Growing update

I must have the world’s easiest to look after pumpkin/squash.  It’s growing and I’m just watching from the sidelines.  I did put some straw underneath in an effort to stop it rotting.  If it’s as big as I think it is going to be then I might enter it into a country show as I’d love to do that. 

Here are 2 other pumpkin /quash plants that I am growing.  The pumpkin is tiny but so cute!  Can you say that about a veg?  The other squash is trying to rival my big one and is growing well.

We also have some borlotti beans growing.  I’ve never had these before but apparently they dry well ready for winter stews so I will do that.

I was given a courgette by a lovely lady that I sell eggs to.  It’s huge and will be added to a lot of meals probably in grated form as it’s not one of my favourite vegetables (yet!) but that maybe as I’ve had lots of supermarket courgettes up to now.

This weekend, we have family visiting but no other plans so I will get into the plot and turn over a few beds and get some winter seeds down.  The Grow your own magazine I signed up for (thanks to Louise’s blog Welsh Dreams Now Reality) have 2 packets of seeds with their latest issue.  Land cress and spring onion, so both are being sown this weekend.

I rarely get a picture of all 3 dogs together but as I looked out of the kitchen window the other night, here they were all mulling their thoughts over together so I managed to get a quick photo before the puppies found something else to run off and investigate.

Milk delivery / veg box let down again

Well on Wednesday I had my veg box and milk delivered as usual.  Well I was supposed to.  Those who read daily will know the last 2 deliveries haven't been correct.  This was the 3rd one which was incorrect too!  They delivered only my skimmed milk (Steven drinks it, yuk) but not the semi skimmed and put a note on to say I wasn't getting any this week.  Considering you have to order a week in advance so they can get it in and the fact no one had informed me in advance (they know the day before if they have it) then all I can assume is something happened on the morning of the delivery, making the semi skimmed unavailable.  However I did say that if they mess up for a 3rd time, then I'd move on and I have.  So sorry The Organic Pantry but I've now placed an order with Riverford who use regional farmers and dairies local to myself, which are set to send me a milk and veg box delivery on Wednesday.  They have lots of other items too so fingers crossed they are up to the mark and then I can shift a lot of the order to them instead of the supermarket.


I must say however The Organic Pantry veg boxes are lovely, it was just the milk that was the let down. 


With regards to the milk, I'd go to the dairy to buy it but there isn't an option.  I only want to use someone who is already in the area if we get a delivery as creating more carbon footprints just to get my milk to me doesn't sit well with what I'm about.  So I was pleased to hear the Riverford are in my local area every Wednesday.  I'll keep you posted as to how I get on with them.


In the mean time, it's Friday and that means I have one more week in the office until I break up for my 2 weeks and a day off!  I don't think I have mentioned that yet have I :).  We have a few plans, people visiting, days out, jobs to do at home, walks and adventures along with kids birthday parties, so it'll be lovely to spend the time together and enjoy a more relaxed way of life!

Menu plan 5

Thusday's post - I was waiting for a picture of my Nana so here it is:)
9 sleeps until my 2 weeks and a day off – it’s getting closer!

Menu plan 5 (week 32) is over on the Menu Plan tab.  I’ve added it to the top of the previous weeks, so I can refer back to them maybe this time next year.

Thank you for the comments for my Nana's birthday.  Last night we had a lovely time celebrating with my Nana for her 94th.  The kids made her a card and my Mam put a photo book together for her with pictures of all the family in, which she loves.  Nana is very family orientated and always has stories from back in the day to recount for us (multiple times!).

Tonight I plan on completing the very boring task of getting on top of the clothes that need washing and putting away.  I'm also going to spend an hour in the veg plot after I've rode my lovely horse.  I have to work for a bit tonight but as the kids are out, so I should be able to get most things done.

