Tag: dandelion honey

Posted in Friesland Farm

Jam, asparagus soup & May Day 🥰

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 26th April 2021: Still on the chilly side for April and no sign of it warming for the next two weeks. Best to dress for the cold and take layers off I think 🤔 This week John has a full week of ‘proper’ work so I will mainly be here on my own bimbling away. This morning I set to making the dandelion honey from the flowers I picked yesterday, if you are going to try then pick them from a place you know has t been sprayed with anything and preferably where animals have not been 🙄 Mine have come from the garden where no animals are allowed and definitely no spraying, pick them in the sunshine so they are fully open and warmed by the sun. You can either take your time and pull off all the petals or you can keep them whole with the green bits attached (not the stalks) because you are going to strain it so it won’t make much difference in the end. Just give the flowers a good shake so any insects have time to escape before you boil them 😜 Simmer for 15 mins with a slice of lemon and then leave overnight to steep. Strain and squeeze out all the juice you can, measure the liquid, you want a pound of sugar for every pint of liquid. Then simmer (a good simmer not gentle) for 15 mins before putting into hot, sterilised jars. That’s it, liquid gold, sunshine in a pot, it is not as thick as honey more of a sauce but still very delicious and worth having a go just so you can say you have done it. Back in the day dandelions were a very important flower/crop and far from removing them from lawns they were actually planted up. They are a great source of nectar for bees and other insects, a great food source for many small mammals and you can even make a reasonable coffee from the dried roots (I have read this but never tried) Part of what is wrong with today’s thinking is we want perfect lawns and grass areas, what is perfect, that’s the question 🤷‍♀️ To me a perfect lawn is full of wild flowers, they are not weeds, they serve a purpose just not to humans, unless you make use of them that is.

It is mid morning and one of my plans today is to get my tomato plants in the polytunnel. I have looked at the long range forecast and even though the temps are below average it looks like the overnight temperature will remain above freezing for most of the time. I may have to put an extra fleece over the plants if I think it’s going to go below 0c but it’s looking hopeful.

I spent the rest of the morning in the small tunnel planting the tomato plants, 14 in total a mix of sweet million, tigerella and cherry indigo. I have to confess I don’t know which plant is which because though I labeled the rows when they were growing I muddled them up once they were potted up, I didn’t think carefully enough and whoops error made. Still have more plants, some will go into the big tunnel and I always try some outside to see how they do. I have staked them all and tied them in and the run string from the stake to the crop bar in the roof of the tunnel. These measures will hold them upright and hopefully take the weight when they are loaded with tomatoes. Because the temperatures are not up to seasonal average at the minute I have taken the precaution of fleecing the inside of the door ways to provide extra protection from the night temperatures, I have also cut extra fleece to put over them at night. It’s nice and warm in there at the minute, around 25c but you can feel the difference once you step outside so best to Molly coddle them as much as possible at the moment, I don’t want to lose them after spending so long getting them growing from seed.

I came indoors then for a bite to eat, I am not sure if it was the heat in the tunnel or what but I didn’t feel too well, a bit sick. I have had it before and wonder if it is my blood sugars dipping too low for some reason. Usually if I come in and have something to eat and a sit down it passes after a while 🤷‍♀️ I have regular blood test so if it was a permanent problem I think they would have seen it in the results before now. It tends to be when I am busy but it doesn’t happen often, I always have a good breakfast of oats and banana so it’s not that I have skipped breakfast or anything like that.

It is very quiet here today, not much noise outside at all and we have probably had one egg customer all day 😔 We worked out that we need to sell £7 worth of eggs a day just to cover the feed costs that doesn’t even include bedding or our time and the egg boxes we buy and it certainly doesn’t cover times when we have to worm the hens (which we only do if necessary). If business gets much slower I think we will have to have a serious discussion about wether to carry on with it or not 🙄 We might have to come up with a different idea altogether. I think it is because we are used to not being able to keep up with egg demand lol and it has certainly dropped for some reason. Not that I am too worried, the intention was always to be self sufficient and the egg thing just started as a sideline to move extra eggs but it’s nice to have people come and have a chat and put the world to rights sometimes.

Cup of tea and a sit down mid afternoon, I have just finished making some rhubarb and orange jam. Hoping it will set, there is not much mystery to jam making except the set lol and a lot depends on how much moisture is in the fruit you use. Really once you get it to a rolling boil and a temperature of 105c it theoretically should set but there is always the unknown. I never do the freezer test because quite frankly I can’t be arsed, our freezers are right out the back so by the time I got the plate in it would have warmed up a bit and so no good anyway. I prefer to get it to temp and hope🤞 generally it’s fine but sometimes if we have had a lot of rain and the fruit has taken up a lot of water it can be more tricky but nothing a re-boil couldn’t sort out. I went with orange in the end as that is what I fancied doing, the vanilla option can work out a tad expensive as you are supposed to put half a bean in and they cost a fair bit plus to me that’s a bit of a waste of a vanilla bean 😜

The dandelion honey is a little runny so more of a pouring sauce, it will still be great with ice cream or even pancakes/yoghurt etc but no so good to spread. The one I made last time was a better, thicker consistency and was so yummy that finger dipping was a must.

