Veg Growers group - pruning soft fruit and taking cuttings

Smallholding, especially the vegetable growing part of it, can be a lonely occupation.
Luckily I like my own company, but I also like the option of spending time with other people when I choose to.
We have two immediate neighbours, then its a mile in one direction to the next house and its across the river to the neighbours on the other side. I have realised that if I want to meet more people and make more contacts, I need to be proactive. I can't rely on people coming to me and I can't rely on a lifetime of acquaintances, as we have moved away from our roots and even from our secondary roots.

The Fenland Smallholders Club has been an invaluable source of contacts and acquaintances. Sue and I have become very involved and have been on the committee for a year now. But it only meets once a month and members are spread all over Fenland. Meetings are on Sundays during daylight hours, which stops a lot of people from attending, and are held in a rather cold village hall. Don't get me wrong, the club is excellent in what it does, but I recently had a vision of how it could reach out further. I'm not sure everybody quite understood my vision, so I took the bull by the horns and organised things myself.

And so it was that the Fenland Smallholders Veg Growers group arose.
My idea is to spend time with like-minded people, round each others' smallholdings, learning from each other, socialising, chatting, eating and drinking.

Mission accomplished
This is why I refer to our get togethers
as gatherings and not meetings

The group has now been going for two months. At our second meeting we had a dozen people turn up, which is just about a perfect number. Any more and hosting would become more than onerous and the feel of our gatherings would change for the worse.

I have written an account of the day on the Veg Growers blog so I won't repeat it here, bar to say that I am very, very pleased with how it went.

Anyway, last week we met at a beautifully located smallholding backing on to the Nene Washes. We were treated to a demonstration of how to take cuttings from soft fruits.

Steve demonstrates how to propagate a blackberry by layering

I always remember old gardening programs being about getting something for nothing, propagating from seeds and cuttings, making your own compost and so on. These days there has been a horrible tendency towards encouraging gardener consumerism - garden centre sweeps - mirrors, clocks, sculptures, unnecessary landscaping, van loads of plants.

But those early programs don't seem to have rubbed off on me. Pruning only happens when a branch has been mortally wounded, primarily due to fear and a lack of understanding of the principles. And I've never got my head round taking cuttings, despite knowing that this is the way forward.

So, back to the Veg Growers, it was great to actually be shown, in the flesh, how to take cuttings. Books and the internet are helpful, especially YouTube, but there is no substitute for being able to see the real thing and ask questions. I returned to Swallow Farm ready to dive into my soft fruit bushes - not literally, of course!

Sunday was compost turning day so my new found skills had to wait till Monday. My fruit bushes and canes are now two to three years old so some were in need of a prune before it got too late. Late on Sunday night I spent several hours watching Youtube videos on pruning soft fruits bushes

So on Monday morning, a fine winters day, I waded into the currant bushes, secateurs at the ready!
I pruned out what was obvious and tried to take a few cuttings. There wasn't too much material suitable for cuttings, but I managed to get a few. Now that I'm pruning them properly, I hope that fruit and growth will be more prolific next year.

Next came the gooseberries. I have green ones, red ones and yellow ones. But they're all spiky. Very spiky. To make matters worse, the low branches, which I should have pruned out, had bowed down to the ground and given rise to a profusion of suckers, all of which needed gingerly taking out before I could proceed towards the desired goblet shape for gooseberry bushes.

Spurred on by my new found skills, I sorted out the raspberries and blackberries (and various strains) too. Now I just need to get those cuttings into the ground and be patient. In a year or two I will be arriving at the back door, my arms fully laden with berries and currants.

The blackcurrant, whitecurrant, redcurrant and gooseberry bushes of the future.

The Inaugural Meeting of the Veg Growers Group

When we moved to Fenland and jumped in at the deep end with our smallholding, we could not have survived without some support. This came in great measure from our neighbours, Don and Maureen, and from a couple of Sue's work colleagues with many years' farming experience.

Another source of support, information and contacts was the FGSC, The Fenland Smallholders Club. Since then we've become more and more involved with this and are now on the committee.

Through the Smallholders Club, we came upon Roger's cider-making club. This has given us some of the best social occasions we have enjoyed since we moved here, a small group of people joined together by a common interest, spending time together doing some good old-fashioned hard work and ending up with quite a lot of cider to drink! What could be better.

