tasty and nice firm plums, not as many with maggot as I had first thought so that’s a bonus. I still have cooking apples to pick from the tree, I managed to get all the lower ones and need a hop up to get the rest down. We had a good downpour yesterday so that has spurred on the courgettes which are still producing well.
More harvesting in the afternoon, Sue picked the butternut squash about 13 of them she thinks, I got the broccoli that she picked in the morning blanched and frozen, then after Mia went home we had fish and chips and Dad, Sue and John had an early night (all worn out lol) while I had to stay up and bake some more bread!
Wednesday: If it was busy yesterday, it’s even busier today! The sun is shinning beautifully, Dad was up early and out on the mower, John and his helper are out on the wood pile, it’s gone from a mountain to a pile now 😜 Mum also came up and did some sorting out in the garden, the powdery mildew foliage etc and some more potting up and potting on including the poor peris which has been in the same pot for at least 20 years! I have been feeding, watering, collecting eggs, putting them out for sale along with some veg and plums, putting on wash loads and hanging them out to dry, making breakfast and umpteen coffees, picked a bucketful of plums and prepped some pears for the freezer, I feel exhausted already and it’s only 10am! Sue is up the ladder as I type picking the rest of the cooking apples, I may have to make this a yearly event 😀
I have the consultant this afternoon so a trip to Oxford, goodness knows what time we will get back it depends on the traffic which is usually diabolical.
Well that was a successful consultation, they agreed with what I thought was still going on and have increased my meds so that should knock the last bit of activity on the head hopefully, although I’m back to fortnightly blood tests it’s a small inconvenience I can put up with.
Sue had the dinner under control by the time we got back (cottage pie) so I can relax this evening 😀
Thursday: Sunny again although much cooler first thing and another hugely busy day, Dad has carried on topping the fields where he can, some of it has not been grazed and is long and wet, the horse will have to graze that bit off I think, John sharpened the blade first thing so he could get going. Sue has been helping John and I get the new hut ready with electric fencing, Dad and John moved it into position with the tractor last night. She has also been up the apple tree picking again 😀 John has been busy with his helper and the side area is nearly clear of wood and debris 😀 I have no idea what I have been doing mostly running around like a blue arsed fly 🤪 Then John went to power wash the pen where the POL that are arriving this afternoon will live and it’s FULL of red mite, so they won’t be going in there after all, he had to quickly do a bit of creosoting to try and contain them. Honestly it really makes you want to throw in the towel! We had to search for the Apple picker before Sue could start again today as she couldn’t remember where she put it, eventually we found it up the tree 🤣🤣🤣 And like my writing today my head is all over the place 🤪🤪🤪
And then the chickens arrived on time at 3pm. I also have Mia today for a few hours, I don’t normally on a Thursday it’s a one off but luckily she was fairly tired and had a sleep for a couple of hours, Shelley, Josh and Flo popped in and made a few cups of tea, Josh helped me with the egg collecting and feeding.
Friday: Sunny but chilly this morning, there is a cold breeze. Dad and Sue are having a day off from working today lol, they came for a holiday and have been working every day, I think they have enjoyed it though. Johns helper is on his last day and the side is nearly clear 😀 John had to pop out first thing to do a job that was outstanding but he is back now and straight back at it. The new chickens have come out of the hut this morning, not sure what they make of it all, hopefully they love it enough to start laying soon. I have been busy doing the usual feeding and putting veg and fruit out for sale, bacon sarnies, coffee etc etc. I really need to think about packing as we are off on Sunday morning but there are lists to write and things to tidy up as well before we go.
Yesterday I came across a notification about new a animal license law which comes into effect on 1st October apparently you need to have a license to sell animals, including birds, if you are running it as a business. Not sure what happens if you don’t have internet access because I did not know about it through any other means than Facebook! Anyhow we have decided to stop selling hens as it will cost to buy the license and the act is 96 pages long, I only got to page 30 something and thought, bugger that, I can do without the hassle 😀 It’s a shame because it won’t stop the puppy farms etc all it will do is cost more for the people who do it properly anyway or make them give up because it’s too much paperwork for the small amount you are selling.
I decided, after watching a programme about learning a new language and it helping your brain, that I would learn Spanish lol, I found a great little app, and it’s surprising how much I recognise just from travelling and life in general I suppose, I will be able to practice some of it next week hopefully 😀
Saturday: Raining this morning but that’s ok as we have worked hard outside all week. Dad and Sue had breakfast and then left to return to Wales which some bags of goodies for their hard work, jam, chutney, plums, beans and potatoes, John did the feeding then went to sort his Mum out, I did the orchard lot then waved Sue and Dad off and then did a quick hoover round and change bedsheets before starting with the packing 😝
In the days before the smallholding the routine was take the dogs to the kennels and then go 😀 these days I have to spend time making sure everything is in order and everyone knows what they need to do, it takes quite some organising so that whoever is left in charge can run the place as smoothly as possible, no doubt they are more than capable and I need not worry, indeed I shall not be 🤪
So it’s over and out for this week and Hola to Spain, plenty of relaxation, great food and a bevvy or two.
frieslandfarm (flowers) 