Tag: Courgettes

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

Twins 😍😍 and most other jobs can wait 🤪

Posted on by frieslandfarm

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LATE EDIT: Lucie and George 😀😀

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

Posted in Friesland Farm

A fledgling, a rat, hopscotch and turkeys 😜

Posted on by frieslandfarm

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I made bread as well today.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted in Friesland Farm

Garden produce, borage & hot weather.

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 24th June: It’s very humid today, no Sun so that’s great for me but, sweating and glasses steaming up hinders work 😂 On top of that my cold has now turned to sinusitis, bloody brilliant 🙄 I can’t breathe through my nose very well and that even makes eating difficult lol. Having said that I have been working (and eating) I did the morning rounds as usual and then tidied up the front flower border outside the gate, then I went into the brassica cage and weeded all of that, a trugful of weeds divided between the torts, the rabbits/guineas and the young chickens. I picked some peas which we will have with our dinner tonight, some rhubarb which I am planning to make jam with and some artichokes which I have no idea what I will do with! Artichoke is a delicacy and we are not that kind of eaters, they are also a bit of a faff if I’m honest but they make great architectural plants and if there was nothing else available I’m sure we would eat them, I must try the torts actually as they might like them. The easiest way to eat them is cut in half, remove the choke, then use garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper, plus herbs if you like to coat them and roast them in the oven, they are delicious but as I said a bit of a faff even to eat them lol.

It was trying to rain when I came in at lunchtime and we have these thunderstorms supposed to arrive but as yet nothing.

I’m sorry a couple of the photos didn’t upload correctly on last weeks blog so the pic of the kittens wasn’t there, nor the greenhouse, I will see if I can fix that this week.

Update on the kittens, Benny is getting a little braver and will have a stroke now and again, Sam bought them some dreamy treats and they love them so it’s a good way to get him to come to me, however when I say love them, I mean love them, addictively 🤪 so much so that I have had to limit them and be careful when giving them as TC bit into my thumb last night because I was holding one, his needle like tooth went straight through my thumbnail, ouch, very ouch 😲

We finally got round to getting the fridge out, it’s an integral fridge so everything had to be unscrewed, we found a mouse nest at the bottom and it had chewed the lagging off the cooling pipe which had then frozen with solid lumps of ice. Unfortunately we also found a hole in the top and water leaking from it, goodness knows how it got there, anyhow we weighed everything up, the fact that it is over six years old and if we got someone to repair it, if they could, it would start to cost the same amount as a new one. The fact that it’s integral means it is quite small, goodness knows what I was thinking when I decided on it in the first place, and I have always complained that I can’t get much in it, so we decided to buy a new one, not integral but freestanding. I opted to have it taken away and recycled and to have the packaging taken away and recycled so I feel better about it slightly, but things ain’t what they used to be these days 🙄

Watered the poly tunnels and a few other bits, no sign of the storms yet.

I decided not to make rhubarb jam in the end instead I cut it and open froze it for use in the winter.

Tuesday: It’s raining this morning, it seems the thunderstorms that were predicted have abated a little, I’m glad of the rain it means I don’t have to water the garden but the temps are set to climb high this week. I say high, probably not by some countries standards but they are by ours.

Today is our 36th wedding anniversary 😲 where did all those years go.

It’s 7.30am and I am waiting for a break in the rain before I go out and do the rounds, I don’t fancy getting too wet this morning 😂

After braving it and not getting too soaked, I made some bread and a mixed crumble with the rhubarb, strawberries and raspberries, did a bit of cleaning, then got soaked when someone came to buy some ducks lol, some you win, some you lose 😜

Wednesday: Another good day for me weatherwise, overcast which means I can get out and about easily and do some stuff. Mum came over in the morning (with a bit of homemade Bakewell tart 😀) to give me a hand so we weeded the front area which looks better now 😀 I am not sure what to do about it long term, it’s a huge expense of gravel and normally I weedkiller it but I’ve been trying to avoid that, however the weeds are growing like billio 🙄 and it looks scruffy. One idea is to cast seeds from love in a mist, foxglove, poppy etc so that it’s supposed to look like that lol, what ever I decide it has to be the least amount of work possible to keep it looking ok.