 

Duck update:  She's still got a limp and if I'm honest she doesn't seem any better however she has laid an egg in the cage bless her as I was starting to get concerned that she wasn't laying and maybe was egg bound.  We think we're going to put her back with her friends tonight and keep them in their smaller space for a day, then I can let her out on Saturday when I'm home all day and can keep the pesky geese away from her.

Here's a little picture of Ryan, our "pet" goose whose Mam rejected him.  He follows me around chatting away to me.  Here he is outside the greenhouse whilst I was filling a bucket with water.  I'm sure his stories are fascinating, so I do tend to chat back with him.

Happy 94th Birthday Nana

10 sleeps until my 2 weeks off :)

Today’s veg box is just vegetables, milk and a bunch of bananas.  They got something wrong last week again (the driver left the wrong amount of milk) so if it’s wrong this week then that will be the 3^rd time and I’ll have to reassess the milk situation.  I won’t know until I get home from work.  I’ve had to order the box as we don’t have much in the way of veg now.  This is all learning as I said before and although we have soups and things made from items we’ve already grown, there’s little fresh veg.

Their mistake does bring today’s total down to £15.37 as they’ve issued a refund for last week.  So veg scheme delivery so far this month is £38.08 and Tesco was £64, leaving around £148 for the rest of the month.

It’s my Nana’s 94^th birthday today, so we’re at my Mam and Dad’s for a BBQ after work to celebrate.  This is becoming a bit of a tradition now although we used to live a lot closer to them than we do now, so this is the first year we’ll have to get back in the car and drive home afterwards (so no celebrating with alcohol!).  So Wednesday won’t be a “doing night” as by the time we get home, I have an hour’s work to do on Wednesday nights, so after that it’ll be bed time for us!  The animals are going away earlier on a night, around 9:45pm now, opposed to well after 10 on the longest days.  The only bonus is it means I can get a few earlier nights in again and not burn the candle at both ends.  The kids are sleeping out for 2 nights now, which feels strange.

Duck update:  Last night we put her in the bath and she loved it, it helped take the weight off the poorly leg for a while and she could be a duck again!  I'm going to try some Epsom salts for her as online they recommended to put in the bath with her water.  This morning she was still the same but is eating and drinking still so that's good.  As it's just Steven and I tonight, we'll put her in the bath again and see how she goes.

Gym time (not for me!)

11 sleeps until my 2 weeks off!

 

Steven has been working away like a trooper on his latest adventure.  He’s always been one to try and stay in shape and over the years we’ve paid endless amounts in gym memberships which he has made more than effective use of.  However we’ve decided that now we have the space and to make it more efficient for us as a family to work together, that we should create the gym at home.  So in a corner of the big barn, opposite my lovely horse, he set about making a shell for the room which would house the gym equipment.  It didn’t take long before he had the frame up


I was supervising :)

followed by the slats to make the outside walls

 

and a door to be able to lock everything away on a night (the barn itself is locked so just extra precaution here) along with a roof so now it’s almost ready for the equipment.  Almost, after lights and carpet go down!

 

I think he should be enormously proud of himself for managing to do all of this by himself, as to be fair, I generally sat in the fishing chair and supported the build from the sidelines :D.

Duck update:  We popped her into the small dog crate which we kitted out with straw, duck feed and water after checking her leg thoroughly.  It's not obvious where the injury is so we've put her in the crate which will restrict her movement and hopefully give her some much needed respite.  I can close the barn door and let her wander about in the barn in a day or 2, again in safety.  It won't be tonight though, maybe tomorrow after 48 hours.  I've covered the crate partially with a horse rug so she feels safe.  Bless her.

Monday's post that didn't post !

12 sleeps until my 2 weeks off begin, well 11 but I have to be in work on the Friday so it doesn’t officially start until Friday 3pm.  I can’t wait!

