Rain, rain and more rain - but that's ok!

I think most of the UK has had rain this week.  The ground here desperately needed it.  It's rained non stop for a good few days so all of the water butts are full.  Some of the barn guttering is blocked from downpours and things are looking a bit depressed (my chamomile is squished for example) but once the sun comes it'll right itself.  However some of the animals are loving it:

Some not so much

 The 4 Vorwerk girls and 2 boys sought shelter in the barn, you only ever see them in here at feeding time but looks like they all fancied a trip to the hairdressers together.

After complaining about the pigs not turning the field over as much as we'd hoped - look at it now after the rain!  I'm really pleased.  These 2 will be going within the next month and they will have done a great job by then.  Once they go we will get in there and take out the roots they've uprooted but not eaten, maybe rake or tiller it depending how it is and then leave it until March when it'll be planted up with potatoes then squash later in the year.  We're also growing 2018 pigs fodder in here.

The sunflowers are now heading for 5 or 6 foot and some are really strange looking!  Pretty colours all the same.

Look at the sweetcorn!  This has flew up with the recent downpours!

 

This morning I was outside at 5:30 sowing seeds.  Crazy you might say but there's method in my madness.  Firstly, my back was giving me jip and I needed to walk it off, secondly on a weekend I always seem to get distracted by other jobs like weeding and thirdly I find I get a lot more achieved when I get out of bed and get on with it straight away.  Of course I had to go to work so the only way to get everything done is get up early and crack on!  The seeds I got in were spring onion, pak choi, leeks (second cropping, winter giant 3), perpetual spinach, cauliflower autumn giant, cabbage verbote 3 (which was organic and I'd not realised).

The rain always makes the veg plot look so green so I quickly snapped a couple of shots for you to see from this morning.

Beans intercropped with spinach in this closest shot

Lavender and spuds in this view, plus the obligatory steel bin to burn stuff in!

 Chamomile is what you can see, all squashed in the middle of this pic.

Brassicas with Jerusalem artichokes below.  I wasn't sure if these would be ok together but I am moving the artichokes to a metal bin (with holes in) one this round is done.

That's my round up done, enjoy the weekend.

Avian Flu Silver lining and odds and sods

Like all poultry keepers, I'm sick of this avian flu for one reason or another.  I do not want to get into politics as we all have our own views on it.  However, one thing I think most of us smallholders, self sufficient and self reliant folks have in common, is the ability to make the best from a bad situation.
Although the poultry is stuck inside, they do have light, food, water and warm beds so their lives could be worse.  However for us, the food bill to feed them seems high.  Now I don't have last year's costs to compare this too, however my gut feeling is that it's high and although the wild birds are no longer taking their share, I reckon the barn mice and rats are! 
We've known for a while about hanging your poultry feeders off the ground to deter rats and other critters, but we've never got round to it.  So Steven has designed a hanging feeder which we are trialling in the barn.  We have put the same amount of food in on day 1 and then day 2.  Day 1 seeing the feeder on the floor and day 2 hanging up. 

I'll report back on how well they have done.
Once we move them back outside, we'll hang the feeders from the trees.  Now where the birds will go when they're outside is another discussion.  Having the over winter in the barn has opened our minds to where we will house them in 2017 as other animals come along.  I'll do more on that another day too.
So the silver linings being that we're trialling a new way of feeding them that we've not done before and we're giving thought to the best place for the hens in 2017. 
I've also been making mango chutney which Dawn posted about a week or 2 ago and I've wanted to do it since.  It's a lovely recipe which you can find here.  I am really pleased that the food year is already off and running.  Who says preserving is only for the summer?

I'll be using it in a sausage recipe on Sunday when I put a spread on for my daughters 10th birthday.
The seeds are making their way up into the daylight.  It always amazes me that these dormant seeds suddenly sprout life.  The first ones of the year are extra special.

