Tag: chickens

Posted in Friesland Farm

Apple picking, baking day & the Wildlife Park day out 🦁

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 12th August: A decent morning considering last nights storms, I helped John do the animals then got on with tidying up the hay bay in the barn. The hay gets everywhere once it’s opened, we have the big round bales, and most of it is now gone but I bagged up the last bits which makes it look tidier. I don’t want to tidy too much as somewhere round there is where the hedgehog is living or at least passes through. In the bay is also a double height rabbit hutch which had fallen apart, it got worse when a hen snuck in there overnight and the fox trashed it getting at her. I have now taken it apart and put it back together, making it stronger as I went and I have a usable hutch again. At the moment I have just put some hay in and left the doors open so that the free roaming hens can lay in there if they wish to and we can actually find the eggs🤞

I have plenty of other jobs to do but feeling a bit tired after those jobs, not a good sign really 😟 I have a few other minor issues I am monitoring at the moment hoping they are all individual things that will clear up one by one, wishful thinking maybe 🤔

Dinner is going in the slow cooker today so that is one less thing to do later on and frees up my day no end 😀

Just lost the electric for a second or two, it happens quite regularly here after heavy rain 🙄

Afternoon chaos with Sam, Shelley and the children lol, the babies are doing well, not even at their due date just yet but putting on the weight well.

Early evening John cleaned out the hens in the side paddock while I got the dinner ready, braised beef, mash and runner beans, followed by rhubarb crumble and ice cream 😀

Tuesday: A lovely sunny morning, the temps are below average and it feels a bit autumnal. I am buzzing today as everything seems to to ready to harvest all at once lol, more runner beans and tomatoes but also plums, pears and apples.

I spent an hour or so picking greengages, got to get them just before they are ripe so that the wasps haven’t had them all, pears, which need picking when they are mature but they don’t ripen on the tree only once picked, tomatoes and beans which are in abundance now and the apples.

Shelley, Josh and Flo came over and we had a glorious time picking eating apples 😀 I didn’t think there were many on the tree, I kept looking at the side by the driveway, but when I went round to the other side my goodness it was loaded 🍎 They are keeper apples so will store well if they last that long lol, as I don’t have any cooking apples I intend to use these instead.

I had a lunch of pasta, feta, freshly picked basil and tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and a twist of black pepper and then sat down to have a look at what kind of recipes I will use the produce for. Though the skins on the pears are not very cosmetically pleasing the flesh underneath will be perfect for freezing, baking, bottling whatever I decide. I have three types of tomatoes, small Sun Gold cherry tomatoes, your average red tomato and a black variety, I can’t remember the name and I have no idea how to tell when it’s ripe lol. I never put my tomatoes in the fridge they taste so much better if they are kept on a sunny windowsill until needed.

I love this time of year and all the possibilities of using the fresh produce, not to mention the amazing smells, I picked some fresh basil popped it into a bag and straight into the freezer for use in the winter months, smells divine.

Tonight we are having chicken and potato bake I think, that will be a new one on John but hopefully he will like it, I will only put parsley on half of it as he does not like parsley 🙄

Lunch finished, sit down finished, now time to process runner beans for the freezer 😜

Usual afternoon routines done and I had intended to go out in the evening and do a bit but I was quite tired so I didn’t 🤪

Wednesday: Oh what a different morning this morning! Pouring down with rain, it’s not cold though and I don’t mind doing the animals in a bit of summer rain. We had planned on an hour round trip to collect a lamb for the freezer but as it happens they were coming out this way and delivered it first thing so that saved us a trip out. We used to do our own lambs but after a terrible year what with one thing and another we gave up and now try to buy from other local producers. I was thinking that I should set up some kind of page for local produce to advertise because although it is shared on the Smallholders site I run, not everyone has access to the page. Primarily it’s for Smallholders to network and not for the general public so how would the public know what produce is available locally unless it is sold at some outlet like a farm shop or local shop, there must be plenty of farm/garden gate sales like ours that locals would use if they knew they were there. I think that is something I will mull over for the next few days and see what I can come up with.

After planting 1000 daffodil bulbs last Autumn I thought I would expand a little and get some tulips to plant this year, not quite as many though, only 125 lol.

The rain is set to be here for the day so the choices are tidy and sort out the office or bake, yep baking it is then 😜 I made, choc chip shortbread biscuits, good old rock cakes, the faithful Marry Berry Orange and Sultana cake and a Gingerbread loaf. I started at 10 and finished washing up at 1pm it’s surprising how long everything takes which is why I police Johns eating of them, they are not McVities 50p a pack biscuits rattled out in a massive factory in 20 seconds flat you know!

Thursday: One of those days when you never quite get on, windy but dry, are we going to just go straight into autumn, it seems these days that we don’t have any gentle ride into the seasons, just boom, Winter, boom Spring, boom Summer and now boom Autumn , we are ver hopeful in the UK that we will get an ‘Indian summer’ well we have been known to have a day or two in the past 😂

Firstly, I did the animals this morning as John and I were mulling over some invoices first thing which made him later than he likes to be. He doesn’t have to be anywhere on time as he is self employed but he had good work ethics and likes to be at a job early.

Animals done I had just made a coffee and someone came to buy point of lay hens, sorted that out and sat down to drink my coffee, almost finished it when someone else came about a cockerel that needs rehoming, we have enough already though so it’s a no from me. Someone else came for veg and eggs but we are all sold out so I shouted a rough time when there will be more available and figured I better get on with some picking. Runner beans, courgettes, beetroot, cucumbers and some purple sprouting broccoli. Not all of that will go out for sale as we will use some things and the girls will have some of it too. I was thinking about what has done well this year, Runner beans, until the wind knocked them over, the French beans, though I should have planted more, cucumbers, they are going strong as are the tomatoes, the courgettes and the spaghetti squash too although they are not ready to harvest yet, I had a few broccoli and cauli, and the broad beans, asparagus and rhubarb did well. What has not done so well, carrots, sporadic, soft fruit, weather related? Peas, hmmm never seem to get those right, globe artichoke, plenty of heads but the plant was too big and went over in the wind, the brassica cage has white fly so that’s no great and a caterpillar or two as well.

Still going strong but yet to harvest much are the peppers, cape gooseberry and melon and one success I am rather chuffed with is the lemon grass, not ready to harvest yet but growing well and some ginger I bought from the shop has sprouted and going strong for the time being, with the latter two it’s always winter that is the tricky part of keeping them going, I’m hoping the new greenhouse will aid that greatly. I had a rogue chickpea plant come up and that has done well in the greenhouse so maybe next year I will try those again.

I am acutely aware that the garden is like a jungle at the moment, I have not had time to keep fully on top of everything and it shows, I got to a point when I thought ‘ah sod it, I will tidy it all up at the end of the year’ I know I was going in for forest gardening but it has got a bit out of hand lol. It looks like a jungle, feels like a jungle and when I can hear the monkeys from the wildlife park down the road, it sounds like a jungle 🤣

Friday: We had broken sleep last night and here is why: John turns the light on in the bedroom and starts getting dressed, what time is it? I say, 1am he replies, what are you doing? I heard a van pulling away from our drive, how do you know it was a van? It sounded sluggish like a van. Now considering the rural crime rate in the Thames Valley is high and at the moment activity just across the border is very active plus we have a big local gypsy fair coming up which always increases the crime rate, it makes sense to be on alert for these things. Can you check the cctv footage he asked, well I can but there is a 15 minute delay between recording and playback so I probably won’t see anything yet, I oblige anyhow and go into the office to look at the footage while John goes outside to check his van and anything else. The cctv as predicted is not available yet and I can’t see any other activity on there, meanwhile John comes back into the kitchen from outside and I go to the kitchen from the office. The first thing I see on the side is 3 bottles of milk and a bottle of orange juice, the milkman, you heard the bloody milkman ffs 🤣 Well at least I heard him John replies, I reply, he has been coming three times a week for the last year!!

Luckily this morning we don’t have to rush around and get to work because we are taking Joshua and Mia to the above mentioned Wildlife Park for the day 😀 Just the big kids to give the Mummies a break and to help the both of them feel grown up now that they have little sisters and brothers that they have to share the attention with, and the fact that it’s school holidays which seem very long to parents and children alike 😜

It’s overcast and just started to rain so not quite sure what kind of a day we will have but we will make the best of it 😀

Well it wasn’t too bad of a day, we got a bit soggy and a bit muddy, a bit tired but a lot happy 😀 Lovely day and the children were super good all day 😘

Saturday: Slightly better weather today although it’s still drizzled a little eventually the sun came out, now all we need it to do is dry up the wet mess the rain has left. John did the animals while I picked veg, I got a soggy pair of gloves and sleeves for my efforts 😜 If it dries up some more I can get on the garden and start tidying up a bit but at the moment it’s too wet. John fixes the pop hole on the duck shed which has been broken for a while and then did the guttering on the greenhouse, that’s the final bit for that and then we need to make tops for the cold frames. I have some cleaning out of cages to do but again I need to wait for the ground to be a little drier, no point traipsing muddy boots in and out 🙄 We have three out of the six turkeys left and they have been good for a week now and looking strong (famous last words) it looks like we have two stags and a hen judging by the tail displays 😀 One of the quail died in the week but I think that has to do with the cold wet weather, they are more exposed here than where they came from, they are laying well though so that’s a bonus.

Sunday: I was well peed off this morning to find that it was raining 😏 I was hoping to get up and get on a little bit and the rain hampered us a little bit not too much. After doing the usual we set about cleaning out the goose hut, putting some cover on the ridge of the quail hut as it’s been letting in rain, pulling up stinging nettles in the orchard and tidying that area, tidying and clearing the orchard pen including dismantling a falling apart hut and lastly but not least cleaning out the turkey pen. The turkeys have just begun to make the distinctive gobbling noise which makes me laugh every time I hear it 😆

John went off mid morning to visit his Mum and I did a bit of tidying of dead and dying stuff on the veg garden and fruit cage. I got stung in places I didn’t know existed by 5ft nettles 🤪

After lunch I did a bit more tidying and clearing before calling it a day, it’s windy and that really gets on my nerves after a while lol.

Charlie and Macca called in for a cuppa and then we went over to visit my brother and his wife and came back with some blackberries 😀

Oh the pullets started laying today as well 😀😀

That’s another week over, thanks for reading, have a good week and I hope the world is kind to you wherever you are 😘

Posted in Friesland Farm

Courgette soup, new hens, stormy weather & Tussie Mussies.

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Sunday eve: I took a couple of ibrufen and as John was watching the F1 I decided to go outside and do a bit of pottering. Firstly I watered the tunnels and was delighted to see that the cucumbers and melons have begun to grown quite quickly, then I potted in some plants, blackcurrants, lupins and a few other bits, they will all be left to overwinter and hopefully be good strong plants next spring.

Monday 5th Aug: I feel like s**t 🙄 no other way to put it lol, I have a cold, I think, I can’t breathe, well obviously I can a little or I wouldn’t be here typing this but I can’t breathe through my nose at all, it’s blocked which makes my head feel thick and heavy. I got up had a shower had my breakfast laid down and went back to sleep for a short while, got up had coffee, put some chicken, bones and veg in the slow cooker to make a broth. My throat gets dry then I start coughing away 🤧 sneezing, the works, urgh. The insult to injury is that I can’t take cold and flu remedies due to other meds so the broth mix contains garlic, turmeric and ginger along with chicken, veg and herbs, hope it helps 😜

Tuesday: Feeling a bit better today so I cracked on outside with an early start. I thought I would concentrate on flower gardening so I started with the front area, weeding, deadheading, cutting back and digging up any self seeded things and anything that is struggling. I had a happy time listening to the radio in the greenhouse potting up foxgloves, huechera and a couple of struggling lavenders. Then onto cutting the lawn and hoeing the paths around it, a bit of weeding and taking out the borage which has gone over and a few weeds from the herb bed. Sit down and have coffee and a bagel 😀 Going well and it’s only 10.30!

Shelley came over with Josh and Flo and picked some runner beans, Josh and I dug up potatoes and then Shelley made courgette soup which was delicious and I would definitely make it again.

500g courgettes (we used yellow)

Garlic chopped or minced

Olive oil

450ml of chicken stock, could use veg stock

Fresh parsley

Fresh basil

Salt

Pepper

Pinch of nutmeg

Chop courgettes and soften in olive oil, add stock and cook until soft enough to blitz or mash, add chopped parsley and basil and the pinch of nutmeg. Serve warm with Parmesan cheese and crusty bread 😀

Simple and good for you.

We popped over to see Sam, Mia and the babies.

Rain on and off all afternoon and into the evening but we have to get the fencing up ready for the chickens arriving tomorrow 😜

John finally got the strimmer working, I had sprayed the carburettor with cleaner but couldn’t start it, John had a go then he cleaned out the end of the pipe going into the fuel tank and voila it now works 😀

Wind is predicted for Friday, my first thought was ‘oh no’ that won’t be good for the runner beans, nor the fruit and nuts on the trees 😏

Wednesday: A bits and bobs day, flitted about doing various things but not one big job. First I burnt the paper feed bags and any paper rubbish we had lying around, then I put sawdust and feeders in the POL for sale pen, then I collected a few eggs, washed out and filled up Jacks water trugs, got the mower out and cut some areas that needed doing ( I tried starting the strimmer but I couldn’t get it going 😤) weighed out some veg to put out for sale, picked a few cucumbers, hoed an area that was getting overgrown, weeded the carrot bed, watched the kittens catch their first mouse, fed the rabbits/guineas and torts with the weeds all before noon 😀 Quick sit down before the afternoon begins.

I am trying to get my head around Instagram at the minute lol, not much to figure out I am sure but I never have more than a few minutes to glance at it #clueless 🤪

The new hens arrived in the afternoon, John gets a bit cocky with new arrivals and puts them outside saying ‘they will go in when it gets dark’ well nine times out of ten they do but not this lot! We had to catch all 50 in the front pen and put them inside on the perches, once we had done them we separated off to do the others, I went up the back and John did the side paddock and the duck pen. The other new lot (20) were in the sale pen up the back but they had all collected on the floor near the front of the cage, we have had this before and the fox can nip at them through the mesh, I called John to help but he had already buggered off indoors 😲 Eventually he came looking for me, just as I picked up number 20 😜

Thursday: We have had weather warnings for a storm, quite a big one by all accounts, they have actually cancelled some big events by the coast so they are taking the threat seriously, and so am I. I have been picking as many runner beans as I can manage because the wigwams will be the first thing to be blown down if the wind is that strong, I’m hoping that inland we won’t get hit so hard. With the runner beans I have made some chutney, I will freeze some beans, sell some and give some away to family. I have picked more courgettes 😜 and I’m contemplating having another go at jam, I reckon it would taste really nice but I don’t want another non set disaster, maybe I will make half the quantity as a test run.

