Monday 22nd August 2021: Well we had the best weeks holiday 😁 the weather was just right for me, the sea was as calm as a lake all week long, the food was out of this world good and we rested and relaxed a lot, job done now back on with the work 😂
Shelley has looked after the farm beautifully, everything was in order and then some as her and Sam had done some mowing and weeding and clearing, it all looked lovely on our return. In order to keep up the good work we have not been idle since arriving home and have been trimming the front hedge, hoeing, sweeping and tidying, still a fair bit more to do but it’s looking loved again. Hopefully we can get quite a bit achieved this week as John has another week away from his plumbing and we can crack on here with tidying, strimming, cutting back, mowing, weeding, lol it’s never ending 🤪
We were up early and ready to crack on, I got some picking done and checking over everything to see what needed doing. John got busy with the morning jobs and then back to the front driveway which he has gone to town on, really pulling out and raking up all the stinging nettles and weeds. I picked another lovely bunch of flowers for the kitchen, beautiful pink dahlias this week 😁 We worked until almost lunchtime then John took me over to Sams to look after the kiddies while she went for her second vaccination. John was supposed to come back home and do some work but he made a cuppa sat down and had a sleep instead 😂 Once he had picked me up and we came home it was my turn for a quick kip, I was exhausted after and early start and grandchildren sitting 🤪 John went out and cut the middle paddock and gave the back paddock a better cut while I had a sleep. Once awake I picked some raspberries and blueberries, I still think birds are getting in the fruit cage as there is not a red raspberry to be seen, normally there are loads, I think I will definitely grow more yellow ones next year as the birds don’t touch them 🤷♀️ I picked a cucumber, tomatoes, garlic chives, celery greens, and carrots for dinner this evening, John has chicken with runner beans which I had already picked, plus the home grown carrots and potatoes while I have chicken with salad and baked potato and some home grown fruit with yoghurt for dessert including a home grown melon 🥰
Shelley did some daily recordings for the podcast if you are interested in listening to that, I do a weekly round up on a Thursday and then on a Mondays I cover a topic of one type or another, https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/our-smallholding-life-warts-n-all/id1574503311 or it can be found on Spotify. I am really enjoying doing them, I think it is a completely different perspective when you can hear me talking about things rather than reading them.
Tuesday: We got off to a flying star with all the usual morning jobs and then John continued with the driveway, it’s hard work but he is doing a great job and it looks fab. I picked some flowers this morning to go out with the produce and eggs, I definitely want to be doing more flowers and plants for sale. With that in mind I collected some seeds from a lovely soft pink snap dragon I have growing and I took some cuttings from some pinks, if I do a little bit every day I will soon have plenty of plants to put out next Spring. I have a large order of tulip bulbs arriving in September, most will go into the garden but a lot will be potted up and hopefully ready for Easter next year. I picked courgettes and lots of tomatoes this morning though the tomato plants are coming to the end now as they definitely have something wrong with them, I think it is from spray watering, I really need to get set up to water at ground level really. The lads from Wildpoint arrived to take some photos, they are working hard to get the website off the ground and have already had a piece in the Guardian and have been approached by a main tv station to do a bit on one of their daily programmes which is great for them. Exciting stuff and they were very enthusiastic about our little Wildpoint campsite 🥰
Mid morning we went to the garden centre for a mooch around and some lunch and then round to Mums for a cup of tea or two before returning home. As the sun was out we decided to wait until later in the day to carry on outside. Once it was cool enough John went out to put some things in the skip, it was changed over this morning and we always have plenty to fill a new one up 😂 I went out to pick some plums, the greengage and Victoria’s are ready and I think I will make jam with those. While I was in the vicinity I did all the water bowls for the animals in the orchard, rabbit, quail, light Sussex and turkeys plus the guinea pigs. Sadly I found one of the pigs in the last throes of dying, I have no idea why as it was fine yesterday although he is the one I had to separate because the others bullied him. Maybe they knew there was something wrong, animals have the instincts to detect things we can’t even see and I’m guessing this was something internal as there were no external signs of anything 😢
When we were driving to Mums I spotted a compost bin that had been put out on the pavement ‘free to take’ yay, I had been looking round the farm for something to use in the front area so that I didn’t have to keep taking it round the back and so that little find was perfect 👍
Wednesday: Busy day today, it was overcast so I made the most of being able to be outside all day 😁 Mostly I was weeding and clearing, the peas have finished so I took down the canes and cleared away dead foliage, weeded the bed and I will cover it to stop the cats using it as a toilet area and keep new weeds at bay. There is plenty of weeding to do, it’s amazing how much time it all takes lol I spent most of the day doing that. Meanwhile John was finding things that needed to go in the skip and burning the hedge clippings and all the weeds he has been digging up. It doesn’t sound like we did a lot but we really did 😂 we were tired by 3.30 so went in for a sit down and a cheeky nap 🤪 After I had cooked dinner and we had finished eating I used the tomatoes I picked yesterday to make some quality tomato soup. I used a BBC Good Food recipe as it does not have any extras such as flour as I don’t think it’s needed. Most of the ingredients were home grown, tomatoes, onion, carrots, celery and bay leaves, just the addition of vegetable stock, tomato purée and a pinch of sugar (which reduces the acidity of the tomatoes) were needed to finish it off, lovely jubbly. That will go into some pour and store bags ready for the winter.
Home grown ingredients for tomato soup, I love making this and then getting it out of the freezer on a cold winters day 🥰 I also strung up the red onions to store, these were a good crop unlike the white onions which won’t store and those have been chopped and frozen instead.
Thursday: Had a busy morning, first up after the usual stuff then onto blending up the tomato soup, I left it to cool down overnight so I could do it this morning and then freeze it in four portions of approx 500ml each in pour and store bags. Then straight onto making 4lbs of Victoria plum jam and 3lbs of garden chutney plus a ‘compost cake’ 😂 I found a lovely site with both these ‘formulas’ rather than recipes, formulas because she just talks about the basics and the ingredients are whatever you have. The garden chutney this time had courgettes, onion, apple and runner beans in it and the compost cake had banana, kiwi, plums and a satsuma as the ingredients. Basically it’s a cake that uses up fruit that is probably about to go into the compost, as long as it’s not mouldy or dry as a bone it can go in, the banana was black on the outside but still useable inside, the kiwi was a bit squidgy (it was one from the fruit bowl on holiday lol) the plums were the cherry plums I picked before we went away and so needed using up and there were a few grapes that went in as well. Makes a lovely, fairly heavy cake with is almost like a bread pudding texture, I had mine with some yoghurt when it was still warm 🥰 The chutney has a basic chutney base (sugar, vinegar, apples, onions) and then whatever you have to use up which in my case was some wonky courgettes and some tougher runner beans, I threw in some sultanas for good measure and I added some powdered allspice but you could use any combination of spices that you prefer.
Meanwhile John was very busy tidying up the stable block, over time lots of things had got put away (dumped) in there and now everything has been put away neatly and it looks great, he then went on to start cutting up a huge pile of wood that we still have. We decided to keep the wood and use it on the fire pit, should be enough to last about 5 years 😂
In the afternoon we had a rest, did a bit more late afternoon and then some dinner, out to get a bit of shopping and a bit more when we came back. Watering the greenhouse, feeding the cats and dogs, putting the birds away etc etc, feels like the jobs never end sometimes.
Cheeky little Anna cat playing hide and seek, she will go to Shelley’s once they are back from their holiday, no doubt she will keep them on their toes 😂
Friday: Another busy, busy day today, got to make the most of John still being at home 😉 He started off with the feed rounds and then went off to get a feed load, meanwhile I did the usual morning things and then set about picking which was a big session 🙄 Cucumbers, courgettes, beetroot, tomatoes, sweetcorn, jalapeños, all went out into the Little Shed along with some plum jam and garden chutney. Then I got started on covering an area that I cleared yesterday where the peas were, I don’t want the cat using it as a toilet so I have put down membrane to also prevent the weeds growing until I decided what to do with it. Then I was looking at the old bean bed, we moved the runner beans last year and it has been successful (with a modification) and now this bed needed repairing and tidying up, cue John 🤪 I called him over to help decide what was the best thing to do and we spent until gone 2pm taking out the old sides, digging in pallet collars and tidying the whole bed up. It will now be a one of these collars, which make great raised beds, instead of one long bed. It will be easier to cover individual boxes when they are not being used and also easier to make frames to put netting or environmesh over. We did have to leave some things in situ as I have leeks growing at one end and brassicas growing halfway down but we have put in four new collars and will do some more tomorrow. I am thinking that I will use some of the beds for some of the cutting flowers for next year but the decision has not yet been finalised.
Late afternoon we went round to water Shelley’s plants while she is away and then drop some veg off to Mum and have a quick cuppa. Back home for dinner and a restful evening (well except the putting to bed stint)
Saturday: A bit late up this morning, we have our daughters dog while they are away and it howled all night long 🤪 Once we were up and about and had got all the morning feeding and letting out done John cleaned out the ducks while I prepped some dwarf beans for the freezer. Mid morning we went out, there was a carnival on in the next town so we went for a mooch about, I won a nice ha dang, a hatching dinosaur egg and a bottle of wine on the tombola stall 😂 I also pledged to go along to the local flower arranging group which is starting up again on Wednesday evening, I am really looking forward to that, I have wanted to do it for a few years now and so I seized the opportunity to have a chat with them and said I would go along, the lady said I will probably be the youngest one there 😂 the way I see it that just means there is a lifetime of knowledge I can glean information from 😁 When we got back we decided to mostly take the rest of the day off as we have been working so hard this week, and we are tired from not getting a decent sleep during the night 🙄
Sunday: After having a more relaxed day yesterday we got on with it again this morning, after all the feeding and letting out was done John did another of the raised beds in the garden, I did a lot of dead heading and cutting back on the flower garden. Shelley, Martin and the children came over to collect the last little kitten who is called Anna and then we went to the DIY shop to get some bags of compost. On the way back we called in to see my brother and his wife for a coffee and came back mid afternoon so up to that point we didn’t actually get much done at all 😂 John continued with that theme by having a sit down but I got on with clearing some of the bed in the veg garden that will make way for more lawn. It has all the herbs in there but also some plants left from when I used it as a nursery bed before the flower garden got finished. My plan was to dig up all the seedlings and plants that were left in there and pot them up ready for next spring either to use or sell on. So far I have potted up 79 plants 😲 of one type or another and there are plenty more to do. I have hundreds of strawberry plants and runners to dig up, some I will save, some will be given away and some will be potted up for selling next spring. The same goes for all the herbs I will be digging up and dividing. John did come back out eventually and did two more boxes/beds, I think he said there will be 11 in all so that is 13.2m long (approx 43ft) by a metre wide, each box is 1.2m x 1m and I think it will be much easier to cover the boxes individually with different things depending on what is growing and what stage they are at. I carried on digging bits up and potting them until I felt I needed a sit down 🤪
Bank holiday tomorrow, it’s always nice when the weekend is extended, then job is back to the day job on Tuesday and I will be back on me tod again 🙄 Things get very busy in the garden at this time of year, harvesting everything that seems to be coming in fast and furiously, taking cuttings, collecting seeds, dividing plants, planting bulbs, cutting back, pruning, planting winter veg, prepping, freezing, drying, jams, chutneys, sauces, syrups, yep it’s a busy time for sure but it keeps me out of trouble.
Monday 9th August 2021: It’s lunchtime and I have just sat down for a little rest after bombing around this morning trying g to get all kinds of things done. Picked 7 cucumbers 🙄 about the same amount of courgettes and some blueberries before going on to tidy a few things up. I did a slug hunt in the greenhouse last night and after cutting back some foliage and watering this morning I have found a few more, serious invasion 😛 Onto weeding the big tunnel which is where I picked the cucumbers, I assessed the tomato plants, at first I thought they had bought but I don’t think it is or if it is it’s early stages but I am inclined to think it’s not but some other kind of problem or natural die back as Lenny of the foliage is fine and green. Then onto clearing some of the debris in the fruit cage that I had cut back and left on the ground for pick g up another day (that’ll be today then 🤪) Let the ducks out when I remembered, collect and wash the eggs and put out for sale. Sort some ordering out online, back into the garden to clear/weed and pick a bit more before having a sit down. I have plenty more to get on with today and all the rest of the week.
I put the Turkey eggs out for sale and they went as quick as that so anybody else will have to wait a while now. When I was looking under the squash plant foliage I found and enormous banana squash, I guesstimated around 10lb in weight, it was actually 10 and a half lbs so not a bad guess at all, good job I spotted it as I was t expecting them to be ready just yet and it would have been huge by the time I went looking. Though banana squash can grow to something like 100lb in weight that is not very practical for home growing 😝 10lb is about as big as I would want to harvest them. There are plenty of recipes online for them and of course they are a squash so can be used just like butternut squash or pumpkin, curry, stews, soup, one that I might try is a squash and tomato bake as a side dish for chicken maybe 🤔
My foot is so you can get an idea of the size 😂 and yes don’t judge me, I wear crocs 🤪
Shelley came over last night for a walk through of the things that need to be done, in what order and who gets fed what, she made three pages of notes and that should just about cover it 🙄 I did a bit of hoeing on the weedy front bed and I will try again towards the end of the week so that it’s not a j gone when we get back.
Tuesday: So far it’s been a mixed bag of weather, warm sunshine, cloud cover, humid the rain 🤷♀️ I have been going round tidying things up so they are not potential hazards for Shelley and the children when they are here. Also things really need a tidy up but I never get round to half of it except when it becomes necessary, like now. I have done all the usual morning things and also contacted the honey people as we have sold all but two jars so hopefully there is more coming soon. I picked a load of tomatoes, watered the big tunnel, tried to sever the bind weed from their roots, half of me thinks left it get on with it but it does strangle everything so not such a good idea. I tried to keep on top of it at the beginning of the season but once the jobs ramp up there is not time and it soon gets a hold, I have tried for years to eradicate it and now I am just learning to live with it and knock it back whenever possible. Charlie called in for a coffee and to get some fresh produce 🥰 I had just fed the torts any tiny toms when it started to rain so I took that as my cue to come in and have some lunch and a sit down.
Had to walk into the village to return something a customer had dropped and on the way back I spotted some cherry plums so I came in and grabbed a bag and went back to pick some. In the evening I took a bag up the other Lane and picked some yellow cherry plums that in knew were there, love a good forage 😁
Cherry plum foraging 😁 hood year for them this year.
I spent some of the afternoon sorting clothes for packing but I can’t remember what else lol, did a few bits in the evening outside but mostly tidying.
Wednesday: This morning I got all the jobs done, washing on, cooked down some blueberries for purée ing and putting into the ice cube tray for later use. I was diving here there and everywhere doing all the little things before getting my hair cut mid morning. Sam came for a short visit with the kiddies and then I sorted all the last bits for packing, some ironing, shoe cleaning, ticking everything off as I went along, mostly it’s all done and ready to be zipped up. Both John and I did a lateral flow test today which were negative, we will do one of Friday as well, might as well test before we leave as there is no point travelling if any were positive 🙄
A squirrel has suddenly appeared over the last few days, nicking my nuts no doubt, it makes a funny noise though, never heard one make a noise like that before I wondered what it was to start with. A cross between chuntering and growling 😂
Ooosh I have been busy this morning 🙄 started out with all the usual feeding, egg shed, washing up, get some washing on etc etc then outside to get cucumbers picked and watered (which reminds me I have left the hose on, deliberately but still) picked some courgettes, get the things I won’t use out to the shed for sale. Prep some beans for open freezing and the whizz up some cucumber for pouring into ice cube trays, I deal for juices or smoothies or Gin and Tonic ice cubes 😁 next it was onto cleaning the bathroom and the living room, hoovering and polishing. Shelley did say leave it but you can’t can you lol, when someone else is coming to live here it’s nice for it to be clean and tidy when they arrive.
I had a few bits of veg that were not much use for anything other than a soup bag, a small white beetroot, a couple of knobbly runner beans and a small courgette, now chopped and frozen.