Sam arrived and took me food shopping, the new fridge also arrived and I didn’t want to go before that came so that I didn’t have too much to unload when the time came but now I can fill it up 😀

After a short rest I went out and cut the lawn and the front driveway grass while John pulled up a forest of stinging nettles. The farmers are out busy cutting the hay so we know we are in for a good few days of sunshine, great for everyone, not so great for me 😂 I shall be up early (hopefully) to crack on before the temps climb too high.

Thursday: A sunny morning, feels like it’s going to be hot 🥵 I did the morning rounds, discovered John had turned on the ICB tank at the back last night, forgot to turn it off and now it’s empty! Great just what we needed 1000ltr of rain water gone and no rain forecast for a while 🙄🙄 I went for routine blood tests today and on the way back along the lane a hare ran across the road in front of us, that made my day, week, month 😀😀😀 I have a particular love for hares.

We had lamb for dinner tonight with carrots, kale and potatoes all from the garden, and then raspberries and strawberries for pudding also from the garden, delish, the taste is amazing especially the carrots, John said ‘I don’t know what they do to the carrots in the shops but they have no taste compared to these’ I take that as a compliment 😀

Friday: Another fine day, I often wonder what other countries use as an icebreaker conversation, here in the UK it’s always the weather lol, mostly ‘it’s, hot, cold, wet, horrid, today isn’t it’ but occasionally ‘it’s a beautiful day’ and today is one of those 😀

After doing the morning rounds and collecting forage for the torts I made coffee and sat and watched them to see what they prefer. For both the rabbits and the torts it’s always dandelions first, especially the flowers for the torts they love them. I gave them some borage flowers today, I had picked some along with the raspberries and strawberries which I will eat alongside each other. Borage, just in case you didn’t know is the starflower, all parts are edible but the root is not palatable, it’s contains gamma linoleic acid which is anti inflammatory and helps to build muscle rather than fat, besides that it is a beautiful plant, though it self seeds readily, and it attracts pollinating insects by the score.

I am always interested in what is edible both conventional and wild, John says that I can’t wait for an apocalypse lol, I can, I don’t want one to happen but if it does and the supermarkets run out, I want to know what we can eat 😜 and if that ever happens in our lifetime, he will be grateful too.

I am beginning to get a fair few courgettes, I can feed them to the chickens and I do make the yummy chocolate/courgette cake but as a general rule we don’t eat them, I would like to know how others use them in their cooking please 😀

The baby robins have fledged so I can now rummage around in my plant pot stash without fear of disturbing them, unless of course Mum and Dad come back for a third batch!

I was watching the ‘dead stick pile’ the other morning and the amount of birds that use it for cover is amazing, all the fledglings feel safe flying into the piles and there are obviously nests in there as well so I will definitely be using these for the wildlife. I thought I had hit upon something new but apparently they are called dead hedges and I can see how they would be totally useful in a very quick time to ‘fence’ off an area, I intend to use the idea round newly planted trees to stop the geese from stripping the bark and the hens from scratching up the disturbed soil.

I made a lemon and courgette Madeira cake, simple enough recipe and tasty enough, at least it’s a way of getting some of your 5 a day 😜 I’m not actually sure it counts to be fair but it uses up a courgette and they are coming thick and fast now.

The recipe is from thecrazykitchen.co.uk

For dinner we had roasted new potatoes and peas from the garden with steak, I roasted the potatoes and steak in the oven with olive oil, crushed garlic, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper, simple but delicious 😋

Saturday: John went and did the rounds while I cleaned the boot room where the kitty’s are and then cleaned out the rabbit/guinea run and collected leaves for them and the torts. Picked a few courgettes and some raspberries and by 9.30am it’s already hot out there, I can feel my skin beginning to prickle and itch, I can see I won’t be outside for very long today. The Lupus makes it difficult to get out and get some work done on days like this because I don’t want to end up with another flare which is what will happen if I was stupid enough to work out in the Sun, the antibodies would have a field day and I would be back in a place that is not good, so although I would love to be out in it, I will hide away inside for most of the day 😏

I was able to work in the shade until about 12.30 sorting out the area around the greenhouse, by then bumps started to appear on my hands so it was time to go inside. Days like these are when I am grateful for the insulation as it’s wonderfully cool indoors 😀 we had lunch and then rested on the sofas for the afternoon waiting for it to cool down again.