The jam was a good set, I can tell after only 10 mins because even though in the hot jars it’s still runny, in the bottom of the pan it’s nicely cooled and thick and sticky. I used to wash the pan straight away but it is good way of finding out how the set has gone so I leave it to cool and then wash it.

I sometimes think it would be good to do it for a living but I am a bit of a perfectionist, there is no way I would sell anything that wasn’t exactly right. I can imagine if it was yays to the left and nays to the right (or which ever way round it goes) that I would have a bigger reject pile than a sellable pile 😂 That goes for anything I do really. I think another reason I would like to do something is because I love to look for new recipes for things I grow but half of it John wouldn’t eat so there is not much point making it just for me, I would look like a roly poly pudding (even more than I do now) maybe I will just start making it and hope that he likes the look, but no, I don’t think that will work, we have such totally different tastes in food it’s ridiculous 😬

Oo John saw a shooting star last night, there is meteor activity at the minute, the eta aquariids, so that’s most likely what he saw.

Just in case you thought I was finished with the making today, nope, I made some asparagus soup. I had a bunch that I picked the day before yesterday and put in the shed but it hadn’t sold and so I got it back in. It had gone a bit limp so no point leaving it out there, I picked another fresh bunch and made soup. A simple soup that is big on flavour and of course would be delicious with a hunk of fresh bread and some Parmesan shavings. You could add cream to the soup but I like simple soups and beside it’s less fattening 😬 Just chop up and onion and a clove of garlic, sauté in a knob of butter and a drop of olive oil, the butter gives it a richer flavour but you can leave it out if you want. Add pepper and the chopped asparagus and then stock of your choice, either veg or chicken. Simmer until the asparagus is soft then either serve like that or whizz it with a blender stick. I don’t add extra salt because of the stock cube but add salt to taste if you like. Simple, nutritious, delicious and can be dressed up or down depending on the occasion. You can freeze this but not with the cream added, leave it out and add it later if you are freezing it.

Tuesday: I feel like I have been on the go fours and it’s only 9.30am. Mostly I have been doing household bits, the mundane stuff that has to be done also sort the egg shed, feed the dogs, put out the rubbish etc. Time for a quick coffee and contemplate what jobs I will do today, it’s still cold only about 5c at the minute, getting up to 14c at some point but at least the cold wind has dropped today which is a bonus. I haven’t checked the poly tunnel yet but I think the plants will have been ok, I have some out for sale in a little greenhouse and they are fine this morning so the Molly coddled ones should be cosy. The pepper plants and cucumbers are not big enough to transplant yet, they will go into the big tunnel, I had considered doing that today but they need to wait a while yet.

I decided as it was pretty cool outside I would sit and make some cards which is what I did for a couple of hours.

John came home as he had left his phone somewhere and had to phone around to find out where it was, eventually located it and will pick it up later.

I then went onto doing paperwork as I have got a bit behind and needed to catch up. Doing the household stuff and the farm receipts was the easy bit, doing Johns plumbing was painful. ‘Abandon all hope ye who enter here’ springs to mind. I took a lunch break and went back to it but I honestly can’t make head nor tail of some of it. It appears we don’t have all the statements, some of the invoices and I can’t for the life of me match up payments for one supplier 🙄 It drives me to despair the amount of times I have tried to get John to organise supplier and payment records might as well bash my head against a brick wall. I am sure we will get there eventually as it’s usually all filed in Johns head but that’s not much use to me when he isn’t here. He tells me he has a book that he writes it down in now, I can’t wait to see that! Probably won’t be able to make head or tail of that either, it will be in special ‘John’ code 😜

Typical of me as I can’t leave a job alone until it’s done even when I know I can’t finish it so I have been going back and forth to the paperwork 😂 I have managed to chip away at little bits so I have less of it buzzing round in my head. This is all just to get it straight ready for getting in order for the accountant, that is yet to come 😩

I lit the Rayburn around 3pm, we haven’t had it lit for the last few days and relied on the electric blow heater in the living room but it’s just too cold overnight and so today I have decided to light it. Chances are we will be roasting by mid evening but we can always let it go out again.