At the moment the weather is lovely outside, sunny, calm, not too hot just pleasant, and great drying weather for the washing, I figured get it done today as the next couple of days don’t look good lol.

Despite having plenty of other things to do I did decide to have a go at the courgette jam, 1/2 quantity just in case, it smells amazing as it has lemon zest in it as well and I picture a vanilla sponge with the jam and some whipped cream in the middle and a dusting of icing sugar on top, 😋 I also had a go at another recipe I came across, sugar free caramel sauce, I had a can of coconut milk in the cupboard, it’s been in there for ages and all you add to it is 7tbls of some kind of syrup like agave, or in my case maple, boil it and reduce it down, easy, it tastes good and I think if I had used full fat coconut milk instead of the reduced fat which is what I had, it would be thicker but it’s still a nice pouring consistency.

The new hens went into the hut early today because it was raining so it was an opportunity to shut them in and not having a repeat of carrying them in one by one 😂

Friday: Rather boring but I did the cleaning today, you know when it just starts to make you feel uncomfortable seeing the dust and dirt kicking around lol. I am sat typing this up and it smells lovely, in fact sometimes I just open a door to a room just to take in the fresh clean smell 🤣

We have had three people this week who were supposed to come and collect stuff they had asked for, chickens and veg, all of them no shows 😏 I’m sure people think we have nothing better to do than wait for them to finally decide they might bother, it is one of the reasons that on the whole I do not save eggs for people. Many have asked in the past but I won’t do it, firstly sometimes as above, those people don’t turn up and secondly we have many customers who have been coming for years and take their luck on wether there are any available or not and I feel I owe them that loyalty back.

While I am getting bugbears off my chest the other one is when we have sold out of eggs, in the past I have had huffs and puffs because the ‘sold out’ sign isn’t displayed, this is because I don’t have time to run out every five minutes to see if the last customer took the last box of eggs! While I am on a roll here….we are not a supermarket, we have what we have and when it’s gone, it’s gone 😜 Hopefully, very soon, we will have an abundance of eggs but until then they are a bit thin on the ground. One last small tiny bugbear 🤪 we have plenty of fair weather customers who come in the summer but again the loyal ones come all year long but it’s always the summer ones that complain lol.

The courgette jam, although it smells and tastes amazing, is a soft set and that’s using the term loosely 🙄 I may incorporate it into a cake recipe I think.

Went out for tea and cake with Shelley, Josh and Florence this afternoon, the weather today has not been as bad as I expected but apparently there is worse to come tomorrow 🙄

I have made enquires today about getting some more quail, hopefully I have found some I can pick up at the weekend, that will please the quail egg customers.

Saturday: Windy this morning but as yet no rain. We started off well got the animals sorted and then John got the tractor out and moved loads of muck from the pile at the back to the pile at the front lol. One of the reasons we decided to do this is because two mornings running there have been duck egg shells enroute from the stables to the muck heap so I am convinced there must be at least one rat in there, John thinks not but then he never believes that we have rats about even when the dog kills one 🙄 No rats appeared so maybe he is right about them not being in there but they are living somewhere round there for sure. I did a bit of picking, cucumbers and tomatoes are coming thick and fast now, I picked a few French beans and I planted out some more that will hopefully grow pretty fast and we can get a harvest at the end of September. I also put some in modules in the greenhouse just in case the outdoor ones get eaten by mice though I am hoping the kittens are onto them 😜 I have some cabbage and some winter spinach to sow at some point as well. I went to Mums last night and came back with a seed pod from a peony, I read up about growing them from seed and they can take up to five years that will be a long wait 🙄 I had a walk around the boundaries to see if there were any blackberries ready, nope still small, I have heard people saying they are picking but I don’t know where as round here they are not ready yet.

I clipped back the lavenders and made a few bunches, one each for Sam and Shelley, Charlie has lots of lavender in her garden so I picked some of my precious freesias and a few other flowers to make a Tussie Mussie (small bunch of flowers or aromatic herbs) for her.

Sunday: It’s 3pm and we have had a busy day and I need to sit down as my legs are feeling wobbly 😜 We started off doing the usual rounds and then an early morning trip to Bicester to buy some laying quail, a good journey and we made a great contact there, a butcher with a smallholding 😀 On the way back home we called I to the DIY shop to get a solar powered security light for the front, recommended by my brother who has some, quick pit stop for a takeaway coffee 😀 Back home and straight to work, John put up the light and then got on the tractor to move the last of the muck pile. Meanwhile I worked in the garden, flitting about between indoors and outdoors with the on off rain showers and cloud cover. I potted up some willow that I had taken cuttings of (very easy to strike) I intend to grow them on into trees to use around the place, I cut back the sage, it’s getting old and gnarly so I gave it a hefty prune, there were three pieces that had taken root so I dug those up and potted them. The high winds yesterday have caused a bit of damage but not much, a big bough has come down from my weeping birch tree and 4 lots of runner bean wigwams are down. I have picked all the beans I can from them as they probably won’t recover from the whipping 🙄 I picked cucumbers which are now coming thick and fast and a couple of courgettes lol. John picked up the eggs and fed the birds and I sorted and boxed them, that’s when I felt the need to have a sit down.

Later I went up the back where John was clearing and burning some wood, we heard a rumble of thunder then the heavens opened, proper thunderstorm 😀

We have been out then in then out then undercover, then out then in and have now abandoned trying to tidy up at the back, the bonfire is still going well but it’s so wet out there now I doubt it will go anywhere it shouldn’t !

Posted in Friesland Farm

My birthday 🎂 caterpillar missiles, Lammas & a corn dolly.

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 29th July: Lovely morning, sunny but cool enough early on, John did the birds while I fed the torts and the rabbits/guineas, then I got straight on with some cleaning as Sam, Mia, George and Lucie are coming for the day today. As I have said before the self employed don’t get holiday pay, sick pay or for that matter paternity leave and customers can be very demanding 😜 so Luke is going back to work for a few days and while Sam still finds it difficult to move quickly they will come here so that I can help out and keep an eye on the farm at the same time.

The veg sales have at last picked up a bit, last year I couldn’t get them out there fast enough but this year has been slow, so much so that I had thought I won’t do it next year, then all of a sudden they start selling. I think a lot of it has to do with the lack of eggs so customers stopped coming as we were often sold out. At the end of the week we will be getting 50 pullets in and at the end of next month 22 ducks should start laying 😂 we will be overrun with eggs hopefully lol.

Although the veg sales are lower, the plant sales have been brisk, so when one door shuts, another door opens as they say. Shelley came over with Josh and Flo to help pick runner beans and see Sam, Mia and the babies and Mum came over to see them all as well.

I noticed yesterday that my freesia are starting to flower, you have no idea just how much joy that gives me, I put them in late and didn’t think they would flower this year and as they are probably my favourite flower I am dead chuffed to say the least.

There are few things in the veg plot I have got wrong this year with the whole forest garden thing, one being the sweet corn I planted along side the asparagus. Asparagus, if not picked as spears eventually turn to a fern and they are quite large I didn’t think this through and as sweet corn are wind pollinated and they can’t move in between the asparagus fern, they won’t pollinate, simple as that so I need to cut the ferns down and allow the sweet corn to move. The other problems are smaller, like overcrowding, but I need to make sure next year that doesn’t happen, it’s fine when the plants are all small but once they get going and smother other plants that’s not so good as the yield from the smaller stuff will be down.

Tuesday: Today is my birthday 🎂I am 55 years old, how the hell did that happen 😜

Consequently it’s my turn to do Birthday tea, sandwiches, cake and nibbles this time and by 7am I have a ham roasting in the oven, I think it will be quite hectic this afternoon lol, Sam is getting dropped off here again today, Shelley will be over later to help with sandwiches, my friend is popping in and the Midwife is coming to see Sam and the babies at some point too 😀

Of course the best present I could have near my birthday was the safe arrival of our grandchildren but the next best thing was Johns present which was a solar powered dab radio 😀😀 that means I can listen outside and the batteries will not run out during a crucial/interesting bit of broadcasting 😀 Solar is a theme as my sister bought me some solar Edison style lights for my new decking area 😀 I shall be able to sit out with my lights on listening to an evening play, lovely.

Normally I would make all the cakes etc but this time round I have bought them lol, too many other things going on. One exception is a cake that is sugar free, when I thought about it we have quite a few diabetics in the family either type 1 or type 2 so my mission today was to make a sugar free cake. By Jove I think I’ve done it 😀 I looked at a recipe for a gluten free, sugar free cake and adapted it (almost so it’s nothing like the original) I wanted to get a handle on the quantities and how they worked together. I have just taken it out of the oven and a) it has risen and b) it looks and smells lovely, when it cools I will make a sugar free buttercream for the top and have a taste test before I unleash it on anyone else. I thoughtfully wrote down the recipe just in case it came out ok lol

Sugar free Honey cake:

4 1/2 oz of SR flour

1/2 cup of runny honey

3oz butter melted

Splash of vanilla

Pinch of salt

2 medium eggs

Mix up altogether into a batter

Bake @ 180c for approx 15/20 mins

Small 1/2lb tin

The cake was a big hit and the recipe has been passed around for those who want to have a go themselves.

I had lots of lovely presents including a hammock from the girls to while away some sunny hours (chance will be a fine thing lol) and a huge chocolate brownie stack made by Indulge by Amy, I have had to freeze some of it as even with the rest of the family we didn’t manage to get through it all!

The weather was pretty vile all day, mostly it just hammered down 🙄

Wednesday: A quiet day today, just me on my own I think (as you never know) I have a fair bit of catching up to do, with all the rain yesterday I imagine the courgettes have gone bonkers and there are other veg/berries to pick and prep for the freezer. John fed all the birds and let them out before going to work, I need to pick some forage for the rabbits/guineas and torts.

I keep looking at jobs as I walk round thinking this needs doing, that needs doing lol too many jobs and not enough hours (or not enough energy) as usual.

Quiet it may have been but I certainly had a busy morning, firstly picking, courgettes, French beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, blueberries and Logan berries. Most of the courgettes went straight to the chicken as I already have enough for the time being. Then on to some cleaning out of pens, first the stable block where I had to get on the tools to repair a few things, so a hammer and nails, cordless screwdriver and even the chopsaw were in use. Clean out the nesting boxes and put in fresh straw, hopefully that will encourage to lay eggs in there where I can find them 🙄 Next the duck pen where the new ducklings are, the fence we use to section it off didn’t hold up so I took that down and cleaned out the shed and put in fresh bedding. Next was the light Sussex hen in the paddock, she has been on her own since the fox got her friend but I have made plans to put a couple of the younger Sussex hens in with her along with a cockerel. The rest of them will now be kept separate and fattened on corn ready for processing in about a month, that’s the plan anyway. I cleaned out their hut and put up a rail for them to roost outside if they choose to, that’s how I always wanted to rear them, free range and open sleeping.

Then lunch, cheese toastie from the leftover sarnies 😀 and a little rest 😜

In the afternoon I harvested another bed of potatoes, there are some good big ones in there so ideal for baked potatoes, I also picked some carrots although there are not many ready at the minute. John came home and we had a cuppa and cake and then he strimmed the front paddock ready for the new laying birds next week, meanwhile I prepped and froze the produce I picked earlier on.

I looked at the Victoria plum tree today and yet again it is heavy with plums, this tree has consistently given full yields for the past 10 years that we have been here, it’s amazing. The nut trees were full of nuts until the wind the other day, now there are a lot on the floor, not ripe yet so no point saving them, there are still plenty on the trees but we were looking at a bumper harvest before that lol. The cooking apple tree that we had pruned last year does not have many apples but I would not have expected it after a heavy pruning, the eating apple tree, which is a keeper apple, (good for storing over winter) in the front paddock has plenty and the pear trees look pretty good as well, top fruit has done well this year.

So this evening I decided to strim a few things with my strimmer except it wouldn’t work! A you tube video or two later we decide it’s probably the carburettor that needs cleaning and having no cleaner switched to the electric one. That bloody thing just keeps locking up the spool so after about an hour and a half of trying we gave up, maybe weedkiller IS the answer we are thinking, then when putting the animals to bed Patch found a hedgehog in the hay barn and I was reminded as to why we try not to use it any more 😀

Thursday: It’s Lammas, a celebration of the first cutting of the harvest, though I have noticed that most of the fields have already been cut over the last couple of weeks here. Still I have a few stalks of grain growing here (self set) that I will cut today and give to the hens 😀 to honour the day.

Not much got done today apart from the usual things and watering the tunnels, I had bloods at 10am and then Sam, Mia, Lucie and George we’re here along with Shelley, Florence and Josh, a seemingly endless round of feeding, winding and changing the babies, Shelley took the older ones for a walk after lunch so Sam could have a sleep. I kept an eye on the babies and sat in the garden for a bit, while I was sat there suddenly a fat caterpillar landed on the ground, then another and another, the caterpillars I had seen a couple of weeks ago in the Oak tree were now huge and dropping down to go and find a place to pupate, they are buff tip caterpillars 🐛

I had a little try out on my hammock 😀 very comfy.

Friday: I am a bit tired today lol I didn’t get a good nights sleep at all and consequently feeling it this morning.

Had a shower first thing and while I was in there remembered that I forget to put the dustbin out 🙄 got dried and dressed and went straight out to do it. Having a cuppa outside and heard the bin men driving back up the lane meaning I had missed them BUT they stopped and emptied it anyway 😀 We have great bin men, that’s not the first time they have done that and even come up the drive to get the bin when I have totally forgot 😜

Picked stuff for the rabbits/guineas and then picked some courgettes before they get too big.

Sam decided to stay at home today and see how she got on so that gave me the day free, however I felt so tired that I didn’t do much at all! The sun when it came out from behind a cloud was pretty hot, it makes me feel very sluggish, I can feel a total difference when I’m in the shade or the sun goes in. I pottered a little and napped a little and did the eggs at 3pm that’s about it, oh I did sit and make a rudimentary corn dolly 😀 and cleaned up the onions that have been drying in the greenhouse.

The caterpillars are still launching themselves off the Oak tree 😜

The grapes are doing great in the poly tunnel, unlike the melons, although the plants are growing and tiny melons are on there they do not seem to be getting very big!

Saturday: Todays job on the list was to get the front paddock cut ready for the arrival of 50 hens on Wednesday, John had already strimmed a bit of it but this morning we used the ride on mower to chop up the grass that was laying and cut a bit more of a bigger area. I noticed there is a tomato plant growing in there complete with tomatoes lol, that will be from throwing the chickens tomatoes last year, just goes to prove they don’t need any molly codling 😜

We have a bit of a problem with the turkeys at the minute, two have died, I think its coccidiosis and I am waiting for a treatment to arrive. In the meantime a regime of cleaning, disinfecting, foot baths (for me not them) and giving them everything I have available that is natural. Tea tree and thyme oil, garlic, kelp and brewers yeast powder, apple cider vinegar and lots of fresh herbs in the hope that it will help with the immune system and they can get over it. I have not had a case of cocci for about 6 years so it’s not great to have it now 😏 The majority of our hens come from the industry and are vaccinated against it but of course smaller breeders, including myself, don’t vaccinate because it’s not cost effective, the batches of vaccine are big and costly and most people don’t breed enough to warrant it.