 

4 weekends have now past since I announced we wouldn’t be having any more takeaways and I am super pleased to be able to say, we haven’t!  We have had a meal or 2 out at a local pub however I don’t see this as a problem.  For me, that’s getting out into the community and supporting local businesses.  Although buying a take away is supporting a local business, I don’t think the food is generally very healthy and it’s certainly not good for the grocery budget.  Whilst we’ve had a day or 2 off work, we’ve enjoyed being able to get out and about together.  Sunday night was a tester for me though, I was tired from the weekend and didn’t fancy making a Sunday lunch, so I did homemade (there’s that word again Louise!) pizza instead and it was delicious.  I made the tomato base from the greenhouse tomatoes that were ready and I haven’t tasted a tomato sauce so lovely before.  Next year I want to grow even more so that I can fill the freezer up with it for all year round “go to” tomato base.

On Friday we all had the day off together that we hoped for and took the kids to a theme park for the day.  They had so much fun and made the most of it.  We managed to get a discount voucher so it wasn’t too hard hitting, though those places aren’t cheap!

We sold 2 of our top grade chickens over the weekend, they’re only 15 weeks old so not laying yet.  It was a pair, boy and a girl and the family seemed nice so off they went giving us £25 in our pocket towards the next lot of feed.  I’m sad to say that one of our female ducks was attacked by our geese on Thursday and she’s still limping however they’ve had another go at her, so I’m bringing her inside into the dog crate for some TLC.  I’ll post an update on her soon.   She doesn’t look too good.

Both Saturday and Sunday we had family over visiting for one reason and another.  It’s nice that people take the time to visit us, as we rarely have spare time to visit others but we do try as it shouldn’t always be on them.

I also found 3 cherry trees that I didn’t know we had!  The black ones are laden however they are so high up and out on a limb that I couldn’t pick them all.  We’ll figure out a way to get them though.  For now I have half a tub waiting to be weighed and turned into something delicious.  I’ve also got lots of the white currants stripped off the bush and I am going to make jelly from them to go with meats.  I also discovered a huge supply of sloe bushes when I was out riding, there are a ridiculous amount, so I hope we like them!  There’s bramble bushes a plenty too all along the bridle routes (which, selfishly, I’ve not seen anyone else use).  Our pantry will be overflowing with goodies and I hopefully have the start of the Christmas hampers.  Cherry brandy is apparently a real treat, so I’ll get a few small bottles to decant them into if I make some.

I can’t tell you how excited I am about the free food I keep finding!

I’ve also got some late season purple sprouting broccoli to put in.  It may be too late but we’re behind people here anyway, so I’ll give it a go and put some in asap.  I’m right in the middle of sorting one of the fields, so I will try and spend at least an hour in each area a few nights this week.  I am realising how much I really need to look after the small fields we have otherwise they will be no good in a very short space of time.  So taking out the horses muck is a daily task now.

I managed to get the raspberry vodka made too, it was very easy and I hope it tastes as delicious as it looks.

Finally, I am pleased to say I learnt how to use the manual lawnmower at the weekend.  So now I can crack on and get that done instead of adding it to Steven’s shoulders. 

Young hen eggs, new life and redcurrant cordial (and menu plan 4)

My blog seems to have had it knickers in a knot with pictures and postings, user error I’m sure, so apologies if you see things twice!  I think I have it fixed now though.  Just in time for this, my 100^th blog post!

Of our many chickens, I have 2, a cockerel and a hen that are a special breed to me, Lakenvelder.  I think they’re stunning looking in black, white and red and always draw my attention.  They were 22 weeks old on 23^rd July which is the age the book’s say they start to lay, or thereabouts.  Well can you believe that my lovely little hen laid her first small egg on 23^rd July!  Good for her!  Once she’s in full swing we will maybe pop a few in the incubator to see if they’re fertile.  I think one more batch this year will probably do us.  We have our second lot of home bred eggs hatching at the moment.  We popped them in the incubator with some eggs (Jersey Giant breed) that we bought from the auction we attended.  We have 5 hatched so far from 20, 4 of our own and 1 auction egg.

