Author: frieslandfarm

Posted in Friesland Farm

A week to reflect and remember

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday November 5th:

Remember remember the 5th of November

gunpowder treason and plot

We see no reason why gunpowder treason

should ever be forgot.

And why not, it’s a very good excuse for a big bonfire and some amazing pyrotechnics, soup and hot dogs 😀

Years ago we used to do ‘penny for the Guy’ probably not politically correct now on soooo many levels 🤣🤣

Another morning of getting the paperwork in order and now it’s all ready to go so I can stop thinking about it, I also managed to get this years paperwork up to speed as well, go me 😀

Got the dinner sorted for later and watched the new season first episode of Outlander 😀

Then Sam and Mia arrived and we were so busy chatting I nearly forgot to light the fire 😝 it is much warmer today and so it didn’t really register.

Putting the birds tonight and one of the cats, Diesel was a proper pain in the rear, for some reason he decided I needed his company on the rounds, all very well except the birds are not used to him making an appearance like that and so were all of a twitter. He ran off in front of me to the front paddock then a cross it, then back again unnerving everyone, well one chicken wasn’t haven’t any of it and started chasing him across the paddock, never seen anything so funny 🤣

We have returned to putting a light in with the hens overnight, it’s rechargeable and runs out of battery early in the morning so they are not under light the whole time but just enough to keep laying enough eggs.

Tuesday: The morning after bonfire night and true to form it’s misty out, not as bad as I have seen it in previous years but still misty. It is also damp and looking at the forecast that will be the theme of the week 😕 rain 🌧

I have Mia today so not much will get done in the way of grown up stuff lol.

Wednesday: A rather dull and drizzly morning, temps are on the warmer side though. It was pretty windy overnight but that has settled this morning.

Once I had done a couple of indoor jobs I went out to get some bits done, in between rain showers and sun bursts, I collected a bucket full of weeds for the rabbits and moved three wheelbarrows full of muck onto the raspberries in the fruit cage. Three lots is just about all I can manage at the moment, it’s not pushing the barrow that’s the problem it’s digging into the heavy compacted pile that is hard work for my hands, so, little and often is what I will be doing until I can get John to help at the weekend. At least all the muck is now in the garden even if it is in a huge pile!

I am still working towards the forest garden and must admit that chopping and dropping is quite satisfying 😀 even chopping the tops off of the nettles and thinking, that’s a good bit of nitrogen for the soil, I am quite chuffed with how it’s all looking, to the untrained eye it looks messy 😉 but in reality it’s all good stuff for the soil with minimum effort, win, win.

Well it’s hammering down now so I abandoned outside, sat with a coffee and ordered a couple presents for the upcoming Winter festivities, I refuse to say the word until December 🤣

On a day like this I don’t really want to be getting a soaking unless it’s absolutely necessary and I need to come up with something for dinner tonight so after a rummage around in the freezer we have lamb pie. A pack of shop bought flaky pastry that has been in there for a good while, some saved, cooked lamb that would have been leftover from a roast, some swede, leeks, onions, celery, mushrooms (finely chopped, we are seeing how this goes with John, so far so good) pepper, lamb stock, a touch of mint jelly, Rosemary, 2 tomatoes (flesh only) and a dash of pontack sauce, smells fab and will hit the spot for a warming supper tonight. At this point I probably should have made something for pudding or a cake for the week but instead I thought I would have a go at something different and something I love, toffee 😀 Toffee, for me would be my last meal choice I think lol, and while I still have teeth that can chew it, I will. I used some walnuts and white choc chips and some sea salt, sprinkled it into a lightly greased oven dish then made the toffee to go on top.

I am waiting for a delivery today and get an e mail saying sorry we missed you, what! I have been here all the time, I check the crappy photo they send to prove they we here, that’s not my hedge, I check the cctv, no sign, I check for the card they left, nope, so they were in the wrong place, I email them through their website and it comes back with the dreaded demon mailer notification, bloody delivery companies, well not all but this one in particular is rubbish, thanks DPD for your great customer service…..not, and there is no other way to get in touch with them 🤬

Shelley, Josh and Flo came over and we were going to go out but it absolutely hammered down so Josh made chocolate fairy cakes instead.

Just as I literally put my wellies on to go out and do the feeding it started raining again, oh happy days, only a couple of days into winter and I’m already fed up with it, it got worse when I caught my foot in the electric netting and fell down in the mud, not a happy bunny this evening ☹️

The lamb pies were delicious 😋

Thursday: I always think it’s Friday on a Thursday, that is since Sam changed her job and my days for Mia changed, I wonder how long it will take for my brain to register it correctly again 😝 A damp but otherwise ‘non’ morning, the temps remain higher than last week so no need for early morning fire lighting. I did clean the flues out this morning though, I like to do it as regularly as possible at least until it’s lit nearly all the time, I made some bread did some hoovering, John had done all the outside and even washed, dried and put away this morning, as dinner was late last night I couldn’t be bothered to do it so left it lol. At this point I should have said well done or thank you, or should I because it’s his washing up too and so what I said was, ‘about time you haven’t done any all week’ and gave him a cheeky smile 😊

Went out to clean out the ducks in both pens and the light Sussex house, I found a round hole chewed in the bottom of the main duck shed, rats, no wonder we are not getting many duck eggs! I have decided this year to go back to old fashioned sprung traps, they can’t become immune to them 😝 like they can to the poison, besides they don’t then poison other wildlife and as long as they are placed sensibly they won’t hurt any other bird or animal. They are definitely under the shed as patch was sniffing and digging around, he is pretty good at getting them if we moved stuff and they run out, I have had a look in the stable block and they have been there also, so I have opened up one of the doors in the hope that the cats will get them, my plan was to move the ducks into a stable tonight but I will have to wait. Luckily we have a spare hut in the duck pen which I can put them in tonight, there are signs of rat activity there too as it’s only a few feet away but I will need to tackle one hut at a time. Even a concrete floor doesn’t stop them, in the end they chew through that as well!

I have ordered multiple traps 😀 and mouse traps too as the one in the poly tunnel is too big for the mouse, it stole the Camembert and didn’t set the trap off ☹️

I also spent an hour researching heated propagator tables/cables/mats etc to hopefully have more success with germinating more difficult things next year. I did think about building a table but that would be bulky and heavy, so then I thought I would look at the mats that you can use on the bench with polystyrene under, I thought that would be a better way to go because it can be put away once the weather warms up and stabilises. Then you have to be careful about what kind of plug it comes with, European or UK and what sort of wattage it puts out and if it comes with a thermometer or not, lol lots to think about. In the end I went for a UK manufactured one with a thermostat, though I have no idea what the wattage is as it did it say but I’m guessing it’s going to be around the temp I need so I will work with whatever it is. All the while I have been on here I have had the company of a tiny ‘money spider’ its keeps on walking round the edge of the iPad, then occasionally on my hand, I flick it off, it comes back round, do you think it’s trying to tell me something 😀

The wind has picked up a bit, that’s good it might dry out the wet mud and reduce my chances of slipping over again later 🤪

The spider is busy spinning threads 🕷 it’s quite fascinating to watch, it attached a thread to the iPad from somewhere in the air, I broke it, it went to collect the end and re attach it, so I broke it again and off it went to do it all over again.

John was at the hospital last night so it was me putting the birds away, normally this is pretty easy as they all know where they are going, except tonight because I shut off the duck shed to put the traps in there and opened up the other shed. They have been in there previously so you would think that as that was the only option available to them they would meander in there easily………nope, I tried for more than half an hour, with the daylight slowing slipping into darkness. The problem was they kept splitting off into multiple groups while I was trying to gently herd them towards the open door, well I got crossed and crosser lol, in the end I phoned John to see how long he would be as it would be easier with two, he was just coming up the lane, so I carried on trying and literally just as he got through the gate the buggers went in 😛😛😛

Friday: Gale force winds and rain forecast for later today, lovely 😕 Not bad this morning though, slightly colder but not too bad. The rat traps didn’t catch anything overnight but then I did it really expect them too, rats are cagey about anything different so it might take a while.

Did a few bits indoors then went out and fed the horse and the rabbits, checked the traps again (nothing yet)

I brought all the remaining seeds in from the greenhouse, I will keep them indoors over winter so they don’t get damp, I sorted them out and actually have a long list of seeds I already have, either left over, saved, free from magazines or bought in this year and not used, looks like I won’t need to get many more at all.

Well not sure what weather I was listening to when I picked up on gale force winds but it obviously wasn’t for our area 🤣 thank goodness because I hate high winds, everything creaks and groans and bangs about and it’s always at night!

Did the feeding and egg collecting a bit early as Mia is coming to stay overnight while Mummy and Daddy have a weekend away for a birthday treat, I only have her one night as she will go to her other grandparents for the next night.

Well the wind did pick up and it was quite gusty, it bought a tree down in the later further along from us.

Saturday: John did the animals this morning while I sorted Mia out with breakfast and dressing etc.

The sky came over very black midday, looks like it’s going to hammer down John said, and it did, it looked like someone was just throwing buckets of water at the window lol.

Yesterday I discovered black and white feathers in the garden, my light Sussex, and I am well peed off to find that there are only 7 out of 10 there grrrrr, they will have to be confined to the orchard for a while now, I don’t want to lose any more 😤

I haven’t checked the traps this morning I will do it later and I have more traps to bait and put down.

John goes off with a list to get some shopping while I lit the fire, no point doing anything outside might as well cosy up and hunker down. I had literally just got the fire going well when the electric went off, ffs 🤬 is nothing ever straight forward round here! I tried resetting it twice, well first I had to climb on a chair with the torch, then get back down as I needed my glasses to see, no luck so I put some wet weather gear on and go check all the outside fuse boxes and unplug/turn off anything that might have tripped it, yep a plug to the pump connected to the rain collectors, at least I worked it out. I am getting tired of the things that don’t work as they should round here I think it’s either time to move or time to build something more substantial, I can’t decide which at the moment 🤪

And then John comes home and asks me if I have been having a sleep 😬 he is always the positive to my negative, just think on the bright side he said, some people don’t even have electricity…….true. It’s not the lack of electric that worries me, I could manage easily enough but the fire needs the pump to take the heated water away from the boiler, the fire is lit, heating the water hotter and hotter and there is nothing to move it away, that’s the problem, it has plenty of safety features on it just in case that happens but still I have heard of people who have ‘cooked’ their rayburns like that.

Sunday: November 11th, The week started with a Remember, Remember and fittingly it ends with one, after doing the feeding etc we went out for coffee and pastries, then joined a couple of hundred people for the Remembrance service, last post and two minutes silence at the Town Hall. Good to see that many people turn out to honour those that fought for our freedom, I think they would feel humbled to know that we still honour them 100 years on and all those who fought in conflicts since then too. We also should not forget the huge numbers of animals, around 16 million, that also served in various ways including, Horses, donkeys, mules and camels, cats and dogs (to keep the mice and rats down in the trenches) pigeons and canaries.

To all those who served and especially to those who paid the ultimate sacrifice, WE REMEMBER YOU AND THANK YOU

Posted in Friesland Farm

Winters here ❄️ Samhain & a disappointing sweet potato haul.

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 29th October: Winter arrived with a bang this weekend and this morning it’s cold with a widespread hard frost brrrr. We were up early of course because the body clock doesn’t fall back along with the digital ones 😜 We have the usual ‘well it’s really an hour later’ conversations during the first few days until it all settles down.

One of the things I love to see in Autumn is the phenomenon of leaves falling all at once, this happens after a cold frosty night then when the sun hits the tree all the leaves fall at the same time, mostly on Ash trees I’ve noticed but it happens on others too just not in the same quantity, it’s like Autumns confetti 😀

There were some overripe bananas at Johns Mums that she won’t be using so this morning I have made a banana and Nutella cake, I have put a couple of the bananas in the freezer for easy banana ice cream if and when I need some. If you have never tried it then it’s a great way to use them, basically freeze them, then blitz them in a processor, either eat it there and then or re freeze it for a firmer ice cream, that’s it, no other ingredients necessary and it’s pretty good 😀

I lit the Rayburn while waiting for the cake to cook, since John insulated it the Sun no longer warms the place up like it used to, insulation is a double edged sword here, and that doesn’t even include the lack of a mobile signal because of it lol.