We had a family lunchtime event today so off we went for that and when we got back we had to catch a couple of the ducklings which were being sold. I have now sold 31 of them so I am happy with that, we made a good profit plus 20 ducks, winner, now all they need to do is begin laying lol. In the evening we went over to my brother to sit by the fire pit and eat pizza, chillaxing 😀

Sunday: We started off with good intentions today, early on we went up to the small back paddock to take down the electric fencing (we need it for the new hens at the front) and while I cut the grass up there, John pulled up a bunch of stinging nettles and some docks, then we had a visitor and stood chatting for about an hour and a half lol. Off to get a bit of shopping, John went to visit his Mum and when he got back Shelley, Martin, Josh and Flo popped in for a visit, so we didn’t get much done today. After they left I should have gone out and done some garden stuff, picking etc but I don’t feel too well, I seem to have picked up a cold, John said, just go and have a sit down because you can’t work when you are dead 🙄 ok I don’t need any more excuse than that lol.

I’m still,using loofahs for washing up and cut some new bits yesterday, the old bits will go in the compost, they seem to have lasted for ages.

Posted in Friesland Farm

Lots of Sunshine, lots of birthdays & Easter 🐣

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 15th April: I was up Uber early today lol, I woke at 5 decided it was still dark so would go back to sleep, couldn’t settle back so eventually got up at 5.45. I was starving, that’s the steroids, I couldn’t settle because my mind had by this time gone into overdrive and that’s also the steroids lol, still it’s a lot better than not having the energy to bother with anything at all so I’m happy 😃

I got up, dressed, breakfasted, out to do the morning rounds all before 7am, it gave John a lie in anyway 😘

I made a gruesome discovery in the quail house, something has devoured one of them, I’m not sure if the others have attacked it or if something has got in, I can’t see how but it’s possible, whatever has happened they have torn it apart and stripped all the meat off the bones making me think it’s possibly a rat but this hut is on 4ft legs up high. I will have to move the other three to safety and see what happens, they can be vicious towards each other if they decide to turn but at the moment it’s a mystery.

According to the weather forecast we are getting some warmer weather this week 😀 a bit of heat for all the fruit and veg will be very welcome.

Today is Charlie’s birthday and we are off out for lunch at Aston Pottery https://astonpottery.co.uk/ which is local to us, it’s a lovely place for lunch, plus a vast range of pottery and gifts and they also have a fabulous garden and sell the plants too, what’s not to love 💗

The wind was a bit blowy today and the warmth never really materialised but it didn’t matter for lunch and nattering and to be honest apart from the basics I didn’t get much else done today 🙄

The seeds are doing well in the tunnel, well most of them, yet again this year the peas are sporadic to say the least, last year I had to sow two lots and still they didn’t come up and this year the first lot are hit and miss, mostly miss 😜 Everything else is romping along.

Tuesday: Mia day today and so I got a few bits done outside as well as the feeding etc, then when she arrived she helped to do a few more bits before we spent a hour playing pirates in the pirate ship 😀 Then Josh, Flo and Shelley arrived for a couple of hours playing, Sam finished early and picked up Mia so I dashed round got the eggs and feeding down then indulged myself with Game of Thrones 😃 Another birthday today so when John got home we went off for cake 😀 Hoping for the warmth of the sun tomorrow as I have plenty of jobs to get done.

Wednesday: Up early because I couldn’t resist the promise of some warm weather 😀 I could see the orange Sun rising over the hedge when I opened the curtains whoop whoop, then it went cloudy lol, but still warmer than of late. I got the bed stripped and room hoovered and bed re made before 7.15 😀 off out to get the birds feed and let out and then straight into the poly tunnel and garden 😀 Mum arrived and we had a lovely session in the poly tunnel, she was giving me some lessons on cuttings, she has green fingers and years of knowledge so I’m tapping into that 😀 It got even better when some plants arrived with the postman and we got those potted on, ooo what a lovely morning 😀 Mum was just going when Sam and brought lunch, could this day get much better, lunch eaten Sam went to get the horse in and get him a wash down which by all accounts he enjoyed thoroughly. I went and picked some weeds for the rabbits and guinea pig and the set up a run that we have to put the tortoises in so they could eat without the chickens stealing it all.

I’m still moaning on about the price of plants at the garden centre lol, this has driven me to learn more about cuttings and propagating everything I have and I’m enjoying doing it, I just need the green fingers that my Mum has 😜

A quick sit down before I start again.

I did the feeding etc then spent a good few hours doing lots of little jobs, there are a million and one of them 😂 bathing the dogs, they haven’t been done for a while and with some dry days now is a good time. Patch is easy as he is short haired and lanky so doesn’t get too dirty, Mia on the other hand is shorter, longer haired and loves to roll in fox poo 💩 they both get a dose of flea treatment, Mia has a prescription treatment because she likes to roll in fox poo 💩 and can get mange from it. I altered the wording on the egg board sign, put some plants out for sale, got the washing in, put the dinner on, fed and watered the little chicks which are growing at a rate and beginning to feather up, watered the plants in pots out the front, oh and in between I reserved some turkeys to raise for Christmas 🤣 as you do. We always said we would like to do some turkeys and the opportunity arose so I took it, only 6 just to see how they do, excited 😜

I haven’t seen Diesel on the farm for a while, I see him down on the boundary wall and John sees him up the road a little but he is hardly ever at the yard at the moment 😕 there has been no sign of Cruella since the fox attacks back in February so I have no idea what happened to her ☹️ we have not had much luck with cats over the past two years, Molly hung around but obviously she was already old and now no longer with us so to that end I am on the search for two kittens. We have tried the re homing feral cats with not much success, they turn out to be not so feral more petrified, so we thought have them from young, two will be company for each other and hopefully they will be here for a long time to come, just got to find kittens that are short haired and not ridiculously priced!

Thursday: Up early again, you guessed it, bathroom cleaned and hoovered before 7.15, I’m on fire 🔥 😜 two loads of washing on and done then out to feed everything and let it all out for the day. Watering next because we have a distinct lack of rain 😲 so things in pots need a bit of help. Onto the polytunnel to water in there then a quick clean up in the boot room. I had Josh on his own for a few hours and we fed jack a carrot, put fresh bedding in for the ducks, moved the torts to the pen so they can eat, hung out the washing, made a paper aeroplane and flew it, kind of, then we gathered sticks and made a fire, cooked and ate cowboy sausages in the garden 😀

PICTURE ‘this is the life’ was our motto today 😀

Quick rest and a cuppa then onto the unending list of jobs, I’m down to around 999, 874.3 left on the list now 😝

Cleaned out the little chicks who are feathering up nicely now and growing every day!

Did a few more domestic bits before John came home and then went to get a bit of shopping because with a 4 day weekend there will be nothing left on the shelves 😂 I picked up a couple more plants for a couple of quid each a hardy fushia £2 and some day lilies also £2, not complaining at that 😝 and I think they will be on sale by the end of the weekend as most are in need of water!

Good Friday: The beginning of the Easter weekend, Eostre an ancient word meaning Spring, the celebrations of new life, hence the eggs and bunnies both symbols of fertility and the return of some warm weather 😀

It also happens to be Mia’s 3rd birthday today 😀

Up early 😜 crack on before it gets too hot! John did the feeding etc while I did some watering and domestic bits then we set about getting the poultry netting set up in the back paddock, this is a belts and braces job because we have three single strands of wire around the outside too. We need to (a) keep the hens in and (b) keep the foxes out 🙄 the netting has been chewed to bit by various animals, rabbits, geese, fox, as soon as there is not enough charge in a battery it gets chewed so I’m thinking we won’t buy that again. Anyway we have it, such as it is so we have doubled it all up and can only hope that this will work.

While we were collecting netting from the front we saw a car parked in the lane, I went to investigate as there was no one in it and saw a chap taking photos over our neighbours gate, I asked him what he was doing and he said he was photographing the horses, I think he was genuine but I explained to him that it’s not a good idea and he could be seen as scoping the place out, he seemed a bit shocked at that, either way if he was genuine he learnt something new and if he was not he has been clocked, keep em peeled people 😜

I was supposed to have a customer come and collect some goose eggs today but they can’t get past the traffic to the local wildlife park, do you think I should put in a claim 😝 honestly in the last two years the traffic to there on bank holidays has got horrendous.

We had a birthday party for Mia in the afternoon, the weather was amazing, bit too hot for me, hush my mouth, but it was a lovely time playing in the front paddock.

We moved 51 hens to their new back paddock enclosure, fingers crossed they stay there 🙄 by this time it was 9pm so we shut everything else away, I made myself a hot chocolate and John a tea, then I sat outside and drank mine 😀 The moon was fantastic tonight with an Amber glow just fabulous, I listened to all the noises, distant dog barking, sheep bleating, watched the night flights going back to London and wondering where they had been, and was aware of the bats flying around. We have always had bats flying here, I don’t know where they roost, we have never come across any in 10 years but they are out every night. Back inside to catch up with Gardeners World 😀

Saturday: Ahhh up at 5.30 lol, once I’m awake these days and if it’s light I figure I might as well get up and get on so that’s what I did, nice time of the morning as I watched the deer running across the field at the back of us. By the time John got up at 7.30 I had everything fed, watered and let out, got some plants in situ and done the watering 😀 He went off to finish the last few bits of Shelley and Martins bathroom and I set about planting the broad beans and putting together some metal shelving in the poly tunnel. Martin came and dropped off the wood for the greenhouse which is being done tomorrow 😀

Now by this time I was beginning to notice one or two hens walking around the place 😣 I went into the stables and there were about 10 of the buggers, more have appeared during the morning, we decided in the end just to electrify the ring fencing hoping the hens would stay behind the netting, so that’s clearly not working. I managed to shut the majority of them in a stable and that’s where they can stay for now, at least it’s not all 51 of them……yet!

I cut a piece of contorted hazel for the Easter tree, I like doing it and the children like looking at it, they get to take something off the tree to keep each year.

The thing I’m finding with this glorious weather is that I quickly run out of time to spend in the poly tunnel, it gets hot and as the trees are not out in full leaf yet there is no shade either, so while I’m itching to be out there, i can’t 🙄

Browsing through things while it’s a bit too hot for me I discovered you can eat Hostas, Hostas, who knew that? Amazing, apparently they taste a bit like asparagus and are considered a mountain vegetable, might just have to try one 😜 further reading and I discover that they are the perfect forest garden vegetable and have the potential to be a major commercial vegetable 😲 I wonder how many people I can convince to have a go lol, well if they are good enough for the slugs I guess they must be tasty 😋

Late afternoon/early evening I planted out some peas and watered bits that I have been planting over the last couple of days, then it was time to round up the escapees and take them back to the hut in the small back paddock, 22 of them in all 😕 Tomorrow we will electrify the netting instead of the strand wire and see if it keeps a few more of them in.

Before we did that John put the other birds away and I went to do the geese and Sussex, as I stepped out of the door I could hear a Robin sending out the alarm call and jumping from branch to branch in the trees, I wondered what was alarming it and then the cat appeared (the Robin has a nest in my plastic flower mountain) then I went over to the geese two of which had managed to get the wrong side of the fence so there were geese honking, A Robin shrilling loudly and the cat meowing, a right racket going on lol.

Easter Sunday: A busy day ahead of us, Martin & Luke are coming over to build the frame for the greenhouse, Macca is giving them a hand as is John. Charlie, Sam, Shelley, Josh, Mia and Florence will also be coming over and I will be on bacon rolls and tea duties then later on a roast lamb dinner and blueberry and apple pie, Chocolate cake and of course Easter eggs😜

It really was a busy day but the lads got loads done, we ate heartily and the children were exhausted at the end of it all, I am pooped 😬

The asparagus is at last coming through 😀

Over and out for this week 😴😴😴😴😴

Posted in Friesland Farm

Plenty of sun, plenty of work & plenty to say 😜

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Oooo I’ve a lot to say this week 😀 must be feeling better 😁

Sunday evening: Although I had already published this weeks blog I just wanted to tell you that the rhubarb is coming thick and fast and I really fancied some stewed rhubarb and custard for pudding tonight 😀 Nothing better than popping out to the garden to pick it fresh, and I’m looking forward to the next few months of being able to do that with all sorts of produce 😀

John went out to put the birds to bed and we have suffered yet more fox attacks, ffs😡😡😡 this has to be when we nipped out, in broad daylight because the feathers were not there when John fed them earlier. It’s fast becoming unsustainable and for anyone who thinks foxes are cute furry things I’m here to tell you they f…ing well are not, we paid £400 for new hens just a couple of weeks ago, the fencing is hooked up to the mains power, we are always here to shut them up at night, often missing out on social events depending on the time of year, how much more do we need to do, even John, who is not easily defeated is ready to throw in the towel. We have NEVER had such a problem as bad as this year, it’s been getting worse every year but this is unbelievable. Fuming, depressed, defeated, lost as to what we do next, short of investing 100s of pounds, which again is unsustainable, we may be coming to the end of our tether!!!

Monday 8th April: Getting towards the middle of the month, from then on we don’t expect to have much of a frost and certainly not a hard frost, could be famous last words mind you with the weather patterns these days who knows lol. It’s raining this morning, just what you want, A wet Monday morning 😕 I was hoping to get some pottering in the garden done but unless the sun comes out later it will be a bit muddy, so it will have to be a bit more cleaning yay.

You know how life has a way of coming along and giving you a kick up the arse every now and then well that just happened to me, after ranting about the fox attacks and feeling a bit dejected what with the tiredness and lack of sunshine today, I find out that someone died ☹️ someone only a third of the way through life and suddenly those things don’t matter in the slightest anymore, because they really don’t do they, ok they are annoying and sometimes get to you but in the grand scheme of things they are blips.

I must be feeling better, by 12 I had already done a few bits and bobs and got the dinner ready for this evening. We had a slow cooked leg of lamb yesterday and there is plenty left on it, John has taken sandwiches to work and has lamb casserole for dinner and I made a lamb biryani. Now I have never even eaten a biryani before so I have no idea what it’s supposed to taste like lol, I found a recipe, thought, yeah I quite fancy that and so I made it. The secret to being able to do these things is a well stocked cupboard, I don’t actually have any curry powder but I do have all the separate powders that go into making curry powder, plus I substituted a couple of things, tomato/onion chutney instead of mango chutney for instance, it can’t make that much difference, well I’m hoping not lol.

The chap that was fixing our mower bought that back this morning, it looks all nice and clean not filthy and dusty like the embarrassing condition it was in when he collected it 😜 just need some dry weather and I can top the smaller paddock to keep it under control.

