Tag: sunshine

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 🤪
Posted in Friesland Farm

Wreaths, a new path and delphiniums in November!

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 7th November 2022: A new week, lockdown begins for the poultry 🫤 they have no idea why they are not allowed out but so far so good on day one 🙄 Apart from the rain at the exact point I had just got my outdoor attire on to go out and feed and collect eggs 😂

First thing this morning I went and cut plenty of willow and spent a few hours weaving 10 wreath bases 🤪 nearly there now just a few more to do and who knows I may carry on making them for other projects or even get a head start on next years 😂 I also spent a chunk of the afternoon doing social media stuff, it’s a large part of trying to get the word out there and getting any products sold, so if you follow the flower page please give it a share every now and then it would make a small business very happy 🥰

Tuesday: I spent some time in the greenhouse pricking out seedlings of snap dragons and cornflowers. I had one of those very crappy moments that most will have had when growing from seed, when the tray tips over 😭 and all the seedlings just become a jumbled mess 🤦‍♀️ I watered the bulbs in the big tunnel, the anemone and ranunculus are coming through nicely. I watered the chrysanthemums in the small tunnel, they are blooming fabulously and I definitely want to keep those going next year. I spent an hour on the phone to my brother in Australia, mostly with a black screen as he was trying to show me the Luna eclipse which kept going behind a cloud 😂 Our initial conversation was about solar power, which he installs over there and we have been looking into getting here. We had a quote which seemed pretty high and I was chewing over the finer details of the for and against with him and getting a better understanding of what we actually need if anything or if there are different ways to do things 🤷‍♀️

We have had some pretty torrential downpours today, Charlie got caught in one on her way over to me, she was picking me up to drop me off to have my hair cut I felt bad that she got wet on my account.

Nobody can have failed to notice the different weather patterns this year in the UK, it’s November and still no sign of frost in fact even the night time temps are above the average day time ones 🙄 The rain is usually torrential when it arrives in bursts and then the sun comes back out. It is COP27 this week and quite frankly they have not done enough in the last 27 years, I tried to find out exactly what had been achieved but it is hard to find concrete evidence. Putting it bluntly the foot needs to be slammed on the brake and none seem willing to do that. We are definitely rowing up sh*t creek with no paddle now and it’s only going to get worse 😔 My worry is not for myself but the generations that come after me, all we can do is try to prepare for what is ahead, they will need to work out how to survive in an ever increasing warming climate. What we are doing here is taking measures to make sure that the house does not get flooded by constant heavy rain, making sure we have enough water tanks for the drought part of the year and that the house stays cool enough to be bearable in the summer heat. Growing food so that we have something to eat just in case, it is definitely a shift from self sufficiency to being self reliant and self preservation. My brother said ‘try to be optimistic’ I try but I am failing, so my advice is to live on a hill, learn to grow food and provide for yourself 🤪

Well I started off well at the beginning of the week 😂 and then laspsed. The hard thing is trying to think back to what I did 🤷‍♀️ Ummmm 🤨 no idea 🤪 On Wednesday I did go for a walk with Sam and Shelley, a long walk for about an hour and a half, we were on the look out for anything to forage and found some tiny fir cones but not much else. I have spent some time in the greenhouse potting things on and pricking out seedlings. I have also spent some time cutting flowers and foliage for drying and then on Friday we went out for a few hours in the middle of the day but I have no idea what else apart from the usual I have done.

Saturday: A fairly busy day and I have to say a lovely warm day in November 🙄 John has been busy doing more of the path, the dog has been busy walking all over it when he wasn’t looking 😂 I could hear expletives 😬 I have put clean bedding in for the ducks, cleaned out some nesting boxes, got the scythe out and cut down some tall weeds and made some wreaths from ground weeds 😁 It was quite nice to get the scythe out, I didn’t do much but it is so much nicer and quieter than a strimmer. The wreaths I made are from what I think is hoary mustard but I need to wait for it to grow again next year to double check. It is a weed that sends out long growth, it is tough and so ideal for drying and making into wreaths. You can use a whole lot of different types of vine like stems, grape, hop, clematis and weeds, they make lovely wreaths and all with different character. Oh yes I also wove the last few willow wreaths that I need for the workshops, they are all done now and so anymore I do will be spare or to make wreaths to sell. You will be pleased to know that two of the unproductive hens have had a reprieve and gone to a new retirement home 🥰 If anyone else wants a retired hen or two let me know, I’d rather that than the alternative.

Wreath rings made from hoary mustard (I think)

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dawnepears0

You can now buy me a coffee (aka wine 🤪) I actually just thought I would have a look and see what it is all about but had to go through the joining process and so here is the link 😂 You can buy me a coffee if you are enjoying the blog but don’t feel like you should, you can always pop in for real coffee if you are in the area 😁

Delphiniums in November 🤷‍♀️ unseasonably warm weather we are having 🙄

Sunday: I spent the first part of the morning hoovering and polishing and then cutting some flowers for drying. I am running out of hanging space again 🤪 John was busy getting the last bit of the pathway concreted, it is now a lovely level, smooth path rather than the broken wonky one that was there before 😁 I also got everything ready for a roast dinner later before popping out to the garden centre to look for something specific. We called into see my brother and sister in law for a cuppa on the way home and then once back it was time to get the dinner going including a self saucing gluten free chocolate pudding. I wasn’t sure this was actually going to come out as it should so I also poached some pears in a vanilla syrup as a back up plan 😂 It did work out fine and so I sent some of the pears home with Charlie and kept a couple for myself for tomorrow 🥰

That is another week gone 🙄 Have a great week ahead x

Posted in Friesland Farm

Pumpkin flowers, wreaths & the clock change 🫤

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 24th October 2022: Ok I have been a little tardy with the blog posts apologies for that. I am feeling very ‘meh’ about everything at certain points in the day, generally late afternoon and evening when I would usually do the write up. I am more tired than usual, it’s starts off ok in the morning but slowly goes downhill through the day. So what has been happening, well not much really, all the usual day to day stuff that goes on in anyones life, all the usual day to day stuff that goes on in Smallholding life and none of it is very interesting 😂

I have decided I need to streamline my social media pages, I have one for the farm and one for the flowers but I think I will amalgamate them in the New Year. That will give me less of a fractured approach to posting provided the amalgamation goes smoothly that is. We have some small changes afoot here, nothing major and I will write about those when the times comes. I am awaiting the inevitable instruction to fully house the poultry at some point, a surveillance zone is already in force across the UK so it’s only a matter of time.