I need to get outside and clean out the duck pens this morning but I am waiting for the sun to defrost everything first, hence baking first thing, plus it warms up the kitchen a bit as we don’t have instant heating it can be a tad cold. I have now let all the orchard birds except the quail, out to free range on the veg garden, ducks and light Sussex all doing a great job of bug control, weed clearing and manuring 😀

I ran out of reasons to not go outside and so eventually went out to put fresh bedding in the orchard pens and cages, big mistake wearing woolly gloves to move straw about 😜 I was in the middle of it all when I heard the alarm call go up and the birds all start getting in a flap, I thought it was the Fox but nope, one of them had knocked over the wheelbarrow, and that’s all it takes for mayhem to begin 😝

It was actually quite pleasant in the sunshine to be fair and it’s a nice feeling to have cosied up all the nesting/sleeping areas for everyone even if it won’t stay clean very long!

I decided to make a start on the office now I have room to put stuff, so my sewing machine and paraphernalia has now got a home where I can get to it in the spare room. Whilst tidying and going through stuff I found all-sorts I had forgotten about, not least my college certificates etc, I got a distinction in organic gardening I had completely forgotten about that lol, there are essays and assignments for various subjects and lots of certificates I had long since forgotten about. I found diaries from 1908 & 1941 from a local farm, mostly illegible handwriting and mostly a log of the weather, cows calved and other general farming stuff by the looks of it, you would have to go through page by page to see if there were any titbits in there, not even a mention of the war as far as I can see, except a female employee left after 14 years working for him, presumably for the war effort.

I haven’t quite finished in there yet I still have reams of old paperwork to go through and throw away, I am aiming to get the filing cabinet looking neat, tidy and properly organised 😀

And what the heck do you do with a box full of technological cables? I have no idea what most of them are, everything we have plugged in or connected works fine so I’m guessing I don’t need all this other stuff but where do you take it?

Tuesday: Cold, windy but not frosty this morning, no Sun but a bit of rain first thing. I have Mia today so not much in the way of work will get done.

I am still having a few problems with my hands at the end of the day, I’m still not sure what it is by they get stiff and slightly painful in a couple of areas, one thought is the way I hold the iPad so I might stay off of it today and see if it makes a difference.

Just waiting for Mia to wake up from her afternoon nap, we have had a busy day playing 😀

I’ve done all the little jobs I can find and can’t start anything major as she is just as likely to wake up halfway through doing it lol. So thinking is the order of the moment and I was thinking back to something my sister said at the weekend, I gave her some Walnuts which I have not for out for sale as they are a bit hit and miss as to wether they are shrivelled or not. I was explaining that I didn’t want to charge a couple of quid for them if people found that half were no good, crack em open and sell them then she said, doh, why did I not think of that, so I think that’s what I will do, obviously it will take up some time but at least I won’t be wondering what to do with them all 😊

Wednesday: Made a schoolboy error last night saying to John ‘oh I don’t think it is going to freeze tonight, too much cloud cover’ wrong, very wrong! According to the met office the overnight temps in Oxfordshire went down to around -4 😝 It matters because we did not do the water buckets last night and this morning everything is frozen solid so I won’t be able to top them up until its thawed out a bit, hope the sun comes out soon. Also I let the fire go out around 6 last night because it got quite warm in here so this morning it’s only about 15c indoors which is a tad chilly!

I got some venison steaks out of the freezer for dinner tonight, I had forgotten they were in there, we don’t have it very often once every couple of years really but they will be nice pan fried and I will do some caramelised onions to go with them and chips 😀 I fancy chips today.

Had a split fitting on one of the outside taps and water spraying out everywhere so will need to get John to repair that when he comes home as it’s the only water down in the side paddock, good job I am married to a plumber 😀

Today of course it’s Halloween, the beginning of Samhain, as I say every year we do not get trick or treaters up here far too dark and out of the way 👻 I may persuade John to go and visit Charlie and Macca who have spooked up their house ready. I loved it when we lived in town and the kids knocked on the door all dressed up, I have been known to dress up to greet them 😀 And we have had a few great Halloween parties here in the past with carving competitions, pumpkin recipe competitions, we haven’t had one for a few years now but maybe next year now the grandchildren are getting old enough to stay up a bit longer.

Diesel showed up this morning, he has been awol for about a week, definitely getting fed elsewhere 😝

I went out with my Neighbour mid morning to a farm not too far away that sells it’s veg, quite a range of it too, brassicas, root veg, squashes a good selection, the details can be found on the Oxfordshire Smallholders Business and services page. After that we went to Millets farm for a coffee and a quick look round. I was surprised to read that most of their fresh produce was sourced within a 50mile radius. Millets started off as a small market garden and is now a big concern so good to see that their values are still well grounded.

Thursday: A wet, dull, misty morning, just like November should be 😝 John has let everything out and fed most of them just the rabbits to do, I will wait until the rain slows down a bit. We needed it because yet again we have gone weeks without very much at all and everything is bone dry, for a country that is know for the rain it has been very absent over the last 6 months.

Over an hour and a half later and it’s still raining so I still haven’t gone outside 😝 but I have been busy. Shelley bought over her pumpkin seeds, I am assuming she used the flesh, I have washed them and some of them I have dried and put aside to dry further for planting next year and some of them I have boiled in salt water for 10 mins, tossed them in oil, salt and pepper and they are roasting in the oven for 10 mins, tasty snack. You could make them sweet with sugar and butter but I thought savoury would be healthier. I have also prepared the venison for the slow cooker as I didn’t get round to cooking it last night, we had eggs instead. One of the things I need to do is organise the dinner first thing in the morning because I’m finding that once I have done the afternoon rounds, then gone out and shut everything in at dark, the last thing I want to do is turn round and prep everything for dinner, so if I do it all in the morning when energy levels are higher then it shouldn’t be a problem lol.

I fried some onions, garlic and celery, browned the venison, added a dash of Worcester sauce, salt and pepper and some beef stock, I will add potatoes and carrots later on during the cooking process.

I have just tasted the pumpkin seeds mmmm they are very tasty and easy to do really, I can see me picking at these all day 😀

Went over with Sam and Mia to see my Mum for coffee, Shelley, Josh and Flo came too.

Lit the Rayburn when I got back, I had already prepared it in the morning so it was a case of just lighting it, it’s not so cold today so didn’t need an early morning firing up.

I started de-shelling the walnuts in order to sell them but I realised it is going to take a lot to make up a decent weight to sell so I probably won’t bother and will just shell them for my own use.

Friday: Cold hard frost this morning again, but the sun is shinning too so it might be a nice day as long as you are not in the shade lol.

I keep forgetting to move my orange and lemon tree into the poly tunnel, I really need to do that unless it’s already too late which I will greatly chastise myself for.

I have some onion sets that normally I would put in over Winter but in all honestly they are not harvested much earlier than the spring sets so I’m thinking I will leave it, less to worry about and it also means that the ground I was going to use can have a good layer of manure instead. The courgette plants have now collapsed in dramatic style due to the freezing temperatures and my plan is to just leave them there to be incorporated back into the ground, that is what I am aiming to do with most of the annual plants.

I have gone back to writing a list otherwise I walk past something and think, I must sort that, then completely forget about it until next time I walk past it and the whole cycle starts again 😜

I was all geared up to go outside and get started but after looking out there again I decided to do some bits indoors and let the Sun warm up the ground a bit more first. I can easily keep my body warm it’s the extremities that suffer so I will wait 😀

I bought some ginger the other day with the intention of making some stem ginger, I just wanted some in the cupboard in case I need it. I am not a huge lover of ginger, unlike my Mum who adores it, but I like a hint of it in certain things. Of course the ideal would be to grow it but although I have managed to get it to sprout some greenery that’s as far as it had got never mind multiplying and producing more.

While I was waiting for the ginger syrup to boil I had a look at the pear liqueur I made a couple of months ago, and a little taste, oh my days, that is seriously good and I found myself wishing I had made a whole lot more 😀 (on the list for next year) it still has few more weeks to mature but it is a divine taste of Winter/Christmas and will definitely warm the cockles after a cold day outside.

I went out at 9.30, not too bad by then, I got stuck into some work to keep me warm, the sweet potato foliage had collapsed and so time to see what was underneath, 😝🤪😖😕 not a bloody lot! The sum total of four piddly tubers 😖 I will keep those and dry them and use them next year, I need to do a whole lot of reading up about them because I’m not getting anything despite trying different methods and locations each year. Once everything was cleared, I barrowed 3 lots of manure in there and filled up one of the beds and two recycle bins. Then onto the task of moving the citrus trees back into the big tunnel, first I put down some black membrane, then got the trees in and stood them on bubble wrap on top of it, then made what I can only describe as a bubble wrap tent 😀 They need to be protected from the cold ground and the cold air but they also need to be able to breathe in case they sweat and create moisture, hopefully I have done enough but you never know.

I had a look round the garden and the chickens and ducks are doing a great job of weeding 😀 definitely a good plan. There is still plenty to do out there but I need a bit of a hand with the heavy stuff so will wait until John has a spare minute which is a bit rare at the moment.

Saturday: A non weather morning lol, not raining, not sunny, not windy, not frosty, not cold!

John did all the animals except the quail and rabbits which I did a bit later on, I gave the rabbits some greens this morning which they were happy to have, I have found it more difficult to supply them solely on forage now the weather has turned. I like the whole idea of tree hay etc but in practice you need somewhere damp free to store it and the barns all have metal roofs which condensate so they are not moisture free. John went off to get some feed and sawdust so I got a loaf of bread on the go, a batch of shortbread cookies, and some chuck it all in soup 😀 onions, leeks, potato, mushroom, garlic salt, pepper, a couple of leaves of parsley and one of the vegetable freezer stocks I made earlier in the year, I will see what else it needs when it’s nearly done.

The car passed its MOT 😀

Had Josh in the afternoon while Shelley, Charlie and Flo went to visit Johns Mum.

In the evening I had a phone all from Shelley to say she was passing ours in the lane and a large white dog was loose, I grabbed a torch and a lead and she came to get me but we couldn’t find it as it had run off over the fields ☹️ I hope the owner finds their dog.

Sunday: Raining! Blooming typical because yesterday it was dry all day but what with one thing and another we didn’t get the outside jobs done that I wanted to. Still a drop of wet stuff wasn’t going to stop me today and I wouldn’t be letting it stop John either 😜 I wanted the front muck heaped turned, broken up and put on the garden so John got on with that. Meanwhile I burnt some paper rubbish, tidied some things away from the back undercover area, put some membrane down in the big tunnel and set a mousetrap in the small tunnel. I had deliberately filled in the hole in the compost to see if it got dug back out and yep there was another neat little hole. I want to put the peas in here overwinter so the mouse has to go 😖

In the afternoon, John cleaned out his van which took 2 hours! I am not going to let it get like that again are famous last words as far as his van is concerned. Then he cleaned out the chickens, while I lit the fire, prepped the dinner for tonight and did paperwork 😛 The end of year was supposed to be done after April but I wasn’t well enough all summer so it got left, there is that little nagging voice always there though ‘you still need to do the books’ so I made a good start on them today, all the farm paperwork is ready and most of the plumbing paperwork, just need to make sense of Johns scribblings and put it down so that the accountant can make sense of it 🤪 I know I should keep it all in order as I go along but as with all the best intentions, sometimes busy lives get in the way 😋

We have pork chops for dinner and a jam sponge pudding when John gets back from visiting his Mum. I figured I would use some apricot jam, though John doesn’t like apricot jam, I bet he will eat it if it’s a sponge pud.

Posted in Friesland Farm

Organising, fruit bread fail & hibernation time.

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Sunday evening: We had a young lad come up and get some muck for his Mums roses on his old tractor which promptly broke down ☹️ but he sorted it out and got it going again, I think it’s fabulous to see a youngster working with old machinery otherwise it will be a skill that is lost to the past like so many other skills.

Monday 22nd Oct: A crisp, sunny morning full of promise for a lovely day 😀 I put the wildlife camera up last night, outside the back door hoping to catch a glimpse of the hedgehog but there was no sign, however I did get some footage of foxes eating the crab apples that are on the ground, definitely two different foxes judging by the tails as one has a crooked tail.

Having emptied and turned off the smaller freezer yesterday I will be cleaning that out and turning it back on this morning ready to load it back up later, hopefully in some sort of order though that is more difficult than you think because it’s basically a big box that everything gets thrown into! I do have some large sacks that I separate fruit and veg into so that’s a little helpful, I will do my best and maybe make a list of what’s in there so that I have a reference for future use.