I have been saddened to read online that the whole shop local frenzy of last year seems to have died. Plenty of egg sellers wondering where the customers have gone 🤔

I just need to have a small moan and get something off my chest here: I have just seen a social media post regarding garden waste and the fact that you have to pay to get your waste taken away. A garden tax, was someone’s description, excuse me 🙄 but it’s your garden and your garden waste and yet you think you shouldn’t have to pay to get it removed kerbside, here is an idea COMPOST IT YOURSELF THEN! Thanks for listening 😜

Seriously though there is a mind set that is pretty ugly when you look at it, everything is someone else’s fault or responsibility, the wider picture is never looked at or considered 🙄

It’s 8.45, John has gone out to put the birds to bed and if I had any nuts I would be sweating them off by now 😂 bloody roasting in here even though we didn’t put any more wood on the fire after 7pm as it was already getting a bit warm, all or nothing!

Wednesday: It started raining persistently last night with a few heavy bursts overnight and it’s still raining this morning. This is about one of the only times I will put a smiley face for rain 😁 we haven’t had any for weeks and the ground was really, really dry. The beds we planted up were holding up just about, I had been giving the plants a quick pick me up sprinkling with the hose but they really needed a soaking and now they have had one. Of course, not only will the plants put on some lush growth but so will the weeds 😂 ah well you can’t win them all and at least they might be easier to pull than they have been lately.

I have been delighted with the tulips this year, we don’t have many but they have been bright and cheery and really lift the spirits more so than the daffodils I think. So I had a mad idea lol and thought it would be nice to plant up pots of tulip bulbs and perhaps sell them, they would make great Easter and Mother’s Day presents ours birthday or general have a nice day gifts. Of course one thing led to another and my enthusiasm spread to, wouldn’t it be nice to have the bed in front of the window filled with tulips so I bought 500 bulbs, yep 500 lol, it’s the daffodil episode all over again. Obviously I have missed the boat this year but next year they are going to look fantastic and there will be enough bulbs to pot some up for sale. The 1000 daffodil bulbs I bought and planted along with Mum and Ken are doing well, they come up each year in a block of beautiful yellow but they always seem to be a bit late pr than most. They are up in the back paddock too which means they can’t really be seen, on hindsight I should have planted them in the driveway grass, never mind I can always start dividing them, this is the third year of flowering so I could start lifting some later in the year.

BOO! I just want to conduct a little experiment lol to see how many people read the blog all the way through. So if you could add Boo to the comments I would very much appreciate it 😁

Don’t forget to Boo 👻😜

Went out mid morning to do the horses and the guinea pigs, I watered the greenhouse and checked on the polytunnel. Where my hands got wet I could really feel the cold it’s not much warmer out there and there is not much I can be doing at the minute so I came back in to organise dinner tonight. I did get chased by the gander and at one point I thought I was cornered but found a hazel stick on the floor, a wave of that and he went off haughtily with his women, 😅

I have avintage flower press that I picked up at a boot sale years ago just because I loved it. I have never used it, until now, this morning I have picked some tiny flower heads and pressed them, no idea what I will do with the yet but it will be fun to think of something.

Saturday May 1st 2021: May Day, Beltane, a time to celebrate the arrival of summer 🙄 (thats a bit iffy here in the UK 😂) Still it is the time to enjoy nature at its finest, the blossom on the trees, the flowers, the hedgerows, the lush green grass. Birds, insects and animals everywhere are busy reproducing. These days we barely give May Day a second thought which is really sad, there was a time when a maypole was a permanent features in towns and villages and May Day was a day of celebration.

I had a very productive morning and part of the afternoon. I have been weeding, digging out deep rooted weeds, raking, having a bonfire and putting down membrane on the difficult for me to get too bed. It’s a good job I had been busy as you will notice nothing written for Thursday and Friday, that’s because apart from basic jobs I did bigger all really 😜

Sunday: Productive again, I know, two days in a row 😂 On the job list this morning apart from the usual was to get a spot of shopping, we were there at 9.30 and gone by 9.55 😜 Luckily the supermarket we use allows self service before 10, as we drove past another supermarket they were still queuing to get in. Back home unload and put away and then off to the DIY store for some fencing. We have an area just outside the back door that the old drive way cuts through, across the drive is the gate to the garden. I wanted to fence the drive off part way down, firstly this will mean that the area is secure for the toddlers and children to move between the house and the garden. Second but no less important it means the dogs can’t get into that area, they knock the kids over half the time and the other half of the time they dig holes. The holes then become ankle twisting areas that you don’t always see, usually because I am carrying something. The dogs can come in when we allow them but it means we can also shut them behind the fence if we don’t want them there. The other reason is the free range mobster geese, they have no manners, crap everywhere and nibble on everything plus they are pretty scary to children being much bigger than them. In fact they are pretty scary to me at the minute so the last thing I want is to open the back door to find them there 😜

Have a great week, hopefully the weather will warm up just a tad and everyone will be happy 😃

Posted in Friesland Farm

Dandelion honey, more fox attacks and a toad 😀

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Sunday eve: Waiting to put the birds to bed as John is sleeping again, hope this illness passes soon 🤪it’s 8.30pm and still very light so might have a coffee outside while I’m waiting.