To be honest it feels like the whole world is caving in, the bird flu is affecting thousands of species of birds across Europe and maybe further I haven’t really looked it up. This could mean extinction for some species and that’s not an over exaggeration. Watching the Frozen Planet series about the ice melt all over the world and the accelerated rate it is happening is frightening. At the rate it is going now in 200 years time the sea level will be seven metres higher 😔 They say we could still slow this down if we all lived sustainably but that is not about to happen is it? There are individuals out there doing what they can and there are bigger organisations doing what they can but when a big majority don’t think it is going to affect them and carry on regardless then things will not change. Add to that the world governments obsessed with economic growth, which is basically consumer spending and investment, fine as long as they are mindful investments and expenditures it a big proportion won’t be, and you can see we are basically screwed. Then there are those demented power crazy lunatics in charge of some of the countries, we all know who they are they don’t need clarifying with names 🙄 All in all I feel we are on a road to disaster and I can’t shake the feeling, it’s a worry to be sure.

On a lighter note the flowers are still coming, the weather has been mild which is great for the dahlias. I have been making more pumpkin arrangements and I have a farewell wreath to make this week too.

Wednesday: Oops tardy again 🙄 I have been busy though especially today, pumpkin flower arrangement made first thing this morning then out to cut lots of lovely flowers for a farewell wreath for tomorrow and then hours and hours of paperwork 🤪 Each year I make myself a promise to keep on top of it, I always used to but these days work and life take over and I don’t have the time. Not quite true of course, I could make time, the truth is it’s not a job I want to be doing but then we get to that time of year when it becomes imperative that I get it sorted. That time is now, before life gets busy with festive preparations and so that is what I have been doing, all day long. I have at least another days work to do and then John can take it all to the accountant and I can breathe a sigh of relief.

Thursday: First things first this morning, the wreath of flowers for a farewell today. This was personal as it was for Sue’s ashes internment and I was nervous about doing it but very much wanted to do it justice. I was delighted with the outcome, a beautiful and bright tribute to a life now passed. Once I had done that it was time to cut flowers for pumpkin arrangements and then more paperwork. I only had a few hours but I was determined to break the back of the income and expenditures and get things all in order. I didn’t quite make it but only have a couple more hours to do and then the books will be finished and can go to the accountant. A quick shower mid afternoon and then off to the churchyard for the internment, the sun shine beautifully and it was a lovely autumn afternoon, very mild for the time of year too. We had some refreshments afterwards at a local pub and it was great to be able to put some names to faces. Many people I had heard about over the years but never actually met, some I had spoken on the phone to but never actually met and today we were able to get to know and understand who was who and where we all slotted in to the lives of Dad and Sue.

Friday: I spent the first half of the morning doing pumpkin flowers and then finished the last few bits of the bookkeeping to go to the accountant next week ✔️ Typing this up on Sunday I actually have no idea what else I did 🤷‍♀️

Saturday: I spent most of the day sorting out dried flowers, going through them all and throwing those that had broken, bent or just didn’t look good. Once I had done that I made another dried flower wreath and then sorted out all the things I had made that I will be taking to the table top sale next week. I just about hoovered and tided when the whole tribe descended upon us, Shelley and the kids, Sam and the kids and then Charlie, Macca and Oscar 😁 The kids had been to a party and so were full of sugar 🤪 Nice to have them all at once but the volume gets a bit loud 😂

Sunday: I watered the tunnels and greenhouse this morning as I still have flowers growing in those. Then onto cutting and weaving willow wreaths ready for the workshops. I actually managed to do a time lapse video of the process. John cleaned out the ducks and then concrete the next part of the path and then we went out get some lunch. Popped into Mums on the way home for a cuppa. Have to be home earlier today as the clocks went back last night and so it will be dark around 5ish today 🫤 bye bye summer.

Weaving willow wreath bases from willow grown here on the Smallholding 🥰
Posted in Friesland Farm

It’s definitely Autumn 🍂

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 3rd October 2022: What a beautiful morning, it started off with a pink sky which bathed everything in a glow at dawn this morning and then the sun came out in glorious autumn fashion. I decided a creative morning was in order and so I gathered up plenty of foliage to make an autumn wreath to hang on the door and then made a jam jar arrangement with what was left. There is so much vibrant colour at this time of year, tones and shades of red, orange, yellow and brown, just glorious. 🍂 I then cut some asters and chrysanthemums for drying, not sure what I will do with all this dried wonderfulness but I am hooked on the process. I then decided that as it was such a beautiful day I would go for a walk around the village. At this time of year the sun is lovely but it is not strong enough to do much harm and so off I went. I get out of the house and off the farm for a bit, I get a very pleasant wander round and I fulfil my target on my activity monitor as well as boosting my step count. The hedges were audibly buzzing with bees and insects all enjoying the Ivy, I didn’t see anyone else apart from some workmen and it was so peaceful it was good for the soul.

Did a bit more playing with flowers 😂 and then some bulb planting, allium this time. They will be for cutting next year but I did plant some in the ornamental beds 😉 I think I am becoming obsessed with all things flowery 😂

I have had a thoroughly enjoyable day today 😁 I would quite like to spend my whole time doing nothing but flowers 😂 This week I have flower club again and we are doing flower arrangements in a pumpkin. At first I was like ‘hmm not my sort of thing’ but I now I am looking forward to giving it a go and besides it’s all good practice.

Tuesday: Not such a nice day today as far as the weather goes. I was waiting for a delivery today and then got an email at lunchtime to say it is not co ing until tomorrow now. I hate it when that happens, I plan the day around something and it doesn’t happen 🙄 in this case it was a big job because it was whole fresh farm reared chickens being delivered and I had planned to portion them all before freezing. One of them was going to be roasted for dinner and at the same time I would have been cooking a batch bake of cakes for the freezer so you can see why my plans were messed up lol. Now I will be doing all that tomorrow instead. I decided to sow some vegetable seeds for winter and I have ordered onion sets and garlic bulbs to plant. I have come to the conclusion that things are going to get worse rather than better so let’s make sure we can at least eat even if it means cooking on the fire pit outside 🤪 I cut flowers today as well and while I was doing that I spotted a deer sat in the paddock, it’s a bit unusual for it to be sat in broad daylight in an open field. My thought was that it was injured so I shut the dogs away and went to have a look, it let me get quite close before getting up and running off, not injured thank goodness, it was obviously just basking in the sun that happened to be out at that time.

It let me get fairly close and didn’t seem too fazed 😍

Wednesday: I did a bouquet up in the morning ready for delivery later, popped out for an hour with Sam and just after I got back my meat delivery arrived. It took me a good couple of hours to portion out four fresh, free to roam chickens. I now have plenty of different portion types of chicken in the freezer, breast, thigh, drumsticks, wings plus the carcasses and the giblets. I roasted one of them whole for dinner in the evening and I also left another whole for a different day. The carcasses went into the slow cookers along with some thyme, onion, celery and carrot to make stock for soups, gravy, stews and broth. I also bought large packs of sausages and bacon and split those into portions for ease, everything was vacpacked and that will last months in the freezer. I do it like this because it’s more cost effective, I have the freezer space and I like higher welfare products, these were from Field & Flower as they guaranteed that the meat would be sent out fresh not frozen which meant I could portion it all out.