A quick look through the other rammed freezer and I got out some steak for dinner a bag of plums and a small bag of pears. My quick go to recipe that John will eat is crumble and I thought the pears would add something different to the plums. I would prefer something like a plum and custard tart but such is the cruelty of life, I who would eat all kinds of weird and wonderful stuff would pack on the lbs at an alarming rate and John who only eats plain food can eat for England without gaining an ounce. What I am saying is there is no point experimenting or indeed cooking elaborately just for me unless I want to be buying a whole wardrobe of the next size up 😜 Those recipes have to wait until I am feeding others as well. I did find a cake wrapped in foil in the freezer, no idea what it is lol it looks as though it might be ginger or something so I got that out to thaw. When we went shopping the other day John tried to put a jar of strawberry jam in the trolley, I refused, it’s not that I don’t allow him to have jam it’s that I have plenty of homemade jam in the cupboard, all flavours but he only likes strawberry which we ran out of months ago, I am trying to force him to try blackcurrant or apricot but it’s a battle 🤪

I have been trying to organise my kitchen cupboards, and failing miserably! The cupboards I keep the ‘food’ (tins,sugar, ketchup etc) in requires kneeling on the floor to see what’s at the back which is no good really so I swapped it for a cupboard I keep all the daily cooking paraphernalia in like mixing bowls, jugs, food processor etc, so far so good except I can’t fit all the ‘baking’ (dried fruit, nuts, ) ingredients in with the food cupboard and so it’s not organised at all, more scattered, I either have too much stuff or not enough space can’t decide which 😜 I do use it all, thats the problem, but sometimes only now and again and you know that as soon as you get rid of something you wish you hadn’t 🤪 In-between sorting I made a batch of chocolate fairy cakes for the grandchildren.

Late afternoon I started getting the other freezer emptied some of it into the freezer I had defrosted yesterday but it was obvious it wouldn’t all fit so I had to quickly turn on the small freezer and cram whatever I could into there until tomorrow when I can get the second freezer cleaned out and turned back on. At least I have a good idea of what is in there now, a small amount I have thrown away just the odd bread roll or some bits that had frosted badly, some I have got out and will have to cook tomorrow including a tub of blackberries where the lid had split but most of it is away for now. Once the other freezer is cleaned I will have lots of room to sort it properly and I have pork arriving tomorrow as well, we actually don’t need to buy meat/fish for months on end and I have enough gravy stock to sink a battleship! Why I keep making crumble mixes and Yorkshire pudding batter to put in there is anybody’s guess, definitely time to start using it all up instead of making more to put in there lol. Oh and I have a bag of corn on the cob which I absolutely could not fit in anywhere that will need to be eaten in the next day or two 😜

Tuesday: I was up early in order to sort out the second freezer which I thought would take about an hour but as luck would have it although it had begun to defrost the ice was still on the sides of the unit. This meant that it just fell off in large lumps which I was able to get out instead of a watery mess in the bottom to soak up with cloths, done and dusted and switched back on to fast freeze by 7.30 😀

Got the eggs done (I put the sack of corn cobs on the floor, more about that later) then made a crumble and a jar of jam with the blackberries I had to get out of the freezer, then Mia arrived for the day.

Shelley, Josh and Florence came to visit and had to pop out the back for something and discovered that I had forgotten to pick up the sack of cobs and put them back in the sink and the dogs had decided they were a tasty snack 😖 they had shredded the sack in the process as well.

When Mia had her nap I quickly got everything out of the small freezer and put it back into the big freezer along with my pork delivery which had arrived earlier, I kept out some chops for dinner and some sausages for the fridge 😀

This evening I am going for some Bowen therapy to help with the sciatica, which has actually been fine the last two days so hopefully this will help with the healing, if you have never heard of it don’t worry neither had I until about a year ago, look it up and see what you think and I will let you know how I get on. The massage therapist I see is amazing, very knowledgeable and positively radiates healing so I am looking forward to a bit of Bowen and maybe some massages over the next couple of months. I personally think that a regular, good massage would do wonders for a multitude of ailments it’s a shame it’s not available on the NHS it might save them a fortune 😀

Wednesday: Sunny morning, the sunset last night was amazing though I didn’t get photos. I felt like I had been in a fight this morning after the Bowen, that’s to be expected it seems 😂 I took some paracetamol as instructed and feel fine now. I needed to get a few bits tided up indoors, stuff that has been sitting round for ages all now put away. Shelley rang to see if I wanted to go to the country park, yep, everything stops for grandchildren I far as I am concerned, just like it did in my Mums house, they are small for such a short time so almost anything else can wait 😀

My Nan always gave you a warm welcome if you popped in from school, I have been lucky really and had a well nurtured life which I am passing on to the next generation hopefully 😀

The country park walk was fab, I have not been there before even though it’s been in place for about 10 years, it’s on the edge of a large housing development in the next town and I have to say I was really impressed with the thought that had gone into it. We even found a spindleberry bush, a rare find, that had been planted along with all the other shrubbery, we collected some seeds and I will see if I can manage to grow one. There are two huge sculptures of horses which are pretty magnificent to come across, Josh named his favourite one Jack lol.

Thursday: Overcast not to chilly though but no sunshine today. I have had a productive morning which I am pleased about, it seems ages since I was able or had the energy to do much more than the necessary. I started off by burning some of the tomato vegetation because I don’t really like putting it on the compost heap in case it’s harbouring disease, the last of the toms are ripening on the windowsill. I did a bit of tidying up in the small polytunnel and had a root about to see if I could find any sweet potato tubers growing, there is plenty of foliage but I couldn’t find anything else unless they are deeper down. It will be disappointing if there are none at all. Then I picked off all the broccoli sproutings that had flowers on for the rabbits along with some chard and a few weeds. Then I dug up a few self set potatoes, there were some whoppers that will be ideal for baked potato, I dug up the rest of the carrots as they are beginning to get holes in them from various pests plus once the soil starts to get damp they will begin to rot away. I have tried storing carrots in various ways but it’s easier to prep and freeze them. I gathered all the bean pods that I have left on the plants ready to dry the bean seeds, some for planting next year and some to use in soups and stews over the winter. I have seeds from the spaghetti and butternut squash drying on the windowsill as well, I am hoping to save as many seeds as I can from the veg and flowers this year, it will save money but it’s also good practice to begin a good programme of saving, closing the loops 😀 and I planted some broad bean seeds to plant out as soon as they are up. I was going to plant peas in the small tunnel but a tell tale hole in the compost tells me I need to put a mouse trap in there first 😝 otherwise all the seeds will get eaten.

I had a little look at the tiger nuts and found one, I’m sure there are plenty more but they are not ready for harvesting until later in the year, it’s about chickpea sized and nutritionally packed with minerals and vitamins, you can eat them raw but they are better cooked it seems. There is a recipe I will have a go at when they are ready called horchata https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/horchata

I processed a pan full of carrots using the mandolin to slice them, it’s very sharp and you have to be carful not to get too carried away near the end of the carrot as I have taken a chunk of my finger off before now and it 🤬 hurts!

Sam came over as the farrier was coming to do Jacks feet, her car is off the road and she came by bus, I didn’t even know there was a bus service but she was able to get from the top road in Witney to the top road in Shilton, fair bit of walking to do each end mind you as she had to walk from her village about 2 Miles, then once at our end it’s about a mile from the other end, at least it’s not raining.

Friday: A different morning altogether, I was surprised to hear a short burst of rain first thing and the temps are set to fall drastically this weekend. I want to make a Guernsey Gache which is basically a fruit loaf, it takes 3 hours for first prove so I need to get my timings right as I have blood tests/flu jab this morning as well. I also need to get the torts moved they have decided to dig into the ground in the greenhouse but I will be moving them back into their hut, packing it with straw then moving them to the shed, that needs doing before the temps drop too low and today seems like a good day for that.

You may ask, why didn’t I leave them to naturally dig into the ground? well I would have except that the greenhouse lets rain in and then the ground would get wet and freeze on cold days and that would be game over for them, so I have to intervene.

Tomorrow we are going to a ‘Watcher of the Old Ways’ ceremony to celebrate Samhain at the local standing stones and I need to make some biscuits or something similar for sharing, it will be a good opportunity to get an mot on my broomstick 🤪 and then Sunday we are off to the Spellbound exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, a magical weekend all in all, when I say we, I don’t mean John, I am going with my sisters, it’s not Johns type of thing lol.

I have taken some pictures and you can see, just about, how they had ‘dug in’, especially Billy I had to prise him out lol, anyway they are now safely packed away for the long Winter sleep, I will check on them from time to time and put more insulation round them depending on the weather. I’m glad I left it though as this year has been unseasonably warm.

Once the torts were done I got started on the Guernsey gache (pronounced gosh), I followed a recipe but this did not quite go as I expected, the dough kept creeping up the sides of the bowl instead of coming together like a dough normally does, I had to keep stopping the mixer and pushing it back down, eventually I added extra water and that did the trick although the quantity of fruit seems too much but we will see what has happened after 2/3 hours of proving! As long as it’s edible that’s the main thing.

Pants, I get back from having bloods and the fruit bread is not rising at all……..google gives various answers all of them contradict each other so I will try what I think might work which is to knead it a bit by hand then put it in a very low oven and see what happens.

I got it out to knead but it was obvious it was far too dry so I added some luke warm water and knead again, turned the oven on to heat at 50c for five minutes then turned it off again and put the mix in there to prove, this is taking up far more of my day than it ought too 😜

What with blood tests, the fruit bread not going to plan, making a batch of cookies, the egg shed selling out and needing replenishing and the dogs barking constantly I’ve not had a minutes peace today and there was me thinking I could maybe make something more technical like a layered cake, chance would be a fine thing!

I lit the Rayburn mid day, I’m thinking that warming the kitchen might help with the proving 🤪 at least the cookies turned out ok 😀

I’m still looking up reasons and remedies, it’s not the yeast being too old as I use it regularly and made bread with the same packet the other day, it can only be the temperature I think.

So it’s past 2 and I have been trying to get this fruit bread going since 8.30! It has a little raise but not much so I have put it in the oven that is off, now the biscuits are cooked, but still warm, oh my days who knew it would take up most of the day 😝

The wind has picked up outside it’s supposed to be coming down from the north but at the moment it’s squalling around in all directions.

Ok this loaf shows no inclination to rise whatsoever and I’m running out of daylight hours so I’m going to bake it, def not expecting a Paul Hollywood handshake on this effort 🤣🤣 and that’s one recipe I won’t be using again! Total disaster, after an hour baking it was still doughy inside and burning on the outside, I will chalk that one up to experience……..☎️ ‘darling, could you pick up some fruit bread from the supermarket on your way home’ 😂

The eggs sales have been rapid today, cleaned out before afternoon pick up and every egg we have in the place is now out for sale.

Saturday: Cold this morning, much colder in fact the front paddock tap was frozen! It’s warm in the Sun now though.

John did all the outside while I hoovered, polished put washing on etc, made a loaf of bread, which went well and restored my faith in my abilities 😜 I also made a quick batch of candied walnuts to take out with me later. They are so easy to do, walnuts, brown sugar, butter and a bit of water, all in a pan on high heat and stir until the liquid is pretty much gone, then cool and sprinkle with salt or you could use cinnamon, nutmeg whatever really, you could put a dash of vanilla in the mixture or any flavouring you want I suppose, easy peasey, crush it up to use as a cake topping or on top of ice cream the possibilities are great 😀

Well we went to the Samhain ceremony with the ‘Watchers of the old ways’ it was uplifting and energising, even though it was first raining, then sleet, then snow! Afterwards we went to the pub for hot chocolates 😀

Clocks go back tonight.

Sunday: Sunny but cold morning, we had an extra hours sleep 😀 The phones and internet were not working first thing, I have a feeling this happens whenever the clocks change but never really taken much notice before, I will try and remember next spring and see what happens then. John did the outside while I sorted the phones/clocks etc, the Rayburn was still active so got that going again, no point letting it go out and re lighting it later besides we have plenty of wood 😀

We sat down with coffee and watched the news headlines, well that was depressing, we don’t normally watch any daytime tv probably won’t again, why people can’t just live in harmony is beyond me, surely no matter what religion, colour, creed, nationality they are, being a good person is what is most important, too simple I guess 😢

John is off to the hospital later to visit his Mum

We went to get a few bits of shopping this morning, just random bits like butter and icing sugar, mushrooms etc, we don’t need much and I couldn’t believe how busy the supermarket was, I mean heaving 😝 Everyone is gearing up for Halloween, in my day you were lucky to get anything except short shrift if you knocked on a neighbours door after dark lol, except if you went to the American married quarters, then you would be rewarded with Reece’s pieces and other stuff we had never seen before 😀 Nowadays everyone is in on it and why not on the whole it’s a good bit of fun, my favourite time though has to be Guy Fawkes/Bonfire night, with toffee apples, homemade soup and awesome pyrotechnic displays, Winter is upon us and the various celebrations begin 😀

Spent the afternoon at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford at the Spellbound exhibition, ice to do something a bit different.

