Month: July 2019

Posted in Friesland Farm

Twins 😍😍 and most other jobs can wait 🤪

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 22nd July: Overcast this morning but muggy, I did the morning rounds but just before that and before we let anything else out we moved the ducklings, who are now 11 weeks old, round to the duck pen where they have more space and a bath they can get in if they want too 😀 I have sold 29 of them and have 22 left which I will probably now keep so we should have a never ending supply of duck eggs in about a month or so 😀 Ducks are pretty easy to move, even if they have never been out before, because they herd easily, so job done and onto letting out the rest of the rabble.

Then on with some picking, this morning it’s French beans, courgettes, broccoli, cauliflower, some berries, broad beans and a few peas, indoors to blanch and process them for freezing keeping a few bits back for dinner later today. The courgette jam didn’t set and I was going to re boil it but I have left it a bit long and so abandoned the whole pan 😏 Will I try again hmmm maybe but as other jams are far easier probably not.

Tuesday: I am writing this on Wednesday am as we had an eventful day yesterday starting with a 4am phonecall from Sam to say her waters had gone, so we gather ourselves together and drive over. I must say it was such a lovely morning, the mist was hanging over the valley and it was cool at that time of the day. Sam and Luke went off to the hospital, John went back to do the animals and I stayed and waited for Mia to wake up, she was good, she had been prepped and all she was worried about was getting dippy eggs and toast so that what we made 😀 Sam messaged later in the morning to say that the babies had arrived and were good weights and well, she had a caesarean due to the boy being a footling breech, she is also well despite some minor hiccups. I stayed with Mia for the morning at theirs and then John picked us up and we came back to the farm so that Mia could play with Josh and Flo in the paddling pool, we took her back to hers at bath and bedtime and then I waited until Luke came home, a 17 hr shift lol, knackered was an understatement 🤪

Wednesday: I’m still knackered 😂 Mia is going to Luke’s parents today but I need to catch up with a few jobs like the ever growing courgettes, it only takes a day and boom they are marrows. We had a terrific thunderstorm in the night, it seemed to go on for a couple of hours, I woke at 3 and could see lightening through the curtains then later I could hear rain hammering down. Hopefully it won’t be as hot today as it was yesterday but we still have hot days and thunderstorms to come apparently. Sweating has taken on a whole new level these last few days, I would hate to live in a hot country and I looked forward to the cooler days that are in the distance.

Despite feeling knackered I have whizzed round with the hoover and done a bit of tidying, it’s proper clammy and I don’t know if it because it’s hot or I’m tired or both but getting narky with John over a few things 😜

We moved the ducklings and obviously John has been in charge because I wasn’t here or otherwise occupied with Mia, anyhow he says this morning that they are not eating any food and diving off to the end of the pen and staying there all day, firstly I note that he has just poured more food on top of the stuff they already haven’t eaten then instead of seeing a problem and rectifying it he decided to get the tractor out and start on something else 🙄 after words 🤪 we sectioned off the pen to keep them up near the food and water and hope they will get more confident. Yesterday when I got back in the afternoon, bearing in mind it was boiling, I checked with him that he had fed the torts and rabbits, no I don’t usually do that you do, yes but I wasn’t here was I 😬 another word exchange. Again in the afternoon yesterday he decided he would go an have a nap because he had been up since 4am YES PAL SO HAVE I, I know it’s not all men so I won’t put that label on it but oooosshh sometimes I could slap him lol, that said he has done a sterling job at everything else and everyone has their limits of thoughtfulness I guess 😛

We went to the hospital to visit and get our grandparent fix 😍😍 they are beautiful of course, when we came back we didn’t do much but nap, then some shopping later on in the evening before popping into Mums to give her an update. It’s a bit cooler tonight but not much. I watered the tunnels, the plants are like triffids at this time of year and taking up lots of water to keep them going.

Thursday: Well today was set to break the record for the hottest recorded temperature but I have been inside all day so I have no idea how hot it is out there. I got up at 5 and got on with watering the tunnels and picking courgettes, French beans and the first picking of runner beans, I fed the torts and rabbits while John did the rest. When I had finished I came inside about 8am closed all the windows and shut all the curtains and it has been fairly cool in here, I haven’t even had the fan on. I have got dinner in the slow cooker as I figured that would give off less heat than anything else and am feeling pretty comfortable. I had Josh and Flo for an hour this morning but the rest of the day I haven’t done anything at all except read and watch the news 😁 We did have a short burst of rain mid afternoon, it lasted about 2 seconds!