OMG what an afternoon 🤪 Sam came over to help move all the electric fencing to keep the horses in while we are away, at just about THE ONLY POINT in the afternoon, day even, when it decided to fing lash down. Mia was with Sam and we were all completely soaked through right to the underwear, we had a short window as Mia had to go swimming and wouldn’t you just know it 🤣🤣 almost when we finished the sun came out, yeah thank you for that Mother Nature, we love you too 😘 As I got wetter and wetter I totally forgot that the lady was coming to drop off more honey as well 🥴 dangnabit what a twit. Soaked through we came in and started stripping off to get clothes in the tumble dryer, Mia sat in my dressing gown to get warm again, just at that point John came home from work, at least he made a nice cup of tea for us 🥰 You couldn’t write a more perfect ‘sods law’ story than reality sometimes 😝
Friday: I keep thinking it’s Saturday because John is at home lol, he has spent the time creosoting the POL pen because it has red mite, we have moved the hens to the stable for the week while they mite die off and they will go back out when we get back. They had severely gone off lay because of the mite and so might as well bite the bullet and sort it out now, at least they will hopefully then lay well into the winter months. We had to nip to town to do some bits, return and item at the post office, pick up a couple of bits of shopping, pick up my prescription, have a costa 😁 I spent the morning sorting the last bits of putting stuff away before we go away and making sure all is in order. When we got back from town Sam was here with the kiddies and we poo picked the eaten off restricted paddock and then mowed the areas that had got tufty grass (it bloody rained while we were doing some of it 🙄) I found another big banana squash that had escaped from the veg garden and was growing in the walkway down to the paddocks, 9lb in weight this time. I don’t have time to do anything with it today so I will leave it for Shelley to use.
Having a sit down now for an hour before we do the afternoon rounds and zip up the cases ready for the off tomorrow morning.
I picked some more flowers from the garden this morning, so far I have been able to have totally different displays which is lovely.
This will be it for this week as I will hopefully be sipping champagne this time tomorrow 😋 Have a good week 🥰
Monday 2nd August 2021: It is actually Wednesday morning as I type this, I have missed a couple of days due to external matters that needed my time. On those days I have done only the necessary basics here, feeding and watering animals, picking and sorting veg and household bits so there was not much to report anyway. I did move the horses from the restricted paddock which is all but eaten off now, they are in the side paddock but at some point I need to put the electric fencing up in there so that they don’t gorge themselves.
Today I can get on and as yet I haven’t quite decided what I will do although the cloud looks quite thick at the moment so I should be able to get out for a good part of the day. I had been feeling down and disillusioned with everything as well as very tired, some of that was due to other things going on and some of it just whatever is going on in my body at the minute but today I feel I can bounce back a little bit and focus 😁
Wednesday: A did a really good stint at weeding the veg beds, most of the morning in fact. When we go away shelley will be living here and although I can tell weeds from the veg it’s not so easy for anyone else 😂 so I have made it easier to see what things are and what needs to be picked hopefully. I did a bit of picking, runner beans and some blueberries and Loganberry and then the grandchildren arrived at lunchtime for a couple of hours. We saw some deer in the field beyond ours which was nice for the kiddies (and adults) and the weather was pretty good, not too hot. After they left John arrived home early from work but I still had a lot that I wanted to get done. I needed to cut the lavender before it rains again as I want to dry it off for later in the year, I did some more weeding and then picked tomatoes ready for putting out tomorrow.
I forgot to let the ducks out this morning and didn’t remember until mid afternoon which is really bad of me and I’d better not do that again 😕
Thursday: Weather started off ok but by lunchtime it had turned cold and started raining quite a bit 🙄 First thing I did some more picking, courgettes, jalapeños and peppers, the jalapeños are growing thick and fast and I really need to find a good recipe for them as I don’t really eat them as they are. Once I had done all I needed to I sat down for a quick coffee and publish my weekly round up podcast and then Josh and Flo arrived as I was looking after them for a couple of hours. I love 4/5 year olds, the conversations you can have with them is priceless as are the things they come out with, under that age it’s a bit more basic and over that age they obviously know a lot and don’t need to ask you any more 😂 I think I would phrase it as the ‘conversation gold’ part of early childhood 🥰
Shelley arrived back and we had some soup for lunch before they left to get on with their day and I got on with mine. By this time is was raining heavily and I needed to get some paperwork sorted so an indoor afternoon.
Spent a ridiculous amount of time on the phone (with a very pleasant lady mind you) getting some holiday insurance and all the extra Covid cover we need this time round, but it’s done now all I have to do is think about packing, sort out the farm ready to leave it and not catch Covid beforehand 🙄 Oh and try and find some flat shoes as the ones I ordered are too small 🤪
It carried on peeing down most of the afternoon and into the evening so I found plenty of indoor jobs to be getting on with 🤪
Friday: It started off with rain first thing which cleared up but we still had these blustery winds with some pretty strong gusts at times 🙄 One thing I am glad of is that last year we changed how we grew runner beans as each year the winds would blow the ‘wigwams’ down when the plants were full of foliage and heavy with beans. John built a better permanent frame and this year I have not had to worry about them going over. These are the kind of modifications I am trying to get in place each time to make life easier. I did all the usual morning jobs but no picking this morning as I thought I would leave it and do a bigger pick tomorrow. That gave me time for a more leisurely shower and smoothie morning 😁 Mid morning Sam came over with the children and we went out for lunch to a local child friendly pub. There were plenty of toys to keep the children occupied and active and we ate outside, all part of re introducing the children to social activities that have been lacking, certainly for most of the twins 2 years of life, crazy isn’t it?
Later after returning home I had a quick nap, still feeling tired at times but not as much as before and no blips on my blood tests, well I haven’t been contacted so I assume there aren’t 🤔 John came home early again today and so after a cuppa and catch up we got on with afternoon feeding rounds, poultry, cats, dogs and humans 😁 Popped out to visit Mum in the evening but she wasn’t in so we went up to see my sister, while we were there my sister, John and my nephew fixed the car door. The passenger front door would not open from the inside or out and we couldn’t work out how on Earth we were going to fix it but between the three of them they did it. I have had to sit in the back for the last month so it was nice to sit in the front again. However when we got back home I couldn’t get out 😂 it wouldn’t open from the inside again, luckily it opened from the outside. We keep talking about getting a new car but John loves this one and although it’s old it is a really good car (apart from the door)
I had a notification from WordPress that 67 people now read the blog 😲 oh my goodness that is crazy, that is just on WordPress I know a fair few others read it straight from the Farm Facebook page or my personal page. I would just like to thank anybody that has ever read it, I think it has been going about 10 years now, it has only ever been about sharing the journey with anyone who wanted to come along. When I began it I didn’t have Lupus, life has changed in various ways time and time again, I have got older, grown an extraordinary amount of fruit and veg in that amount of time, probably baked tons of cakes, made hundreds of jars of jam and chutney, tried out a book full of new recipes, laughed, cried, been knocked down and got back up numerous times, I have enjoyed doing it and will keep blogging for as long as I can. I have recently dipped my toe into the podcast pool which I am enjoying as well though sometimes I wonder what on Earth I think I am doing 😂 but it’s just a different way of sharing this life.
Just listening to the late night news and weather forecast 🙄🤪 rain, thunder storms and blustery winds, are we sure it is actually August?? Time for bed and mull over tomorrow’s jobs before I fall asleep 😴
Saturday: Had to crack on this morning and get some picking done, tomatoes, cucumbers, pepper, chillies, French beans, some to go out for sale some to sort out for the freezer. I picked about 1kg of tomatoes 😲 and put a few punnets out in the shed, some are continuing to ripen on the windowsill and some I have frozen whole on trays to bag up once they are solid. I have done the same with the jalapeños, they will be fine for adding to soups, stews and sauces, I will probably make some tomato soup to freeze with the rest, I have made sauces in the past but I rarely use them, soup is more my thing. After picking and sorting I did a bit of slug hunting in the greenhouse, found about 15 of the little blighters, then it was indoors to clean the spare room, strip the bed and get that all washed before laying out the suitcases ready to fill for our holibobs 🥰🥰 I spent a large part of the afternoon trying on clothes and making piles of what to take. It’s been such a long time since our last holiday I had almost forgotten what we need so I’m just packing everything lol.
John has been to collect some hay bales today ready for winter feeding, I like to have in some of the small bales as well as the big round ones, they are easier to move around for the smaller animals, not much hood for the horses as they would it them in one sitting lol.
The red onions, I am pleased to say, did not succumb to the alium leaf miner so they are now pulled and drying off, they will store unlike the white onions which I have had to chop and freeze.
The rain just couldn’t help itself today and there were some pretty sharp showers at times, it is supposed to settle down after tomorrow with some warmer weather on the horizon. It has been the weirdest of summer seasons so far who knows what else is in store 🙄
The turkeys have been laying well, one more and I will be able to put them out for sale 😁
Jalapeños Tigerello tomatoes
Sunday: Bit of a busy day off the farm today, after all the morning jobs were done someone arrived to collect the first of the kittens to go, I have had an update and she is settling in well her new home 😁 As soon as she had left we went to Witney to get a few bits of shopping for the holiday (did I mention we are going on holiday 😂) then back home again just after lunch to let the dogs out and do a few bit before going off to my brothers for the afternoon into early evening for his birthday celebrations. It is the first time that so many of us have been together and not everyone was there but we all had a lovely time. Once back home there was a bit to sort out, I took some hay to the Guineas and rabbit and got them fresh feed and water, and the quail. My main aim in the orchard was to separate the lonesome light Sussex hen that leaves with Ted and his ladies and get her in with the light Sussex flock. I watched her the other day and she has been plucking out Teds feathers that were newly growing through after his moult 😲 I managed to get her out but had to leave putting her in with the others until it was nearly dark. We had some other hens that have been in quarantine, they were also moved to the main flock once it was nearly dark, then on to do the water for the horses, feed the dogs and cats and then on to do another slug hunt in the greenhouse. The slugs are flipping getting to every pepper but I was able to see them by torchlight and get them out, probably still plenty more but if I keep doing it I might be able to sabotage their efforts.
Another week over and onto the next one, it will be a short blog as I am going on holiday (did I mention that 🤪) Only one obstacle to overcome and that is the testing centre at the terminal, fingers crossed 😁
Monday 26th July 2021: It is noticeably cooler today though we still have had no rain and the sun is out which means I have been watering this morning. We have seen only a drizzle of all the rain that was forecast, I was hoping we would get a lot more but as yet nothing so from here until we do I am going to have to start watering the veg beds in order to keep things alive and producing. I don’t want to, the aim of self sufficiency they way I do it is to be able to grow food without too much intervention but needs must. To be honest I have got away much more lightly this year than last so I can’t complain.
I had a jumble of jobs to get sorted in my head this morning, picking, potting on, watering, cutting back. I have achieved some but not all, I have picked tomatoes, cucumber, chillies, runner beans, French beans and young ying yang beans as well as some peas and beetroot. We will have some of the beans and peas with our dinner tonight along with potatoes I dug up the other day and I will pull some carrots later. I potted on a couple of plants that I had out for sale, bought them in potted them on and have left them to soak, I put some others out instead, foxgloves, verbena, geums and rudbeckia. I have a pile of onions to get sorted still, I have done half of them, and I have garlic to peel and chop for the freezer in one form or another, I will also freeze some whole cloves, the reason being I had to pull them early and so they are not going to store as they are. It is 11am and I already feel tired enough that I could have a nap 😂 dilemma, do I keep going half heartedly or do I stop and nap and then get on later 🤷♀️
Spotted this bumble bee on a sunflower this morning 🥰 🐝
Booked a Dmard blood test for later in the week, it’s due but I also feel as I am getting quite tired there may be a touch of inflammation going on 🙄
Peeled all the garlic cloves, two thirds I made into paste and froze flat then marked out sections on the bag (like noughts and crosses) so I can just break a bit off when needed, the other third is in the dehydrator and that will become powder. I chopped some onions to go in there too, half will be crispy onion and half will be powered. I still have some onions that I think will keep for a couple of weeks and so they are in a basket in the store cupboard. Did a bit of tidying away and some hoovering also a bit of un bountiful paperwork, ie I didn’t get anywhere with the results I was after 🙄 just a lot of chasing around. Time for a sit down before John comes home and I have to get the dinner on. Oh I did pick some more fresh flowers for my kitchen 🥰 Still got soo much to get sorted but rest first I think.
Tuesday: Today I have accepted that I am struggling, I am so tired it is unreal and my legs feel heavy, my feet hurt and I am incredibly grumpy about everything, all signs that something isn’t quite right 🙄 Hopefully it’s just a blip, I have taken some ibrufen along with my meds this morning and I will make an anti inflammatory smoothie of orange carrot and turmeric later, also make sure that what I eat is plain and fresh so that my digestive system doesn’t have to work too hard in order to leave the energy for my body to use for healing instead, that’s the plan lol. So unless the ibrufen kicks in I will not be doing much today except resting, luckily I have blood tests on Thursday so should be able to pick anything up quite early on although the lupus is like an iceberg by the time you can see the top, underneath has grown massively.
I went out and did the necessary it proper struggling now 😕 fed the Guineas and torts plus cleaned them all out and got new hay and straw for them and the light Sussex and cleaned Teds pen. Then picked some fat hen for the Sussex who don’t come out until later when Ted goes away otherwise Ted and the cockerel fight 🙄 After that I wanted to get some washing on the line. I took the rotary down when it was Johns birthday but the bottom broke and everything since I have been using the airer but when I want to dry bigger things that’s not practical. So I tried getting it back up as best as possible, it took a lot of effort to lump hammer what was left into the ground, then it wouldn’t go up which took me four or five attempts then once I had the washing on there it started to fall over 🤬 ffs I wedged a piece of wood behind it but that has just about finished me off and I could easily have a sleep. Washing lines have been the bane of my life, anyone else? Just me probably, never had a rotary that actually stayed upright and when we moved to one place it had those nice concreted posts at each end, fabulous I though till John decided they were in the way and dug them up and then it was back to rotary 😭 Although we have plenty of area I can’t actually find a good spot for a retractable one that isn’t under trees!
I did find some energy eventually so I went out and had a go at scything some of the grass in the front drive, came in and had a good look at technique on you tube plus how to peen the blade as well as sharpen it.
We finally had some much needed rain although by the time I realised it was raining my washing had got wet and to add to that the washing line had fallen over with all the washing on it 🤬 I have mow ordered a new screw in ground spike hopefully that will work 🙄
I spent the afternoon and evening sorting yet more stuff out for the holiday, I have had real trouble with the booking number 😂 not being able to log in, trying umpteen times, finally getting on and u able to print out the tickets, finally managed to do that and we are nearly good to go, so much extra paperwork this year all designed for contactless check in I think. Fed the cats and dogs at 7.30 and finally got something to eat before sitting down, no pressure to water this evening thank goodness because I don’t think I could manage it.
Wednesday: I have Josh and Flo today so whizzed round and did all the necessary things before spending some quality time with them. As we had rain in the day I didn’t need to water anything except the uncover stuff which was a blessing. Had a disaster though as the UV gazebo was flipped by the wind and landed on the pea canes making a hole in the gazebo and ripping up the peas 🤬 n the positive side John managed to get my washing line up securely in a place that is mor easy for me to get the washing in when it’s very hot.
Thursday: Blood tests this morning, good job as I feel totally exhausted at times, I can’t really explain it to anyone who does not have total fatigue but if you do you will understand. Firstly I feel incredibly tired, I can feel my words slurring, my eyes are really heavy and I guess it’s like you have been given sleeping tablets (wouldn’t really know as never had them but that’s what I am guessing) and then for I have a nap I have a real job waking up, it’s quite surreal to be honest and a little bit scary. I remember when I was having a really bad flare, I couldn’t rouse myself from sleeping just kept falling back to sleep and remember thinking ‘is this how you die, just drift off to sleep and that’s it’ 🙄 not that bad this time at the moment but definitely something is not right.
Having said that I did the jobs I needed to get done before going for the tests and then for a birthday treat Shelley, Josh and Flo took me to Buscot tea rooms and then we walked along to the weir and the lock, lovely area and never been there before but really wanted to go, glad we did. When I got back I literally sat down and then went to sleep 😴 for over an hour.
Friday: It’s my birthday 🥳 it’s been raining most of the day and I have been here by myself most of the day but I have done a few things on top of the usual jobs. After feeding my job lot I picked a few things, cucumbers, tomatoes, jalapeños, then I met a chap from a local farm museum who has two females turkeys to rehome and hopefully they will be coming here on Sunday 😁 Indoors then to make a super smoothie which was raw beetroot, a pear, some blueberries, some honey and then oat milk, blend and drink, full of goodness 🥰 I cooked some jalapeños and chopped onion in water until soft (but not mushy) then blended them and added avocado oil to make a chilli sauce for sausages later on. Then I still have plenty of stuff in the big freezer to get used up and so a whole load of things went into a pan to make a batch of soup, swede, sweetcorn, baby potatoes, beetroot, onions, leeks and some spinach together with veg stock and black pepper.