Posted in Friesland Farm

Two days on ice, an irritated Jay & moving day.

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 15th October: The year seems to be racing past now! Yesterday afternoon while just straightening cushions on the sofa my back twinged and now I am suffering with lower back pain, ffs does it never end 😝 It’s not massively painful, I can move but it’s a constant nagging even when I have taken numerous pills for it so today’s progress will be slow 🤪 This went from bad to worse through the day and eventually I couldn’t sit down for longer than a couple of minutes, luckily standing/Walking is fine but I hope after a nights sleep this has gone!

We need to sort out the duck situation, we have a lot of free loaders at the minute, the drakes that we hatched out, some older ducks that no longer lay and some who just refuse to lay no matter what we do.

I made a batch of ‘use it up’ soup which is basically anything that looks like it needs using, veg some chicken even 1/4 tin of baked beans, along with some herbs, mushrooms and tomatoes and that’s what is for dinner along with some freshly baked bread and an apple crumble.

Tuesday: Ok so this is sciatica I think! Very painful to sit down for more than 2/3 minutes, luckily standing, walking and bending is fine and mostly lying down is ok except it woke me this morning with lots of pain 😝 I have done some stretches and taken aspirin which has taken the edge off of it and I have contacted a fabulous lady that does massage and Bowen, hopefully she will be able to help sort it out. I have Mia today and tomorrow this week so that’s going to be a bundle of fun 🤪

Yesterday I got fed up with the hops that were in the kitchen drying on an oven tray, I have been waiting for about a month for some cotton sacks to put them in, no sign of them so I threw the hops away as the potency would be gone by now and guess what turns up today, yes, the sacks 😤 never mind I will keep them for the lavender harvest next year if I ever get a decent amount lol. I wanted to make slumber sacks with hops and lavender, maybe I still will I can probably order some online, mine did not seem to have much of an odour to them anyhow so maybe they were not quite ripe enough or overripe, who knows?

Thursday: I have spent two days with an ice pack on my sciatic nerve, oh my goodness how painful is sciatica, at times I didn’t know what to do with myself, so I asked for tips and was amazed at how many sufferers there were out there. After trying various things I settled with ice packs and anti inflammatories, plenty of lying down or walking around as I couldn’t sit up at all. Luckily in our waste not want not life I had ice packs from when the fish was delivered that I kept for just such an occasion lol. Poor Mia wondered what an Earth was going on when instead of sitting down with her I had to lie down, still we entertained ourselves by me pretending to be her baby, I have seen every episode of Baby Joy Joy, that’s a new one on me, and somehow we managed to get through the two days 😋 Consequently I have done nothing else, John even had to do the orchard lot.

Today it is so much better, just a small nagging which reminds me to be a little bit careful, I doubt I am going to be sitting down for long periods anyhow as I have plenty of catching up to do.

Charlie and Macca should, fingers crossed, complete on their new house tomorrow and so it will be moving day for them, their excitement is palpable and hopefully it will all go according to plan and by the weekend they will be in their own house and I will have a spare room back again 😀

I ordered some haricot beans which have arrived, 500g, I will use some of them for cooking and then save some for planting next year, that’s the plan anyway, now all I have to do is learn to make good baked beans 😝

The geese have finally discovered that they can get into the side paddock, it’s only taken them about three months! When the grass was scarce we opened up the rails for them to go through but they wouldn’t pass the tape that was up on the top, any other barrier we don’t want them to go through seems fair game but when you want them to do something they won’t, go figure, anyhow they are now wandering in there but seemed obsessed about getting into my garden as they linger, looking longingly through the fence for a large part of the day, there is no logic to a birds thinking I have learnt over the years 🤪

I wanted to let the ducks out of the duck pen to forage around under the crab apple tree but I needed to secure a few areas into the veg garden first to make sure they don’t get in there, the veg garden will be for the orchard ducks when I have finished harvesting everything. After that I set about harvesting some of the veg that needed picking, butternut squash, courgettes, some tomatoes, spaghetti squash and a token aubergine! I always have trouble growing aubergine and this year was no different really, I keep trying but for some reason they don’t like it here, except for one plant which is thriving, in fact it’s still flowering, I have only had two fruits from it mind you.

The butternut squash are all different sizes from very small to large but they will all be used one way or another. One of the things I love about growing is being able to bring it in and make something fresh with it, today it’s butternut squash soup, and I am proud to say that every ingredient bar one is Home produced, onions, garlic, carrots, sage, rosemary, and of course the squash itself, the only thing that wasn’t grown here is the celery, not bad and definitely from farm to fork or spoon in this case, with a freshly made loaf of bread that will do nicely for lunch 😀 I had a thought that I could put together all the items needed for the soup and sell it as a package, I wonder if it would sell?

While the oven is cooking bread I might as well make good use of it so I am roasting tomatoes, carrots, garlic, onions, and basil in olive oil and butter, this will probably be the last batch of tomato sauce for the freezer, It’s all chunky or whole as it will be sieved when it’s done.

Also made a quick fruit cake 😀

While I was mixing it I heard a noise that I haven’t heard before, a kind of squawking, a bird, I looked out and in the Oak tree was a Jay, I have never seen one before certainly not here, I was pretty sure it was a jay though and googled it to make sure, yep definitely a jay and to check the call it was making I Googled that as well, I found a video that was titled ‘irritated jay’ lol yep that was the noise it was making, obviously irritated about something, we seem to have a few animals and birds that we haven’t seen before, not sure if it’s the weather or something else but they are welcome additions.

Charlie cooked dinner for us tonight as a thank you, she moved back in with Macca in Feb in order to save a deposit for a house and tomorrow is the day they get the key to their new home 😀

Friday: Moving day 😀 you forget how much waiting around there is on moving day, packing everything up has mostly been done over the last few days and waiting for the go ahead seems like forever 😝

Ground frost this morning and it is a chilly start to the day, John did the main lot and I did the orchard lot then he went off to do some small jobs while I helped here and did a bit of cleaning, then we had a phone call to say that an ambulance had been called for Johns Mum, all the best laid plans and all that.

The move was smooth 😀 they got the keys around lunchtime and with the cars and van loaded up everything was in by about 4pm, we all helped with putting things away and getting it liveable.

Fish and chip supper at the new house.

Johns Mum is staying in for tests we will have to wait and see what the results are.

Saturday: Foggy, quite chilly this morning.

I knew it was coming and it finally arrived, I now have Johns cold 🤒 I think I will write this year off as far as health is concerned, it would be easy to just give up but I will chalk it up to experience instead and carry on regardless 😜 Besides the year is winding down now as far as the veg garden is concerned, and I have already decided not to tidy it too much but to leave it to nature and the ducks to process weeds and debris 😀

The torts have not been out of their hut for a week or more so it will soon be time to pack up the hut and move it to a winter location and leave them until March time.

John had to work first thing but when he got back we got the tractor out to spread some wood chip that we had delivered last week on the ménage. I had been burning some rubbish and some scrap wood and thought I would have a go at spreading it with the shovel, I soon discovered that it had built up heat and was starting to decompose so spreading it will stop that and using the tractor bucket is more efficient than a shovel. After that we went to pick up a sofa from Shelley as we had been using and storing Charlie’s and now she has moved we didn’t have one, a bit of shopping on the way back, then John went to see his Mum in hospital and the day is done.

Sunday: Foggy and chilly again today, I lit the Rayburn quite early, around 10 as it was noticeably cool and low and behold the Sun came out, it turned into a very warm afternoon. There are ladybirds flying around all over the place out there, confused by the warm weather I think. We popped out to collect a set of bedside drawers for the now spare room, when we got back I ordered some pork and a bit of goat meat from a fellow online smallholder which will arrive Tuesday. That made me think I better empty one of the freezers to defrost it so that I can sort them out, we have two large chest freezers and now one of them is rammed full, there is so much good stuff in there and once it’s all sorted I can a) see what exactly is in there and b) start using it to make some great things 😀

I also stood and shelled quite a few walnuts this morning and put them in a jar ready to use when needed or to snack on as and when, with all that going on I can feel a cooking sesh ahead 😀

Posted in Friesland Farm

Power failure, all kinds of weather and a milk delivery.

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 8th October: It was eventful from the off! Before Johns van even disappeared from view down the drive, we lost power, no electric, so I check the main fuse board, nope not our electric at fault, next find the phone that plugs into the phone line because we have the handsets that are powered by electric as well which don’t work in a power failure. Call the electric board, yep they have a fault on the main line and power should be restored by 11am, 11am! I haven’t had my coffee yet 🤪 so dig out the fire pit, hunt for sticks and something to light it with, couple of bits of flint knocked together should do it 🤪 actually we have a great wood supply, paper and a gas powered lighting stick so they will work just as well 😆 get the old Rayburn kettle out and bobs your uncle, I have coffee, just as the power was restored at 8.41 🤣

Seriously though, it does make you think about what you would actually have to do if we lost power for a lot longer, I keep meaning to organise ‘survival ready’ bits and pieces but never get round to it, for instance the rechargeable torch was flat, not that I needed it but if it was night I would be fumbling around in the dark. My portable recharge pack is also flat! The phone that I connect is old and crackly and has the tiniest bit of lead on it that it the whole thing hangs from the telephone point, small things I need to get sorted to make life a bit easier in the event that we have a more catastrophic loss in the future.

The ducks in the orchard have laid no eggs this morning, that’s unusual normal we get between 3 and 5 so I need to investigate further, something may be pinching them or the ducks are eating them.

The tortoises took them selves off to bed into the straw filled hut inside the greenhouse last night, that’s great, that’s what I need them to be doing, once they stop coming out during the day I know they will be ready for the big sleep, however with Wednesday predicted to be the hottest October day on record I doubt it is going to be this week that they go into a slumber.

Cleaned out the ducks in the main duck pen, the floor is going in there and I doubt it will last out the Winter, we shall see. Then picked up half a bucket of crab apples for the geese to munch on and onto some gardening, hoeing, weeding, fed a trug of weeds to the rabbits and Guinea pigs, then a sit down with a glass of water, a banana and some ibrufen because my hands are giving me jip this morning, probably all the hammering I was doing yesterday to make the tortoise fence.

Had a lovely message from the lady at the electric board, apparently it was wildlife on the line that knocked out the electric, poor thing, whatever is was, is now fried I’m guessing 😏

In the afternoon I thought I would tackle the boot/utility room 😝 a mammoth undertaking and I started out with great determination to chuck everything out, but as always it was a case of, I might need that, or, there is wear left in it, how many hats, coats, pairs of gloves and wet weather gear does one need though? On then to the preserves cupboard, well I have runner bean chutney for every year from 2013 in there 🤪 on the plus side I found some Christmas mincemeat and apricot jam which I had forgotten about, also some sloes still steeping in gin from last year, that should be good 😋 one faux-par though, I poured away what I though was some old vinegar, it was in a vinegar bottle, but realised it was pontack sauce 🙄 pontack sauce is supposed to sit for seven years before it’s at its best, it’s probably been there a couple of years at least, oooops, oh well that will teach me to label stuff in future!

Tuesday: Delightful sunny, misty morning, looks like it’s going to be warm again. Yesterday I washed some of the winter coats so they have gone out on the line to dry today. Did the orchard lot and gave a big sack of hay to the bunnies/Guineas, put some clean bedding in for the ducks, both lots of ducks seem to have gone off lay a bit so maybe nothing is eating them like I thought. I have moved the wildlife camera to the stable block because something is pooing in there on a nightly basis, I would say fox but the dog hasn’t rolled in it so it must be something else. I think the batteries are getting a bit low on the unit but they have lasted a couple of years so I can’t complain at that, not constant use obviously, now and again but even so they lasted longer than I thought they would.

