Happy New Year - the next chapter!

Happy New Year to one and all, I hope you all enjoy whatever it is you set out to do this year.  Life is for living and I continue to try and make the most of every minute. 
Around this time, many people are reflecting on what the last year brought for them. Today I am going to focus on the plans we have for 2018. The reason is, come January 15th we will have our 2nd year moving in anniversary, which is when I will look back on 2017.
I was outside in the back garden this morning with the dogs, as we are house training Annie. I generally have to stand there a while, come rain or shine, night or day so I get plenty of time to think and plan. This year we have some big plans and I am ridiculously excited about them.

Firstly we need to look even further forward, to 2020, which is when we hope Ste can run this place full time. What does that mean? We’re still working it out, but it will pull in a small profit to give us the pocket money we need to 'live off'. To do this we need to know exactly how much we spend and on what, so I know how much money we need to just live. To a degree, we already know. However I need details. So the idea this year is to make a note of every penny spent on groceries and food. Groceries includes household items such as washing up liquid, soap, shampoo etc. I am still working out how I’ll report back on this on the blog. Maybe totals weekly or monthly.  Food also includes any money we spend on eating out/takeaways/eating on days out etc.
To keep food and household bills down, we will have to continue to think differently. We grow a lot of fruit and veg already and that’s going to take off even more this year.

Secondly, to help with that take off, in March/April, we’re buying a polytunnel which is going where the pigs were last year. We will plant directly into the ground in there as it’ll be perfectly manured thanks to the pigs. It’s going to be a big polytunnel, an investment, so we need to plan, plan, plan and get busy! I am also researching which company to use for the purchase.

Thirdly we’re getting more pigs around the same time as the polytunnel. We plan on getting 3 pigs, a traditional breed which we won’t breed from this year, but hope to sell the meat off 1 to back pay for the keep of the other 2.

Fourthly, also at a similar time (wow, we're going to be busy) we are hoping to have April fools day lambs. Or there abouts! The tup has been with our girls for two cycles now, and is still here. We plan on getting them scanned in February I think it is, to see what’s what.  Sorry to those who don't agree, however the pigs and lambs will all be for meat/sale.

Fifthly (that doesn’t sound right), we are going to have a separate fund for 2 new bathrooms.  This again is something that is a long term investment. It’ll keep the house in good condition and sort out a damp/mould problem we have in our bathroom. That won’t be until after the summer that we do that as we need to save first and I think we have enough on in March/April and May!

Finally, we don't know when this one will happen, but Ste is going to convert one of our small outbuildings (or find something suitable) to turn into a workshop which he desperately needs and will be a must for when he works from home and runs this place full time.

So this is the start of my planning posts, sorry there's been a lack of photos.  I'll put some below as there's always a cute puppy one to be had!  As we start to put these plans in actions, I'll of course keep the blog updated.

In the mean time, I'm sowing seeds and looking for potato recommendations (maincrop for north east planting that are good storers anyone?) which I will post about this week. 

Have a lovely New Year's Day evening.  After going to feed the horses now, we shall be mostly sitting down as I have caught the lurgy (cold/throat/chest) that is doing the rounds and need to recharge.

November update plus over wintering seeds and planning for 2018 sowing

Now Autumn is half way through, it’s got me thinking more and more about seasonal sowing and growing.  As well as preparing the ground for the next season (bean trenches and manuring) I’m also thinking about what I can over-winter, that will give me extra early harvests next year. 

This year (2017) my broad bean harvest was abysmal.  I don’t know what got to them, but it just did not work for me.  A variety that can be planted in the Autumn here in the UK is Bunyard's exhibition.  I've purchased some from Victoriana Nurseries and have been sowing them.  As I live in the North East, to grow these over winter, I feel these plants would need some protection to get through so once they start to show, I cover them with a small cloche tunnel of some description. 

Broad beans are part of the legume family and as I follow a 4 year crop rotation, they are to be planted where the onion and root family were the previous year.  The broad beans I have sown directly are 2cm deep in double rows.  The double row is (about) 23cm apart and the space between each double row is 60cm to allow me to get in and harvest the beans.  A double row of these Autumn planted beans will be followed by double row in February, March then April. That should see us through.  Depending on how prolific they are, these plants will hopefully be cropping well into July and August and therefore once the seeds are sown, that bed will be unusable for anything else until the plants are spent.

Other legumes that I have decided on for 2018 growing is a climbing pea called Victorian Colossal.  I’m really excited to grow this variety based on research I’ve done.  According to Victoriana Nurseries, this pea also does well when grown on a trench, so I’ve dug a trench where the peas will grow next year too.  This variety doesn’t seem to be an over-winter one so in the meantime, I looked into what variety would be good to try and over-winter.  Douce Provence comes up regularly and I grew this in my first year here which was a good crop. 

If you recall, I ordered my Autumn planting garlic, onions and shallots in mid-September which I’ve now received and are mostly planted out.  A few garlic are left to do.  These all come under the 'onion and root' part of crop rotation (along with leeks) and need to be planted where the potatoes were.  Next year, the legumes will follow on from the onions and roots meaning I might be able to get a late summer crop but I’m getting ahead of myself now.  They are coming through spectacularly, especially the shallots.

We've also got a visitor for a couple of months.  The guy over the river, who helped us with taking the pigs to slaughter, offered us a tup for a couple of months to hopefully cover the girls, giving us April lambs.  He seems nice enough so far, though sometimes they can get aggressive when they are with their girls.  The kids have been told not to go near him just in case.

 Steven and I had a child free morning today, something we never have, so we headed down to the area where the pigs had been, to see how many weeds have come through.  Not too many to be fair.  No more should grow now as the day time temperatures are consistently below 6C I would say.  We've some exciting things planned for this area next year.

I've also given the greenhouse a further tidy, binning another few plants that were done for.  Sadly, the courgette plant which serviced us so well has gone to compost heaven.  It was a golden zucchini variety - a freeby from the GYO magazine and I will definitely be growing them again next year.

Things are slowly returning back to normal here after our busy times.  I'm looking forward to a normal week at work, Monday night preserves tomorrow and bring you updates on the meat birds which are growing at a steady rate.