Shelley, Josh and Flo came round in the afternoon with a birthday cake for me and stayed until later in the evening, John came home early from work then everyone came round at 6ish, the weather was on off rain, then very windy, but luckily it settled a bit by the time we lit the fire pit, oh yes and the cat stole one of the raw sausages waiting to go in the pan 😂
I had cooked the soup earlier intending to freeze it but the weather was so shockingly bad in the evening that everyone had soup before their sausages 😂 the jalapeño sauce went down really well and so did the s’mores 🥰 lovely evening round the fire on a cold July evening 🤷♀️
Saturday: Early start as Charlie and Macca were coming round to pick us up and take us out for breakfast as a birthday present, I had no idea where we were going. We arrived in Oxford just after 8.30 and had breakfast at the Breakfast Club, delish French toast with pecans and and banana for me, traditional English for John, pancakes for Charlie and Macca, the coffee was lovely (I really appreciate a decent tasting coffee) fresh orange was exactly that and also delicious, once we had stuffed our faces we came home 🥰 When we got back we had a quick cuppa and then cut the front drive grass with the mower, apart from the areas I scythed it was long and difficult that was added to by the weather, one minute the sun was out, next it was a shower and this carried on until we had finished. Needs another tidy once it dries, whenever that might be 🙄
It carried on with some torrential downpours all afternoon so most other jobs apart from the necessary were just abandoned, ridiculous weather 🤪
Sunday: More showers in and around grey skies and occasional peeks of sunshine. Mostly I spent the first couple of hours picking and then sorting veg out one way or another. John did the morning rounds and then some weeding and I am delighted to tell you that Ted now has some lady friends 🥰 we have rehomed two female turkeys from Cogges Manor Farm and although it’s early days and they are giving each other a wide berth 😂 we hope they will all get on together. It’s lovely for Ted to finally have some of his own kind 😁
Tedalena and Tedaliscious 😂
Very tired, grumpy and disillusioned today 😕 and the constant rain showers don’t help because I can’t really get on with anything, never mind maybe a nap will help 🤪
Have a great week, and if you are reading this on my personal Facebook page please note that from next week it will only be available on the Friesland Farm Facebook page or you can subscribe for free on WordPress which will deliver it to your email inbox 😁
Monday 19th July 2021: And just like that it’s Monday again but not any old Monday, today is Freedom day 🤷♀️ That’s what they have named it anyhow 🙄 we are not free of the virus and we won’t be for a very long time yet but I guess it is time to get on with life as best we can under the circumstances. Who would have guessed this time a couple of years ago we would have had such a restriction on our liberties 😮 My personal opinion is that at some point we have to get on with life, we can’t keep locking down but I would say we still have to be very careful. I do know of double vaccinated people who have since caught Covid, their symptoms were not as bad as they may have been back in the beginning but they have had symptoms that are flu like and still lost the sense of taste. Proceed with caution is the advice we should have had.
Enough of that 😂 It is another hot day, set to be a scorcher of a week and you know what that means for me, yep I will mostly be found indoors! I was up early this morning and by 9.30 I had done four hours of work and come inside to do some more, I will probably nap mid afternoon as I will be out till dark once it cools down enough, if it does 😜 No picking today I am going to wait a couple of days until there is plenty to pick, so that left watering and weeding which is what I did as well as feeding the usual bunch of inmates. John got up after me but did the birds before going off to work.
Once I came in I decided it was going to be way too hot most of the week to put another coat of paint on the ceiling so I have abandoned that and started putting the bits and pieces back where they belong, at least the kitchen won’t be upside down any more which will make me feel calmer about things lol.
Apart from putting the kitchen bits back up and sorting dinner for later I didn’t do much else until much later, had an afternoon nap obvs 😂
Once we had dinner and done all the late afternoon/evening jobs, I went out to get some watering done. Although it is very hot because I have watered the tunnels and greenhouse everyday without fail, they are doing pretty well. The veg in the beds are also doing better than I had expected, all that rain at the beginning of the season and plenty of cover on the ground (including weeds) is keeping things going. I am looking at changing the beds a bit for next year and I think I will order some bulk mushroom compost at the end of the year, that seems to help keep moisture locked in. While I am at it I will incorporate some bio char as well, that’s the plan anyway, as always things don’t always go according to plan but I can see how far I get with it.
Tuesday: Another scorcher in store today 🙄 up with the alarm at 5am, lovely and cool at that time of the morning. I watered last night so this morning it was picking to concentrate on, I picked French beans and the first lot of runner beans, beetroot, carrots and from one of the small raise beds a good haul of potatoes, also a few blueberries. Fed the torts and Guineas, sorted out the boot room and gave it a Hoover, cleaned out the litter trays that the kittens have now started to use and then made a coffee. I could then hear Patch barking a ‘come and see this bark’ I checked to make sure he wasn’t locked in anywhere as he didn’t come when I called him at first. I went out the back and he ran off towards the paddock so I followed him knowing that something was amiss, a hedgehog was stuck firmly in the stock fencing, back up to get some gloves and wire cutters and back down to release the hog and make the hole in the fence ‘fat hedgehog friendly’ 😜 Back up to drink my coffee and sort out this major I go haul of goodies. The problem with the hot weather is that I don’t really want to eat carrots, beans and potatoes but they need picking and pulling so I am going to have to prepare them for freezing or storing, I also have onions and garlic (which can’t be stored due to the leaf miner) to get started on. I did want to dehydrate some onion rings but it will be a bit warm to have that on at the minute, I reckon the sun is warm enough to sun dry tomatoes here for once!
Oo I have done a thing lol, like I do, on a whim, I have listed our small back paddock as a Wildpoint camping site (tent only)l Well there are plenty of people staying in the country for holidays this year so might as well utilise some of our area and share the wonderful sunsets with them 🥰
I’m crying, I’m not sad, I’ve been chopping the onions 😂
Popped out this evening for a therapy treatment then stopped off in the village at the pond as Shelley, Martin and the kids were there with some friends and then back home to water the tunnels and the greenhouse. It is a bit cooler this evening which is nice and after watering I sat in the garden, a hedgehog ran across the lawn and there were two baby hogs in the paddock, they looked like large conker casings 😂 I have filled up a dish of water for them and put it on the lawn, probably struggling to find water in this heat wave. I hope it breaks soon, the struggle is real trying to keep everything going just at the time when fruits and veg are forming 🙄
Wednesday: Guess what, yep it is bloody hot again today 😂 It was nice and cool around 5am though and there was a slight dew on the plants which is great. I got started on some garden work almost straight away, only picked peas today and then cut back the tops that were not producing yet to see if I can stimulate a flush growth from them. Then it was into the fruit cage to cut back any dead steam from the summer raspberries, plenty of bindweed to pull up and water the fruit that is in pots. I suddenly realised how dumb I was 🤪 I have an oblong galvanised water tank on one side of the cage and it is on the opposite side to everything that is in pots and needs water most, derr, what was I thinking, well I clearly wasn’t thinking that’s for sure so I need to remedy that. The tank gets filled up with water from the bigger rain storage tanks and then it also fills naturally from any rainfall so there is usually plenty in there I just have to fill up the watering can and take it to the plants. It would be a whole lot easier if the plants were nearer 😂 The rest of the day, once I had finished outside, I have done next to nothing 🙄😬🥴 saving my energy for later tonight and the watering sesh.
Thursday: Same heat if not hotter certainly in the house anyway. I spent the early morning checking the veg garden and watering where necessary but I didn’t do any picking I decided to leave it another day and pick a lot at once rather than bits and pieces. The development of some veg is slow due to the heat and lack of moisture, rain forecast for the weekend which should wake it all up a bit. I spent a large part of the day inside as always but I was busy. We have a holiday booked and I was getting the paperwork printed sorted, emailing enquires etc, that seemed to take hours what with one thing and another. We are going on a weeks cruise to nowhere 😂 seriously we get on the ship in Southampton and it sails around the south coast and the French coast, no stops and then comes back, but that’s fine, we just need to get away. Good food and drink, relaxing and reading is just about all I will be doing and I can’t wait 🥰 Everyone boarding needs proof of both vaccines (and the nhs site was down 😜) we will all have to be tested at the terminal (courtesy of P & O) we need Covid travel insurance, health declaration forms, passports (even though we are not getting off) car parking booked, tickets and labels and umpteen forms to fill in lol, didn’t get all of it done for one reason or another but nearly there. We weighed up all the pros and cons, the ship is not filling to capacity (50%) we don’t have to go to the inside venues if we don’t want to, there are plenty of opportunities to eat outside, protocols are all in place and so because we feel we need to get on with life a little bit, we booked up. If I am honest I did think it might have all calmed down a lot more by now, I didn’t reckon on the football being a point of super spreading 🥴 Still, we are going and I still feel despite everything that it will be ok 🤞hopefully not famous last words!
In the evening it was supposed to be the usual jobs after dinner, watering, but we sat down and John out a film on so that was that as I got interested in it lol. I did go out around 9.30 just before the light faded and watered the greenhouse, it was so much cooler outside than indoors so we sat out there for a good while before ending the day.
Friday: It feels cooler today more like what we are used to in the summer. I got up at 5 and started watering, I splashed a bit round the front beds as well, they are flagging in this heat now. Then onto the veg garden and watering the tunnels before launching into picking. Cucumber, courgettes, tomatoes, runner beans, French beans, aubergines, peppers, chillies and some blueberries, raspberries and Logan berries, not many but enough for us. Once that was done and I had done the horses water and let out the ducks it was indoors to prep the stuff I had picked. Some went out for sale, Shelley and Charlie both wanted a few items and the rest I podded, chopped and peeled either for dinner tonight or for the freezer. It is the twins 2nd birthday today and we will be popping over there later this afternoon and so I have put dinner in the slow cooker, that way it is either ready before we go or I can leave it until we get back depending on how hungry John is 😁
Just typing this up I have now been working for almost six hours and it’s only 11 am, sometimes I wonder why I feel so tired by midday 😂
I had a delivery, it’s a birthday present for me from Sam and family and it arrived early as they will be away. The delivery man said, as is etiquette for the British, ‘isn’t it a lovely day’ to which I replied ‘yes it is but I’m glad it is a bit cooler than it has been’. Mistake really, normally I would just say, yes it’s lovely but for some reason this other sentence came out of my mouth today 🤷♀️ We shouldn’t complain about the weather, we don’t get it often enough’ he said (nicely I will add) I could tell he liked his sunshine, tanned, shorts on, t shirt etc, for some inexplicable reason I felt the need to defend my sentence 😆 So I tried to explain about UV and my skin, ‘oh right’ he said as he waved and walked away 🤣 Two things spring to mind here, he doesn’t understand it and nor do millions of people probably, and also I feel like I am ‘that person’ who has a hundred different allergies when I start to explain why it’s a problem 😕 I don’t want to be that person, I am not that person but I am becoming more disillusioned by the lack of awareness and understanding lately 🙄 Especially when it has been as hot as the last few days, when things get back to normal (eventually) there will be so many things I would love to do but can’t because it’s out in the blaring sunshine 🤦♀️
Saturday: John cleaned and tided the back area which always needs doing every few weeks due it being a dumping ground as we pass through. I did a bit of picking and then we went off to meet Shelley and the children at a local event and then had a coffee in town. Writing this on Sunday I can’t actually remember what else we did but we did something 😂
Sunday: Still haven’t had any rain, there was loads forecast but it has missed us almost entirely, we had a short burst of rain but that is it so far which is not what I need, really need some decent downfall. After doing indoor stuff I went up the back and burnt the rubbish and I used the scythe to cut down stinging nettles, found a clutch of eggs which we will save to give the dogs and cats. I also discovered that one of the ash trees that I thought would be fine for a couple of years, has got disease right at the bottom and half the trunk is gone. We need to get it down soon before it comes down of its own accord. Meanwhile John cleaned out the front hens and then pulled up some of the bigger weeds from the side driveway in readiness for some type 1 to be delivered. In the afternoon we went off to get me a birthday present, chuffed with my new fire pit that has cooking facilities 🥰 later in the afternoon I made some steak and onions on there, converted John finally to campfire cooking as he said it tasted soooo good 😁 Popped out to see Mum and Ken for a cuppa and then when we got back I pulled some of the dead stuff in the front beds and gave it a good watering, finished around 9.30pm, very tired now.
Monday 12th July 2021: 😢😢😢😢 We lost the football final, but what we got was a nation riding high on hopes and dreams for a while and that was worth it’s weight in gold especially this year.
Still the weather is not typical but it’s fine for me except the rain showers which are making the weeds enormous, the soft fruit and flower buds wet and soggy and me run in and out with the washing 🙄 Today I ah e been spinning plates again (metaphorically of course) trying to get the kitchen washed down, holes filled, caulking done, almost ready to paint it but not looking forward to doing that job especially the ceiling 😂 At lunchtime the farrier came so half an hour beforehand I went to get the horses in, as soon as I took the electric down Jack jumped the rails effing donkey is what I called him 😜 I got biscuit in and tied her up, Jack was wellying around the yard and then found the big paddock with lots of grass. Of course he then did not want to be caught so I had to use some psychology on him, shut him in the paddock, go back to biscuit where he couldn’t see me, come back, stand with my back to him and eventually he came and stood so I could get his head collar on. Only then did he get half an apple and it was just in time as the farrier arrived. Feet done I turned them back out into the restricted grazing, I might let him out towards the end of the week when it’s going to be hot rather than raining.
Back into the kitchen to get some more bits of filling done, just some rubbing down to do and then it will be ready. With that and a chat to a couple of customers not much got done outside though I might get out and do a bit tonight if I can, providing no more rain that is.
Well tonight instead of getting on the garden I went out to the paddock as Sam came over to get the fencing sorted for the horses. We have now moved the fencing to go round the whole perimeter of the paddock with a gateway I can open and let them onto better grass at the weekends as a treat. Had a bit of trouble getting them back in as we had let them into the other paddock which is full of nice lush grass and obviously they didn’t want to come back in, but again with a bit of bribery, something tasty, and grabbing hold of biscuit to lead her in first, we got them in and put the electric back on, job done.
Tuesday: Up early, before 5am, I thought it was going to be a hot day so I got up and got on, turns out it wasn’t but at least I got plenty done. Hoeing, picking, cutting back things and I was in the kitchen painting by 9.30 😂
I have two large blackcurrant bushes in the fruit cage but one has struggled for the past two years and so this year I have cut it right back down to hopefully give it some vigour next year though it won’t produce fruit until the following year now. That’s fine because the other bush is healthy and loaded this year, I’ve no idea why the other is not 🤷♀️ Currants fruit on two year wood which is why I will have to wait for that long, normally you would just cut back this years growth and thin it out a bit but a hard cut back will either finish it off or renew it, I will have to wait and see which one happens. Then also in the fruit cage I have this triffid of a kiwi which takes up loads of room and as yet has never produced a kiwi even though it’s self fertile. So I made an executive decision to cut it down, I will dig up the root and plant something more productive in its place. I can pot the root and put it somewhere where it can just look attractive rather than keep waiting every year for something to grow.
Rain showers again today 🙄 tiresome and we are going straight into bloody hot weather I believe in the next couple of days urgh can’t win.
My scythe arrived 😁 it needed putting together so following the instructions I think I have managed to do it properly. I did contemplate not touching the blade until there was someone else here just in case I cut myself but I went ahead anyway 😜 and no injuries I am glad to say.
Painting the kitchen is the worst room isn’t it, you just think right I can get on and sort this and then you have to tidy away so you can get dinner, slow progress as I don’t want to be sanding down with food on the side, I’m sure I will get sorted eventually.
I did most of the cutting in and that took me till gone 6pm, more than a 12hr shift today, pooped 😜
John went out to put the birds to bed around 9.30 he was in the stable shutting the geese in when he heard the hens making a racket, ran out to them and a fox was carrying off one of the hens 🤬 I have ordered a cheap solar powered radio which we will put up the back with the hens and see if we can keep the bloody fox away like that, running out of options, and hens 😕
Wednesday: Spent most of the day painting, first colour coat was on by 10am, walls and ceiling, then while that was drying I went out and sorted the onions and garlic, the onions have had the first few layers peeled off and are drying in the sun. The garlic I divided into individual bulbs, they were starting to regrow and have become disfigured lol but if I dry each bulb out it should be fine to store. The onions will not store as they had to be pulled early due to the grubs in them and so I will have to chop and freeze most of them 🙄
I took some pics of what else is growing nicely, a melon, an aubergine and peppers, I also have some jalapeños growing nicely, happy with those especially the aubergine as I have not managed to grow one before now.
I did the second coat of paint in the afternoon but I think it will need a third coat 😭 my hands are swelling from holding the roller and the pressure used, I can officially say I bloody hate painting ceilings. I told John I am getting too old to do them now 🙄 especially in the kitchen where there are so many unmovable obstacles. I want to get it finished and get the kitchen back in some sort of order, seems to have taken ages to sort this out.