I am having quite a problem with my hands on and off throughout the day, I can’t work out if it’s fluid or inflammation, either way it’s a hindrance 😏

I have had to order a new rechargeable torch, quite a big one, we have had the other one for a few years but the bulb has gone and the unit is a sealed one and I can’t find one anywhere online, typical that nothing is built to be repaired these days ☹️

I made cake finally! An apple, date and walnut cake as I have apples to use up, an easy recipe, chuck it all in the bowl, mix and bake, perfect 😀

When the cakes were cooked I went out and planted a tree, as you do lol, I had a space on the driveway verge and decided a sweet chestnut would go well there, it will of course get huge over the years but not that big while I’m around I don’t think.

There was a big discussion on one of the smallholder pages I’m on, in fact the topic was started by my neighbour, anyway the upshot is that we have now signed up for milk deliveries in glass bottles, who would have thought that years ago when the milkman came every day that things would change so much, plastic is the reason we are doing it but I think it will bring a touch of nostalgia too, hope the bluetits don’t get to the foil tops 🤣 of course the ideal would be to buy from a local dairy farmer but we seem devoid of that service near us so until things change we will hear the clink of empty bottles again soon 😀

Wednesday: Had Mia today instead of yesterday so not much going on outside, we went for a walk along Scrubbs lane for a couple of hours with Shelley, Josh and Flo, it was like a summers day except that the old mans beard is everywhere lol. It’s amazing the difference between boys and girls, I gave a bit to Josh who immediately tore it into bits (a form of dissection I think lol) and a bit to Mia who held it like a bouquet and tested the fluffiness on her face.

Thursday: Pleasant day, not cold, Partly sunny. There were a few bits to sort in the garden, a couple of courgettes to pick and the pumpkins to put out for sale. They were not very big this year due to the lack of rain but I had about 12 of them so that’s ok, I grow them for the grandchildren to use and any extras go into the shed. The tomatoes are still ripening off and the butternut squash are still hanging on in there, this is a second flush which are actually bigger than the first lot. I was reading how incredibly good for you they are, a great source of magnesium and potassium, vit A and vit C. Magnesium is great for regulating things like blood sugar, muscle and nerve functions, also blood pressure, potassium helps to prevent things like high blood pressure, stroke, osteoporosis and is a regulator like magnesium, Hmm I need more butternut squash recipes.

One thought on my mind since our power failure is ‘what if’ so what if there was a cyber attack on the National Grid or a solar storm or similar that knocked out the grid, everything comes to a halt that’s what! No electric, no water, no communications, no fuel, so, no deliveries of any kind, no banking, the scenario gets worse from here on in. How prepared are we? Most of us are not, should we be? Well as far as I can see it doesn’t hurt to be a little bit prepared. I grew up in the 70’s with the miners strikes knocking out the electric on a regular basis, to us as kids it was fun, cooking our beans on toast on the parkray and candles and stories from Mum, I am sure for her it was more stressful but she never showed it. Thinking it over I came to the conclusion that you need water first and foremost (I am assuming that you have somewhere to live so shelter is taken care of) it won’t hurt to have a few litre bottles stashed in the garage/outbuildings, matches/gas powered igniter, wood (or know where you can find some) if you have a wood burner then you are already on a winner 😀 Candles or wind up torch/spare batteries for a torch and with what food you have in the cupboards you should be fine for a few days 😜 It’s not much is it? but it is preparing for the ‘what if’ and of course if it went on longer you would need a whole lot more plus the skills to go with it but that is a whole different scenario 🤪

Friday: Filthy morning, wind and rain, not as bad as some other parts of the Kingdom, (and the world) are getting though so I won’t complain! I felt like a kid finding her Christmas stocking this morning when I saw our first milk delivery 😀 After a big discussion on an online Smallholders group I decided to have milk in glass bottles delivered, no more plastic cartons. To be honest as we are out of the way and addresses often get muddled up I rather thought it wouldn’t happen but nope the milkman obviously knows his area and there it was right where I had asked it to be put, along with a free bottle of OJ to go with the one I had ordered. It’s rather nostalgic too as it’s a very long time since I have even seen a glass milk bottle let alone held one, can’t wait to pop that foil with my thumb 🤣 Of course my ideal situation would be to buy direct from the dairy farm but we are devoid of those in our area, the thought, as you know, about a house cow has crossed my mind from time to time, maybe a micro dairy is what I need to be thinking about 😜

Blood tests again this morning, every fortnight at the moment until the disease settles again. I can tell what kind of affect this last flare has had through my hair and nails, the nails are all ridges and my hair is like straw, still falling out though not as much now. I started taking hemp oil at the beginning of the week just to see if it makes a difference, it tastes vile, but my symptoms do seem to be lessened over the last few days, now this could just be the fact that they were going that way anyway albeit slowly or it could be the oil, who knows, I will keep taking it until it’s used up anyway.

John came home at lunchtime in between jobs and he has ‘man flu’ luckily I had made some lamb broth from left over lamb we had on Wednesday, I also made hot pot for dinner tonight so it’s a lamb day today 😋just the weather for it 🌧💨

I’m already thinking about what to grow next year and one thing I want more of are beans for drying, haricot beans and even kidney beans if I can get them to grow. I did butter beans last year and the ying yang beans again this year, what I need to do now is to remember to incorporate them into my cooking instead of leaving them in the jars 😝 It’s because they need soaking for a few hours before use that I always forget them, then I look at them on the shelf and think, I should have used some beans!

Saturday/Sunday: What a change in the weather! Still very warm temps for the time of year but wet and windy urgh, the type of weather where you don’t really want to do anything outside, so we haven’t, except for the essentials of course. John has man flu anyway and of course that requires lots of lying down and sleeping 🤣 moaning about how ill he feels and generally feeling sorry for himself which is fine just don’t think I should be feeling sorry for you and running round after you lol.

I got some bread made this morning before going out to do the orchard lot, not sure what else I will do today.

The immersion heater went this afternoon, we didn’t know it had gone until Charlie and Macca came back from one of these obstacle runs that they had gone too, it was cold and they were wet and Charlie wanted a hot shower when she got in 😝 ooopps the shower was cold ☹️ luckily we know a good plumber 🤪 and we happened to have a new heater ready to install. So John spent a couple of hours draining down and installing the new heater, however we are on a three tariff electric option and so the heater won’t come back on until tonight when the lower rate kicks in so I have had to light the fire to get some hot water.

Posted in Friesland Farm

Autumn jobs, Autumn food & Autumn weather, must be Autumn 🍂

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 1st October 🎃

I made a batch of tomato soup last night ready for my lunch today, it simmered slowly on the Rayburn hob, lovely. I got thinking about the green tomatoes and looking at something a bit different, enchilada sauce seems like a good way to go, not that we eat enchiladas but the children do so I will give it away, and invite myself for dinner when they make them lol. I also made another batch of granola, with walnuts, almonds and maple syrup this time and a pinch of cinnamon 😀

This morning is one of those beautiful sunny mornings with a hint of mist early on so it’s going to be another lovely day. Just as well because the first job on my list apart from animals is to get my bedroom cleaned, yes kids, even adults have to do their bedroom 😝 For some reason that we have never fathomed it gets very dusty, very quickly and drives me mad, so strip everything, wash everything, Hoover everything, polish everything, job done, almost, because the windows need a clean. Now don’t get me wrong I’m not someone who is fastidious about smear less, sparkling windows but I do like to be able to see out of them 🤣🤣 especially this time of year when the early morning sun beams in through them. The extra blankets go in the wash then it’s out to collect eggs and remember the price increase from today.

I made a lamb hot pot for dinner tonight, we have quite a few bits of lamb breast to use up so it may be a favourite on the menu this winter, for this one I actually used a small shoulder and from the writing on the packaging it looks like it was one of ours, in fact it will be mutton so should taste amazing. It was going to be a cobbler but I don’t have any GF flour so just in case Charlie wants some, I have done it without the ‘cobbles’ if she doesn’t I can’t easily knock up some dumplings and pop them in halfway through cooking 😀

Had a bit of flour to use up some I made some batches of crumble mix for the freezer and a few dumplings hopefully to use later.

My body, at last seems to have caught up with my mind and I am finding I can work easily and without swellings and ache and pains at the end of the day, having said that I can feel my thumbs starting to ache but a couple of ibrufen should sort that out.

After my delicious tomato soup for lunch I got on with sorting out the greenhouse. When we decided to get a new one I cleared it all out and stored the stuff I wanted to keep, throwing out anything I didn’t want. Moving it all back in again was lovely, it felt comfortable and familiar so I’m not in the least bit disappointed. I had got rid of the mish mash of staging I had so I need to sort something else out, we have plenty of wood so it shouldn’t be hard, I started looking at greenhouse interiors to give me ideas and that led onto looking at passive solar and now I’m looking at ways to achieve that! With almost everything out it’s easier to begin again with what I really need to put in, black water tanks for heat storage will be a definite and gravel or slabs on the ground to increase thermal mass & insulate the North facing lower panels, we need to remove some of the tree branches that are blocking out the sun rays on the South side and Bobs your uncle, it should be a whole lot better😀

Tuesday: My day to have Mia so out early to get the feeding done, I wonder how many customers read the memo about no egg collections on Tuesdays 🙄 there are plenty of eggs out there from yesterday though so it’s ok if a few still come.

We watched the BBC 1 programme ‘Drowning in Plastic’ , I am not easily shocked but it’s horrifying, what have we done to the world ☹️

Wednesday: Lovely day with an even temperature, quite pleasant. I have been working in the garden, more tidying and hoeing etc, I pulled up the rest of the outdoor tomatoes and put all the green ones in the poly tunnel, they may ripen, they may not but at the temps are set to dip at the weekend I figured they were nearing the end anyhow. I weeded the brassica cage and that was two jobs in one as the rabbits had a feast of weeds and now the ground is clear. They are still producing loads of florets and the leaves are still nice and green, mostly, I am going to see how long they keep on producing for. I cut back (hacked actually) the kiwi in the fruit cage as it has got a bit out of control, as yet it has never produced a fruit but it adds a good bit of cover and foliage for the time being, maybe one year when all the conditions are right it will surprise me 😀 The torts are still awake though not eating much at all now, the daytime temperatures are pretty warm so it’s no surprise they are still awake but that should begin to change over the next couple of weeks and when they no longer wander around I will put them into a straw filled hutch and then the hutch will go into the shed. I know these are used to fridge hibernation but I have never done that before and was worried about it so decided to stick to what I know. I cut the lawn which will probably be the last cut this year, I also got round to putting some pieces of wood along the barked area so that the chickens don’t keep scratching it out onto the lawn, every time I cut I have to rake the bark off the lawn first and have been meaning to put up a small barrier for a couple of years, job done finally.

I ordered myself some screws, they will be hidden along with my screwdriver bits so that I actually have some to hand when I need them instead of sorting through buckets of old, knackered, rounded off, screws, John says, ‘you can have these’ yes cos they are no bloody good that’s why, cheers for that 😝

Quick rest at lunchtime then back out to plant a couple more shrubs and a tree, then time to pick up and sort eggs, even though they have gone up the sales have not declined in the least!

Then I ran out of steam 😜 at this point it would be mice to sit down with a cuppa and a slice of cake but I haven’t made any for ages so it’s a banana instead 😋 My foot is giving me jip today, the upper surface of it, when I had the flare. Apart from my two fingers that went numb so did the skin on my left foot, it seems to have started to go back to normal feeling but it’s stinging in the process. My little finger is still not quite back to normal yet and the nail beds have also died back about 1/3 from the top of my finger, I tell you the body can do some pretty awful things to you that when it wants to.

I keep meaning to tell you about the ‘loofah’ washing up thingy, the first bit I used has only just gone into the compost bin this week, I can’t find the original blog but it must have been around June time so it lasted approx 4 months, pretty good going I think, I have now cut a new piece 😀

I made an Eves pudding as a treat, I was going to do crumble but thought that was a bit boring, it’s similar ingredients just a different set up 😀

Lovely evening with a super pink sunset 🌅

Thursday: A pleasant enough morning, one that doesn’t need a coat, the sun is not out but the temps are not cold. ‘what jobs are you doing today’ John asked this morning, we’ll pick a job, any number of them really but while the weather is kind I’d better chose an outdoor one so this morning I will be cleaning out the pens/huts in the orchard, washing out water and food bowls, raking the floors, 5 huts and 2 rabbit pens.

Mum came over early morning and did some gardening while I carried on with the cleaning out etc, I let the light Sussex out for the very first time, it’s all bit new for them and there were a couple of scraps but they settled down eventually.

We sat and had coffee about 11.30 and ate some wet walnuts as a snack, delicious, I am still picking them up despite saying I wouldn’t, I can help it, I don’t want to see them going to waste, sometimes I stand on a few so the chickens can pick at them.