The dogs are laying in the shade, they have a great life, they don’t go for walks but have free range of the place from early in the morning to late at night, Mia spends a lot of time trying to round up ducks 😂 patch doesn’t bother choosing to lay and watch 😜

Charlie and Macca invited us for a bbq in the evening, their garden is shaded by that time so it was nice and cool 😀

Sunday: I had set the alarm for 5am this morning in order to get some stuff done before it gets too hot, John got up at the same time and did the morning rounds then cleaned out the hens, I watered things that were flagging from yesterday’s heat and then picked courgettes, broad beans, raspberries and rhubarb. It was lovely and cool at that time of the morning and easy to get on with things. I potted up some peppers that I had been growing in the poly tunnel but moved to the greenhouse, even though they are late they should do ok in there and produce something. Then we went for breakfast at Shelleys, they returned home from a holiday in Italy yesterday so we went to hear all about it, sounds wonderful and they fell in love with Italy 🇮🇹

As it happens it’s about 8 degrees or more cooler than yesterday and cloudier so we probably didn’t need to get up early but it’s a great time of the day 😀

I tried the gooseberries but they need a little longer until they are sweet, I will be keeping an eye on them and the cherries as the crows strip them as fast as anything once they know they are ready.

Posted in Friesland Farm

Kittens, Fairy’s & Bon Jovi lol

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 17th June: Perfect day for me finally, no rain, no sun 😀 so I spent until 2pm out in the garden, mostly weeding, a huge trugfull for the rabbits and Guineas one for the little chicks, some juicy thistles etc for the torts, yep plenty of weeding done today lol. I planted some more sweet corn that Shelley gave me, and watched the little robins darting back and forth to the nest with worms, this is the second brood they have raised in my plant pot holder, I disturbed a little frog under a pile of weeds, good to know the wildlife is abundant 😀

I picked more courgettes today, I was looking at all the plants thinking omg I am going to have a lot of courgettes lol but the hens will eat them so will the torts and the rabbit and guineas so what ever we don’t use or sell will still be of use. The cucumbers I planted out when it was warm are struggling with all the wet weather so I dug one up and moved it indoors, one looks like it may be ok and the other three, well I don’t think they will make it 😏 I do have three more in the big tunnel that are doing fine so should have plenty of cues 😀 There are tomatoes beginning to form on one of the plants and plenty of flowers on the other plants, most things are just beginning to get going now, it always seems like a long wait and then there will be gluts of everything 😜

Just watching ‘The War on Plastics’ again, horrific, it goes from bad to worse! Wet wipes 🙄 Flannels, cloths, cotton rounds, water and baby lotion are the way forward!

Tuesday: Dry so far this morning although the rain is forecast this afternoon 😛 Mia day today, last one as Sam goes on maternity leave after this week. This cold I have gets better one day and comes back the next so I have a headache today, better than a blocked nose I suppose. A quick look round the garden with my coffee in hand, picked a few raspberries and a couple of strawberries but not many.

We had a lovely lovely day, the rain mostly stayed away, Mia was a fairy in the morning lol and then my Mum came over to do a bit of gardening and Mia was her little helper, well more talking her ears off but it was lovely listening to the pair of them while they were working.

I picked all of the remaining broad beans from the plants that have been growing since last autumn and as mentioned the early potatoes have blight so I dug most of them up, there is half a row that as yet is untouched by it. It wasn’t a bad haul from a small space and I will now use that space to grow more carrots I think.

In the evening we went to collect two new animal members of the farm, meet TC and Benny, you will have to be of a certain age to get the names 😜 but it was one of Johns favourite cartoons.