The weather has been pretty good for me so far this summer but it’s about to get hot 🥵 shame really as I have been able to get some work done nearly every day without feeling tired, all good things come to an end I guess, enjoy the sun while I sit indoors 😂
Thursday: I had already decided not to finish the painting today, I usually have the twins and didn’t want the kitchen upside down when they came, as it was they didn’t come because their cousin, who they saw on Monday, developed chicken pox today and so Sam and I decided it was best if I didn’t see them until we know if the have contracted it or not due to my lowered immune system. So that gave me a full day of doing what I had started in the morning, weeding, I kid you not, all day long I have been weeding 🙄 John made a cup of tea at 8pm and I had fully intended to carry on after I had sat and drunk it but as I got up I realised my legs were just not going to go anymore lol 😂 That is more than a twelve hour shift today and I am knackered, tired, grumpy, so I will quit now rather than push myself to beyond my limits and regret it, I feel a snooze coming on 😴
Friday: Grabbed a banana and a cup of tea for breakfast before get straight on with the day, it’s going to be hot, it was already very warm at 7am this morning.
I started off hoeing the flowering shrub bed in the front, this gets the first sun the morning and seemed a good place to start before it got too hot, pruned some of the spring flowering branches out that have now gone over. Onto some picking in the veg garden, a few bits and pieces before the main picking which was blackcurrants. Only one bush to pick this year but it is loaded. Into the kitchen to process them and so far I have blended and sieved blackcurrant purée and that is now freezing in ice cube trays and I have a tray of whole blackcurrants open freezing ready to bag up once they are done. Quick sit down and some lunch and then I will use the rest to make some apple and blackcurrant crumbles for the freezer, I have some cooking apples already that need using up.
Blackcurrant haul Puréed blackcurrant, frozen in ice cube trays to use in smoothies etc
Keeping the house cool by closing the curtains and blinds, at least on a hot day I can get inside jobs done, it not painting the ceiling 🤪 that will have to wait until another day 🙄
The rest of the afternoon and evening consisted of the usual jobs, feels quite warm and muggy tonight, I still have some blackcurrants to sort out tomorrow, probably cook them down, extract the juice and either make jam or some cordial maybe, not sure yet.
I had to water some of the plants in pots tonight, it’s amazing how quickly they dry out, I really need to amend that and put something in to hold the moisture longer though these are out in the blazing sun most of the day so it’s no surprise really.
Saturday: Hot, hot, hot 🥵 Got as much as I could get done this morning, should have got up early but I didn’t (again) I did some picking, blueberries, courgettes, Blackcurrants, French beans, cucumber, let the horses out into the bigger paddock for a treat, all the other usual jobs and then planted some cauliflower and cabbage plants. They had to be covered as the cabbage whites are out in force at the minute 🙄 Meanwhile John had done the morning rounds and he spent a few hours hand weeding the paths in the veg garden which was nice of him, he also cleaned out the ducks. Once it was too hot for me I came in and hoovered and polished the sitting room, closed the curtains to keep it cook and did a quick clean in the bathroom. By lunchtime John was in and watching the F1 build up and then we had a rest for a couple of hours.
Mid afternoon I said to John I fancy and ice cream and so he has gone off to get some 🥰
I have been doing daily round ups on the podcast if you are listening to that, it’s just a different media and I quite like doing it, you get a different perspective on the same subject really 😂
In the evening I tried out the scythe, yep that definitely needs more practice despite watching a you tube video lol. After that I watered the greenhouse and the two poly tunnels and then indoors to sort the eggs and then de flea, cats, kittens and dogs and worm the adult cats and dogs, finally finished at 10.45. Time for a quick shower as it has been really muggy this evening and then collapse into bed ready to start again tomorrow. If I set the alarm for 5am fingers crossed I can actually get up and do some extra work.
Sunday: Phew it’s hot again today hot 🥵 sweltering temps mean most of my work is done in the early morning, inside most of the middle of the day and then out again in the evening until late to get stuff done.
This evening I have also washed Johns van as we went out to collect some shopping in it this morning (the air con in the car is not working and in the van it is 🙄) and I said I was embarrassed to be seen in it as it was filthy dirty lol, so I washed it. John meanwhile was out digging up ragwort, that should be all of it now and then I went on to do the watering until 10pm while John weeded some more of the pathways. He is doing a great job but I told him by the time he finishes it will be time to start again 😂
Monday July 5th 2021: I always have the urge to sing ‘Monday, Monday’ when I am writing up the first day of the weeks blog lol.
It is sunny today thought not a typical July day, it’s cooler than average I would say and we have constant threat of showers, a real topsy Turkey weather year this year, random 🤷♀️ I haven’t been up to much this morning apart from all usual jobs and one very important job first thing. That was get on the phone ASAP to get the cat booked in which I am glad to say they can do tomorrow I just hope the little bugger turns up for his dinner tonight so I can crate him ready to go 🤪 He has stuck around since we picked him up so I have no reason to think otherwise but you never know!
This morning a letter was released from Buckingham palace, the NHS has collectively been awarded the George Cross, the highest civilian gallantry award and covers the 73 years of dedicated service and for courageous service of healthcare workers during the Covid 19 pandemic, a great honour and richly deserved 🥰
I haven’t mentioned the restrictions for a while I feel like we are all treading water but hopefully mid July all restrictions will be lifted. I am guessing that those who wish to carry on with restrictions will but those that don’t will have the freedoms that have been sorely missed over the last year and a half. My opinion is that once the majority have been vaccinated we may as well carry on as normal otherwise there is no point in the vaccinations 🤷♀️
The sun is out today and although I have been out doing a bit of picking in it I soon get tired, that is my system saying we need to attack 😏 and so it’s not long before I go back indoors. Luckily it’s Wimbledon fortnight so I can rest out of the sun while watching something interesting. I would be doing something but I feel very tired, I can’t explain that to anyone who doesn’t experience it, it’s total fatigue it happens when I go out in the car on a sunny day too. Good job I don’t drive really isn’t it, I have no idea how people who have Lupus and do drive manage because the heat in the car and the sun rays totally floor me sometimes.
I picked soft fruit, a mix of raspberries, red currants and strawberries which we will probably have later for dessert, I generally have mine with some Greek yoghurt John will either have his just with sugar or with some ice cream depending on what he fancies.
In the evening before I sorted out our dinner I wanted to get the cat sorted and locked in! He appeared as he always did before he went and so I sorted out feed for him, water, a blanket and a litter tray and then we put him in a large dog crate. John said we should leave it out in the back bit I said no because he might get through the gaps at the bottom. He didn’t think that he could get his head through the gap, I said I have been here before with cats 😂 and so we moved the crate into the boot room, closed the window and shut and locked the cat flap. If he does get out of the cage, he can’t get anywhere else this time. The problem is that the dogs can’t get in (it’s actually a dog sized flap) and it means that Jill can’t get out either but it’s only for a short time, I have to make sure I have the cat to take to the vets tomorrow 🤪
Tuesday: Up with the alarm to get sorted before packing the cat safely off to the vets 😁 The usual jobs before he went except feeding the others because I thought that was a bit unfair as he was not allowed to eat from 9pm last night so I fed them after he had left with John. Outside then to let the ducks out, John had let everything else out but the egg numbers have gone down and sometimes when they are let out too early they lay outside and the crows eat them. However, they had still only laid half a dozen so I guess some of them are just on a break 🙄 Out then to do a bit of picking, broad beans mainly this morning, I picked approximately one and a half kgs of course once you have shelled them it’s a lot less. Some went out for sale some for dinner tonight and some for the freezer along with a few peas. I also grabbed an onion and some carrots, we have slow roasted shoulder of lamb and that will do nicely for dinner later. I went into the big tunnel to check in there and was horrified to find I had left the hose on, shit, ah well it won’t need water for a week in there now, I did pick a lovely big cucumber which went out for sale as I won’t be needing that today and there are plenty more forming for when I do.
At this point the sky turned dark and it looks like it is going to rain heavily at some point this morning. We have had heavy downpours overnight, great for the veg garden, not so good for the flowers as they have had a bit of a battering from it, can’t win them all I suppose. I now need to decide what I am going to get done today, the plaster still hasn’t finished drying in places so I won’t bother about painting yet, I still need to go and get paint and one or two other bits anyway so I’m not quite ready myself 😂 I still need to sort out the other freezer, I keep trying to use bits up in there but there is a fair amount still left to use or transfer to the freezer we are keeping.
I did order a couple of things online this morning as well, egg boxes, we are nearly out of those and so I have ordered 600 more and I ordered a scythe 🙄 The strimmers are a total pain if you can even get them going that is, they make a heck of a mess and so I d died in my wisdom 🤪 to order a brand new Austrian scythe, it doesn’t need any fuel and it doesn’t make a racket or a mess. My plan was to do a day course but as with most things this year they are either booked up or cancelled, Sod’s law that the three dates available near me are the only three days I can’t do all summer long 😂 so if anyone knows someone who uses a scythe on a regular basis let me know, I could do with some tuition especially on sharpening and preening the blade. Hopefully the walk in run will arrive either today or tomorrow and we can get that sorted, at least we will be able to go and get paint without worrying about the fox wiping out the hens while we are away. I am not sure if I a, honest what we are going to do about the increasing attacks, we can’t keep the hens locked up forever. My plan is that we keep the hens in until any foxes move on 🤷♀️lol not sure that will work but it might so we have to try.
I prepped the veg and meat for dinner later then made some biscuits, honey, pecan and orange, the raw biscuit dough was delicious and the biscuits themselves are too but when I was putting the ingredients in (from a recipe) I thought ‘this is a lot of sugar’ they came out flat and chewy lol. I will see if I can hone the recipe next time, meanwhile anyone need to exercise their jaw 😂
John came home at lunchtime with a box of quail egg boxes, the chap at the job he was on had them lying around and so gave them to him 😁 The delivery of the walk-in run arrived but it is raining so we won’t put that together unless it brightens up later. Shelley is picking up the cat from the vets for me and then dropping Josh and Flo with me for a couple of hours while she does some work.
John and I got the tiny paddock at the back cut again, actually I cut it while John cleaned out the chickens in the back pen. Just about finished when I ran out of petrol 🙄 Shelley arrived with Josh and Flo and the cat which she had picked up from the vets for us. I put the cat in the dog crate he was in last night, he has one of those big collars on and the first thing he did was go in the litter tray, which has sawdust in it because that all we have, dipped his head down, for what purpose I have no idea, and scooped up a ton of sawdust into his collar 😜 He didn’t like this and then proceeded to try shaking it out and knocked over his water bowl. So the nice tidy cage with a clean snuggly blanket in is now covers in water and sawdust 😂 I actually wish I had filmed it because it was a comedy sketch for sure, he has to stay in the cage until Thursday when I take him back for them to check him over, and the pain meds came in a syringe, I said to Shelley I don’t have to inject him do I 🤔 no it goes in his food, Phew 😥
Josh and Flo were here for a couple of hours and while Josh went with Grampy to feed the chickens, Flo was keen to go into the garden. I think Florence is going to be the next generation gardener in the family, she doesn’t want to play out there she wants to go round the veg garden looking at the fruit and veg, finding out what it is and having a taste test, yay I think the baton has been passed on already 🥰 Definitely going to have to nurture her interest 😁
Wednesday: The metal wire run got delivered yesterday but we didn’t get chance to put it up, hoping we can later this evening but the weather is all over the place. I spent the morning prepping and painting a mist coat on the bits John has replastered, then when I finished I went out to get some work done in the garden. I started off with some hoeing as the weeds are getting out of hand on the pathways, then onto the leek bed but it suddenly starting raining, I say suddenly it’s been grey and looming all morning. I went back indoors and it stopped, I came out and it started again so I have abandoned any work on the garden unless it clears up at some point.
About 10 this morning while I was painting I suddenly realised I hadn’t let the ducks out so I went and did that and found 12 eggs today which is a lot better, maybe we will leave them in until that time every day.
Didn’t get any more done outside, I pottered about inside instead, then John called and said he would be late and could I feed the birds and do the eggs, not while it is pissing down says I 😜 I waited for the rain to ease and shot out to do the job before coming back in and organising dinner. There was no chance we would get this pen up tonight, two reasons, one it was still peeing down on and off and two, the semi finals are on 😁
England only went and won, oh my days I don’t think we can quite believe it 🏴 I am not a football fan generally but I will watch England play and I am hugely patriotic so the excitement and pride are all there, well done lads, let’s bring this home we have waited long enough 🏆
Thursday: Up, shower, do the morning jobs and then get the cat into the cat carrier to take him to the vet.
He gets the all clear, his collar can come off and he is allowed to go out again but I leave him shut in the back bit as I am going out with Shelley and Flo for a coffee and then over to see Sam and the twins. He will be better if he has a bit more rest without his collar and I will let him out on my return.
I didn’t get an awful lot done when I got back in the afternoon, I had a good a chat with a friend I haven’t seen for a while over the gate and then the twins arrived and we looked after them while Mia went swimming. Sam did the horse fence when she came back, we had a very quick dinner and then outside to finally get something done today. While I was busy watering and picking peas, broad beans, beetroot, strawberries and raspberries, John cut the lawn and then went in to do the washing up. After I finished outside I came in to pod the peas and beans and get them in the freezer, the fruit I will be making some jam with at some point tomorrow. I actually managed to find some jam sugar in town today, it’s like gold dust at times. Put the bins out while John is putting the birds to bed and finally sit down around 9.30. Not finished there though as I have to order some predatory mites that feast on red mite, hopefully they will work as they are quite expensive! I am contemplating setting the alarm for 5am in the morning, setting it and actually get up at that time are two different things though but that time of the morning is really lovely so I ought to make the most of it.
Friday: I did t get up earlier 😂 I did get up just before the alarm though so around 6.20 and I got straight on with the day after breakfast, there was no ambling about this morning. I did a bit more picking, quite a bit of rhubarb and there is more to be picked, I need to start freezing some of it for winter use really. I also cut one of the lavender bushes, put some bunches out for sale, you never know somebody might like one, the rest I will either give to the girls or put indoors. The was just one lavender bush I have a fair few growing in different areas but these are in the veg garden to attract beneficial insects and to harvest for drying etc. I pottered about a bit more and then John arrived home, he is working today but he had also gone to collect feed while he was out and had a couple of hours spare when he came back. We got on with the job of putting the hen run together although I had to keep sitting in the shade when the sun made an appearance. It worked well though, me sitting there giving John instructions 😆 Even when I am reading them from the manual he is questioning what I am telling him 😂
Mid afternoon and the sun seems to be out for a while so I have come indoors, I am a bit cross with myself because I put the washing on yesterday evening so it was ready to put out this morning. I got it out of the machine and put it on the kitchen table so I didn’t forget to do it and then forgot 🤪 It’s nearly 3pm and I only just put it out, hopefully it will still dry enough for me to put into the airing cupboard to finish off 🙄 John had to go back out to do a couple of jobs but will be back when he has finished and we can get on.
John didn’t get back until gone 6pm which really annoyed me as I had three things I wanted to get sorted, we managed one of them in the time we had left in the evening. We got the rest of the run covered in mesh so that we can at least go out without worrying about the hens being attacked by the fox. We worked until it was dark and we literally couldn’t see what we were doing anymore.
Saturday: Rain to begin with but it cleared and stayed dry, at times it was muggy but still overcast. I had a list of jobs I wanted to get done today so John went off early to grab a few bits from the builders merchants so I could do them. Then he went off with Macca and the best men to collect his suit for the wedding. Meanwhile I put on a couple of wash loads, did all the usual morning stuff, let the ducks out sorted their eggs, did the horses electric fencing and back inside to start prepping the walls and ceiling for painting. I didn’t get very far as Sam messaged to see if I was in and come over with the twins, so I did the jobs I could get done before they arrived, feeding the Guineas and rabbit and hoovering. They stayed for a couple of hours and John arrived back, once Sam had gone we went to the diy store (finally) to get the paint for the kitchen and a couple of other bits we need to do the job, no idea when I will get chance to do that at the minute 🙄
Take a look at this lovely rose, the photo doesn’t actually do it justice , it is a rose that Shelley bought me on the anniversary of Dads death and it is called the simple life which is very apt.
Well we didn’t get much done the rest of the day once we got back from getting the paint, we made a cuppa, sat down and promptly fell asleep, me for over an hour, John a little less. He went and did the afternoon rounds while I was still sleeping, I feel like I have something coming and the cough and sinus thing still hasn’t completely gone away yet. I am wondering if it was a combination of the sun yesterday, although I did try to keep out of it, and working until late last night. I did say to John at one point during the evening, my leg is shaking and I have no idea why 🤷♀️ I hope it’s just a bit of tiredness and his whole thing is not going to flare up again or indeed the Lupus is not going to flare, I really haven’t got time for that at the minute and neither has John!
Talking of time, the year is whizzing past quickly I feel, already mid July, where has that gone.