Bank Holiday Monday 7th May: Hot, hot, hot today phew. Got the birds done first thing, John was just well enough to help out a bit but then it wiped him out for a few hours. I did a few bits in the garden, picking asparagus, watering the tunnels etc, gave the rabbits some hay and did a bit of foraging for them. Meanwhile Charlie and Macca hoovered and tided the house oh and John changed the sheets on our bed, that is the first time in over thirty years he has done that! Then I finished making the dandelion honey, oh my days, that is some seriously good stuff, and going down a storm with everyone who tries it, obviously it’s not honey and it does have sugar in it, quite a lot, but it really does taste like honey, better in fact. Here is the link to the page and recipe http://tinandthyme.uk/2013/05/dandelion-honey/. Do have a go at making it if you are that way inclined, you won’t be disappointed, I will certainly be making some more at some point.

Had to laugh this morning, a local retired Doctor who is a customer of Johns phoned this morning, not on a plumbing matter but needed to borrow a metal detector as he has lost his wedding ring in the garden somewhere (that’s not what I laughed at just so you know 😝) but John told him his symptoms and asked him what he thought was wrong with him lol, he suggested taking aspirin instead of paracetamol and it seems to have done the trick to an extent, either that or he was getting better anyway 😝

Then Sam came over and we went to Cogges Farm craft fayre, I had planned to go with John but he wasn’t up to it, it was incredibly hot and as with most of these things there was not much shade so we only stayed a couple of hours before coming home again. When I got back Shelley and Martin were here and had done some of the jobs that John usually does like cleaning out the front hens, thank you everyone today for helping out and taking me out x x Martin showed me how to use the chop saw safely and I had a go so I should be able to start making stuff 😀

Charlie and Macca did a bbq in the evening, we had meat already in the freezer to use up but the salad leaves, chives, mange tout and asparagus all freshly picked 😀 from the garden to the plate.

Sitting here are 8.30 typing up and Charlie comes running in the back way with a hen , she was sat outside with Macca when the horse started making a racket the dogs shot off and they ran up the back to see foxy with a chicken in its mouth, the dogs chased the fox who dropped the hen minus a load of feathers! The hen has a puncture wound which I have purple sprayed and hopefully she will survive the shock, I have now shut her away with the rescue ducks in the stable, we caught up all the other hens out the back and shut them away and also shut the ducks in their compound. Last night we lost a hen at around the same time of night, we are suffering attacks daily now and the problem is that it’s still light and the hens are still out, they will be confined for the next few days until the fox either moves on elsewhere or stops visiting because there are no birds about.

I candled the goose eggs in the Incy and all but one are viable so hopefully we will have eight goslings 😀

A farmer in the village has lost his cows! Eight of them are missing and a Facebook appeal has been put out for any sightings, we haven’t seen anything hope he finds them soon 🙁

Tuesday: Wall to wall sunshine again this morning although showers are possible later which would be just perfect, save me watering the veg plants 😜

Got on quite early this morning as it is so pleasant working in the cooler morning air than the hotter parts of the day. As I said yesterday the birds at the back of the farm are being confined in their runs much to their disgust but I am not going to risk any more attacks from the fox. After feeding, straight into the garden to pick, this mornings offerings are asparagus, rhubarb, mangetout and some radish, mostly all put out for sale in the shed, some saved for dinner later. Forage for the rabbits, mostly dandelion and thistle today, I planted some more broccoli plants out in the cage and sowed some more seeds, mini corn, courgette (as the other seeds just rotted away) beetroot and coriander, I am trying to do them fortnightly so I get a succession this year instead of gluts! I picked some herbs for drying, sage, thyme, lovage and oregano, I intend to dry quite a lot this year to keep me going through the Winter months (though I don’t want to think about that too much just yet it still has to be prepared for) Watered the poly tunnels, I have moved a few things from the greenhouse into the tunnels as the greenhouse does not seem to be performing well this year. I have been pondering about rebuilding it or getting a new one or another tunnel, though the tunnels are really good nothings beat the feeling of being in a greenhouse in the spring, seems like a heart or head decision 🤔

Then Mia arrived had a bit of lunch then went for a sleep as she was quite tired, while she was sleeping I picked some of the thinner sticks of rhubarb to make a pudding for later, rhubarb pudding cake, easy, quick and hopefully delicious. I did a double take at the ingredients as there are no eggs in this pudding mix but I thought, ok, we will see how it turns out? The rhubarb retains its sharpness as the mix is sat on top of the fruit but there is plenty of sugar in it it counterbalance that, then it is soft and almost custard like with a chewy sweet topping, it’s fab, I love it and a dollop of creme fresh would top it off nicely 😀

Old Fashioned Rhubarb Pudding Cake Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups chopped rhubarb

• 1 3/4 cup sugar, divided

• 3 tablespoons butter, softened

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup milk

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

• 1 cup sifted flour

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

• 2/3 cup boiling water

Directions

Cover the bottom of an 8 or 9 inch square pan with fruit. (I prefer an 8 inch or 9 inch square glass baking dish. You could also use a deep dish glass pie plate.)

