Tag: Smallholding

Posted in Friesland Farm

A new month, a sonic boom 😲 and of course, flowers 💐

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 27th February 2023: Not sure where February went it usually feels longer than that. After getting the eggs sorted and the cats and dogs fed I got on with some cleaning 😝 All the joys of cleaning, hoovering, polishing, dusting, cleaning hair out of the shower trap 😂 You would not believe how many times John tells me that people don’t realise they have to do this, he will get a call because the water is not running away in the shower cubicle and first thing he asks is do you clean the trap 🙄

I have procrastinated a little this afternoon, is it really procrastination if you are listening to a podcast or reading up about something interesting? Or is it an elected, find something gentle but educational to do because I can’t be bothered to exert myself today, exercise 🤷‍♀️ Knowledge is key is all areas and I am one of those who is constantly googling something I have seen or heard but didn’t know about. We are watching the series ‘Gold’ at the minute, as soon as we started watching it I was googling the Brinks-Mat robbery to find out who, what, why, when, I like to know all the details. That’s not a bad thing and it certainly helps when you are watching quiz programs 😂

I did actually sow some veg seeds at the weekend, we are limited to what can be sown now but if you take you hints from your flower garden you will know that lupins are beginning to sprout greenery so peas/beans which are from the same family should be ok to start sprouting in a cold greenhouse, just don’t over soak them or they will rot. The timings of sowings will be restricted to what space you have to move them onto once they get bigger. I think pre sprouting is a fab option at this time of year, just soak the peas or beans in water (drain of any excess) rinse them a couple of days in a row until they begin to sprout (a root will appear first so you know which is the bottom) then pop them into compost to grow on, those that don’t sprout are duds so you can throw them on the compost heap. Also beginning to grow now are alliums, the green leaves are about 5inches high in my garden so I can plant up my onion sets into trays to bring those on, again making sure they are not too wet. Ruby Chard is another I have sown, this is a multifunctional vegetable and so it’s worth doing, not only can we eat it but the torts/Guinea/poultry eat it too (we only have one Guinea left now) so if there is a glut then somebody is happy somewhere. I also have been looking at those who use it in flower arrangements, there is a movement called ‘abstract flower arranging’ that is gaining momentum and uses all kinds of things including fruit and veg. The stalks are a beautiful red colour but if you don’t like the slightly bitter taste then strip the greenery from the stalks and just use that, feed the stalks to the wildlife/pets.

Tuesday: It’s Shelley’s birthday today we will pop round later to celebrate her special day, born in a leap year she was lucky to get the 28th, the Gregorian calendar plays a cruel trick to those born on the 29th 😂 Birthdays are days I stop and reflect and look at the amazing Women our girls are, generally speaking things continually improve for girls and women in terms of equality but it is always a battle. We have three daughters and they were encouraged and nurtured to be strong, capable and independent if necessary and they are. The next generation (granddaughters) will grow up in a different time where things are changing even more but that doesn’t stop me from telling them that they can be anything they want to be, they can achieve whatever it is they want to achieve if they work for it. There is one song that I played and sang with Mia which is a Katy Perry song ‘Roar’ it was a time when she was feeling a little uncertain about the big world she was in especially school and all the emotions that brings with it. We sang the song together and I told her that is Nanas song for her, it doesn’t mean you need to be fierce but that you can be who you want to be with confidence and if you set your mind to it you can achieve whatever it is you want to achieve whether that is a big or a small thing.

I put washing on last night in the hopes that I could dry it today but looks like I miss calculated that as it is fairly damp out 😏

I did a good morning’s work outside doing various things, I potted up some of the ranunculus that have been pre sprouting in the kitchen they are now inside a propagator (unheated) in the greenhouse. I finished off cutting some dead stuff back on one of the bigger beds and then moved into the big tunnel as I was getting a bit cold. In there I planted up some phlox (sherbet 😁) watered the ranunculus and anemone that are growing, the anemone are actually flowering but on fairly short stems. I then had to shut the dogs away so that I could staple gun some bubble wrap around the doors in the tunnel, I could feel a cold draught and anything growing might appreciate an extra bit of warmth instead. I sowed a second lot of sweet pea seed that had pre sprouted, I will keep sowing these in succession every couple of weeks. The sweet peas last year had fairly short stems but I have since then seen the whole plant stem used with great effect so I will give them another go. Seeds I have on the windowsill indoors include antirrhinum, clary sage and sweet peas, we are getting there slowly 😁 Meanwhile John went out to do a small job this morning before returning and getting on with some concreting and we have also had a delivery of materials, the flower workshop will soon be taking shape.

I have flowers to deliver to a customer today and I will also be taking some round to Shelley when we go to see her later for cake 🎂😁

Inbetween doing things I have also done a bit of reading up, don’t ask me why but this question popped into my head ‘will gold be any use after an apocalypse’ I like to know these things 🤪 The answer in case you haven’t worked it out is no, fairly obvious really but I needed to have the definitive answer 🤷‍♀️ Skills, food, building materials etc will all be of value rather than gold. It didn’t end there though because it took me on to an article about billionaire preppers 😲 did you even know there was such a thing. Interesting that they would think that their money would still be of use to employ security etc, when it was pointed out that it wouldn’t they resorted to tactics such as having a combination lock to large food supplies thereby making people do what they are told or those perimeter electric shock dog collars to stop them leaving, sounds like a fabulous work opportunity doesn’t it 😂 There are apparently large self sufficient farms that have bunkers for the wealthy to run to in their time of need (not in the UK as far as I am aware) who is going to do the hard graft I would like to know. It is all very well having the money to buy a place to hide but you need skills to survive and if your money is worthless then…🤔

Wednesday: Is it only midweek 🙄 John went off to work this morning despite having said he will be working at home this week! I have flower club tonight and it’s the first meeting this year, there is a competition as well as a demonstration so I have thrown myself into the task. Safe to say that flower arranging in the conventional sense is not really my forte, I prefer free form or natural rather than triangles and fans 😝 but it does mean that I have to push myself and come up with something I am happy with. So I have spent an hour or more arranging, I made the mechanics last week just to see if it would work and tweaked it the other day so it’s all set to go and enter the competition lol. The title is spring in a basket and I hope I have achieved the brief and even if I haven’t I have done something different and learnt along the way so it’s all good.

Yay I got first prize 😁

It is St David’s day today and all about the daffodils, leeks and being Welsh 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 The other day that is creeping up is Mothers Day and this year I am ready to offer flowers. One thing I know is that it is frantic on the flower wholesale market, who knew that behind the scenes there are order dates and lists and then cut off dates for your orders too. I feel I may have slightly overreached on my cut off date which is the 12th but something I have already learnt for next year 😁

Thursday: John was at home all day today working on the workshop while I pottered about doing anything that needed doing. I didn’t have the twins today as Mia was not well so not going swimming. I spent the evening making up the bunches of flowers and a bouquet order for tomorrow.

Friday: Up early to get up and get on, get the eggs sorted and out along with the flowers. Mum called over for a visit and a cup of tea and in the afternoon I went out for tea and cake with Sam and the twins and Charlie and Oscar.

Saturday: One of the reasons John has been home is because he is having to work today, he doesn’t normally do weekends but this is in a building that can’t be worked on during the week.

Around 12.30 the whole place shook, I have felt this once before and was pretty sure it was a sonic boom. I messaged the girls, they hadn’t felt it but five minutes later social media was awash with it so at least I know I am not going mad. Normally it means that jets have been scrambled due to an anomaly in our air space but I guess we will find out in time.

I have been checking on the greenhouse growing and so far so good, some seedlings are beginning to emerge others not yet.