Sunday: I regrouped and got on with the day, worked hard to get picking done early on and a plethora of other jobs before getting back out to the field to finish off the chicken run so that we can have some sense of being able to go out with out too much worry. To be honest it is not going to stop a full on attack but it will stop a chancer nipping in and picking a few off when we are not here, hopefully 😜
Now to the real topic of the day, the week, the month, the year, the century COME ON LADS, BRING IT HOME.🏴 Have a fabulous evening and I hope to report that England won in tomorrow’s blog 😁
Monday 28th June 2021: It is overcast but that’s fine for me, just how I prefer it, overcast but still warm 😂 I did a thing as Jeremy Clarkson would say 😜 I thought I would do a voice memo as I was going round this morning, actually I thought initially it would be for note taking but on playback I rather liked it. Then began the next couple of hours trying to get it onto some kind of platform so that I could transfer it to WordPress. You will see below that despite everything I did do exactly that, although I would have like to merge the recordings that seems a bit beyond the basic free apps, maybe I will pay for a good one so that next time it is seamless 😬 But here is a first ever audio of life on the farm, this is me with my local accent (which will sound strange to those readers in far off lands 😂) My voice is slightly huskier than normal due to this bug I have, normally it’s a lot tinnier, I prefer this husky one personally lol
Apart from faffing around for a long time trying to upload, download, offload the files 😜 I have done other bits of picking, chatting to a customer who came especially to get some fresh veg, organising what will be for dinner later, video call with shelley, and probably a few other things that I have completely forgotten about by now. The day has shot past, it’s already mid afternoon. At some point today I also whizzed up some strawberries to pour into an ice cube tray and freeze so that I can use them in smoothies. The strawberries are all little ones and so ideal for using up this way, you could always use the small amounts to add to fruit crumbles or defrost and add a bit of sweetness for a couli to have with ice cream or yoghurt, so many other things you can use them for really.
So as is typical of me once I had recorded that snippet for the blog I thought ‘I wonder if I can do a podcast’ 🤣 so guess what? That’s exactly what I did, yep seriously I found platform called Anchor and I recorded a podcast, well I would probably call it a shamble ramble actually but I was pretty pleased with the end result if I do say so myself. If you like podcasts and want a listen I will see if I can work out how to get the link on here. It is a little different to the blog, to start with it is about how we got to where we are and why. It is also a lot easier to talk about and convey your thoughts and ideas more easily than trying to write it at the end of the day when you are knackered. Basically that’s what I spent the rest of the afternoon doing except for the moment I spotted a fox! I had just finished recording a section and was sorting some interlude music when I looked out the door and thought, is that a fox? I couldn’t quite tell if it was or if it was a clump of dock heads but as I moved closer I could see it was a fox with its eyes firmly fixed on some hens in the paddock. I shouted it looked up at me and then back at the hens, I shouted again and by this time the dog had run round so the fox scarpered back through the hedge. This is the one that has black tinges and obviously the day time raider as it was only 4pm. I grabbed a stick and went out the the hedgeline and made as much noise as possible in the hopes it would bugger off, I then had to wait out in the garden until John came home in case it came back. Once John was back we got some corn and rounded up as many as possible for damage limitation and we house the geese as well. At the minute here are around 10 hens still out so we still have to be a bit vigilant.
There is still no sign of the cat and so I have had to call the vet again to cancel all future appointments 😕 One of the other jobs that need doing fairly urgently is moving the kittens and mum from up on the side in the boot room down to floor level. The reason being that the kittens, who now have their eyes open, began to start gentle exploration today out of the cosy little cat house they have been living in. In fact when one of them saw me it started mewing and coming towards me so it won’t be long before they are leaping about.
John is watching Andy Murry play at Wimbledon and keeps asking me ‘oh why is he using that drop shot’ or saying ‘he needs a double fault’ I am just trying to watch it in peace 😜
We bought in a dog crate and set it up on the floor then moved mum and the kittens along with their cosy little cat house down into the crate. I know what would have happened if we had left it any longer, we would have gone into the room to find one of them had fallen from the worktop 😏 we did a risk assessment and altered the situation for a better outcome 😜 We have left one door on the edge of the cage wedged open, the dogs can’t get past it but the cat can jump up and out so all should be fine for at least a week. They have started playing with each other now so won’t be long before they explore further.
Tuesday: Still overcast this morning but it’s warm enough, again it is rather a perfect day for me in mid summer 😬 I think it rained overnight, bonus because I don’t have to worry about watering 😁 I still have this dammed ‘thing‘ it’s really not that surprising because being on immune suppressants everything takes ages to clear up but I really wish it would do one so that I can have a clear head for once. In an effort to try and shift it I did do a simple sinus rinse this morning, ewwww, yes it is ewww but it gets rid of a lot of mucus and crap, still don’t feel much better but at least I can breathe through my nose now 🙄 I found a pot of eucalyptus oil last night which is more potent thank the jar of vicks and although it clears for a couple of minutes it is back to being blocked before very long.
What is on the agenda today? Good question, at the minute I am sitting having a decaf coffee, I am pretty tired from being awake half the night coughing so I am going to amble through the day I think 🤔 The ducks need clean bedding so that is on the list, I try not to set too much in stone because things change or I might spot something else that needs doing or I fancy doing and if I plan my day too rigidly it can become stressful and who wants stress 🤷♀️ I need to pick strawberries, they are coming in thick and fast now as expected it is Wimbledon fortnight after all. As always one job will lead to another so I won’t be idle just pacing myself. Oh and of course I will have to keep an eye out for the fox, we managed to get all the birds inside early last night, around 7 they were all safely locked away. We had put the geese in a stable about 5 as they were in that area anyway so we just herded them in. This morning John went out to let everything out for the day and he told me that when he got to the goose pen up in the small paddock he thought ‘oh shit we forgot to put them to bed’ he had totally forgotten that we had locked them somewhere different and had a slight panic for a moment 😂
So I actually achieved next to nothing today, not on the Smallholding anyway, I did manage to pick a good haul of strawberries and that was about it. Sam came over with the twins and we went out to a local garden centre to see the fish and have tea and cake. The crazy thing is that although the twins are nearly two, this is the first time they have done that 😢 it is very sad really that for the last year and a half they have not been able to do the things that their older sister was able to enjoy doing. So we went out on a socialising the twins mission 😂 I have to say they were really well behaved for a couple of toddlers on reins who suddenly are allowed to go out in the big wide world bless them 🥰
When we got back which was around 1.30pm, John was home and Shelley and Flo were visiting as well. Once they left I had to help John get a wire through the wall from the bathroom into the bedroom so that we could get the electric radiator in the bathroom working. We still have another to do in there and one in the living room but we need an electrician for those. A quick chat with a customer at the gate and then a cuppa in the garden as it was about the right time for the fox to make an appearance. John fed the birds, I put some lemon verbena and mushrooms in the dehydrator, then I took out the mushrooms because I don’t want the lemon verbena smelling like fungi 😂 I will dry them separately later, the verbena was almost dry from hanging in the kitchen I just need to crisp it up a bit. Lemon Verbena tea is supposed to be good for joint mobility, acne, soothing the stomach, anxiety and inflammation as well as a few other things, there is science to back some of it up and the rest is what people report back after taking it but there are drawbacks as well, it can have a laxative effect on some people and it is a diuretic so anyone with kidney problem should avoid it. Most if not all articles will say that you should seek advice from a doctor if you have an underlying illness or are on medication before consuming anything in the herbal section. That is great advice but not terribly practical is it 🤷♀️ I mean I am hardly going to give the practice a call for everything I want to try, I would probably try a little bit see if all seems well and go from there, but that’s me 😬
The kick off for the football is about to happen, England v Germany always a big match in whatever tournament they are playing. This is how seriously we take football in our house, the anthems play, John goes out for a smoke, he comes back in, they are about three minutes into the game, the conversation goes something like this: John ‘have we won yet?’ Me ‘yes game is over’, John ‘what colour are we playing in?’ Me ‘Pink’ John shouts are the telly a couple of times before leaving to go out and price up a job 😂 Not really football fans and quite honestly I would prefer to be watching the tennis.
We won! Many chants and posts of ‘it’s coming home’ yeah don’t count your chickens before they hatch 😜
We weighed up the fox situation and decided to pop to Mums for a cuppa, as John said we can’t just be here the whole time in case he comes, we did put the geese away first but the hens we left out as they are far more troublesome to round up, impossible even. As we drove back towards ours I could see that the verges had been cut and I was horrified to see that ours had been cut too. There are orchids growing out on the verge as well as in the front paddock, ffs what is wrong with the world wanting to cut everything back all the time, not the contractors fault I know but urrrgh humans 🤬 Luckily we have plenty this year inside our boundaries but still I am dumbfounded really, it’s not as if it’s on a blind bend, I could understand the need to cut it back but on a perfectly straight road it is not necessarily to do it until the end of the summer 🤷♀️ The hens were fine by the way, no visit from the pesky marauder this evening 😁
Wednesday: Another good day weather wise for me, sorry about the lack of sun folks but I’m fine with that lol. We did some very brisk trade at the egg shed yesterday in fact we pretty much sold out of everything we had which is fab. It did mean though that I need to be up and about early enough to put out the eggs for today before the customers, who call in on the way to work, get here. John did the animals and went of to work, this semi retired has pretty much gone out of the window as he is now booked up to mid August 😏 I did a bit of picking, not much today, a few peas and that’s it, I need to wait for the braid beans to fatten in the pods before a pick any more of those and everything else is slowly but surely forming. I then went to put some clean bedding in for the ducks and move the electric fence for the horses, I a, going to have to extend the tape again soon and put in more stakes as I am running out of ‘give’ with this lot. Onto the guinea pigs, I gave them a clean out, swept the floor, got them some fresh hay 🤔 That is one of those terms that is a paradox isn’t it 😂 fresh hay, it hadn’t occurs to me before now but dead grass is fresh hay 🤪 Anyway I sorted that lot out and picked them some fresh mint, lemon balm, dandelions and sow thistle they are very happy with that lot.
Back inside then to check the mushrooms I have had in the dehydrator, a lot of them are ready but some are still a bit soft. I took out the lot that were ready to whizz into powder, put that in a jar and left the rest to continue drying, they will be added later. Whenever you dry anything it starts off as quite a bit of bulk but by the time it’s dried it has shrunk to around 1/3rd of it original size and then once powdered the amount is minuscule, but it packs a punch with flavour which is the main thing.
My first ever podcast 😬 has been well received by family members and I didn’t even have to pay them or anything 😜 so I have already drafted up the second one ready to go next Monday. If you are interested or like podcasts you can find it on Spotify titled, Our Smallholding life warts ‘n’ all. I was going to keep it similar to the blog but I changed my mind as it gave me an opportunity to do something slightly different but there are cross overs on both.
In the early afternoon I went up to the back point of lay pen where we are keeping the new hens. For the last couple of days they a have been kept in because of the fox and I will have to be vigilant today now I have let them out. I let them out so I could clean the pen out, the water drinker they have works well unless they stand on the side and then it leaks out onto the mud part of the pen and then it becomes a stinking mess 🤪
Today has been the first time I have been able to sit for any length of time without coughing, and I mean coughing, the whole can’t stop, eyes streaming coughing fits 😷 So with my re-found ability I sat and watched the ladies tennis which was well worth a watch even though our girl didn’t win. Then as it went on longer than expected I could be bothered to start making dinner so we had boiled eggs 😂 Once we had finished and had a cuppa I got on with doing something with the fruit I picked earlier, raspberries, recur rants and strawberries are at this minute in the ice cream maker and we will have summer fruits sorbet in about half an hour. The ice cream maker I used to think was a bit of a faff because I used to keep the bowl in the cupboard but now I keep it in the freezer so it is always ready when I need it. I picked this one up second hand at a car boot sale a few years ago and if you have a lot of soft fruit it’s well worth looking out for one. It saves all that freezing, getting it out, stirring it round, freezing it again before doing the whole process at least one more time. Summer fruit sorbet, any fruit sorbet is easy really, this was 500g of mixed fruit, 185g caster sugar, 185ml water and the juice of a lemon. Heat the sugar and water together until the sugar dissolves then turn up the heat and boil a little to get a soft syrup, allow it to cool, then blend the fruit, lemon juice and cooled sugar syrup in a liquidiser and put through a fine sieve to get rid of the pips and stalks etc. Get the ice cream maker plugged in and going and pour in the liquid mix, probably takes 30/40 minutes depending on what consistency you want. Eat immediately if you want to or freeze in a suitable container. I think I will get some of those wafer cones and we can use it instead of ice cream, also great for those dairy intolerant of course 😁
So after saying the the machine will make light work of the sorbet, it failed to freeze it very well 😂 so I had to resort to freezing in a tub and in about an hour or so I will have to remember to go and give it a mix before leaving it over night 🤷♀️
Thursday: Yet another warm but overcast day, can’t say I haven’t had my fill of workable days this week can I 😂 This morning we were late up, the alarm went off, we fell back asleep and an hour later it ‘oh shit’. It doesn’t really make much difference to me but obviously John has places to be (even though he is supposed to be semi retired, I am going to mention that a lot 🤪) So in a good will gesture I offered to go round and do the morning jobs as long as I didn’t have to haul buckets of feed around, he assured me that only two lots needed feed. So off he went to work and I bumbled round letting everything out and feeding the ones that needed it, topping up water containers as I went. Then I sorted out the washing and got that on before doing the eggs and the egg shed and getting on with some watering and picking. Then I confess I recorded a podcast, I now have three in the bag, one published the other two scheduled. The problem is that once a topic starts rattling round in my head I have to get it sorted. Hopefully now I can have a week or two without thinking about it, is that likely, nope 😂 too much say!
John came home early afternoon which I wasn’t expecting but he is not here for the rest of the day as he has to pop back out again apparently. We had lunch and a cuppa together, watched the news and I now have the tennis on. Meanwhile John is bashing something about in the kitchen, I can’t even be bothered to go and find out what at the minute 😜 I can hear it involves a hammer and chisel so I guess it’s the rest of the tiles that he is taking off from the wall. I did ask, nicely I have to say, if we could perhaps finish the making good where the Rayburn came out 😬 I want to give the kitchen a good clean but there is no point doing that if the very next day he starts bashing about and plastering, so I’m guessing he has taken the hint and is getting on with it 😁
Bits of broken tiles all over the floor and John shouts are the grandchildren coming today? I do t think so I said 🤔……shit, it’s Thursday and the twins will be arriving any minute now 😂 hastily get the hoover out and all broken tiles down to the skip, cleaned up just in time 😜 It was a lovely day so they had their tea as a picnic outside before helping me feed weeds to the torts. George got a bit carried away and starting pulling off strawberry leaves from my plants to feed them 🤦♀️
After dinner my sister and her hubby called in for a cuppa and we sat on the decking in the garden. We spent over an hour watching a pair barn owls systematically going up and down the field next door and occasionally diving down once they found something tasty to eat, they are such graceful birds to watch.
Friday: Yet another overcast but warm enough day so I am having to make the most of it. It’s 10.30 I have just sat down for my first coffee break having been up and about since 6.30 this morning. First on the agenda was to buy a big walk in 6m x 3m metal chicken run. I said to John shall we get one of these be cause we can’t keep not going anywhere because of the fox or worrying when we absolutely have to go out. This one will attach to the front hut and it will mean that if we know we are going out we can let them out into the fresh air but they will be secure. It’s not being enough to do that all the time but it will be great to have the option. After I had orders that I got on with the usual bits, feeding, picking, watering, washing up, putting the eggs out, slug hunting 🙄 Something has made a hole in one or two of the little peppers in the greenhouse, picking up the pots and looking underneath them all I found about 10 small slugs in all. I fired them out onto the grass, I tend not to kill them after all they are only doing what slugs do to survive but they can go and do it on something less precious than my peppers 😜 I need to let the ducks into the garden in the autumn so they can hoover up as many as possible mind you we do have hedgehogs, I see the deposits on the grass in the mornings so at least they have something to eat. I still have this bloody silly cough though each day it is getting better but the minute I sit down I start coughing, standing up all day is the only answer 🤪
The goose died 😢 sadly despite doing what I could it died overnight. In my experience by the time you realise there is something wrong with a goose it’s already too late. Geese are extremely good at concealing the fact that they are unwell or injured unless it’s a blatantly obvious injury. It occurred to me that she may have received a puncture wound in the fox attack but stupidly I didn’t think to check for that, also in my experience a puncture would from a fox is pretty fatal anyway, the germs from the bite would be enough to cause infection. Then there is the site of any wound, depending on where that is, which would be hard to see under all that down, it is likely to cause maximum damage. But in all honestly I don’t know why she has died except that she was not in top form for some reason.
Once my coffee break and sit down are over I have to go out to the paddock and extend the electric fencing for the horses, I need add more tape and stakes again as I can’t get much more slack out of what is there already so that will be a hour or so to do that, good job it’s overcast, actually if it wasn’t I wouldn’t be doing it!