Each year we will be hatching a lot of our own birds for laying, eating and selling on.  I know Dawn over on Doing It For Ourselves has had her last lot in the incubator this year, so it’s interesting to see when people stop for the year along with why.  I love the variety in everyone’s blogs that I follow and I learn so much, it really has helped us starting out on this journey and will continue to do so I’m sure.

In kitchen news, Steven is getting into this smallholding lark including the grow your own and make your own.  He’s made redcurrant cordial to sit alongside the blackcurrant cordial he made and my elderflower cordial.  We didn’t have any nice looking bottles for the occasion as it was all rather spontaneous, so they went in sterilised plastic/glass bottles.  I will get some glass ones for items we’re wanting to preserve to keep through winter and into the new year (you have no idea the joy that I feel when I say that, I love being able to “cook for the future”).

The elderflower and blackcurrant cordial are nearly finished and I plan to make jam from the remaining blackcurrants and raspberry vodka from the flush of raspberries that seem to have arrived since the last picking.

I’ve done the usual menu plan over on the blog's menu plan page that I’m going to try and start using.  So Menu plan 4 for week 31 is out there now.  I’m also going to start a recipe page for recipes that I’ve found I liked and used our harvest well.  I’m not sure if the best format is an additional page or just to include them as part of the blog.  We’ll see.

Red currant cordial, yum

My cockerel

Onion racks & reduced grocery budget!

It’s a new pay month for us (July’s pay paying for August’s food etc).  I’ve reduced our grocery budget for the month to £250.  That covers the next 4.5 weeks.  I’ve done this as at the moment we’re getting as much food for free as we will this year, so I’m making sure I make the most of it.  Let’s see if I can make it work. 

Therefore in this week’s delivery I’ve ordered milk, cream and cheese, but no veg other than kohl rabi to try.  We’ve never had it nor cooked with it and it’s supposed to be easy to grow and something I can plant now.  That’s arriving Wednesday as usual so more to follow.
This weekend we had my parents over for a BBQ on Saturday afternoon.  It was lovely, the weather was just right for us all.  They helped with some jobs around the place before settling down to homecooked food.  We managed to get quite a lot of weeding done in the veg garden with them and I very much appreciate their help.  The menu I did was on this week’s menu plan and it went down really well.  Homemade coleslaw is amazing, I will never buy shop made again!!  Here’s a picture of the redcurrant and red onion relish I made.  First time making relish too and I’m mightily impressed with how easy it is.

Full of goodness and has a whopping great kick (which you can tone down next time!)

The kids were invited to the neighbours to play with their kids giving Steven and I some time to potter and do jobs.  We started with topping the field (taking the nettles and docks down) and to do this we used the unconventional method of the ride on lawnmower that is more suited to Wimbledon style lawns!  It rose to the occasion marvellously and we now have a topped field which is ready to tidy up and rest for a few weeks before the horses go back on it.  He was a brave man going through those nettles in shorts!

 

Jack is loving life!

A troublesome set of nettles

Took care of them!

As you can see, Jack had a lovely time just playing in the field and been had a go at driving the lawnmower (or tractor as he refers to it).  He took to it with surprising ease and no doubt will be doing it himself in years to come.

Onions ready for rain to wash them off before being stored indoors.

Steven also made some onion racks/holders for the ones he planted not long after we moved in.  These are outside to hang them on whilst they wash off and dry out for a day or two.  Then they will be transferred to the barn for plaiting and storage.  I’m really pleased with them, they’re actually huge but mild.

I also made some soup with tortellini and used up more broad beans and peas, this time including purple podded peas too.  Don’t they look so pretty?  They almost remind me of a caterpillar in their perfect pod.  I’ll be growing more of these in 2017.