Went down to the local pub for a meal last night, it was lovely, we haven’t been down since the new owners took over so we thought it was about time. I love what they have done with the ladies loo it right up my street, Thomas crapper China and recycled boards on the wall, love it. The food was great too, the fish was beautifully fresh and the batter deliciously light and then there was sticky toffee pudding, always a winner and this one was no exception. Nice atmosphere we will definitely be going more often 😁

Sunday: Colder today and I think it tried to snow a few flakes this morning 🙄 hopefully after this cold snap we will be getting something a bit warmer. Just in case it’s really cold I have fleeced up the trays of tulips, daffodils and allium that are coming up nicely and I also did the same for the anemone and ranunculus in the poly tunnel, I don’t want to lose them at this stage. I cut some hellebore, miniature daffodils and some of the anemone this morning along with foliage for a memorial wreath I have to make today. I also hoovered the boot room, it gets unbelievably dusty with the dogs and cats in there.

Mid morning Samantha arrived with the children and it turned into a busy afternoon. We needed to get a big round bale of hay out to the paddock for the horses so that if it snows they will have plenty of hay to feed on. Even if it doesn’t it is going to be cold and there is not much grass left for them to munch on now until it starts growing again, now they will be very happy. Then as it has been unseasonably dry Sam decided to drag the paddocks, good call really because once it rains the grass will begin to grow and it will be harder to do. Once they had all gone home I had to get started on a memorial wreath that is being picked up this evening, a lovely, natural, seasonal 100% compostable wreath 🥰

A natural, seasonal, 100% compostable wreath by flowers at Friesland Farm, Shilton, Oxon
Seasonal and 100% compostable wreath.
Posted in Friesland Farm

Colder weather, batch cooking & local honey 🍯

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 20th February 2023: The weather is holding so I took the opportunity to do a good mornings graft this morning. I went backwards and forwards collecting and depositing woodchip to mulch the smallest of the raised beds although that still took six full barrow fulls. Next I cut back the two buddliea that are in the shrubbery bed, they are huge and they make an arch where they meet, in order to see down the driveway I need the archway clear so I cut them back to achieve this. The other reason for cutting them back is that they attack me at every opportunity when I am trying to work under them weeding or planting 😂 After that was done I needed to tidy the cuttings so I got the shredder out only that had seized over winter so I had to WD40 it and keep trying it until it freed up which it did eventually. A pile of shredding later and it was past lunchtime so that was my cue to go inside for a cuppa some toast and a sit down, I feel like I have accomplished something this morning 😁 I did a bit more in the greenhouse in the afternoon and then John came home early so I sorted out an early dinner. We went round to Mums for a cuppa in the evening.

Tuesday: Yesterday I delved into the freezers and pulled out items to do some batch cooking today. After getting some washing on and all the usual morning jobs I got two big batches of Bolognaise and mice and potatoes into the slow cookers. They will get boxed up and go into the freezer for another time but I wanted to use up some veg and mushrooms before they went over. Tonight we have some lovely chicken breast but I haven’t decided how we are having it yet. The next project on my mind was something I need to do for flower club next week. My imagination sometimes makes big demands on me and often I fail to deliver but this time I am pretty pleased with the result. I had an idea in mind and apart from a few restarts and some trouble with the hammer I managed to succeed and produce exactly what I was after 😁 No pictures until after the event but I think you will be impressed lol. I was surprised that by the time I had finished it was mid afternoon so I sat down with a cuppa for a quick rest.

I have had a discussion with Shelley about growing as much veg as possible this year as I neglected it last year due to the fact I was busy with the flowers. I then had a message from a friend highlighting the fact that there will be shortages on imports this year due to the bad weather in Europe and Africa especially tomatoes, great that I am good at growing those then 😁 I still find it crazy that we have the ability in this country to grow so many edibles and yet they are imported in huge quantities 🤷‍♀️ maybe once there are shortages people will realise that they don’t need Italian tomatoes or Spanish cucumbers and eat British grown in season 🙄 On that note I am off to check my seed stash and make sure I have enough of everything to sow.

Wednesday: We didn’t eat the chicken in the end as we went to my great nephews to celebrate his third birthday where plenty of food was on offer including pancakes 😁 After the lockdowns you really appreciate being able to get together and the children can all play with their cousins and second cousins keeping family ties alive 🥰

That meant I needed to do something with the chicken this morning and so I have some more batch cooking going on already. A hearty chicken stew in one slow cooker with frozen veg that I grew last year. In the other one there are blueberries and apple cooking down with some honey ready to make a batch of crumbles for the freezer. The apples are the last of the stored cooking apples, all but one of them was any good and so they have done really well to last this long. Going back to potential veg/salad shortages, we don’t eat a lot of fresh produce through the winter, most of what we do eat was grown, processed and frozen back in the growing season. It makes the menu slightly more limited because some produce does not hold its structure but it does mean that we are still eating great produce all the way through to the next lot of harvesting. Rhubarb will be the first to come through and there is always plenty of it so some will be used fresh and some will be frozen for next winter, some of it gets sold and some gets given to family members. If you are venturing into growing your own then rhubarb has to be right at the top of your list, it will be three years before you can fully harvest from a new plant but in the first year you can still harvest a few stalks, the second year even more and the third every single stalk 😁

It is raining today and we really do need some rain, we haven’t had any since around 11th Jan I think when we had days and days of it lol. As it is not a very nice day to be working outside I may even batch bake some cakes. I did bake cakes 3 x date and walnut loaves as healthy as I could make them, I used unrefined brown sugar and sunflower oil but I only had white flour so I had to use that 😏

I felt really tired early evening but I also had a Zoom meeting to attend so I couldn’t really have a nap 😏 Yet again, even though I have been gardening for a lot of years, I learnt something 😁 The speaker was amply qualified having written a book for the RHS on propagation and as I have said before cuttings are a hit and miss area for me. I now feel that I have all the information I need to have good success in this area so watch this space 👀 🤞

Thursday: It was colder overnight than it has been of late and there was a slight frost this morning. I had planned to get a bit done but I had visitors and deliveries and then the twins so in the end not much got sorted. I did spend the evening making up the flower bunches to go out tomorrow though.

Friday: It’s Friday flowers today and I had an early appointment so I had to get everything organise before going for that. Eggs done and out into the shed and then the flowers plus the social media side of it to let everyone know they were available. I quickly sold all the daffodils and narcissi so I had to get those back in ready to drop off locally later. It has been over thirty years since I was employed on the cards in any sense and so one thing I am noticing is that the activity is higher on payday week which I hadn’t given much thought to before now 🙄

British grown flowers and foliage available at Friesland Farm Shilton
Gorgeous tulips in this weeks bunches 🥰

Dave the beekeeper bought some supplies of local honey which will go out into the shed in the morning, it’s nice to be able to offer that produce again.

Saturday: Ooosh that wind is cold, only a week or so ago we were walking up the lane in beautiful sunshine and it almost felt like spring. I just hung out the washing as it is breezy so it should dry but it is cold too. Shelley, Martin and the kids came over just before lunch and spent the afternoon here.

Sunday: I got a good bit done in the garden, I attempted to wash down the outside of the greenhouse and poly tunnel but really I need to wait until we can connect the hose again (once the threat of freezing passes) and then I can hose it off afterwards so I’ll try again in a week or two. Lots of cutting back and clearing up in the torts area oh and I also washed Johns van so that you can tell it’s actually white 😝 Sam and the children came at lunchtime and were here for a couple of hours and then Charlie, Macca and Oscar visited so we have had the full compliment this weekend 🥰

That’s about it for this week, if the weather is ok I will mostly be tidying up and cutting back dead stuff and getting the beds ready for planting up or I can be found in the greenhouse on chiller days mostly just mooching 🤪

Posted in Friesland Farm

Flowers, plants & seeds.