Did that job came back in sorted out peas ready to freeze and strawberries for pudding later. Sam and he twins came over and so did Shelley and Flo, they at school pick up time and I went in to watch the tennis 😜
I think we may have found the cat 😁 a local animal rehoming charity has put up a picture of a cat that has been at their place, he fits the description and matches the photo so fingers crossed we will get him back, and I will have to call the vet again and book him in once more 😂
Jack waiting for me to release the food 😂
Saturday: After emails back and forth the local rescue centre were satisfied that Jack was our cat and we made arrangement to pick him up mid morning. He had turned up a few days ago and being a rescue centre they thought he had been dumped, they managed to trap him and put out on social media which is where we saw him. He has now been chipped by them, I gave them a donation for doing that, and we bought him home. You would think that he had been away for months as at first he seemed very agitated and un settled and I was worried he would take off again. We fed him some very tasty sardines and within a couple of hours he had calmed down and realised he belonged here, even being uber friendly with the dogs much to their disgust as he wandered past them, brushing against them with his tail in the air, I am sure he was purring, it’s my family 😂
Jack safely back with Jill 🥰
The rest of the day we spent getting a bit of food shopping and doing things like depositing cheques at the post office, paying a invoice at the wood yard, I paid some online bills and did a bit of paperwork while John made good the site the Rayburn came out ready for plastering tomorrow.
In the afternoon we discovered that the fox had taken two of our new hens 😕 We had left the one in the front locked away because he keeps going there but let the back ones out and he had been to the back and had those 🤬
One of the reasons we left them in was because we wanted to go out in the evening to watch the football and while we can get the hens at the back in easily, we can’t do them same with the front ones so they stayed in. Once everything was safely shut away around 6 we went off to collect fish and chips, go round to my sisters and we watched England play Ukraine and win! Hoorah, we seem to have a great team at the minute and there are high hopes that they will go far 🤞
Sunday: John was up early to watch the qualifying for the F1 as we were too late home to watch it yesterday, if he doesn’t watch it early he is likely to hear the results on the radio and then he gets mad 😂 He then did the animals and got on with plastering the bits of the wall and ceiling he made good yesterday. Meanwhile I did my usual bits and then went out to move the fence for the horses and dig up ragwort. There seems to be a bit more of it this year than previous years and I did a big barrowful but it started to rain quite a bit and so I will either do some more later or tomorrow. I just need to get it up before it goes to seed, it’s only just started flowering so we are ok for a few days. We don’t spray our fields as you can imagine and it is teeming with insects and a huge variety of different vegetation is growing. Many people prefer to just have grass for their horses but I like ours to have a good range to graze, clover both red and white, plantain, so many different types of grasses, various types from the dandelion family as well, it’s diverse which is great for them and the wildlife. Mind you it absolutely stinks of fox down in the corner of the paddock 🙄
Hopefully once John has finished plastering and it is left to dry we can go and get some paint, I can start to give the kitchen a good clean, spruce up the bits that need doing and give it a new coat or two of paint next week 😁 That will be another job ticked off the never ending list ✔️
Johns patching up, got to wait for it to dry and then painting can commence
Podcast number two will be released tomorrow if you are interested, let me know what you think 🤔
Just been pottering in the garden, it July and the weather is not July weather lol, it started spitting and then was obvious it was going to hammer down and that’s exactly what it did, it’s absolutely pouring down 🙄
In the end we didn’t go and get paint as we have some to do the undercoat and can pick some up one evening in the week when the shop is quieter.
Monday 21st June 2021, Summer Solstice: The birds will all be kept in today and possibly tomorrow and the day after that, actually for as long as needs be, I am hoping the foxes will move on and be a problem for someone else and that they manage to get them dealt with because so far they have evaded all our efforts.
Been keeping myself busy this morning with some picking, strawberries, peas, mange tout, chard, baby beetroot and some carrot thinnings, not a bad little haul, some has gone out for sale some will be for dinner tonight. It takes a lot longer than you realise to pick it all and it will only be ramping up from here on in but it’s a lovely job to do, very fulfilling knowing you have grown it from seed to feed 😁 I did a bit of weeding around one of the rows of beetroot and then I have sown another lot of beetroot plug plants, trying to get this succession thing successfully working this year. Then it was onto planting the last of the squash plants, five more courgette plants (lol I have no idea what I will do with that lot as I have nine plants in total 🤪) Then I planted the rest of the squash plants in the menage, more pumpkins, spaghetti squash, crown Prince, table king and musque de something or other (I really must learn the name) Again if all these growq and produce I am going to have an awful lot of squash 😂 I had a look at what else is coming on, the broad beans have good sized pods but I can feel that the beans have not swelled enough to pick just yet. The tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, melon all have tiny fruits forming in good quantities, the aubergine are flowering, the runner beans, dwarf beans and French beans are all flowering. I am waiting for the onions, garlic and shallots to start dying off so I can pull them and dry them, another couple of weeks before that happens I think. I am picking a good big bowlful of strawberries every day and the yellow raspberries are starting to ripen as is the red currant. The blackcurrant bushes are loaded with berries still green at the minute though. The early potatoes are only just starting to flower, they are way behind 🙄 The rhubarb is still producing plenty though it will be time to slow down picking that soon. The sweetcorn are doing well and growing strong, I think that covers most things apart from herbs and salad which are tickling along nicely without much fuss. Next I will be panicking that there is so much I haven’t got time to sort and process it all 😂
I have started accounting for exactly what is put out on a daily basis and what has sold so that I can see what we should be taking, I say should because takings seem to be down despite selling well 🤷♀️ another depressing realisation that we are probably too slack and the honesty box is great for the honest but not so great for the no so honest 🙄
Despite the fact that we will not be replacing any more birds we still have nearly 80 in various forms so we will be continuing and I still will be growing veg so they will still go out for sale along with any plants I have grown. Who knows what other opportunities will arise or become apparent, today even though I am trying to chivvy myself along I feel as though I am going uphill backwards 😬
I did do a positive step forward job this morning, I booked our male cat, Jack, in for the chop 😋 he is not the father of the kittens but it wouldn’t be very long before he would be and I don’t want that. Besides we don’t want him wandering as they always tend to wander towards the road instead of the acres and acres towards the back 🤷♀️ Once Jill’s kittens are weaned I will book her in as well, this little accident was exactly that and we don’t want hundreds of kittens running around, that’s how populations get out of control. There is always a drawback though, we have spent hundreds on getting cats spayed and neutered only for them to either disappear or get hit by a car, another thing we may give up on if it all goes pear shaped again besides with less birds we won’t get as many mice hopefully. Lol I sound as though I am ready to throw in the towel on the whole lot but this time of year is the time I find I am furiously trying to combat one pest or another and trying desperately to keep my head above water.
After some lunch I managed to get the petrol strimmer working and strimmed the walkway between the menage and the big paddock at the back. One of the problems with the fox is that the grass is long enough for it to hide in, where I strimmed is exactly where John nearly tripped over the fox munching on one of our hens, neither of them saw each other until the last minute! I would have done more but it was making my arm ache from holding it and the vibration in my hand only stopped about half and hour after I did lol.
I prepped the bits of veg I picked this morning ready for dinner later, John will have fresh garden peas and baby carrots with chicken and potatoes and I am having a garden salad made up of chopped beetroot and the beet leaves, chopped baby carrots, mange tout, white icicle radish sprinkled with a few red currants I picked the other day which I will also have with chicken.
I have decided that his year I will use what I pick while it’s fresh, sell anything I won’t be using and not do massive batch freezing like I have in previous years. The reason being I grow so much we don’t get through it before the next lot is ready 😂 Also having now got just one smallish chest freezer and a back up under counter freezer I am not going to have the room to hoard 🙄 so I either use it, sell it, give some of it to the family or I process it to store in a different way by either drying it of jamming, chutneying it etc, I am not keen of fermenting we won’t eat it and I still haven’t had the courage to try canning, though I really ought to give myself a stern talking to in that department. One of the problems is in the UK they don’t make canning equipment it would have to be bought from the US.
This morning it was overcast but dry, no chance of seeing the sun rise on solstice day today 🙄 By mid afternoon it was raining, I’m not too bothered as I got the bit of strimming done and it’s watering in the squash I planted BUT it’s gone a tad chilly with it 🤪 the radiators are set at 18c and some of them have come on, I am sure I am feeling it because we had got used to nearly 30c and now it’s dropped dramatically but still 🤷♀️ There is definitely no relying on a standard weather pattern anymore.
So I did a fair bit of reading up about canning and decided against it lol, still,worries me and when I spoke to John he said ‘it’s a bit like having a bomb sat on the stove top’ 🙄🤪😂 which put me completely off even though I’m sure they are not that dangerous 🤷♀️ Anyhow I also researched vacuum packing and have bought a home use machine. I know this will use plastic which I didn’t really want to do but it will also preserve the food a lot longer than putting it into freezer bags as it does end up with freezer burn after a while. As I said before there is no easy answer to making the most of storing the harvest, I just have to pick what is going to work best for me. Shelley said ‘you can’t save the world everyday’ and she is right though I should still be mindful of what I am doing not just do it because that’s the way it’s always done. So methods of preservation I will be using are: dehydration, freezing including vacuum packed, it will also include jams and chutneys though for long term storage I will be processing the jars in a water bath to make them safer.
Tuesday: It was raining when I first got up but the sun ☀️ made a breakthrough before 9am so it should be a nice enough day. I got some indoor morning jobs done, washing, cleaning the countertop in the boot room, putting out rubbish, breakfast etc etc. Then I did a bit of printing out for my Mum who was struggling to get her printer to work, I know how that feels 😂 see previous blogs for that story) I still don’t feel 100%, the cold is still lingering although the throat and the cough have almost gone now, I have a hair appointment this afternoon so anything I want to achieve today needs to be done this morning. We also have someone coming later to see if they can deal with the fox problem so that we can let the birds back out, it wasn’t so bad while the weather was cool and wet but if it gets hot I don’t really want them inside all day for any longer than necessary.
I spent the morning doing various bits including sowing some more seeds, his time I have sown dill, coriander and basil for continuity and also some pak Choi and Chinese cabbage for sale later on. The reason being that the little gem and oak leaf lettuce I have growing will soon be smothered in greenfly, that my past experience anyway, so if I get some replacements on the go now I should have some salad leaves once that happens. Pak Choi will grow in the tunnel even when it’s getting colder, I haven’t grown the Chinese’s cabbage before so it will be interesting to see how well it does, might become a favourite who knows. I also watered both the tunnels, it’s tempting to not do them when nothing growing outside needs water but that can be downfall of the fruit that has already set so best to keep doing it even if it’s only a small watering and not a soaking. Then it was round to the paddock to move the electric fencing out a bit for the horses, they soon eat off the strips they are given 😂 the idea though is that they are not able to just gorge on everything and anything, Jack was getting a bit porky and restricting him will slow that down. If, like last year, we just had weeks of sunshine it wasn’t necessary because the grass was dying off due to lack of moisture anyway and so it was more like hay but this year with the rain it is lush and green and full of sugar which is not ideal. He is not happy and tells me when I need to move the fencing 🤪 he sees me out in the garden, starts neighing at me and I think, ah time to move the fence a little, actually I did throw some hay in today as well because the fence is almost as far as I can move it without getting more tape and extending it but I also need to bring them in later when they come to deal with the fox and if I leave them in overnight I can extend it in the morning before I turn them back out again.
Went out for the afternoon to get my hair done. During lockdown, like everybody, my hair didn’t get cut, it got longer and longer, it also got greyer and greyer but I kind of liked it. When I was young my hair was blonde, as a young adult it was golden brown as a much older adult I had resorted to dying it light brown 🤷♀️ So now I had long hair that was grey on the top and light brown on the bottom, the dilemma was do I continue to grow the grey or do I return to the box dye that I had always done. I bought the dye and it sat there and sat there and sat there, it was a rolling decision not to dye each week and eventually I thought I like it like it lighter so I will stay grey. As I said the problem was the bottom of my hair was a washed out light brown that I didn’t want to cut short, so the answer was highlights apparently. I say apparently because I have no clue about these sort of things, seriously, I had my hair coloured once in a salon about 15 years ago and that’s it 🙄 So now after being ‘done’ I have long hair that is even in light colour all over, fabulous, let’s see how long I keep it up for 🤪
Once back home there is no time to enjoy swishing my new locks around as it was straight out to get the horses in while John fed the birds. Then a job that I imagine a lot of people would refuse to do including John but I am not squeamish, never have been, I am one of those weird people who rather likes getting maggots off a sheep’s backside or pus out of a nasty cut, I am quite happy to watch brain surgery or open heart surgery on TV so this job was a breeze. We have dead hens, you know how that happened, and I gathered up bodies in the aftermath of the attack and bought them in overnight. The chaps are coming later to see if they can help sort the problem out but they need bait, cue dead hens, they need bait that isn’t easy to run off with though and so we took out a hammer and tent pegs and yes I hammered the tent pegs through the dead bodies to secure them to the ground. I don’t see this as a problem at all but John flat refused to do it and wouldn’t even look 👀 Let’s hope the chaps get here before the fox makes a meal of the skewered hens!
We are pretty diverse here in terms of things going on, personal house things, veg things, flower things, poultry things, pet things, Smallholding things, family things, so sometimes I completely forget to double back and update on things I may have mentioned in the blog. One of those things is a Smallholding thing that we did a round four years ago, might be three, definitely three maybe more 😂 The front paddock we decided would no longer be for grazing the horses, it would be for chickens/poultry only and with that in mind we planted a few more fruit trees, plum, cherry and apple and we used a grass seed which was especially for chickens. The grass is shorter and so matures quickly and sets seed readily, the idea behind this is that it self sows as you leave it long enough. There were also a mixture of herbs and wildflowers in it, herbs in the form of things like plantain not sage or mint 😜 and wildflowers in the form of what most would call weeds not pretty cornflowers etc, we also added red clover separately. The idea was firstly to provide the hens with a good range of more natural forage and secondly to build up the thickness of the sward as it had got rather sparse from constant grazing and the fact that during the war there were buildings on there and the foundations are pretty much still there just buried under the surface and not that far down either 🙄 Three (or maybe four) years later it is doing really well, the variety in there is amazing, mostly just looks like grass but if you walk through it you can really see the variety of plants that are growing. It is buzzing with insects which again is great for the hens they love to run and jump and catch flying insects. It has been a successful attempt to get a much healthier paddock than it was previously.
The only problem is that we don’t have the equipment to cut long grass lol, the ride on mower would just give up on grass that long and thick. We discussed cutting it by hand when the time comes and then leaving it to dry before stacking it or making a home made box to bale it, something I will have to look into. John thinks a strimmer will do, it probably would but wouldn’t it be nice to use a scythe 😁
Wednesday: It’s nearly 12 noon and I am having a little sit down. We were up early this morning, the sun was shining and it looked like it was going to be a warm day so we got on. Cup of tea first mine you 😂 Then John did the feeding rounds while I went out to the paddock and altered the electric fencing to give the horses some more grazing, I had to get extra stakes and electric tape as we had got to the limits of the first lot. 6.30am out in the paddocks it was quite lovely though I could already hear the traffic from the A40, all those commuters buzzing backwards and forwards, glad it’s not me. Then it was onto looking for the bodies that we pegged last night, rookie error here as I only found one body, and only 4 out of 8 metal skewers 🙄 The chaps never saw a fox at all last night but they are definitely here otherwise the bodies would not be missing. If they stay active only at night then that’s fine but I have a feeling they are chancers and will come anytime we are not around. We haven’t let our new birds out but the older lot are back wandering around, I have no idea where we go from here to be honest, I fully expect more attacks but these foxes are as cunning as they are elusive.
That done it was onto sorting the eggs and the egg shed and then some picking of peas. I woke this morning with the cold I had now pestering my sinuses and if you have ever had inflamed sinus you will know how I was feeling. At this point I came in and laid on the bed for half an hour as I felt truly awful, I had taken some up the nose spray so was waiting for it to work which it did after a short while. Once I felt I could actually breathe again I went out to clean the dustbin, I had noted a while back that it was in a shocking state 😜 so I was determined not to forget to give it a power wash and a scrub out while it was empty. I used some Zoflora and now it smells lovely. The next job was fed the Guineas and give the light Sussex pen a spruce up and a clean out. I raked the floor to get up debris which was still there from the ash tree we cut down, cleaned out the house, sprayed it with some diluted jeyes fluid and put in fresh straw. I also hung a piece of shading on the door to the run, not to shade but to keep the damn magpies and rooks from eating the feed. The top of the door has a metal grid but it’s big enough for them to get in, but it seems they are way to stupid to get back out again and then when they land of the floor the chickens attack them. Hopefully that will sort the issue and I no longer have to listen to the racket they make. The rest of the morning I spent watering the greenhouse and potting on some plants that I had grown from seed. I also sorted out a few plants that I have been bringing on for a while and composted anything that hadn’t made it, gave it all a good feed and a drink and then in for my sit down which I think I have earned.