I realised that, with these activity days, Roger had really hit upon something. So I decided to start up my own group. Now the Smallholders Club has been excellent for us, but it tends to concentrate on the animals side of smallholding. It occurred to me that there was scope for something which catered more to the growers amongst us. Surprisingly few of the smallholders seriously engage in growing their own food, but to me this separates the self-sufficiency brigade from the mini-zoo brigade (although it's OK to eat the zoo animals!) No offence meant to anyone.

To cut a fairly short story even shorter, Sunday was the first meeting of the Veg Growers Group. A healthy group of nine people met at my house. Some of us were already acquainted, some were new faces. We chatted, shared lunch, shared experiences, planned the way forward and chatted some more.

Before we knew it four hours had passed and a plan, of sorts, had been hatched.

The lid has been lifted and the spirit of the Veg Growers Group is out!

Whaplode Drove Country Fayre

Vintage tractors complete with the characters that own them.
Convoys of these often pass the farm on the way to and from weekend shows.

Yesterday was the Whaplode Drove (once featured on Escape To The Country or some such show) Country Fayre. And fair play to the organisers. The show only started two years ago and is already an event to look forward to each year. What's more, it's free. You don't get much for free these days.

Sue and I had volunteered to help with the Smallholders Club stall, but first thing in the morning we had another job to do, for two rather big piglets had slept in the trailer and were due in at the abattoir between 8 and 9am. There was the small matter of putting in their ear tags first. This is usually no problem at all and, with the distraction of a little food, they never even seem to notice.

But not today! I don't know why, but these two pigs were just not having it. Every time I even lightly touched their ears, my action was greeted with a loud bark and a snap. I'm guessing the piglet's ears may well have been a little sore with sunburn.

Anyway, eventually each piglet had a metal ear tag just about hanging on to its ear and we were off. The abattoir was nice and quiet this morning, just one small trailer ahead of us with one sheep. That was good news, for reversing the trailer in front of a queue of experienced trailer towers is always a little daunting. Follow this with the stress of trying to get two stubborn pigs out of the trailer which they so steadfastly refused to enter the night before and the whole thing becomes something which fills me with anxiety.

Fortunately my favourite stockman was on hand to help. He gave me enough respect to let me have a go, but when my best efforts were met with total immovability, he stepped in and expertly lifted them by the back end so they had no choice but to virtually fall forwards. He then gently ushered them into the pen where they would spend their last day.

We waved goodbye and headed to the Country Fayre. This sounds a bit casual, but we are very conscious that we are taking an animal's life for its meat. Many people ask us how we can do this, which I find rather irritating. For most of these people would prefer to stick their head in the sand and not think about how their meat was reared, though they have all the information they need to suspect that mass produced cheap meat has some rather unsavoury hidden costs. And for the most part they have been conditioned to accept a very poor substitute for properly reared meat. Rant over!

We helped out as best we could as the stall, complete with goats, goslings and chickens and chicks, was set up. The club is still officially known as the Fenland Goatkeepers and Smallholders Club, but the Goatkeepers bit is somewhat a relic of the past. Don't get me wrong, several members still keep goats, but far fewer than keep pigs, chickens, ducks or even sheep.

The club stand was busy all day.

Most of the interest in our stall was from young families with children enthralled by the animals. Some were more wary than others, with one particular toddler most insistent on climbing in the cage with the goslings!



The animals were most popular with the kids.



It was good to see quite a few faces who we knew: our bee buddy, Elaine; our local swarm collector, who had a stall which we managed to completely miss; people from Sue's school; our neighbours; people who had bought pigs from us in the past.

In fact, we seem to know more people up here, with Fenland's rather thinly scattered population, than we did in London with its masses of people crammed in.

A most informative and interesting chat
with an old timer.

The show had everything you'd expect. Vintage vehicles, rides, music, craft stalls and hog roast.

Sadly, I missed the jelly throwing competition.

Skiffle band performing 'House of the Rising Sun'

Roll on next year. Maybe see you there.

Farewell British Summertime

Sunday 28th October 2012
The sun has moved a long way along the horizon
since last time I saw it rise.
This was the last we saw of it today!

Well, British Summertime is over!
For everybody else that means an extra hour in bed.
But not for me, since nobody remembered to tell the sun to get up an hour later! So, at 6:45 the alarm went off. I was tired, as in the middle of the  night Gerry had woken us up by pulling the curtain off its rail doing some night-time abseiling!