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 13th February 2023: Another reasonable day coming up, not much sign of any sun but it is dry and not freezing which is a bonus. I have a busy morning ahead of me doing flowers, the heart tributes are very popular 🥰 which is just as well because I love doing them. I am not doing Valentines flowers as most of my customers are women and although in the words of Miley Cyrus ‘I can buy myself flowers’ it is mostly men who buy them on this particular day. That is probably stereotyping a little but I imagine the numbers if collected would back that up. Men tend to go for the red roses which as we know are not seasonal at this time of year and so not grown in the UK in Winter, they are all imported. I don’t want to knock it but we really need to change attitudes, in Victorian times it was traditional to give small heart shaped boxes of violets, it would be nice to get back to that. I have a bit of an insight into how some of the menfolk in my family work though and they are definitely mow the grass within an inch of its life and are red rose people 😂 no matter how much I try educating them 🤪 So we have to reach out to those who are environmentally aware and get them to voice their preference ‘how much carbon was generated with those roses being imported’ ‘ I would prefer flowers that are grown here in the UK’ and then of course you have to hope they remember what you told them 😝 Joking aside there has been lots of chatter on social media pages about ‘them and us’ florists that use imported flowers, and growers and florists that don’t. It is not about bashing people for what they do it is about educating them to do it differently and besides I am pretty sure fifty years ago when flowers started to be imported in large numbers those growing the majority of flowers for sale in the UK felt exactly the same, it is just reverting back. A couple of florists with shops are backing the UK flower industry and selling nothing but British grown flowers so it is possible, there are high profile designer florists that are doing the same, we just need more of them to get onboard, after all it is the only planet we have and we need to look after it much better than we have done.

Busy morning so far, first get the ordered flowers done then out to feed the horses hay as the grass has pretty much been eaten off and with no sign of any rain or sun it’s not growing much then sort out printing QR codes for the flowers in the shed to make it easier for payment and then sit down and order some floristry supplies. Trying to remember everything I need to order is key I really should write it down as I go but no 🤪 I already have a slow stream of orders coming in for Mothers Day flowers and I need to make sure I have enough string and raffia, I also need to work out exactly how many orders I can realistically process before I get carried away 😂 By this time it is lunchtime and I am starving but I need to go through messages and emails first to make sure I don’t miss anything.

Seasonal, British grown cut flowers and pussy willow, Flowers at Friesland Farm.

Tuesday: A lovely day, I spent some time in the greenhouse in the morning dividing up plants then a little bit of cutting back dead stuff in the flowers beds. I have to confess that I have also been reading quite a lot, normally it would be reading up on things or learning something new but this time it was pure fiction. I tend to binge read 😂 I won’t read for weeks or even months and then once I start I don’t stop very readily especially if it is a series of books. In the last few days I have just read four, yes four books in a series that is new to me. I am one of those people who resent any interruption while I am reading so intensely too, stopping to do household or farm chores is a necessary irritation though. The only interruptions that are not resented are visits from the children and grandchildren 🥰 And yesterday afternoon Shelley, Josh and Flo came over and we had a lovely walk down the lane and back, it almost felt like it was fully spring (but I won’t be fooled) The kids then helped me fill a large sack of hay and take it out to the horses filling up the water buckets while we were there. Flo is definitely an outdoor girl happily helping with the task while chatting away, Josh preferred climbing things and dragging large branches around 😂

Wednesday: A frosty start but the sun soon came out and it was very pleasant for a good few hours. I did a bit of gardening, one new bed around the side got particular attention, bulbs planted as well as a couple of evergreen shrubs plus cutting back dead stuff and mulching with woodchip. It is only a small bed near the back of the building but it can be seen from the gateway so I thought evergreen would look nice all year round. I planted a skimmia and a lemon and lime nandina 😁 A delivery of ballast arrived at some point during the day and then late afternoon I went for some Bowen therapy which is always something to look forward too.

Thursday: A bit of a dank start to the day today the forecast is drizzle I think. There are plenty of jobs on my to do list but I think I should divide the list into ‘want to do’ and ‘don’t really want to do’ 😂 or ‘want to do but can’t’ and ‘don’t want to do but can’ 😝 I really want to be sowing seeds but I am holding off. The average last frost date range is April 11th – 20th in my location, that means I need to work back six weeks to find my optimum seed sowing date, if I go for a date in the middle of that range it takes me back to March 4th so I am a couple of weeks away from that. The reason for this timeline is that seeds that are sown are generally plants that are big enough to go out in six weeks time, the weather needs to be good so that the new plants do not get damaged or frosted which would undo all the hard work you did in the first place. Then there are the amount of daylight hours needed, the more there are the better the plants will grow, short and strong as opposed to weak and leggy. There are plenty of seeds that can also be sown direct in March and of course you can grow seeds with some sort of heat, even indoors with the domestic heating on but they do all need the light (once sprouted) for strength after all that’s how they produce the energy to grow. I know all of this and yet I am still tempted to get something sown 🤪 but I also know that later sown seeds will readily catch up 😁

I spent the evening getting flowers ready for tomorrow morning as I am off out for the day.

Friday: A busy couple of hours first thing getting everything done and the flowers out for sale, I then spent a lovely day with all six grandchildren and parents at the Cotswold Wildlife Park. This is just five minutes down the road from me and so it is quick and easy to decide if the weather is going to be ok enough for the day. It was a little windy but apart from that it was a great day out, it is a lot of walking and I was impressed with how even the twins managed five hours of wandering round. For anyone not familiar with the park and wondering if it is worth the trip it definitely is, I think it is one of the best value for money parks around. You can literally spend all day there and just about cover everything and there is a lot of different things to do, reptiles, bats, penguins, lions, giraffes, zebras, farmyard animals, train ride, play park and the coffee is decent 😁 I was whacked when I got home and fell asleep mid evening 😂

I am a lucky Nana 🥰

Saturday: Another decent day apart from a strong breeze, I spent most of the morning in the greenhouse which was pleasant and out of the wind. I have sown some seeds 🤪 sweet peas & snap dragons which are indoors on the window sill, I pricked out some sweet Williams that have been growing over winter and sorted out some seeds that I saved from plants last year. I did do a little bit outside that was mostly cutting back dead stuff and pulling up annual plants that have gone over, a little bit here and there will get me ahead.

Sunday: Again the weather is fooling us with its charm, a decent day that was really nice once the sun came out. We did the morning jobs and then went out for breakfast and got on again once we returned. I spent some time in the greenhouse sorting out seeds that I had collected from plants at the end of last year and then a good amount of time in the garden tidying up the cold frame area. This is where I keep plants over winter that I dug up or divided in Autumn, they end up covered in a blanket of leaves and now is a good time to get that sorted as it will start to harbour pests. I did find a bright green caterpillar that had been devouring some small plants 😏 and plenty of slugs and snails, they have all been gathered up with the leaves and deposited elsewhere away from the plants. Some of the plants I labelled up and put out for sale along with the seeds I had packeted up. Shelley, Martin and the children called in for a cuppa late afternoon, they helped Grampy with the feeding and egg collecting and when they left we went to Charlie and Maccas for a roast dinner 🥰

Another week over and a new one about to begin, have a lovely week everyone.

Posted in Friesland Farm

Plenty of hearts and flowers this week 🥰

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 6th February 2023: The temps dipped to below freezing again last night but the sun is out so that makes you chirpy. I jumped in the shower after breakfast and when I came back to the kitchen John told me the horse had got into the front paddock. They are only allowed in there when it is electrified so that they don’t eat my fruit trees that have been growing for five years. I dried my hair in quick fashion and went out to get hay and get the horse back where it belonged, I needed to find a spare rail as it had been broken during the escape to pastures new, not greener as it was all frozen just like the rest of the paddocks. When I got back inside after getting that done I felt my hair, some of it was frozen where it hadn’t quite dried 😂 I was only out there for a maximum of 15 minutes.

Tuesday: Another frosty frozen morning but I was up early to get some tribute flowers done for a customer first thing then once I had done that and then the eggs plus feed the cats and dogs I sat down with tea and toast 😁

I got some hoovering and polish done and then the girls arrived along with Oscar and we went out for a walk. The sun was shining though it was still on the cold side but nice enough. We saw a small herd of around 10 deer in one of the fields, they all stood watching us from afar but you could still make out the stag with his antlers standing proud above all their heads. I think they were red deer, they looked dark in colour rather than pale like fallow deer but we were quite far away so couldn’t be certain. They were definitely big unlike the muntjac that we always see plenty of when we are driving around the lanes.

