poly tunnel – Page 16 – frieslandfarm (flowers)

Dandelion honey, more fox attacks and a toad 😀

Posted on May 13, 2018 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 😝

Friesland Farm

Lots of sunshine ☀️ Jobs completed (at last) and thunderstorms ⛈

Posted on April 22, 2018April 22, 2018 by frieslandfarm

Monday 16th April: Had a very busy day today! Mostly in the garden, I made a little strawberry bed inside the fruit cage and planted strawberry’s that had set themselves in various places, then I spent the rest of the time tidying up, pots that had got blown around, plants that didn’t make it through the winter, raking up dead stuff etc etc so that when the nice weather comes I might just get time to sit and appreciate it all 😜 I carried on a bit too long then it was all to do at the end of the day, light the fire for some hot water, clean up, feed the birds, do the eggs.

I ordered a new choke lever for the lawn mower, it got broken last year and it’s hard graft trying to move it with various implements 😜 I need to give the mower a service and sharpen the blades but the parts are extortionate so I will clean the spark plug up, sharpen the blades with an angle grinder, check the oil and put on the new lever when it arrives and maybe hoover the air filter lol, then it should be good to go 🤞

Tuesday: Up had a shower and had a batch of blueberry muffins in the oven before 8am this morning 😀 I had some blueberries to use up and all the grandchildren will be here later so nana made nana cake 😀 It’s windy this morning and a tad cold with it, still waiting for this heat wave 😜 I’m sure when it gets here it will be with a vengeance like all our weather patterns seem to be.

Fed and water all the animals and foraged for the rabbits, this morning they had, lemon balm, apple, sweet potato, plantain, raspberry runners, broccoli, kale, some cherry wood and violets, happy bunnies.

Doing the afternoon feed in the wind,rain and cold I fail to see how tomorrow is supposed to get up to 24c 😝

Wednesday: The Sun shone ☀️ and how 😀 amazing after yesterday evenings weather. Needless to say there is a lot to do although we would have got further on except for the rain last night, I was hoping that some of the paddocks would nearly be ok for dragging but the rain put paid to that so probably be the weekend when it gets done now. John had a day at home today, I’m not going to call it a day off as I think he has to work harder here than in his regular job 😝 he has been busy taking down all the broken fencing in the back paddocks. We are making two large paddocks instead of six smaller ones that we had originally, they will be much easier to drag, roll and seed without fences in the way, there will only be four corners in each paddock instead of 12 in this particular area, which will make turning the tractor a whole lot easier. It looks lovely with the fences down as I said to John it’s good to change things about a little.

Meanwhile I have been in the garden, watering the tunnels and greenhouse, the temperatures are sweltering in there 😜 At last I have sown some runner bean seeds, I don’t know about other veg gardeners but I don’t feel I have got going until the bean seeds are sown and the potatoes but they are still not in yet due to the inclement weather we have had. I made a quick mini garden and filled it with compost ready for Mia to play in when she arrived, she had a wonderful time digging and moving soil from place to place. She had her lunch outside while I sat and sharpened the grass clippers, all four pairs 😜 I ask you, how did we manage to end up with four pairs? Then it was time for her nap and I cleaned off the decking area and put the parasol cover in the washing machine, hope it comes back out in one bit 🤪 John had a bit of lunch then went back out to the fields, I did help him a bit this morning collecting up electric tape and stakes, I will try and do a bit more later on this evening after Mia goes home.

Ate supper out on the decking, how lovely 😊

Thursday: Another hot one predicted so I was up at 5.45, actually I woke up, my back was aching, I needed a wee and I had acid reflux so I figured I might as well get up and stay up and get an early start in the cool! It was actually very pleasant and I got on pretty well up to the point where the postman came and delivered the choke lever for the mower then it went downhill 😝 I fitted the part but the recoil rope would not budge so I go onto you tube to see what the problem might be, I checked the blade wasn’t wedged (eventually when I found the correct tools) I took off the top cover and checked the spool that was working fine, checked the engine spinny bit was moving, it was, next step check with the spark plug removed, finally found a tool to use for that and snapped the spark plug in half 🤪 I was cursing and swearing and nigh on stomping when John came home, found the right tool removed the remainder of the plug, went and got a new one then helped with solving the problem. It seems when I put the choke lever back on I hadn’t quite got it in the right place and now we have done that it’s working fine 😀 it took me roughly three times as long to fix the damn thing than it did to cut the grass, but I now know a lot more about lawn mowers 😜

After some lunch we got started on cleaning out the middle bay of the hay barn, we picked that job as it was in the shade but it was still hot, dusty work. We quite expected to see a rodent or two when we lifted the pallets that the hay had been stood on, and patch was on standby to catch anything but there wasn’t a single movement so I’m guessing the cats are doing a better job than I thought. John went off to do his Mums dinner and I had a shower and box dyed my hair, it was getting rather too grey and I’m not ready for that just yet lol.

The farmer next door was dragging his field, I knew it was the right time and looking at the forecast we may have missed the opportunity as showers are forecast for Sat and Sun 😝

Friday: Up early again today, rather enjoying the cool early mornings to be honest 😁 John is at home today, well partly, he has to go round and sort his Mum out mid morning but we cracked on and got the animals fed and watered, then John went down to the back paddocks to fill in holes where here has taken out the posts. There is still one more fence to dismantle, then the remaining fences to repair, we had a quick look at the back wall which is a falling down stone field wall. It would be good to put it back up but in all honesty that is a massive job so we may end up taking out the stone and planting a hedge, unless we can find someone who wants to practice their stone walling 😜 While John was out doing that I got on with watering the tunnels and greenhouse, then I finally put the first early potatoes in one of the raised beds along with some beetroot seedlings, carrot seeds and a bulb of garlic, I’m mixing it up this year lol I used the green netting that was too small for the fruit cage to cover the hoops I had already put in, the chickens would be scratching it up before I know it if I don’t cover it as I go. I planted some more beetroot seedlings in the poly tunnel and some melon plants under a cloche. I am trying to decide what is the best thing to tackle slugs, I have some beer traps but unless the slugs feel like a pint they still attack the plants and I don’t want to use slug pellets. So having done a quick bit of reading it seems diatomaceous earth is a good organic method, or at least worth a try, and since I have a sackful I will give it a go, along with damp cardboard, at least I can feed the slugs to the ducks 🦆