I was in a good mood though, for most unexpectedly I got a LIFER yesterday. At 3:25 in the afternoon I heard about a Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll in the dunes at Holkham, where I had been a couple of days ago. Time was tight so I jumped straight in the car and had a somewhat hair-raising journey into North Norfolk, through hail storms and heavy rain. I pulled up in the car park an hour later, paid the extortionate parking fees and ran / fast walked the mile or so through the pines and dunes to where the bird was hopping around not 6 foot away from a small and appreciative audience. It had probably never seen a human in its life. Less than ten minutres later it hopped over the dune, never to be seen again. Phew! That was a bit tight. Depending on which official list you follow, this was my 514th species in the British Isles.

But that was still (allegedly) British Summertime.
Today it is Greenwich Mean Time - otherwise known as Wintertime. At least I got to see a proper sunrise this morning and I couldn't believe how far our nearest star had crept along the horizon since it was last sighted. I can just about understand and imagine why the sun appears to move along the horizon as the year goes by. But what I can't get my head around is that it reaches a certain point and then heads back the other way.

But before I had any time to further contemplate this I was struck (not literally) by the flocks of Fieldfares and Redwings coming in over the fields, many briefly alighting in the roadside hedge. The redwings tend to dive straight into the berry laden hawthorns, whereas the fieldfares head for the tops of the tall trees to survey their surroundings before descending to feed.
If anything there were even more thrushes than yesterday, flocks up to 200 strong coming in every couple of minutes. The light was much duller as the sun had already finished its brief appearance for the day, but I still spent a damp couple of hours again desperately trying to pick out a ring ouzel.

Much as I am determined to find one, I was quite glad when it was time to head off to the auction to see if there were any bargains to be had. We have a shed coming on Monday and a couple of dog kennels which will be converted for the ducks and geese. We also met a gorgeous Jack Russell pup - one step closer to getting a dog methinks!

From there it was off to Wisbech for the FGSC (Smallholders Club) harvest lunch. Soup, bread and puddings, of course all home made and most delicious. We enjoyed some good company and I managed to narrowly avoid being nominated as Treasurer! Though we do intend to get more involved and to give something back to the club.

Then it was quickly back home in time to feed the pigs and poultry before it got dark, which is now, of course, one hour earlier.

The Produce Show

Today was the much awaited Fenland Goatkeepers and Smallholders Club annual produce show. Competition was fierce. Well actually it's all very friendly and rather charming, but I was taking it very seriously!!
In the morning we selected our squashes and pumpkins and I unearthed the biggest mangold wurzel I could find - and it was a show stopper.

Category One of the competition were the cucurbits and it was clear that the rain this year had helped everybody to a pretty good crop. I entered the potimarrons as my own and let Sue enter the acorn-type summer squashes. But when I saw the competition I feared that size would triumph over beauty and perfection.

Size isn't everything!

The winning trio.

For the vegetable categories everybody got to vote for their favourite, so it was quite a shock when the winner was announced.



Sue scooped first prize
ahead of stiff competition.

We had entries in the jams and marmalades too, as well as the chutneys, but sadly they didn't win.

But here's a selection of the other entries from the show.

Category 14 - eggs

Category 4 - Veg grown above the ground

 

 

Category 6 - Beverages

Category 7 - Jams

Category 5 - Fruits

I didn't get photos, but there were categories for recycled objects, crafts, photography and baking too. Next year we'll get our act together and go for some of these too!

Finally came category 20. The Jeff Yates Mangold Wurzel trophy. This was what I had been waiting for. The result was never in question. How could it be? Mine was the only entry!
I seriously reckon that people had seen me come in with my giant and quickly sneaked their entries back into their cars in shame.



15 lb 14 oz of Wurzel magic!

So we had turned up and scooped the first category and the last. Victorious!

Next year we'll be back to defend our titles and maybe have a serious go at some of the other categories - I fancy the bread and the vegetables grown under the ground.

But in all seriousness, it was just great to see so many familiar and friendly faces and to catch up on how the cider's developing, how the veg has done this year, how the pigs, chickens and lambs are doing and has anyone got any plums this year?

Basket Cases

Today Sue and I went on a basket making course organised through the FGSC (Fenland Goatkeepers and Smallholders Club).

I must say, I had a really great day. Thanks to Theresa for organising it and Sue (another Sue) for being an excellent, and very patient, teacher.