Natural, heart shaped, 100% compostable, sustainable, tribute flowers.
Natural and 100% compostable tribute flowers for a customer today.

I have another natural heart to make but this time it is for valentines to hang on the front door ❤️

Wednesday: It is like a Winter wonderland out there this morning, very cold but very beautiful. The fog is heavy and white and everything is frozen in time, beautiful frozen spider webs hanging everywhere 😍 The horses were vocal when I took their hay out to them, it was only 7.30 but I am sure they were saying ‘about time too’.

Not sure what I am going to do today, I am hoping the sun will come out and burn off the fog but it’s pretty heavy so I don’t know if that will happen. It is very cold out there so I am not planning on any outside jobs at the minute 🙄

Almost midday and the fog is worse I think 😂 and it is still freezing out there so I have spent the morning working on business posts and ideas for the flowers. I have a few orders coming in which is fabulous but it’s always a good idea to generate future work 😁 My head is buzzing with ideas and I often think about going on a floristry course but I also think that I love having the unrestrained free flowing ability to create things how I want to and not how it’s taught, the jury is still out on that one 🤪

The sun broke through mid afternoon ☀️ better late than never.

I have had some ranunculus corms soaking on the windowsill, I planted some in autumn outside in the tunnels but I kept some back just in case. The mice love to eat the corms and the weather reeks havoc with the foliage so I hedged my bets and saved some for spring planting. I planted them up yesterday into a shallow tray of soil and covered them, they are in the kitchen and hopefully I can pre sprout them before planting out in a few weeks time. That’s the plan anyway, ranunculus are the most beautiful flowers and it would be nice to get a really good crop this year so I am trying everything. I dug up a couple of stinging nettles that had taken hold on one of the raised beds. I couldn’t dig it out when everything was growing madly but I also had a job to cut the flowers near the stingers 🤪 so I have waited until all the foliage has died back and then dug them out. It’s surprising how quickly they become a strong plant very often growing away nicely through winter when everything else has died back. Nettles are of course a good indicator of fertile soil so that’s a bonus but even so I don’t want them there.

Thursday: Not frozen this morning yay 😀 I had looked at the weather and the sun will be out and so I got three loads of washing done so that I could get it on the line a d dry as much as possible outside. I also made two heart bases for flowers that have been ordered for this weekend, working with natural materials mean you never get exactly the same thing twice, that’s what makes them natural and bespoke.

These are the bases that the flowers are then attached to, same material, but two slightly different shapes emerge.

Friday: Up early to get the Friday flowers all arranged, wrapped and then out for sale. Once I finished that then tidied away and got all the other jobs done I just had time for a cuppa before Oscar arrived. I looked after him today while Charlie and Macca had some r&r which was Maccas birthday present.

Saturday: Not frosty this morning 😁 and some average temperatures for the time of year forecast today. Once again after getting all the morning jobs done and putting flowers out for sale I got on with an order for a year that is being collected later. I also did one yesterday that will be going on a door for valentines ❤️

I spent a very happy few hours in the greenhouse 😁 first of all cleaning down the shelving, sweeping away cobwebs and dust, sorting any rubbish and putting things away neatly. Then onto potting up some plants that had arrived at the end of last year and I hadn’t got round to doing. Luckily they are fine and there are actually signs of growth on them all, they are all perennials that will be part of the flowers for cutting. Flower farming is a combination of annual flowers which tend to be quick growing, bright and showy but short lived, perennials which are slower growing but flower over a longer period and of course come back each year. Then there is foliage which is generally perennial (evergreen & deciduous) but takes an age to get to any size which is where herbs come in, quicker growing, perennial and they smell amazing 🥰 Many gardeners grow a combination of all these the trick when you are ‘farming’ them is to make sure you have successional sowings and blooms, easier said than done 🤪

Sunday: Another decent day weather wise though we didn’t get much done outside. A quick food shop first thing followed by coffee and breakfast out, back home to unpack the shopping and get a few things done (I can’t even remember what) John tided up some bits in the front driveway and then once finished we went to the garden centre as there were some seeds I wanted to get (and I also got some I didn’t even know I needed 😂) I could not believe the price of seeds, mostly I save seed from what I grew before but there were a couple of annuals that I couldn’t get seed from because I left it too late. I do have a good selection of collected seed though and I think I might package some to put out for sale. Once back home we sat down for a cuppa just as Shelley, Martin and the children arrived followed not long after by Charlie, Macca and Oscar. Charlie had come to collect a heart that I had made for her for Valentine’s Day, this one will hang on her front door. Shelley and Martin had been over to Diddly Squat Farm, we have been binge watching the second series. Sadly I am not shocked at the way the planners and some of the locals have treated the whole situation. They need to look beyond the fact that he is a celebrity and wether you like him or not he is doing a fantastic job sticking up for British farming. Planning have thwarted him at every turn and the ridiculous situations and procedures that farmers have to follow regarding TB, bird flu, moving dirt from one area of the farm to another borders on hysterical except we know that it’s not funny because farmers are going under. We need to take a good long look at farming in the UK, remember back during the war when the country really needed them and their skills to keep everyone alive well it’s not beyond the realms of reality that the same could happen again 🙄

A heart for Valentines, for the front door this time 🥰
Posted in Friesland Farm

Getting some work done, Friday Flowers & a small disaster or two 🤪

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 30th January 2023: I decided today was the day to start getting on outside well in the tunnels actually. The weather is fair for the time of year and it’s not raining so it seemed like a good idea. I did all the bits that needed doing inside before venturing out to cut back all the chrysanthemums in the small tunnel, they will go back outside once the weather is a little better and I will feed and water them then. In the big tunnel the anemone and ranunculus are coming through slowly, it’s still a bit too cold for them to be doing much but they are making an effort and the anemone have even started to flower although the stems are short. I did some weeding in there as well but in all honesty there was not much to get my teeth into. Onto the greenhouse and that’s when the deflation set in as a mouse has eaten pretty much everything that I had growing 😏 try as I might I cannot keep the mice out of there and I even put things up on racks to try and stop them but with no success. Some tulip bulbs and elephant garlic has been eaten along with seeds and seedlings. I reason with myself that there is plenty that has survived the winter but still it is a pain in the proverbial and a set back. I have decided that I will not do autumn sowings again though as it just isn’t worth the hassle better to concentrate on spring sowings and hope for better success. It is a constant battle against nature and better to pick the battles you might actually win I suppose. It is too early to tell what exactly has survived in the garden yet but I suspect most things are ok, those that didn’t make it will perhaps need some rethinking, do I try again or not bother and find an alternative that will, I think I know the answer to that one 😁

A quick look round the garden areas and I can see plenty of spring bulbs pushing their way upwards, there is a lot of cutting back to do but I am reluctant to start that just yet. Insects are still hibernating and all that dead stuff is providing cover not just for them but for the roots of plants as well, the temptation is strong though 🤪

Yep it was too strong 😂 so I went out and did a good few hours of cutting back dead stuff, I chop a lot of it up and leave it on the ground and I did find overwintering insects, some good, some not so good, for my plants anyway. I had to really force myself to stop, it’s like going to the gym after you haven’t been for months (or years) I am using muscles that have not been used all winter and they were feeling it.

I did go back out and mulch a few pots with some wood chip, I have a peach tree in a pot that has never produced a peach, a couple of small leaved lime trees and a winter flowering clematis which is just about to flower. If I mulch a few things a day they will all be ready to face whatever the weather throws our way 🙄

Tuesday: Another good session outside and I was able to get more washing dry on the line, winning 😁 I spent a good amount of time cutting back, tidying areas and mulching with woodchip. I got the slow cooker on the go first thing with some left over chicken and vegetables so I didn’t have to worry about stopping to sort the dinner later in the afternoon. The temperatures are pleasant for the time of year and I even have to take my coat off now and again when I get too hot. A few more days like these will mean I will be on course to meet spring 🥰

Wednesday 1st February: The weather is looking good for today again, dry and reasonable enough temperatures so I am planning to be outside a fair bit. I need to cut some foliage and anything else I can find as I have flowers arriving tomorrow ready for week end sales. These are grown by a family run business here in the south so although they are not mine they are still supporting the UK economy and hopefully my tulips, narcissi and hellebores will not take too long to appear.