My Mum called in for a cuppa in the afternoon and to pick up some bulbs that I had dug up, gladioli and liatris plus I gave her some new bulbs of narcissi, I have way too many😂 Most of the rest of the day was taken up with cooking the dinner and tidying up before going to flower club in the evening. We made flower arrangements in a pumpkin, I have to say they all looked really colourful all together at the end of the evening 😁

Thursday: This morning I am wondering what the heck is happening to the country at the minute, it is almost as if gremlins are causing turbulence 😂 It’s like a pile of pick up sticks, a jumbled intertwined mess that seems impossible to unpick 🙄 More unions talking of strike action, at this rate it will only be the self employed that are working. We work without the safety of sick pay, holiday pay, maternity/paternity pay or pension contributions from elsewhere, we work long hours and work hard to keep businesses going. We have no direct representative, we do all our own bookkeeping and pay tax and national insurance just like everyone else. It is more difficult to get a mortgage when you are self employed and you jump through hoops to provide the proof and paperwork they want to make sure you can make the payments. There is no one to work in your place if you are off for whatever reason so a holiday is a double whammy, no wages, no holiday pay. We are not moaning, we are a tough breed and yes we chose to be self employed and face the difficulties. We do have freedom though, we are not bound by the rules, regulations, work hours or the etiquette of the workplace. Maybe that is why we are happy 🤷‍♀️

Friday: I went out for a couple of hours with Sam and the twins, we called in to see Charlie and Oscar and I bought some pumpkins to do some arrangements in as they seem pretty popular 😁

Saturday: A lovely day, warm for October and so I did a fair amount of work outside. Pulling some stuff up that has no more to give or that will collapse at the first frost, planting up plants in the beds and some in the big tunnel which will now be a flower tunnel. Clearing, weeding, tidying are the jobs that need doing at this time of year but not too tidy, the wildlife still need a lot of it left so they can get through winter.

I have been asked to sell my wares at a local Christmas table top sale. Never having done one before I thought, oh I don’t think I can do that 😂 then I had a word with myself and thought, of course I can 🙄 I am not sure what it is, I mean I am quite happy to sell them from the sanctuary of the Smallholding but actually getting out there and doing it seems a scary thought which is ridiculous I know but there you have it 🤷‍♀️

I am babysitting Oscar tonight 🥰 that in itself will be lovely but also means I get the remote control all to myself 🤪

Sunday: Another lovely autumn day and so I spent most of the day in the garden. Plenty of tidying up and cutting back but always leaving enough cover for the wildlife overwinter in. Some planting up, some seed collecting, some seed sowing and some cutting of flowers for drying. A very pleasant days work indeed followed by a delicious roast cooked by Charlie and Macca x

Have a great week everyone x

Posted in Friesland Farm

Seed sowing, apple picking and the weather is swinging back and forth.

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 26th September 2022: Arrghh where is the year disappearing too 🙄 I will try to be a bit more efficient with writing the blog this week 😂 Today the weather is squally, windy, rainy at times with the sun occasionally appearing and definitely a tad cooler. I did think though that today would be a good day to get some washing dry and apart from one dash to retrieve it from the line I managed to get two lots dry 😁 I also planted up a few plants, three to be precise before the rain started, and I have sown some sweet pea seeds (long stem) The dinner was in the slow cookers early on, chicken stew with dumplings for John and Parmesan chicken for me. I do love this time of year, it’s when you get to reap the rewards for all the veg growing and foraging. I also made a sponge pudding which will be cooked in the microwave, I cooked down some blackberries with sugar, they went into the bottom of the pudding basin and then a basic sponge mix with added diced apple mixed in went on the top. That will take only a few minutes to cook and voila, dessert, it’s not corden bleu I know but it will be tasty and filling and that’s all that it needs to be 🥰

I checked the bulbs I planted in the big tunnel, the last time I looked a mouse or something had dug up an anemone bulbs and chewed on it 😡 but luckily it does not look as though any more have been got at. I did leave the door open so that the cats could patrol it and help out a little. It is kind of coming to the end of the cut flower season, having said that I had prepared in advance for flowers to take me up into December, chrysanthemums are ideal for this and I have them planted in tubs so that I can move them under cover if I need to. I have early spring bulbs in pots that can be forced in stages for the new year and I am much more aware of what needs to be done than I was this time last year 😂 I would say my first cut flower season has been a success, I have sold flowers and plenty of them, next year I plan to build on that by reviewing what I have learnt, honing my skills and learning more over the winter months. I have a new planner for 2023, one that means I can keep all the information in one place, what, where, when, how, who and I am looking forward to using it fully. I have thoroughly enjoyed it and my only regret is that I didn’t start years ago 🙄 It was a pretty rough introduction with the weather we have had this summer but as with veg growing, no two years are ever the same and so next year it will be different obstacles to overcome, bring on the challenge 🤪

Tuesday: Dmard bloods first thing this morning, it will be interesting to see if they show anything, been feeling quite fatigued, stiff finger joints, cramp everywhere, sore feet. I could of course just be getting old and falling apart 🤪 Once I got back I started on my project for the day, an indoor one today. Operation thermal lined curtains 😂 I will say first off that I can sew and I have in the past sewn all my curtains and fitted bedcovers. I spent a good few years sewing coats in a local factory when I left school so am well practised but I didn’t want to sew these. I wanted to do a no sew project and see how it came out and so I bought some thermal curtain lining and some stick on Velcro, it’s pretty successful! The lining does not fray so needs no seam sowing and the Velcro sticks well, so I cut it to the size I wanted, put the Velcro on and then the opposite on the back of the curtain and ta da, thermal lined curtains the easy way. The curtains are already lined and it was a toss up between buying new thermal curtains or using the curtains I have already and putting another lining on, I went for the latter. It is almost impossible to detect that I have done it, you wouldn’t know unless I showed you really. You may wonder why bother, well because every little helps as they say, plus in the summer they will work in reverse (keeping the heat out) win, win I reckon 🥰 We already had thermal door curtains for the back door and the door between the kitchen and the boot room. I got those a couple of years ago because we did have draughty spots around those doors, they don’t stay up all year but today I got them out and put them up for the winter 🥶 I rather like making sure that we are as cosy and toasty as possible for as little money as possible and as I have said before, I like to challenge myself to do better.