Just as well I keep collecting them because I had to throw a tray out, the bottom tray of the stack had mould, probably due to lack of airflow so I have put an empty tray underneath to stop it happening again, mould and nuts are not a good combination and even though it only looks like it’s on the outside it will have got inside so better safe than sorry.

We have had a couple of reports of a drone flying over the village on two separate occasions this week, one was yesterday near me but although I was outside all morning I didn’t see or hear anything. It un nerves people because this is the criminals latest way of finding out what is on a property, and as we are in such close proximity to the air base both the police and air traffic control are keen to find out who is flying it.

Friday: Overcast but pleasant. Occasionally I set to a job that was never in my plan for for the day, not that I ever have much of a plan but a vague idea of what I want to get done. Today on a whim I decided to get the ménage sorted, normally throughout the Spring and Summer I weed killer it to keep it tidy but this summer I had not been able to and it’s out of control. I did weedkiller it about a month ago but it needed doing again and it will need another go in a couple of weeks or it’s just going to end up as waste land. While I was about it and the creosote was to hand I thought I might as well start creosoting the timbers as well, this is no small job 🙄 and I have managed to do one whole end, inside and out and it looks pretty good, just another three sides to go 🤪 I have definitely go some of my mojo back or I wouldn’t have even attempted it. It is due to rain tomorrow and hopefully Sam will be over later to drag the fields if not I will have to coax John into doing it tonight!

Sam did come over and we managed to get the drags on the back of the tractor so that job is done. Shelley, Josh and Flo came over and Josh bought over an apple crumble made with his own hands (Mummy assures me he washed them first 😝)

Spoke too soon about the mojo though lol, my legs are aching like crazy, a cuppa and some inbrufen is in order.

When John came home he had to get the drags back off the tractor as Sam couldn’t undo them, they are very heavy chains and once they have been bouncing around the field they are difficult to undo!

We had Josh’s crumble for pudding, delicious, he loves his food and more than that he loves home grown and home cooked food, he is always delighted when I ask him if he wants to take some tomatoes or cucumbers home, ooo yes please Nana lol. Mia on the other hand will try stuff but usually spits it out 🤣 ah well as long as she tries, that’s the main thing.

Did a quick bit of shopping this evening and stood chatting to a neighbour outside the shop, I couldn’t believe how mild it was at 8pm on an October evening.

Saturday: It’s peeing down, can’t say we weren’t warned and looking at the forecast it’s in for the day, we do need it though, I can’t tell you how dry everything is, I’ve never know a year as dry as this one. Tomorrow looks to be dry though, so it’s not the ‘once it gets here it never leaves’ scenario we usually have 😜

John did most of the animals this morning, I did the orchard lot as usual, when the clocks change it will be my turn to do the lot as it will be dark when he leaves in the morning and dark when he gets home at night. It will be rainy day jobs today, I have plenty to choose from, apple processing, cleaning, chutney making, John will probably tackle the end bay in the hay barn or the back area which needs a quick tidy. This afternoon we are off to have drinks and cake with a 90 year old Uncle who is still very spritely, in fact I think he still swims on a daily basis 😀

Well John didn’t pick a job in the dry in fact he didn’t pick a job at all which didn’t really sit well with me but I guess time off now and again is needed and tomorrow is supposed to be dry so hopefully he will do something then 😆 I did a batch of tomato purée for the freezer then a bucketful of apples.

A good evening to light the Rayburn but it seems she is not having any of it today either! It took three goes at lighting to get her going and now she is busy crackling away, I think my longing for the flick of a thermostat is getting stronger each year 😜

Digging about in the bottom of the freezer this morning I found an aitchbone joint of beef which has been in the slow cooker for quite a few hours, what a treat, will probably have it with mashed potato and some carrots from the garden.

Sunday: Bright and dry but chilly this morning. We had a hot air ballon over us this morning, normally they are a bit further in the distance but this one was right over the field next door and then landed in the field over the road, John said he saw about 3 of them when he was driving back from his Mums so it must have been the perfect weather for them. I lit the Rayburn mid morning to take the chill off the place, she went first time today 😜

At the minute John is up the back burning some of the debris from tidying up the wood pile, there is quite a bit still to burn.

I am suffering a bit today as bits of me ache all over and I have no idea why?

So the sun came out and now it’s boiling indoors with the Rayburn going as well 😂😂

John cleaned out the chickens in the afternoon and I moved the tortoises to inside the greenhouse where I can keep an eye on when they slow right down ready to hibernate. Then I decided to get the area ready that they will go into once they wake up again in spring, it needed a couple of things planted in there and some low fencing around the outside so they can’t escape. We have plenty of wood 🤣 so I set about re using some of it, I need to build a couple more pieces before we set it in place next week, then it will be ready when they are next year. It’s quite a big area under the crab apple tree next to the decking, I have put a hut in there for them and some paving slabs so they can heat themselves up, planted a shrub and some herbs for food and shade, I just need to get a deep enough dish for water which will have big pebbles in it, put in a couple of hiding places and maybe a tree stump or two and then it should be tortoise heaven.

Posted in Friesland Farm

Hygge, Hops and a Hedgehog 🦔

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 24th September: The Autumn equinox has occurred, the end of the light time of the year and the beginning of the dark time is upon us. Time to reflect and look back at what has worked, what hasn’t and a time to look forward and think about what to do next year. A time of myths, legends and rituals of all kinds, harvest is one of my favourite times of year, the word derives from an old English word meaning Autumn. I like the fact that it gets dark early and you can hunker down inside all cosy and warm having fed everyone with a hearty supper, Hygge as the Norwegian and Danish would say.

Talking of myths we heard a lovely one in Guernsey, some of the older houses have a large stone protruding from the chimney of the building, a witch seat, the belief was that a witch out flying on her broomstick could rest on one of these stones and get warmth from the chimney and if you provided one of these you would be spared of any witchy spells she might inflict 🧙‍♀️

The temps plummeted last night and I think there was a grass frost this morning, good job the Rayburn is ready when we are although the temps are set to climb again during the week.

John did the main of the birds this morning then it was just the orchard lot for me to do, my main thought is to lock up the house while I’m out on the farm, sad times but I’ve heard another report from just down the road that occurred yesterday so there is still skullduggery going on and best to be safe than sorry.

There were plenty of walnuts all over the floor so I have picked them up, washed them off, rinsed them in white vinegar (to stop mould forming) dried them off and put them in open trays in the kitchen to dry off. Quick coffee then outside again to see what else can be done, Sun is shinning this morning though you can feel a real nip in the air.

Managed to get a good bit done, two loads of muck into the polytunnel, plant a shrub in the duck pen and secure round it, plant a bush in the orchard and secure round it, pick a trug full of greens for the rabbits, harvest all the small broccoli florets and collect eggs and put them out for sale, the biggest pain in the arse though is keep locking and unlocking the doors to go in and out!

Tuesday: Mia arrived early in the morning, I had managed to just get the orchard lot fed and watered so that was ok, we did go out about 10am to pick up some eggs but apart from that we spent the day inside. Mia is in the middle of potty training so it doesn’t do to venture too far from the bathroom at the moment although she is doing very well, amazing, as I keep telling her 😀

I am practising Hygge tonight, an extra cardi on, a nice cup of milky coffee and my Norwegian slippers which are very warm and cosy, I have already worn them out once and Mum kindly re-felted the bottoms so I could carry on wearing them 😀

Wednesday: Another sunny, dry day 😀 After doing the orchard lot and re filling some of the bedding in various houses, I decided to try and start sorting out the garden in preparation for the winter. The garden gets ravaged either by the weather, the ducks or the chickens and so putting everything away or securing everything is a must, especially any plants in pots that you want ready for next Spring. The ducks walk over everything squashing it all, the chickens kick everything over then scratch through it and the wind just blows it all around, so it seemed like a good day to start organising stuff. I now have two areas that have plants in that are cordoned off and covered with mesh, I have planted a few more bits along the edible hedge in the orchard, when I say edible that includes food for the birds and bees as well as the chickens and ducks 😀 A bit of egg collecting and sorting in between and suddenly it’s already lunchtime.

I have decided to pull the plug on the new greenhouse for now, we haven’t got round to dismantling it and putting a base down and to be honest I’m not sure I can justify the money really, so I will use the old one again next year and see how things go. No point spending a fortune on something if I’m ill again and can’t get out there to use it to it’s maximum so for now it’s on the back burner.

I’m quite tired after all that so going to have a sit down and maybe a quick nap 😀 I’m am very fortunate to be able to stop and rest when I need to if I had a regular job I think I would have got the sack by now 😝 Don’t get me wrong, what I really want to be doing is ploughing into jobs, the mind is willing, the body is most definitely not!

I tried a little shut eye but I couldn’t so I thought I would read the rest of my book instead, after visiting Guernsey the obvious choice for new reading material was The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. What a delightful gem of a book 😀 I thoroughly recommend it if you are a reader, now I just need to watch the film and see if they managed to capture the essence of it? (I watched it, they didn’t)

I have been eyeing up the light Sussex chickens, they are pretty big now but need to put on weight before we process them, ideally I would like them to get a couple of months on the garden free ranging, some will be selected to hold back for breeding for the next batch and I think there are at least 4 cockerels in there. The joy with writing a blog diary is that I can look back and find out exactly when they hatched, on investigation I find that they are 16 weeks so plenty of growing time left yet 😀

Did a bit of hoovering, polishing and cleaning, the place needs a proper good going through really but I will save it for rainy/colder weather.

I’m still picking up walnuts and there are still loads left on the tree, I need to make a real effort to use them this year especially in cooking but by the time I have cracked them all open I have lost the will to cook 😝

Did the afternoon egg collecting, the pullets are laying really well now, at least half of them, though the eggs are small they are still mighty fine eggs 😀

I need to decide about Tuesdays, it proved quite a logistical event especially as its potty training time as well as having to lock the doors behind me, I can no longer, nip out so I’m contemplating putting a notice out to say there will be no egg collections on a Tuesday until further notice, it would give me a bit of a break from the pressure of having to get them out there on time and who knows we may be able to catch up with sales instead of constantly selling out.

Think it, do it, lol, that’s what I have done, put a notice out, no eggs on a Tuesday for the foreseeable future.

I lit the Rayburn 😋 just for a couple of hours to take the chill off the air during the evening and I must admit it will be nice to have dry, warm towels again. The problem with this time of year is that it’s not quite cold enough to have it full on but it’s too chilly not to have it at all, probably be sweating in bed later lol.

It will take a while to get to know how she has decided to perform this year but I’m sure we will all settle into a routine soon enough, the one regret I have is that there is not enough space to have a chair right next to her, that would have been perfick 😋 mind you, you would have found me sat there all Winter long 😝

Thursday: Fabulous morning, sunny with a hint of mist rising from the ground, beautiful. By 8am I had done my morning bits and was stood having a coffee outside. My neighbour had ask if I have anything for the harvest festival display so I went round and had a look, some hops, a few little pumpkins and some sweet corn stalks is about all I have this year, hopefully they will be of use. I cut down all the hops and put some aside and the rest I have harvested ready to dry, I want to make hop pillows and need to dry the heads. They are very tactile little things once they are off the vine and as light as a feather, I will leave them in the sun for today and finish them off drying indoors for a couple of days. I don’t have very many as I try to keep the vine under control, it’s suppose to grow along the fence but it keeps creeping up the pear tree and strangling it!

Did a bit of pottering about which was nice, I watered the shrubs I had planted on the front paddock fence line and the apple tree, collected a couple of ‘keeper’ apples there are not many this year, sat and ate the last pear I found hiding on the tree, beautifully succulent and tasty 😋 picked up some eggs and put them out, saw a dragonfly which made me smile, a fab day for pottering out there.

I have a large amount of tomatoes to use up so I’m going to roast them with some olive oil and garlic then sieve them and freeze them for winter use, it’s such a good year for them that you can’t even give them away let alone sell them lol.

I ordered a bulb planter for the daffs, it’s a good strong one which I was surprised as it only cost £24, I took it up the back paddock to have a go but the ground is still much too hard! It needs a bit of rain on it dare I say 😋

Friday: No sun as yet this morning but it’s still early, John was up and out to do the birds just as it got light, patch the dog was barking incessantly, I got up to investigate couldn’t see anything, when John came in he told me it was a hedgehog 😀😀😀😀😀 A hedgehog, I couldn’t be more delighted 😁 they are in decline here in the UK and I haven’t seen one on the farm for about 5 years now so it’s an exciting find and puts paid to any idea that I had about using roundup on the veg garden paths, it will have to be hoed instead 😝

The wildlife has steadily increased over the years, frogs, toads, hedgehogs (well at least one of each) multiple different garden birds, the sparrows that seemed to have gone over the last few weeks have suddenly all come back to check out the roosting areas they used last winter, dragonflies, butterflies, insects galore, it’s a great feeling to nurture nature.