Perfectly formed

Gorgeous colour



The puppies enjoying their breakfast together followed by a play on the lawn.  I call them puppies but they’re just turned 1 now so moving on rapidly!!  Rodney is the rougher haired and Buster the tan smooth hair.  Gorgeous boys.  

Buster (bottom) and Rodney (top)


Buster

We also discovered we have a grape vine.  How I didn’t know is beyond me.  I guess I don’t come to this end of the garden very often.  The grapes are miniscule so whether we’ll get a crop I don’t know, but something to look in to all the same.

Grape vine

I found a wild apple tree which looks as fit and healthy as they come, so I’ve added that to the list of items I plan to use up once they’re ready.  It’s right opposite a bramble (blackberry) bush, so it’s almost nature shouting at me to make bramble and apple pie!  An Autumnal joy.  I think that’s enough of my ramblings for today.  PS what happened to the beginning of the week?

A day out for me!

Today’s post was scheduled to post itself as I have managed to get a day off work in return for the travel I did for them back in June where I lost my weekend and Father’s day.  So me and the family have gone out for the day to spend time as just us, no distractions.  Bliss!

This week I have sown some late carrots into the spare veg bed.  This was full of cabbages and cauliflower for the last few weeks but as they have been harvested now, I looked up what else I can plant and have started with the carrots.  I’ve also bought some spinach and spring cabbage to sow in the next few days.

I’ve decided to get the seeds organised into those clear packets stored in a file to start preparing for next year.  I have been useless at labelling everything so far, so the plan is over winter (or whenever) I am going to write up lots of labels in advance leaving room for date sown so they can be picked up and used quickly, instead of having to take ages writing all the names on with soil covered hands.  Also I am completing a list of what to sow when and making sure I work out successional sowing.  The reason being is this year I seemed to have loads of cauliflowers ready together, literally on the same day, so I think 2 week intervals will be more appropriate.  I’ll include a plan showing which beds will end up with what in them, following the advice on how to rotate your crops, now that we have the space.

I’ll keep my notes in there on what I’ve learnt ‘by month’, from mistakes, successes  and observations from this year.  So for example, the asparagus harvest was amazing this year, but it took me by surprise as it literally would shoot up inches in a day and need picking.  I wasn’t quick enough to get all of it and didn’t realise there was a date when you last harvest it (or there abouts).  Supposedly “Don’t harvest asparagus after the longest day in June and no more than 8 weeks from 1^st harvest” so these are all loose rules that I will bear in mind and see what works out for me.  We’re a good 2 weeks behind the south of England for example, so when they say their strawberries are ready, mine are 2 weeks behind that and so on.  I’ll record first and last frosts, when the rhubarb comes through, how to force it and when to do so.  My mind is full of ideas and this file will be a great place to keep them and to take with me to the greenhouse.  The file I’ve used is from work and happens to be green too!  Very veg like :D.  Maybe I could keep the recipes in there too that we’ve liked for each veg/fruit.

Midsummer murders – the case of the missing beehives….

OK so the title is a bit dramatic but it’s Friday, so I’m allowed.  On Wednesday night I was laid in bed reading when I heard a vehicle go past.  Now I think I’ve said before but we live at the end of a lane with no through road; the road ends at our house.  There is a bridleway and field access beyond us, but no one should be taking vehicles down other than the farmers and unless there’s something wrong with their flock/herds, they won’t be down there at 10:45pm at night.  There are beehives outside one of the fields so I wondered if the beekeeper was tending to them, maybe the bees are quieter on a night?  The van reversed a few times as I could hear the reverse beeps you get with larger vehicles and then after no more than 2 minutes sped off in a fashion that only someone up to no good does!  Either way, I went to sleep and thought no more of it other than to record the time it happened on my phone.  Then yesterday morning I opened my gates to find a HGV had got stuck outside our house, yes, the house at the end of the lane with nowhere to go!  How he didn’t see that from 200 yards back I don’t know.  It only took the farmer and the driver 45 minutes to get him out luckily.