Mix 3/4 cup sugar, butter, baking powder, salt, extracts, milk and flour together (add a little more milk if it is too thick to pour); pour over fruit. Mix remaining sugar and cornstarch; sprinkle over mixture in pan. Pour boiling water over the top. ( I know this sounds strange, but trust me, it works to create a pudding around the rhubarb in the bottom of the pan.)

Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes.

https://commonsensehome.com/rhubarb-pudding-cake/

I am having chicken left from the bbq last night with salad leaves from the tunnel, asparagus, mangetout and some avocado I need to use up, John will have his with beans and chips probably, some people don’t know when they are well off, I keep telling him he needs to change his diet but it’s like trying to drag a kicking and screaming bear out of the woods, not worth the bother 🤪

I ordered some silicone callipo style lolly moulds, we grow a lot of soft fruit and sometimes you can only eat so much of it so I thought the grandchildren would appreciate real fruit ice lollies if the weather stays on the same course it’s on now and I ordered biodegradable paper straws for smoothies 😀

The egg sales were extraordinary at the weekend which resulted in selling every available egg on the place, I thought today would see a slow down but nope, everything I put out this morning was gone by 2pm and I have just put out what is left of todays laying, great for us not so good for customers who turn up when they are all gone 😝

The farmer has found his cows, they had gone along the downs quite a long way away, I know the farmer was very upset at losing them so all has ended well 😀

Wednesday: Not much happening today, did the morning rounds, still keeping some birds confined to pens, we will be moving the pullets to the front house tonight to live with the older hens as we have secured 40 new POL for delivery on Friday, partly for demand in sales of hens and partly for the high demand in eggs. I did a bit of pottering in the garden then Mum called over so we sat and had coffee and chatted, then Sam and Mia arrived, Sam went off to work and so it was just Mia and I for the afternoon. We had good fun playing in the pirate ship, land ahoy lol.

After tea, which was beef stew today with frozen veg I am still using up from last year and some left over rhubarb pudding, I was looking at the stats for my blog site and I couldn’t believe that I have been blogging for seven years!! Oh my days lol, at some point when I get time I will have to have a random read of some of the posts 😝 no idea where that time has gone.

Covert operation completed at dusk and all pullets moved swiftly and without incident 😜 we had taken down the poultry netting across the big side paddock when we dragged it so we put that back up again to hopefully contain the hens or at least to put the fox off or give the hens a chance if it comes in the daytime.

Thursday: Another nice day forecast, a little cooler than of late but still pleasant enough. Before I did the morning round I spent an hour cleaning out the POL pen then onto feeding and watering the animals, nothing untoward in my rounds. After that I cut asparagus to put out for sale and went foraging for the rabbits, today they had ribwort, grass, dandelions, lilac, they love it, I love watching them love it 😊 Then Shelley, Josh and Florence came and it was time to play with Josh, we fed the rabbits, went for a wander across the paddocks, went up the back to take some treats to Jack, ran off some steam in the ménage, cuddled the baby quail and it was time for lunch 😀 In the afternoon I did a few bits then popped next door for a chat and a cuppa, came home and did some hoeing and watering. I realised I had put the hose from the rainwater tanks to the duck bath and forgotten to turn it off, all day 😝, I did think for a moment that I had lost all 15,000 litres but luckily there was still enough in there to water the plants, I’m not sure how much of it was lost but I will be glad when it rains again to fill them back up to maximum! Tonight’s jobs will be to round up the hens we moved last night some of whom have made their way to the back again which is all shut up so they can’t get in 😜

I have started meditating 😜 to focus mainly and to be honest I’ve only done two days at 5 mins each session so I’m not sure there is much to report but I figured nothing ventured, nothing gained 😀

I also want to tell you about an app called what3words, every single 3m x 3m square in the world has been allocated three random words, what’s the point I hear you ask, because that’s exactly what I first said but if you read up about it it’s actually brilliantly simple and useful. Words are easier to remember than co ordinates and the UN can use it to give people in refugee camps an ‘address’, the car manufacturers are beginning to use it in their sat navs so watch this space, just when you think there is nothing left to invent 🙂 and do download the app and see what yours are, then have fun typing in three random words and seeing where it takes you, it’s a free app.

