A Frost Sets In as thoughts turn to Spring Growth

We're in the middle of another cold snap. Days and nights have been crisp for almost a week now and the ground has remained solid.

I'm well aware that there may be people around the world reading this who would barely raise an eyebrow at this, but temperatures have been down to 5 and 6 below at night (Centigrade, not Fahrenheit). And today, for the first time in this spell, the temperature never actually rose above freezing point even during the day.

Amazingly we've not had a flake of snow yet this winter, but the seasonal chill is on the whole welcome. We don't always get seasonal weather any more, or at least it comes in the wrong season.

Unfortunately I am now of the age where the cold very quickly gets into my bones, though I'm OK if I wear five or six layers of increasing thickness. My fingers suffer though and I find it difficult to do any gardening chores with more than one pair of gloves on. I have however discovered that I get A LOT fewer cuts and grazes on my hands when I wear a pair of work gloves.

Jobs on the list for this week were (with the emphasis on were) pruning orchard trees, coppicing willows and planting new cuttings, shifting more woodchip and digging up some of the tuber crops such as Chinese artichoke (crosnes) and yacon. Unfortunately none of that is very feasible when the air is icy, the ground is rock hard and there's a good couple of inches of ice on all water surfaces.

So instead I've turned my hand to seed sowing. Last year I played it patient, went late on everything in the knowledge that it would catch up and overtake and that seedlings wouldn't end up leggy. As it turned out, we didn't have a single frost past the end of April and hardly even any during that month. Then there followed an extended period of drought culminating in a summer where the thermometer tipped the scales at 40 degrees (Centigrade again!). This, for Britain, was a record.

I wished some of those seedlings had been further down the road. Many perished in the heat and the dry conditions and it was too late to start again.

So this year I am displaying a massive over-reaction and going super early with everything. I've got a huge choice of set ups to regulate seedling growth (all improvised, no fancy grow-lights or anything like that, just different rooms, different temperatures, different light levels, different protection). And if we get failures, at least there'll be time for another attempt.

I have already sown 12 types of onions. They are on heat mats until they germinate, then they can move somewhere a tad cooler. I've sown quite a few perennials too - in general they appreciate a period of cold before the germinate as the soil warms up. Next it will be aubergines which require a long growing seasons but will need to be mollycoddled through to May like the tender little things they are.

Meanwhile I am trying to think of an easy way to transfer some of the heat from the woodchip piles to the polytunnel. In one place I've got 50 degrees centigrade of smoking heat. Not far away I've got temperatures hovering around zero. 

There must be an easy way.

This year I am going to be super organised (I've never said that before!)

Anyway, I'll leave you with another picture of today's hoar frost.

Going Cheep

April's Showers Arrive Late

I wouldn't be English if I didn't open with the weather.

We've finally has some of this...

Rather a lot. In fact I've had a butt full of it. Water butts of course! I've managed to fill two IBC containers, that's 2000l of water collected. 

Frost-free?
Not only that, but following an overnight frost on the morning of 7th May, we now have a frost-free forecast through until 20th.

I've finally started moving some of the plants out of the conservatory. Chances of anything apart form a light frost are now very low.

Chicks, Ducklings and Poults

The week has been all about baby birds though, We suddenly have 53 extra little mouths to look after!

We bought in a score of ay old chicks. These are hubbards which grow at a medium pace and are well suited to free range life. They are meat birds but we don't place a huge priority on bringing them to weight as fast as possible. The fastest growing birds, as used in the poultry industry (and by unthinking smallholders), just grow too fast for my liking. They are genetic monsters which can easily become too heavy for their legs or hearts to carry them. On the other hand, some of the more traditional breeds really aren't economically viable, producing scrawny birds which take ages to get to weight. This is fine if you are in the privileged position to pay considerably more for your meat, but it is not a viable route.

So we strive for a happy medium, birds bred to grow faster than normal and to put on more breast meat, but which can still lead a happy and healthy (if short) life. The shortness of a meat bird's life always comes as a shock to those not in the know. A commercial meat chicken will have no more than  couple of months of life. 

Gut instinct is that we want our chickens to have a much longer life than that, but this is where reality kicks in. For no chicken bred for meat would go much past 6 months. For starters, it would be very expensive, but more than that any chicken older than that turns to rubber. Imagine eating one of those chicken dog toys!

There is obviously the option to go vegan, and I wouldn't criticise that choice at all. In fact I was a vegan for part of my life. For me the important factor is the quality of life an animal has while it is still alive and keeping our own livestock gives me complete control over that. 

Hot on the heels of the chicks came the ducklings. Indeed it was a lot hotter on the heels than I had anticipated and it had me scrabbling around for somewhere to keep them. Again the ducklings are destined for the plate and will grow quickly. I searched around the smallholding for a suitable container in which to keep them. Finally I found the perfect solution, a large and strong plastic post office sorting box which we had been gifted and were using to store logs.

