Month: October 2022

Posted in Friesland Farm

Pumpkin flowers, wreaths & the clock change 🫤

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 24th October 2022: Ok I have been a little tardy with the blog posts apologies for that. I am feeling very ‘meh’ about everything at certain points in the day, generally late afternoon and evening when I would usually do the write up. I am more tired than usual, it’s starts off ok in the morning but slowly goes downhill through the day. So what has been happening, well not much really, all the usual day to day stuff that goes on in anyones life, all the usual day to day stuff that goes on in Smallholding life and none of it is very interesting 😂

I have decided I need to streamline my social media pages, I have one for the farm and one for the flowers but I think I will amalgamate them in the New Year. That will give me less of a fractured approach to posting provided the amalgamation goes smoothly that is. We have some small changes afoot here, nothing major and I will write about those when the times comes. I am awaiting the inevitable instruction to fully house the poultry at some point, a surveillance zone is already in force across the UK so it’s only a matter of time.

To be honest it feels like the whole world is caving in, the bird flu is affecting thousands of species of birds across Europe and maybe further I haven’t really looked it up. This could mean extinction for some species and that’s not an over exaggeration. Watching the Frozen Planet series about the ice melt all over the world and the accelerated rate it is happening is frightening. At the rate it is going now in 200 years time the sea level will be seven metres higher 😔 They say we could still slow this down if we all lived sustainably but that is not about to happen is it? There are individuals out there doing what they can and there are bigger organisations doing what they can but when a big majority don’t think it is going to affect them and carry on regardless then things will not change. Add to that the world governments obsessed with economic growth, which is basically consumer spending and investment, fine as long as they are mindful investments and expenditures it a big proportion won’t be, and you can see we are basically screwed. Then there are those demented power crazy lunatics in charge of some of the countries, we all know who they are they don’t need clarifying with names 🙄 All in all I feel we are on a road to disaster and I can’t shake the feeling, it’s a worry to be sure.

On a lighter note the flowers are still coming, the weather has been mild which is great for the dahlias. I have been making more pumpkin arrangements and I have a farewell wreath to make this week too.

Wednesday: Oops tardy again 🙄 I have been busy though especially today, pumpkin flower arrangement made first thing this morning then out to cut lots of lovely flowers for a farewell wreath for tomorrow and then hours and hours of paperwork 🤪 Each year I make myself a promise to keep on top of it, I always used to but these days work and life take over and I don’t have the time. Not quite true of course, I could make time, the truth is it’s not a job I want to be doing but then we get to that time of year when it becomes imperative that I get it sorted. That time is now, before life gets busy with festive preparations and so that is what I have been doing, all day long. I have at least another days work to do and then John can take it all to the accountant and I can breathe a sigh of relief.

Thursday: First things first this morning, the wreath of flowers for a farewell today. This was personal as it was for Sue’s ashes internment and I was nervous about doing it but very much wanted to do it justice. I was delighted with the outcome, a beautiful and bright tribute to a life now passed. Once I had done that it was time to cut flowers for pumpkin arrangements and then more paperwork. I only had a few hours but I was determined to break the back of the income and expenditures and get things all in order. I didn’t quite make it but only have a couple more hours to do and then the books will be finished and can go to the accountant. A quick shower mid afternoon and then off to the churchyard for the internment, the sun shine beautifully and it was a lovely autumn afternoon, very mild for the time of year too. We had some refreshments afterwards at a local pub and it was great to be able to put some names to faces. Many people I had heard about over the years but never actually met, some I had spoken on the phone to but never actually met and today we were able to get to know and understand who was who and where we all slotted in to the lives of Dad and Sue.