In the evening we went over to visit Sam, Luke and the kiddies as they have been discharged from hospital, we took the dog back, he has been staying here while events took place, I think the kittens will be glad he is gone 🤣 he likes to chase them so we haven’t seen much of them over the last few days.

Friday: Oooo so much cooler this morning after a very warm night, I got up and on with watering the tunnels, feeding etc John did the main of the feeding before going to work, I did a few domestic bits and sorted out some plants to put out for sale.

I hadn’t planned on it but I ended up going over to Sams and helping out and let’s face it I’d rather be helping out with Mia and the twins than doing stuff here 😂

Saturday: We had Josh for a sleepover last night so John did the animals as it was raining and Josh didn’t have his coat with him. Typical that it rained as we had planned to do some repairs to the driveway, over the years a hole has got bigger and bigger until it couldn’t be ignored anymore. We gave the customers a weeks notice that the drive would be shut and there would be no egg sales, the hole was right in front of the gateway so it had to be shut off. It stopped raining about 10am so John cracked on with getting that down while Josh and I did some tidying up in the covered back area. We went to see how Grampy was getting on and Josh stood straight in the wet concrete 🤣 I have now put a notice on the gate saying closed until 8am tomorrow, it will be nice to have peace and quiet, the dogs usually bark every time someone comes to get eggs 😀

After Josh went home John and I cleaned and tided the covered back area, it’s now an open space again (ready for dumping more stuff down probably 🤣) John burnt some rubbish and I gave the dogs a brush, Mia needed it most, she is long haired and a ‘fox poo roller’, Patch keeps fairly clean. John fed the birds and did the eggs while I picked courgettes and French beans, some beans went out for sale and some were prepped for the freezer, I picked a few tomatoes as well, they are delicious and it’s about the only time of year I eat them, I rarely get shop bought ones they just don’t have the taste of home grown ones.

It feels ludicrously cold tonight compared to the middle of the week, it’s at least 10 degrees cooler this evening than the night before last.

Sunday: Up and doing the usual rounds then we went out for breakfast with Shelley, Martin, Josh and Flo, came back and then I messaged Sam to see if she needed any help and while John went to visit his Mum I went to give Sam and Luke a hand, it’s like a tag team 😂 still no definite names to announce yet but they are trialing the two names that Mia has chosen lol.

Hopefully next week they will have names and I can show you some photos 😍😍

LATE EDIT: Lucie and George 😀😀

I am very sorry but I have been having real problems uploading photos to the blog for a couple of weeks now and not really had time to sort out why it’s happening, hang on in there and I will hopefully sort it soon 😀 thanks for reading.

Posted in Friesland Farm

A fledgling, a rat, hopscotch and turkeys 😜

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday again! 15th July: A pleasant enough overcast morning so great for me to get some stuff done. I mostly did picking and weeding, courgettes, French beans, broccoli , a pepper 😀 some cucumbers, raspberries, a few strawberries and blueberries and some flowers for the kitchen. I potted up a few strawberry runners for next year and pulled up the onions and garlic. I have no idea what I was thinking was with the garlic as there are only 6 lol, that won’t keep us going very long. I only have about 15 onions but that’s fine because I have welsh onion, which is perpetual and babbington leeks which are also perpetual. The welsh onion and the bab leeks have seeded so I collected those to grow some more next year, with the welsh onion you just pull what you need and they grow like bunch onion so more will grow and the leeks you just cut off at the base and they will regrow 😀

Then I decided that before the sun made an appearance I would cut back some grass areas with the ride on mower, well it started fine and I got it out of the stable block to where I wanted it, engaged the cutter and it stopped 😜 I couldn’t get it going again so I sat for a while waiting for it to do whatever it was thinking of doing and hoping by resting it that I could start it again, suddenly I heard patch yelping and some squealing (which I knew was a rat) I went round the corner, patch had a bleeding nose and the rat was dead 🙄 I took patch inside, cleaned his nose with, dettol, then hibiscrub then I sprayed it with purple spray, moved the rat to the burning barrel, went back to the mower and it started 😀 Patch 1 rat 0, Dawn 1 grass 0 I call that a successful morning.