Thursday: A sweet and sour morning lol, we had good wins on the premium binds, sweet 😁 news that the bird flu has jumped species into foxes and otters, sour 😏 the bad news keeps coming, interest rates going up again and water costs going up by 7.5% 🙄 the cost of living is getting higher and higher. The mass strikes are doing nothing but add to the problems, I have no doubt that each strike is for the right reasons but surely anyone can see that there is no way on Earth that all of these demands could ever be met across the board even if the government wanted to (I am not denying that they don’t) It boils down to the fact that the unions are wanting to bring the government down, fair enough but is the alternative going to be any better 🤷‍♀️ I seriously doubt it and somehow, someday the next generation will be paying for it. I guess it is like cooking dinner for a big family, you can please some of them some of the time but not all of them all of them time 🙄

Friday: I was awake early so figured I may as well get up and get on. I woke up and everything I needed to get done first thing was going round in my head so there was no way I would get back to sleep for another hour. I had flowers to organise for the Friday flower launch, four bunches composed, one hand tied for a regular customer sorted, three lots of jam jar flowers arranged. Then it was on to getting everything out to the farm gate and the sign at the end of the driveway, I got cramp in my hands when I was trying to jump it down there 🙄 Once that as done and all the tidying up done I had time for half a cup of tea before shooting off to get blood tests done. Six vials today 😂 as the hospital wanted to test and see why I am getting cramp all the time. I am pretty sure they will come back with no apparent reason and that I am just getting old 🤪 but you never know. The infection I had finally cleared up so there will be no need to drop my immune suppressants, yay. Back home for a cup of hot sweet tea to compensate for all that blood gone and then back on with the day.

It was all going so well and then not 🙄 I had decided to give some flowers away on the Facebook page, a simple question to answer and then names go into a draw, easy you would think. Then hackers started messaging everyone who had commented that they had won, I literally could not keep up with the notifications that kept rolling in from the hackers 😢 I had a mad half an hour or more of trying to delete it all and then change my password, put a message out so that nobody followed the fake links. I hate these people or more likely bots, not only do they damage a business reputation but make the business owner feel like crap. I thought I would do a good thing but it ended up shite so I won’t be doing that again sadly, I found it all rather deflating not to mention stressful.

At dusk John was putting the birds away and I was getting the flowers in when our dog started barking furiously at the roadside. We had a look and a car had stopped because there was a dog on the road, I didn’t recognise it but took it back with me into the yard to keep it safe from the traffic. It actually lives over the road but I had never taken any notice (note to self be more aware lol) We could hear our neighbour calling for it and reunited them, another strange dog episode as she said the dog never gets out, first ours then theirs, strange goings on.

Bunches of British grown flowers and foliage ready for sale for ‘Friday Flowers’ Flowers at Friesland Farm Shilton Oxon
Friday flowers 🥰
Jam jars filled and ready for sale for ‘Friday Flowers’
Jam jar flowers

Saturday: A busy morning first thing with customers coming for flowers, I am so chuffed that the first week has gone so well and excited for the rest of the flower year to see what that brings (no more competitions though 😂) John did the feed run after he had to go and fix a burst pipe that is. In between customers I sorted out the ranunculus corms to soak, some I planted in Autumn and they are coming up nicely in the tunnel along with the anemones. Then I sorted the pots of hyacinths which are just breaking the surface and will be some lovely first flowers for using in various ways. The temps are set to dip low again in the first part of the week, it is still winter I suppose 😏 but hopefully after that they will steadily climb upwards and everything will start to spring into life.

Sunday: A frosty start but the sun soon melted that away and it was a lovely day. I spent the morning in the garden, tidying, weeding, cutting back plenty of dead stuff. I can see new growth coming through on plenty of plants which is fabulous. I checked over the bulbs I had planted especially for cutting and most of them are breaking the surface nicely, one bed is suspiciously devoid of any growth and the bulbs have probably been eaten. Ranunculus are particularly tasty to mice and although I do have some coming up I suspect a lot of them have been snacked on. However I did keep some back and they are currently on the windowsill soaking in water to rehydrate them, they will then go on a shallow tray of soil and be pre sprouted before being planted up. I hope to guarantee a crop that way but you never know. It always seems that the loveliest of flowers is also lovely to every other living thing around 🤪 John has been cleaning out the birds and also working on the workshop area, someone has already asked about using it to teach a bee keeping course so I am thinking it was a good decision though I have yet to work out how everything will proceed.

Posted in Friesland Farm

A disappearing dog and a trip away.

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday January 23rd 2023: It’s still bloody cold outside 🥶 I can’t wait for it to warm up a bit, the areas in the shade are not even thawing out during the daytime at the minute. Mentally I am ready to get on with the work outside but physically I know my hands and feet will suffer so I am holding off.

Apparently between 5 & 6pm tonight there will be a big demand on energy due to the cold weather, if you are signed up (and you need a smart meter) you can get paid to reduce your consumption considerably during this hour. Even if you are not signed up perhaps it would be a good idea to help reduce the load anyway, going forward I think we will be seeing a lot more of this kind of request. We are quite careful with our energy consumption but there is always more we could and should be doing. One problem I find is that the damn plugs for everything are always behind the appliances meaning it is difficult if not impossible to get to some of them and switch them off at the wall.

Tuesday: Still cold 🥶 around -8 last night and I am officially sick of the freezing temps now lol. Luckily there is nice bright blue sky and sunshine today but it still feels very cold indeed.

I had a phone call mid afternoon from a vet to say that someone had picked up Mia on the road near the Cotswold wildlife park and taken her to them. This is so weird, Mia never goes anywhere as a general rule. The only time she has run off before is when I used the staple gun and we soon realised that she didn’t like that noise and so were always careful to shut her in if anything like that was ever going to be used. So for her to have not only run off but to have gone so far down the way is odd. I imagine she has gone across the fields which eventually ends up on the A361, luckily she was just sat there, a man watched for a while to see if anyone was with her and decided they weren’t so put her in his car and took her to the nearest vets. The horses were also a bit frisky in the paddock so I am wondering if there was something or someone out there 🤷‍♀️ but I couldn’t see anything at all. I will have to watch her all the time now for a while just to make sure she doesn’t do it again. It could have been that she heard me talking to John about giving her a bath last night 😂 she really needs one but it’s a bit cold at the minute.

Thursday: It’s definitely a little warmer than of late but not much, the sun made a splendid appearance though which was a welcome sight. I have been keeping a very close eye on the dog and I have had to call her for quite a while a least once. Goodness knows what she is up too but is obviously in the furthest part of the farm 🤷‍♀️ Charlie and Oscar visited today, they are looking after the place tomorrow through to Saturday while we go away over night. Sam also came over and we popped to town for a mooch and a coffee. Once back home I sorted out the Guinea pig who is on his lonesome now his friend has died and sorted the horses water as well as plenty of other general jobs before the twins arrived for their Thursday sesh. Last night I had a zoom meeting for an hour and a half and I have another one tonight on growing flowers in the polytunnel. There is plenty of info out there about growing veg in a tunnel but very little on extending the flower season in a tunnel, something something that the group I am with is trying to change 😁

Friday: We went away overnight, not very far but it was nice to do something different. We went to Chipping Cambden which is only about 40 minutes away, never been there before but it is a delightful Cotswold town full of lovely old buildings, boutique shops and places to eat. It is definitely worth a visit if you are ever in the area and I can recommend the Eight Bells for great food, great service and great atmosphere.