You will remember that we had the big apple tree pruned and the prunings left for us to deal with, which we have never got round to 🙄 we moved them from in the paddock to just over the fence in the front yard, the idea was to eventually shred them. I have watched the birds absolutely loving these piles of twigs, I don’t know if it’s insects in there or if they like the cover but they are having a ball with it so I’m inclined to leave them for the time being, they are not hurting anything, not particularly unsightly and anything that creates that much wildlife interest probably needs to be left untouched for a couple of seasons at least.

Stick pile that the birds are loving

I discovered last night that the glass rope seal on the Rayburn flue has come away, that’s not ideal, the rope on the other flue is also loose and we haven’t changed the door one for a couple of years, we have a bit of rope and glue left but I have ordered some more to get all three of them up to scratch, that will be a filthy job to look forward too 😝 I was hoping the weather was going to warm up bough not to need it for a day or two but it seems not as we are forecast a day of rain tomorrow 🙄

I made a favourite cake, Mary Berry’s orange and sultana cake, the goose I thought was sitting tight turned out not be to be, I collected up 20 eggs yesterday which had to be discarded and today there were four fresh ones but as I picked one up I dropped it onto another and they both have cracks, waste not want not, time for a cake 😀 The other egg just had a chip out of it so I hard boiled it for snacking on 😀 I thought about lots of different things to make with it but mostly I’m lured towards something sweet and with the steroids at the moment that’s best to be avoided 😜

Tuesday: I have Mia today and we have just had a quiet day of films really as I had a bout of double vision last night which is a bit of a worry, never had it before, I didn’t feel unwell and it only lasted about 10 mins but I’m wary today. I will need to get it checked out, probably to do with the first lot of new meds but it wants investigation.

During the quiet day I had a strange visitor, I say strange more odd really, a young lady called to ask for work with horses she said she was living in her car with her dog at the moment 😕 first impressions were that she was a respectable person then I was worried that she may be a vulnerable person or missing person? In the end I reported it on the W Oxon RCRG which is like neighbourhood watch just in case, I listened to my instinct for a change 🙄

The difference between rain in the Winter and rain in the Spring: Winter, it’s cold, wet and grey, Spring it’s not so cold, still wet but everything looks green and lush, definitely a more pleasant outlook lol and we get glimpses of sun occasionally.

Wednesday: Dry, the sun is trying to come out, still a tad cold though we could do with some heat. I spent an hour trying to log into an app, you know the routine, we don’t recognise your username or password, funny that as you are taking my money 😝 please reset the password, the password should be numbers and letter only, they f..ing well are 🙄 this session has timed out please try again 😡 we don’t recognise your username (or the new password you just reset) 🤬 eventually I got in, I love a bit of technology but sometimes it tries the patience of a saint!

I went outside to get a few jobs done, feed the rabbits, torts, etc, water the plants in the poly tunnel, much easier now John has connected the water up, put some clean bedding in with the ducks, round up the geese from the front yard because John left the gate open 🙄 Enough of that, back inside for a cup of coffee and a sit down, I think I am trying to run before I can walk here so recognising the need for rest is vital.

I sit down with my coffee, think, ooo I will catch up with The Walking Dead, oh no you won’t, the smart hub is updating, please try later 😣 Well I tried later and on and off it took till 3pm to get everything back up and running as it should, who has time for all this sh*t, bloody smart tv, not that smart because it fails to recognise the firetv stick which decided that as the tv didn’t want to know, neither did it 😣 unplug it, plug it back in, unplug it again, wait for it to load (forever) then just freeze and do nothing, unplug it, plug it back in and so it goes on, eventually for no reason that I can figure out it suddenly decides, ooo I think I will work now. I am pretty good with the technology on the whole (and when I say good I mean I can find my way around jargon and get stuff downloaded and set up, stuff like free streaming, I can get that up and running so I’m not a technob 🙄) but this has driven me buggy today 😡 Anyhooo all done now at least John will be able to record the F1 this weekend, now he is a technob, he constantly points the wrong remote at the box shaking it wondering why it won’t work, that’s why we now have a smart remote, one remote, many tasks but not many buttons and it doesn’t take much to mess with his lack of tech skills 😜 but he always insists on holding the remote and asking me how to do stuff 🤣

I had a few visitors today, Mum called in the morning and she was going to do some work in the garden but to be honest the wind was a bit cold so we had coffee and a chat instead, Shelley, Josh and Flo came in the afternoon and then Charlie popped in after work.

Inbetween those welcome faces I did the afternoon feeding and the egg shed then spent an hour in the tunnel potting some overwintered stuff on. It was nice and sunny and very warm in there by about 4pm so I took my guilty pleasure with me, a bottle of Dr Pepper, I can’t drink alcohol any more as it doesn’t agree with the meds and mostly I drink defcaf coffee, tea or water so I buy a small bottle when we go shopping and save it for the right time 😁

I have a lightweight cold frame that the top plastic has long since gone on and wanted to put some environmesh on it to stop the hens getting at the plants. A simple enough job you would think 🤣 except that I just wanted to quickly staple gun the mesh on, the problem is that Mia, the dog, does not like the staple gun. She happily throws a ball round Johns feet when he is using the chainsaw, gets in the way of the tractor or any other vehicle, doesn’t mind the hedge trimmer, wood chipper, log splitter or any other type of tool but she does not like the staple gun and takes off when she hears it. I only needed to put about 5 staples in so I took the chance, but as soon as the first one went in she shot off up the back so I had to call her, get her in the back and shut the door. Couple this with hens trying to get in the shed the minute I opened the door to get said staple gun out and the risk of the fox coming because the dogs are not out and you can see how a simple, two minute job, is very far from it 😝 Objective finally achieved, normal service resumed 😀

Frost is forecast tonight, -1, I did go round and have a look at the blossom on the top fruit trees but I have rather too many to cover them all so I figure that nature will have to take its course and hope it’s not too hard a frost and not too much blossom suffers, I don’t know how they manage in commercial orchards, I’m guessing they don’t cover rows and rows of trees so there must be a balance there somewhere.

Thursday: ‘oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day’ absolutely 😀 I spent the morning pricking out seedlings, cauliflowers mostly lol, I seem to have a lot of them 😝 I planted up three rows of onions, covered various things to stop the hens scratching it all up again. I have come to the conclusion that the hens do more good than harm provided I cover vulnerable plants because they are doing a great job of weeding and manure going as they go plus they are eating up insects along the way, probably beneficial ones too but you can’t have it all 😜 Remember the lady who is going to hatch out chicks with the children she looks after, well she collected her eggs today and I’m looking forward to hearing about the progress and fingers crossed a good batch.

Sat having a cuppa at 5pm, I’ve had one of the best days especially of late, no pain, I feel well (famous last words) I have energy to get stuff done, but been pacing myself 😁 just a glorious day for doing stuff in the garden. In the afternoon Sam and Shelley came over with Josh, Flo and Mia and we had a fab afternoon, firstly giving the tortoises a sponge bath to get the winter dust off them, then washing their play car and having a go in it, then up to the small paddock at the back to pick daffodils for the Mummy’s and dandelions, grass and sticky willy (goosegrass) for the rabbits, back down to feed the rabbits, brilliant 😀 After they had gone I collected the eggs, filled up all the water buckets, picked up some bits and pieces to put away and then came in for me cuppa 😀 Loving life today 😘

John came home and I went and mowed the strip between the paddock and the manège as I don’t want the grass to get too long down there, the geese will be able to graze it nicely now and hopefully keep it down a bit. Job done, day done, well nearly, just the dinner to cook 👩‍🍳

Shelley took some lovely photos yesterday, we have a temporary viewing platform on the farm and the views are fabulous, I don’t like heights so I have only climbed halfway up but she went right up and took this:

View across the paddock and beyond, from a platform 😀

It’s Friiiiiiiiiiday 😀: I don’t know why because it doesn’t really make much difference to us we are always working but Fridays still seem like the best day of the week 😀 The sun is shinning this morning so that makes all the difference, although it’s cold and was pretty cold overnight too, we didn’t light the Rayburn as it had been so warm in the day, that was a mistake 🙄 I will be lighting it tonight lol

I have my first lot of blood tests this morning since starting the new meds so am just pottering about before I get them done then I will crack on later.

Another glorious morning working in the tunnel and outside. I was pottering about taking some leaves off of an apple tree that I have already moved once and is still struggling, it has powdery mildew and it’s best to pick off the infected leaves to try and control it, anyway I looked up across the paddock and saw Jack in the field then I saw another horse which looked a bit too close to be in the field opposite. I went into the front paddock and realised that the horse was loose on the road, I ran (I say that lamely) to the lane, by this time a couple of cars had stopped and the occupants trying to find out who it belonged to, not me for a change 😝 the loose horse was charging up and down the lane trying to get back to where it came from, it went up and along to the farm track opposite, I met the young girl who lives there, she was walking back home with the dog and we tried to corale it into a nearby gateway, nope it wasn’t haven’t any of it, eventually it stopped by another gateway and the young lady opened the gate and got it in, good for her, I was pretty useless really as I couldn’t keep up with the horse. It took about 15 mins but any accident was avoided and the horse was safe back behind a gate, not the gate it’s supposed to be behind but still that’s for the owner to sort out later.

I carried on with my day, potting on, covering plants, then I remembered I hadn’t secured the gate I went through when the horse was loose so I went for a wander into the paddock, picked some wild garlic, had a quick look at a couple of things I planted in the hedgerow and wandered back. I’m going to have some pasta, cream cheese and wild garlic for lunch 😀

The flat leaf parsley has done well over winter in the tunnel so I have picked a bunch and hung it to dry, gave the rabbits some of the limper bits that are dragging on the soil, which they loved, hopefully the parsley will flush again now, I have curly parsley too but prefer the flat leaf variety, the smell is fabulous.

Lost my mojo around 1pm, all that running I suspect 😜 time for a nap me thinks 😁

It seems every one has a different plan, egg customers, deliveries, you name they come a calling when I just nod off so onto plan B a cuppa and a piece of cake and see what daytime tv is putting out these days 😝 Find it, fix it, flog it, there is inspiration for all the junk we have lying around here, now where did I put my tools?

Eventually I go out and do the feeding and egg collection, pick some rhubarb for the little shed and then think, I have a spare hour I will mow the small back paddock. The mower worked perfectly fine last night and I was thinking how much easier life is when things work properly (it’s just had it’s service) but no the damn thing does not want to start, the brake is on, the choke is on, there is fuel in in, the cutter is not engaged, all checks done, it turns over but won’t fire up 🤬 why, why oh why can’t some things just be straight forward. There is another way to start it, with the pull cord but that takes two people and there is just me, I could put something heavy on the seat (safety feature, has to have weight on it .i.e my arse) but when I take the weight off it will stop, I swear to god they make these things just to piss people off 😣 ‘Right said Fred, we’ll ave a cuppa tea’ and try again in a moment or two 🙄

Tried again, still won’t start, abandon that job from my head then 😕

Picked a whole bunch of stuff for the rabbits and Guinea pig who seemed very happy with their supper, they had : Dead nettle, Lilac, Raspberry shoots, Hazel, Lovage, Grass,Dandelion, Mint, Comfrey, Groundsel and chard, got to be a whole lot better than the generic pellets and there is an abundance growing now so that’s good. I decided I will let mint, strawberries, dead nettle and groundsel grow wherever it likes from now on as it’s all free food for the rabbits.

John came home, got on the mower and started it first time, course he did, FML😣 he went in and made a cuppa while I went off to mow the grass and ran out of petrol halfway round, yes, this is a real day 🙄 He went off to get some more petrol because of course we don’t have any left while I light the fire, do the washing up, hang up the washing to dry, feed and water the hatchlings and wait for him to return hopefully with some dinner as well 😜

Ate dinner, finished off the mowing, job done ✅

Next door had all her hens and her duck wiped out by the fox late yesterday afternoon, she is very upset and I know just how she feels ☹️

Saturday: Cold but sunny already 😀 John went off to help Shelley and Martin with their bathroom first thing so I did the morning rounds. That’s the first time I have done it all for weeks, I was going round thinking, have I done everything, lol, it was quite nice to have a purpose again 😀 after the feeding, watering, eggs etc I made a coffee and wandered up to the small paddock with my coffee to pick daffodils 🌼 lovely 😊 We haven’t sold loads of bunches but we sold a few and that’s cheered up someone’s day so it’s all good.

Busy morning in the garden planting stuff up and hoeing weeds down, bucketfuls for the rabbits though 😀 We are going to have to do something about the 40 free range hens though, I can’t see me being able to grow much with them all over the place, they are either eating stuff or treading on it and breaking it! I would have liked the front paddock to recover before them going back out on it but it’s looking likely that we are going to have to put them back out there sooner rather than later for my sanity and the sake of home grown fruit and veg 🙄

I am right here with a fork trying to dig over the ground 😂

John came back in the afternoon and we set about starting the brooder for the ducklings, we were given some big sturdy ply boxes (that aeroplane wheels come in) a couple of years ago and have stored them ever since wondering what we could use them for, well now we know they will make excellent brooders 😀 so we got the basic size and shape made up then went to Witney to find some small gauge mesh to make the top with, I accidentally bought a wisteria while we were there 🙄 I have done a full shift today because John then went back to Martin and Shelleys to finish some pipe work, came home and went off out for a drink! To be fair he/we hardly ever go out socially but it is farewell drinks for a company he has been using for over 30 years and they have now closed down, end of an era, he started using them went he was a very young plumber, it was a independent business so you get to know each other well, they know our family, have been in the know when all the girls were born and Sam even went to work for them for a few years so it was a lengthy and personal connection 😀 Anyway it means I put the birds to bed tonight AND I GET THE REMOTE 😜

We have made plans for getting the free range hens into the small back paddock behind electric fencing with added strand fencing, hopefully the fox won’t like that but I do have to get them out of my garden! I know that last night a very mangey fox was shot in the vicinity, it wasn’t in good condition and that’s what happens when they are not controlled, not all foxes are healthy and well, there are a lot out there that are diseased, maimed from vehicle incidents, generally in bad condition, controls are needed to keep the remaining population healthy, not hunting, that’s fine, I don’t necessarily agree with that but culling and controlling, yes that needs to happen for the sake of a healthy population.

Sunday: Not a bad morning a tad colder than of late but the Sun is out. John did the outside morning stuff while I did the inside stuff. Then we went off early to do a few things including a stint at the garden centre as I have some vouchers that were burning a hole in my pocket now it’s growing weather. HOWEVER I could not believe the prices of plants 😲 shocking! I think this is definitely something to get into, it’s money for old rope providing you have the space to bring them on, honestly I couldn’t bring myself to buy some of the things I would have liked (even though I have vouchers lol) I thought ‘I’m not paying that for a bog standard shrub or plant that I could propagate’ 😜 having said that the place was rammed with buyers. I did get a few things and I will definitely be splitting them come Autumn and selling them on next year lol, in the meantime I will be visiting plant stalls at the local fetes where you should still get a bargain or two 🙄

Back home and John is cold so lighting the fire midday, I must admit the wind is a bit cold but it can only get better can’t it?