The Sun appeared so that will do outside for now unless it clouds over again.

Tuesday: John was up late! That meant I was on my own this morning and the Sun was already out 🙄 I didn’t mind though and quite enjoyed myself, making sure everything was well fed, watered and clean and tidy as I went. I did a bit of watering in the tunnels and that was pretty much it as the skies were blue and not a cloud in sight. Sam and Mia came over and we went to visit Charlie and Macca who have a week off work, then we met Shelley, Josh and Flo at the shake shop before coming back here for the afternoon.

Did a bit of grass cutting in the evening and watched the partial eclipse of the blood moon.

We also had a very tiny chap appear right by the back door late evening, seemed too small to be out but we couldn’t find any sign of a parent bird so I put it in a box in the greenhouse and will let it out first thing in the morning, hopefully it will make it, I think it’s a baby goldfinch judging by its beak and a tiny flash of yellow on its wing.

Wednesday: First job of the day was to let the little bird out, I put it back where I found it, went in to make tea and when I came back out it was gone 😀 The general advice if you find a fledgling is to leave it alone, this was late in the evening and it was at ground level so I was worried it wouldn’t make it alive through the night so I did what I thought was the best thing for it and hopefully it will thrive.

It’s overcast but muggy this morning, it meant I could get on though so I did a bit of hoeing, raking and tidying up. Then I put up a temporary fence between the orchard and the garden so that I could let the younger light Sussex out into the orchard to scratch and forage which is what I had always intended they should do. We had a temporary fence there before but eventually it fell over so I took it up and it has taken me this long to put one back 😜 The weeds have grown high in there so I might as well make use of the birds to clear it, save me doing it.

I picked another load of courgettes 😝 I gave most of them to the young birds to peck away at but kept some as I intend to use them for cake and jam.

I had the best of intentions to make cake and jam however I used all the sugar I had in the jam 🙄 so no cake today, I made flapjack instead and that nearly didn’t happen as I had no syrup but I substituted maple syrup and treacle instead. The maple syrup was too runny on its own so I figured sticky treacle would help, its cooking at the minute I will let you know how it tastes later. The jam smells amazing, that’s the grated lemon rind that goes in but I’m thinking this will be a lovely light flavoured jam, it has to sit for a few hours for the courgette to absorb the sugar and lemon flavour so I will boil it up later on and see how it tastes.

I made bread as well today.

So I have boiled the jam and jarred it up but even though it reach the right temperature I can’t see it setting somehow, we will wait and see.

Thursday: It rained a little overnight, not much but enough for a wetting and again it will liven things up a bit plus keep the dust down. The jam didn’t set, I followed the recipe but I kind of knew it wasn’t going to, I couldn’t t see it being thick enough I should have followed my instinct and not added the water, courgettes are wet enough as it is. I have some added pectin sugar and may try boiling it up again with some of that in and see how it goes, if it doesn’t work that’s a bit fat fail 😜

I have Mia today while Sam goes for a scan and to see the consultant, she is now 36 weeks and huge, poor girl, she is only 5ft 1” so it’s quite a weight for her to carry around, although she is looking very well apart from that and swollen feet. Hopefully they will give her a date today as she is having a section due to the lowest baby being breech. It will be ‘all hands on deck’ when the time comes, one baby is enough to look after especially when you already have a toddler but two, that’s a whole new ball game 🤪

I showed Mia how to play hopscotch 😀 and we watched a caterpillar crawl and crawl and crawl, Mum came over and did some bits in the garden 😀 Once Sam had picked up Mia I went out and collected the eggs etc and then I went to water the polytunnel. The minute I had turned on the hose and walked into the tunnel the Sun, which has been absent most of the day, decided to blaze 🙄 it was boiling in there 🥵 and I had to crouch and hide behind any available foliage I could find 😜 You may wonder why I was watering so early (4.30) well I am going out for dinner with my girlfriends tonight (yes I have friends lol) and won’t have time later I also need a bit of time to make myself look acceptable for a rare public appearance 🤪

Friday: It’s raining this morning 😀 not a downpour but steady enough to get you wet which is very welcome. John did the animals so all I had to do was get some feed for the rabbits and torts, job done by 7.40 lol. I have a bit of paperwork I can get done today and also have a haircut, it’s got long and driving me mad so I think I will get it all chopped off.