Saturday: Up and at it early again though not quite as early as previous days 😜 Main jobs on the agenda was to get the netting on top of the fruit cage and get the brassica cage up, missions accomplished by lunchtime. The brassica cage is a belt and braces job because there is nothing more disheartening than seeing the wonderful, green, bushy plants get decimated by caterpillars 🐛 I’m hoping they won’t get in this, any brassica cage is only as good as it’s weakest point, hopefully we don’t have any and I will be planting a sacrificial crop to lure them away. After that I actually planted the broccoli plants 😀 I also planted some, pak choi and chard directly into the ground and made hoop covers to protect them from chickens, pigeons, anything else that will have a go at them

I was on a roll so I sowed some coriander seeds and some summer savoury, a good day in the garden. John tidied up the rest of the hay barn then went to get some chick crumb as the quail are due to hatch tomorrow and the little silkie bantam has hatched some chicks but I can’t see how many yet I can just hear them. I noticed the asparagus has shot up so I picked a handful of spears, I will probably put those out for sale as I already have dinner sorted and we are out to lunch tomorrow.

Charlie cleaned the boot room floor, it really is grey not muddy coloured 😮 to be honest it is not a ‘priority’ job on my great list of jobs and so I’m grateful that she has done it.

WOW we had the mother of all thunderstorms late evening, lol, I love a good storm.

Sunday: The storms carried on into the night and were so loud it woke most people up in the area from what I have heard, certainly some very loud claps of thunder woke us up at 2am!

Despite the storms and the downpours, the sun was shining brightly this morning and everything felt as fresh as a daisy. We did the morning routine and I watered the polytunnels, then I sowed the wild flower seed where I wanted it, I must say I was taken back by the instruction to weed killer the area first? Needless to say I didn’t which may be an error but I couldn’t see the logic really. Walking back across the paddock I realised it was ripe for dragging, it was only 9am so still cool enough, I convinced John it was a good idea and Macca was eager to have a go on the tractor so that’s what we did. We only got the big corner paddock done as the tractor was playing up a bit and the gateway into the next field is still too wet though John really wanted to go through I put my foot down, the last thing we need is a stuck tractor so that can wait until next week. I finished off the dragging, I love driving the tractor, everyone else gets bored 😑

I can’t remember if I have written that the silkie has hatched at least one chick, hopefully she will have a few others to join it soon, the quail in the incubator show no signs of hatching even though we are on hatch day, I tried candling them but they are difficult to see through so its a waiting game. We made a decision to allow the geese to begin sitting so any eggs they lay from today we will not be picking up for sale, I am hoping for more than one gosling this year, after all they have had two years practice at it now 😜 John has busy busy tidying and moving wood, now we have moved the tractor to the hay barn there is space under cover to get the wood in which will keep it nice and dry for next winter.

I had an hour spare to pot on some tomatoes before we go out for lunch, I have beefsteak and plum this year as well as regular tomatoes, I haven’t done cherry toms this year as I wanted to have a go at different varieties, the other seeds are at last getting going, cucumbers are just breaking the surface, at last we are under way 😀

We went to Upton Firehouse for lunch, if you live locally and have never been put it on your list of places to try you won’t be disappointed, if you have been before you will know why an afternoon nap was next on the agenda 🤪 😴

http://www.uptonsmokery.co.uk/

Friesland Farm

Amazing smells of Spring, First pick of Rhubarb and new Guinea pigs.

Posted on April 15, 2018 by frieslandfarm

Monday 10th April : Damp this morning with fine drizzle 😐 however it feels ok temperature wise.

Did the morning rounds, 1 egg from the new ladies and evidence of eaten shell, I suspect as we moved them into the outdoor run, we actually do have a rat nicking them, no other reason for them to go from 5 to 1 egg so I need to remedy that and possibly move them back to the stable until further notice and see how many they lay there.

Put out the eggs in the shed which is looking very full of every type of egg we do 😀 and then went round to collect some bits for the rabbits, dandelion I have been growing into a big plant, bits of hazel, blackcurrant and some lovage. I have ordered a book called ‘beyond the pellets’ to learn about feeding rabbits naturally all year round with fresh produce but also ‘tree hay’ which is basically chopped and dried twigs, leaves etc for the winter feed. A mention of it of one of the smallholding sites sparked my interest in being able to feed the bunnies without buying pelleted feed, they get fed a lot of fresh greens during spring and summer but not winter so it will be an interesting read and hopefully a way forward to natural feeding.

I picked the very first lot of rhubarb 😃😃 that makes me very happy and now I just need to decide what I am going to do with it, of course stewed rhubarb and custard is a must as I always say, if you haven’t tried it since childhood do give it a go now you are older, it is delicious.

Then a task I wanted to try all spring but didn’t get round to it and I saw a quick easy way to have a go so that’s what I have done, tapped the maple tree, only I haven’t bored a hole in the trunk and done it that way, I have cut a small branch and taped a glass bottle onto it, fingers crossed I’m not too late for the rising sap and get at least a bit to try. I will check it later to see if I am going to get anything.

The smells this morning have been enough to lift the spirits, the black currant is very strong even just brushing past it, the rhubarb smells divine, the blossom on the trees is heavy, it’s all full of promise and deliciousness 😀

Now going to look at all the rhubarb recipes I have been collecting 😀

Made rhubarb crumble and extras for the freezer, a rhubarb tea bread (simple and quick (except soaking the fruit bit) recipe) and I have some stewed rhubarb and vanilla ready to eat with custard 😀 also made a loaf of bread today.