Wednesday: Strange day as far as the weather goes, it seems like it’s going to rain but hasn’t yet, dreary but warm, I know there are big thunderstorms going on in the UK but we don’t seem to be getting anything. I did the morning rounds and then a quick check of the veg garden. Some hoovering and prepping the dinner later, home grown potatoes, carrot and broad beans, yum. Played with the kittens a couple of times to get them used to me, they were born on a farm in a shed and did have humans but being taken away must be quite frightening so I am trying to settle them in gently and hope they realise we are nice 😀

We are fast approaching the longest day, summer solstice, and haven’t even had any summer yet! Hmmm we could definitely do with a bit more warmth for the toms cucumbers and peppers, the rest will tickle along nicely as it is.

The kittens are in a large dog cage in the boot room, I thought they were secure 😂 I watched them earlier climbing up the cage and thought, ah how cute, when John went out the back later he said ‘the kittens are out, do you know’? Now maybe the fact that the cage door was still bolted might have given him some kind of indication that, no, I didn’t know! It seems they have climbed up and got out of a gap at the top, obviously a cage made for a large dog isn’t going to keep two tiny kittens in, duh, I should have thought it through more thoroughly. Gap now plugged it remains to be seen if they can squeeze through any other gaps, the problem with letting them out is that we have a large pipe running surface on the floor, right in the middle to be precise and it has to be stepped over every time 🙄 it was temporary about 5 years ago, and until the exit areas of the pipe are checked I have no idea if they are sealed when they meet the walls. John is busy eating an ice cream so can’t do it at the moment 😜 priorities. All checked and secured, kittens now back inside the cage hopefully they will remain there 😏

TC is the friendliest one who will come for a stroke and purrs, Benny doesn’t, he hides away and so he is the one we need to work on.

One thing really bugging me at the moment is the integral fridge, it is freezing everything so at the weekend we are going to pull it out clean all around it and see if that makes a difference.

Thursday: Writing this at the end of the day and can’t actually remember what I have done, can’t be that memorable 😏

I do know that I prepped the dinner early on this morning, I had a random minced pork in the freezer, I probably bought it for stuffing at some point and never used it so tonight John has ‘piggy pie’ a pork version of shepherds pie and I made meatballs to go with some garlic, basil and tomato sauce that I made last year and froze.

The kittens have been given free reign of the boot room, well they were escaping every time we shut them in the cage anyhow so might as well let them out. It does mean the dogs can’t have the door open to come and go like they usually do though, I don’t think they are too bothered and they don’t seem bothered by the kittens who have found themselves a perch high up out of the way 😜

Friday: Summer solstice, It looks set to be a warm day today 😀 I did the morning rounds cleaning out the ducklings on the way round, they are getting big now and have almost feathered up and are definitely quacking instead of cheeping lol. I did a bit of watering, it’s surprising just how quickly things dry out even after a week long of rain showers. The other ducks have been left inside the stable today as we are off to Wembley to watch Bon Jovi tonight, looking forward to that, as the ducks tend to roam far and wide I thought it would be safer if they were in😀 Charlie will be coming after work to let the dogs out and put the birds to bed.

It’s befitting that we are going to a concert today on the solstice, a day of celebration which traditionally combines feasting, music, and enjoying the company of others, yep I think that covers it, I have of course taken time to just enjoy the outdoors and wander amongst the flowers, herbs and veg, stroking some of them so that they release their scents, listen to the birdsong, watch the butterflies and bees flying around and appreciating it all, that’s the main thing, you’d be surprised how many people can be right in the middle of nature and not really notice anything and there is such a lot going on even in the smallest of spaces.

I have begun to pick a few raspberries, not many at the moment but enough to have with a bit of cream after dinner 😀

I did a bit in the poly tunnel, some potting on of plants to put out for sale when they get big enough and some potting on of others that I either will plant eventually or keep to gather seed from. Having been out of ‘flower gardening’ for a long time I am re kindling my love affair with certain flowers, Cerinthe is one that I love, it’s not showy or particularly fabulous but I like it for its understated beautiful purple drop like flowers.