Finally some proper rain, grey, cold, depressing looking day, lovely jubbly, I’m not a killjoy it’s just that the ground was in desperate need not to mention the water tanks 😜 The dogs have confined themselves to the boot room and I shall be doing indoor stuff like paperwork, filing, freezing produce, possibly some cooking and some cleaning without feeling guilty that I should be outside working lol.

I had the hair cut and blow dried and I did say ‘you know it is probably the only time it will look that good’ as I am not very good at blowdrying lol anyhow before long I was outside doing the animals it started raining and boom frizz bomb hair 🤣

As the weather had already ruined the look I carried on outside, this time of the year is the best time to dig up the ragwort, it stands out splendidly and is easily spotted. We don’t have much of it, I pulled about 20 lots over the whole 5 acres, it’s biennial so it grows the first year and flowers the next, it doesn’t spread fast unless you let it go to seed, failure to prevent the spread of ragwort is a criminal offence and can land you in court, I would say that the local councils seem oblivious to this ruling though as they never seem to clear their verges 🙄

Saturday: Up fairly early, John did the animals while I sorted out clothing for today I am off to the Fantasy Forest Festival 😀 I have to pack for every eventuality 😜 find loose but cover all clothing 🤪 pack sunscreen, uv clothing and umbrella in case it’s very sunny, and all the other usual stuff too. John meanwhile will be busy on the cement mixer concreting the hen shed in the front paddock ready for the arrival of new hens. We did contemplate concreting it when we first converted it and decided not to but we should have as now we are having to do it anyway.

The fantasy festival was fabulous what more can I say, the costumes on some were amazing, real labours of love and we loved the eclectic mix of people that all mingled with a happy disposition that gave the festival a great feel.

Sunday: Exciting day today as we pick up the turkey poults 😀 6 x 6 week old Red Bourbon turkeys, we have always talked about getting some but never have and then the opportunity arose this year so we jumped in with both feet. Before we went to collect them the animals needed feeding and letting out and I did a bit of picking as well, French beans and some tomatoes plus a basket full of courgettes 🙄

Turkeys collected and we housed them in the spare rabbit pen for the time being, there is plenty of room in there, it’s under cover so hopefully they will be very happy for a few weeks until we let them out to free range.

The temps are set to climb pretty high next week, 34c oh my goodness that’s hot for this country lol, I will be planning to get up very early and get done so that I can hide inside in the cool for the rest of the day 🥵🥵

If you have never been to the UK and live in a much hotter country than ours I apologise if I sound like a wimp lol I guess it’s just what you get used to 😀

Posted in Friesland Farm

Found me Mojo, the kittens explore & ‘crappy to happy’

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 8th July: John is at home today and so he did the morning rounds and then went off to get feed, it meant that I could get straight on with the job of the day, housework 😜 not just a quick flick of the duster and a whizz with the hoover but strip the sofa covers and bed covers and wash them all then hoover and polish everything to within an inch of its life. This was it, I had committed myself and taken the plunge 🙄 I only actually managed the bathroom, living room and bedroom fully before feeling exhausted, those sofa covers are heavy and cumbersome and hard work, the kitchen got a hoover and a wipe round and the floor washed and there is still the boot room and office to do but they can wait until another day. Around lunchtime because that was enough housework for anyone lol, I prepped, blanched and open froze, the carrots, broad beans, turnip, peas and potatoes that I picked yesterday and didn’t use for dinner last night. Potatoes are something I haven’t frozen before so I did a bit of reading up about it, but as John pointed out chips come frozen so they should be fine. I wanted to use them all as I ran out halfway through winter last year and then had to buy them from the shop although by that time I did have a bucket full of small ones all sprouting like they do. The bigger potatoes are safely in dark potato bags hanging in the boot room but if I did that with the tiny ones I know I wouldn’t use them so pre preparing them and freezing them will guarantee they will get used.