Rhubarb Tea Loaf

• 300g sultanas

• 200g roasted rhubarb (see note below)

• 300ml strong earl grey tea

• 100g dark brown sugar

• 275g self-raising flour

• 1 egg, beaten

Method

1. Mix the sultanas, rhubarb and sugar together in a large bowl. Cover with the tea and leave to soak overnight.

2. Pre-heat the oven to 150°C(fan)/170°C/gas mark 3. Grease and baseline a 2lb/900g loaf tin. Stir the flour and egg into the fruit mixture. Pour into the prepared tin.

3. Bake in the oven for 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cover the top with foil if it’s getting too brown.

4. NB: to roast the rhubarb chop into 2cm pieces, toss with 20g caster sugar (or more if you prefer it to be sweeter – I don’t think it needs more sugar in this recipe), cover and roast for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, in an oven preheated to 200°C.

This is a recipe from sneakyveg.com as always I used what I had rather than what’s in the recipe so instead of Earl Grey tea I used a Green Tea and a Tetley tea bag and steeped them for about 10 mins, I used currants instead of sultanas and I added a splash of orange juice (just because 😜) I also did not wait overnight for the fruit to soak, I did two hours soaking because I couldn’t be bothered to wait 😝 it will still turn out fine I’m sure.

Tuesday 10th April 🤣🤣 spot the error, I figured I would leave it as it was and it’s turning into Groundhog Day round here as regards to the rain anyhow!

Wet, muddy, slippery, I’m beginning to think this is our lot, seriously, it has rained pretty much every day for nearly 3 weeks at least, how much more is there?

Although there is evidence of the grass growing through the mud so that’s a more positive outlook, more grass = more grass roots = something to soak up the rain 😀

According to the forecast (though it seems to change daily) tomorrow is the last day of rain for a while, fingers crossed 🤞

Cleaned out the duck shed with the help of Mia while Sam was doing the horse, Mia was plastered in mud by the time she finished but she enjoyed helping out, I think she will be a great asset as she gets older as she likes to get stuck in ‘I help’ is what she says 😀 After that we went for a well earned costa 😀

Fed the chickens late afternoon and collected the eggs, we are managing to keep up at the moment and we have some fall back in the form of pullet eggs as they are all laying now. We moved the new ducks back into the stable overnight to see what was happening with the eggs as I only got 1 yesterday, I think it’s because they don’t lay as early as my established lot, they have all laid by 8am which is when I let them out. The new ones seem to lay all during the morning and so yesterday they would have probably laid outside and the birds would eat them. I opened the stable at midday and they have gone for a wander so I may have to keep putting them in the stable for the time being otherwise I won’t get any eggs at all.

The book about feeding rabbits naturally arrived and I have part read it, very interesting, there is a lot of fresh food that I knew they could have of course but also some that I had no idea about. I think I have an abundance of assorted material that I will be able to feed them on and save money on pelleted feed, as I have said Spring and summer will be easy it’s the winter and autumn will be more difficult. With that in mind I have knocked up a herb drying screen, it’s rudimentary but it does the job and I made it with stuff I had lying round so free as well 😀 It will be for drying summer herbs that I can make a herb hay with in time. When I started researching it I was amazed that you can buy freshly cut willow sticks for your rabbit online at £12.99kg and dried raspberry leaves, two resources that I usually assign to the compost heap, not anymore, everything will be assessed for rabbit fodder!

Wednesday: A pleasant enough morning, early drizzle but that went and after the morning rounds I got on with some things in the garden. I put some water in a large bucket and then a sack full of manure in the water to make some manure feed, I still have some concentrate left from last year but no time like the present to make some more. Planted up some of the Pak Choi seedlings, some in the large tunnel and some in the small, the weaker seedlings I have planted in a square mushroom container to grow on for the rabbits, I doesn’t matter if they don’t survive but if they do that a bonus. Uncovered and moved the citrus trees into the large tunnel also gave them a feed, they haven’t done too badly over winter and two lemons are still clinging on in there, then tidied up the small tunnel where they have been overwintering. Pinched out the tips of the broad bean plants now that they have started to flower, the soft fleshy tops attract black fly and they are good to eat so they will be wilted and I will eat them with fish later today. Everything else is still a bit slow but hopefully once the temps climb they will burst into life 😜 Still all too wet to do much on the garden itself, too wet to hoe, to wet to walk on really so it’s a waiting game. I read an article about earthing up potatoes, ha, they haven’t even gone in the ground yet! I collected some forage bits for the rabbits to eat, I am looking at everything as potential rabbit feed now 🤣 I even thought about giving them the bean tops then decided against it, they can have the plants when they go over and I will have the tops 😝

Thursday: Got a little bit excited when my weather ap said 24 and sunny today, then it quickly corrected itself and went to 7 and light rain 😩 It’s grey and misty/damp out this morning hey ho beginning to get used to it now. Still waiting for the wire to arrive for the fruit cage otherwise I could have got on with that at least. The nighttime temperatures are no longer dropping so that’s a bonus, it means I don’t need to worry too much about the seedlings in the greenhouse as they should be fine, I can’t see a frost forecast for the next two weeks, famous last words 😜

Went in the greenhouse after feeding and pricked out the broccoli seedlings, once again I have about 50 plants lol don’t know what I’m going to do with all those! I also potted on the Aubergines and moved them into the large poly tunnel underneath another cloche, I have no idea if they will survive or not but they have got too big for the windowsill and there is no where else to move them to at the moment. I did the same with some pepper plants, the tomatoes I did last week seem to be holding their own, waiting for some warmth like the rest of us. The courgettes I had in the propagator on the window sill rotted away, I have never known a year like this one, normally things can be slow but this is ridiculous! There are things that are growing however so all is not lost, the strawberries in the tunnel have grown some flowers 😀 the garlic has sprouted that I planted out last week, the peas in the small tunnel have flowers on, the rhubarb is getting bigger, hope springs eternal, as Pope said.