Wednesday: Mid afternoon sit down 😁 This morning I got the dinner ready to go in the slow cooker, the last bit of hogget from the freezer. It was a breast and I have rolled it and put in plenty of rosemary and garlic. I also made some flatbreads for my soup at lunchtime, Greek yoghurt and self raising flour, mix it up, pat it out and dry fry, easy peasy. Then I had a hair cut and after that I was able to get out side and get some work done. I have planted plants, sown seeds, dug up self seeded plantlets and potted those, dug up the scented pelargoniums (they will not survive outside) and potted those up. I have taken some cuttings of those in case the plants don’t make it through. They don’t even like being in an unheated greenhouse and so they are going to Mums as she has a conservatory 😂 There is a ton of work to do still 🤪 but I am getting there slowly, I need to write this down every day just so I know where I am at 😁 The bed that had the pelargonium has been cleared and now has direct sown seed of pink love in a mist, some daucus and something else that I have completely forgotten already. I covered the bed and hopefully they will sprout over autumn and winter and I won’t need to tend to those until next spring. There are plenty of flowers still growing but you always have to be thinking six months ahead otherwise you miss the timings. For instance I already have my dahlia tubers ordered and paid for but they won’t be delivered until next year.

Thursday: Quick sit down mid afternoon before a customer comes for their flowers. I have made lamb and sweet potato soup today in the slow cooker, left over lamb from yesterday plus anything else that needed using up, courgettes, mushrooms etc. I left the juices form the lamb last night to cool down and have taken off the solidified fat which I will freeze for roasting potatoes another day and the delicious jelly that is left behind is incorporated into the soup mix. I have sown some Ammi seeds today, picked courgettes and around 160, yes 160 eating apples from a dwarf tree that is growing in the veg garden. Wowsers, it cropped heavily this year 😁 Approx two thirds are storable so they will be wiped and dried and then wrapped individually in newspaper and stored in the apple rack in the pantry. They are delicious 😋 I had one with a chunk of Stilton for lunch.

All the apples are now sorted and those that will store are wrapped and safe in the apple rack. It’s this time of year I get my ‘squirrel’ head on 😂 I don’t know what it is but I like to start stocking up, it’s not like we live in the back of beyond or anything so I guess it is a primal trait 🤪 A well stocked pantry is a thing of beauty especially when a lot of it is home grown, it feels like a great accomplishment, bring on six foot of snow I am ready for it 🥰

Sunday: Ooops missed a couple of days lol. Friday we went out with George and Lucie to show them the fish at the garden centre and have cake of course 😁 Saturday I spent the morning doing a dried flower wreath and the afternoon dividing and potting up achillea plants ready for next spring. Today was another lovely sunny day, Charlie, Macca and Oscar came over in the morning and in the afternoon John carried on with boarding out the back area, all the gaps where the wind blows in are nearly filled now. I spent some time in the greenhouse potting up self sown rock soapwort or tumbling Ted and planting a couple of plants in the beds. I had a customer come for flowers, I have done quite a few bunches and bouquets this week and I don’t really want the season to change, the leaves are beginning to die back of lots of things 😢 I guess that is what it is all about though, the changing seasons and so we will move into the next season and who knows I may even love it.

Have a great week 😁

Posted in Friesland Farm

Tidying, bulb planting and Malvern

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 19th September 2022: The day of The Queens funeral. I have seen a few momentous occasions over the years but never have I been so proud to be British as I am today. A day of mixed emotions, sadness that we have lost one of the greatest women of our time, thankful that we had such an inspirational, dedicated and devoted Monarch and pride at the incredible send off 🥰🇬🇧

Thursday: Shockingly I have got to today without having written a thing lol. It’s not that I haven’t been busy, I have, it’s just that I totally forgot to write any of it down 🤪 I have done a mix of jobs this week including tidying up the office, I made a coffee and thought I will go in there and sort it out, I couldn’t even find a space to put my coffee down! Now it is tided and sorted, although there is still not much space for manoeuvre as everything is stored in there, flower stuff, craft stuff, office stuff and any other stuff that needs a place as we don’t have a loft. I have also been working outside, clearing beds and planting up bulbs, tulips and narcissi in the dedicated cut flower area and fritillary in one of the front beds. The big poly tunnel has been, weeded, cleared and then more bulbs planted in there, anemone and ranunculus. I have planted up old recycle boxes with more ranunculus and tulips which I can move inside the tunnel if the weather is particularly bad. I sorted out the pots of iris reticulata and hyacinth which have been dormant all summer, I will begin to wake them up ready for the new year. I have weeded plenty of other beds and planted up anything in pots that needed to go into the flower/shrub beds. I still have a fair few more plants to get in but I have got most things in, there are still a few perennials that need moving and I have some self set plantings that need potting up. I have sorted out and tidied up the willow whips which will need to be soaked before being made into wreath bases for the workshop evenings and the workshops are filling up nicely. Originally I was only going to do two evenings but they filled quickly and so I now have a third one, though I would love to do more I really want to keep it sustainable and so would struggle to make more than 20 wreath bases it think.

I have been out for coffee with Sam now that the twins are getting two full days at school. Today Charlie and Oscar walked over for a visit, Shelley popped in after lunch and then I had an hour to get some bits done in the garden before Sam arrived and the twins stayed with me while Mia went to her swimming lesson. Rain is still elusive here, we had the week of on/off rain and then nothing since 🙄 and the ground is getting very dry again.

Sunday: Pretty bad at keeping up this week 😂 I haven’t done much more outside and I have spent some time with the girls and the children doing various walks and tea/coffee/chats. I have planted some more bulbs but I think the mice are eating the anemone and I am not sure how I will stop them doing that if I am planting into the he ground in the tunnel 🤷‍♀️ I left the door open in the hopes that the cat will catch any that are feasting on my wares.

Today we went to Malvern Autumn show, I wasn’t going to go but then thought, why not, so off we went first thing, had a mooch around, admired all the plants and displays, had a look at the floral competitions to see what I need to be living up to 🤪 had some great food, resisted the urge to buy ‘stuff’ but failed to resist the urge to buy plants 😂 a girl can never have enough plants can she? We also saw and stopped to talk to Andie who is better known as Dahlia Beach, also a member of Flowers From the Farm, her dahlias are totally stunning, the colours just pop, easily the brightest, cheeriest stall at the show 🥰 You can also find her at Millets farm where you can ‘pick your own dahlias’ 😁 Roast dinner cooked by Martin and Shelley rounded our day off nicely and that’s another week over. I will try to be better next week but in all honesty I have been quite tired this week and so haven’t got that much done, hopefully I will have more umph next week.

Have a good week x

Posted in Friesland Farm

Cooler mornings and evenings, slow cooking & bulb planting.