I fashioned a lid from strong metal mesh and suspended a heat lamp from the rafters in the garage. The poor little things were very sleepy and would just collapse asleep. A week on and they are almost unrecognisable. I am really pleased with how strong they are. If they feather up and the weather warms it won't be too long before they can enjoy free-ranging around the smallholding. For the moment they wouldn't survive the cold and wet, not to mention crows and rats!

Back to the chicks. Just a day old, they went straight into an old gerbil cage we scrounged off a friend. Here they had warmth, food and drink and safety. But their rate of growth is phenomenal and it doesn't take long before the smell  becomes somewhat noxious.

So already, after just a week, their accommodation has been considerably upgraded. We managed to scrounge another post office sorting box so they have moved into the garage alongside the ducklings.

As if that weren't enough to keep us busy, the turkey hen who was siting on eggs under a pile of sticks by the roadside paddock has hatched out al her eggs. I returned home from work to see her leading nine poults (baby turkeys) through he long grass.

I quickly sprang into action scooping the fluffy little balls into my coat pockets while mum did her best to fend me off, flying up at my face with claws outstretched. This is a dangerous lifestyle! 

We had prepared a stable in anticipation so I led mum towards it as she followed the calls of her babies. Again it is much safer for them to be reared indoors until they can fly up onto a perch.

There's more! A week later the other hen who was sitting on the straw bales hatched out her own clutch. Interestingly these chicks look completely different. One mum is a Norfolk Black, one a Bronze, but dad is a mix. However, the poults seem to have taken on the genes of their mums. We had no idea how many eggs she was on so I was pleasantly pleased to fin myself scooping up a dozen baby birds. Just one didn't make it out of its egg. Mum will be a very good parent. I can tell by the tenacity with which she sat for four weeks and by the tenacity she showed in jumping onto my back several times to defend her young.

Pegleg's Veg

Meanwhile in the veg plot some plants have finally started to be transplanted outside. Broad beans, onions, turnips and radishes are the first out. None of thee mind the cold too much, but I've been waiting ages for rain to wet the soil.

In the polytunnel, Florence fennel I sowed last July is just now coming good. Its the first time I've had success with this crop.

I've also been busy creating a new area to attract and feed wild finches and buntings. In general they won't come too near the house but we have really good numbers of Yellowhammers on the holding this year. To attract them I've sown some of the mixed seed we feed the birds into an area bordering the sheep paddocks and orchard. It's already working as there are regularly several birds feeding there, though they are showing a remarkable ignorance of farming. Each seed they eat could potentially have produced many hundreds later in the year!

One For Sorrow

Now for some sad news on the nature front. Having watched the pair of long-tailed tits busily constructing their delightful nest, I went outside to see a pile of feathers on the floor. Something, I suspect  magpie, had found the nest and pecked a hole in the top. The long-tailed tits have abandoned, leaving their tiny eggs in the nest. Nature can be so harsh.

Nature's Undertakers

One of my favourite jobs is turning the compost. It is a thriving city of minibeasts beavering away. Last week I unearthed a large beetle, maybe an inch long, with notable orange blobs o its antennae. A minute later there was another. They scuttled a bit too quickly to get any decent pics.

I looked them up and they are black sexton beetles, nature's undertakers. They sniff out small dead animals then dig underneath them until the corpse is buried. These two had sniffed out a dead rat! Smallholding's not always as glamorous as it seems.

An Influx of Tree Sparrows and First Bewick's Swans for a few years

Saturday 16th December 2017
An Arrival of Tree Sparrows
Absolutely amazed to see at least 19 Tree Sparrows on the feeders today. Up till now we've had between 1 and 6. I spent most of the day just watching them through the conservatory window, though when I did venture outside there seemed to be more in the hedgerows. Whether they have come from locally or from across the sea is a matter for speculation.
Unfortunately there was a rat under the feeders too - this is always a danger of feeding the birds. I shall be placing a couple of bait boxes in the area. They should keep the birds safe and I am hoping to move away from poison bait. There is a powerful trap hidden inside the boxes.

The compelling view from the conservatory window

Tree Sparrows mixing it with House Sparrows

The feeding station

Tree Sparrows feeding on the ground. But how many can you see?

Sunday 17th December 2017

A Sharp Frost

A very sharp frost. We are in a spell of colder weather which is most welcome.

Shetland sheep are tough cookies

One of the new ponds looking very wintery

I love how the copper beech hedge retains its leaves through the winter

The Tree Sparrows were still on the feeders today, though numbers seem to have dropped a little.



In the back field, swan numbers were up from 26 to 39. They are mostly Mute Swans but recently there have been three Whoopers mixed in with them too. On closer inspection today there were five Whoopers, but more unusually the herd had been joined by three Bewick's Swans.

The swan herd in the fields at the back of the smallholding

One cold snap does not a winter make

I cannot believe that we are already in the last week of January. I consulted my all-knowing spreadsheet, on which I have intricately mapped out every conceivable job and when it needs doing through the year, and it is time to start sowing seeds! Aubergines and lettuces to start inside, carrots and turnips in the polytunnel beds.