Chipping Cambden

Saturday: We retuned home just before lunchtime, Charlie and Macca had been looking after the place and done a great job. We had the afternoon to sort ourselves out before Josh and Florence came over at tea time for a sleep over.

Sunday: I haven’t done much today apart from a few rounds of breakfast

Posted in Friesland Farm

Rain, lots of learning & and holibob booked.

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Tuesday 10th January 2023: I am feeling a lot better now but the weather leaves a lot to be desired doesn’t it? I am of an age now though when I am totally at peace with ‘what doesn’t get done today will eventually get done at some point’ so don’t stress over it life is too short for that. There is plenty that I could be doing outside but it’s too wet and so it can wait until it is pleasant enough to go out and do it which will be far more enjoyable. I can find lots to do inside and I can find lots to research, read up on or plan which is exactly what I have been doing. I have done some costings for the workshops and roughly planned the times of the year when I will do them, I have made a note of significant flower dates through the year so I know when they are and I have brushed up on some skills so you see I have not been idle at all. Yesterday morning I spent the time sorting out all of the dried flowers I had hung at the end of the season, they are now all nicely stored and ready to do something with when the time comes and the dried flower area is clear ready for hanging the next lot though that won’t be for a while yet. I invested a tiny amount of my profit in a lighting ring to take better photos, I did one practice photo this morning and it is going to make such a difference. All I did was take a snap of clutter on the side but the with and without shots are so different that I can see it was a worthwhile purchase. I also bought a ground auger which attaches to a drill to plant bulbs, again a game changer as you can plant soo many more in less time plus the auger is doing all the hard work for you (especially on this ground which is very difficult to dig in places) I have a lot of bulbs left over and want to put them all down the driveway but having planted some before I know that it is hard work, hopefully this will be a much easier way 🤷‍♀️ I do keep looking at the garden thinking I need to do some cutting back and some weeding but I am also aware that plenty of insects will be hibernating or overwintering in all that dead stuff so I don’t want to disturb them too early, I need to get the balance right. The insect population is in massive decline 😞 we need to be doing all we can to increase diversity in our garden areas. We all know about what plants butterfly’s and bees like but there are thousands more insects that need our support, ground dwellers need healthy soil and plenty of cover or decaying debris, pollinators need a wide range of different types of flowers and foliage. I believe it is up to us to provide a rich diverse garden area to increase the different species of insects and their volume, this is regeneration.

Friday 13th: The weather is shocking lol, rain and lots of it, plenty of water sitting in our paddocks and the Ford in the village is about to spill over I think 🙄 especially if we get as much as is forecast tomorrow. What have I been up to over the past couple of days, well I would like to say I had been outside working on the garden but I haven’t. I figure that it will all wait until the weather is a little more settled and nicer, I have become a fair weather gardener over the last few years. I no longer want to get soaked or end up with chilblains on my feet or have hands that are so numb they take an age to get the feeling back, nope I am definitely moving into my wiser years 😂 Instead I have been finding plenty of jobs indoors including clearing through my entire wardrobe and finally getting rid of stuff I either don’t like or doesn’t fit (and I hang on to it in case one day it miraculously does 🤪) all gone and it feels great. I will be continuing to move through the house with the same determination to declutter everywhere.

I was unaware it was Friday 13th until I typed the date ☝️ up there but it seems fitting somehow that today was the day I chose to begin an online course in funeral flowers 🤷‍♀️ I have no idea what really prompted me to do it but I figured it was another string to my bow. The course is all about sustainable, compostable methods and is geared towards, but not exclusively for, natural or green burials, it seemed fitting somehow and I figured any skills and tips were transferable to other areas so it was a no brainer really 😁

Saturday: More rain, high winds urrrggh I am so done with winter already 🤪 It does offer me the opportunity to stay in the warm and do something useful though. So plenty of learning on the online course which I have to say is very comprehensive and informative I am so glad I decided to do it and as I suspected there are skill transfer opportunities all the way through so great value for money in my opinion. I have also spent some time researching various plants and flowers as well as looking through lots of social media (flower related naturally) watching you tube sessions and listening to podcasts of various types. Yes that is what winters are for I think but still I eagerly await the warmer days. I have also ordered some British grown flowers so that I can have a play and a practise doing a few things 🥰 that will feed my flower habit for a bit. To be honest I have to do some homework/task for the online course using what is available at this time of year, I do have some bits in the garden but I don’t have any narcissi out yet and I want to have a go at using those as well so I ordered some in. I was really saddened to see that one of the cottages in the village was having some landscaping done and had all the mature shrubs ripped out 😢 omg I used to walk past and think ‘look at those lovely specimens, I would love to be able to cut some of those’ I wish I had been there when they started ripping them out, I would have told them I will come and get them, a piece with a root would have been enough. I don’t know what they are replacing the lovely old walls and shrubs with but I can hazard a guess that it will be pretty sterile now 😔 There should be laws against it lol or at least proper consultation with someone who has half an idea about nature 😭

Sunday: Not a bad day weather wise, no rain at least 🤪 I did a quick online workshop for making reels 🙄 this has become more important as time has gone on as the algorithms favour these kind of posts over stills. To be honest I just like to keep up (as best as possible) with technology and it’s avenues, it is surprising how quickly you get left behind otherwise. I put some beef in the slow cooker and we went to my sisters for a mid morning coffee where we got waylaid and booked a holiday while we were there 😁 John is very happy now we have one on the calendar and we will be booking another for later in the year. It is a big year for us, John will be 60 😳 in June and we will have been married for 40 years (how the heck did that happen 🤷‍♀️) I have secured myself some rubies to mark the occasion 😉 and I feel we deserve a few nice holidays and day trips this year of all years 🥰 Shelley, Martin and the children walked over to visit in the afternoon (I did invite them for dinner but they were already going to Martins Mums) and once they had gone we had a lovely roast dinner with a crumble for after. The temperatures are set to plummet tonight, a lot lower than they have been anyway but with that should come sunshine tomorrow ☀️ so I will look forward to that.

No photos this week as I haven’t taken any but I will try and remedy that, in the meantime:

Posted in Friesland Farm

2023 🥳 Happy New Year

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Friday 6th January 2023: We are already the first week into the new year, a time for new beginnings, hopes, dreams and plans. I will briefly recap what happened since I last blogged.

The day after returning from Lapland I came down with a bug, nothing surprising there really but it went on for days and days, nausea, cold, shivering, extreme tiredness, not really what you want in the run up to Christmas as I could barely function. Couple that with the minus temperatures all week long and the difficulties of getting water to the animals every day and life was a tad difficult for a while. I had Christmas table decorations to get made for orders but I could hardly function normally let alone creatively. I had also agreed to make something for the church pulpit from dried flowers.

Thursday 15th December: The temp on the van was registering -10 at 7.30am this morning so what it went down to overnight is anyones guess. This year has definitely been extremes in temperature, I think that might be the coldest we have had here. Hopefully today it is going to get above 0 which will be a massive help because trying to get water to all the animals is bloody difficult I can tell you.

At one point I did think I would have to cancel the Christmas orders or at least put them off but by the designated date I was able to get them all made and off to customers so that was good. It made me realise that I probably would strike weddings off my possibility list because if the Lupus flared I would not be able to fulfil the order and I wouldn’t want that.

I just about felt well enough by the 20th to go out and get the last of the Christmas shopping bits and I never normally leave it that late. By the 23rd I was feeling normal and looking forward the the festivities, we had Christmas carols that evening round the pond which has a Christmas tree in the middle which was a lovely start to Christmas. A lovely relaxed Christmas Eve, Charlie, Macca and Oscar for Christmas Day and then everyone for Boxing Day breakfast and round to Shelley’s for supper in the evening. I was feeling very content, happy and lucky, we went round to my sisters the day after Boxing Day and by now I had developed a tiny irritating cough but nothing too much. Well the cough got worse, much worse, to the point where I was having to hold my side during coughing fits as I was afraid it would herniate, I couldn’t sit down or lie down without spasmodic coughing fits that became continuous. Along with this came sinusitis, a fuzzy head, loss of hearing and I went though a whole pack of toilet rolls just getting rid of the mucus. I felt pretty sorry for myself and was mostly confined to the sofa for what seemed like an eternity. It’s a good job we didn’t have NYE plans and we were supposed to go to Charlie for New Year’s Day dinner but she was ill and so we didn’t go until the following day. All in all Christmas has been about illness and not just for me as I know lots of people who have had similar experiences and are struggling to shrug the bugs off.