Well I have tried on and off to get a few bits done outside this afternoon but the cloud cover is sparse 🙄 I did manage to dig up a few verbena seedlings and pot them but that was about as far as I got. I am hoping it will be a fair bit cooler later and I can get out and do some more then.
We did manage to get out again after dinner, we wanted to get some of the grass around the front chicken hut cut to try and give the hens a bit of a chance to see the fox coming 👀 It is a bit too long for the mower so we only did a small bit, I need to order that scythe 😂 My sister and brother in law popped over and we had a cuppa in the garden, we did a bit of target practice with the air gun, turns out I am better than I thought I would be. We were only shooting at a plastic plant pot but it’s good to practise.
My vacuum packing machine arrived and I can’t wait to use it, it should make the space in the freezer a lot more useable plus we won’t end up with freezer burn.
Oh yeah nearly forgot, had a panic moment when John opened the post to find that we had not paid the electric bill and they were threatening action. I never had a bill in the post, nor a red letter I searched for it everywhere but we just haven’t had one so no wonder I haven’t paid it! Paid it now so all is well.
Thursday: I keep waking up each day expecting to feel better but it’s not happening and this morning I feel worse. All over body worse not just my sinuses which makes me think that it could be inflammation throughout. I feel cold too, not the kind of cold that putting on an extra jumper will sort out, it is one of those ‘if you know, you know’ feelings meaning only anyone who gets chronic inflammation will know exactly what I mean. My muscles ache this morning and bending down getting the oat milk out of the fridge my lower back muscles felt like they were dried out bits of leather someone had just bent 😕 I do hope this is not the beginning of a flare and that it is the immune response to this lingering cold. Only time will tell, in the meantime I will up the anti inflammatory foods and see if that helps. Most of what I eat does come under the anti inflammatory section, plenty of fresh veg and fruit, low fat Greek yoghurt, wholemeal or whole grain foods, olive oil etc etc but there are a few things I could ramp up on specifically such as turmeric and ginger, maybe a orange, carrot, ginger shake with a touch of turmeric or a banana, pear, blueberry & cinnamon or even spinach, pear, red grape, celery, all good choices.
I made an orange, carrot, turmeric, ginger and, because I had it left from breakfast, half a banana smoothie, which was delicious and packed with beta carotene. Often over the years before I was diagnosed with Lupus I had researched my skin condition. It started when I was 21 and pregnant with out eldest daughter, the midday sun began to affect my bared skin, it would erupt in thousands of tiny blister like spots. I would look around and see who else had this problem and there was nobody, I could see heat rash but this was different. Back then there wasn’t really the wealth of information available like there is today on the internet so it was difficult and I ploughed through a lot of reading. I concluded I had polymorphic light eruptions, I didn’t go to the doctor back then as it was definitely seasonal but I tried a plethora of creams and oils including rose hip oil, beta carotene seemed to be a dominant ingredient in many things alleged to help. None of them really helped very much and so I just became used to either avoiding the daytime sun or suffering with the rash. The eruptions are the same as I get now if I am caught out but the Lupus diagnosis comes from the presence of a high level of antibodies which were obviously not there back then or they would have picked that up in blood tests during subsequent pregnancies. There are other symptoms they look for as well most noticeably the butterfly shaped redness across the nose and cheeks, actually it is not where near as pretty as a butterfly 🤣 and not much similar in shape but 🤷♀️ I plan to have a purely plant based day today, we don’t eat that much meat, well I don’t anyway and we had fish yesterday, I hardly ever eat processed food and I rarely drink so I should kick this in to touch pretty quickly fingers crossed 🤞 #igotthis 😋
Oh what a full on day I have had and not finished yet as it’s twin sitting day today 🤪🤪 I have been prepping and cooking, one of the things that happens when I, but probably anyone, who is not on form, is meals kind of go out of the window. Generally once I am hit by fatigue I can’t function but what I need more than anything is some goodness so I have been sorting that out today. I started off with the smoothie which as I said was delish, then I moved on to making a few things that can be frozen and easily thawed so that I still get some good nutrition. I have made a couple of batches of butternut squash soup, this one is just roasted butternut squash, sautéed onions, a teaspoon of make syrup and a grating of nutmeg, plus salt and pepper. I worried a little about what it was going to taste like but it’s lovely, and it’s nutritious and that’s the main thing. Then I made a large batch of roasted butternut squash and pasta, I roasted it with onions and garlic but also some pecan nuts and edamame beans, then cooked some wholewheat spaghetti and wilted spinach into it and mixed the whole lot together. One lot I have for dinner tonight the other two lots were vacuum packed and frozen. There were a few issues with the vacuum packing, user error I have to say but I got there in the end, actually ‘we’ got there as Shelley was here at the time. Again nutritious and easily cooked by reheating in a pan of hot water. I have also made some pork mince, which is exactly that with spinach, carrots, edamame (because I had them out) and a sweet potato mash to go on the top. John will have some for tea and any other portions I can freeze for another day. Of course there is always room for crumble in the freezer and so I made a blackberry and apple crumble, one portion for John later and possibly tomorrow and two portions for the freezer. Go me, and on top of all that I have been busy organising and booking a couple of things for later in the year and moving the rabbit hitch out into the orchard for Rosie (Shelley’s rabbit) to come and stay.
Literally just sat down with a cuppa and hope to get it finished before the bundles of mischief arrive 😂
Evening jobs were move the electric fencing for the horses, Jack was telling me it was time 😂 then watering the tunnels and the greenhouse before going back in to wash up do the egg sorting and feed the boot room crew, 9pm sit down, surprised I didn’t fall asleep.
Friday: Up early to get some picking done so I can put it out with the eggs, mange tout, peas and a punnet of strawberries today, not much today but hopefully soon there will be loads of produce available. Then onto a job I have been trying to get at for a few days but failed, cutting back the dying flowers on the lupin, delphiniums, geums etc, if I cut of the flowers that have gone over, they will make more, it’s like magic 😁 I also dead headed the roses and cut back the early flowering clematis as well as digging up a few self self verbena and planting them elsewhere. The clematis had quite a bit of foliage that I have taken some cuttings from, not too good at cuttings but nothing ventured nothing gained as they say 😜 Back indoors at 11 for a coffee that I really fancied, absent kindly made myself tea 🤷♀️ Absent minded because I was thinking I must find the cat (Jack) as he has his vaccination this afternoon at 2.30 and I haven’t seen him this morning yet 🙄 Need to give myself plenty of time to locate him or the vet plenty of cancellation notice if I can’t find him 😬
I couldn’t find the cat, not a sign of him and yet he is usually always there when I am gardening or pottering about, it’s like he knew 🙄 I have rebooked the appointment for next week and I will capture him the day before and keep him confined 😂
The weather turned out to be not as bad as I had heard, it was North winds and cold but it has been fine, great for me really because mostly overcast. When I was feeding the torts I spotted some lovely strawberries growing so I grabbed a pot and picked them. Along with others I had already picked I made some jam, Strawberry jam always smells amazing when it’s cooking 🧑🍳 I just made two jars both of which will never leave our kitchen as John is a strawberry jamaholic 😜John came home just after lunch, with some flowers I might add, it is our 38th wedding anniversary, after a cuppa he started taking up the broken tiles on the kitchen floor where we had taken out the Rayburn and the cupboard next to it. We managed to find some tiles that are almost identical, not an exact match but it will be difficult to tell the difference unless you know, apart from the fact that the new ones will be a lot cleaner 😂
The new tiles are now down and if you can’t really tell which are the new and which are the old ones so that’s good. The cat still have not a made and appearance at feeding time which is a worry as we have been here before, more than once and nearly always when we have a marauding fox about. They get to an age where they go a bit further around the edge of the paddocks, because they are not big cats, still only a year old and so fairly petite, I am convinced the fox has them, I mean I can’t be sure and I haven’t seen them do it but the cats disappear into thin air when they have been cats that are nearly always around 🙄
Saturday: I have the most ridiculous cough which has kept me awake a lot of the night and consequently I am not Mrs Happy this morning 😬 My sinuses are still playing up that’s the cause and the effect is constant coughing, whenever I sit down or lie down the coughing starts so I just have to be upright most of the day 😜 We started off with all the usual jobs then shot off to get a bit of shopping, stop and Shelley’s for coffee and to sort a couple of bits out then back home to get some work started. Moving the electric fence for the horses was first on the list and then John started digging up docks in the bit they have eaten off. Try the strimmer was my suggestion, it will be quicker, we got it out the line jammed, we took it apart and went back to digging them out because we couldn’t get it back together. I got the antique scythe out, John tells me I am doing it wrong, he has a go and breaks it clean in half, don’t why I bother sometimes, I left him to carry on digging them out with his spade 🙄 he is still digging mid afternoon 😂 Meanwhile I found other jobs to do, take down some bits in the kitchen ready for when John plasters the wall, a picture needed to come down and the ‘Shelia’ I don’t know if that’s the right name it’s what I have always known it as but it is one of those farmhouse airers that go over a fire and it has pulleys to lower it and higher it, anyway it’s down now. Then I went out and had a look at the onions, rather mortifyingly I find they have a ‘miner bug’ ffs, I think it’s allium miner, either way I have to pull them to stop any further damage. I will see what they are like when dried out a bit and see what can be salvaged and how. It means I won’t be able to store them but I will be able to either dehydrate them, freeze them or vacuum and probably a combination. The shallots are also affected though not as much and the garlic is only slightly affected but it has other issues. Where we had so much rain the garlic cloves have begun to grow again before the tops have died off ready for picking 😂 ha you couldn’t make this up, I seriously am considering having a year off veg gardening next year, it is too hit and miss with some things. The good thing is that the red onions I planted in spring seem unaffected, I am not sure if that is because of the colour or because they have not been in long enough to be affected. That is a problem with over wintered veg it has had longer to harbour pests, the struggle is real, oh well there is always next year 🤪
Sunday: An overcast day that, although rain threatened constantly, stayed dry until during the night. I am typing this up Monday morning so I’m a bit late but I actually couldn’t sit down without constant coughing so I spent most of my day up on my feet so give my ribs a rest (they ache like billio from all the coughing) I keep thinking, today it will move on surely, but nope each day here it still is like the unwelcome wasp buzzing round your head. It is getting a little better each day but I still feel thick in the head and sinus, once that goes I shall be fine 🤞
Between us we have grouted some of the floor tiles back in, cut the lawn, dug up docks, picked peas, weeded, hoed and swept the front driveway, investigated a collapsed manhole we found that we had no idea was there, I think it was from the MOD days as it doesn’t appear to be linked to anything current, as well as all the usual jobs that need doing daily.
I have cleared the peas that were growing with the tomatoes in the small tunnel, they worked well as an experiment, I had a good picking of peas shoots initially and then a decent crop of peas after but now they have got leggy and straggly and are blocking light from the tomatoes so it’s time to cut them back. One of two things will happen, they will either die off and release nitrogen into the soil or they will start to grow again, I suspect the latter and I will monitor that to see if I need to take them completely out or leave them for another crop it just depends on how well the tomatoes are getting on at the time.
That’s yesterday in a nutshell really, I still don’t feel well enough to expand on that lol.
Peppers, aubergine, melon, ginger are just some of the fruits beginning to swell in the greenhouse.
Have a good week, hopefully next time you read the blog the cough will have gone 🙄😬
Monday 14th June 2021: Today we find out if any of the restrictions still in place will be lifted or not, not holding out much hope for a full lift 🙄
Another fine day with the temps set to climb up near 30c, you know what that means for me, early morning, so it’s 8.30pm I have stopped for a coffee after already doing a three hour stint this morning. Most of that was picking, peas & mangetout today, a bit of weeding while I was going round, sorting out some plants in the cold frame and picking weeds to feed the Guineas and torts. I also did all the usual jobs of feeding various four legged pets, putting eggs out, a bit of watering out the front etc etc.
This is the month where the harvests begin to come in, they start off slowly but soon there will be so much to pick I won’t know if I am coming or going. And then there is the processing of it all lol, at the minute my plan is to keep back what I want for the day and put the rest out for sale, this morning that only amounted to two bags of mangetout and a tub of strawberries but it will start to come thick and fast especially if we get any rain, doesn’t look very promising at the minute. Of course we have been here before and what will happen next is too much rain that spoils the fruit 🤣 there is no winning this swim only treading water and trying to stay afloat 🤪 I still have some squash to get in the ground but I am waiting until it cools a little first, they will be fine in pots for now. I also have a fair few pepper seedlings and runner beans, I tried selling them but no takers and I hate throwing them away so I am going to have to find a place for them to grow on.
After coffee I did another hour outside which will probably do for today. I have potted on the pepper seedlings, it doesn’t matter if I have 20 pepper plants, I have space for them so may as well grow them, there was a jalapeño plant too, the tomato plants that didn’t sell are also potted on, I may put them back out or plant them up outside who knows yet. I planted up sweetcorn that I had left over, I put those in a bucket for the kids to pick if they get big enough, the corn, not the kids and I sowed some more carrot seeds, some in a bed in between the rows that are nearly done and some in pots again for the kids to pick. They are round carrot so ideal for pots, I picked some of those from the bed for dinner tonight and I found a stray potato which had grown so that will be potato, carrots and peas from the garden as well as strawberries for pudding 🥰 That is what is called the good life and it really is.
I noticed, when I pulled the carrots that the bed was very dry under the initial damp surface so I gave it a good soaking with the rain water hose. It is always worth digging down a bit to see exactly how far the water has penetrated, you will be surprised at dry it really is. A good indicator are ants, if there are a fair few nearby then you can bet there is an ants nest and that will tell you it’s way too dry they don’t like damp soil.
Once indoors I decided to get some polishing, cleaning done and change the bed sheets, I found a great podcast to listen to while doing it, Self Sufficient Hub. There are some interesting topics so if self sufficiency is for you then have a listen or have a listen if it’s it’s not you may get the bug 😁 https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/self-sufficient-hub/id1506405294
It’s 1pm and I am a little tired now so I have had a quick lunch and am now going to have a little rest and maybe listen to another podcast.
In the evening after some dinner we went round to Mum and Ken’s for a cuppa and a slice of cake, there is always cake at Mums 🥰
Tuesday: Up earlyish to get the morning jobs done as I have blood tests first thing, they are a little over due but not to worry. Back home and I just about go put the washing hung out when Sam arrived with the twins. She had come over to move the electric fencing and make a bigger restriction paddock that will also now house Jack as well as Biscuit. To be fair Biscuit is looking and doing well but Jack on the other hand is getting too fat, too much grass for him to eat all by himself lol. He will also now be restricted probably for the next 2/3 months depending on the weather. If it stays hot and dry the grass will die off and he can go back out but any rain that we have will ‘flush’ the grass and he will have to stay put. He won’t like it one little bit but he will get I’ll otherwise so it’s for his own good. That took up a couple of hours, once we had got the stakes in place and some electric tape plus the water buckets all filled I took the twins back to the house to get some snacks and a drink while Sam finished it all off.
The twins had such a fun time here that they had to have a bath before going home 🤣 George had by that point, played with horse poo, dirty water in the garden & soil in the veg bed which he delighted in putting all over Lucies back. Lucie had stuck her whole foot in the horses water bucket, sock, trainer and all, thrown her bear in there too and de planted some of Nannys pricked out foxglove seedlings 🤪 All good fun and because there are two of them it can be manic when one goes in one direction to create havoc while the other is off in another direction, hilarious at times as well though 🤣
Wednesday: I was up fairly early and got on with a few jobs before having breakfast, John did the animals and then left for work. Next came a first for me, a covid test, a lateral flow test to be precise, the reason being that I have a sore throat, similar to having swallowed sandpaper 🙄 which is making me cough. I checked my temperature and oxygen levels all normal, I didn’t think for one minute I had covid but I have to check. Two things struck me as I did the test, first on opening I couldn’t help but notice it was all made in China 🙄 if I was a conspiracist I would definitely be jumping up and down saying ‘I told you’ China is probably making a fortune at the minute 😬 Secondly I don’t know if it was just me but I suspect not, I could not help but sneeze, 4/5/6 times while doing the nostril bit. I was thinking good job I am not in a test clinic and positive or else those sneeze spores are going to be all over the place 🤷♀️ I have just checked my test as time is up and it’s negative, I kind of knew it would be but you never know. Actually I have a third point to add, all the pieces of the test are plastic, they go into a plastic bag when you have finished and then that goes in the bin 😖 In a time when we are trying to reduce plastic use this is disastrous really, I know there is probably not a way round it when they are needed so quickly and in great quantities but can you image exactly how many billions of pieces of plastic have been added to landfill over the last year and a half 😢
While I was waiting for the test to ‘ripen’ I went out to water and feed the plants in the greenhouse and then the small tunnel.