One thing I have discovered while looking up some plants is I seem to be drawn to the ‘wort’ family, cerinthe is honeywort, I have motherwort, soapwort, spiderwort, dropwort (in fact the dropwort was the plant I thought was growing and turned out to be ragwort) and the drop wort was growing next to it. Worts have medicinal uses, must be the hedgewitch in me that is drawn to them 😜

The concert was amazing 😀 Manic Street Preachers were the warm up band, all you can eat food and all you can drink bar, we didn’t overdo it though lol, many thanks to my sister and brother in law for the opportunity x x

Saturday: So busy today that it’s 9.30pm before I sit down and type this up 😜 We have at last got all the glass in the greenhouse and we have 2 out of 3 benches in plus my potting bench that John bought me a few years ago, although I use it as a work station because it’s too nice to use for anything else 😂. Basically that’s what we have been doing most of the day with cups of tea and a bite to eat in between, we went to the DIY shop to get a sander and some storage boxes and called in to see Sam, Luke and Mia on the way back.

It has been hot today although we did have occasional cloud passing over, with the temps rising the forecast is for thunderstorms tomorrow evening ⛈

Sunday: Today we finished off the benches/staging in the greenhouse and now I am as happy as a pig in poo 😝 I have just come in from sitting in there with a cuppa and listening to classic fm, did you know they had a classics chart countdown on a Sunday evening, nope neither did I lol.

This morning I picked 6 courgettes and some raspberries 😀

Posted in Friesland Farm

Butterflies, pitta bread & Countryfile Live 😀

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday: I was a bit preoccupied last week what with visitors and John off and forgot to mention that I got some bantam eggs and they are now in the incubator, we also had no hot water as the immersion heater went on Friday so cold showers all round until its fixed, I have ordered the part and hope it arrives soon. Strangely enough we suddenly have some luke warm water this morning?? No idea what is going on with that (found out later John had fixed it) 

The sun is shining this morning and the two buddliea globosa, which have orange ball shaped flowers, are dancing with butterflies, mostly painted lady and red admiral, the odd peacock and also plenty of bees, all feeding on the nectar.

Well the day went a bit pear shaped when my neighbour shouted to me over the fence, she thought someone had dumped rubbish in her field but turns out that someone had been trying to nick Johns well hidden scrap from behind the hay barn, they had 30 bags of it lined up ready to go. Luckily John had heard the dog barking around 12.30 last night and got up, turned all the lights on and let the other dogs out, I guess they scarpered! He had to come home and retrieve it from the field, sure hope they don’t come back again it makes you feel very uneasy to know that people are prowling around. Activity has been high in the last couple of weeks as we have had some undesirables move in just a couple of miles down the road. 

Tuesday: All was well overnight thank goodness. A bright sunny start to the day, I did the feed round and then took Kai up to the back paddock for a grooming session, he is moulting like mad at the moment and the field looks like something has been massacred but it’s just fur. Mia arrived and sat out in the garden for a bit while I picked some tomatoes, which she kept pointing to and saying ‘egg’ lol, pulled up some weeds for the bunnies and guinea pigs, then she got bored of that so we went inside. 

Another couple of showers again later on in the day, I really think that might be it for summer now😝 the seasons seem to be all different the last few years, usually the ants start flying around early August but they have already gone a few weeks ago and this mornings mist was definitely autumnal.

Made bread once Mia had gone home, while I was at it I made a batch of ginger biscuits and something I wanted to have a go at for the first time, pitta bread. I don’t like the shop bought pittas, they are at the very least, disappointing 😏 and I have never had one that has been made by someone so I thought I would give it a go. They take 5 mins to mix up, an hour to prove the dough and then 1 and half minutes each to cook, brilliant, the results were mixed, some puffed up, some didn’t but apparently that doesn’t matter unless you want to fill it, but for humous non puffed is fine and they will freeze fine so don’t have to be eaten all at once lol. They are quite delicious and nothing like the cardboard things in the supermarket, they would easily lend themselves to dips, mopping up curry, chilli, stew yep a definite winner. 


Wednesday: Filthy day from start to finish! Didn’t really get much done outside apart from the routine stuff and a bit of picking early on, Mia arrived and Shelley and Josh came over to play and that was pretty much how the day went. Sure hope the rain eases of soon 😜 

John spent the evening outside moving the woodpile to fill the gap that the nighttime visitors were obviously trying to use.

Thursday: Not raining but windy and spitting and overcast, the jet stream is too high up for good weather it seems 😝 Nevertheless jobs need to be done so did the usual feeding routine, sold out of eggs by goodness knows what time this morning 8.30 I think, the earliest customer coming around 7.30! The chap a couple of miles down the road has given up his 150 hens due to ill health and I guess some are coming here however we don’t have enough hens to supply them all. 