I couldn't finish without showing you this.  On a morning, the youngest dogs come with me to the barn to run off their energy.  So when they were quiet, my senses went on high alert and I found them both happily chewing on undesirable things!  Nothing poisonous, but I'll spare you the details.  No wonder they were quiet.

Getting the growing plans in order and on paper

Something I want to do shortly is measure what we have land wise.  I want an accurate overhead, bird’s eye view of our home.  This will allow us to step back and look at the space for the future instead of standing amongst it all and seeing it with today’s intended use.  It’s hard to stand in Chickenville and see it as potential veg plot for example, or to know if the wooded area would be big enough to turn into a pig area if we fenced it off or where the best place to put an outdoor sand arena/horse walker would be.  I’d like to get that done in the next few weeks.

In the meantime, I’m putting pen to paper, or finger to keyboard again to update the 2017 growing plan.  I have started sowing some seeds at the risk of losing them.  I’ve only put aubergine and corn salad in.  This weekend I have tomatoes, cauliflower, leeks, red onions, onions, peppers and chillis to put in.  Everything that needs a high heat to germinate will go in the airing cupboard as it’s right next to the Aga chimney.  The things that need 20C and below will go in the kitchen.  Hopefully things will come up together meaning they can be moved together to the south facing windowsill before going to the heated greenhouse at some point, as they will all be in one propagator.

We now have 3 new raised beds and there are 2 more large ones and 4 smaller in the pipeline too.  We’re busy filling them with muck and I’ll be getting a top soil delivery at the end February or early March to top them up.

The plan therefore currently looks like this (I've no idea if the photos will work but you get the idea)

We have 18 beds of different sizes (I know some people prefer uniform, but this works for us) and I'm still deciding what will go in some.  Bed 11 (large) and 15/16 (small) aren't spoken for.  I am growing more potatoes than some would bother with.

I can't decide whether to put anything permanent in my new beds.  Fruit bushes or such like.  This year they will be new soil so I may use it as a tester year. 

The older strawberry patch is taking over and I have no idea how old it is.  It performed well last year, but maybe this year I will dig it out once I've taken the runners as I'm going to line some beds with strawberries.

Also I am super excited to be saying I will be visiting lots of your blogs to search for your tried and tested recipes.  I know there are plenty of you who have them and I’d like them ready to use when harvest comes round.  It’s such a busy time of year that all planning ahead that can be done should, then I can just concentrate on the goodies and recipes.  Also I would like to time table in when to start making the food and drink for Christmas gifts.  I don't want to miss a thing this year!

2016 Oil, electricity, water and other bills plus a few 2017 plans

Sorry for no photos on this one, it's more about keeping records!
In our first year in the house we’ve used 4500 litres of oil and it cost us £1402.02 plus £50.97 in additives for the oil.  There’s enough in the tank to see us until the end of Jan and maybe beyond but as we moved in on 15^th Jan, this will balance out.  I shall compare usage and cost with 2017.  I do love doing things like that. 
We bought coal, which I didn’t keep a record for, so have started for 2017.  However we use wood which is free for the most part.
Electricity we used £438 and are just in credit so our monthly payment is about right.
Water was £322.
The septic tank was emptied at a cost of £145.
On top of that we have the usual bills, all of which I knew what the cost would be through the year, so could plan for those.  I am pleased that we forecasted appropriately and things came in on budget.  This year I want to decrease our use of electricity and oil, however will increase the oil savings as we’re just on par with what we saved v what we used and I can’t see the cost of oil going down.  Water is needed.  We’re on a metre and it is for the animals too.  That is what it is.  We waste very little I think.
The groceries came in on budget for the most part of the year and December went right up which I can handle but need to plan for if it is to happen again.  It was out first year celebrating in this house and I refused to scrimp on things.
Hopefully with the plans I have for veg for 2017, our grocery bill will be right down, even further in 2018 when we have more of our own meat on the table.
We’ve also spent a lot to get up and running.  That will continue this year as we continue to get set up in all areas.  2016 saw expenses on things like:  fences, wood, veg beds, an auger, hens, eggs, poultry essentials, decorating, field gates, 3 geese, 3 ducks, 3 sheep and our first cockerel J to mention a few.  This coming year we are putting up more fencing and gates, buying 2 pigs (weaners), automating water supplies, buying more poultry housing, buying dairy goats, creating a new raised bed area and putting up a polytunnel.  That’s what we’ve already thought about, there will be SO much more comes to mind during the year as always!  Just a few things then J  I wouldn’t have it any other way.
We are hoping to make a small income from egg sales, geese and turkey at Christmas (just a few), selling surplus veg and fruit and even veg plants.  Enough to cover the cost of feed maybe?  We’ll see. 