We did lots of pairing and whaling (or was it paring and wailing???). We had to concentrate for long periods too! I even saw a Spotted Flycatcher while we ate our lunch by a babbling brook on the village green. Very idyllic.

My basket is now sitting on the sideboard and is home to my glasses, car keys, wallet, phone, pager...

Now that's useful. Should save me many hours searching every week.

Pressing Matters of a Cider Nature

Saturday 19th May 2012
There's a sun rising out there somewhere.

Below a copy of the article I have written for the FGSC (Fenland Goatkeepers and Smallholders Club) newsletter on the cider making day run by Roger and Janet.

On the morning of Saturday 19th May a motley and disparate crew, rubber gloves at the ready, descended on deepest Wisbech, lured by the promise of bountiful apple juice.(Nothing to do with the potential for turning it into cider, of course!) But it wasn't long before Roger had them whipped into shape and working like a well-oiled machine.

After a quick briefing they were off, eagerly chopping, bashing and pressing. In no time at all the chopping team, Sam, Ed and Sue, were making headway into that truckload of Bramleys.

Bucketloads of chopped apples moved along the line to the scratting team, Charlotte, John and another Sue. Equipped with hoes, border spades and biceps, those apples had no chance.

Then onto Roger to feed them through the adapted shredder into nets where they queued to go under the strain of the press, a monster piece of evolution from which flowed, during the course of the day, 130 litres of juice.







Ruth was the first apple press trainee, ably helped by the expert, Keith (his red bobble hat kept popping up in my photos). After the first pressing, Ruth was a fully qualified apple presser ready to pass her knowledge on to the next young (?!) trainee.








And this was the delightful thing about the day. Everybody got to have a good bash at every job. Roger was always there to help smooth the production line and answer everybody's questions. 

He had put a lot of thought into organising the day so that nobody missed out on anything. We were even trusted with the monster that was the apple press.



To give our aching arms a rest, every now and then Roger stopped and gave us more snippets of wisdom. We learned how to make and store apple juice as well as how to turn the juice we'd so energetically squeezed out of those apples into something more potent, cider, wine or cider vinegar. For the technically minded, there was advice on how to construct an apple press and how to turn a cheap shredder into a most effective apple pulper.

Janet kept our thirst quenched with teas and coffees and organised a marvellous spread for lunch. Everybody had brought something along and it was wonderful to enjoy such a feast of home grown, home reared and home cooked produce.

And best of all, at the end of the day we got to purchase a good quantity of our freshly squeezed apple juice for the princely sum of 31p a litre.


















Oh...and we got to try a small tipple of cider too!

But happiest of all were these little fellows, who tucked in enthusiasticaly to the left over apple pulp - no waste here.



















Our very special thanks go to Roger and Janet for their warmest of welcomes and for sharing their wealth of experience. Also to Keith for giving his time, sharing his experience and helping us with the cider press.

This day was a great way to get to know new people and was a great community activity. I can see cider bashes really taking off!

Off now to check on that fermenting apple juice...

A Break In The Weather

Sunday 29th April 2012
Dawn did not reflect what had happened during the night

Yesterday's storm continued into the evening and through the night. The result was this...

At 5:10 this morning we were rudely awoken by water dripping onto the ceiling above our heads. I wearily clambered into the loft and crawled precariously across the joists into the darkest, cobwebbed recesses of the attic. Weeks of rain had seeped through the cracks in the chimney stack and soaked the bricks to the point where they could no longer hold the water. Last night's storm had been the straw that broke the camel's back.

The morning's weather can only be described as atrocious. But, early in the afternoon, there was a strange phenomenon in the sky.

Is the sky supposed to be blue?

This prompted a welcome change in the weather and the whole garden began to smile. The blossom blossomed and the bees began to buzz. 

Typically, this afternoon was the Fenland Goatkeepers and Smallholders Club monthly meeting over in West Walton village hall, so we were unable to take advantage of the weather. But the subject of the meeting was bee-keeping so we did not want to miss this one. It proved to be a very timely refresher course for us and it was good to have the opportunity to ask some questions. When it comes to bee-keeping there really is no substitute for experience and we are all too aware that we are very much beginners.

As is our custom, we took the opportunity to pop into the Wisbech pound shops on the way, stocking up on cheap seed packets, seed trays and various miscellania (is that a word? If it's not, it should be!)