After feeding I did picking, runner, dwarf beans, courgettes, tomato, swede and beetroot, the veg suddenly seems to be getting snapped up at a great rate too, maybe new customers? I pulled up some weeds and perpetual spinach plus some herbs for the rabbits and guinea pigs and a tub full of herbs for the chickens to peck over. I saw a programme where the local chicken farm was feeding a mix of chopped up leftover herbs from a herb farm so I thought I would try it on mine and see how they like it. Then onto the POL pen as it is getting very muddy with all the rain, I think it is still coming in through the roof and I will have to watch it to see what is happening as John appears not to have fixed it with his two bits of wood propping it up 😜Cleaned up the floor, chucked in some bits for them to scratch around for and changed the low water trough for two buckets as this may be part of the problem, when emptying it you can’t help but tip it all over the floor, better to have buckets that can be carried away for emptying. 

I had to look up two potential problems, one, blood in chicken poop but a chart analysis reassured me that it was just the shedding of lining and normal, thank goodness for that, the hens are all vaccinated but coccidiosis is always a worry, technically they shouldn’t get it but it’s possible one may have escaped the vaccination process and the second problem is the yellowing of the leaves on the tomato plants, it’s not blight and it doesn’t appear to be a nutrient deficiency, at this time of the season it is more likely to be the plants beginning to shut down. They have done their job, grown, produced flowers, then fruit (which is starting to ripen) and that’s a job done as far as they are concerned, I think it’s a little early but then so is everything else this year! 

In the afternoon I cleaned out the quail and then the ducks, both huts are mucky from the wet weather, at this time of year they shouldn’t need cleaning out so much! Then I went on to burn the paper feed sacks etc and remembered I needed to check out the greengage plums. Normally I don’t pick anything until it’s ripe but the greengage are the exception to the rule this year, I usually leave them until they are just about ready but find that the wasps get there first. Gages are the sweetest of plums, there is a scale measurement for fruit sweetness but I can’t find the reference now, gages come pretty high on the scale even though they look like they might be sour, trust me, they are not. I usually end up with a couple of handfuls but this year I have hit the jackpot with them, the damsons on the other hand are not so good and as I still have some in the freezer from last year I may leave them all for the wasps 😀 I also have Victoria’s but they seem, contrary to everything else, well behind schedule ?? Plums grown commercially are picked before they are ripe, then stored, then pumped with ethylene which is the same gas given off by bananas and some other fruit so all I need to do with the gages is leave them on the side next to the fruit bowl to ripen. I will probably put a few out for sale but mostly I will be eating them in their natural state 😀 I just realised that they are also free of coddling moth grubs this year so the traps I put up last year and the sticky bands have done the job, in fact all the top fruit is free of it so well done me 😝 

Friday seems to be lost somewhere 😝

Saturday: Whoop whoop we are off to Countryfile live today so up early to do the animals then off out for the day, Shelley is in charge at the farm 😀

We had a fab day out, it was one of the best shows of that type I have been to, something for everyone, everything to do with the countryside and a little bit more. I learnt a lot, ate a lot, walked a lot and talked to a lot of people. So many people are very passionate about their breed or their product or their skills it was the perfect place to showcase them all. The rare breeds, bees and using a scythe really caught my interest and we both thoroughly enjoyed watching the Stihl Timbersports British Championship. 

Sunday: Lol, John was up early this morning and when he was dressed realised it was Sunday and not Monday as he had thought 😝 The weather looked set to be fair and so we got on with feeding and then a bit of picking for me while John cut up some of the wood from the pile that seems to be multiplying while we are not looking. I swept the front driveway and cut the grass, it does look so much better when it’s done but I can’t help thinking it won’t be long until the Autumn leaves will be making a mess. There are little villages of mushrooms sprouting up all over the place, they look fabulous when they first bloom and add another dimension to the garden areas. 