Once I was up and about, I enquired if the farmer or beekeeper had been up there on the previous night and they hadn’t, so my mind wanders as to what the van was up to.  It had a big wooden box on the back which looked like 2 beehives, so I shall see if it turns out that any went missing or not.  The farmer checked the tyre tracks and they only went as far as the beehives.  I don’t think the mystery driver was lost as you simply wouldn’t have gone that far if you were lost, given that it’s a good way down a bridleway which has no resemblance to a road.
Last week the farmer was burgled and it was only when I was chatting with the neighbour that I realised I’d heard the burglars when I was locking up as I had commented to Steven that they were working late that night.  Of course the farmers weren’t working late, it was the burglars!  These are just a couple of examples of the strange happenings we have here.  You’d think, moving to a hamlet, we’d have less goings on that anyone. 

The other ‘weird but probably nothing’ happenings are the animals that seem to have died in unexplained deaths (fox, pheasant & rabbit).  2 on our land and 1 on the bridleway.  I won’t go into details but we have no idea how they died and there’s no poisoning around that we know of (I asked the land owner).

So all in all I feel like I am starting feel like a character out of a murder mystery drama set on a smallholding.  If nothing else, it makes me chuckle at how my mind works!  I feel as safe as houses at home though, so it isn’t something that worries me.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.  I’ll update on Sunday or Monday with what we’ve done. 

2016 harvest so far

Normally on a Wednesday I would get a veg box delivery.  I haven’t ordered one for this week, for the simple reason, we have lots of our own to use!  It may be short lived, time will tell, but for now, we’re supplied for the next week with enough produce to keep us going.  I’m really pleased with this.  It led me on to think that later in the year, or next year, I will probably look back and wonder what we’ve managed to make from our home grown products so I thought I’d make a list showing what this Spring and Summer has offered us in the way of fresh veg, preserves, cordials and so on.  Here we go:

2 large kilner jars of strawberry jam.  I think this simple jam is actually my favourite.

Elderflower, rhubarb and gooseberry jam, 4 jars.

Raspberry Jam, 3 jars

Rhubarb and ginger, 5 jars

Elderflower cordial 2 litres

Blackcurrant cordial apx 350ml

Gooseberries, Rhubarb, Blackcurrants, Red currants, White currants by the bucketful along with more strawberries and raspberries.  There’s still more ripening now!

This week, we had our first tomatoes with our tea too!  So tomatoes are on the list now.

Fresh veg

Asparagus, Purple and green broccoli, Cauliflower, Broad beans, Peas (red pods and greed pods), Onions, Leeks, Lettuce, Radish.  The list is still increasing.

Really, looking at this little lot, we’ve done well so far.  My mind goes in to over time with excitable thoughts!  I’m learning each week and next year will continue to learn.  For example labelling everything – I intended to do it then either forgot to move the labels in my excitement of pricking out and potting on, especially once things went outside.  I need to figure out the best way to organise the greenhouse as it’s all a bit messy which I don’t like.  I like tidy but I’m not a natural by any means!  Also thinking about an easier method for getting the rain water to the greenhouse and veg plot as it’s a long trek when you need 50+ watering cans full!  Rain water hose pipe or sprinkler springs to mind.  Could we harvest the water from the stream that runs along one edge of the orchard.  I’m thinking about how and when to heat the greenhouse and if it’s worth it.  A polytunnel would be great but isn’t an option in this year’s budget at present.

I’m starting to give thought to 2017 veg plans but before that I’m going to be making lists of what else I can sow now to see us into (and maybe even through) Winter.  I’m going to bottle the next lot of raspberries in some vodka, along with blackberries & elderberries when they arrive too, just a few small bottles to try at Christmas. If they’re nice then we will use them for gifts to select people.

So as you can see, lots going on in my head and my 2 week break can’t come round quick enough as  I have 101 things I want to get done!