Came in about 11.30 with the intention of doing some baking but the Sam arrived and we went out to clean the tack room and throw a whole load of crap away, then sorted out all the fencing stakes and electric tape so that it was all in one place finally. Then the rain came, again 😟

Came indoors to make an egg/dairy/gluten free cake, sounds like a recipe for disaster and may well be, it’s still in the oven but I’m not hopeful that this mix is going to bind together while cooking 😝

Then out to do the pm feeding and egg collection, take a couple of photos of the quail house on my way round for someone who wants an idea on how to build their own, then off to look at a property with Shelley and Martin, busy day 🤪

Friday: Road trip 😀 actually it was five minutes down the lane to the Cotswold Wildlife Park, so I got the morning rounds done quickly and off we went, picnic packed, plenty of layers on, had an exhausting day but thoroughly enjoyed by all of us😀

Back home in time to do the afternoon feeding but not before a well earned cup of tea and a sit down.

Did the feeding, collected the eggs, fed the horse then cleaned out the POL pen at the back, John came home halfway through doing it so gave me a hand and then we went to pick up some new pets 😀

You will remember the story of what a rogue ferret did to my guinea pigs back in November, well I have two news ones, meet Tinker and Tucker, two little boars from a friends of ours that breeds them.

I ordered 100g of wild flower seeds for heavy shade, we have put poultry fence all along the roadside of the side paddock, it has a lot of trees along there and we decided it was heavily shaded and as it is fenced off at the moment hopefully the seeds will grow.

Saturday: Cracking day, Sun, Sun, Sun all day long 😀 After feeding this morning we got on with wiring the fruit cage as the rolls had arrived finally. In my search for the right size hole and the right height and length as I wanted 25m long 1m high x 2 I didn’t check the quality of the wire and as a consequence it was not really a great quality, the top and bottom wires were pulled too tight causing bagging in the middle, however we have put it on and it dose not look too bad. Just got the netting to put over the top and the door to wire then it’s finished 😀

Grand National Day, and whatever your thoughts are on horse racing, in our house the GN has always been a big day, normally we would all be in the living room screaming at the telly (except last year when none of us had any horse anywhere near finishing) this year we had a group FaceTime as Charlie is in Italy and Sam was at her house, Shelley and Martin came to ours for the event, Martin and I both had the winner this year 😀 However I made the mistake of doing the bet online, not the same I would rather go and collect cash winnings from the bookies. And that was pretty much it especially as I had to spend a couple of hours on hold while trying to unlock my betting account (which I opened for the occasion) having cocked up signing in in the first place 😝

I was hoping tomorrow was going to be similar to today but rain is forecast ffs!

Sunday: Well it’s not too bad to wake up to, it’s dry at the moment and though obviously a lot cooler than yesterday, it’s not bad at all. Got the feeding done, cleaned out the geese and put fresh bedding in for the ducks, then it was on to finish the fruit cage. We joined together the two lots of wire, top and bottom and then got the net out to put over the roof, John had tensioned two wires across to support the netting. Almost immediately it became apparent that the net was a bit too short, we turned it round and nope it was not quite going to stretch, umming and arghing we decided to put up what we could and we would have to get another piece and stitch it together, not ideal but we had already bought this piece. At this point John decided to measure the length and width, now I did ask him to do this in the beginning and he told me it was definitely 8m x 5m, on measuring it properly this time he admitted it was 8.5m long, no wonder it won’t reach 🤪 I made an executive decision to reorder a piece big enough to cover the whole thing and will use the other netting elsewhere.

After we couldn’t finish that, John went to clean out the hens at the front and I did some hoeing on the veg beds, the asparagus is just starting to poke through so I weeded that bed and a couple of others. I no longer think weeding is a chore as it is now seen as rabbit fodder, I always used to give them the dandelions but now they are having nearly every weed and tuft of grass, two birds with one stone comes to mind. Then I did a bit of work on a new bed I have made at the bottom of one of the raised veg beds, I decided I don’t have enough flowers and so marked that area off at the end of last year for the purpose. I have a small raised bed in front of it which is also filled with primula, cowslips, dwarf lavender and a rose, I put some tete a tete bulbs in there so it will mostly be a spring bed and the first to give colour. Most of the plants I have chosen to go in there will be single flower because that is best for the insects and especially the bees, they can’t gather pollen from double headed flowers. There won’t be much uniformity to it, it will be what I have got already and planted haphazardly (until it gets on my nerves then I will re arrange it all 😜) It began to rain while I was doing this last part but it wasn’t cold so I carried on until the rain became a bit too heavy, no point damagingthe soil by treading it down.

Friesland Farm

Cabbage seeds, cookery books and bird boxes.

Posted on February 25, 2018 by frieslandfarm

Tuesday 20th Feb: Back to the routine today after a short break and guess what, it’s windy! It woke me up around 4.30am something was banging around luckily I eventually fell back to sleep, woke up again at 7 and it’s still windy. The greatest thing about the wind is that it’s drying up the ground so we are grateful for that. I asked John to take the feed out to the front chickens this morning as at the moment I’m finding two bucketfuls of feed too much to carry. I did the rest then went into the greenhouse to sow some cabbage and comfrey seeds, the cabbage seeds I saved from last year but I can’t remember what type they are 😝 surprise cabbage 😀 I watered the peas that are growing nicely in the small polytunnel and then watered the strawberries and beetroot in the big tunnel. The pea and bean seeds I showed last week are just beginning to sprout and the lettuce in the ‘mini greenhouses’ have also sprouted, maybe in a weeks time I will be able to eat a pea top and lettuce leaf salad.

While I was thinking about salads I ordered some more lettuce seeds and some leeks and thinking back to our stay away some mushroom spawn while I was at it 😀

I had Mia in the afternoon but also I wasn’t feeling too good either so not much more got done.