Loving the January feeling

All too often, I hear people saying how miserable January is, it's ages until pay day, nothing to do on dark nights, bored etc etc. I don't fall into that category any more. I am not sure I ever did. For me, in my new life, it's all about planning and getting organised for the coming weeks, months and years.
Over Christmas and New Year, we have had family and friends over, visited with them but ultimately loved being here in our new home. Our first Christmas here was everything and more that I hoped it would be.
Thoughts now turn to what we can get done this year. As usual my head is full to the brim with ideas and things to try.  Sometimes the ideas don't make it to pen and paper quick enough and I lose them for a while, so if anything, this year I shall try to do better there. That is not a new year resolution by the way 😉.
Rather than start off with a long list now, I am going to do individual posts. Today is my last day off work, so I have put the kids to bed and am off to spend it with my husband before the organised chaos of the working week is resumed.
The weather is due to turn cold again here. I do enjoy a cold spell, no rain though, can't be done with rain.

Here's to 2017 - let's see what we can make of this one!

December birthday and raspberry vodka

Sounds like a good combination right :)


It was my birthday yesterday and also my long day at work, however it was great fun.  I heard from people I've not spoken to for a while, saw my family, was lucky to receive gifts and got to taste my raspberry vodka which we started off in summer.  Oh man, it was lovely.  I've been having a few drinks through December to celebrate and feel festive with friends when they visit etc and now I have this, we're taking a bottle next door with us to celebrate Christmas Day Night with our lovely neighbours.  It'll be the perfect end to the day when I get to chill after a hectic day no doubt.

So in true Tracy style, I was given a greenhouse heater and 2 huge propagators and a thermometer for min/max and current temperatures from Steven, along with some long socks, a bottle of Baileys and other items.  How lucky am I?

I also got a personalised notebook which I just love, that I am going to use to record all of next years info around eggs, veg seeds sown, grown and harvested (weights etc, thanks Dawn!).  My lovely parents got me a new coat to do my smallholding jobs in Winter, for which this weather is far too warm to wear it yet, so I am wanting a bit more winter weather please.  I got a Bake Off apron and £60 cash which has been spent on something for the smallholding that I will do another post on.

Hugely exciting too - the farmer has confirmed the litter of piglets which we're getting ours from is due 2nd Feb so we will take them once they are ready.  In between now and then, I need to learn all about caring for them (already done a lot) and Steven is going to get their shelter/ark sorted.

Later in the year we are hoping to get goats too but that pending what Mother goat delivers in the Spring.  More on that once it's firmed up.

Ooh and Christmas is still firmly underway, home made cards have been made and the kids put SO much effort in to them.  They were gratefully received which I was super happy about.  We didn't manage to do all the cards as homemade, I didn't realise how long they will take.  That's ok though.

Did you know, apparently, Boxing Day is the time to sow onion seeds traditionally.  Don't ask me who's traditions or in what country, but that's what I was told! 

Plans for the weekend?  I'm going to put some winter lettuce in my propagators this weekend.  We also need to get the Christmas meat sorted - a goose and duck from the smallholding will be dispatched this weekend.  They have had a wonderful life and this is what they were raised for.  We know what they have eaten and have been with them from cradle to grave.  Next year I am hoping for all home raised and grown produce as the main Christmas lunch.  There are a million and one other things on the list, which I'll post as I get round to them,  In the mean time I leave you with how my work place was decorated for me! 