John has been busy as well, he is preparing the floor in the front chicken hut for concreting, we did have wood down but the rats would chew through it and eventually it became hard to clean everyday, hopefully the concrete will be much easier, although rats can still chew through it, it’s less likely 🙄

The weather is not bad today, sometimes over cast and sometimes sunny spells, great for getting those covers dry, we are forecast a spot of rain around 4pm but I won’t be holding my breath.

The kittens have been given free range out the back and I have seen them outside on the grass, they are also getting on really well with the dogs, all walking around in the boot room together with no problems, this is a first for us as usually, cat sees dog, cat runs, dog chases cat, cat leaps up high out of the way, dog sits there all day with stupid anticipation that cat will come down again for another round of chase 🤪 so, long may this new behaviour last 😉

In the afternoon we watched a bit of Wimbledon and then after dinner I went out to do some watering and picked some raspberries.

Tuesday: John was up early today and he had done all the animals before I got up, result 😀 I did have to pick for the rabbit/guineas and the torts but that’s part of weeding anyhow 😜 I did some hoeing and a bit of tidying up then picked some more blackcurrants, some to put out for sale, some to freeze for winter puddings.

I ordered a cherry ‘bush’ this is new on the market and is a bush rather than a tree, it can be kept at 5ft so my plan is to have it inside the fruit cage that way I might, just might get cherries 😀

Moving plants, that I have either grown from seed or cutting or divided, around, I realised I have got to town and now have far more than I had envisaged lol, I need to sell a few more I think.

I had Mia for a short while in the afternoon while Sam went and did a few things. We cleaned the decking area and washed the glass table top, well if you have free child labour might as well use it 😜 afterwards we had a ‘juice break’ and sat at the nice clean table.

I had a klutz moment while collecting the eggs this afternoon, I didn’t lift my leg quite high enough to get over the poultry netting and it got caught, to prevent myself for falling I quickly put the other foot on the fencing as well, unfortunately I was very close to a fence stake (these are flexible plastic stakes) which immediately bent towards me with pace and caught me just under the ear and behind the jaw bone, you know the place where you check to see if your tonsils are inflamed, I hate moments like that they make you want to cry, not so much from the fleeting pain but sheer stupidity.

I have found my flexibility is back to rusty since finishing the steroids, I don’t know what it is about them that helps so much, I guess without them there is still inflammation making tasks more difficult, I am back to doing the shuffle sometimes when getting under things rather than being able to bend low enough and gracefully scoot🙄

Wednesday: John was up early again and did the rounds so I got on with picking and watering, raspberries, artichoke and French beans today.

This morning while wandering round the garden I made the unhappy discovery that the fox had got one of my light Sussex hens, she had laid an egg in my flower bed so I’m guessing was there when the fox got her, I have no idea when during the day that was though, it must have been they day before.

Mum came over and turned a scrappy (from crappy to happy is what I am calling it )bit of garden into something lovely 😊

Some of the potatoes are collapsing and the lack of any water means I am constantly trying to revive them so today I dug one lot up, it means I won’t have any to store for winter, except self setters, but hey ho, needs must.

In the evening I did more watering lol

Thursday: We had a sprinkle of rain overnight and it really was just a sprinkle but it will perk things up a bit. Again John was up early and had the animals all done, not sure what has got into him but I’m not complaining 😀

I went into the garden and planted one of the new buddliea I bought, into the ground, it is a pink one and I have positioned it in front of the torts fence, I also planted a Mock Orange bush in the planter where potatoes normally grow as I could do with a bit of extra shade in that part of the garden. It is a big planter, a crate actually like the ones building stone or slates come in so it will easily accommodate a large bush. It is difficult getting stuff into the ground here because of the brash, when I say difficult I mean bloody hard digging so if there is another way I’m all for it 😀

I also chopped down all the weeds and stingers that have grown up in front of the compost area, I couldn’t get to it at all and now I need access as I begin to clear things away once they have gone over, I had piles of trimmings around the place and so cleared them and threw them on the compost heap.

I am a bit reluctant to clear up too much as the increase in the insects has been huge, by leaving unkempt areas, hundreds and hundreds of ladybirds 🐞 I see my little frog everyday and presume it’s the same one but it may be many 😀 I hope so they will help keep the slugs down.