I’m walking back from doing the orchard lot and what do I see in the middle of the driveway but a rolled up ball of prickles covered in leaves, the dogs must have managed to roll it out to play football with it! So I went and got appropriate hand wear and picked it up and took it to the greenhouse along with some cat food, it’s not hungry and I’m pleased to say it looks in good condition, no ticks. I watched it walk around looking for a way out and so went and built a quick hedgehog house out of wooden posts and a broken slab with some leaves and straw for bedding, and then popped it in there. Hopefully it will at least hang around, taking care to stay out of the way of the dogs in future 😋

Blood tests this morning, I was supposed to have them last week but didn’t ring up in time.

Popped in to see my Mum and Ken as they have just come back from caravanning in the south west, came home with lots of killer jars and a couple of shrubs 😀

Went for a walk along the downs road with Josh, Shelley and Flo this afternoon, we played hide and seek behind the trees, ‘room on the broom’, ‘pull me out of the rabbit hole nana’ and conker football 😀

The woodpecker is about, I spotted him hammering a tree trunk this morning, then when I was out doing the afternoon feeding I heard him and then saw him take off in the unmistakable, undulating flight back toward this mornings tree. It is a greater spotted woodpecker the green ones tend to stay more in the hedge-line at the side of the long paddock so I don’t see them as often, one day I will get a picture but they are very quick.

Saturday: Another lovey sunny Autumn morning, I know the bubble is going to burst eventually but loving it while it’s here 😀 Today we are off to the local ploughing match, heavy horses, tractors galore and plenty of ‘Old McDonalds’ for Josh to see 😝

Fabulous day, glorious weather and bone dry under foot, we have seen heavy horses in their finery, steam engines galore, tractors old and new, eaten ice creams, doughnuts, hot dogs and baked potatoes (some of us ate some of them, not all of us ate all of them 😜) had a beer, looked at the produce competitions, watched some old crafts, thank goodness there are people who keep these going and chatted to friends and acquaintances, all in all a great time had by all. I am pretty sure Josh will fall asleep early and not wake up till morning, dreaming of the vintage tractor parade 😀

I bought a Hardy plumbago plant while I was there, mine died over winter and it’s a plant that I miss.

Sunday: I almost forgot it’s blog day! Perfect day for me outside for getting some work done, pleasant enough, not much sun but a hint now and again. I have been planting, barrowing, weeding, covering and generally trying to get things in order ready for Winter. Plants that I have bought and needed to plant out or on, barrowing muck from the heap onto beds, weeding the pathways and covering bare soil that has been weeded. By 2pm I was quite exhausted but feel I have achieved something at least. I pulled some carrots, they are in a raised bed and so not getting waterlogged (chance would be a fine thing as rain is mostly a distant memory this year) I’m hoping to get some cooking and baking done this week and tomato soup is still on my radar, carrots add a great bit of flavour to the soup. I am still picking outdoor tomatoes though it won’t be long before the frost gets them, I would make green tomato chutney but we have enough pickles to last us a while. My Dad always says ‘you should try green tomatoes fried’ hmmm not sure on that one, maybe I should at least try them?

John has been busy, tidying up and burning the bits of wood that couldn’t be cut up for the fire, we always seem to have wood lying around that needs burning, then he cleaned out the front hens and he has a plan to move them off of the front paddock and make a bigger pen where the hens for sale used to be housed seeing as we won’t be doing that anymore. He has now gone to do his Mum and I’ve sent him with a shopping list so I don’t have to go 😜

I washed and dried another load of walnuts today, that’s it now I’m not gathering any more! It’s weird because when Johns Dad was alive he used to ask me for walnuts and we never had that many, the two years since he died have been bumper years and the squirrel has been nowhere near, coincidence? Or is he giving me a helping hand?

I saw a green woodpecker flying around the farm today 😀

Definitely going to light the fire tonight, it’s chilly indoors at 3pm already.

Posted in Friesland Farm

Back from holibobs, back to work & and thieving little s***s 😡

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Wednesday 19th Sept: This is the first chance I have had to write anything, as you can imagine it’s been pretty full on since we got back from our holiday. We had a splendid time, mostly spent relaxing, some acupuncture and massage and lots of eating, drinking and talking. The farm has been in the most capable hands and nothing died or was amiss 😀

We returned home Sunday and I got on with the washing and catching up with everyone and everything, we hadn’t quite got our land legs back yet as we didn’t get off the ship at all until the Saturday in Guernsey so it’s all a bit wobbly at times 😝 We went on a vintage coach trip around the island and it was a fabulous afternoon which included afternoon tea and some views to die for, one of my favourite things to watch out for was ‘hedge veg’ what a fantastic name 😀 Basically anyone who grows anything and has an abundance puts it out for sale in with an honesty box (and they are very honest over there) even the main supplier of Guernsey goat butter leaves his back door open for people to access his fridge when he is not there, imagine that! I saw one sign that said ‘shop or swap’ which I also thought was a great idea.

On Monday it was more washing and then some nut gathering as the winds have picked up a bit and they are all over the floor, hazelnuts everywhere and the walnuts are dropping as well. It was Samantha’s birthday so we went out for tea and cake in the afternoon with a bit of Park time for the little ones.

Tuesday: Starting from today I will be having Mia from 7am till after tea time so I won’t be getting much done on these days in the future.

Somebody local put up on social media free grapes and there were a lot of them, my sister was going to get some and so I asked if she could pick up some for me as well which she did and bought them over.

Wednesday: I better get started in earnest today on prepping and processing things or I will get a bit behind. First up is the grapes and grape juice so I got that under way, then went out to do the orchard birds and animals, once back inside I have some pears that have gone a bit wrinkly and as I have always wanted to have a go at fruit leathers, I puree them along with a bit of melon and they are now in the oven on a very low setting for the next 6 hours 😀

Go round and collect any eggs available to put out for sale

Out to check the torts and give them some more food, the sun is still pretty hot when it’s out and though they are slowing down they are not ready to hibernate just yet. Then pick the tomatoes, I have an abundance this year, a fair few of the outside ones get spoiled or eaten so pick those off and throw in with the chickens, then back to pick the good ones to finish ripening on the window sill.

Get the chops out for dinner later, make coffee sit down and find more grape recipes 😜

There are plenty of things you can do with grapes it turns out! The obvious one is wine but to be honest we are not wine drinkers at the best of times so I’m giving that a miss. I had a banana and grape smoothie mid morning and washed another third of the grapes and de stalked them, some I have put on a tray and into the oven to dehydrate along with the fruit leather, the kids love raisins, great snack, and so I’d see how they turn out. More grape juice I think and I will have to freeze it as I don’t have room to pasteurise it and store it in bottles. I’m definitely leaning towards some grape jam, I’m curious to see how it turns out and let’s face it most jam is pretty good so that’s a contender, and you can freeze grapes, bonus, I will definitely be doing this as well.

It’s very windy out today, squally, as I call it because the wind is blowing in all directions, consequently it’s noisy in here as we have a tin roof and a very large crab apple tree above the roof, bonk, bonk, bonk, bonk every couple of seconds 😜 I have used the apples to feed pigs in the past and we have had people come and take boxes and boxes of them away for making cider but I have never done it myself, mostly because I just don’t have the time in amongst everything else there is to process!

When looking into the jam/jelly making process for grapes I found that it was mostly for seedless grapes, these have seeds in them, most seeded recipes are juice extracted, I think that’s an awful waste of skin and goodness so I did a quick bit of research to make sure the seeds are ok for you and it turns out they are very beneficial 😀 so whole grape jam it will be 😀 I personally don’t mind seeds of any type in my jams, adds to the texture.

So I just finished making the jam and I’m no expert, but I have made a lot of jam and even though it reached setting point, I don’t think it’s going to set, in fact you will be able to knock me down with a feather if it does 😲 in which case I can either boil or I have five jars of grape sauce to find recipes for 🤣

Well the grapes have been a bit of a disaster really, the jam is still not set, the raisins have been in for hours and look like they will take a hundred more so I abandoned that, the juice is lovely, looks like cold tea though, the rest I have open frozen to use another time. It takes more time than you think to process everything. On the good side of today was the fruit leather 😀 although the sides shrank it turned out very much how I thought it would and tastes great so a big thumbs up for that. I am tired again today, the meds they upped have not seemed to help the condition get better, the acupuncture did help in terms of less stiffness and associated pain but I was hoping to feel ready to get back at it, not happening 😏 I sat down for forty winks (may have been a little bit longer 😉) and when I woke up it was raining, and the washing, that had blown around nicely all day, was wet again 😤 hey ho, tomorrow is another day.

Then my Pyrex casserole dish that I’ve had for many, many years fell out of the cupboard when I opened the door and smashed 😏

Thursday: Raining this morning and although it will make things mucky I have to say I’m glad, it was getting very dry and dusty so a change is as good as a rest as they say.

I was looking through all the photos of the summer and if I get time I will do a round up of them, it’s amazing to see what I have grown and produced with it all and a great reminder in the times that I think ‘I should give it all up’, this year has been difficult not only because of the weather but due to the debilitating effects of this damn disease. When I was first diagnosed this is what I expected but after a year or so it went into remission and life was good, I’m hopeful that I can get back there some day but the road is longer than I thought it would be ☹️

Gosh just had a whirlwind of a half hour, someone at the gate to tell me a chicken is on the road, I suspect it’s the same one I keep getting reports of and that she is laying somewhere and crossing the road to do it, I go and look for her but nowhere to be seen 😋 then when I am re boiling the jam and it’s just near setting point the house phone rings at the exact same moment my mobile rings, I answered the house phone, quick convo about going away for the weekend with relatives, then I phone John who was trying to get me on the mobile because he couldn’t get through on the house phone, he has had to call a paramedic for his Mum who is not well, in all that Sam pops in to pick up the travel cot as they are going away for the weekend, and then calm is restored again 😀

Fingers crossed the jam will set this time, it has reduced by one whole jar and I put half a lemon in for pectin so hopefully…

I have been costing up the sale of nuts, we sold quite a few last year and so I will put them out again this year, I have to order paper bags with windows though, they don’t sell in just a paper bag we tried it then changed the packaging and voila, weird but I guess that why marketing is a real job!

On a whim, as if I don’t have enough on the ‘to do’ list, I made granola 😀 I found a great chart and used up items I had in the cupboard, oats, linseed mix, almonds, coconut oil, molasses, mix it and bake it in the oven then added dates and desiccated coconut, I hope it tastes good 😀 I struggle with breakfast because I don’t want to eat toast and porridge gets boring, the supermarket cereals are full of hidden sugar either that or it’s bran based ☹️ so I figured I would make my own lol I’m pretty well practised at granola though because every time I make flapjack, that’s how it turns out 😂😂

My writing is interrupted by about the 6/7th phone call from numbers I never answer probably cold calling, I’m fed up with the phone constantly ringing so I have gone on to my BT and blacklisted them all 😝 oooo feels good 😀

Picked up half a bucketful of hazelnuts, this morning I was picking up walnuts, the wind has kindly made the job easier by dumping them all on the floor 😜 I have just seen a warning from our local police force for the impending storm and possible damage to buildings and trees 😲 scary.

Friday: Well the winds were not too bad though it did wake me a couple of times along with the rain 🌧It’s sunny but windy this morning and I have picked up another load of walnuts, that’s a bucket and half, I think I will give up picking up hazels there are thousands of them! As well as the walnut picking I have fed the orchard lot, put on some washing, cleaned the bathroom, collected eggs and put them out for sale, now I’m having a sit down. I’m having to pace myself today, yesterday was a good day, it’s not too bad today but I feel exhausted already 😏 pain in the bum as I really want to get on but can’t physically do it.

I harvested the pumpkins some of them are ripe and some needing ripening so I have put them in the polytunnel, they are early this year and the foliage has now died off, if I leave them they will either get eaten by the hens/birds or with the rain and damp, go soft so I’m hedging my bets and getting them in. Not a bad haul from one plant 😀 Since the grandchildren were born I try and grow them so they each have one for Halloween 🎃 They are only a small variety but sweet when eaten as well so I will probably sell a few of them at the gate.