In then out again to get some food shopping, John thinks if the biscuit barrel is empty we need a full shop 😝 we only needed a few things but spent most of the time chatting to people we hadn’t seen for a while 🙄 I picked up four plants while I was at the supermarket at about an 1/4 of the price they are in the garden centre 😬 crazy.

Posted in Friesland Farm

New chicks, a bit of rain, plenty of gardening.

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Thursday 4th April: 🙄 What can I say, this is the first time in just over a week I have been able to function properly, I gradually went from bad to worse, my joints swelled, my muscles were all inflamed, I had chronic pain and I felt really lousy, freezing cold and very sleepy. Luckily I already had an upcoming appointment at the hospital, so I called the doctor to get some blood tests done ready and yes the Lupus is flaring, no idea why as I was really well last week. Anyway I have had a complete overhaul of meds plus am back on the steroids for a while so hopefully that should sort it all out, it’s only day one and already feel more ‘normal’ and able.

Not everyone is a fan of steroids but here is my take on them, my condition, Lupus, when it flares, is chronic, at the worst point no amount of alternative therapy/food/diets etc is going to help (I do think however that following these as a life plan helps to keep you well the majority of the time) and taking steroids is my choice, I am given the choice by the experts who probably hope I’m going to say yes but allow me the choice to decline if I want to. The reason I say yes is this, personally I would rather spend 10 years on steroids have a good quality of life and be able to do all the things I love doing and enjoy doing them rather than 20 declining years of a half life of pain, misery and isolation, that’s my take on it, not everyone’s view and I respect that but that’s how I approach it, and I admit I take a calculated risk because I am 55 this year, if I was only 25 (sigh) I may not make the same choice. Someone once said to me ‘you are very philosophical about it’ well I think you have to be, when you have a long term illness especially if it’s chronic it’s very easy to become a ‘victim’ of that illness so I try not to and I think a positive outlook is half the battle 😀

And while I am on a roll I would just like to say what a fantastic service we have with our NHS not just in this instance but throughout my life I have had the comfort of knowing that myself and my family are in the best possible hands in times of need, we take it for granted and sometimes forget what life would be like without it, yes there are problems and waiting times but hells bells imagine if it wasn’t there at all 😣

I’m trying to remember what has happened in my ‘missing’ days, we have had a hatch and have 12 light Sussex chicks 🐥 today we also took in three chicks that Joshua’s Nursery has hatched out 😀 Sarah, Ben and Bin apparently lol. I’m hoping Josh will help look after them as they grow and learn about cleaning them out and feeding them etc. We have welcomed another great niece into the wider family and have learnt that our grandchild twins will be one of each 💙💕 which will be good for family dynamics, Mothers and babies in both circumstances doing well 😀

Josh and his chicks

The rain we really need has arrived though it has bought the cold with it as well, hopefully it won’t hang around too long as Easter Holidays are starting and parents could probably do with some nice weather just as much as gardeners 😜

One of the geese has started sitting, she won’t come out now and so that’s the end of the goose eggs for sale as you won’t catch me trying to get her out with the others all standing guard!

I have therapy tonight with the truly wonderful Annette 😀 I think I will opt for a massage rather than Bowen, my shoulders and jaw need ‘loosening’ I tend to hunch my shoulders and clench my jaw with pain and I was also feeling the cold acutely, piles of blankets and a hot water bottle 😀

In the end I listened to Annette’s advice who said that Bowen, working with the body, would be better at this point in time than massage, which is working against it, so Bowen it was.

Friday: Wet and windy over night so not a pleasant morning still a tad cold too. We have lost a couple of hens over night or early this morning. The worrying thing is that this is yet again over the mains electric fencing, it seems one of the windows has caved in due to the wind probably, the hens probably flew out through the window first light and the fox has taken the opportunity to nab breakfast. These are the new lot and have just started laying ☹️ John will have to put something over the window to stop them getting out but it still means the fox is prepared to jump the electric fence 🙄

On the upside every day I feel a lot better than the last few days so that’s good 😀

A couple of weeks back I was searching in vain for around 10/15 pol ducks, they are pretty hard to come by in and around our area. I did a bit more searching and thinking and finally put in an order for 51 day old khaki Campbell female ducklings 😲 that way I’m guaranteed females and guaranteed their age, buying ducks is a bit of a lottery we have found in the past. They will be arriving in the first week of May and I’m hoping to sell a few on pretty quickly lol otherwise there will be A LOT of duck eggs in the shed eventually.

I did a bit today not too much just some essentials, the turnip seedlings needed potting on so I got three trays of those done, some important paperwork that needed to be got together, feeding the rabbits, collecting the light Sussex eggs, light the Rayburn, sounds easy but one of my knees is not bearing weight just yet and you’d be surprised at how much kneeling down needs doing daily 😂 most other parts of me are working well again now though so that’s good and definitely no more pain so that is excellent!

Saturday: We did the morning stuff then John went off to get feed and I tried getting a couple of things done but one of them including sawing and my hands just won’t do the job, I tried the chop saw but the wood did not fit, got frustrated about that will have to wait for John to come back and do it. I was trying to make a low run for feeding the tortoises, one the hens can’t get into ☹️. I also need to find the key to the very back door but unbelievably we dont seem to have any! I am assuming we had two and thought John would have one, the other was hidden for the liveries to use but I have no idea where it is and so we have none at the moment, I wanted to be able to shut the door behind me so that the hens can’t get in as they are knocking everything down off shelves and crapping over everything, I think my stress levels are a bit high today 😝 Shelley came over and we chose our runners in the Grand National later when we will all sit/stand/jump/cheer loudly for our horses 🐎 John went to put the bets on, I’m not using the app again as last year although I won I couldn’t find out for over 2 hours as I locked myself out of the app and then found I had put the bet on three times by accident lol, I won three times as much though 😜 but it’s a bitter sweet thing when the money transactions are just digital and not readies in your hand so we are opting to put the fun back in it this year and go with the cash to the bookies 😁

John came back and made a thing for the tortoises to eat under out of a pallet, then I found a key to the back doors but the lock wouldn’t work so John took it apart, hit it with a hammer and now it does, sometimes there is no skill needed just brute force 😜 Then everyone came over to watch the Grand National, that was a chaotic, noisy affair and great fun, Charlie and I had the winner, I didn’t realise when I picked it but it’s the same horse I had last year that has now won two years running 😀 shame I didn’t accidentally back it three times this year 🤣🤣

Inbetween all the chaos a hen was stuck in the electric fence, Martin noticed Patch out in the paddock which is unusual unless there is someone out there, I looked and could see the hen which is why patch was there, it pays to know your dogs well as the signs that something isn’t normal are easy to spot then. Hen rescued, race watched, monies won, John went off to collect winnings and pick up fish and chips on the way home while I lit the Rayburn, everyone else went home, quiet resumed 😜

The chicks are doing well, we have only had one death, not bad, usually get a couple, six of the eggs didn’t even pip, I haven’t checked them yet but I will just to see what stage they had got to before dying in the shell. If they had pipped I might be inclined to help them but with no external pip there is no point, weak chicks will die anyway ☹️

Sunday: Not a bad day weather wise, we got the morning stuff done then John went to visit his Mum and by 9am I was hoovering and cleaning. I’ve had a pretty good day, not in terms of wellness because I’ve been a bit tired but I still ploughed on and got some stuff done. I did have a rest after the cleaning lol, I thought I was up to a good clean but soon realised I wasn’t 😕 After resting I went out I to the polytunnel to do a few bits, I actually can’t remember what now but I did something 😜 I have covered the asparagus over with wire because I think the hens might be eating it as it comes up, they are eating everything at the moment and so covering is a priority task! During the afternoon I asked John to reconnect the water pipes up from the tap to the garden, we soon found some splits in the pipe and had to go and get the pipe cutters which he had left round at Shelleys. On the way back we called into Mums and she had a few plants for me. I have been trying to get some plants/shrubs growing in the duck area and so I got busy planting them in there, also having to protect everything that was planted, from the ducks. The area is just mud, it was grass when they first moved in a few years ago but gradually became a mud area, at the end of last year I planted a willow whip and a forsythia both have done well and survived so I wanted a few more things to go in there. If I can keep them growing and stop the ducks from trashing it there will be a nice little shrubbery for them to hide under. John has been busy loading wood, fixing the hen house, a bit had fallen off, feeding the afternoon feed, collecting eggs, fixing water pipes for me and then got called out to an emergency leak, not his I’ll add but a customer who lives in a flat and the upstairs flat had a water leak so it was coming through to hers, the chap upstairs could not get another plumber to come out so John went.

Tomorrow I start my new meds, this could go either way 🙄 I’m planning on it being good, time will tell lol.

Seedlings all doing nicely in the poly tunnel.

Posted in Friesland Farm

A busy, tiring but highly productive week 😀

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 18th March: Not a bad morning, not too cold, not raining and not windy 😀 so after I did the animal feeding etc I got stuck into a bit of gardening. I had two beds in mind to get done, the first is the very far bed, this has fruit in it, Cherry/pear/apple trees, black currant/gooseberry/mulberry bushes, it also has two Japanese honeysuckle bushes. A golden hop grows in there but never where I want it to which is along the fence, instead it grows up the cherry tree and strangles it so each year I try in vain to dig it out. I have potted up some roots of it to plant elsewhere but the best I can do is keep it under control for now. The black membrane is down over the bed because this bed gets sunshine all day from early morning to late evening, this is great but because of the Lupus it means it is the most difficult bed for me to look after during the summer months, the membrane helps keep the weeds under control when I can’t.

The next bed is the one opposite that had sweet corn growing in it last year, at the end of the season I bent the stalks down and left them over winter. There are two reasons for this, one the stalks/roots are very tough and difficult to get out so I left them to dry out so I could snap them off, secondly they make ideal overwintering for beneficial insects 😀 I cleared the stalks away and then dug out the roots, as always the ninjas were there ready to do their thing. Just as I finished it began to rain so an ideal time to pop into the tunnel and pot up the hop roots and a couple of raspberry runners.

Indoors to do a bit of tidying, washing, light the fire etc and then I decided to make a cake, I was going to make fruit cake but I don’t have a single pack of dried fruit in the house 😜 unbelievable, so I made a simple vanilla pound cake instead. I need to reorganise my cupboards as they are just not working for me, I moved them last year but things are a bit disjointed so I may just move it all back again, at least I will know what I have. I miss the pantry that we had at the old house, everything in one cupboard and you could see clearly what was in there, I should have made sure I had one here but I didn’t and regret that now.

So I just did something incredibly dumb 🙄 I was waiting for the cake to finish cooking so pottering round doing odds and sods, I had noticed that our mouse friend in the kitchen has been back so I grabbed the mouse trap that was behind the mixer in order to re bait and set it. It was set already so for some unexplainable reason I tried to bait it while it was set 😲 I know, how stupid can you get, it just didn’t register that it was set and as I tried to put the peanut butter in….snap…..it trapped my middle finger on my left hand, luckily this is not a metal trap or I would have lost the top of my finger I think, these are plastic traps but even so my finger is bound to suffer somehow, at the moment it’s numb and I am waiting for the changeover occur 😣

I did the afternoon feeding and egg collection, gave the rabbits some hay, burnt a bit more paper rubbish (feed bags) and picked a bunch of rhubarb to put out for sale. I also picked the first bunch of daffodils 😀 I put them out for 50p for a bunch of 10, I think the shops sell them for more but they have large overheads besides, 50p would buy a pint of milk if we needed it 😋

I filled up the wild bird feeders today, when the weather is not frozen I don’t always fill them because I don’t think it does the birds any good to solely rely on food put out for them, I don’t know what anybody else thinks?

Tuesday: A promising start to the day, sunny, cold but not too cold, a promising day ahead maybe?

I checked the mouse trap in the kitchen, it had been sprung so I picked it up and had a look only to be looked right back at! The mouse had been caught by the tail and was still alive 😲 I took it up the back and let it go, l last saw it being chased by the dog. My finger by the way is mostly fine just a tiny bit sore but nothing to complain about. I have Mia today so will be whizzing round to get the animals sorted before she comes and hopefully, as it’s looking like it might stay nice, we can get outside and do something.

I went up the back when I was doing the morning rounds to check on the hens at the back, as I got up near them I saw two big white bums bounding down through Jacks field, deer 😀 with an educated guess I would say they were two female fallow deer 🦌I might try and sneak out tomorrow and see if I can get a photo 😀

I have been doing the Citizen Science course, so far it’s mostly reading/watching video and mostly stuff I already knew but now I know all the proper terms and names 😋 for instance I live in a moist, temperature forest biome and I understand my topography and micro climate, ooo it’s all good stuff 😀

Wednesday: Up and at it 😀 not windy, not raining, not sunny, not cold, perfect 😀😆 I went out at 7.30am and I’ve just come in it’s now 1.30 pm. Had an excellent morning outside, at first I was slow to start but soon picked up the pace a little. I have been sorting the shed and surrounding area and putting bits out for sale, giving bits away, chucking stuff in the skip, burning tree/garden debris, picking up stuff that has blown all round the place from the windy weather (mostly plastic pots) Then I set my sights on the herb patch, there were two hazels growing in there that had self set a couple of years back and they are getting big so I needed to get them out and have relocated them along the hedge in the orchard. There were also two bay trees that started off as little whips in pots, I sunk them in the ground thinking I will do something with those later, it’s been about four years and they have deep rooted and grown rather large 😋 so time to get them out, I have potted one up for relocation the other I have yet to decided what to do with, I may pot it up, wait to see if it takes and then sell it, it’s about 4ft so a good size.

I ordered the chickens chicken plucker which arrived this morning, my first thought was about the crate it came in, ooo nice crate, I can use that for something lol 😝

As always I’ve slightly over done it and feeling the aches and pains 😜

The Angelica arrived so I planted that and protected it from the ninjas, some of the seeds are coming up in the poly tunnel, lettuce and spinach, no sign of the coriander yet. In the other smaller tunnel the broad beans have flowers and the few remaining peas are looking good, also in there is the flat leaf and curly parsley which have survived the winter 😀

Today is the first day of Spring 😀 the vernal equinox, the changing of the seasons, already the days are much longer now we just need them to warm up a little.

