a little benign neglect

in the garden is a good thing.

The last few years I did attempt to keep the flower garden nice – like the previous owner, but this year I just haven’t found the time.  But what I did find was the brambles I tried to get rid of in the flower border.. are actually raspberries (dunno why they are planted with the fuchsias.. ) and am now picking.

The weeds growing between the sweetcorn turn out to be self seeded rocket.  I haven’t sown rocket for a few years, but it just keeps coming back. That’s of course because i also don’t get around to pulling it up when it flowers either.

And we have a lovely show of poppies in the root bed at the moment.

Just goes to show that sometimes a little benign neglect gets results.

full day

A full but satisfying day. 

Suddenly realising how close the end of term (for those wot go to school) is, we have started to pack in lots of trips out etc.  Places are much quieter during term time.  So, today my son and I, along with my Mum, went to visit Buckland Abbey - former home of Sir Francis Drake, it was very interesting, particularly the huge barn, massive cider press, and Drake’s Drum (which we noticed was in a glass box.. so no one could try it out… prolly just as well.)

The rest of the day was for smallholdery things – first  we had to treat Saffron, one of our ewe, for an absess on her neck – it wasn’t bothering her, but we went with the vet’s advice.

We dug potatoes, cut cauliflowers, more calabrese and picked some peas. Cauliflower cheese with spuds and peas for tea, the other caulis and veg blanched and tucked away in the freezer. (must do something about buying a new freezer). Sold lots of eggs to neighbours.. pity we have two broody hens sitting on plastic eggs, and another planning on joining in.  We are hoping to use a broody or two to raise any chicks that might hatch.. but three broodies is too many – so the one sitting the longest was evicted.  It seems that trying to stop them being broody is quite stressful for a hen, but taking her off the nest after a week or so, and they get over it really fast.  She went and had a dust bath, picked a few fights, then went about her chickeny business.

There is now actually space on the egg skelter, the egg mountain gone, so I hope they start laying big time soon, or we shall have to stop selling for a bit. Himself says we need more hens…

limping chicken

Every morning, during ‘break time’ from home ed, whilst our son cycles or  pedals his go cart for half an hour,  I go around all the animals; making sure everyone has water, is where they are supposed to be and looking normal.  This morning I noticed one of the Light Sussex ‘chicks’ crowing, and limping. 

The light Sussex ‘chicks’ are 16 weeks old – how did that come around so quickly? He seemed a bit uncomfortable, more inclined to sit down, but making it to the water and food.  Later we checked him out, as he was still the same and he seems to have a wound on his chest.  The first  thought every time there is a limping chicken is mareks disease, but he seems more sore than paralysed. So, we have decided to see how he gets on.  Meanwhile, we have taken the only female out and into the main run, as she is being chased a bit, and it might be fighting over her that is causing the trouble.  The whole reason we have Light Sussex is because our son really wanted one, just like his grandparents had for years.  He takes everything we are doing here in his stride, accepts that plans might change if something comes up, joins in with the animal care, accepts that we eat our livestock calmly.  It doesn’t seem a big thing to let him have his own pet chicken in our flock.

Unfortunately, she doesn’t want to be in with the big girls, she wants back in with her brood crowd.  I can see her point – it’s a scary world out there – ground she has never explored, her brood mates separated, Lucky Too, the smallest newest pullet has someone to lord it over, and Alvin, the cockerel, sidling up to her doing his special wing down winning dance (”so chick, do you have any welsummer in you?  do you want some? …..”).

It would, of course, have been much easier on her if she had a few sisters to huddle together with, forming a junior flock. But she was the only one.  This, is a good reason for incubating more eggs next time, and perhaps getting more of each sex. And with that in mind, along with just wanted to have more to justify using the heat lamp etc, is why we have bought a bigger second hand incubator, and eggs are in it as I write. 

Meantime the new white hen will have to adjust.

pea pod soup – ewww

Those heaps of fresh green lovely looking pea pods just look too good to waste. But what to do with them? Well, I still intend to make pea pod wine – but the pods I need are stashed in the freezer, waiting for a spare demijohn. I have 15 bubbling away, but until the charity shop yields some more glass demijohns, that’s my lot. As it goes, one has just become free as it turns out the cider settling away has gone manky.  I’m philosophical about it; it’s the first one to go wrong in all these years, and it’s not like apple juice is sterile in the first place.  Ho hum. Still now I can get on with the wine

But I have enough pods for that dubious project, and yet mountains more.  I googled and found that a thrifty war time recipe of pea pod soup exists, and seems essentially, boil pods, sift out stringy bits, make remainder into a thin soup. Two crops off the pea? nice idea.

Only – after lots of cooking, then blending, then seiving, the resulting liquid is not particularly pleasant at all.  I guess with lots of added flavouring and other veg, it might be nice, but I could make that without the pea pods! – so. no not a recommendation.

Doesn’t bode well for the pea pod wine either.  But… we shall see.

Meantime I have found that the pigs love pea pods, and so long as we pod them in the veg patch (thereby not breaking the kitchen scraps rule) we do have another use for pea pods after all.  We turn them into pork.

eau de tomato

It’s funny how this growing your own food malarky changes your appreciation for certain things. Mostly to do with the senses, I think.

