Monday 1 May 2017

May Day bank holiday fun

Well this was a weekend to remember.  Having the extra day has been brilliant to getting this done on the smallholding.
First up the pigs came out in a skin condition again which the vet had already identified as Erysipelas, harmless if caught early, which we did within 12 hours.
We collected the antibiotics from the vets and set about it ourselves with the help of our lovely neighbours who is a doctor and his wife, a nurse!  The pigs were in good hands and it's cleared up already.  They had two doses, one on Saturday and one today (Monday).
On Sunday, we moved them from the barn to their new accommodation in the paddock and sat and watched them for a while.
 They were ridiculously happy and ran and ran and ran!
As they're old enough to be off the heat, they can be sent out to work now the frosts have hopefully passed.  We hope that they will turn the paddock over as it's riddled with nettles.  We chopped the nettles down before they went in there as they would possibly suffer from nettle rash.  They don't have hard hides yet and are still easily scraped or cut. 
Steven carried them from the barn to the paddock, needing a helping hand for the heavier one as boy they can wriggle and are so powerful.  Another week and we wouldn't have been able to move them like that.  They love their new pen which is made from pallets begged from our farmer neighbour. 
Grace helped bring the straw down for their bed, using an ingenious transportation method.
 Jack enjoyed watching them play.
We also got the sheep into the stable when the horses were in the field, and gave them a tidy up on their back end as they were getting matted.  No photos, I'll spare you!
I got some rhubarb vodka on the go for Christmas gifts and to help keep us warm this winter.

The veg plot is really taking shape now and should be fully up and running by the end of this month. I managed to get the red cabbage in which I have a soft spot for, the sweetcorn and sunflowers (heads will be for the chickens).  I've sown some more peas, kohl rabi and calabrese to ensure we have a successional harvest of them. 
Tonight I harvested kale, swiss chard, asparagus and PSB for our tea, making a cottage pie using a slimming world recipe (inspired by Lou, thank you) and it was delicious with the PSB and asparagus on the side.



The first fruit has arrived on my tomatoes so I will start feeding those ones which I am really pleased about.

8 comments:

  1. That's what our pigs had - the sly reason I was given at about age 8 as to their disappearance!!

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    1. Oh I hope ours don't disappear because of it!

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  2. Clever girl, your Grace! Oh can't wait until I can make fruit vodka, will probably start with blackberry when I pick them in the summer. Pie looks deee-lish!

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    1. Yes I want to be sure to capture each fruit/season with a special one then add them to the Christmas baskets (if they make it, hic) Thank you x

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  3. rhubarb vodka?! I never thought about that. I have made skittles vodka years ago. Yeah that was too easy to drink!!!! *hick*

    Poor piggies, fab you spotted it so quick. They will soon have that ground turned!

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    1. oooh yes, well we did raspberry vodka and it was delish!!! I hope this one is as nice.

      Nothing doing yet from the pigs, but that's not a bad thing really - they have a few months in there yet lol

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  4. Great weekend! What all went into the rhubarb vodka? I am intrigued as you led me down the rhubarb cocktail path with the bellinis.

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    1. oooh I am a bad influence! There was 600g rhubarb chopped, 200g caster sugar, zest of orange (maybe half) and 1 litre of vodka. Leave for 8 weeks then strain and store :D

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