Where I work - a lovely lady always makes us feel special.

More planning - this time meat

Now I appreciate not everyone wants to raise, kill and eat their own meat and in this post I am thinking more about next year and planning the meat,  Writing it down here lets my thoughts develop.  So if this isn’t for you, please take this as fair warning J  If you’re all about knowing where your meat comes from, giving animals a happy and healthy life and ensuring their dispatch is a stress free and quick as possible, then do read on.

As we won’t be self-sufficient in pork etc until November 2017 and as I am getting itchy feet I think I will ask Steven to bring home half a pig from work.  For those who don’t know, he is a butcher.  We would need to buy it from the shop of course, but I would be very interested to watch him do his thing and fill up the freezer for the coming months in 2017.  It would also aid me in my quest to be stocked up for the new year on as much as possible from day one. 
We eat a fair amount of meat.  My motto for food (and drink for that matter) is everything in moderation, which is key, but as there’s 4 of us we do get through a fair bit.  Most weekends we have people visiting and I usually feed visitors.  In 2017 I hope to have family round for Sunday dinners as we’ll have the dining room useable by then.  I would like to be able to put a roasting joint on the table every weekend and look forward to that being from our own smallholding.
I have decided (a stake in the ground was required, so I may be way off) that I would like 40 roasting birds and 40 jointing birds.  A lot right?  Well given that we have chicken a lot during the week and some weeks enjoy a roast mid-week, plus some will be given to family and that we host a lot of gatherings during the year where I put a big spread on, I think this is a reasonable amount to aim for.  I could be way off but until I try, I won’t know. 
We’ve made enquiries about getting fertilised eggs from a nearby farm for a large breed of hen. I think they are called Cornish or Ross cobs, either way, they are big.  We’ll pick 40 eggs up early in the New Year when they are available and get them straight in the incubator for dispatch early May.  The next 40 can go in later in the year for dispatching October time when the flies have died off a bit.  That should see us right with the chicken we would like.  I will need another new freezer though.
We also would like to increase the numbers of our laying hens and to ensure a good start to the year, have decided to trial some hens eggs that we’ve not bred from before.  The eggs are going into the incubator this Friday, 18^th November to hatch in 21 days, meaning they will be point of lay (22 weeks) on 12^th May 2017.  May 2017 is obviously getting on for half way through the year, so you see why we want to get going on that project?  The chicks will live in the warm kitchen or utility in the house and move to the barn in straw bedding when big enough.  They’ll be under heat in the garage in between those periods as winter isn’t the best time to hatch eggs out.
Obviously some of those will be cockerels so they will be our next table birds which will be dispatched as and when they are needed.

Come November 2017 we’ll have our own pork too.  That leaves lamb.  Our current girls will be going in with the tup in 2017 so we hope to have April 2018 lamb.  Yes, I do like to plan.  ;-)

A little catch up, birthdays, snow, polytunnel thoughts and 2017 potatoes!

I have broken my phone and have an old spare which doesn’t do photo’s as well but bear with me.  It also means I have to boot the laptop up to see blogs and updates (first world problems, I know).  Wednesday saw us with snow on the ground.  It was short lived and didn’t affect the roads.  It was so pretty to see everywhere white and the smallholding animals all looking around wondering what it was.  I know some people don’t like the snow, but I do and I do hope we have a white Christmas.

The kids played in it, all be it briefly, and I took what photos I could.  We call one of our chicken areas “Chickenville” and the kids wrote it out in the snow (when they were supposed to be doing their jobs ;) ).  It’s so nice to see them enjoying it all.

Goose foot print

It was Steven’s birthday on Tuesday and despite being at work all day and needing to remove a radiator in the dining room for decorating, he seemed to enjoy it.  He sent me this photo the next day when he had time to enjoy a nice cup of coffee in his gadget that he received.