Leaf cutter bee activity

Cinnabar caterpillar

One insect I have noticed seems to be rampant this year is the earwig, they were everywhere, I say were as they have now moulted and their shed skins are all over the place, I swept out the egg shed this morning which had loads of them in there. I looked up information about them and it seems they are a beneficial insect, they don’t really do a lot of damage and clear up dead and decaying material as well as aphids etc so they can stay 😀 Unusually for insects they are very good mothers apparently, they keep the eggs clean and then feed their young until they can fend for themselves, unfortunately they also eat any young that refuse to left the nest!

I was just getting into the swing of it when the sun decided to make an appearance, it’s pretty intense this time of year and I don’t want to risk another flare up so I came inside for a coffee and a write up. I am sure that sooner or later there will be days that are overcast and I can get a good shift in 😝

For dinner tonight we have our own chicken legs slowed cooked with all our own veg and herbs 😀 For dessert I have made a gooseberry clafoutis, two reasons, one because I have gooseberries to use up and two because I love the word clafoutis 😬It will taste amazing of course so I don’t need to use that as a reason 😂

I did the afternoon rounds and it was a bit weird out there, to begin with there was a nice fresh cool breeze and then it dropped, feels like a storm brewing and it’s certainly got muggy.

Friday: Got to love Fridays 💕 Just for a change I was up early too this morning 😀 My mojo had disappeared for a while but seems like it’s back again now 😜 John did the morning rounds while I put on a load of washing and hung out the washing I did the night before. This morning I have been multitasking so first off I picked the bits for the torts and rabbit/guineas, then I came in and got some bread on the go, after the first kneading I set it to prove for an hour and put the timer on, went out and did some picking, broad beans (cut back the plants at the same time) and French beans, came in weighed them out bagged them up and put them out for sale, ready for the second prove, did that and then went out to pick raspberries and peas and water the small tunnel and greenhouse, back in to put the bread in the oven, meanwhile back out to water the big poly tunnel, back in to get the bread out 😀 I did sit and have a coffee in the shade and watch the clouds, I suddenly remembered how we used to lie on the school field in summer and cloud watch, well we didn’t have phones to constantly stare at back then 🤪

While picking peas in the brassica cage I saw a cabbage white butterfly in there 😲 I have no idea how it got in as the cage is usually secure and butterfly free but after dancing around for a bit I finally caught it and unceremoniously dumped it outside!

Sitting here writing this I am vaguely aware I smell of fox, that’s because I have been picking right near the area where it took my hen from, they do leave a stink wherever they go 🙄

Update on the kittens, they are fast now, very fast and you can’t get in or out of a door before them 😂 Last night they spent their first night out in the back area, that’s because they wouldn’t come in when John had finished putting the birds to bed and brought the dogs in, so we decided they could stay out there. They have been venturing out there during the day for about a week now so they know the area, sometimes they even take a quick tour outside, I have seen them hiding under a log pile, they will get braver and braver soon. Diesel isn’t aware of them yet, mostly because he hardly comes back to the yard at the moment, we do see him down on the boundary wall so we know he is ok and he must be catching lots of rabbits or getting fed elsewhere as he hardly comes back for feeding.

The clouds are intermittent today I’m just waiting for a bit more cover before I go back out and do some more bits 😀

From time to time odd things happen here and I just had one of them this very minute! The dogs barked, they often do and it’s usually the girls or an egg customer so I didn’t look straight away. When I did look an bloke was carrying something and left it by the egg shed and drove off, I went to look and it’s a saddle?? He didn’t ring the bell or anything so I messaged my neighbour to see if she was expecting it, nope, so he has just dumped it!

Inspired by Mums planting I decided to turn another crappy area to happy, I dug in a couple of things and for the moment have stood a couple of things in place just to see if I like them there or not.

Saturday: Up fairly early and John did the animals while I sorted out the rabbit/guineas and torts, then we had a discussion about what to do, we decided on a tidy up day. That only lasted a short while as I decided to turn another crappy area into a happy one 😂 my plan was just to level the ground, cut stuff back and move the table and chairs that we use for our morning/evening coffee, however the ground levels were difficult and so we thought we might as well put a small bit of decking down so that it is all level. That means the job turned into something a little bigger than planned and John went off to get the decking.