Tonight I had a little chuckle to myself, we have a chap coming to pick up the mower for a service tomorrow so I wanted to make sure it started and it has a slow puncture so needs to pump it up, I roped John in to help out, we did that then while I was cleaning it off a bit John put all the birds away as usual. He shut all the stable birds in then went and did the others, I finished up and turned out the light in the stable, walked outside and there was a duck that he had missed, it sleeps in the stable not with the others that I separated at the weekend. John sends me in to turn the light back on while he rounds up the duck, it gives him the runaround 😜 he opens the single door at the far end while I open the stable door waiting for him to herd it in, this is where I start to chuckle because it’s like a scene from Benny Hill, I’m stood inside and I can see him run past, first one way, then the other, then back again with a tree branch in his hand, all the while swearing at the duck, eventually I think I ought to step outside and give him a helping hand, job done in two shakes of a donkeys tail 😜

Thursday: Another non weather morning, we are supposed to be getting some warmer weather hopefully it will arrive soon 😀 I did the morning rounds, nothing unusual to report so that’s good 😀 The chap arrived on time to collect the mower for a service, I do like people who arrive when they say they will, I am a punctual person myself so I will always organise everything round the time people say they are coming when they don’t it’s very annoying and you are left waiting lol.

What I thought was going to be a quiet day turned into a busy one, it was like grand central station at times lol. Firstly I had forgotten that I was having Mia while Sam went for a scan so she got dropped off first, then Shelley and Florence called in, then Mum and Ken came, I had asked Ken last week if he would do a bit of welding for us, then Gilly, my sister, and her little one turned up, full house 😀 Gradually everyone left to continue with their day, by this time Sam had returned and her and Mia went out to collect the eggs but got cornered by the geese so they bought in what they had got so far and then went home, I went out to collect the rest of the eggs. It’s all quiet again now 😋 I lit the Rayburn, mostly we are lighting it just for the hot water, drying any washing and to take any evening chill off the air so I don’t light it until around 3.30, then sorted out what we are having for dinner, put the bins and the milk bottles out and the day is nearly done.

I candled the eggs in the incubator tonight, all 19 are fertile and growing 😀

Friday: Weather pretty much the same as the last few days, I did the morning rounds putting fresh poultry grit and shell out for the birds, we have got a couple of egg eaters and if I can get the shells hardened up that will help stop it. I’m struggling today, gradually through the week it’s has got harder as my muscles seem to be seizing up, not sure if at some point I have overdone it and now paying for it or what but my shoulders and arms are slightly painful and stiff, it’s definitely muscle not joints. I have taken a couple of paracetamol and will see if that helps as there is so much I need to be getting on with! Even though it’s only 9.30 I’m tired so I might have a rest and see if that helps as well.

I had a bit of a rest but realised I wasn’t mentally tired just bodily lol, so I figured I would just get on and potter around doing what I can, I think sitting still would make it worse so onwards and upwards! I’m pretty sure a bit of warmth in the air will make all the difference so come on sun where are you 😝

Lunchtime and I have been out doing some bits this morning, I’ve planted a row of garlic, I think I will plant some more because although it doesn’t really sell well the girls use a fair bit of it and so do I. I weeded the raised strawberry beds that John made a couple of years ago, they don’t work as well as I had hoped they would and the plan is to move them eventually but for the time being they can stay where they are. Then onto the small flower bed I made last year, the shasta Daisy is a thug and taken over the spring bed meaning other plants in there have either died or are struggling, so I had been digging and pulling that out, I may have to start over with that bed 🙄 I checked on the torts they are still alive and hopefully once the temps go up a bit they will come out of hibernation properly, there is movement there and I have turned on the heat lamp again, I turned it off a while back because although we had that warm spell it then dipped again so there was not much point leaving it on. I still have finish their area, I’ve noticed rabbits have been digging so need to get that sorted or the torts will dig out 😜 I have planted a few things in there for some cover and interest, I now need to plant some things that they will eat to make it more interesting, they will have a shallow water area and slabs that they can heat themselves up on and a house to go into if they choose to.

After a cheese roll and drink I went out to get on with the tortoise area because before I know it they will need it. I had to clear some areas of ground, attach wire to the upright fence and then bury the wire to try and stop the rabbits getting in, I did two pieces of fence like that and then also used some thick chunks of wood to put in front of other possible escape routes. Then I just needed to finish the side fence off, I had already made it last year and Sam and I had put most of it up last month, just an end bit that needed to go in. The remaining bit of fence to go in was too long so it gave me a chance to use the chop saw and cut it all down then rebuild it. I planted a couple more bits, lemon balm, perennial geranium (tasty for torts it seems) some bonariensis for height, covered them with portable cold frames so the ninjas don’t dig them back up and sprinkled some red and white clover seed down. Then on to feed the birds and collect the eggs, next stop, cuppa, more paracetamol and a sit down 😋

Had forty winks, I figured I’d earn it today, felt better when I woke up, shoulders are still a bit achey no idea what that is but that is what life is like living with Lupus 😜 twists and turns all the time, I got the Rayburn lit, we need some hot water, I’m hoping John will clean out the flue tomorrow and we will give the insides a good clean out too, that should last us until the better weather then. I have plans to drag the paddocks this weekend as it’s been dry hopefully we can get that done then I will be over seeding the front paddock and adding clover seed as well this year, the hens love it and it’s great for insects.

Saturday: 4.30 and omg I am exhausted, we have been Uber busy all day long getting stuff done. It started with the cleaning of the Rayburn, not just a riddle but a full clean of all the flues, plates and boxes. Then out to start on the paddocks, the front one first, we needed to clear all the apple tree cuttings and they are now on the other side of the fence but still need to be sorted 😜 then clearing electric fencing, water bowls, debris and finally we could go and fetch the tractor and the drags. It was a great day for me as I got to spend a lot of it driving round on the tractor 🚜 I even managed to negotiate some tight areas around the trees. Then onto the other paddocks, we moved the hen hut further into the field and John moved all the electric fencing then dragged the top half that had got a ‘crust’ on it. While he did that I cleaned out the goose hut and put up fencing so that they can’t get onto the front paddock, they now have to go into the side one to graze. After that it was onto the rest of the paddock, which is now one large one, we won’t go in through the smaller area I said to John because the gateway between that and the bigger area is too wet, ‘I will get it through’ he says………and proceeded to get stuck in the mud, ‘I f**king told you’ says I 😜 Eventually we got it moving and I dragged the field while John went to put the electric back on etc for the new hens. Dragging finished, John went off to get some rabbit food, I still need to supplement with hard feed for the time being, and I cleaned out the hens in the stable block. When he returned he put fresh bedding in for the new hens and the ones for sale, counted up the takings for the week, I picked some rhubarb to put out for sale, fed the rabbits and picked up some wind blown debris, potted up some Jostaberry plants I ordered and that was when I thought, I don’t think I can actually do much more, I need a rest lol.

Dragging or harrowing the paddocks does four things, it aerates the soil so that rain can drain better, it levels the ground out, it pulls or loosens any moss or weeds giving the grass a better chance and it spreads any poop. It looks good when it’s done 😀 and tonight just before dark I will go and and over seed the front and side paddocks with short, quick growing seed that is ideal for hens and geese, I am also going to mix in some clover, clover is great for the insect, the hens love it and it fixes nitrogen. The horse paddock has a different kind of grass seed and will not have added clover. The reason I am doing it just around dusk is because if I did it in the daytime all the hens and half the wild bird population would just eat it all before I got very far, so doing it just before everything goes to bed gives it a fighting chance, also the overnight dew will help bed it down, I’m all for working with nature 😀

The seeder wasn’t working too well so I only got one paddock sorted before it got dark and my back was killing me so the other will have to wait until tomorrow.

Sunday: Lovely sunny morning 😎 fresh, my favourite kind of a start to the day. We did the morning rounds and then John went off to help Shelley and Martin start on their bathroom. I needed to get some cleaning done, not too much it’s such a lovely day I don’t want to spend it inside cleaning everything within an inch of its life. A wipe round the bathroom, change the bed sheets, polish and hoover everywhere and that’s it that’s all I am doing 😀 A long time ago when I had nothing better to do I used to clean like a fanatic but not any more, passable is all it needs to be these days, I wouldn’t mind a cleaner just so I could spend the time doing other stuff 😂. Charlie want me to make her a bird house for her garden and that’s the kind of thing I rather be doing than ‘household’ stuff.

I have thrown open the windows to let the spring in and chase away the winter, long may it last 😀

I made coffee and sat outside in the sun, it’s so peaceful, I can hear a horse trotting up the lane, the birds singing the occasional quack from the ducks, I’m watching birds flying round with nest building material, if you could capture a moment in time this one would be great 😀

John came back then went off to visit his Mum and I had an idea about making some wire tunnels to protect any seedlings I plant from the chickens, it half worked but not as easy as I thought.

Posted in Friesland Farm

Seed sowing, incubating & poultry processing

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday March 11th: It’s still windy! Generally we have a day or a night of windy weather then that’s it for a while, it seems like it’s been windy for weeks 😜 and it’s not finished yet as the weeks forecast still has high winds making an appearance. Our weather patterns are definitely becoming more erratic, even 5 years ago there were distinct seasons with seasonal weather, these last few years they are all over the place, global warming?, possibly but is it man made or a natural cycle or a combination of both?

We got the greenhouse measured up last night (just as they arrived there was a snow/hail/wind storm) and a cutting list sorted, just have to get it priced up and see what kind of wood we go with, it would be nice to have Oak but I’m thinking that will be a bit pricey 😝

I have a multitude of jobs to get done today and luckily there was enough roast left over for bubble and squeak for Johns dinner later so I don’t have to stop and think about that 😀

Phew it’s 1.30 and I haven’t stopped, I have got a lot done and I am pleased with what I have achieved so far today. Most of it was in the garden but a few indoor bits like ringing for blood appointment, booking in the septic tank clearance, changing the skip, then setting the eggs int the incubator, moving the lone quail back with the others, feed the rabbits etc. The septic tank was an interesting conversation the chap told me he would have to pass me to a different dept as he didn’t deal with commercial, he thought this was a Hotel🤣 it gets very confusing as we are listed as Shilton Horse Hotel, I’ve changed it now to Friesland Farm which is our other title, I told you its confusing, in the past we have had people looking for a bed for the night, I was allocated a personal manager from a company I ordered stuff from (them thinking it was going to be big business as a hotel needs a lot of things lol) the TV licensing asking how many TVs we had the list goes on 😜

Eventually I got out into the garden, ah, my happy place 😀 I sowed some more peas, I’ve decided to go big this year, plant loads lol, then I got the raised bed outside ready for sowing carrots. I weeded it and raked it over then I went inside for a coffee while the hens did their bit scratching it over and picking out any insects, preparation is key when the ‘ginger ninjas’ are around as any disturbed soil and they are there so I had to get the netting all ready before I sowed the carrot seeds otherwise they would be quickly scattered. I have sown an early variety and these are short carrots so should be a quick crop, well fairly quick, I have only sown half the bed for the time being and will sow the other half in about 3 weeks I think so the whole crop does not come at once. I have some amaranth that I will sow alongside them but I want to wait until it’s a little bit warmer before putting that in, the seed heads will be great for my utility birds and you can eat the leaves but the rabbits will probably get those. I did a bit of raking up debris and tidying around the raised bed, I think if I do bits at a time instead of looking at the whole job at once it will be better. Then it was onto weeding the brassica cage, one or two plants have survived the winter and are sprouting again so I will leave those they will be a welcome harvest of greens in a couple of weeks time. After that I tidied up and weeded the fruit cage, the rabbits had a bucketful of greens, I also put up a couple of wires along the far side so that I can train a grape along them, it’s a nice sunny spot and hopefully the grape will do well there. Then onto one of the main beds that has had Swiss chard in it all winter but now it’s started growing the hens are ravaging it so I have hooped and netted it. I stopped for a rest and found my back and knees were not so willing to get going again so that’s when I decided I would come in for a break. It’s great to feel that I can get all this done but I also have other jobs to do like the fire and the afternoon feeding and eggs so best not overdo it. Plenty of jobs still on the to do list though 😝

At about 1.20 while I was sat thinking should I do a bit more, and my back was saying no, the wind suddenly dropped, just like that, all of a sudden it was very still and I wondered for a moment if it was the calm before a storm but nothing else happened it was quite weird.

The goose eggs are at last selling, in fact they sold out yesterday without me realising, good job we are getting plenty 😀

Tuesday: Yet another storm is blowing in, this time storm Gareth, last year it was The Beast from the East, this year its The Winds from the West! It seems to have been constantly windy for over a week here 🙄 John has done all the outside jobs this morning already so I don’t even have to go out 😀 ⭐️ I have Mia today and although she went to hospital yesterday to see if the cast can come off they have decided it needs to stay on for longer. Not sure what we are going to find to do with heavy rains forecast as well could be a long day lol.

I decided to light the Rayburn quite early as it was a bit chilly, I had already prepped it before Mia arrived so just light it and off we go, or so I thought but the cook/heat lever had jumped its fitting and was stuck on cook, no amount of pulling or pushing the lever would move it, I tried levering it with the poker from inside the hot plate but nope, at this point there were flames so I couldn’t move it from inside, only one option I have to let the fire die right down so I can manually do it from within the fire box 🙄 all the best laid plans and all that! I put the little electric fire on instead 😋

I turned on the turner for the incubator, fingers crossed we don’t get any power cuts like last year!

Wednesday: Still the weather is a bit crap, windy, cold, not raining, yet. John did the morning stuff, he said one of the geese is permanently in the hut but I will need to encourage her out as we don’t really want them to sit, not yet anyway, that will be a fun task 😜

As I didn’t have to get outside straight away I though I ought to do some paperwork, bill paying etc, I hate this time of year when everything is due lol, I called John to remind him that as his van is now three years old he needs an MOT before I can tax it, great, let’s hope it sails through 🙄 When we had a limited company I would always allocate Fridays for paperwork, now that we don’t I just do it willy nilly but it does mean that I sometimes get behind and then hate the thought of having to sit and do it all, mind you when it’s done I feel a sense of freedom 😀

Went out and sorted some things for the animals, rabbits fed, quail some feed, the geese were all by the boot room window so I quickly went and collected the eggs while they were out 😝 checked for the cat again, still no sign, managed to get the pigeon out they are a bit stupid it’s the second time it has got stuck in the tack room. Then onto a bit of garden stuff, I cleaned the polytunnels with Algon, an organic wash that smells a lot like vinegar so I guess that’s the main ingredient. It’s blooming hard work out there with some real strong gusts of wind 💨 In for a coffee and a look at the to do list, plenty to choose from 😜

I thought I would have a go at the tree tapping as the spline arrived so I gathered everything together and went out to drill a hole in the tree but the drill bit isn’t big enough and the wind is making it hard work so I will wait for my new drill to arrive, it has bits with it and hopefully one will be ideal for the job. The wind is really making things difficult, it’s not structurally damaging (at the moment) but things are flying around. The small poly tunnel door has come off the runners and flapping about so I have fixed it back and put some buckets of water in front of it to hopefully hold it in place. I can’t do mucking out as the straw will just fly around all over the place so I’m giving that a miss for today, I wanted to get some rubbish moved to the skip but again it just gets blown out of my hands so that is also on the back burner, it seems like we have had this windy weather for ages 🙄 I have done what I can out there and looking at the forecast things should settle down after today and definitely next week looks a whole lot quieter.