Posted in Friesland Farm

Courgettes, courgettes and many more courgettes 😜

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday: It’s cooler this morning which means it’s a lot easier to be motivated as I’m not sweating doing the morning rounds. I did a bit of watering but we are expecting rain tomorrow so I have left most of the garden, if it doesn’t come I shall be watering for hours 😝 Went to Millets Farm with the grandchildren today to see the animals, fell in love with the Pygmy goats lol, definitely would like to get some one day. 

We had a bird come in the window again today, this time it panicked and flew into the room then into the kitchen, eventually I managed to get it out of the side window, bizarre, it’s radar must be well off centre. We seem to have quite a lot of small birds especially sparrows at the moment, by my reckoning the bird boxes have had two possibly three lots of hatchlings in each box this year which is fabulous but they must be getting pretty full of debris by now and will need a good clean out eventually. 

Tuesday: It finally rained ☔️☔️ just a bit overnight, but hopefully we will get more, the grass will be refreshed with just a bit but the trees and the shrubs need more so fingers crossed. 

I have a feeling I am going to have hundreds of courgettes this year lol so I have been looking up recipes, I tried the Parmesan fingers, they are ok but I need to cut them thinner I think, I like them crispy. Also chocolate/courgette cake, I am always a bit wary of these recipes as mostly the veg doesn’t really add anything to the cake but I have found a recipe that uses oil instead of butter so I consider it to be a little more healthy. I am not a great lover of courgette, I add them to stews etc to bulk it out but never really tried much else with them, this is obviously the year to go for it and see what happens. 

While searching through Pinterest I found a recipe for something entirely different that I am going to have to have a go at making, banana and peanut butter bread pudding, mmmmm all of my favs rolled into one and useful as a winter breakfast I reckon, I shall be saving all the end bits of bread for this one 😀 

The courgette cake tastes lovely, definitely will do that one again.


I glanced out of the door to see one of our rabbits hopping round the garden, I looked over to their run to see the door wide open and also the door to the orchard pen 😝 we had a child visitor this morning who went to see them but didn’t close and bolt the doors properly, I put Mia in the pushchair and under a tree as it was spitting with rain and proceeded to round them up, luckily they were easy to round up and it was done fairly quickly, lesson: it’s worth double checking the gates even if someone says they have shut them 😜
Well it’s has definitely rained and rained good, thank goodness for that, the garden and paddocks were desperate, I mean really desperate, the raspberry bushes were beginning to die back, the fruit trees were dropping their fruit, the paddocks, especially the chicken paddock was bare and dry and brown but it will have a new lease of life after the rain. Normally we could easily go three weeks without rain but not with the temperatures we have had as well, you can spend hours watering but nothing is as good as a rain shower, it’s charged with energy to start with and blanket coverage means every root gets a drink. 

Wednesday: Got some picking done, the runner beans are getting big enough to pick now, had Mia so didn’t get much else done apart from playing 😜

Went out into the back paddock in the evening, John missed a bit of ragwort so had to show him where it was, saw the little owl while we were out there and discussed having mains electric fencing instead of post and rail as the wood seems to rot away so quickly, either way we will have to spend some dollar 😜

Thursday: Rained a little over night which is welcome. This morning I am multitasking in a big way lol, I’ve stripped the sofas to wash the covers which will take 4 loads, done the feeding, got the sourdough bread on the go and picked fruit and veg, then on to clean the house. 

I picked more courgettes, not quite sure what I am going to do with them all 😝 picked a few runner beans and some purple dwarf beans and a couple of outdoor cucumbers. In the fruit cage I picked raspberries and then some loganberries, these are like large blackberries and they need picking on time as they readily fall off the bush onto the floor. I need to make some jam with them but I also still have ironing to do from weeks ago lol, which activity will win, I’m leaning towards the jam. The sourdough bread is going to take a lot longer to prove than normal bread I think, I have done a fair bit of reading about it all to try and understand exactly what needs doing and why I’m doing it, so far I seem to have got the hang of it but we shall see how the bread turns out before I can say it’s a success. 

In the end I did the ironing so I could watch the tennis at the same time lol, thinking about it I could do with a tv in the kitchen then I would never have to sit down 😋

Things were going well, I was getting loads done and then pain struck in the bottom of my thumb joint, you don’t realise how much you use your thumb until you can’t! I must have strained it somehow and it was very painful, took a couple of ibrufen and waited for it to get better which is did but slowly, turning off a tap, lifting a saucepan even doing up your jeans is so much more difficult never mind putting the covers back on or prepping veg.