Friday: I spent the first half of the morning doing pumpkin flowers and then finished the last few bits of the bookkeeping to go to the accountant next week ✔️ Typing this up on Sunday I actually have no idea what else I did 🤷‍♀️

Saturday: I spent most of the day sorting out dried flowers, going through them all and throwing those that had broken, bent or just didn’t look good. Once I had done that I made another dried flower wreath and then sorted out all the things I had made that I will be taking to the table top sale next week. I just about hoovered and tided when the whole tribe descended upon us, Shelley and the kids, Sam and the kids and then Charlie, Macca and Oscar 😁 The kids had been to a party and so were full of sugar 🤪 Nice to have them all at once but the volume gets a bit loud 😂

Sunday: I watered the tunnels and greenhouse this morning as I still have flowers growing in those. Then onto cutting and weaving willow wreaths ready for the workshops. I actually managed to do a time lapse video of the process. John cleaned out the ducks and then concrete the next part of the path and then we went out get some lunch. Popped into Mums on the way home for a cuppa. Have to be home earlier today as the clocks went back last night and so it will be dark around 5ish today 🫤 bye bye summer.

Weaving willow wreath bases from willow grown here on the Smallholding 🥰
Posted in Friesland Farm

Oops and oops again 🤪

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 17th October 2022: First an apology for no blog last week. It is the time of time when things have slowed down outside so there is less to say plus I felt a little under the weather and the truth is, I couldn’t be ar**d to write anything 😂

It’s a new week and I am feeling a little more chirpier though still have some nagging minor ailments hopefully they will pass soon 🙄 We did all the usual jobs last week and nothing out of the ordinary occurred, a quiet week. I did go to the city with Charlie on one of the days mind you, we had lunch and Charlie did a spot of shopping. The lunch was amazing, Charlie always manages to find the best places to eat and as she knows I would love it we went to Mowgli Street Food 😋 On a different day I went to town with Shelley and the children where we also had lunch out 😂 it’s becoming a thing 🤪

Today I have spent most of the day doing flowery things, dried flowery things to be exact and just as soon as I can get my photo skills honed they will be going up for sale on the flower page. We had also had notification of the impending avian situation, from Monday the birds will need to be kept away from wild birds. That means keeping them in a run that cannot be accessed by wild birds basically, it also means foot baths (for the humans not the birds) this prevents the transfer of any virus on footwear. There are a whole raft of implementations depending on the size of your flock and this has come a good six weeks earlier than it usually does 😔 Not doubt it will last a lot longer than normal as well, I think the big worry is that if a human with covid picks up avian influenza bacteria then 🙄 💥 the potential is real and a little bit scary to be honest.

Thursday: A wet start and one of only two times I have had to cut flowers and get a soaking 😂 I spent some of the morning tidying things away, the dried flowers are taking over a large part of the kitchen table as well as the corner and the office. I then spent an hour or so on a new project for a Christmas wreath alternative and then Charlie arrived. It was Oscars first jabs today and so I went with her as moral support but she was fine though Oscar screamed 😔 Time for a quick cup of tea before the twins arrived and that’s when I found out the Prime Minister had resigned 🙄 what an absolute shit show and a joke.

It’s Monday again already and I haven’t really written much all week long 🙄 it has been very wet at times, torrential downpours so not a lot going outing in that kind of weather. We did have some sunshine Saturday and we spent the morning cleaning the hay barn up and burning any hay that was no longer any good. We also dismantled one of the chicken laying huts as it was full of red mite, It is very demoralising not to mention expensive keeping on top of the damn things. John has been busy concreting a new path down the side of the building, the old one was a bit treacherous to say the least and this will be nice and flat with no trip hazards. Apart from doing some pumpkin flower arrangements and c couple of bouquets I have mostly been doing the dried flower things and making wreath bases for the up coming evenings in November.

I will try harder to apply myself to the blog this week I promise 🤪

Posted in Friesland Farm

It’s definitely Autumn 🍂

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 3rd October 2022: What a beautiful morning, it started off with a pink sky which bathed everything in a glow at dawn this morning and then the sun came out in glorious autumn fashion. I decided a creative morning was in order and so I gathered up plenty of foliage to make an autumn wreath to hang on the door and then made a jam jar arrangement with what was left. There is so much vibrant colour at this time of year, tones and shades of red, orange, yellow and brown, just glorious. 🍂 I then cut some asters and chrysanthemums for drying, not sure what I will do with all this dried wonderfulness but I am hooked on the process. I then decided that as it was such a beautiful day I would go for a walk around the village. At this time of year the sun is lovely but it is not strong enough to do much harm and so off I went. I get out of the house and off the farm for a bit, I get a very pleasant wander round and I fulfil my target on my activity monitor as well as boosting my step count. The hedges were audibly buzzing with bees and insects all enjoying the Ivy, I didn’t see anyone else apart from some workmen and it was so peaceful it was good for the soul.