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 12th September 2022: After last week who knows what this week will bring but one thing it’s already brought is rain! Seriously 😐 months of drought and high temperatures and then wham rain, rain, rain, when is a girl supposed to get the washing dry 🤷‍♀️ We had a dry day yesterday, that’s the first day for over a week that the washing hasn’t gone out, come in and gone out again 🤪 I was hoping to get some of the bigger stuff washed and dried before winter but at this rate I won’t succeed.

Mid morning and I am sitting down for a coffee, I already have the dinner on, two batches in the slow cookers 😁 One is chicken stew and one is chicken korma, if I am making dinner for this evening I might as well make bigger batches and then freeze some portions for another day, all part of my cost saving drive. I read an interesting article this morning, it appears that Mr Putin (and I don’t know him so I can’t confirm lol) was hoping to freeze Europe into submission over Ukraine this winter by turning off the gas. His thinking, I guess, is that we are so reliant on it that we would have no choice but to let him have his way. It has had the opposite effect and apparently European businesses have shaved a whopping 22% off their energy needs 👏 If that can be achieved collectively for the domestic consumption as well then it would definitely be a two fingered salute in his direction. So as well as helping your bank balance you can also help in the effort of standing up to a bully by tweaking your own energy consumption wherever possible 🥰

The next two jobs on my list, we’ll they were not on the list but they needed doing, were to clean and tidy the boot room and the pantry. They have both become dumping grounds over the summer and it was time to sort them out, put things away, hoover, clean and tidy. I needed the pantry floor area cleared so that I could get into the apple rack to store apples for the winter 😁 I have some lovely apples and still more to pick as they become ripe and I want to store them for as long as possible. Each one will be individually wrapped in paper and stored in the racks, they will be checked over each week and any that are spoiling will get used quickly. The carrots will also be stored in there, I have tried storing them in sand but they end up rubbery so some will get chopped and frozen and then the ones in the pantry will get used up first over the next couple of months.

I have a very long list of jobs to get through but I feel I have made a great start this morning, let’s hope I can keep it going 😂

Onto cleaning hoovering and cleaning the kitchen, smashing a milk bottle while I was in the process 🙄 then hoovering the sitting room. While I was doing that I had the top half of the stable door open and when I went back into the kitchen I had been invaded, by flies. Urgh there were approx 30/40 of them buzzing round so I closed all the blinds and curtains and opened the windows, by now they were in the sitting room too. They head for the light but once behind the fabric can’t find their way out again, that was the idea anyway, eventually after about an hour and a half I had managed to get rid of all but two or three persistent little buggers. I had a flurry of enquiries about flower bouquets so I will be quite busy with those over the next two days, I am hoping the rain holds off although I have done the washing Hokey Cokey again today 🤪

The weather tomorrow looks shockingly wet across the country and so I cut flowers tonight for two lots going out tomorrow. After eating our dinner we went out to the yearly local fair, Witney Feast, we have been going every year for over 40 years and only missed a couple for various reasons. We no longer go on the rides 😂 but love walking round and soaking up the atmosphere of a big fair. This one goes back over 700 years ‘Witney Feast started in 1243 when King Henry III granted two deer from the Royal Forest of Wychwood to celebrate the rededication of the church’ Over those hundreds of years it has changed from feasting to selling livestock and wares and these days it is adrenaline pumping rides, flashing lights and traditional hook a duck stalls as well as food stands which used to be just fish and chips or sweets and now includes all types of fast food. It is the point in the year that John always says ‘that’s it, Witney Feast is here and so is Winter’ 😂 The fair moves onto Chipping Norton after it’s two days at Witney and becomes the ‘Chippy Mop’ which was a hiring fair in origin also dating back hundreds of years. I love that these events like so many others have been happening for that long, all part of the rich history and traditions of our country 🥰 The rain didn’t come.

Tuesday: No sign of the rain yet but I don’t doubt it will arrive at some point today 🤪 After getting the eggs sorted and out I cut some more flowers and foliage, I did some dead heading and I cut a few bits for drying as well. Next job was to batch up and freeze the food I made yesterday and then think about todays food 🙄 While I was in the freezer I found a lamb bone from a past roast so that went into the slow cooker along with various veg, it will make a nourishing soup for today. I also decided to give a pudding a go in the other slow cooker, I found a recipe and loosely followed it 😬 It was a basic sponge mix (but without egg, interesting to see how that works out) milk was added as per the recipe to create a batter. Grease the slow cooker dish pour in the batter (thickish) put chopped apple all over the top of the sponge, drizzle a couple of teaspoons of honey over those and sprinkle cinnamon (I used nutmeg instead) I also sprinkled a dash of lime juice for added flavour. No idea how it will turn out 🤷‍♀️ I will let you know but it does mean I am free to get on with the rest of my day 🥰

Wednesday: I spent the morning costing up and ordering for the wreath making evenings, finalising all the details of dates and time plus terms and conditions and points to note. It looks like I will have to put a third night on as there is interest which is great. I now have to chivvy John up to get the ceiling sorted and make a cover for the pool table, I have ordered an oil cloth to go over the top of it all. The. I will need to get myself into gear to make up all the willow rings at some point but I made one up yesterday and covered it with moss and it looks great and certainly will make a good base for a wreath. I also went out and picked rose hips, stripped the thorns and placed them in a glycerine solution to keep them supple and hold the colour if possible. There will be quite a lot more to get done and organised but I am happy that it’s all going in the right direction. Mostly in the afternoon I had a sit down, as always I am usually researching or looking things up, you can never know enough 😂

Thursday: I took a chance and hung out some washing, I checked the rain radar and nothing of any great amount is showing up even though it looks like it might rain at any minute. I spent an hour or more cutting flowers, these are for jam jars going out tomorrow, mostly stems that are too short or flowers that need cutting to let others come on. I also cut a fair amount of cosmos which I had made up into a bunch to go out for sale.