Friday: An ok day weather wise. My first job was to spend a bit of time organising the duck compound, I needed to get the ducks that were in the stable into the compound so they have some outside space, then partition off the smaller duck house so that there are now three available areas for them to choose from. The problem at this time of year is the drakes, they are very amorous and competitive and it causes all kinds of racket, probably why a small group chose to go up to the back paddock each day out of the way. All ducks are now in the same compound and they have a choice of sleeping quarters so hopefully all will be well. Then onto finishing the rest of the rounds. After that it’s gardening, though I did put a couple of loads of washing on inbetween times and with the wind as it is today it should dry quickly. I have planted some of the leek seedlings, they may be a bit small but fingers crossed they will carry on growing, cut the grass, weed some of the beds, plant some dwarf beans straight into the beds, normally I would get them going in the greenhouse but with this years weather it’s getting late, they will hopefully be stronger plants for it. Sam and Mia called in and Sam gave Jack a good brush to get his winter coat out.

New batch of POL hens arrived this afternoon.

John is feeling much better thank goodness so we went out for steak 😁

Put the birds to bed, had to catch a few of them up and we put them in the stable, as it had rained a little I spread a bit of grass seed in the small back paddock then watered it in.

Saturday: realised I had left the hose on all night after watering in the seed 😆 Had a very busy day today and only just taken a break (3.30pm) Found a dead quail hen on my rounds, don’t know what happened to her they are only a year old ☹️ John spent most of the day cutting up wood, it’s getting there and we will definitely have enough to keep us warm next winter 😀 I spent all the rest of the time in the garden, I have put in the hazel poles for the runner beans and sowed the beans seeds straight into the ground, planted some tomato plants in the poly tunnel and some little gem lettuce seed tapes. Potted on some of the seedlings in the greenhouse, cabbage, tomatoes, doesn’t sound very much now I’ve written it down lol there must be something else I’m missing can’t remember now though 🤪

There is always something else to do but it can wait for another day as it will be feeding time soon, though we won’t be egg collecting as we have sold out again, bumper week this week selling out every day. I need to have a go with my chop saw, I need to tidy the kitchen, I really need to do some baking as I have not done anything all week!

I found a friend when I pulled back the weed membrane to put the bean poles in, I’m not sure if it’s a frog or a toad, I’m leaning towards toad anyway he let me pick him up and put him under some other membrane, I have no idea where he has come from as we don’t usually see them here.

Sunday: Had a lovely day today, did the morning rounds, had 4 lots of egg customers by 8am! Did a little bit in the garden before finally getting to play with my new toy which occupied me until well I to the afternoon 😀 I made two more bird boxes and a herb box whoop whoop. I had the best fun making them, I need to gen up on some carpentry skills really so that I’m not so ham fisted, there are obviously tricks of the trade that I’m not very au fait with, yet 😜 John spent most of the day cutting up wood and we now have a cleared space, still plenty of wood to cut yet but it’s getting there. His Mum is back in hospital so he went to visit her this afternoon, my sister and brother in law popped in for a cuppa, I dug deep into the depths of the freezer and found some smoked fish for dinner, I really need to make bread either tonight or tomorrow and a bit of baking would probably be appreciated 😝

Posted in Friesland Farm

Bad start, got better, life is good.

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 30th April: A woeful morning right from the off, early morning call to John, his Mum is being admitted to hospital after an incident, I do the morning rounds, and we have had a fox massacre in the back paddock. It has gone in through the window on the roof and massacred the hens that sleep in there overnight ☹️ The window was broken but it’s up high on what you would think was an impossible incline, I’m thinking that the strong winds overnight have shaken the rest of the glass and it has broken and any opportunity is all the Fox needs.

It’s bitterly cold out there this morning, I’m hanging on to the fact that this is the last day of the cold weather 😜 It is fricking perishing out there, the wind is blowing a hoolie down from the North, less than half an hour out there and my hands are like ice blocks, I don’t think I will bother outside, the farm behind has a bonfire and there is smoke blowing straight down the yard, don’t get me wrong I love the smell of a bonfire but I can even smell it indoors too 🙁 Ever wish you had a rewind button for the day 😝

It warmed up in the afternoon, typical after I had lit the Rayburn, when John got back from the hospital he cleaned out the front hens which was overdue, while I cleaned out the quail, then he spent the rest of the evening cutting up wood from the mountain 😝 I did a bit of gardening, weeding etc and we didn’t finish until it was dark.

Tuesday: May Day 😄 Today didn’t start off much better lol, I cleaned and filled up a drinker for the hens in the orchard, turned it over and whoosh the bottom came off and a couple of litres of water went everywhere, all over the side and down the back of the cupboards in the boot room 😜While I was outside I took a little time to inhale the perfume of the apple blossom on this glorious May Day morning. I collected fodder for the rabbits, hazel, lemon balm, fennel, dandelions, plantain, grass tufts, I love watching them pick out their favourites first, usually the dandelion closely followed by grass and raspberry runners.