Pottered about a bit picking strawberries and peas, a bit of watering and then Shelley arrived with Flo. They had come over to help get some work done in the veg garden, they weeded around the courgette plants and then watered and put down some cardboard mulch as the relentless sun dries the ground so quickly. The we went onto tidying, weeding and sorting the area right inside the gate, I tend to dump pots and tools and everything else there on my way to and from the front garden and never get round to tidying it, well mow it’s all done and feels like a much nicer part of the garden. I have many spaces like that to sort out mind you 😜 Shelley had bought lunch and went inside to make that while I carried on a little more and then we sat down and ate in the garden where there was still some shade. We are forecast thunderstorms and rain over the next couple of days and we could really do it to be honest, everything is flagging a little.
I heard on the radio a report that in this country, and many more around the world I suspect, we are unprepared for the climate chaos that is ahead in the UK. This definitely rings alarms bells for me, I have been saying for a couple of years now that the weather is so much more unpredictable than it was even five years ago. It was never this relentlessly hot for days or even weeks on end, we seem to have our weather in blocks these days and it is nearly always extreme bouts of it too. I seriously need to get a handle on what it is I need to do in order to be able to continue to grow fruit and veg successfully. Trying to stabilise the soil is probably the main thing, the torrential downpours we get now wash the soil downhill. Next would be trying to work out ways to get through drought periods, I may have to use more drought tolerant varieties, I am finding that swede and turnips just keep bolting because of the lack of rain, I either don’t plant them any more or look for better varieties. One thing is certain, a change in thinking and planning is needed to combat whatever the future weather has in store.
I just signed up with a group called Arbtalk where you can register as a tip site for free woodchip if any members are working in your area 😁
After a quick dinner we went over to babysit Mia, George and Lucy for a few hours while Sam and Luke went out for a drink.
Thursday: It’s 9.15am and I have already showered, breakfasted, put on some washing, fed the dogs, cats and Guineas, sorted the eggs and put them out for sale, have three loaves of bread on a second prove and got a lamb stew going in the slow cooker. It rained a little over night but not as much as was forecast and no thunder storms, my plan was to be indoors today as it was supposed to rain heavily most of the morning but as yet nothing🙄 As I am already committed to timings and will have the oven on I am going to make some more rhubarb and orange jam. A couple of years ago I split my three rhubarb plants into six because I couldn’t keep up with the demand for rhubarb, it’s Sod’s law that nobody seems to want much of it this year 🤪 Nobody seems to want much of anything actually lol but that’s fine, more for us and less pressure.
I still feel a bit rough but the throat no longer feels like sandpaper so that’s an improvement 😁
11am and three loaves of bread cooked and cooling as well as five jars of jam and the washing up done. Time for a sit down I think.
Those loaves are bigger than they look in the picture 😂 they are 1lb loaves, I use half white flour and half granary to get a nice loaf, forgot to score the tops of these though 🤷♀️
I emptied, what was left in the small chest freezer, into the big chest freezer and have now turned the smaller one off to defrost. This will be cleaned out and moved to a new position and I will reload it with only what I want to keep and will use. Both of the freezers were half empty or half full depends on how you view it, and both freezers have things in them that I will probably not get round to using before the next lot of produce starts going in. The plan is to throw out what I don’t want, when I say throw out I don’t mean throw away mind you, there is a fair amount in there that I will feed to the dogs, gravy stock for instance, if I don’t think I will be using it within the next couple of months I will defrost and use it to mix with the dog biscuits. The reason being I am bound to be making more so I need to move it on. There are ice packs in there, a drawer full, they have arrived at various times with meat or fish orders and rather than throw them away I have kept them but I don’t need them, what I do need to do is get rid of them 🙄 There are things like frozen buttermillk, pesto, herb portions in there, I need to get good idea of what is available and plan to use it all up. Once the smaller freezer is cleaned and moved I will transfer over and then defrost the bigger one which we will be selling, I have a small under counter front loading freezer which is off most of the time but I will keep it just in case I need extra space 😜 It is always handy to use if you are stocking up for a birthday or bbq anyway.
I went outside and did a bit of weeding in the bed on the side of the driveway, then some picking of peas and watering in the small tunnel. I pulled up the rocket which has now gone over and some early sown baby spinach which has now bolted. These were both in tubs in the small tunnel because they were sown so early, once it gets hot in there they just bolt. I gave the tubs (old recycle bins) a good soaking and then sowed some corn salad in one tub and some celery seeds in the other. The celery will be for snipping like you do with cress, I never was a good enough veg gardener to perfect the art of full grown celery 🤪 but this way is ideal, useful on salads and if I don’t use all of it the leaves will get big enough to pick and dry as celery powder or freeze in packets.
I keep looking at the sky and thinking ‘come on, rain please’ but as usual the weather forecast has changed somewhat and there is no rain in sight until later tonight, so much for heavy downpours, I may have to do a rain dance at this rate. It is seriously beginning to affect some areas now, not everything, some things are plodding away content with the sprinkling they might get when I hose at night or the spitting we had overnight which hardly wet the ground and certainly didn’t penetrate much further into the soil than a nano of a millimetre 🙄 Around the farm I can see the ground beginning to open up with fissures, dry, cracked ground, I think I have been here before 🤔 The water tanks are almost empty now and it’s very definitely going to become a problem is we don’t get some rain soon.
During the afternoon and then in the evening I watered, the signs of rain were there but I it wasn’t really happening and I know from experience that I may as well do it. If the rain comes then it’s a bonus if it doesn’t come then at least the plants get something to drink.
At teatime I looked after the twins while Sam took Mia for her swimming lesson and then in the evening Sue and Shane popped over for a cuppa and to let me know about a small business arrangement that I may be able to take advantage of, more about that later if it happens 😁
By the time we went to bed, still no rain, we were later to bed than usual as we have been binge watching Clarksons Farm, which is the funniest thing on TV all year, seriously it’s hilarious, definitely watch it if you live around the Cotswolds, the very real characters are worth a watch in their own and together with Jeremys humour it is side splitting 🤣🤣
Friday: Rain 🌧 actual rain, enough to wet the top layer of the soil 😁 hopefully we will get a fair bit today, it will enliven the plants and fill the water tanks. The problem will be getting it to stop 🤪 The forecast is possibly ‘a days rain in an hour’ 🙄 that is definitely climate change, we never had such volumes in such a short time years ago, whatever is causing the change it is undeniably here. Still it means that today I don’t have to water anything outside and as I did the tunnels and greenhouse last night and the sun is nowhere to be seen, it means no watering at all and I can concentrate on other jobs. I still feel a bit rough, still have a sore throat so I am thinking that I will probably have a good rest this afternoon to gather strength for the weekends work ahead.
It’s been steadily raining for a few hours now, nice and steady so far 🙄 which is what we want, heavy rain washes away the top of the soil because we are on a slight slope and that’s not good.
After doing the washing up I went out to mop up the defrosted freezer, what I could have done with was a pile of tea towels 🤪 I knew I needed them for something. I have cleaned all the areas I can get to, inside is done and the front and sides, I need to move it so that I can Hoover off the back and the side ventilation, that will have to wait until John is home, unless I am feeling particularly strong. Actually I don’t think they are that heavy once they are empty just cumbersome due to the size.
I was listening to a couple of podcasts while I was working and I need to get some more veg in for successional sowing, things like French beans and beetroot, but I also need to start off some veg for overwintering such as cabbage maybe. If you sow them now and keep them in modules until later then hopefully you miss the cabbage white butterfly which as you probably know will decimate a crop very quickly. Think I will have my first break now and peruse some catalogue to see if there is anything I haven’t got that I could be sowing for winter.
The business thing I was talking about has happened quickly and so I am able to tell you that from later today we will be selling local honey from the egg shed 🥰 I am delighted to be able to help a small local producer by buying any jars they haven’t sold and then selling them in the shed. It’s a win win situation and I hope it works out well. The bees live in a quiet area on the edge of woodland just 4 miles away at Grove Farm, I am very excited at the opportunity to be able to do this for our customers.
I popped into the greenhouse for half an hour and have sown some swede, turnip, peas, cabbage, cauliflower and French beans as well as some icicle radish. I know I said I wasn’t going to do some of these but I am thinking that later sowings might be better especially for the root veg. By the time they are big enough to go in the ground, then establish and finally begin to put on some growth they won’t have got so big that they need to bolt due to lack of rain or consistent sunny weather 🤷♀️ I will only know if it try it out, I will have the onion bed available at the beginning of next month and then the broad bean bed will also probably be vacant by then, both of these areas I can use to grow veg well into the Autumn or even winter.
The honey arrived and I got sorted making a little notice for the shed and putting it on the Farm Facebook page. I had some on the bread I made yesterday (toasted) I can confirm it is delicious 😋
I have been researching mulches, home made mulches to be precise, to see exactly what you can/can’t should/shouldn’t use as a mulch. Pretty much anything as long as it does have a seed head is the answer, I have plenty of raw material round here it’s just a case of deciding which to use, probably a mixture of a few things would be ideal. I need to get into the habit of shredding everything I cut back but you can even use a shredder to shred cardboard (as long as the blade is sharp enough and the cardboard is dry) Remember the jute I was trialling? Well here is my conclusion, yes it works well for the first year, it doesn’t exclude all light but it is not a bad alternative to plastic membrane, however as expected it does not last through to the following spring, even if you take it up off the garden, the weather has already started to degrade it. I would say if you can get hold of it easily or cheaply then use it but I wouldn’t buy it off the shelf unless you have plenty of disposable income. Next the biodegradable, compostable plastic membrane, this one had good points and not so good. It was flimsy, quite expensive (but hey we are trying to save the planet 😬) Not permeable which is a bit of a drawback if you are using it to grow crops in, however I would think if you made a ridge and furrow type bed, laid the membrane then planted into the top of the ridge the furrows would collect water run off and so water would get to the roots that way. Laying it on the top of a flat bed does not really work if you are growing through it but it is ideal as a weed suppressant on its own. As for it breaking down, I think you could probably get two years out of it, it showed no signs of disintegrating when it came to plant season again this spring though it didn’t feel quite so robust. It is also a bit like cling film, sticks to itself making for a very good comedy sketch if your sense of humour is present that day 😜 So the good points are, it’s good for the environment, not so good, fairly expensive and tricky to use. Cardboard is another one I use, this is pretty good, the thicker the cardboard the better, but slugs do like to have a festival gathering underneath it so make sure you have frogs and hedgehogs to help keep the slugs down. Mostly I am trying whatever I can to suppress weeds and prevent moisture loss, so far the woven weed membrane is ticking all the boxes except the most important one which is the environment.
Went and got some food shopping early evening, when we got back the geese were making a racket so John left the shopping in the front and ran up the back to see what was happening, he couldn’t really see anything and so came back in. When he went to put the birds away the fox has had two full grown geese 🤬🤬 Last night as he was putting away he nearly tripped over the fox who was busy eating one of our new hens 😳 It’s a f…ing nightmare, what are you supposed to do, full grown geese can’t be kept in a fox proof pen, they graze grass and cover large areas while they are doing it 🤷♀️ getting close to the ‘what’s the point’ point 😢
Saturday: It’s overcast and quite a bit cooler today hence why it’s now 5pm and this is the first time I have sat down all day long I even ate my lunch on the move. I spent the first hour or so doing the usual jobs and then picking, peas, mangetout, baby beetroot and rhubarb, while John did the morning rounds. After that I went out to move the horses restricted fencing just a tad so that they have a bit more grass. Then we moved the freezer into its new position and I went to inspect the damage to the geese from the fox last night. He had gone for the goose on the nest and the gander had tried to defend her but he had both of them. The eggs were scattered everywhere last night but this morning they had put them all back in a nest 😢 However we had already decided to get her off the nest as it was now obvious they were not going to hatch, we wait every year but they are nearly always duff. These were the same I threw them in the hedge and most of them exploded eww that stinks. I then said to John we need to get the grass cut in that paddock, one of the reasons they would have not seen the fox was because the grass was long and it could easily sneak up. Once we got the ride on mower going I whizzed round and round until it was done, found the remains of the female goose in the long grass, the fox has been chewing away on it overnight by the looks of things 🤬 John dug up any ragwort and docks for burning. I then went round to the side by the ducks and cut that grass, it’s a walkway really so needed cutting, John meanwhile dug up docks in the side paddock. He then went in for lunch and I made a sandwich while he got the strimmer going, once it was running I finished my lunch quickly and went out to strim. John had a bit of a sit down but not for long, once I had finished that we tided up some rubbish from the back area and sorted out one of the cupboards which had stuff in there I have been keeping ‘just in case’ five years later I haven’t ever needed it and so now it is getting binned. It is nothing special just things like nets that bulbs came in or plastic fruit punnets I had collected by the dozens 🤣 I also had some brewing gear in there but that is going to my niece and her partner, I said he could have it in exchange for a bottle of whatever it is he decides to brew. I did do some brewing once upon a time, not much, a batch of beer and some cider but as neither of us drink very much I haven’t really bothered for years so might as well give it to someone who will. Shelley came over with the children, my sister was here doing the caravan and then my Mum turned up, all at the same time lol so we had a cup of tea 🫖 Then it was time to do the afternoon feeding and egg collecting which John did while I cleaned the kitchen up a bit and washed the floor and that lot took us up to 5pm 🤪 At least I can get a good days work in when the weather is like this, here’s hoping it is the same again tomorrow and at this rate everything will be ship shape in no time at all.
Ooo one thing I nearly forgot, I picked some tea 😁 Camellia Sinensis, not much but about 15 leaves, the tips of the plant (hence PG Tips 😜) will dry them out and then wait for some more to grow and pick them and keep doing that until I have enough for a cup of tea 😂 Actually what I need to do is propagate the plant so I have quite a bit to pick at the same time.
I took some pics in the week of all the lovely pink flowers that are coming out 🥰
I love the baby pink lupin, the rose is Hermione, the salvia is pink sensation and I had no idea I had this dusky pink delphinium 😁
And some of the pyramid orchids growing in the long grass in the driveway, that’s why I can’t cut the grass yet 😁
Pyramid Orchid, there are a few in the driveway and quite a few more in the front paddock, hopefully by not mowing they will increase year on year.
Sunday: Father’s Day, we got up and did all the early morning jobs as usual and then Charlie, Shelley, Martin, Florence and Josh came over. They bought all the necessary ingredients to cook a Father’s Day breakfast which we all sat and ate together, lovely. That was a couple of hours of a leisurely breakfast and some Sunday morning chat and then John went off to pick up some tiles we had ordered to repair the floor in the kitchen where the Rayburn had been taken out. A short rest early afternoon and then mid afternoon someone arrived as planned to take the Rayburn and all the fittings. So now Rosie the Rayburn has gone, I am going to have mixed feelings, we were getting to the point where it was bloody hard work, chopping and cutting wood all summer, loading and keep her going all winter but I will miss the cooking facilities and the amazing warm hug that comes from a wood burning stove that you just can’t replicate with any other heat. I have toyed with the idea of having a small wood burner but that is my heart tugging and not my head thinking 😂
Later we are off to Sam and Luke’s for a roast dinner 😁 and this evening a chap is coming to see if he can dispatch the fox for us. Actually it’s two more foxes, he was here last night and saw them but couldn’t get a safe shot as one was in the yard and the other near the goose hut. When we lost the chickens the other week, he got three foxes and now there are two more to deal with, when I say it’s relentless, it really is. And as I will always say we don’t just do it for the sake of it, the nighttime prowlers are perfectly entitled to prowl, the birds are locked away safely, but the daylight ones well they are a different kettle of fish, we can’t afford to just allow the fox to continuously take all our birds. Come the day that happens we will be shutting up shop as there is only so much of a bashing you can realistically take. I know there are people who don’t agree and that’s fine they are entitled to their opinions and while it is still lawful we are entitled to ours. Before we go out we will be locking the geese away, the new hens have been locked away for three days now, the ones out the front are still free ranging but I wouldn’t be surprised if we lose a few of those while we are out 🙄 people like free range eggs but they come at a cost one way or another 😕
Well we have arrived back home about 8pm from having dinner with Sam and Luke, to a massacre 🤬🤬 I don’t even know what to say to be honest, you know when you just feel hysterical and it’s going to go one way or the other, either laugh or scream. There are bodies and feathers all over the front paddock, side paddock and walkway. This is unsustainable, as I say I can’t see how you can keep a free range flock safe any more unless you invest a lot of money and fence them and then they are not really free range are they 🤷♀️ It is soul destroying and we are getting nearer to the end of keeping hens a lot quicker than we had anticipated, seriously we can’t go on like this much more, we can’t even go out for a few hours. The fox numbers are becoming out of control, they will be in competition with each other for food, I have already heard first hand reports of small dogs being snatched, I suspect at least two of our cats were taken when they were small, where does it end ? 😢 When we no longer have birds it won’t be our problem but at the minute it is and it’s a big problem 😡
frieslandfarm (flowers) 