I’ve been doing more thinking ahead and keeping more notes in my notebook.  This time I have been writing down everything we have as packed lunches, with a view to ensuring I have the contents covered in our GYO plan for 2017.  For example the salads we have contain mixed leaves, spring onion/red/white, radish, cucumber, tomatoes, lots of peppers, sweetcorn, coleslaw and when we’re feeling adventurous, cous cous.  I think we can have this covered in 2017.  Also soups and quiche.

That led me on to thinking about the polytunnel again.  If I can afford one, it’ll be March/April time so we will have missed the early start, but that doesn’t mean we can’t start things elsewhere in the house and heat the greenhouse too, before moving them to the polytunnel when it’s ready.  The purpose of the polytunnel will be to extend the growing season and give me more space to allow us to be self-sufficient in vegetables throughout the year.

The salad items listed above will be mostly grown in the polytunnel although I think the sweetcorn will be half and half for pollination reasons.  In anticipation of next year, I’ve pre ordered my potatoes going for the following options (which will be delivered February):

First Earlies:  Swift (general purpose) and red duke of York (good for roasting).  These will be ready 10 weeks after planting.

Second Earlies:  British Queen (GP but excellent roasting) and Athlete which are lovely cold in salads.  These will be ready 13 weeks after planting.

Maincrop made up of early maincrop:  Carolus (GP),  Maincrop:  Blue salad (I fancy these for something different), Cara for baking and chipping and late maincrop of Sarpo Mire which can be stored until Christmas and King Edward which I think are the same.  These will be ready 20 weeks after planting.

The idea here is they all get planted at the same time and are ready to eat at different stages.  I will grow some in containers and bags but most in the ground.  We’re making a few new beds outside, 1 of which will be for the potatoes.  Having no idea how many potatoes we use and how much each plant will produce, we could be rolling in them or short for demand.  This really is an experiment.  Each order supplies apx 15 tubers (1kg).  It cost me £37 inc P&P so I will see how much we get for our money and make a note of it as next year progresses.

Getting the balance of what self sufficient means to us - the balance

I've been thinking more and more about self sufficiency and how it applies to us, or rather how we apply us to it. There are some very strong views out there on it, but I'm just throwing some thoughts out there which aren't getting down to the nitty gritty just yet so please bear with me.

I’ve had a little thought, which many people have had before however for us personally, it will help us on the road to being less reliant on supermarkets and more reliant on ourselves.  Thinking ahead to 2017, we’re not going to start having home grown items available on January 1^st even though I’ve been planting through Autumn/Winter to make sure some things are available as early as possible.  I plan on tweaking my 2017 growing plan (as much as my experience and knowledge allows me) to ensure once we start producing food in 2017, we don’t stop.  I’m researching all of the time and learning so much through the experience of others via blogs too.  Making notes along the way to ensure I remember the following year what to do and what not to do.

With these thoughts running through my head, the other thing niggling at me is having to go to Tesco (or wherever) for household items.  I’d like to reduce the amount we go.  So I’ve started making a list of things we need such as toilet roll, soap, shampoo etc and the list was ever expanding.  Then I made a list of non-perishable (or very long life) foods that we have such as tinned tuna, cereal etc.  I appreciate people will say, you could make your own soap and shampoo and you could poo in the woods (ok I’m exaggerating) but we need to do what works for us on our self-sufficient journey.  We both work full time, meaning that I need clothes that I can wear in the office – that’s the kind of balance I’m talking about.  So whilst we’re mindful about those areas and we certainly only spend what we need to there, I’m going to focus on the food and wellbeing. 

