win some lose some

Last year we had to fight the slugs off the beetroot, this year the slugs are not as big a problem, so the birds have been pecking and eating them instead.  Solution - netting. But we practically lost a whole row of beetroot before the nets went down.  On the other upside, the wild rocket has self seeded, and obviously appreciated the newly turned earth from beet planting, and now I have a new line of rocket coming, with the occasional beetroot in between.

Here in the westcountry we had a sharp frost in April. Not unusual to get frost that late at all, but not usually that hard, and I think that might be why we have such poor blossom and setting from our tree fruit.  There’s hardly any blossom on the pear at all, although pears can be biannual.  There are far less apples on the trees and my son’s little tree only has one little apple.. and we have not had the June drop yet!. On the upside, I reckon this will be a brilliant blackberry year, as the bramble blossom is all over and the fruits setting well

you win some you lose some. 

yay! rain

The water butts on both greenhouses were empty, as we have had sunny weather for some weeks, and with the new water meter, we have spent the last 2 days carrying water from the huge water butt.. which is a walk all the way up the lane, carrying watering cans.  This is the sort of thing that makes you welcome rain!

When you are aware of the amount of grazing available, and are trying to grow all your own veg, some  rainy days are a good thing. The weather forecasters can pull their sympathetic faces, and the news readers can moan, but there are plenty that wanted a little rain.

Not the cat though, who sulked all day, demanded his door into summer, sulked some more and made a nest in the WIP knitting basket.  Oh well…

 

first spuds, first strawbs

couldn’t resist any longer and dug our first potatoes today.  Little on the small side, had to lift a couple to get a meals worth. Very nice. Valor - which also have very pretty pink flowers too.  Heard of blight appearing in some gardens in Cornwall, which  is only the next country over.  So far we are a clear though.

And picked wild strawberries too. lots of walking about for a small cache, but worth it.

mange tout

and we did.  The first of our mange tout are ready, and we had a taster.. only about 8 each, but enough.  picked steamed eaten. Fresh as can be. Lovely.  Must grow more next year.

loving the lamb and the meat

 

A peasant becomes fond of his pig and is glad to salt away its pork. What is significant, and is so difficult for the urban stranger to understand, is that the two statements are connected by an and not by a but.

John Berger

I first read this quote in John Seymours Self Sufficiency (although haven’t come across it in the new book yet.  Also have seen this quoted by Stonehead ).  It’s been on my mind lately.

Because lately, I have had a lot of people exclaim at my reaction over one or our own animals.. not a pig in my case, but a lamb.  I do really enjoy him, he is funny and goofy, and rushes up to us. When younger, he used to play with us.  We have always been around in his life, and he has learned to trust us. I pat him most days.  I also admire how he is growing and mentally imagine the roasting joints he will make. This is the bit people are squeamish about.. that I can enjoy him and want to eat him. But I can and do!

Bizarrely, only one of my friends that has winced over the idea is a vegan.. the others all eat meat too.  I just don’t get it.  They feel ok about the meat they eat, because they did not know the animal in question, and with that they don’t know how well it was kept, and handled.  We might as well enjoy keeping livestock, and building up trust with our animals makes it better and easier for all concerned. Yes, I realise, in the last analysis, we will, If you want to put it this way ‘betray’ his trust in us, when we take him to slaughter, but it is still much nicer for him if being handled is stress free, if being loaded into the trailer is not a struggle etc. And on top of that, when we eat him, I will know that this meat came from a very happy animal, raised only on grass. Surely that makes more sense?

I had a lot of trouble taking a picture of Rogan - as when I enter the field, both he and his mum Sharona, rush up to me for scratches.. As soon as I rub Sharona’s back, Rogan barges in and vice verse.  When I took a few steps back for a picture, they rush up to me again.  Had to settle for closeups.  He is growing really well. 

 

volunteer pumpkin

We have a volunteer. That is a pumpkin seed that did its own thing in the greenhouse border.  We stripped the soil out last autumn and replaced with compost, and in it were some seeds from the giant pumpkin we grew a couple of years ago. It benefited from the watering of a nearby tomato and lettuce, and is now bigger than both of those… It’s time for it to go.. or it will overwhelm the greenhouse.  But I can’t resist trying to transplant it in the veg plot, after all it has tried so hard, surviving composting and a couple of years. 

Plants from the squash family are notoriously unfaithful, so no guarantee we will get a pumpkin from it.. might be fertilized with a courgette.. and we will just get a squash of sorts.  That’s if it survives the shock of being removed from its lovely warm bed and regular watering..

elderflower fritters

Not that I am becoming obsessed with elderflowers.  well ok I am.

Had our first elderflower fritters of the season. Ohhhh so good. sweet and scented. yum.

Made yet more cordial, and champagne, and started another batch of elderflower wine.  I have not yet published my recipe for the wine, as the 2007 batch has not finished bubbling yet! However, I’m hopeful, as when racking, had a taste.. and its lovely.. like a scented Sauternes… kinda.. However, I will have to wait for it to finish working, as I am not a fan of camden tablets.. nasty eggy stuff, ruining the flavour.. in my humble opinion..

We are only picking the elderflowers from our own hedges, but right now it’s peak season. We have elderflowers, we have eggs. What to do but eat elderflower fritters.

eggs by post

‘eggs eh?’ said postie this morning ‘yeh’ I said, broody hen you know’ . knowing look from postie…  ‘ahhh….’ and a nod

Eggs arrived safe and sound.. well they look it, and after letting them settle for a bit, we slipped them under our broody, who wriggled about and carried on sitting. Fingers crossed.

Funny thing since we moved to the village - on the farm we didn’t interact with the postman much as he left everything in the box on the gate, but here they come on foot, and as we have the worlds smallest letter box (on the to be changed list) we see much more of them. One is very happy to pass opinion on my purchases.. when I bought an oven tray for the rayburn, he told me where I should have gone to buy it.. etc. But I don’t mind, its all done in a friendly happy way.

Some folk reckon that the success rate goes down when eggs are sent through the post.. but we only got 3 out of 12 last hatch, and they were hand delivered. Three weeks, and we shall see.