Wednesday: The wind has dropped today thank goodness and it’s quite a pleasant morning, I bimbled round and did the feeding and watering, I made a horrible discovery, not horrible in any way other than I was horrified with myself. You will remember we let the baby rabbits go, most were from the large run but one was an older boy rabbit from before, we had two in a separate cage and I am keeping one of them but the other was set free, we closed the hutch door to enable us to catch the rabbit, went off down the paddock, let them go, then went away for two days completely forgetting to open the door to the hutch so that the remaining rabbit could get to it’s food and water. I thought it was odd that he hadn’t eaten his carrot then noticed (horrified) the door was still shut, luckily he had plenty of hay in there with him so didn’t go hungry but all the same I can’t believe I forgot 🙄

Still feeling under the weather so keep popping the pills, hopefully it will pass soon, not that I have the luxury of resting up until it does, jobs still have to be carried out.

Thursday: I am up at 5.30 this morning, not because I have something to do but because I don’t feel well, I’m not sure at this point in time if it’s a Lupus flare or if I have a virus or possibly menopausal or all three! I ache and shiver and sweat all at the same time and the welcome cool air of the half opened stable door is refreshing at this time of the morning. I have bloods tomorrow, mostly to check that my meds are not damaging me in any way but if it’s the Lupus they will show up inflammation markers and if it’s not then I am just poorly (that’s what I would prefer). It’s quiet, it’s quite nice, normally I wait till everyone has got up and gone to work before I get up so that I can then just get on.

Once the painkillers and anti inflammatory kicked in I felt totally normal so got on with the jobs in hand and sorted out all the eggs for the shed. I put an extra board roadside to advertise the goose eggs, what normally happens is that people come and ask for them well after the geese have finished laying or begin sitting in earnest, so this way I can notify anyone who is interested that they are available now. I lit the fire and then had the intention of going out to do something but after 10 mins out there I decided it was too cold and there was nothing urgent in the garden or greenhouse that warrants getting frozen for.

I decided to do a couple of jobs that have been nagging at me for a while now, one was my cookery book shelves, they all needed coming off having a good clean, sort out and putting back and the other was the kitchen window blinds. Most of us opt to have the kitchen sink in front of the window but boy it does make it difficult to clean, kneeling on the draining board is a bit ouchy but not too bad but trying to lean over the sink area means training as a contortionist! The blinds haven’t been done properly for a year so took a while to get the dust off, very pleased with myself, in between the two jobs I got out some tomato soup from the freezer that I made back in the summer, what a treat and a great reminder of the growing year ahead😀

Going through the bookshelf was a great exercise, I had forgotten some of the great books I have there, I shall definitely refer to them more this year rather than turning to google, as convenient as it is.

Well of course I didn’t stop there suffice to say that some areas of the kitchen look gleaming 😀

Friday: I don’t know what happened to Friday, I have no notes lol, I had bloods done in the morning and had coffee with Shelley and Josh, Sam and Mia came in the afternoon apart from that we had some off cuts of wood delivered ummm nope can’t remember!

Saturday: It’s a cold start and I’m glad John offered to do the morning rounds, I stayed inside and did a bit of clearing up, then went outside where some more wood was being delivered. This wood is all old cut up pallets etc but it still needs cutting smaller to fit in the Rayburn, it is a mountain of wood, literally poor John will be there for the rest of his life cutting it up 😜 I spotted a lot of it that would be the perfect size for making bird boxes so that is what I started doing, marking them up, getting John to cut the pieces then I put them together, now I know I’m never going to win carpenter of the year 🤪 but I reckon the birds will be pretty chuffed with their little houses and I intend to make as many as I can for all round the farm. It was bitterly cold mind so I had to keep coming in to warm up the ends of my fingers and toes, the workshop area faces North, not so good for working in the Winter.

I made six in total one of which is a robin nest box and they are now in situ waiting for the first occupants of the year 😀

The weather warnings are beginning, the beast from the East is apparently going to hit us hard, oh the joys and it’s a prolonged period of cold probably with snow, just when we thought Spring might appear lol.

Sunday: Lovely sunny but cold morning again today and we have been mostly preparing for the cold weather that has been forecast. First the routine stuff then the cleaning out and bulking up of extra bedding for the rabbits, quail and orchard hens, filling up all available water buckets and vessels as the pipes will be frozen and at least if we have things filled up we can break the ice to retrieve water. On cleaning out the rabbits I found two more newly born babies, I half expected this as the rabbit that was out before we caught her was bound to get knocked up in between times, the saying is certainly true!

I could be heard shouting ‘John, you dickhead’ as he had come in to the orchard pen to bring rabbit feed then locked me in and gone off to do something else 🤪

Then is was my turn to be called something rudimentary as John discovered I had left the rain water hose on to fill up a tub which I estimated would take about an hour, came in and had something to eat, then Shelley, Martin and Josh popped in and I forgot all about it, result, overflow 🤪 ooops at least it wasn’t mains water that we are charged for but still 😜

I also prepare the greenhouse and the citrus trees in the poly tunnel, all with extra fleece covering just in case, I don’t want to risk losing any of the plants or seedlings that are underway so better to be safe than sorry.

While I was in the greenhouse I scattered a bit of mushroom spawn into the hotbox and covered them with soil, I have never been successful growing mushrooms this way but willing to give it another try, you never know.