Did a bit more playing with flowers 😂 and then some bulb planting, allium this time. They will be for cutting next year but I did plant some in the ornamental beds 😉 I think I am becoming obsessed with all things flowery 😂

I have had a thoroughly enjoyable day today 😁 I would quite like to spend my whole time doing nothing but flowers 😂 This week I have flower club again and we are doing flower arrangements in a pumpkin. At first I was like ‘hmm not my sort of thing’ but I now I am looking forward to giving it a go and besides it’s all good practice.

Tuesday: Not such a nice day today as far as the weather goes. I was waiting for a delivery today and then got an email at lunchtime to say it is not co ing until tomorrow now. I hate it when that happens, I plan the day around something and it doesn’t happen 🙄 in this case it was a big job because it was whole fresh farm reared chickens being delivered and I had planned to portion them all before freezing. One of them was going to be roasted for dinner and at the same time I would have been cooking a batch bake of cakes for the freezer so you can see why my plans were messed up lol. Now I will be doing all that tomorrow instead. I decided to sow some vegetable seeds for winter and I have ordered onion sets and garlic bulbs to plant. I have come to the conclusion that things are going to get worse rather than better so let’s make sure we can at least eat even if it means cooking on the fire pit outside 🤪 I cut flowers today as well and while I was doing that I spotted a deer sat in the paddock, it’s a bit unusual for it to be sat in broad daylight in an open field. My thought was that it was injured so I shut the dogs away and went to have a look, it let me get quite close before getting up and running off, not injured thank goodness, it was obviously just basking in the sun that happened to be out at that time.

It let me get fairly close and didn’t seem too fazed 😍

Wednesday: I did a bouquet up in the morning ready for delivery later, popped out for an hour with Sam and just after I got back my meat delivery arrived. It took me a good couple of hours to portion out four fresh, free to roam chickens. I now have plenty of different portion types of chicken in the freezer, breast, thigh, drumsticks, wings plus the carcasses and the giblets. I roasted one of them whole for dinner in the evening and I also left another whole for a different day. The carcasses went into the slow cookers along with some thyme, onion, celery and carrot to make stock for soups, gravy, stews and broth. I also bought large packs of sausages and bacon and split those into portions for ease, everything was vacpacked and that will last months in the freezer. I do it like this because it’s more cost effective, I have the freezer space and I like higher welfare products, these were from Field & Flower as they guaranteed that the meat would be sent out fresh not frozen which meant I could portion it all out.

My Mum called in for a cuppa in the afternoon and to pick up some bulbs that I had dug up, gladioli and liatris plus I gave her some new bulbs of narcissi, I have way too many😂 Most of the rest of the day was taken up with cooking the dinner and tidying up before going to flower club in the evening. We made flower arrangements in a pumpkin, I have to say they all looked really colourful all together at the end of the evening 😁

Thursday: This morning I am wondering what the heck is happening to the country at the minute, it is almost as if gremlins are causing turbulence 😂 It’s like a pile of pick up sticks, a jumbled intertwined mess that seems impossible to unpick 🙄 More unions talking of strike action, at this rate it will only be the self employed that are working. We work without the safety of sick pay, holiday pay, maternity/paternity pay or pension contributions from elsewhere, we work long hours and work hard to keep businesses going. We have no direct representative, we do all our own bookkeeping and pay tax and national insurance just like everyone else. It is more difficult to get a mortgage when you are self employed and you jump through hoops to provide the proof and paperwork they want to make sure you can make the payments. There is no one to work in your place if you are off for whatever reason so a holiday is a double whammy, no wages, no holiday pay. We are not moaning, we are a tough breed and yes we chose to be self employed and face the difficulties. We do have freedom though, we are not bound by the rules, regulations, work hours or the etiquette of the workplace. Maybe that is why we are happy 🤷‍♀️

Friday: I went out for a couple of hours with Sam and the twins, we called in to see Charlie and Oscar and I bought some pumpkins to do some arrangements in as they seem pretty popular 😁

Saturday: A lovely day, warm for October and so I did a fair amount of work outside. Pulling some stuff up that has no more to give or that will collapse at the first frost, planting up plants in the beds and some in the big tunnel which will now be a flower tunnel. Clearing, weeding, tidying are the jobs that need doing at this time of year but not too tidy, the wildlife still need a lot of it left so they can get through winter.