Then we did some tree work in the front paddock, two trees that died a couple of years ago after a pony got in and ate the bark from them, bits of branches keep falling off and they needed taking down properly. We have left about 4ft of stump on both of them, I saw this on a programme about an arboretum, they leave the stump to rot naturally and provide a home for the insects, great idea I thought so that’s what we have done. There is an apple tree that I planted a couple of years ago that should now get lots of light and put on some good growth, the dead wood has been cut up and put in the firewood store (smaller stuff is set aside for use in the fire pit later in the year)

After that John cut the front driveway grass and the lawn while I tidied up the orchard and burnt some dead stuff and twigs, a great mornings work 😀 John went off to the hospital at lunchtime and Mia arrived for her afternoon with Nana while Mummy goes to work, looking every inch the gardener in her hat today 😍

John came back and we had a load of wood chip delivered into the ménage so he got the tractor out and spread it, meanwhile Mia and I made daisy chains, had rides in the wheelbarrow and watched Grampy on the tractor.

I did a bit of baking while I was getting dinner ready, biscuits and a rhubarb loaf, mostly to stop John moaning that there is nothing to eat when he is home.

Wednesday: Raining and cold again ☹️ Did the morning rounds with John then he set about tidying up the wood mountain area and various bits while I went into the greenhouse to work. I feel disheartened at the amount of time and effort I am putting into growing seeds when the temperatures make it a struggle this year, a few of the seedlings have suffered damping off because the compost (that was watered when the sun was hot and shinning) is now cold and wet. I have relented and taken the power out there to turn on the propagators that I have available to warm it up a bit, hopefully it will only be a couple of days at most but this yo-yo-ing of the weather is making things difficult. I have just been watching a video of how to make a hot bench with soil warming cables which I think is what I am going to have to do for next year, I have earmarked a piece of celotex for the job and we have plenty of wood to make a bench 😝 I planted up the pea seeds I have had sprouting on the windowsill, I hope they grow, I never had such a bad year with peas as this year has been. I also planted the sweet pea seeds which I also had sprouting, we can only hope they continue to grow. I’m beginning to wonder what the heck I do wrong, some people are naturally green fingered and can grow something from a dead twig, I am not one of those, if the chance is there for it to die, it does 🤔

After being outside I came in to finish off the loaf of bread I had proving before I went out and got all the ingredients ready for dinner tonight, John has chicken casserole and I am having a Lean in 15 chicken carbonara. I put some sausage rolls in the oven at the same time as the bread, something warm and tasty for John to have with his coffee after being out in the rain.

I ordered myself a chop saw, as a girl does lol, there are things I want to make and waiting for John to be here with his circular saw (which doesn’t cut very straight or so he tells me) is a pain so I will have my own and I can get on when I want to. Bird boxes and herb boxes are on the list but I got carried away looking at benches with storage in, who knows I may achieve this yet 😀 My son in law Martin has offered to give me a lesson on the saw and I am taking him up on the offer better to be safe than sorry and if I know how to use it properly there will be no end to the kinds of things I can ‘knock up’.

Thursday: Lovely weather this morning and after doing the morning rounds, John came back from sorting his Mum out, she was discharged yesterday, we had the arduous task of taking down the fence in the back paddock, it took till lunchtime to cut off the stock fencing and then take down and clear up all the post and rail, we now have one huge paddock at the back 😀 easier for dragging and maintaining and Jack thinks it’s Christmas 😀

After some lunch and forty winks 😉 we started the afternoon jobs, John on cutting up wood as the mountain he was clearing is now full of old rail from the paddock 😝 and I did some veg gardening, to be honest, sitting here now I can’t think what I have done but I did do something 🤪 Mum called round with my niece Zeri and we spent a bit of time looking at the rabbits, guinea pigs and baby chicks 😀 then John did the afternoon feeding and egg collecting while I transported compost from the sack in the front to the beds that needed filling. It’s a shame I can’t get the tonne bag any closer to the garden but it’s in the front driveway until it’s empty enough to be able to drag it! John went off to get his Mums dinner and I planted some runner beans in the poly tunnel and some ying yang beans outside, hopefully they won’t get eaten by slugs and mice, always something attacking the veg.

I cleaned the oscillating sprayer and looked for the hand held trigger type sprayer which I can’t find, I have a feeling it didn’t work and water just spat out the end so I must have thrown it away, I will order a new one, I am going for the Karcher brand as their oscillating sprayer is so good much better than the hozelock one which gets stuck all the time.