Friday: Busy morning, busy afternoon, then lost me mojo 🙄 I can’t remember what I did first thing but sometime in the morning I cleared two raised beds and planted a lot of bulbs. There were 80 bridal crown narcissi, 25 gladioli, approx 30 fritillary and 25 allium, I have a lot more to plant but Rome wasn’t built in a day. Some of them will go into pots to sell in flower next spring and some will go into the ornamental beds as well. Oh I remember what it was I did first of all, fetching the willow whips I cut down at the beginning of the year, I tidied them up by cutting off any branching bits (putting them to one side) and then sorted them into sizes. I need to soak them in order to make willow wreaths with them, some of the smaller branches I cut off were supple enough to have a go at making mini willow wreaths so I made a couple of those as well as a fresh willow one to see how well that worked. In the afternoon I did a fair bit of dried flower work, I have been making dried flower broomsticks in various sizes as I thought they would be nice for October. Then I revamped my two dried flower wreaths, I always keep the Christmas wreath bases and dry them out, they can then be used in a number of ways including dried flower wreaths. I have used the flowers that were for Sam’s wedding so that’s a nice keepsake 🥰 I tidied up and then lost my mojo, no idea where it went but it’s definitely gone 🤪

Saturday: Busy morning, I started off in the big tunnel clearing away dead stuff, the cucumbers are struggling and I think I have enough tomatoes to last me a year 😂 so they got cleared but it was sunny and became a bit hot in there. I then went onto planting up loads of plants into the front shrub bed, I also planted lots of bulbs. Meanwhile John was putting up the ceiling in the pool room, it was insulated when he did it but needed boarding over the top and as that is where I will be doing the wreath evening, I wanted him to get on and finish it in plenty of time. I cut flowers this morning for a birthday tomorrow and made up a bunch of dried flowers for a birthday. Talking of birthdays it is Sam’s today, they have taken the caravan away for the weekend but not too far so I went with Shelley, Josh and Flo plus a cake and we met them at the campsite. We had a lovely couple of hours, the kids went out on their little boat on the river and then we got a lift back to the car via the river. It was lovely and serene on the water and a great way to spend a couple of hours in the afternoon. John stayed home to get on with the ceiling, he also cut the lawn and did the chickens, I should go out more often he gets more done when I am not here 😂

It’s definitely chillier in the mornings and evenings but the sun in the daytime is still pretty warm.

The wreath evenings are booking up and I am certainly looking forward to doing them, I collected some gorgeous red Virginia creeper today and have put it in glycerine to see if it holds its colour, I also collected ash keys to see if they will too.

Sunday: Not a terribly productive day today, food shopping, round to Mums for a coffee on the way back. Then a trip to the garden centre to find they didn’t have what I wanted so we went to a different garden centre, still couldn’t find it so came home empty handed (I know 🤪) Sat down and ordered it online instead 🙄 Had an easy afternoon watching a very old film 😂 cooked and ate dinner, John washed up while I got some flowers ready. That’s it! Some days you just have to slow down a little 😁

Still no rain.

Have a lovely week, I am sure we will all be watching the state funeral, big occasion. I hope they have excellent security in place, nothing like having all the major heads of countries in one place for someone to try for a new world order 😬

Posted in Friesland Farm

Tomatoes, flowers & a new Grandson 🥰

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 22nd August 2022: A fairly nondescript kind of day as far as the weather went, not too hot, not too cold, not too sunny, not too rainy. We did have a tiny smattering of rain but nothing worth writing home about, could have done with a bit more to be honest. Once the morning jobs were done and John had gone to work I started cutting flowers for an order today. Where I have been occupied elsewhere for a few days the flowers have been blooming all over the place and so I cut extras. I made up a couple of jam jars and some small bunches to go out for sale in the flower shed. I then spent the morning processing the apples I picked a while back, the tomatoes that have been piling up in the kitchen and some figs that my sister gave me. The apples were stewed and some were frozen, one lot I put in a jar and will keep in the fridge to use up fairly soon. The tomatoes were softened then sieved and I have a nice jar of passata and a pour and store bag of tomato juice that will be frozen for soups. With the figs I made an apple and fig jam, it made about 2 and a half pounds of jam but as I am slightly worried about the setting point not being hot enough I think I will keep those in the fridge too. Once that was all done and washed up I made up the bouquet being collected later and then Sam arrived with the children as the farrier was coming to do the horses and he wanted to come earlier than originally arranged. They all left, the flowers were collected and then John arrived home, he discovered that George and his tap turning on antics had struck again. This time is was the tap by the hard standing, the hose goes into the duck pen and so it would have gone unnoticed if it wasn’t for John going out to todo the feed round earlier than he usually does. I think I will have to do a tap round after he has been every time 😝 just to make sure he hasn’t turned any on. got the dinner made, washed up and then john went out to rake up the grass he cut the other day, me, well I was too tired to do much else.

From this…
……to this.

Thursday: Ooops sorry lost a few days 😂 Not even sure I can remember what exactly I have been doing this be honest. Mostly the usual day to day stuff. Yesterday evening I cut a lot of flowers for a big order of bouquets and posies 🥰 and this morning I spent a couple of hours making them up for collection mid morning. After that as I was already in flower mode I did the final bits to the table flowers and the bridesmaid posies for the wedding next week. I am also still drying flower petals for the confetti, hopefully there will be enough, I do like the idea of fresh petals though, they look really pretty when first harvested. I had the twins while Mia went swimming late afternoon and oh yes it rained 😁 Just as I was about to put the washing out this morning I could hear it on the roof so I didn’t bother and then about an hour later we had proper rain, not a downpour but enough to freshen up the garden.

One of two cutting buckets ready for making up into posies.

I can finally let you know where my time and thoughts have been spent this last week, we have a new grandson 🥰 Oscar was born last Friday but it wasn’t straightforward and he was in the HDU until today when he was discharged to come home. Charlotte had a long and difficult labour too and was also a little unwell after. It has been a rollercoaster of a week with emotions up one minute and down the next but luckily we have world class hospitals and staff in Oxford and today they have all come home to begin life as a family together x x

Friday: It’s been really quiet here today so I took the opportunity to pootle about just doing this and that. A bit of flower cutting for drying, sorting out the freezer (discovering forgotten delights) some reading up on various subjects, looking at ideas for flowers both fresh and dried. One thing I came across were corn dollies. Of course I have seen them before and we used to make them when I was in primary school but that was a very long time ago and I was sad to read that the craft is on the endangered list of heritage crafts here in the UK. At one time every rural school probably would have a corn dolly making session for harvest time but not any more it seems. I find it really sad that we are losing our traditions, I know there are groups out there that keep them alive but what about day to day folk, they don’t even know about half of them. Compared to other European countries, which seem to be rich in traditions that they still practice, we have either been diluted or diluted our rich heritage ourselves 😢 If anyone out there still makes them I would love to know and love to see your creations x

Sunday: I have been terribly bad at the blog this week 🙃 Yesterday was a very busy day starting with plenty of gardening, filling up the last couple of raised beds we repositioned. They are now all planted with perennials such as different types of hydrangeas, hibiscus, roses, agastache, aster, should look amazing next year 😀 George and Lucie came for an hour mid morning and so they ‘helped’ Grampy get a few wheelbarrows full of woodchip to put on the new pathway between the beds. Once Sam and Mia came back from riding I went with them round to Charlie and Maccas so they could all meet their new cousin Oscar. Back home for a bit before going round to my nieces at 4pm for her 21st birthday celebrations which went on into the evening, a great time was had by all at the ABBA themed party 🎉