I am still not well, better but not well and as luck would have it I had a telephone appointment with the rheumatology dept on the 4th. That was actually pretty constructive and thorough, the upshot is that because I am on the immune suppressants my body can’t fight off the bugs successfully. I have also had an ongoing UTI which at this point I have had three lots of antibiotics for but I can’t shift it. No wonder I feel so poorly, there will be a meeting to discuss how to treat me, it will be a tightrope walk 🙄 Basically in order for my body to fight these infections I will probably need to come off the immune suppressants in order for the antibiotics to work but that in turn could then trigger a Lupus flare, I am stuck between the devil and the deep blue sea. Obviously I need my body to repair and I don’t think it is going to do that while I am on the medication, the gamble will be how long to I stop it for before it becomes too long 🤷‍♀️

What else happened over Christmas, well we had a weird thing happen when I couldn’t find Diesel’s bowl one morning. He gets fed by the back door and has a stainless steel bowl, this particular morning it was gone and despite searching for it I could not find it. So I found another bowl and used that for his morning and the night feed, the next morning that bowl was gone as well 🤪 I imagine it was a fox that carried them off but where too that is the question. We did find one right at he back in one of the paddocks but never found the other yet. One of those nights I woke up at 1.30 with a coughing fit and could hear something up on the roof, I went into the boot room and the dogs and cats were fast asleep so it wasn’t any of them, also not human otherwise the dogs would have been barking. It was definitely heavier than squirrels or birds so again I am thinking the fox was up there maybe eating the last of the apples that were on the roof still. I told John in the morning and he said ‘didn’t you go out and have a look’ no I bloody didn’t lol, I have watched too many horror films to be that stupid 😂

John has been busy, while I was incapacitated, taking down the partitions in the stable area in order to rebuild it into a work shop for the flowers. He also had to do everything else bless him as I literally could not do anything. Normally I would have spent the time planning the year ahead and working out what I want to get done, what needs planting/sowing and this year what workshops I want to offer but I have not been able to do any of that at all. I have bulbs that arrived that are just sat outside, I have not checked on any of the seeds or bulbs I had already sown for at least a month now but none of that can be helped and I am sure I will catch up at some point. The weather apart from that very cold snap has been mild, mild means plenty of rain, plenty of rain means the front paddock has a lake in it, standard stuff for winter.

That in a nutshell is how the last month has gone for me, illness, Christmas, more illness and not a lot else getting done at all. But as always I am not one to be defeated and so I will keep doing what I can in bite size pieces until I get to where I need to be 😁 I want to be offering various flower workshops this year coming, I want to increase the amount of flowers I sell and I want to make sure I have flowers available on a regular basis so that customers know when they can come and get them. I am looking forward to this next year and seeing what it brings plus I will be getting back on track with the home grown veg which went a little by the by last year, those are my plans at least, we will see how they go.

Today I am going to be clearing and tidying the office/craft room which has become clogged with all manner of things. Dried flowers, craft stuff, Christmas stuff, it all needs sorting and putting away so that I can see what is what in there again. I was going to go out with the girls today but I have decided that I need to limit the possibility of picking up any more bugs. Firstly I don’t think my body can handle much more and secondly I would worry about my chances if I had to end up in hospital with the state of things at the minute 😔 I don’t think the outlook would be good to be honest. The state of the NHS has been a hotly talked about topic as you can imagine, my take on it is that undoubtedly there has been a lack of funding but I also think there is far more to it than that. Purely from a laypersons point of view the system is broken in so many areas it would be difficult to know where to start. It needs looking at from a fresh point of view instead of trying to patch up the holes, easier said than done but maybe that is what happens with anything, a system reaches capacity, collapses and a new system is born.

We have had the first goose egg of the year, that is ridiculously early but as it is so mild not unexpected to be honest.

We are well into the New Year and so as I publish this today I have some exciting plans to look forward to and implement, I already have enquiries coming in which is both fabulous and daunting at the same time 😂 but ‘go big or go home’ Charlie has told me so here I am jumping in both feet first 🤪

Posted in Friesland Farm

Rain, wreath evenings & wet feet.

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 21st November 2023: What a soggy miserable day it was today, rain from dawn to dusk and beyond. I was not about to go outside and do anything in that sort of weather so I busied myself indoors for the morning, finding any little job that needed doing. Charlotte came over at lunchtime, we had some soup and then I went with her while she did her weekly shop, me pushing Oscar and Charlie pushing the trolley. I did get a diary and a calendar for next year while I was there, it has got to that time of year when dates need writing down.

Tuesday: A better day today, dry, sunny but cold. I spent most of the day cutting various foliage including rose hips which all had to be de thorned 😂 I am hoping that there will be enough diversity to appeal to everyone and that individual personality will shine through in each wreath made 🥰

Wednesday: Another filthy day 😂 honestly torrential downpours, hail, wind, yuk. Consequently I did not do much outside 🤪 sod that for a game of soldiers, I spent my time indoors cleaning and finding indoor jobs to get on with. I am aware that the year is passing buy so quickly and I have got plenty to do outdoors but I also reason with myself that a lot of it can wait until spring. There is nothing wrong with leaving all the dead stuff standing in situ in fact it is more beneficial to the wildlife that way. There will be plenty of insects overwintering in dead foliage and they are best left undisturbed. It is also better for the soil structure if it has partial covering, cleared ground gets pounded, compacts and then you get run off and leaching of nutrients all the more reason to wait. Besides I have plenty of other jobs to get sorted now we are fast approaching December with all the usual festive food to think about plus gift shopping.

Thursday: First thing this morning I spent an hour talking to myself 🤪 there was a good reason and I am not going mad. It was time to get sorted and ready to teach the wreath workshops tomorrow so I spent an hour talking to myself as a result 😂 I missed up and mad up one wreath just to practise what I was going to say, then I spent the next hour cleaning up the pool room and sorting out as John would be using the table tonight. I had the twins after school and then dashed off for some Bowen therapy early evening. It was a good session with plenty worked on and it tired me out so I spent the evening on the sofa relaxing.

One thing I have been doing is looking up as much as I can about operation Grapple. These were nuclear tests done out in Christmas Islands during the latter half of the 1950’s, the reason I am interested is because my Dad was there serving in the Royal Navy at the time. The powers that be have now decided to recognise these veterans with a medal (Dads will be posthumous) I have applied for his service records and hopefully they will be found, they will be an interesting read. It’s is pretty shocking stuff to be honest, Dad went into national service and would have been 17/18 going on an adventure of a lifetime. It was an adventure and he loved it but I can’t help thinking that they were inadequately dressed and exposed to massive amounts of radiation 😔 Dad was one of the lucky ones and never had any illness resulting from his time there but thousands of servicemen did and many of their offspring too. It is also sad that it has taken this long to recognise their service at that time and that many of them are no longer here to personally receive that recognition. Does not matter if you agree with Nuclear testing or not those service personal had no choice but to do as they were ordered. They were allowed to take personal photos and I have seen the ones Dad took though he always told us that because he had signed the official secrets act they were to remain unseen by others. There are some there where the only clothes they have on are shirts and t shirts 😳 and the protective clothing would be laughed out of the storeroom these days. It is what it is and they did what they did and I am glad they are finally recognising it but did it have to take so long?