The kittens have found their way round to the side of the house, I think mostly because that’s where we are working so they feel safe to do so, they are clambering up and over everything but having great fun doing it.

Sunday: A bit of a rest day today as far as work is concerned, John went to visit his Mum then we went shopping then over to my brothers where John did a teensy bit of plumbing, back home where Charlie, Macca, Shelley, Martin, Josh and Flo had called for a visit. Then an afternoon of F1 and Tennis, the latter is still going on lol.

Over and out for this week 😀

Posted in Friesland Farm

Picking, Strawberry jam & feathers everywhere.

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 1st July and the weeks keep rolling on 😏 A nice morning as far as I am concerned, overcast, dry and not to warm 😀 John did a couple of the bird pens before going to work and I did the rest and picked greenery for the torts and rabbits etc. Then once I had done the ‘housekeeping’ bits I got on with putting out some plants for sale and digging up some self set plants and potted them up ready for sale in a couple of weeks. After that I picked blackcurrants and gooseberries, you can tell they are ready when you disturb the blackbirds foraging underneath the bushes. I do leave enough for the birds, taking some to put out for sale and some to either freeze or make jam.

The girls and the grandchildren came for a couple of hours in the afternoon and after they went I made the blackcurrant jam.

After getting the dinner I went outside to do some more picking and the watering, I picked broad beans and rhubarb and found a courgette I had missed previously which was on the way to becoming a marrow 🙄 Everything I s coming on nicely, the tomatoes have started to form as have the peppers, there are tiny melons, no sign of cucumbers yet though. Dwarf beans are flowering and there are some squash forming, I am keeping an eye on the cherries so the birds don’t get them first, the brassicas in the cage are romping away and the potatoes are abundant, looks like a good year 😀

Tuesday: Another lovely looking morning, the sinusitis was getting better, I thought, but it had come back with a vengeance this morning 😐 thick head and all.

After doing the rounds I then collected greenery for the torts and rabbits/guineas, the rabbits etc had mainly trees and herbs this morning, lilac, hazel, willow, mint, lemon balm, fennel and a few dandelion types for good measure. The torts love the yellow flowers of all dandelion types so I went round and collected those for them today.

I noticed this morning that my nut and fruit trees are absolutely covered with ladybird larvae in different stages, fantastic 😀

I took some blueberry cuttings, I need to do something with the blueberries they are not thriving like they should and therefore the yield is not great, in fact an overhaul for the fruit cage interior is very much on the cards. I have ordered some weed membrane and intend to plant the raspberries that are in pots into the ground, it was a job I was going to do last year but didn’t get round to it, the membrane will hopefully keep most of the weeds at bay and the moisture in the ground so it will be less work in the long run.

In the afternoon, Sam, Mia, Shelley, Josh, Florence and I went to a pick your own farm to get strawberries 😀 I do not have enough of my own this year to make jam so off we went to gather some, a few kilos later and a fun afternoon and this evening I have made strawberry jam 😀 I wish I could let you smell the divine smell of it bubbling away on the hob, amazing smell 😀 A word of advice if you ever buy homemade jam, if you are dairy intolerant just check with the maker that they haven’t put butter in it. Some recipes advise a knob of butter to disperse the scum, personally I haven’t found it makes a difference and I prefer to use the back of a metal spoon to lift it off, it sticks readily to the back and can be scrapped off into a bowl. If I am making jam that is purely for our own use I don’t even bother, it looks unsightly but there is nothing wrong with it, it’s just froth really.

Normally I would make a dessert or two with the strawberries but the last two weeks John has come home with cakes made by his customers, not little cakes, full size cakes, last week a chocolate one and this week, from a different customer I might add, a lemon one. So we have cake to eat and no point making anything with the strawberries except jam lol.

I sold three more ducklings today, that’s 27 in total so not bad, I am planning on keeping 15 so have another 9 to sell.