I think if it does pan out to be as cold as they say I shall mostly be baking and cooking next week, it keeps me busy and warm at the same time 😀

Friesland Farm

Goose eggs,

Posted on January 28, 2018 by frieslandfarm

Monday 22nd January: Well once again after thoroughly disgusting weather yesterday, today is not a bad day, warmer, dry for the time being, bit wet under foot but hey it’s winter can’t expect much else. The impending floods that threatened to come in the back, didn’t, so John did a good job there (just stopped typing in my tracks as I could hear a chewing noise, this is in the wall right in the middle of the house, we are used to things living in the outside walls but really, this takes the bloody biscuit ffs)

I did the feeding and collected the eggs, we got the first goose egg of the season today 😀 the ducks have laid 10 eggs so they are either happy to be in or they were laying outside and the birds were eating them as we were only getting 5/6. Then lit the Rayburn, then outside to the greenhouse to make a hot bed, I’m hoping it will work and raise the temp of the greenhouse a little, if it doesn’t work I will have dry manure to add to my compost so either way is a winner. I moved the citrus trees to the smaller poly tunnel, I have nurtured and cosseted them each winter and at the moment if all goes well I should have lemons this year coming 🍋

Caught the remaining five hens from the pol pen and gave the pen an initial clean out and dug over the earth in the middle, John likes to power wash it clean so that is now ready for him to do when he gets time. Somebody is selling a Gauloise trio so I messaged them and hopefully we can go collect them at the weekend as it’s not too far away, they will be bred for the table.

Tuesday: Temps set to be up to 12 today (oo summer I joked) you can feel the difference though I started sweating with my big coat on. No goose egg today so that means only one is laying as they lay every other day but I’m sure the others won’t be far behind. 6 eggs from the ducks today so yesterday was either a fluke or John didn’t pick up the day before? My seed order arrived yesterday, hopefully I will get some time to look through them and possibly start off the earlier ones such as aubergine.

Spent a pleasant couple of hours doing various things in and around the greenhouse. Got a barrowful of compost in to dry out and sowed the aubergine in a half size tray, that will fit on the kitchen windowsill nicely and as it is constantly the warmest place they should germinate. Sorted out the pots of tête-à-tête mini daffs that I divided last year and put them out for sale at 50p a pot. Sorted the plants that have been overwintering next to the greenhouse, some are in standing water, most are covered in dead leaves so cleared all that and then fenced them off as the escaped bunny has taken to having a munch on everything 🐇 Although it’s fairly mild outside it is so wet that just walking is causing damage let alone wheeling a heavy barrow over it so I will just do little bits here and there till it dries up, whenever that will be lol

Image is from google just for reference as they are not in flower yet but they always brighten up the winter no end when they start.

Wednesday: This Winters weather certainly hasn’t been dull, everyday is a different day and once more overnight I wondered if we were going to end up in Oz, the winds are coming from a different direction to the last lot so at least they are warmer from the south west.

Made an orange and raisin cake as I was a bit peckish and a loaf of bread, had Mia in the afternoon.

Thursday: A pleasant day weather wise, sunshine, mild, a good day to get something done😀 After doing the usual morning stuff it was on to dismantling the rest of the fruit cage, John is at home today so I have some muscle power to fall back on 😀 We finished that job then I sent John on a trail of little jobs that needed sorting while I dug up a row of Autumn raspberries, I have far too many to be able to pick in a morning when they are ripe so I decided to lessen the burden and dig a row up, in fact that’s two rows I have taken out as I took one out at the end of last season. We intend to make the fruit cage 8ft bigger than it was before so it will be a whopping great area to grow soft fruit in. Then I cleaned the outside of the small polytunnel, I was thinking it’s probably better to do it in the rain but a quick wash will do for now.

John finished his instructed jobs 😜 and started dismantling the chicken hut in the pol pen, he power washed it all down yesterday but we decided that the hut in there is too big and clumsy and they really don’t need it as generally speaking it is a transient pen.

Sowed some broad beans in pots, they will stay in the greenhouse until they sprout, by the time they are big enough it should be warmer outside and I can transplant them.

Came in for a cuppa and a sit down then on to give the boot room a bit of a clean and wash the dogs, I didn’t move fast enough after bathing dog 1, result, I got covered in wet dog shake uurgh 😜

Friday: Uber busy day, did the usual to start with then finally on to sorting out the rabbit run, that took us most of the day to get the bunnies shut in, get all the existing mesh on the floor out, dig off the soil that had built up, level it and finally put some boarding back down so there is nowhere for them to dig 😜 hopefully! John altered the lid of their house as it was just one big piece of ply and heavy, so he cut it in half and hinged it, put a door that you can close and shut on the house as before it just had two tunnel entrances one each side, now one is closed off and the other shuts so that I can round them up, shut them in and clean without them under my feet or trying to get out of the main doorway. He has also blocked up any holes that babies will be able to get into and get stuck, I just need to wire up the sides so the babies can’t escape and we are done. The job took longer than expected but worth doing it all in one go.

Later on in the day while John did the egg collecting and feeding I started clearing the spare room so that Charlie and Macca can move back in next week, books are the main problem, I have far too many and not enough bookshelving lol so I am getting John to put some more shelves up tomorrow in the office. As I was looking through the books I realised how many I would actually like to have time to read, books from memoirs of local folk, books on herbs, books on most smallholding subjects, gardening, maintaining fields, wildflowers, native trees as well as a few novels I haven’t had time to look at yet, and children’s books, some that my girls had when they were younger and some that I have got for the grandchildren, books everywhere 📚

Saturday: Another Uber Uber busy day today, first get animals done, then get John to put up new shelves in the office so I can move stuff out of the spare room and have a place to put it all. Then dismantle the big sofa in the living room, we have had the sofas nearly 20 years and they are past their best, well one is, it is making way for Charlie and Maccas sofa and chair so they don’t have to store it. While I am busy moving everything around and cleaning and trying to find homes for way too much stuff, John went with Luke to collect the other sofa and chair, meanwhile Richard and Debbie turned up to put a new battery on the car so that is now usable again 😀 In-between that I am fielding phone calls about MIL and messages about raspberry canes I offered for free on various sites, despite numerous messages of ‘I will be there’ as yet not one person has turned up! Doesn’t sound a lot of work when I type it but as well as the domestic chores like washing and cleaning I have run around like a headless chicken today 😜

John cleaned out the hens in the front in the afternoon, removed the cardboard traps for the red mite and put some new ones in, I’m hoping this method will keep on top of them this year. No idea where our egg customers have disappeared to this week as we have not had many, I have a theory that they go away before any school holidays as they are mostly the older generation, I’m sticking to that one 😀

Finally sat down at 3.30, after getting the dinner underway, to write this, still got the dogs to wash as they are bloody filthy and wait for anyone who bothers to show up for these raspberry canes 🤪😁

The geese have laid two more eggs, it’s early, I’m hoping it’s an indicator for an early spring 🙏

The weather was crap today, drizzle all day long, not much change for tomorrow by the looks of things, in fact the weather for the week ahead looks pretty grey and dull.