I mentioned cereal amongst the other things, this is something I could make at home, yes.  Granola and muesli, so that’s one thing I am going to change.  I can’t make coco pops though.  The kids aren’t allowed them a lot, but they do enjoy them when they are.  So I will buy those in.  However the kids don’t eat enough eggs (for my liking , given how many chickens we have) so they can have those more.  We are getting pigs in March, so maybe by November 2017 ish, we’ll be self-sufficient in pork/ham/bacon/sausages etc. We’re not buying a cow though, so I will still buy beef as I enjoy beef.  We might get one in a year or two though, who knows.  We don’t have goats or dairy cows, so I will buy milk - that’s something we use a lot of.  I can freeze it if I buy it in bulk.  We have some chicken in the freezer of our own but it won’t last long.  We should have our home grown chickens ready early April 2017 so from then on, I shouldn’t need to buy more chicken.

This is a snippet of the thoughts I am having for 2017’s budget and lifestyle.  Can you imagine how full my head is right now J  I’m off to think more about how we can shop less and grow more. 

Thinking of next year (again)

I haven't been on everyone's blogs for a day or two but I will catch up this weekend and am looking forward to it. 
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.

This is the goose shed!  The sheep are inspecting it....

See the difference?  The horses are on the left side and this is only after a couple of days.  The right side is resting.

The hard standing would need to be on both sides of the gate I think

Bullace/wild plum and more apples!

The veg plot was postponed as today went by in a flash.  This morning I had more jobs to get done than I realised but I enjoyed the day and to top it off Steven stumbled across what I think is wild plum tree (aka bullace if I remember rightly?).  I was so excited when he showed me it.  It's half way along our lane (apx 1/2 a mile away) and on top of that, next to it is another apple tree.  Huge lovely looking cooking apples! 

Wild Plum?

I follow Pam Corbin (Pam the Jam from River Cottage's TV programmes) on twitter and told her we had rhubarb, gooseberries, plums and windfall apples and she said rhubarb and plum would be nice and then suggested I make pectin with the windfall apples.  Well I never knew you could do that, so that's taken it to another level in the preserving department.  I'll look up how to do that over the next day or 2.
Today I spent sorting the fields out, the daily task or removing the horses manure.  Then I took a look in our woods.  Its a small collection of trees, mostly Black Poplar I'm told, which is where we're planning on keeping the pigs next year if and when we get some.  We spent quite a bit of time with the horses this morning and both kids rode and thoroughly enjoyed it.  I've just got in at 6:45pm after being at a kids party with my son.  He had a lovely time and I bought a bottle of red on the way home, so win-win.

Smallest paddock view to woods

Field muck goes on floor of woods.  This area will eventually be for the pigs.

View through the woods.

Windfall chuntney with the first apples of the year



Tonight I’ve made ‘windfall apple chutney’ using the first lot of apples we collected from the ground.  The kids did all of the collecting and I’m very pleased with them.  It was a cheap chutney to make which is right up there on my priority list!  It says it doesn’t need to mature like the other chutney’s but I’ll leave some to.  Apparently it tastes best with a good cheddar and some homemade bread.  There’s that word again!  So that’s my plan, it’d be rude not to!  Here is the link if anyone is interested in making their own.  It’ll be the first of many recipes for me using the food for free which we have in the garden and surrounding areas.

Chutney bubbling away on the Aga

Steven was finishing the roof on his new gym room and instead of buying the pieces he needed we took a trip to a local farmer friend.  He had a mountain of wood in one of his side fields and said we could take what we wanted. 

 

So the roof of the new room in the barn is now on and complete.  I spotted a couple of panels that will do just nicely for either a duck/chicken run or to create a new muck heap (we try to keep it as neat and tidy as possible so we don’t have mounds out in the open given that we don’t have lots and lots of space) so we took them too.  He didn’t want any cash for it all (would have cost us a fortune to buy at a timber yard) but he did have an interest in hens.  So we’re going back in a few weeks with 3 laying hens in exchange for another couple of boards which he said we could take.  I love that we can buy thing without money changing hands.

There’s also a factory right near him that we can get some fence panels (they are extra-long pallet panels which look like fences to us) off him which we’re going to set aside for the pigs – a 2017 task but we’ll have them whilst they are there.