The sourdough was ok, not 100% but around 90 I would say, I think the mix was too wet as when it was proving it started to spread over the side of the tin, tastes good though and the texture is good, the next one will hopefully be even better. 

Friday: whipped round his morning as have routine blood tests to get to. Later in the afternoon my Friday help came and did some picking, the courgette numbers are ridiculous, I have no idea what I was thinking planting that many! We inspected the chick peas and there are loads of little pods on the plants, happy with that. I did a bit of tidying and some picking, then collected the eggs, the pullets are laying really well and we are getting 36 out of 38 birds already which is helping out in the egg shed massively. 

I was very sad to hear that our local fencing supplier had died, he was ‘old skool’ and a real character, I shall miss him ringing up for duck eggs and giving me abuse if we didn’t have any lol. 

The air tattoo is on his weekend and we have had noisy aeroplanes around all day today, it would be nice if the cloud lifted so we could actually see them and get a free show. 

Saturday: Got off to a flying start, John did the birds out in the front paddock while I did the others then he went off on the fortnightly feed run, meanwhile I cleaned the boot room, burnt the paper sacks and rubbish and started tidying up the back covered area, John helped to finish that when he came back. I had put the wildlife camera out last night up the back and checked out the footage, Mr Fox, no surprise there. Did a bit of veg picking while John watched the qualifying and I had a good haul of self set potatoes, they will feed us for a week or two at least. I spotted 10 apricots on the tree, the birds had already got to a few of them but I ended up with six, not bad considering I thought the frost had got all of them, maybe next year will be better (I say that every year, last year they were plentiful but pitted). Such was the success of the courgette/choc cake I have made another two today along with some more sourdough bread and a regular loaf. The sourdough takes ages to prove, I think I may go back to the old way but not until I have used up the starter and at least I know how to do it now even if I don’t! 

We have another fly phenomenon in the living room this time, I hoovered up around 30 flies yesterday, we have identified where they are coming from and John has gone to get some expanding foam to fill the hole. The problem is the wooden hollow walls and the rat poison, bad combination 😝 still at least we can fix it, he is also picking up some wasp nest killer as I still have a nest in one of the compost bins and I can’t work near it because they get angry, I will show them who is boss 😉 We have a bees nest in the feed room but I won’t be killing them off as they tend to mind their own business as long as we mind ours and we can co exist quite happily. 
Courgette and Chocolate cake recipe


Basically just put it all in a big bowl and stir, then bake at around 160c for approx 40mins or until the knife comes out clean. This make two lb loaf tin size cakes, give it a go you won’t be disappointed I can tell you. I used pecans in the first one and walnuts in the next lot, also olive oil in the first because that’s all I had and sunflower in the second lot. You can buy courgettes in the little shed 😜😜 or actually I have that many that if you are reading this and just ask me I will give you some for free 😀
I have set the camera again tonight, lets see what, if anything, we get.

Sunday:  Checked the camera and have more video of Mr Fox, I have tried in vain to transfer it from my laptop to the iPad if I actually succeed then it will be on here fingers crossed. In the end I had to video the video!  Nope I couldn’t upload it even then 😔 I will try uploading it onto the Friesland Farm Facebook page and hope that works. 

​Martin came over to do some more to the play pirate ship, just some finishing touches to go now, the smile on Joshua’s face was a mile wide when he went in, Mia and him will have such fun although I think us adults will have just as much, can’t wait to dress up and play pirates, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum. 

Pulled up an enormous swede today, there were a couple more that were quite big and I don’t really want them any bigger so I dug four up and hopefully they will store well until they are needed. A drop more rain this afternoon means I won’t have to water 💦 yay. A common problem this year is tomatoes not setting fruit, mine included, plenty of flowers but they are not turning into fruit at all, it was the hot spell that caused it, the pollen becomes sterile if the temps are consistently high, there are a few tomatoes on each plant so all is not lost but it would have been nice to have had a jackpot load.