Sunday: Not bad weather wise but still muddy underfoot, did the morning routine then another busy day ahead but first nip and get a bit of shopping in as we are out of everything. When we got back, John cleared away all the debris we have made over the last few days doing the rabbit run and the fruit cage while I got the fire lit. Then I went outside and got a bit done in the garden, well mostly the poly tunnel, I have been inspired by someone on a smallholding group and thought it was about time I got my arse into gear. I moved a large pot of strawberries into the tunnel and then planted up some hanging baskets with strawberry plants from last year, apparently if you put them in the tunnel after the first frosts of the year they will do well and produce early so here’s hoping. I also moved my fig tree into the tunnel, it has limped along outside so nothing ventured nothing gained, I cleared a few more raspberry bushes and potted up some Japanese wine berry canes to sell on at a later date. I have put one of the raspberry canes in a pot that I intend to put out by the eggs shed for people to try before they buy 😀 I got some mange-tout seeds sown and put them inside the propagator although it’s not turned on it’s just to stop the mice eating them before they have even sprouted.

The broad beans that over wintered are growing well in the greenhouse, not sure weather to move them or leave them be for now.

My head is buzzing with ideas for the new growing season and I’m eager to get started with what I can, I have ordered some new blueberry bushes to lengthen the harvesting season and some white sage to grow for smudging which is something I would like to have a go at doing. I would also like to have a weekend during the height of the season to open the garden for customers to come and have a look around and see the veg they buy in situ just an idea and I would want the garden to be in tip top form for that lol so we will play that one by ear!

I ate a pomelo this week for the very first time ever 😀 it is a cross between a grapefruit and orange, I have saved the seeds and will have a go at growing them to see what happens.

Bird flu, gale force winds, snow, rain and a whole load of other stuff!

Video• Posted on January 21, 2018 by frieslandfarm

Friesland Farm

Dead duck, disappearing baby rabbits and parsnip cake.

Posted on October 29, 2017October 29, 2017 by frieslandfarm

Monday: Woke up with a touch of vertigo today so just about got round and did the feeding then mostly tried to sit still all day until the next lot of feeding in the afternoon! Thankfully it had passed by early evening and fingers crossed it won’t come back for a while. Bit of a waste of a day but sometimes the body is just trying to tell you to stop.

Tuesday: Better today, not dizzy but have a head cold blurhh, sweating as I did the morning rounds. Got a few things done before Mia arrives, some potatoes that needed digging up and put up some protective fencing around the fruit trees in the front paddock, the geese keep trying to strip the bark which will kill them off if I don’t stop it now.

Wednesday: Lovely sunny morning ☀️ got the feeding done then onto picking the rest of the veg I started getting in yesterday. There are potatoes, parsnip, celeriac, snack peppers, hot peppers. The pepper plants in the poly tunnel are huge but did not produce much, however they are still healthy plants and as peppers are perennial plants I will see what I can do to overwinter them, it would be great to get such a head start on them next year, I also think I need to keep the plants smaller so that they produce fruit quicker, can’t hurt to try. After that I went to clean out the geese and then put fresh bedding in for the ducks, which by the way we are lucky to still have this morning after John did not shut them in, either their house nor their pen, the gate was wide open this morning and they were taking themselves off down to the paddock! Still have a touch of vertigo but not too bad, I think it’s caused by this head cold which is also something and nothing at the moment, hope it doesn’t get worse 😝

Ordered some ‘meteor’ pea seeds as the last ones I planted got eaten by something, I will be growing them the way we used to in school, well starting them off that way at least, on a wet piece of tissue on the windowsill along with the broad beans. I’m guessing it’s mice pinching the seeds before they even get started, I can’t blame them really but they are interrupting my growing attempts, so starting them off then planting them will hopefully give me a better shot at it.

I am making roasted celeriac soup today, have not made it before so I am hoping it tastes good, I made fresh bread yesterday so that will be dinner tonight, we try and have a meal in the week that rests the gut a little, besides soup is such an easy and delicious thing to have. There are recipes for apple and celeriac soup but I opted for just the celeriac, with a touch of garlic.

As I was looking for recipes I found one for parsnip Madeira cake, yeah, I will let you know what it tastes like once it’s cooked lol. Next to chocolate cake, Madeira is one of Johns favourite cakes so we will see how it goes down.

Verdict is still out, it’s edible and not at all unpleasant, John asked me not to tell him what was in it so I haven’t and he has been eating it just fine lol, I quite like it though I wouldn’t put it on my favs list.

Thursday: Drizzle today, as the mornings are quite dark, before even going out to do the feeding I cleaned the bathroom, after feeding I got on with some washing and cleaning the rest of the house and that was pretty much the day for me, John was home early so he did the afternoon feed and collected the eggs and lit the fire, Sam came over and did the horse, I did do a bit of paperwork that needed doing.

Goodness I haven’t noted anything for Friday or Saturday lol so I will have to round up, did the usual feeding etc. I can’t actually remember what I did Friday except that I thought all the baby rabbits had gone, turns out they were hiding behind the side of the hut and a wall, so much for me blocking up all the holes! Had Josh in the morning while Shelley and Martin went for a scan on baby, she is a pink one 💕😀 Sam and Mia came over in the afternoon and Charlie came round in the evening. Saturday morning I did a bit of clearing in the poly tunnel, I have cut back all the peppers as they won’t produce anything now, but they are perennial so I have given them a good watering and covered them to see if they will survive winter, no harm in trying. I also put fleece jumpers on my lemon and orange trees, gave them a good last watering and bubble wrapped the pots they are in, I have about 5 small lemons growing and hoping they make it through the winter. I intend to move them into the large tunnel next year but need to build some raised boxes for them so that they are not in wet cold ground, ideally a conservatory is needed but we don’t have one so until we do I hope they survive, they did last year but it was fairly mild.