Friday: The sun is shining thank goodness, we have had some horrendous downpours, that’s all we get these days, torrential or nothing 🤪 I have been busy this morning preparing everything for the first wreath workshop tonight 🥰 I am looking forward to it, the mince pies are cooked, the mulled wine is ready to go, the foliage is all waiting to be used, the Christmas song playlist is good to go, bring on the fun and creativity.

One thing I have been mulling over was a post on social media whereby someone was looking for a ‘ reasonably priced’ wreath workshop. These things always start me thinking about how detached people are from the real cost of things, we are so used to cheap goods that we fail to see the value in anything worthy. Behind each workshop there is a lot of work that goes on, a lot of organising and there are costs. Most people doing workshops have already invested in learning how to make a wreath many years before then there are costs like insurance, heating, lighting, renting a space if you don’t have one. The cost of sundry materials such as wire, frames, fir cones, ribbon, feathers, dried oranges, moss and foliage or the time it takes to gather moss and foliage and in my case to cut and weave the willow frames. Then there is the setting up, the teaching and the clearing away. I am not sure that people fully understand what is involved but it’s not just a bit of greenery on a frame 😬 And besides once you have done a workshop you have the skill for life 🥰

In the evening I had the first of three wreath evening workshops and I can honestly say I really enjoyed it, I was a bit nervous at first but once into my stride I loved it. It was great to see people having never done one before produce something very worthy of hanging on the door during advent 😁

Saturday: I had round two of workshops in the evening but I mostly spent the day making wreaths and tidying up, collecting more greenery etc, it’s surprising how much it uses 😂 Saturday nights participants also went away with fabulous wreaths.

Sunday: Slightly tired today but once we had done all the morning jobs it was time to go and get my eyes tested. New glasses for me as my eyesight has deteriorated a little in two years which I was aware of. Then we called into my brothers for coffee, they happened to have breakfast on the go so we had a bacon roll as well😁 I had called in to cut some foliage from their garden and once we had cut that it was back home. My feet were soaking wet, I should have taken my wellies but didn’t think about it so although there were plenty of Christmas fayres on today I couldn’t go anywhere else really as I wanted to get back and get dry feet again. I had a restful afternoon as I was feeling pretty tired, I need to conserve energy for the rest of the week.

John has been busy over the weekend cleaning out the birds in various stages, we are only a couple of weeks in and already it feels like it has been going on for ages, poor birds 😔

That’s it this week, have a good one 😁

Posted in Friesland Farm

Mince pies, flower stand and a rainbow 🌈

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 14th November 2022: Time seems to be whizzing by 🙄 A dank and foggy morning this morning but we are due heavy rain at some point over the next couple of days and so I needed to cut flowers for a few bouquets mid week. There are still some beautiful flowers growing, the foliage is a little more of a struggle now but a bit of creative thinking does not go amiss. I also cleared the rest of the flowers from the big tunnel and the pepper plants. The peppers did so well this year with all that heat and we don’t even eat them 😂 I do free some just in case I want to use them but they are one of the foods that is not so good for my condition. It’s funny because I am not really keen on them anyway almost a natural instinct I reckon 🤷‍♀️ I then cleared out any flowers from the small tunnel that are not going to produce much from here on in, I tied in the chrysanthemums and cut a few small heads for drying. I am drying with Mother’s Day next year in mind as well as Christmas 😂 I need a site meeting with John to discuss the flower workshop, we will convert one of the stables and then at least everything will be in one place and my kitchen won’t end up in such a mess all the time 🤪 I popped in to make a coffee, opened the fridge to get some milk and the pears that I poached in a vanilla sugar syrup fell out and the syrup went all over the floor and hit every shelf in the fridge 😬 the day was going so well until then!

I spent the afternoon making dried flower wreaths, I wanted to use up what I already have to make way for the next lot that is drying. I am still having difficulty taking photos that do them any justice, wherever I try to take them either the light is bad or there is a shadow 🤷‍♀️

I have lost track of the days 🤪 it’s Wednesday today so what did I do yesterday 🤔 no idea 😂 must have done something though! Today I can remember 😁 I started off shovelling and raking some type one on the driveway. John has now finished the new path and we need to bring the levels up to match and so 6 ton of type one was deposited and John raked some if it. I made an effort and did do a bit before thinking enough was enough and went off to do something else. I cut some contorted hazel ready for the wreath evenings and I collected some eucalyptus bark to use as well. Eucalyptus naturally sheds its bark and is cinnamon in colour, as it dries it rolls and so is perfect for using on wreaths no air miles needed 😁 The farrier came today for the horses pedicures and I got the dinner early before going to have my covid booster and then rest for the evening.

Thursday: It has just rained and rained and now we have a little pond in the paddock, it’s not as bad as it has been in other years mind you as we have had a giant lake before now. Today is supposed to be dry so hopefully we get a bit of respite from getting a soaking all the time. I am going out for a coffee with Shelley so I don’t have much else planned, we may mooch around the shops as well 😬 mooching is pretty much all I will do as I am not a bigger shopper unless I need it I won’t be buying anything but it is nice to have a look round now and again.

The topic occupying my mind this morning is the limiting of eggs to customers in the supermarkets. Firstly the reports that it is down to bird flu is not entirely the whole story but as per usual the media only report the bit that they want to. Remember a good while back I said that feed costs were going up so much that businesses were struggling. Many of the smaller producers have given up and the bigger producers are losing money so it won’t be long before a lot of them give up too and I have seen big housing set ups for sale on the farming sites so it is already beginning 🙄 The next problem is that although the farmers costs have shot up, the price they are being paid by supermarkets has not (and this is not being reported but I can tell you it is very much talked about on social media) and they refuse to pay because eggs are a loss leader in the chains 😔 How sad that someone’s livelihood is a loss leader for others to start with. This is why it is so important to support your local small producers all the time and not just when there is a shortage in the supermarket. I can’t tell you how cross it makes me, back in the summer I was trying to push egg sales like crazy and I struggled to shift them but you can guarantee that I will see people who I haven’t seen before trying to buy eggs from us here now that there is a supply problem 😡 My thoughts then go to our regular, loyal customers and how do I best protect them and make sure there are plenty for them to buy 🤷‍♀️

Friday: Made six batches of shortcrust pastry ready for mince pie making. Sam came over with the twins at lunchtime.

Saturday: I spent the morning making mince pies, I had made batches of pastry late afternoon yesterday and put them in the fridge for today. 48 mince pies now rolled, filled and frozen ready for baking as necessary, I also have plenty of pastry in the freezer for maki g more at a later date. Lunchtime we went round to see Mum who was doing a craft sale of all the things she makes, the money was going to buy winter wear and energy bars for Ukrainian fighters 🥰

Sunday: We had such a good morning 😁 John has continually been raking a levelling type one and shingle and now that was done normal service could resume and so he cleaned out the chickens and the ducks lol. Meanwhile I burnt some rubbish and put some rubbish in the skip plus tidy up the back area. The we went out for breakfast, there was method in madness with that suggestion as I wanted to collect some bracken growing on the side of the road near the place we went to. We got a boot full of bracken and the. Spent the next couple of hours driving g around country lanes foraging for greenery for the wreaths. It was a lovely morning, the sun was out and it was a pleasant enough temperature. I found plenty of fabulous foliage to go with anything I will be cutting here on the farm, very happy with my haul. Came home and sorted it all into buckets of water and then no time to rest we went off to get some shopping as we were out of cat food and a few other bits. Back home and a well earned rest for a couple of hours before going round to Shelley’s for a roast 😁 and that’s the week over already.

At some point in the week my flower stand arrived and I put it together, it holds six buckets and is easily taken a part to transport. The uses I have in mind are for ‘pop up flowers’ if asked to, or for activities such as hand tied bouquet workshops for parties, hen dos or get togethers 🤷‍♀️ I will work on the wording for that 😂

A versatile addition to the flower farm 😁
Lovely rainbow today, driving up the lane we were hoping it was right on our place and the pot of gold would be waiting for us 🤪