A family birthday means we are out for the evening for nibbles, or scoffs which is more like it 😄

Friday: Another good day weather wise, temps look to be warm and no rain 😀 John went off to get some bits of feed and sort his Mum out so he won’t be back until gone midday today. After the morning feeding I did some weeding collecting four buckets of forage for the rabbits who were very happy about that, I sowed some sunflower seeds into pots and then some carrots into one of the smaller raised beds, I have to get everything ready to cover before even starting as the chickens can smell disturbed Earth from miles away and are there scratching as soon as your back is turned. I weed killed the bindweed as it is such a pain to try and dig it all out and I don’t want it taking hold this year like it did last year. When John came back he moved the tonne bag of multi purpose compost with the tractor so that it is nearer to the garden, makes life a bit easier. I have dedicated a small section of one of the beds to flowers this year, I am planting it up with anything and everything I have, it will be a totally random selection and randomly planted, no order to it whatsoever, we will see how it turns out, the main aim is to have a riot of colour to look at and a nectar patch for the insects to feed on. My chop saw arrived………watch this space 😜

Saturday: Well we are on a roll with the weather ☀️ of course with it this hot it means I have to get started early and then chase the shade 😂 which runs out around 2pm at this time of year. I have got plenty done though, I finally planted the potatoes, I looked round for a place but there is not enough soil depth on the beds to grow them so I have used the two long raised beds that used to have flowers in them, I had dug up and potted everything in order to empty them out and put them back together but it never got done and so it’s perfect for growing spuds in, the rest are in pots and potato growing sacks anywhere I can place them I have, I told you the garden was all a bit random this year 😜 First thing this morning I took clematis cuttings after seeing something on Facebook that reminded me it was the right time, I have Montana, Neiobe and Dawn, the Dawn was bought by a friend for my 40th birthday many, many years ago now, it’s a small clematis that is ideal for a shady corner, hopefully the cuttings strike but I won’t hold my breath lol. I potted on the runner beans and put some more seeds into trays, the sprayer I ordered arrived and I have sorted out and connected up all of the hose pipes and various heads for them, I think I will be watering sooner rather than later with this heat. I fixed a little wooden cold frame that I have had for years, the glass fell out and I have finally put it back in and secured it, it now has sweet pea, poppies and cosmos seedlings growing under it. I have filled up some old recycling boxes with compost ready for the cucumbers in the small tunnel and repotted a grapevine that was in the wrong place and struggling, it’s now in full sun so hopefully will romp away nicely. John has not felt well today but despite that has fixed the top rails on one of the paddock fences before deciding to have a sleep.

Cleaned the boot room up a bit, it gets so dusty very quickly that it’s a thankless task but has to be done, then gave the dogs a groom, patch is moulting like crazy, hardly anything came off of Mia!

John took to his bed, he has a high temperature and is pretty unwell 🤒 so it’s up to me to put the birds to bed tonight, it’s very pleasant out there this evening.

I noticed on my way round how much the asparagus has shot up just today, I have been picking a bundle of 10 nearly every day but in the morning I am going to have to cut it early or some will be too long, it does not stay in the egg shed very long it sells pretty quickly, mind you the rhubarb is the same and it looks like I will be picking mange tout as well, the over wintered broad beans in the greenhouse have just started to form, I love it when the veg starts coming in thick and fast.

Sunday: Cracking day again and even at 7am there is no ‘cool’ feel to the air so it’s gonna be hot! The animals are flipping annoying this morning, the cats have taken to following me everywhere and now diesel is sat on the shed roof right next to the bird feeder and all the little birds are giving the alarm call. The chickens are pesky this morning pecking at my boots while I’m sat drinking coffee outside and trying to wander into the kitchen, the dogs bark at fresh air and take off chasing fresh air also every 2 minutes, while I’m typing a chicken flies onto my knee, what’s wrong with them all today?

Did the morning rounds, John is poorly in bed though better than he was last night, then I did a bit in the greenhouse and moved some stuff to the poly tunnel and then I thought bugger this I’m going to have a few hours off lol. You may have noticed that we work 7 days a week usually but today as John is not up to it and it’s a lovely day I decided to read in the shade, bliss, inbetween I took a walk around one of the fields and thought why go anywhere when you have all this to enjoy 😊. I had an egg customer that was Spanish and out for the day call in and bought some eggs and asparagus, ‘you have a lovely Farm’ he said in a Spanish accent, ‘thank you’ I said and thought, yes we really do even though I spend all winter moaning about it, days like today give it back tenfold 😄

As I was having a few hours off and I can’t really sit still very long I decided to pick dandelions and have a go at making dandelion honey or ‘poor mans honey’ I was going to make dandelion jelly but I thought the honey seemed more interesting. I sat in the paddock for a good half hour picking the heads then another half hour or more pulling or cutting the yellow petals away from the green bits and then simmered them with a sliced lemon for 20 mins, they now need to soak overnight so the next instalment will be on next weeks blog 🤪

The petals once they are picked are incredibly fluffy and tactile to put your hands in and if anyone fancies a go themselves we have millions of dandelions all growing in untreated paddocks so come and help yourself 😀