On one of those days the disabled duck died 😩 she has had a bad leg, I tried rest and all kinds of other things but in the end she just seemed to get on with it as it was, she was eating and drinking fine, she even learnt how to stand on one leg, just using the other which was pretty useless, to balance on but when I opened the hut one of those mornings she didn’t come out and had died overnight.

Sunday: Sunny but a cold wind, and the clocks have gone back, that will mean dark nights and it really doesn’t seem much lighter in the mornings either!

Friesland Farm

Butterflies, pitta bread & Countryfile Live 😀

Posted on August 6, 2017 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.

Friesland Farm

That dog is grounded!!

Posted on May 20, 2013 by frieslandfarm

Ever since old Max passed away the dogs have been more than a little unsettled, its strange because on the surface you would think they hadn’t noticed but the slight behaviour changes tell me that they must have. Mia has taken to barking early in the morning and whining if she is in the back on her own, she didn’t used to mind if Max was out in the garden and she was in, she is also barking a lot more at things she didn’t bother with before. Mia, however is not the grounded one, that is Kai the one that is let out at night, he as been here four years doing the same job each night but for some reason over the last week he has decided that it is time to roam further afield! The first night he got out we put it down to a fluke and Hubby went out to close up for the night and found him roaming up the back paddocks, not so bad. The next night I was woken by him yapping at 3.30 in the morning, I looked out and he was sitting in the drive on the other side of the gate waiting to be let in! I will just let him out for the evening and then put him away says Hubby, he sits down to watch TV forgetting all about the dog, the phone rings and all I can hear on the other end are multiple dogs barking furiously, no need for words from the caller I quickly realised it was my next door neighbour and Kai must be up at her house. When Hubby went to pick him up he was sitting outside their window looking in and their dogs were going mad. Luckily she saw the funny side of it, I did not, and now he is grounded until such time we can secure the compound so that he cant escape again!

The break in the weather has meant that we have been able to get on in the garden a little bit more, I managed to cut the lawns and in the week my Mum came over and we have all but finished the poly tunnel, just waiting for a calm day to get the polythene on and it will be all systems go. The veg plants are all waiting patiently to be moved to their final places and they have been hardening off over the last week, it feels like it is quite late to be putting them in but you can only do as much as the weather allows and so far it has been sporadic to say the least. The ornamental flowers on the other hand seem to be doing very well, obviously better suited to the current climate than the veg. The fruit harvest this year has already been proclaimed to be ‘bumper’ by the experts, I cant argue with that judging by the amount of blossom on the fruit trees and berry bushes, I just hope we don’t get a hard frost otherwise they will have used all that energy for nothing. Chelsea flower show is this week and I love looking at the show gardens on tv, they can be very inspirational sometimes, I cant have a whole show garden but can pinch a few ideas here and there. If you are going along at all look out for some friends of mine who have a stand this year, Oxford Green Roofs, I wish them good luck and I am sure they will be enjoying themselves immensely even though it is hard work.

Most of the lambs are doing well, I am a bit concerned about Betty, she is not doing as well as the others after weaning, she is grazing and eating hard feed but has lost more weight than I would have liked, she is also scouring a bit too, which is a polite name for the runs! The rain that we had along with the sun in between makes the grass ‘flush’ that means that it is rich with sugar and as a result can upset their tummies, I have tried giving her a bottle of milk to help out but even though I can get the teat in her mouth she wont suckle. I have ordered some electrolyte so rehydrate her and may have to resort to syringing it down her neck, fingers crossed with a bit of time she will pick up again. There is plenty of grass in the field for them all and apart from Betty everyone is doing well and even Sweetpea has not tried to escape again. It is very nearly the time of year to shear the two ewes, need to gear myself up for that one, when you are only 5′ 3″ and not that fit, shearing them is hard work, although they don’t have to look pretty we do need to get the fleece off as best we can, if anyone has any experience please shout,i will offer bacon sarnies and coffee in return!

Talk about coincidence, I was about to start writing about the chickens and the Rat problem, I will just have a quick break from typing I thought and went to the back door where Mia was waiting patiently for me to throw her ball, wandering across the pathway right in front of me was a rat! I quickly realised however that it did not look well, hopefully the many kg’s of bait I have put down are finally having an effect. I don’t like to kill them really but at the moment they are living under the chicken house that the broodies are in and I think they have been eating the chicks as they hatch, so it is a dog eat dog world as they say. The hens were sat on a huge clutch of eggs and to date only one chick has made it, today I was planning to clear out all unhatched eggs and clean the house out as it is just harming their well being sat there in vain. I will keep putting the bait boxes out and with a bit of luck will get rid of the rats altogether, I don’t mind them as long as its only a couple and they live inconspicuously but when they start taking livestock and competing for chicken feed then they have got to go!

We have a very busy week ahead of us as the sale of our other house completes on Friday and we still have lots to clear out and get it ready for hand over, Hubby cant wait for the day to arrive but in the meantime, there are a hundred and one things to do here as well as there, so we will be shattered by next weekend and any other jobs around the farm will go on hold for a week at least. This weekend just gone, we spent at the family wedding I told you about, it was absolutely brilliant, everyone looked fabulous and we all had a lovely time, the following day we were quite tired although did mange to get a bit of work done and my feet were killing me, I have never been so glad to put my wellies back on I can tell you, I may just get some very fancy wellies for any future occasions then my feet wont go into total shock 🙂

At this point I was going to insert a picture of the Apple Blossom, but after 20 mins of my computer giving me the run around, I give up! Maybe next time, have a good week x