Saturday: Well if the rest of the blog is a bit uninteresting that’s all about to change! So we did the usual jobs this morning, I manage to relocate a cooking apple tree into the front paddock as well as a dogwood for the fence line, put barricades around them so the chickens don’t scratch back to the roots. John put a new gate post in on the duck pen (he accidentally caught the old one with the tractor) then went and extended the electric fencing round the new hens. He came back to the house and made tea, gave me a yell as I was in the polytunnel clearing the ground, we sat down and were chatting and drinking, the dog, Mia, looked towards the driveway with her ears down and wagging her tail, I thought, that’s funny because both Shelley and Sam are away for the day so it’s not them coming. Nobody appeared so I got up and looked in the driveway and saw who I thought was Charlie crouching at the back of her car, she must be cleaning it was my thought then I realised that when I had gone in to the loo just minutes before she was busy hoovering. At this point I realised someone was pinching her number plates, I yelled ‘oi’ and started running out there along with John, they took off in a car but we got the number plate (one letter wrong we found out later) I ran back shouting the reg number so I didn’t forget it to report it to the police, John and Charlie got in the car to see a) if they had chucked the plates in the hedge along the lane and b) to see if the local community officer was down the road where he often visits. Meanwhile I checked the cctv and found that they had pulled up, had a look in the egg shed, then reversed the car behind Johns van, rifled through that and nicked his drill, rifled through Charlie’s car and then nicked the number plates which is when I saw him. Through the power of social media we quickly found out that the car was pinched yesterday from a village not far away and it seems that there have been a few other incidents in our village. Lessons to learn 1) don’t get complacent, lock your vehicle even if you are going back out in it very soon 2) the dogs don’t always bark but they do act funny, check it out. This was 11am while we were out and about on the farm and it disrupted our day completely not to mention Charlie is out of pocket having to quickly get new plates made up, on the other hand it’s only stuff and nobody was hurt. Hopefully they will catch the little turds soon enough 😡

Life goes on and I decided to process the walnuts so took all the husks off, washed them then rinsed them in white vinegar and put them in racks to dry, my fingers are now a lovely shade of brown, it would make great fake suntan dye 😋

Sunday: Filthy morning weather wise though the sun came out in the afternoon. After the morning feeding etc, John cleaned out Rosie the Rayburn and put her new firebrick and grate in, still need to clean the flue but not while it’s raining 😝 I set about weighing and packaging up the hazelnuts and printing off a bit of random information about hazels, always good to educate myself and others 😀

We went round to see Shelley, Martin, Josh and Flo and hear all about their trip to West Midlands Safari Park, Josh wanted to see a real ‘Ephaphant’ 😀

When we got back there was a message from Thames Valley Police to say that Charlie’s stolen plates and the stolen car they were on, the same one we saw yesterday, had been recovered, this was a direct result of quickly sharing the information on Facebook, well done everyone and thank you very much, it will mean that Charlie does not have to worry about what her number plate is going to get up to, hopefully the stolen car is in good order and can be returned to its rightful owner who no doubt works as hard as everyone (almost) else does for the things that they cherish.

On the upside of yesterday’s escapade, the adrenaline rush seems to have done my aches and pains a power of good 😀 or maybe the meds are finally kicking in 😜

Posted in Friesland Farm

Visitors, busy week, lots done 😀

Posted on by frieslandfarm

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.

Posted in Friesland Farm

Scotch eggs, Jumble crumble and Catherine Parr.

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 27th August, Bank Holiday Monday 😀 only thing is for us it is just another day lol, John has actually gone to work today to catch up with all the plumbing before he has the week off next week when his phoned will be switched off for a fortnight 😜

Dry this morning after yesterday’s downpours, the temps are still fairly low though, it’s all or nothing in a temperate climate like ours, I said to John yesterday wouldn’t it be nice to have steady weather lol.

I must just show you a picture of these, I bought them home from the picnic yesterday, Home made scotch eggs made by my Auntie Louie, I can tell you they are delish, which is why I didn’t hesitate to have the leftovers 😀 One day I will get round to making some and hope they taste this good.

I fed the orchard birds and the rabbits have had hay, apples, pears and plums today, we have started a week of worming the birds in order to get them in top top condition going into the Winter, a fair few of them are in a moult so I need to get a spice mix made up as well to help with recovery. I make my own it’s cheaper than buy special tubs of it, I just buy the ingredients wholesale and mix it all, smells the same and a bit of a treat for them when the weather changes.

Just sat down for a coffee, it’s 11.30, I have been picking and prepping and processing 😀

John has got a one pot chicken dinner for tonight, basically everything goes in the pot at once and cooks in the oven, that’s it very easy and he likes it 😀 veg in there that I picked this morning, carrots, beans, broccoli, potatoes, some leftover chicken from yesterday, stock and cornflour, simple and tasty with all the fresh veg packing in the flavour. Then a jumble crumble, I just invented that, for pudding, which is a mix of blackberry, apples and plums, I was going to have scotch egg and salad but Macca and I ate them this morning 😝 thinking about it they make a very good breakfast on the go, egg, sausage and bread, I really need to get on and make some of these, I want to try them with the quail eggs as a small snack, maybe in the winter when I have more time. It’s surprising how much time everything takes to do, picking, prepping, blanching, freezing, no wonder we love Birds Eye (other frozen brands of veg are available 😆) really they are a working woman’s/mans saving grace and I have watched the process they really are very fresh when frozen, I see no shame in using them.

Tuesday: Dry again, did the orchard lot and a bit of tidying then I thought I better take a look at the mobile coop John is repairing. I did say to him last night that he needed to get it creosoted as time was ticking away and it needs at least a week or so to dry before the hens move in there. Personally I would have creosoted first then done the repairs as time is of the essence but it’s still sat there so I got the brush out and started the job especially in the nest box area. Then Mia arrived and that was the end of that job or any other for that matter lol.

When John came home we spent a couple of hours creosoting the chicken coop, him on the inside and me on the outside 😋

Tonight for dinner we had sea trout with a breadcrumb & pine nut crust which was delish and I take no credit for because Samatha made it before she went home, I need to get the exact ingredients off her so I can make it again.

Wednesday: Small amount of rain over night by the looks of it. Like a lot of people I sit and check my phone first thing in the morning, mostly to make sure there are no urgent messages and the to catch up with any goings on. This morning I had notification through from the neighbourhood watch scheme that another vehicle that was involved in poaching and ramming a game keeper just up the road has been caught and crushed, they caught one last week and they have crushed 5 in 3 weeks linked to rural crimes 😀 That’s a great result because rural crime is endemic round here and most rural areas feel the same I suspect. We are in a particularly affluent area and so it attracts those of a dubious nature from far and wide, and we are always on the alert for ‘strange or unusual’ behaviour. It’s funny how your senses become honed after a while and you can definitely get a feel for something that isn’t quite what it seems, you know instantly when a vehicle pulls in if it is a legitimate customer or not. Sometimes they are lost and that’s fine we can help them with that but sometimes they are up to no good and I have had to deal with this on a few occasions, mostly when you march out there and ask what they are doing they back off quickly, like the time they were rifling though our skip, and sometimes they are more persistent, luckily I had two egg customers with me when one lot were very shifty and not taking no for an answer, eventually we got rid of them, took the number plate and reported it to the police. So remember if you ever pull into a farm/rural gateway/driveway, to use the phone, have a smoke break, change the baby’s nappy (yep we have had that one too) that somebody will be clocking you and taking down your reg number 😋 of course if you are genuine that’s as far as it goes unless it’s a regular occurrence, and if you are not genuine you are probably not reading this anyway 🤪

Did the orchard lot and got a bale of straw from the hay barn to top up all the nest/housing boxes, filled up the rabbit ‘burrow’ etc as the night are getting a little chiller, now I have tiny bits of prickly straw all stuck in my clothing 😝

We have had notification of an increase in feed prices in September then another increase in October 😏 this means we will be putting up the price of the eggs. Demand for feed is going to be high, the yield was lower than usual and most farmers have used their Winter feed already due to the lack of rain and the heatwave over Summer, it is going to have a real knock on effect for food prices, the news said approx £7.50 per month for each household but I think it’s likely to be higher than that in the long run.

When Sam came back from work yesterday we set about taking down the fence at the side of the building and starting to clear the wood that is there. A couple of years ago we started taking down the huge conifers that are just inside the boundary fence, unfortunately we didn’t get round to doing all of them as the ground in front built up with felled limbs, then the grass grew over it all and it was just a mess which is really annoying. So we have begun to clear it, we have someone coming in next week to help John cut up and tidy it up so hopefully we will eventually reach our aim of getting all the trees down and opening up that side of the property to use as the main entrance to the yard at the back. At the moment we use the other driveway which goes right past the back door and curves around the building making it a bit difficult for deliveries such as hay and straw trailers, only taken us about 5 years so far 😝

Thursday: Dry but noticeably fresher, the past few mornings have been slightly warmer than this one however the Sun is already up and doing its thing. Shelley, Josh and Flo are coming over this morning to help with some jobs and I have the ideal one in mind for Josh as he loves to use the broom, the stones all need sweeping back from the drive onto the hardstanding area 😀

A friend dropped off a jar of honey that is produced in the village, so food miles are minimal, well for us not sure how far the bees fly 😜 I couldn’t resist dipping my finger in the jar, oh my, totally delicious 😋

Had a busy day all in all with the hoeing and sweeping and raking and tidying, Shelley picked and processed some runner beans as well and then it was time to go to yet another family birthday 😜 The only thing is at this time of year we always have to leave early (before the cake, much to Johns annoyance) because the chickens have to be shut in before foxy sniffs them out!

Friday: Another lovely early Autumnal morning which turned out to be very warm. Mum came over and set about clearing one side of the poly tunnel, the tomatoes have not been ripening properly and the leaves have gone funny, now I would say it’s blight but these have only ever been watered with mains water so I’m puzzled by that. Anyhow they might as well come out as I have plenty more growing in other places, not least the ‘extra’ plants I shoved in the ground outside which have done better than all the rest! Just goes to show that mollycoddling them isn’t necessary. Meanwhile I did some picking and also cutting back the herbs on the herb bed, later Mum dug up and divided the bee balm, Monarda, and replanted, potting up the other divisions to be planted elsewhere later in the year or maybe in the spring depending on how far I get with things.

Sam and Mia came over in the afternoon and I rested with Mia while Sam did some jobs, then we collected the eggs and did the feeding in the afternoon.

In the evening John and I went to babysit Josh and Florence while Mummy and Daddy went out for a couple of hours.

Saturday: Fresh and sunny this morning, I think it will be another very warm day, did the animals then John went off to sort his Mum out, I need to start getting sorted for our holiday next week as in between that Dad and Sue are coming to stay, they will be staying in Charlie’s room as her and Macca are away in Cyprus for a wedding 😀

I am really looking forward to getting away, more than most holidays in recent years, as soon as we get there it will be ‘and relax’ 🤪

Cut the grass in the driveway and had to wait to cut the lawn as it was pretty sunny out there, when I could do it, it was hard going because the bottom end had got long and thick, it’s the only grass in the place that has grown 😝 John carried on fixing the hen coop ready for delivery of hens next week, had to do some watering as it has got amazingly dry again. I have a resident frog in the big poly tunnel, goodness knows why he has set up in there but he has been there a couple of weeks now. In light of the fact that Mum cleared it yesterday and most of his cover has gone, I filled up a bowl of rain water, put a brick in it and another on the outside, found a piece of slate to cover it put it under the melon foliage and hopefully he will be very happy 😃 great slug eaters so I’m glad he is in there.

I strained the pear and spices in the vodka and now I just have infused alcohol, so I have added sugar and this will now go into a dark cupboard for a couple,e of months, the colour is wonderful, a bit like sherry, can’t wait to try it on a cold night.

Sunday: Another fresh but sunny morning no doubt temps will climb again today, after doing the morning bits and some bits round the house, I am going out for the day 😀 Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire has a Catherine Parr day and I am going with my Mum, Sister and Niece, a rare day off, Johns in charge 😝

We had a lovely very day and I thoroughly recommend a visit if you are in the area. I made a good discovery though as I was beginning to think that all the work here was what was causing problems with my feet and hands but nope, even on a day out without any work my feet/ankles swelled and hurt and my hand, not really sure where that gets me but at least I know and can report this to the consultant next week.