Taste, is of course, pretty much the whole point.

I always love the smell of the greenhouse, compost tomatoes etc, and himself says my perfume is ‘eau de tomato’ as I have usually done a little side shooting in passing, or started to wind the tomatoes horizontally along the strings to get a few more trusses of fruit out of them.

On sounds, well with the hot weather, open windows, I am very aware of our cockerel telling the world about himself.  The run is some distance from our house, but I can hear him from 6 am, when we let them out.  And if we can hear him, so can all our neighbours. I don’t mind the sound of a cockerel crowing,. certainly nicer than the distant road, but I hope everyone else feels the same.. Other sounds, among my favourites, are the squeaky sound of a nice hard cabbage, and the popping of a pea pod, snuck and scoffed in the veg patch.

But the best sound at the moment is the rain drumming down. Very civilised, sunny during the day, rain at night.

shepherds’ advice

I’ve been asking around, on forums and in person, over what to do about one of our ewe lambs.

After much deliberation, we now think we shall keep back Arabella, one of the lambs we bought, along with their mum, a while back.  We decided to replace our barren ewes with one that might actually lamb, and we chose her for a number of reason.  Partly because she is pretty. Having moved away from just having a Devon Closewool flock, we might as well have a mixture, and she is white with black face and legs. Her wool is good, and she is not related to the ram we hope to borrow this Autumn (unlike the other ewe lamb we have ). She is a Roussin xzwartlbesx Suffolk.

The problem is though -not having vast tracts of land, it will be difficult to keep her separate from the ram when he comes for his holidays. If we did, she would need a companion, so we would have to hang on to one of the other lambs a bit longer.. and we dont have that much grass. 

But, the advice from fellow shepherds is often conflicting.  Many feel they are too small to be put the the ram in their first year, and will only lead to lambing problems. Others feel she will be too young to take anyway. Some have told me it is important that we do put her to the ram in the first year.

The only really useful bit of advice is that ‘there is no right answer’! But it is clear alot depends on how well she has done by then, what breed she is vs the breed of the ram. etc.

Whenever someone tells me they are thinking of keeping sheep, after the usual lines about sheep spending their whole life looking for ways to die, I always suggest they make friends with an experienced shepherd local to them.  But it has to be said, all along we have had very diverse opinions on the best approaches.. on the subject of triplets, we had everything from ‘bump one off’ (yes, really, but we wont be doing that) to  bottle feeding them all. We have found the vet to be really helpful, we can phone and just ask a question, but they tend to be , predictably, very into intervention. Smallholders usually want to do everything by the book, and farmers trying to make a serious living, have to weigh up the cost of each action.

so I guess at the end of the day, we ask questions, listen to answers, compare notes, write up a lot to experience, and make our own decisions.  It’s just the best we can do.

rain!

We have been promised rain for days.  Yesterday the forecast gave a 60% chance.. yet it was clear blue skies and the hottest day so far.  I, being a factor 30 sort of woman, hid from the sun, and worked my part time job in the afternoon, then ventured out late when it was cooler.. watering ..hefting watering cans and telling myself people pay good money for exercise classes.

Of course I did have to venture out in the heat of the day to check the animals – the sheep hid in the shelter – they too have reversed their day and eat at night now, and the pigs lurked inside too, until they heard me with the watering can. This made them shoot out and slide happily in the wallow as I poured water on their heads. The broody hen abandoned her nest and panted outside for a while (just as well they are fake eggs, but don’t tell her).  So I was not alone with my wilting.

We waited for the rain, and it did not come.

This morning, when I pulled back the throw we use for a bedroom curtain (must sort that) and conversed with the cat about the weather (he likes to sleep on the windowsill.. the wrong side of the glass lately in this heat) we agreed that there was still no sign of the rain.

So when it finally came, late morning, in a steady soft warm water way, I whooped happily.  Still warm, I am still in shorts, and did not wear a coat as the rain is warm and welcome.  It has rained all day.  The garden watered itself.  And, we went and inspected that the newly positioned water butts were receiving water.  They are, although it will take much more for them to fill. Apart from the old greenhouse one, which has a lot of roof serving it – and I was able to water my tomatoes without the weight lifting effort.

Of course, now the slugs and snails which have been leaving us alone will be out, and it’s fly-strike heaven out there, but for now, I’m still pleased to have rain.

purple podded peas

I’m a fan of purple podded peas. This is the first year we tried them.  Pretty flowers,  dark purple pods.. not only pretty, but it makes finding the peas a tad easier!, and lovely peas.

They are not the only variety of peas we are doing, we have early onwards podding now – in fact we picked loads tonight, had loads for tea, froze lots, and I have 5 lbs of pea pods in the freezer which I am threatening to make into pea pod wine.  Yes, I know most people think its terrible, but its on the bucket list.. have to try it once in your life.

We have a second sowing of early onwards just beginning to fatten up, after that I have a row of hurst greenshaft, an experiment this year, but they are looking good so far, and am just sowing some kelvedon wonder.. which are supposed to do well with late sowing.  OK I know this is very late.. but I want to try. Also have a row of mange tout.

Yes, we like peas.

and we like purple podded peas in the flower  garden, cos they are nice to look at.