I checked on the quail this morning there does not appear to be any more vent pecking hopefully I’ve nipped it in the bud.

I had Josh this afternoon as he wanted to come over ‘on his own’ and help me do the feeding and egg collecting 😀

John has come home with this cold everyone seems to be passing around ☹️

Thursday: So this damn stormy weather is still with us this morning, it’s supposed to have moved on by now it’s getting very tiresome 😋 It woke me up a couple of times in the night along with a noise that I have no idea what it was. I heard it and it woke me with a start, it was right outside our bedroom window and my very first thought was ‘that’s a big cat’ I didn’t get out and look out of the window I wish I had, Ive looked at the cctv this morning but it’s mostly covered in cobwebs (on the to do list) Ive pretty much heard a great many things at night here before but not that and I checked with every sound effect I could google to see if fox/badger/deer make a noise like that, nope. It made a sound like a domestic cat does when it’s cornered but it was a much bigger sound. It’s a mystery and I will ask around for any other sightings, I do know that where John was working the lad thought he saw something going into their wooded area last week and that is about three miles down the road?

I have been out this morning and let all the birds out and fed everything, all the while looking for clues lol, everything seems normal, well as normal as we get here 😝 I have some bread on the go, it’s ages since I last made some and John has requested it, did I mention he has a cold 😜 he is feeling sorry for himself, I hope I don’t get it as well otherwise how on earth will life function here 😝

I went out into the back bit to do a bit of tidying away and sorting, I had loaded the wheelbarrow up with some stuff for the skip but it started hailing and it’s still blowing a hoolie out there so I gave up and came in, took my coat and wellies off and the sun came out, exasperating weather.

It’s rhubarb season 😀 I picked the first bunch of rhubarb this morning put it out and it’s was sold in no time at all 😀 once it really gets going I think I am going to make a batch of rhubarb and vanilla jam and of course there is always my favourite stewed rhubarb and custard to be had 😀

At 2pm our delivery of new hens arrived 40 new laying stock and 20 for selling on, these are always lovely clean birds strong and healthy and start laying pretty quickly as they are around 17 weeks old. I settled them in with feed and water, now we just have to wait for eggs 😀

My new cordless screwdriver/drill arrived, it has a European plug 🙄 I should have checked, I have now ordered the converter! I cut the old plug off of the old charger which no longer works, you never know when you need a plug lol and I will put the charger out for recycling, I will keep the drill and batteries until they are well and truly knackered.

I am off to see an American Bluegrass group, Hayseed Dixie, in Oxford tonight, I’m really looking forward to something a bit different 😀

Friday: The wind is still here ☹️ I’m not the only one banging on about it lol, I had blood tests this morning and unprompted the nurse was saying about how the wind is getting annoying, then the septic tank lorry arrived and the driver also unprompted started talking about the windy weather and he wishes it would stop, glad it’s not just me 😝

I did all the usual things first thing, then went off for blood tests and popped in to the local shop to get some new work trousers, back home and the tank lorry arrived, got that done and dusted for another year, then out to check on the new hens in the hut in the paddock, we are not letting them out until tomorrow as it’s Florence’s 1st birthday and I don’t want to spend all evening chasing chickens rather than eating birthday cake! I did a bit more seed sowing into modules in the poly tunnel, broad beans this time and all year round cauliflowers. I took the wheelbarrow full of junk down to the empty skip and also put a load of wire that has been on the floor into it, though I’m now thinking I will take some back out and use it to cover beds so the chickens can’t scratch everything up. I was thinking I ought to sow some beetroot and turnip as well. I have so many jobs running through my head that I want to get sorted, although I said I was moving the light Sussex, I never got round to it and now I’m thinking I will just dispatch two of the cockerels and move the others. I have filled the incubator with their eggs and typically because I wanted to save some for the lady with the pre school, they have stopped laying so I think a move will kick start them again. I have made enquiries to find some POL ducks as we have more customers than eggs, hopefully I will find some soon 😀 I would hatch but too many drakes and we are not that keen on duck although we could learn to like it I suppose and at least it’s self sufficiency at its best.

The wind dropped suddenly around 6pm and John had been called out on an emergency (water coming through their ceiling) so I quickly went out and burnt the rubbish I had been trying to get done all week. We burn all our cardboard/paper rather than putting it in the recycling bin, only through the autumn/winter/spring months though not in the height of summer 🙄 and then once it was dark and everything was shut away for the night it was time to go and visit our little Florence who is 1 today 😀 it’s easy to remember her birthday if you studied Julius Caesar in English Lit, beware the ides of March. There is in fact an ‘ides’ in every month, it is the day of the month you settled your debts, some months it is the 15th and some months the 13th.

Saturday: Wet and windy 🙄 On a smallholding there is always a list of jobs to do and you start the day with the intention of doing what’s on the list, then something else comes along and takes priority. After doing the animals this morning the plan was to dispatch drakes but in the end we cleared up the back area, putting away etc because I need to order wood for the greenhouse and it needs to be kept dry and flat. Then I noticed that one of the mirrors in the ménage had been hit by the wind and broken, it was just hanging there which, obviously, is dangerous so that had to come down. Before John sorted that out we caught up the two light Sussex cockerels that we don’t need and dispatched them and I got on with plucking them while John sorted out taking down the mirror. I was still plucking (took me an age today) so he went and made the pen, that the remainder of the Sussex were to go back into (we moved them after the fox got in) more secure. The pen they are in is secure but small and mostly concrete, I wanted to get them back out on some dirt and weeds. I have two hens and two cockerels left and they all got a dusting of louse powder and DE for good measure.

Yesterday I ordered an Angelica plant and a jostaberry Bush, the Angelica will go where the tortoises will be, it’s great for the bees 🐝 and I may even get round to doing crystallised Angelica you never know.

F1 season begins again this weekend so that has to be watched of course, after years of just watching with John I’ve decided if you can’t beat them join them but I thought I would bring some rivalry by backing a different team to John lol, and after watching the Frank Williams story I’m getting behind the Williams team, I don’t expect great things like a world championship but a little bit of competition does you good 😜

Sunday: Well the weather today has certainly been changeable that much I know 😀 sunny first thing, then the wind picked up mid morning and it was cold, we have had hail, rain, the lot and now back to sunny again. First thing we sorted out the duck enclosure, the floor was giving in the hut so John put new ply down, the bolts all needed adjusting and then new straw put down. We will aim to get the ducks we want in there later today 😝John went off to visit his Mum while I did a bit of gardening and burnt some of the rubbish, chicken feathers from yesterday etc. When John came back we had coffee and we had intended to go outside and do a bit more but the wind was really cold so we decided to go out for lunch instead 😜 When we came back I did a bit of seed sowing in the polytunnel, flower seeds this time, some lupins, delphiniums, sweet peas plus a few others, all from seed I collected last year. It’s nice and warm in the tunnel as the sun has been shinning on it but while I was in there the hail came down, that was a bit loud lol.

Oh and I learnt something new this weekend, you can eat dahlia tubers 😲 who knew, apparently they are a staple food source in some countries, any dahlias even the lovely ones you grow in your gardens 😀

It’s 6pm, I’ve just sat down with a cuppa after processing the two birds we dispatched yesterday. They won’t look like the chicken you buy in a shop, firstly they are much older, about a year compared to a commercial chicken which is slaughtered at around 8 weeks (that’s not a typo) meat chickens are bred to eat constantly and grow very fast, we have had these breeds before and it’s not very nice which is why we chose a slow growing utility breed. Secondly they are not plump like the chicken you buy in the supermarket, this is because they have not been pumped full of water after death to make them look appetising and thirdly they are not bleached (albeit a food grade bleach) the dark marks on the skin are from me getting a little trigger happy with the scorch torch which is used to burn off and wispy bits and fluff. They are altogether more gamey looking and taste a whole lot better than the blandness of a commercial breed because they have been alive longer to develop flavour. These two weighed 3&1/2 & 4lbs, plenty for the two of us to feed on for a couple of days, the feet and necks I have put in the Rayburn to roast for the dogs, they do not particularly like the heart and liver so I don’t bother but sometimes I will save the livers and freeze them for pate or stuffing.

It is getting dark and we have two things to do tonight, one get the new hens into their hut, yesterday even though the door was open they didn’t venture out but today they have, they may go in by themselves, they may not 🙄 and two get the ducks into the duck pen when they have been used to going to bed in the stable block all winter, could be a lot going night 😝

Posted in Friesland Farm

A Wedding, a death & a bloody great pot hole 😜

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 4th March: Cold and blustery this morning but at least it’s not raining. I have not done much but the usual today what with house guests and all. Finally the family secret is out of the bag, yesterday we surprised Dad and today Adi, my other brother was surprised with the arrival of Joe, also my brother, and his family all the way from Australia. Adi and Heidi are getting married tomorrow and it was hard work keeping it a secret from him lol. Big get together tomorrow, I think the last time we were all together in the same country was five years ago!

I had to light the Rayburn early as Dad who is almost 82 is definitely feeling the cold wind today.

I probably won’t write anything tomorrow as it will be a busy day, we are travelling down to Winchester and the plan is to leave all the birds in with feed and water, a friend is popping round to let the dogs out for a stretch and a wee and we will be home late evening 😀

There is no sign whatsoever of Cruella De Ville, I have no idea what has happened to her, it’s possible the fox got her as it has been in the tack room and cornered a hen in there from the amount of feathers, or its frightened her so much she has run off but I would have thought she would have come back as she has been here 4 months now ☹️

Tuesday: I have a few minutes to write so this mornings routine was slightly different as the hens/ducks are being kept in all day as we are off for the the wedding and it being a Tuesday anyone I would have asked to do anything is at work 🙄 Trying to get in through the door with a bunch of birds that are used to coming out was not the easiest of tasks today. John had to go and do a quick job 😡 not happy about that, so it was me on me tod. First job, the quail and I could see fresh blood in the cage, so I pick them all up and find one bleeding on the back end, I wash her off, purple spray her and put her back, I watch and see the others pecking at her back end. Great now I have to find a separate cage/box, and isolate her, she is in a cat cage with food and water and hopefully will heal soon. Onto the hens, banged my head twice trying to get in with feed and water without letting any of them out, swearing can most definitely be heard at these points! I’ve let the geese out, they are easy to get back in so will herd them back in before we go. Molly the cat is not moving very much this morning, normally she runs under your feet every time you go through the door but today she is staying put, in fact at one point I thought she had died but she put her head up when I went over to stroke her, I don’t think she has long left though ☹️ The dogs will mostly be in today but a friend is coming round to let them out later and we won’t be too late home. Let the celebrations begin 😀

We arrived home around 10pm, my friend had done a fab job, closed the curtains, turned the lamps on etc. It was most unfortunate for her that Molly the cat died while we were away for the day ☹️ I knew she was near the end this morning but I was hoping she would hang on until we got back, so as she put it, a wedding one day and a funeral the next!

Wednesday: Dull and damp outside this morning, John let the birds out they were happy after being in all day yesterday and from here on in I can now reorganise them, we had been keeping them in the stable block because we knew they would need to spend the day locked in for safety.

I noticed more blood in the quail cage and on further investigation I found three out of four quail with a pecked vent, so I oiked out the culprit and then moved the other three back to the outside pen, I will give them time to recover then put the other one back in and hope it behaves itself.

Sue cleaned out one of the duck houses for me, ready to move the ducks back outside though probably not today as the weather has not improved in fact it has got worse, I did a few bits outside and then decided it was too horrible out there if it wasn’t totally necessary 😜

Thursday: Still no sign of nice weather, it’s a bit cold and windy but at least not raining this morning. John let the birds in the stable out and fed them and I went round and did the geese and light Sussex. When I got to the light Sussex the door had come open and one of the hens was out, now I checked the door yesterday and although the bolt did not go fully in it did feel secure so either the wind has rocked it or someone has been poking about! Luckily all the birds are still there and only one had got out. I have been saving the eggs from these birds and just need 3 more for 18 then I will set them in the incubator. I can smell the fox this morning so will need to set up the camera again and see what is prowling around at night. We are off out for breakfast this morning with our guests, nice to get out and about 😀

That turned out to be more eventful than planned lol, halfway down the lane Sue pulled to the side to let an oncoming vehicle pass went in a rather large pothole and burst the tyre! Luckily she is with the AA as the locking nut on the wheel wouldn’t turn so she called them and we waited an hour for them to come, a passing van stopped to help, a young chap got out and said ‘hello Brian’ turned out to be one of my brothers (the one over from Australia) mates from many years ago. We all had a good laugh on the side of the road and eventually made it just before they stopped cooking breakfast altogether 🙄

We had a funny incident tonight when Dad went out the back for a smoke, we had two black cats, Molly who died on Tuesday and Diesel who very rarely comes anywhere near the ‘indoors’ but for some reason he came running in the back meowing tonight, frightened the life out of Dad as he thought the Molly had come back to life 😂

Friday: I haven’t really done much apart from the usual today. I have a contorted hazel in the front of the drive and each year it sends up straight stems, these need to be cut out so that it doesn’t revert back, Sue kindly offered to do this job for me today 😀 Sam, Shelley and the children called round in the afternoon, Sam made a batch of scones while she was here 😀 they filled the kitchen with a lovely smell.

Rain in the afternoon again, it really hasn’t been the nicest of weeks for our visitors, they will be going back to Wales on Sunday, we say they bought the rain with them, hopefully they will take it back 🤣

Saturday: Windy again but the sun is out so not so bad. John let the animals out and fed them while I sorted out the eggs for sale. Then John went out and sorted out the hunt and fencing in the paddock ready for the new birds next week, meanwhile I cleared an area that I wanted him to put a shelf up in and promptly dropped a slab of marble on my foot 😡 it’s sore but not broken I don’t think. He had left his tools at work (there’s a surprise) so we had to use my cordless screwdriver, I plugged the battery in to charge and the charger stopped working, ffs, I have had mine for about 15 years and at times it won’t work so I have ordered a new one 😀 just as cheap to buy the whole lot as a new charger so decision made. I did a bit of a tidy up in the boot room and sorted out the incubator and got that set up, I have 18 light Sussex eggs to go in when it’s up to temperature and humidity, these, if successful are our dual propose birds. Dad and Sue went off out to do some visiting. I planted up some strawberry plants in the poly tunnel and sowed a row of spinach a row of salad leaves and also coriander, watered the citrus trees and sowed some peas in a tray, emptied the mouse trap and reset it. In the soil before sowing I mixed in some mycorrhizal fungi for good measure 😀 it was blooming blowy, I mean seriously blowy out there this afternoon!

