Thursday 2 March 2017

Seed sowing, promotion, poorly kids, angry sheep and fighting cockerels!

The week started off promising as I found out I've been given a promotion at work which is great as at one stage I wondered if I would be laid off. 
Then my son was off school with a terrible cold which doesn't sound too bad, but sleepless nights and snotty noses take their toll on him and me!
Yesterday saw my 2 Vorwek cockerels were told off by the sheep.  They were arguing and the sheep decided they didn't like it and hilariously started chasing the cockerel who was "winning" around after headbutting him 2 foot into the air.  After videoing (It won't let me upload) said chase I set about my jobs but they continued and it got nasty so I broke it up and put some septicleanse on the wound (too strong of a word) and received some good advise off my facebook friends (thank you bloggers who are on there and responded - it's given me some good ideas for what to have in my first aid bag moving forward). 
They are stunning, however 1 is now up for sale.  They're both coming into their own and do their jobs well, but they will hurt each other if they stay together.  I think I will keep the stronger of the 2 as he will do a better job at keeping the fox away hopefully.


Did someone order March?  I've gone from feeling it will never arrive to hardly believing it is here!  I've been keeping on top of the sowing of seeds as I am trying to do some successionally to ensure we have crops of things throughout the year.  The heat bench is a blessing and it is on permanently now.  This is what the greenhouse looked like at the weekend.
Tomatoes and some flowers, also PSB on this one
Corn salad in old strawberry box - reusing is very important
Carrots, 1 aubergine and all season kale at the back
Leeks, cauli and cabbage and more flowers I think
Sweet peas, peas in drainpipe, blueberry plants and fig tree (stick!)
3 "free" blueberry plants from GYO mag (paid postage) and some currant cuttings I took myself
My comfrey is coming through, yey!
I have taken delivery of 4.5 tonnes of screened topsoil.  This will go on the veg beds which have been filled with muck.  John Seymour grew carrots in muck and said his were fine, so I am going to try it.  I don't mind forked carrots, I just want food!

 The wagon was huge but it did make me appreciate the late February blue sky.  The driver also bough 3 1/2 dozen eggs off us, so a good day all round.
 My lovely parents bought us a conference pear tree just because they wanted to, so I promptly soaked it, dug a hole and put a bucket of rotted muck in and firmed the tree down.  I love that we're planting trees for future generations to benefit from, as well as us of course.
I got my first/second earlies in, some outside and some in the polytunnel to experiment and know what to do next year.
I've planted Swift (FE), Athlete (SE) and British Queen (SE)

We have been getting goose eggs regularly for a couple of weeks now and I have found they make the best frittata I've tasted.  We had a massive one which turned out to be a double yoker.  I'll be using the rest to make some cakes for the freezer that I will pre slice and pack ready to use in packed lunches.
 

 

 I can't recall if I posted this already, but these are some bulbs which the chickens must have scratched out last summer and have self rooted in silly places.  I rescued them and look forward to seeing what they are.
 
 We are expecting new additions Saturday!!! Stay tuned!
 

12 comments:

  1. Testosterone has so much to answer for! I'll have a cup of tea with my slice of cake please. x

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  2. Your seeds are all looking very healthy.

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  3. Cockerels are a nightmare for fighting, they seem to get to a certain age and a switch goes off inside them and all they want to do is fight and sh$g! Mind you I've worked with a lot of guys like that as well.
    Are you transplanting you carrots then? I never tried that. I need to order some plastic for my low tunnels so I can get sowing outside.

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    1. Yes they do! These boys are just starting with that. They are free range now (lock down over for us) and even with all that space, they still argue!
      Yes, I never succeed with carrots so trying this following how another blogger did it. They are my nemesis!

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  4. We are having a little problem with one of the existing chooks bullying one of the new ones. Will keep a watchful eye. Loving seeing all your seeds getting started. Love your mentions of John Seymour; I flip through his book all the time!

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    1. John Seymour comes second only to Ste and HFW! Although the 2nd and 3rd place sometimes interchange lol.
      I hope your hens get sorted as it is a PITA when there is unrest in camp x

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  5. chickens and dogs love moving things around the garden

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  6. Love John Seymour! So many exciting things happening at your place right now, thanks for sharing!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for reading! John is my go to man! Well, his books at least....

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