But outside, the soil won't be ready for a good while yet. I've been itching to work on it but waterlogged clay soil is no fun and to trample all over it would just do more harm than good.
But with our first (and hopefully not last) spell of cold weather last week, I was up early cranking up Mr Rotavator. When the soil is frozen solid, I have an hour or so to turn as much as possible. After this, once the temperature reaches thawing point, the clay sticks to the tines until they become one solid lump.
I need about half a dozen cold mornings to make a significant difference. I can let the cold in, incorporate some air and, most importantly, expose the slugs and other creepy crawlies to the chickens.
Every slug unearthed and devoured at this time of year is a small army of baby slimy munching monsters which won't be around when my crops go in.

The chickens move in

My two best digging machnes!

Unfortunately two of the three sharp frosts last week came on work days for me so I have only had one chance to turn the soil, but I was pleased with what I did manage to do. I could really do with another freezing spell. Without it, turning the soil will be hard work and the chickens won't have long on it before the seeds and young plants go in. Hopefully February will deliver the goods.

The cold weather reminds me of the need to keep the bird feeders stocked up too. We've had up to 50 Reed Buntings and half a dozen Yellowhammers on the farm of late, by far the most we've ever had. I must be doing something right. But if the buntings feel the need to come in from the fields then the other birds, the more familiar visitors to the feeders, will most definitely need feeding to stay alive.

Frozen

Most of the snow has gone now, but what is left has turned delightfully crunchy. For we've had three days of beautiful, crisp days and distinctly chilly nights.
This is what we missed out on last winter and it was much needed. These frosts are a natural part of our seasons and, without them, things go wrong, pests multiply and diseases thrive.

So without further ado here's a small photographic celebration of a cold start to the day.

 

First Frost Winter 2014/15

Well, I'm back!!!

The blog has been on a birding break for autumn. While it's been away, I've been to Shetland for a week (exciting birding with such waifs as White's Thrush, Siberian Rubythroat, Hornemann's Arctic Redpoll, Myrtle Warbler, Swainson's Thrush), Barra (Outer Hebrides) for a day trip (for a Scarlet Tanager which hid for 7 hours and only came out for half an hour - luckily just as we arrived), Cornwall (another day trip and a big 840 mile dip), Cleveland (another dip), Norfolk... Oh, and I've spent some time on the smallholding too, mostly gathering in the harvest.

I guess a quick catch up is in order.

 

Well, this morning we had the first frost of the year. With only one light frost during the whole of last winter, some of the poultry were clearly puzzled by their water being frozen!



Frosty fleeces.
Fortunately the Shetlands are well adapted
for tough conditions

Some of the sheep are almost ready to go off on their final journey. They've certainly been doing a good job of munching down the grass. I've moved my Shetland ram (really must think of a name for him) in with four of the Shetland ewes. The two who had twins last year are getting a rest. The White-faced Woodland continues to escape and has been moved to the top paddock to keep the two girls company. They do like to boss him about.

Is it Boxing Day yet?

With Christmas (yes, I've mentioned the 'C' word) looming, the turkeys are growing fast. They have proven to be very likeable characters, much friendlier than we expected. I'm sure that won't stop us enjoying one for Christmas dinner though!














I can't remember how many guinea fowl keets there were when I last blogged, but it's been a difficult time for them. Some very wet weather back in September made survival of the chicks a very precarious affair and we came out of that with just 7 youngsters. When they were big enough, mum stopped going into a hut for the night and took them onto the fence, which resulted in another two disappearing overnight. We then had the nightly ritual of catching the remaining five and putting them in with Elvis and her fast growing chicks. Just a few days ago I took the decision that they could fend for themselves at night. Unfortunately yesterday I found another one perished so we are down to four. It all sounds a bit sad, but it wouldn't be right to confine the guinea fowls. Of all the birds we keep, they behave the most like wild birds and in the wild four survivors would be plenty enough to sustain the size of the flock. It just means that we don't get to sell any and that guinea fowl will remain be a special treat on the menu.

I mentioned Elvis. Our faithful broody is now the last of the original chickens which came with the farm when we purchased it. She has successfully reared another clutch of chicks. They have grown well and are remarkably bold. In fact a couple of them hop up into the feed bucket even when I'm carrying it around!

Another hen was determined to have her own chicks too. She tried several corners of the stables before eventually managing to keep secret a stash of 18 eggs. But she was disturbed on the night the chicks started hatching which resulted in the loss of a couple of new born chicks and the abandonment of the unhatched eggs. However, she has come out of it with 5 healthy chicks (there were six, but one got stick under an overturned dish and Sue only discovered this unfortunate mishap when it was too late.)




And lastly the bees. They have finally gone to bed after staying out very late this year. Hopefully the weather won't trick them into coming out again and they can reappear stronger than ever in the spring.

So here's looking forward to 2015!