This week has gone by quickly, looking back. My mind has been wandering into next year again thinking of the things I'd like to get done on the smallholding. There's the easy sounding, but more than likely a pain in the butt jobs of putting automatic drinkers into the fields and stables, maybe even the poultry and the preparing for the pigs.
Starting the incubator in February, we need to get our table bird stocks up and have decided on a specific breed to cross with our big cockerel to hopefully produce some nice big birds.
I'm hoping to have a poly tunnel by April time frame and that means agreeing on the area it is going to live but we think we've decided. Preparing the ground for the poly tunnel won't be an overnight task (if we put it where I think we will).
We hope to really get to grips with heading in the right direction for being self sufficient in veg at least. Eating seasonally will be on my mind all year.
If we don't manage to this year, next year we need to put some sort of hard standing at the field gate entrance as it has turned to a quagmire already. There's more fencing to go up for the horses and stock fencing to keep the sheep in. There's gates to make to keep the ducks and geese separate (the geese beat the ducks up sometimes) instead of the pallets we have resting there at the moment.
Inside the house, I'd like to get the kids bedrooms done as my daughter at least, will be too old to enjoy the kids side of it in a year or two when she turns towards the dreaded teenage years.
Hopefully next year something will present itself in offering us more land too. I'll work on that by inviting all of the neighbours round at Christmas and cracking open the mulled wine!
These are my rambling thoughts for the day, not a great post for you guys as readers, for which I apologise, but useful for me. At least you all can keep tabs on my progress ;)
Have a lovely weekend all.
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| This is the goose shed! The sheep are inspecting it.... |
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| See the difference? The horses are on the left side and this is only after a couple of days. The right side is resting. |
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| The hard standing would need to be on both sides of the gate I think |
I am starting a new notebook for next year, and jotting everything down as I think of it, we will have an extra 15 acres next year to take care of get in tip top condition, the lists are never ending as the seasons roll on the jobs change, we use IBC tanks for water collection and have them set up off the various animal shelters
ReplyDeleteOh no! I love posts like this, love hearing about the plans people have! (I feel a ramble coming on!) We have put an automatic water feeder into the chicken enclosure as you may have seen and it is fab. We eat a lot of chicken and I think we really should look at getting some table birds; we only have room for 8 girls in our hen house so could fit two more in there or make another house for them, we could fit something smaller in the enclosure. How exciting to get a poly tunnel in the Spring!I do hope we will get the second large veg patch put in before then but not sure as we are planning on buying sleepers for that and the parking area project. We are still looking at getting some ducks. Good luck with getting some more land and all your plans.x
ReplyDeleteOooh got to have a notebook and boy are you going to need it Dawn with 15 acres. I have my diary which I use to keep a record of jobs done, the day things are sown or planted and reminder of things to do along with jobs to be done sooner or later in the year plus egg yields. Then I have a notebook with the monthly lists of planting and sowing plans for next year and just stuff I'd like to have a go at, like baking and making differnet things. Oh plans, plans, plans!
ReplyDeleteIt's lovely to read your plans, loads of steps to get your home to where you want to be, good luck and enjoy the planning.
ReplyDeleteSounds as though you are going to be busy. Enjoy the planning and I hope you will enjoy the doing - or at least the results of it!
ReplyDeleteNice seeing your plans! I am making plans too for next year ♥
ReplyDeleteOh thank you all for the lovely comments. I have a notebook that a friend bought me in spain where I've made notes on everything poultry wise but not so much veg wise, so I need to think about that for next year. I do have a spreadsheet (I know, anal!) that I have everything on for future thoughts. It is incredibly exciting!!!
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