I have been asked to sell my wares at a local Christmas table top sale. Never having done one before I thought, oh I don’t think I can do that 😂 then I had a word with myself and thought, of course I can 🙄 I am not sure what it is, I mean I am quite happy to sell them from the sanctuary of the Smallholding but actually getting out there and doing it seems a scary thought which is ridiculous I know but there you have it 🤷‍♀️

I am babysitting Oscar tonight 🥰 that in itself will be lovely but also means I get the remote control all to myself 🤪

Sunday: Another lovely autumn day and so I spent most of the day in the garden. Plenty of tidying up and cutting back but always leaving enough cover for the wildlife overwinter in. Some planting up, some seed collecting, some seed sowing and some cutting of flowers for drying. A very pleasant days work indeed followed by a delicious roast cooked by Charlie and Macca x

Have a great week everyone x

Posted in Friesland Farm

Seed sowing, apple picking and the weather is swinging back and forth.

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 26th September 2022: Arrghh where is the year disappearing too 🙄 I will try to be a bit more efficient with writing the blog this week 😂 Today the weather is squally, windy, rainy at times with the sun occasionally appearing and definitely a tad cooler. I did think though that today would be a good day to get some washing dry and apart from one dash to retrieve it from the line I managed to get two lots dry 😁 I also planted up a few plants, three to be precise before the rain started, and I have sown some sweet pea seeds (long stem) The dinner was in the slow cookers early on, chicken stew with dumplings for John and Parmesan chicken for me. I do love this time of year, it’s when you get to reap the rewards for all the veg growing and foraging. I also made a sponge pudding which will be cooked in the microwave, I cooked down some blackberries with sugar, they went into the bottom of the pudding basin and then a basic sponge mix with added diced apple mixed in went on the top. That will take only a few minutes to cook and voila, dessert, it’s not corden bleu I know but it will be tasty and filling and that’s all that it needs to be 🥰

I checked the bulbs I planted in the big tunnel, the last time I looked a mouse or something had dug up an anemone bulbs and chewed on it 😡 but luckily it does not look as though any more have been got at. I did leave the door open so that the cats could patrol it and help out a little. It is kind of coming to the end of the cut flower season, having said that I had prepared in advance for flowers to take me up into December, chrysanthemums are ideal for this and I have them planted in tubs so that I can move them under cover if I need to. I have early spring bulbs in pots that can be forced in stages for the new year and I am much more aware of what needs to be done than I was this time last year 😂 I would say my first cut flower season has been a success, I have sold flowers and plenty of them, next year I plan to build on that by reviewing what I have learnt, honing my skills and learning more over the winter months. I have a new planner for 2023, one that means I can keep all the information in one place, what, where, when, how, who and I am looking forward to using it fully. I have thoroughly enjoyed it and my only regret is that I didn’t start years ago 🙄 It was a pretty rough introduction with the weather we have had this summer but as with veg growing, no two years are ever the same and so next year it will be different obstacles to overcome, bring on the challenge 🤪