Today we went out after getting the morning jobs sorted, I was determined to find the two plants that I have on my ‘want’ list. Success today at a nursery rather than a garden centre 😀 we did stop in at another garden centre on the way home and had some breakfast. I did some more planting up, John did some garden tidying and the rest of the day was more relaxed, a film, the Grand Prix, nothing too taxing. I completely forgot it is a Bank Holiday tomorrow, an extra day with my labourer at home, bonus 😂

Posted in Friesland Farm

It’s hot and dry, that is all I have to say 🥵

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Tuesday 9th August 2022: No idea what I did on Monday apart from cut a whole load of flowers for an order that was cancelled 😏 and went to my brothers in the evening for his birthday. The rest is a blur 😝

Tuesday: After making up a couple of jam jars, sorting flowers for drying and making up a bouquet I went to Shelley’s with Charlie, Sam and the twins also went and we spent most of the day there. Shelley made lunch and the children played indoors some of the time and with the splash mat outside some of the time. It was hot 🥵

When I came home I had half an hour sit down and then spent 4 hours watering, yes 4 bloody hours of my life watering. Watering everything that was necessary, about two thirds of everything, the other third I have had to let take it’s chance 😔 Normally, in a normal year I would only be concentrating on the tunnels, greenhouse and anything in pots but this year it has to include all the beds both ornamental and vegetable. We have had no significant rain since we came back from our holiday in early June and coupled with that we have had ridiculously high temperature consistently and it’s not over yet. This means in order to keep everything alive I have to constantly water, the fact that I didn’t do any last night has a big knock on effect the next day. It’s tiring but I have invested a lot of time and effort into the veg, flowers and ornamental beds and so I can’t just give up, not to mention the money that plants cost. To give up now would cost me dearly, mentally, emotionally and financially, this year has taken gardeners by surprise but I will make sure it doesn’t happen again next year 🙄

Wednesday: It’s sooo bloody hot that evening standing around makes you sweat 😅 uuurgh give me back the traditional English weather if I wanted relentless heat I would go on holiday to a hot country and that is something we don’t do 😂

Busy morning of getting jobs done, cutting flowers for delivery today and then on to pick tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, peppers and plums. I also decided that damage limitation was called for and pulled the cabbage and kohl Rabi plus carrots, it’s too hard trying to keep them watered so time to get them in the freezer. The courgettes I am picking when they are small (baby) so that I don’t need to water as much as I would to get them to normal size. From here on in fruit and outside veg will have to take their chances, I will only be watering the necessary plants.

I then spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon prepping it all for the freezer. Slicing, chopping, peeling, blanching, bagging, cooling and finally freezing. I also made up three batches of crumble mix, stewed some apples with sugar and some maple syrup and made up four small apple crumbles which went into the freezer along with a bag of crumble mix. I did intend to make some plum jam but in all honestly I was tired by then and still had flowers to make up so I cleared away, washed up and I will do the jam in the next couple of days.

John came home early and went off to deliver the flowers for me, I had a phone call from the neighbouring farm to say they had lost some piglets and could I keep an eye out for them, I haven’t seen them yet but hopefully they will find them soon.

Tonight I will not be able to get any watering done as we are off on a short train journey for an evening trip. It’s going to be a round of watering for me again tomorrow that will take hours 🙄

With the complete lack of rain we have decided to increase the amount of rain we can hold, the amount that comes off our roof is an awful lot so makes sense to hold as much of it as possible and so we have ordered another 12,000 litres of tanks, that will take us up to around 30,000litres of water storage. Sod’s law we won’t even need it next year but ‘be prepared’ is a sensible mantra I reckon and so prepared is what I will be, for that at least.

If you are reading this and living in a hot, dry climate then all tips appreciated 😁 Approx 9th June was the last time we had any significant rain and temps have been at least 25c and mostly in the 30s pushing up just beyond 40c 🥵 According to farmers there is no significant rain in the forecast for at least another 30 days 🙄 crops are suffering as well as wildlife. Last night while watering I noticed around 30 sparrows making a racket in a puddle of water I had made on the driveway, I went into the garden and collected up all the shallow dishes I could find and filled them with water for them. A Robin was also sat in the tree watching me and so I filled up the bird bath (which I do daily) and watched him enjoying a much needed bath lol. I know I am going to hate the winter weather when it comes but seriously this is another level of ridiculousness 😬 If it is climate change, it’s coming a lot faster than predicted, it’s not good news for the planet or anything that lives on it 😔

Thursday: No idea what I did and it’s too hot to care 😝 I did plant up some alstroemeria at around 9pm, it wasn’t much cooler but the light was fading and I wanted to get them into the ground. The moon was beautiful, almost a full moon but not quite, that comes tomorrow evening.

Friday: What can I say except, it’s hot and dry, I am basically just trying to get from day to day until hopefully one of the days the temperature falls or we have rain 🙄 I spent most of the day making up button holes and hair combs with dried flowers plus a small arrangement to fix to a headband. I can’t show you the pictures yet as it is for a wedding that hasn’t happened but when it does I will.

Saturday: I was up early as was John, he went off to get feed for the poultry, I did the usual household bits then outside to get some watering done, We then had to pop out for an hour and get back to hand over some flowers to a customer 🥰 I can’t remember what other jobs we did but there were a fair few before coming indoors for the middle part of the day and watch some films. Back out in the evening once it was cool enough and more watering, I watched the meteor shower for a while, saw three, before going to bed.

Sunday: Still bloody hot 🥵 seriously it’s scorching weather, relentless too. We were up early again and it was nice and cool at that time of the morning so I got some watering done, John said ‘shall we have more tea’ at 7am, ‘nope’ I replied ‘we need to get the small paddock cut before it gets too hot’ so that’s what we spent the next hour doing. It had got long (long but mostly dead) and needed tidying up. John carried on outside for a couple of hours while I came inside and made plum jam. The thing is that the fruit will not wait no matter how hot the temps are the jam still needs making 🙄 We then spent the hottest part of the day inside again and went back out until dark once it had cooled down a touch, though that is not much at the minute.

I am sure you are all feeling it too, hot and bothered, the paddocks are as dead as I have ever seen them, there are huge fissures opening up in the ground, the massive trees that are around 50 years old are beginning to wilt, the berries that the birds would be feeding on to fatten up for winter are shrivelling up and there is not a drop of water to be found anywhere for the wildlife such as bees, butterflies, birds, beetles etc. Each day I am trying to keep plants alive and each evening when I go out they are parched again. I deadheaded some roses earlier and the petals were crispy 😳 I don’t think I have ever sweated so much before even when sitting still, when I was outside I kept thinking something was crawling on my leg but no it’s just beads of sweat running 😂 I am not one for praying but spending most of my time just trying to keep things alive is seriously taking its toll on my sanity so I am praying the rain comes tomorrow. It will fill up the water butts and hopefully give me the day off from running around like an idiot, I may even be able to get something different done for a change. Anyone know any good rain dances 😝

Posted in Friesland Farm

Time to release Hilda, everywhere is parched & still no significant rain.