Then an afternoon of rugby, we don’t do rugby but Dad and Sue do lol, Sue did shell some hazelnuts for me inbetween games 😀

Set the wildlife camera again tonight as last nights failed, no idea what I did wrong but fingers crossed tonight it will pick up something.

Sunday: It is VERY windy this morning, I don’t think I ever seen it so bad in the daytime before, the wind is literally ‘roaring’ through the tops of the trees. John was filling the water buckets from the tanks and the wind was blowing the water sideways completely missing the bucket! My anxiety levels are always high when it’s windy just waiting for something to happen 🙄 I got the sd card in from the camera, caught the fox on it a few things times plus diesel but not Cruella ☹️ We did the birds and caught up one of the drakes to dispatch as Dad is going to take it home and pluck it then dine on it 😀

Dad and Sue left about 10 to return to Wales visiting my Aunt on the way, I cracked on with the cleaning as I haven’t been able to do it all week. I’ve booked a weekend near Dads birthday at the end of May, I booked through Airbnb on a smallholding 😀 very excited about that 😀 John stacked wood, he was going to cut the hedge but it’s so windy it’s not really safe to do.

The son in laws are coming round to measure up for the top of the greenhouse later so I have a roast to prepare for them all and hopefully that will be the end of cooking for a while as I have plenty of leftover portions from the meals I have been making all week 😜

I am booking tickets for the Malvern Spring show, we decided we would go on the Friday when it’s not too busy, if I don’t book things we never go so that’s my plan this year.

Went out and got a bit of food shopping and for after the roast beef later I have made a traditional rice pudding.

March:

‘The Anglo-Saxons called the month Hlyd monath which means Stormy month, or Hraed monath which means Rugged month.’

Very apt!

Poor Mia asked where Molly the cat was, when we explained she had gone to sleep she completely understood and promptly burst into tears 😢

Posted in Friesland Farm

A moment to cherish, plenty of jobs & visitors.

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 25th Feb: Frosty, sunny, glorious 😀 A new week 😀 John has returned to work today I don’t think he is in the best of moods as I made him do some work at the weekend as well 😬 but as I explained we have to get some stuff done while the weather is with us 😝 I am hoping the weather holds enough to get the Hen hut moved a little ready for the new birds and to get the front paddock dragged and rolled, if we miss the window of opportunity who knows what the weather will do and when we can eventually get it done. It is not something I can get done by myself as the chains are really heavy to move, even attaching them to the tractor is an effort, a few years back I would have had a damn good go but these days I won’t even attempt it as it would just result in frustration and tears lol. In a normal year I would get Samantha to help me if I couldn’t do it by myself but she is expecting their second (& third, yes twins!) and so asking her is off limits for now 😀

I walked round yesterday I wanted to get a look at two things, the daffodils, they are just about up, pretty much the same as bulbs down the driveway so that’s good, bulbs in pots are up and flowering so they are way ahead. The second thing was to see if there is any sign of the wild garlic I planted along the front paddock hedge, no sign yet but I am pretty excited for these this year, it will be a real treat to pick some of that and I will probably put some out for sale for the more adventurous culinary customers. I need to have a look in the polytunnel to make sure the beans and peas ok, Shelley said she gave them some water when it got very warm, I need to give the citrus trees a little drink as well, not too much in case the temps plummet again.

The geese are laying 4 eggs a day between them, I’m still convinced the two youngsters are female so we may even get more a day than that, I might have to find somewhere local to sell them too, although social media selling pages produce great results I have found in the past.

One thing I learnt while I was away is that it’s not necessarily the work that makes my hands/feet swell and joints hurt, it happens anyway even while on holiday, I will await the results of my blood tests and see how we proceed from there 🙄

3.30 and I’m exhausted and contemplating a power nap, I have been outside all day trying to secure the area that the tortoises will go into when they wake up which won’t be long. I made some of the fences back in autumn out of pallets but I needed to fix them in place, easier said than done 😋 and then make another piece of fence for the front. Sam and Mia came over at lunchtime and together we hashed up something that will keep them in, I say hashed as we had a box full of useless screws to choose from and a saw that would be difficult to cut a melon with! Even so, we have a sort of result, just one more bit to do and it will be ready when they are and hopefully they won’t escape 😬 Then on to feed the birds and collect the eggs, not many tea breaks and certainly no dinner break today 🥴

Two cups of tea, some ibrufen and a quick nap and it’s on to the next jobs, luckily John was home by 4.30 so we went out and cleaned the two stables that the birds are in and put in barrowfuls of nice clean straw, he also sorted out the rainwater from the tanks as it was blocked this morning. Then John cleaned out the back pen ready for new birds in March while I lit the fire and sorted out tonight’s and tomorrow’s dinner, annnnnd relax finally. A good day, I’m happy with what we got done 😀

I am in the middle of liaising with a lady who runs a childcare group locally and each year she has eggs to hatch out for the children to watch and learn about, this year she will hopefully be having some of our light Sussex eggs, they will be incubated, hatched and reared under a brooder, when they are ready to go outside we will have them back to grow them on, this is a win, win situation for both of us as the children get to be excited by hatching fluffy chicks and we get young birds back to bring on to adulthood 😀

Tuesday: I have Mia today but the weather is great and so we have been outside, walking in the paddock first thing, feeding and watering the rabbits, then letting the birds out and collecting the eggs, playing with the dogs. Even with a broken arm she is a real trooper and nothing stops her trying, it’s amazing how quickly children adapt. Shelley, Josh and Florence came over at lunchtime, a bit of playing in the garden, then it was time for a sit down on the sofa, it’s pretty tiring carrying your arm round in a heavy plaster cast lol.

Mia and I have managed to feed the birds and collect the eggs, not that there are very many at the moment, I keep wondering why we bother really, I’d like the hens to be truly free range but the loses are just too great ☹️

This warm spell is a bit disconcerting, a false Spring, I keep thinking I need to get on and then reminding myself that they are bonus gardening days, the temptation to crack on with seed sowing is great but experience tells me that it is better to wait and so tidying up is all that is needed at the moment 😀

I have been lighting the Rayburn around 5pm because it’s so warm we haven’t needed it all day long but we do need hot water and some heat overnight.

Wednesday: Another lovely sunny, warm day, I had Florence for the morning so went out and did everything quickly before she arrived. She is a pretty laid back baby and so I managed to get a few things in the house sorted while she was playing with toys on the floor, mostly we spent the time playing ‘peek a boo’ or ‘pat a cake’. I don’t often get the chance to spend time with her on her own so we made the most of it. In the early afternoon. I went and got a bit of food shopping in preparation for Dad and Sue coming to stay next week after that it was sit down with a quick cuppa before going out to feed the birds and collect the eggs. By now it was 4pm and so I thought I would have an hour in the large poly tunnel, a bit of weeding and preparing the ground. I got about 45 minutes done and Mum and Ken turned up to collect an item they were borrowing, time for another cuppa 😀 The rabbit were happy with the fresh weeds, I need to get back into the routine of supplying them with fresh greens again. I think the tortoises have woken up as I can hear bashing in the shed, not quite sure what to do with them yet as although it’s been warm enough if the temps dip low again it could be disastrous! I ordered a 100w lamp because now they have woken up they need to come out and rehydrate and begin eating, I will need to find somewhere inside for them to ‘bask’ for a while.

Thursday: There are spots of rain on the window this morning so I think it will be an entirely different day altogether from what we have had over the past week. I have two jobs to sort this morning along with the usual, the first is to get the tortoise house out and find somewhere to set them up, the second is to separate one of the Light Sussex cockerels as he is being picked on and has blood on his head. This is the more dominant cock pecking him on the head to get subservience but it can all get out of hand and end in death so separation is the key. These are the birds we will be eating but at the moment I need them to produce eggs for incubation, however four cockerels to two hens is way too many so I will remove two and fatten them up.

I decided this morning that I will do that good old school experiment with the runner beans in a jam jar that we always did in primary school for Josh and Mia, I think they will enjoy watching the beans grow. It’s simple enough, a jam jar, a bean seed, a toilet roll inner and a bit of water, voila, science at home 😀

I decided that the best place for the torts will be the tack room, Cruella De Ville seems to have disappeared, her food has not been eaten for days and it’s clear there has been some disturbance in there as everything is scattered and there are chicken feathers. My guess is that a Hen has gone to bed in there, the fox has gone in and had her and the cat was terrified and fled, only a guess but judging by the scene and the clues that’s what has occurred 🙄 I will block up the cat flap but leave food water and a dirt tray just in case she is well hidden and set the torts up in there with a uv lamp.

Two of the welsh harlequin ducks have bonded and keep escaping outside the perimeter, presumably to find somewhere to set up home and raise ducklings. Unfortunately at the moment I can’t let that happen not until after Tuesday next week at least because they will need to be kept in all day just for the day, after that I can rearrange everything and fingers crossed they play happy families. The geese are laying phenomenally well and my educated guess was right the two youngsters are female, that means we are getting just over 40 goose eggs a week 😲 I really need to find somewhere to push the sales of these lol.

Meanwhile in the ‘ffs’ race, the sink in the back has blocked up, the washing machine discharging water is backing up into the sink, I’m am nothing if not a plumbers wife though and it’s a job I can manage, just not one I needed today 😝

Out to clean the goose hut out, I need to get all the old stuff out to make sure that I haven’t missed any eggs so far, only 1 so that’s good, I will now know for sure that all eggs are fresh eggs. I filled it up with fresh straw then shut the door, the reason being that the hens will soon find it and oik it all out if I don’t. Let me tell you a bit about hens, they are endearing and exasperating at the same time, endearing when they run and skip in the spring to catch insects on the wing, when they lay you a lovely egg, when they are clearly enjoying dustbathing and soaking up the sun 😀 But chickens are ninjas, they silently follow you and then when you open a door to the shed/polytunnel/tack room, they shoot in-front of you with lightening speed and proceed to wreck the joint. You May think they are light footed but they knock over everything, they scratch up everything and scratch everything out of where it ought to be. They also lay in the most awkward or inappropriate places you could possibly imagine, if it looks like you are going to get cramp or a near death experience climbing over something to get the egg, that’s where they laid it, if it’s just out of arms reach down a crevice, that’s where they laid it, honestly, free range is an obstacle course of egg collecting 😜 The ducks by complete contrast will dump their egg anywhere, oh we’ve been let out, let’s go, ooops laid an egg while I was running to the food bowl 😂

I moved the tortoise hut from the shed near the house to the tack room and sealed up the cat hole so they can’t get out, but neither can the cat if she is still in there so I will put a litter tray down, at least I will know if she is about or not. The lamp is arriving today and I need to put out some water for them to rehydrate and see how it goes from there.

We went out for lunch today as it was Shelley’s birthday, we picked up Josh from school later on and he wanted to help do the animals so he stayed while Shelley went home, Sam and Mia came out to help as well. I had a moment when I felt really blessed as I had a grandchild in each hand walking up to the hay barn, one of them was dressed in a fairy outfit with her wellies on 😂 the other having had a full day at school and helping out in his uniform, both jumping in muddy puddles on the way, that has to be right up there with one of my favourite moments 😍😍

Friday: March 1st St Davids Day I have got a fair bit to get done today, sat having a coffee at 8am having already cleaned the bathroom, put on a wash load and sorted out the spare room ready for Dad and Sue to come and stay on Sunday for a week. The weather is back to its grey, damp look but I don’t feel that the temperatures have gone too low again yet, it feels pleasant enough for the time of year.

Did the morning rounds, I can’t collect the goose eggs yet as one is still laying so I will have to do that later, spotted Diesel sitting on the bottom paddock hedge-line near the rabbit holes, which is good because we haven’t seen him for a few days, obviously out hunting 😀

Back inside now to get everything shipshape 😝

Saturday: Another dull, grey, uninspiring day today but work goes on 😋 I did the morning rounds while John finished cutting the hedge he started last week. When you watch farming programmes on the telly they always have the big equipment to do the jobs but in smallholding it’s nearly always done by hand making the jobs long and sometimes heavy work and most Smallholders do all the jobs themselves, no contractors to do it for them while they sit having a coffee lol.

The horse came in last night as we had our chap here to shoot, his mission was successful. My neighbour had said she thought the fox was coming at around 5.30 and so he set up around 5.15 and lo and behold by 5.45 he had done the job he came to do, he stayed until 9pm and though he could hear more that were further away he didn’t see any more on our land. That gives us a bit of a lull for a while and the hope that no more birds will be picked off. We are expecting a batch of new hens in next week, these will go back behind the electric fence rather than being fully free range, it’s just not possible, they will be free range in terms of the area they get is very large about 1/2 acre to 40 birds and on grass, moving regularly so that will have to be sufficient.

I finally got round to checking the tortoises, I unpacked a bit of straw to find them and there is movement there so they have survived hibernation, I’ve set up the heat lamp and put out water so hopefully they will slowly come back to life 😀

John went off to get the feed and I spent a pleasant hour or so in the poly tunnel and raking up debris in the garden. It was warm in the tunnel and I’m planning to get some seeds sown in there soon (as soon as I get around to it) probably some beetroot and early carrots, I have set a mouse trap just in case there are some living nearby as they will just gobble up and seeds that are sown his time of year 🙄 I went through the seeds I have already and decided on salad leaves, radishes, turnips, beetroot, spring onions and all year round cauliflower, I will also get some more broad beans and some peas on the go and see how we get on. Once the spare room is spare again I can use the window sill to start off some peppers and tomatoes, it’s the only sill I have got that will be useful so may as well use it. I realised I have no carrot seed so ordered some and will sow some of those too, these will only be small amounts just to get something growing but with most we should have something to eat in no time at all 😀 I might give planting/seed sowing with the moon phases a go, nothing to lose I figure and it may well just be beneficial, the idea is the pull of the moon which affects tides will also pull moisture up from the soil and help the plants develop better, with this is mind, leafy above ground crops are good for sowing next Wednesday & Thursday so that will fit in well with my week 😀

Sunday: Dull, drizzly but not too cold this morning, I stepped outside to drink my coffee first thing, heard the Lions roaring and watched the woodpecker fly across to our ash tree then proceed to hammer it 😀 happy mornings. It’s a busy day today, John unloaded the feed while I did the animals, then I needed to get some cooking done as Dad and Sue are arriving later plus we have some other lunch guests as well. I made a gluten free almond and coconut cake, dead easy and looks good, I will let you know how it tastes later on, I have a ham on the stove boiling reading for sandwiches all week, a keto avocado, chicken and bacon salad for lunch, a bit of hoovering to do and a quick wipe round of the bathroom, sort out the Rayburn ready for lighting then we are all good 😀

I walked to the edge of the paddock this morning while I was waiting for the goose water to fill up and there are the first signs of the wild garlic, excited muchly 😜, I pinched tip off just for a taste, mmm delish 😋 can’t wait for it all to come through.

Dad and Sue arrived and I forgot all about publishing the blog 🤣