Wednesday: Up and at it early, did the rounds then onto watering things that are in the shade, the ground is dry again due to lack of moisture. I spent a good hour or so watering things and I will have to do the rest tonight, especially the raspberries as they are small and dry not plump, so lacking in water even the ones in the ground, I never used to have this problem, only in the last couple of years. By 10 I had come in, I was feeling tired, the steroids stopped a couple of weeks ago, and once I’m tired I know I’m not going to achieve much so time to recuperate with a coffee, some cake and a sit down 😀

Blue skies mean I don’t get outside much more today, I did go back out in the evening once it had cooled down a bit and did some more watering.

The fox had a hen in the side paddock, she was out when I fed them at 4pm, I had tried to catch her but couldn’t and forgot to tell John when he came home, at about 8pm the dogs barked, but they do that a lot so we didn’t take much notice and then when John went to put the hens to bed…..feathers everywhere ☹️

Thursday: Another blue sky, sunny day on the cards so I set my alarm for 5.30, the early morning air was fresh and cool, delightful, I got plenty done before I had to come in. I didn’t water as I had done that the night before but I did a bit of weeding in the polytunnel and I harvested some potatoes, these were some I grow in a large square crate, and I leave the tiny potatoes that come off in there to go again, so in essence they are self set and I always get a good haul from them, touch wood they have never had disease either, I have been doing this for about 4 years now, maybe I should just do it for all my potatoes?

Contemplating what to do for dinner tonight, I found some frozen pizza dough I made and some passata frozen from last years tomatoes, I have mozzarella in the fridge and fresh basil, a drizzle of chilli oil that Shelley bought back from Italy so I’m good, that just leaves what to cook for John 🙄

With some of the strawberries I have left I made a simple strawberry sauce to bottle up and put in the fridge, this can be used on ice cream, in milkshakes, on pancakes or in yoghurt, whatever you want to put it on really lol. I made a batch of Greek yoghurt at the same time then I will have both things to use at the same time. I use an easiyo maker which is VERY easy to use and makes great yoghurt, one day I would like to make my own yoghurt from scratch but as only I eat eat and not that often it’s not something I have tried doing yet.

I’m getting paranoid about the crows stealing my cherries 😂 the minute I hear them out there I go out to check they are not raiding my trees. The year before last they stripped everything, cherries, pears, gooseberries so I am determined to get some this time round, I can’t imagine how farmers feels when they strip a whole crop!

Friday: I went to Josh’s sports morning first thing then we went to the new shake shop that has opened in town 😀 I’m writing this Sunday and can’t actually recall what else I did that day apart from probably watering 😜

Saturday: Overcast today, whoop, so I did a fair bit of weeding and sorting out plants for sale, generally speaking all day in the garden doing stuff. In the evening we went to a Memorial walk and family fun event, I didn’t do the walk but joined them later for the bbq and raffle. It was in aid of the Eve appeal which is a charity for research into gynaecological cancers, a very special lady, Julie, our cousin died from Vulval cancer and the event is to raise funds and awareness. Here is the link to their website if you want to know more

https://eveappeal.org.uk

It was raining when we left there it just about 4/5 miles away and when we got home, nothing 🙁 could have done with a small shower for the veg garden.

We came back with My sister and brother in law who were having a ‘quick cuppa’ a couple of hours later, we had booked a small break between us and it was time for bed lol.

Sunday: Overcast to begin with so I did a lot of picking, carrots, peas, broad beans, raspberries, turnips, potatoes. The raspberries are getting more numerous now so it makes them worth picking 😀 We are having lamb later with all our own veg seasoned with homegrown rosemary and garlic, then we will have the raspberries for dessert.

One of my cherry trees has already been raided, not the crows en mass this year but the blackbirds in covert operations from underneath, and now they have started on the morellos 😕 The problem is that they eat them just before they ripen and as cherries do not continue to ripen there is no point me picking them early, so the decision I have made is to let the birds have them, I have plenty of other fruit and I can’t keep rushing out there to shoo them off because they come straight back when I go in. Netting won’t work for the smaller birds as they go under and up, it would keep off the crows mind but they don’t seem interested this year.

The tomatoes are turning red 😀 I always feel that it’s the pinnacle of the main growing season and I have a strange sense of fulfilment 😀

The geese are moulting after their egg laying stint, it looks like a fox attack as there are feathers like this all over the farm 🤣