Posted on by frieslandfarm

Monday 1st August 2022: Last night Hilda had her first slug supper 🥰 I was glad she dived straight on it and devoured it because it means she knows what she should be eating and will be able to feed herself when she is released. She is also self anointing now which is another sign that she is capable of taking care of herself, I don’t know if they fully understand why hogs do his but they basically regurgitate and cover their spines in it 😝 Thoughts are that they cover their spines with toxins to protect from predators so I would say she is very ready to move on. I weighed her and she weighed 340g 😲 I have been making sure that we have as little interaction with her as possible and that I only feed her at night so that she doesn’t get used to food on tap during the day when she ought to be asleep. Basically I have made sure that the conditions she has been under were as close to her natural routine as possible to give her the best chance when she goes it alone. So it was release time 😁 I took her out in the dark and put her down near the shed and watched her for a while, she spent all the time I was watching, rubbing along the ground and self anointing which I guess is her way of marking territory 🤷‍♀️ I made sure there was water nearby and there are usually cat biscuits out by the door where diesel gets fed so I will also make sure that she can find those if she needs to. Job done ✔️ successfully reared and released and I will keep a look out for her to make sure she is doing ok, go forth and hedgehog Hilda 😂

Busy day today, John was home as my labourer 😂 so I set him to work on the compost area which had got a bit out of control. Meanwhile I did plenty of planting up and mulching, one bed of delphinium and one bed of Veronica and saliva. I also planted up various other plants that I got from the sale section at the garden centre 🥰 I sat down on my root bench mid morning and moved the blanket that had fallen on the floor and guess who was under it 😂 yep, Hilda, so I got my gloves and moved her to under the shed. We worked hard most of the day, even when the sun came out I found some jobs to do in the shade, a sit down late afternoon, cook dinner and then back out in the evening. We spent a couple of hours watering, weeding and then mulching the shrub bed in the front, this bed has suffered more than most for some reason, the two enormous orange ball budhliea probably sap all the moisture from the ground around them. Once that was done I went on to watering some of the beds in the garden area and then fill up the horses water. Just after dinner we were going out to do a bit and guess who came wandering towards us, Hilda 😂 I went and got her some soaked cat biscuits which she readily tucked into though she did eat a few slugs I found in a nearby pot as well. Once I had finished for the evening I sat on the bench outside, picked up the blanket which had fallen again and guess who was underneath 😂 yep you guessed it, Hilda 🤪 I have now made her a little house stuffed with straw which is next to the bench seeing as how that where she seems to want to be. I guess eventually she will be brave enough to wander off but for the time being she is still happy to be around me though she really does need to learn what exactly ‘nocturnal’ means 😝

Tuesday: Busy morning doing the usual then Charlie called in for a coffee and then Sam and the kids arrived. I was pretty tired today and so not a lot else got done to be honest apart from cooking dinner. No sign of Hilda today, she has gone off to hedgehog by herself hopefully 😁

Wednesday: Busy day 🙄 I began at 5.30am (and then I wonder why I am shattered by 2pm 😂) It was lovely and cool this morning, these humid, windy, overcast days are hard work 😓 The best time of the day is very early, quiet and peaceful as well as cool and fresh. This morning has been all about cutting flowers and harvesting veg, loads of both! Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and courgettes, flower of every colour and size and foliage to compliment them. Flowers and grasses for hanging to dry were also on my to do list, loving dried flowers, if you have a go at them then rip up the rule book and try anything. One of my favourite so far is antirrhinum and I wish I had done more but the truth is I just did one to see how it went 🙄 Once everything was gathered it was sorting the veg to go out for sale, tying up the flowers for drying and hanging those up and then onto making up jam jar flowers plus three bouquets and two bunches. I definitely need a separate workshop for this but at the minute because it’s indoors at least I clean up after myself, I can imagine not bothering in a workshop situation as I would think ‘I will do it after the next lot’ 🤪

Jam jar flowers

Gosh it’s Sunday evening 9.30pm and I haven’t written anything since Wednesday 😂 I now have to try and think of what I have been up to. Nothing unusual really, some seed sowing, flower cutting, apple picking, watering, watering, watering, a few bouquets and a couple of jam jars. A morning out with Sam, Mia, George, Lucie and Charlie, a walk round the woods and then coffee and cake, a tip to the garden centre with John to get some specific plants, all the usual household jobs and anything else that needed doing 😁

I haven’t seen Hilda again at all so I guess she has gone on her merry way somewhere although there is always water out for any animal that needs a drink and I think it’s pretty hard to find at the minute so please put water out if you haven’t already. A shallow dish with stones in for the wasps and bees, a dish that is kept topped up for the birds, a bigger dish for anything bigger that comes your way, foxes, deer, cats, hedgehogs etc. Its pretty dire out there, the trees are very stressed and dropping leaves already to conserve moisture, the only things still going are the bloody perennial weeds 🙄 I was just out filling up the horses buckets and looking at the paddocks, I have never seen them so dead and brown 😏 We had to let the horses into the winter paddock the other night as there is nothing left in the ones they were in. That means unless we get some rain in time for the grass to grow again we will be feeding hay for the first time in a couple of years. Up to now the system has worked well, leave the big paddock at the back as standing hay and they fast on that most of the winter, last year we didn’t even have to supplement with any hay at all, this year looks like it will be a different story all together.

I think we had a tiny bit of rain at some point this week, about a five minute burst but then the sun came out again and it was dried up before we knew it. Just imagine if it doesn’t rain ever again, nothing is impossible as the last few years have shown, we will be up s**t creek without a paddle 😬 There is no sign of rain in the forecast for at least another two weeks either, this green and pleasant land is now brown and thirsty 😔

I am now well into the stage of selecting what gets watered and what doesn’t, a couple of areas are very dead, the wild area under the weeping birch tree has been dying back for a while and so I have left it unwatered, just hoping that any seed will be viable enough for next spring. The area where I have the thornless blackberry, some of the rhubarb, and where I planted herbs in the spring has also not been watered for weeks and so most of that is dying back too. The three fruit trees at the bottom of the patch, the cherry, dual pear and apple tree are looking stressed but I have not watered them, that would take gallons and not very responsible but the mulberry bush is still thriving and that is in the same area 🤷‍♀️

John cut the grass in the walkway this evening, it’s not green grass it’s just dead long grass 😂 but might as well tidy it up anyway. One bonus in all this is that all the annual weeds have died so that has saved us a job.

It’s a crazy year in more ways than one and now we are also heading for recession, way back I did say I thought we were in for a bumpy few years and I wasn’t wrong was I!