Tuesday: Dmard bloods first thing this morning, it will be interesting to see if they show anything, been feeling quite fatigued, stiff finger joints, cramp everywhere, sore feet. I could of course just be getting old and falling apart 🤪 Once I got back I started on my project for the day, an indoor one today. Operation thermal lined curtains 😂 I will say first off that I can sew and I have in the past sewn all my curtains and fitted bedcovers. I spent a good few years sewing coats in a local factory when I left school so am well practised but I didn’t want to sew these. I wanted to do a no sew project and see how it came out and so I bought some thermal curtain lining and some stick on Velcro, it’s pretty successful! The lining does not fray so needs no seam sowing and the Velcro sticks well, so I cut it to the size I wanted, put the Velcro on and then the opposite on the back of the curtain and ta da, thermal lined curtains the easy way. The curtains are already lined and it was a toss up between buying new thermal curtains or using the curtains I have already and putting another lining on, I went for the latter. It is almost impossible to detect that I have done it, you wouldn’t know unless I showed you really. You may wonder why bother, well because every little helps as they say, plus in the summer they will work in reverse (keeping the heat out) win, win I reckon 🥰 We already had thermal door curtains for the back door and the door between the kitchen and the boot room. I got those a couple of years ago because we did have draughty spots around those doors, they don’t stay up all year but today I got them out and put them up for the winter 🥶 I rather like making sure that we are as cosy and toasty as possible for as little money as possible and as I have said before, I like to challenge myself to do better.

Wednesday: Mid afternoon sit down 😁 This morning I got the dinner ready to go in the slow cooker, the last bit of hogget from the freezer. It was a breast and I have rolled it and put in plenty of rosemary and garlic. I also made some flatbreads for my soup at lunchtime, Greek yoghurt and self raising flour, mix it up, pat it out and dry fry, easy peasy. Then I had a hair cut and after that I was able to get out side and get some work done. I have planted plants, sown seeds, dug up self seeded plantlets and potted those, dug up the scented pelargoniums (they will not survive outside) and potted those up. I have taken some cuttings of those in case the plants don’t make it through. They don’t even like being in an unheated greenhouse and so they are going to Mums as she has a conservatory 😂 There is a ton of work to do still 🤪 but I am getting there slowly, I need to write this down every day just so I know where I am at 😁 The bed that had the pelargonium has been cleared and now has direct sown seed of pink love in a mist, some daucus and something else that I have completely forgotten already. I covered the bed and hopefully they will sprout over autumn and winter and I won’t need to tend to those until next spring. There are plenty of flowers still growing but you always have to be thinking six months ahead otherwise you miss the timings. For instance I already have my dahlia tubers ordered and paid for but they won’t be delivered until next year.

Thursday: Quick sit down mid afternoon before a customer comes for their flowers. I have made lamb and sweet potato soup today in the slow cooker, left over lamb from yesterday plus anything else that needed using up, courgettes, mushrooms etc. I left the juices form the lamb last night to cool down and have taken off the solidified fat which I will freeze for roasting potatoes another day and the delicious jelly that is left behind is incorporated into the soup mix. I have sown some Ammi seeds today, picked courgettes and around 160, yes 160 eating apples from a dwarf tree that is growing in the veg garden. Wowsers, it cropped heavily this year 😁 Approx two thirds are storable so they will be wiped and dried and then wrapped individually in newspaper and stored in the apple rack in the pantry. They are delicious 😋 I had one with a chunk of Stilton for lunch.

All the apples are now sorted and those that will store are wrapped and safe in the apple rack. It’s this time of year I get my ‘squirrel’ head on 😂 I don’t know what it is but I like to start stocking up, it’s not like we live in the back of beyond or anything so I guess it is a primal trait 🤪 A well stocked pantry is a thing of beauty especially when a lot of it is home grown, it feels like a great accomplishment, bring on six foot of snow I am ready for it 🥰

Sunday: Ooops missed a couple of days lol. Friday we went out with George and Lucie to show them the fish at the garden centre and have cake of course 😁 Saturday I spent the morning doing a dried flower wreath and the afternoon dividing and potting up achillea plants ready for next spring. Today was another lovely sunny day, Charlie, Macca and Oscar came over in the morning and in the afternoon John carried on with boarding out the back area, all the gaps where the wind blows in are nearly filled now. I spent some time in the greenhouse potting up self sown rock soapwort or tumbling Ted and planting a couple of plants in the beds. I had a customer come for flowers, I have done quite a few bunches and bouquets this week and I don’t really want the season to change, the leaves are beginning to die back of lots of things 😢 I guess that is what it is all about though, the changing seasons and so we will move into the next season and who knows I may even love it.

Have a great week 😁