Lambs, Broody Poultry and a Grasshopper Mangetout Guard.

I am beginning to wonder if we are ever going to get any rain. Every forecast of drizzle just fizzles away to nothing. I have even had to use the hose pipe on some of my newly sown beds.
This happened in April once before and I really struggled to get anything to germinate. I seem to remember it then rained every day for about four months. The year was a total wipeout.
On the plus side, I'm sure that won't happen again. When it finally does rain the soil will be delightful to work.

I left you with two lambs and a ewe with a yucky membrane trailing out of her back end.

We spent all of the Easter bank holiday worrying about her, waiting for infection to set in. But she just kept eating and was feeding the lambs well. The advice from a couple of vets, kindly offered for free, was just to keep watching, but when it got to the fourth day, with the bank holiday coming to a close, we had decided to swallow the expense and to call the vet in.
Late afternoon on Easter Monday Carol Ann from next door came round to offer a homeopathic cure - nothing ventured, nothing gained. As we tried to catch the ewe the membrane dropped out! It had simply not detached as it should and there was nothing more complicated to worry about. What a relief, for apart from that it had been a perfect Easter holiday.

The sheep are not the only ones with spring babies on their minds. All three turkey hens are sharing a nest, two goose nests are currently occupied by three geese and we have a Muscovy duck sitting tight in one of the duck houses. Add to that the clutch of Ixworth chicks we are rearing and the next lot coming along in the incubator and that's going to be a mighty lot of cute baby birds around the smallholding in a few weeks time.

It will provide us with a lot of tasty meat towards the end of the year too. Yummy!

Things are going pretty well on the growing front too. We already have rhubarb, asparagus and now turnips and mangetout on the menu. I have been working hard on looking after the soil, turning compost, cultivating and weeding. I am reshaping a couple of the beds and the chickens really appreciate the turfs I throw to them. Long term it creates a little hillock in their pen where they can dust bathe when it is dry and head for high ground when it is wet.



It's not often we have a bonfire, as not a lot goes to waste here on the smallholding, but there's not much use for old pallets and rotting fence posts, so an impromptu fire happened last week. We got rid of several year's worth of clutter and it was a good opportunity to incinerate some old raspberry canes and some apricot leaves afflicted by peach leaf curl. Sometimes burning is the best way to get rid of pests and diseases.

Looks like the trees we put in last year 

should give us our first ever apricots this year.

I have been letting the chickens out into the orchard when I am able to keep a close eye on them. It is lovely to see them enjoying the great outdoors again and hopefully all restrictions will be lifted very soon.

Sue has done a brilliant job with the polytunnel mangetout (she planted the seeds and bought the grasshopper to guard them against attack). The first pods are already appearing.

A Springtime Catch-Up

No blog posts for a while. I won't apologise. It's not through laziness but through business.
It really is all go on the smallholding at this time of year. Dawn till dusk working the soil, sowing seeds, mowing lawns. Then there are baby animals imminent and chicks galore waiting to hatch. Plus all the routine work.
So instead of my usual day by day post, here's a catch up across the smallholding.

Firstly, the weather. April has been warm and sunny, a perfect start to the growing season. We could do with one night of rain now though!

The 'Family'

Gerry has caught his first rabbit of the year and is now catching at least one daily. He sometimes brings one back for the dogs, particularly Arthur our young jackadackadoodle. It was just such a gift that caused the first ever brief fight between him and Boris who has finally realised that fresh rabbit is actually quite a tasty treat. They quickly made up.

I'm sorry if anybody reading this is feeling sorry for the cute little bunny-wunnies, but I find it hard to feel sympathy for an animal which takes great delight in digging up my freshly planted garden shrubs and flowers. Besides, it saves on the animal feed bills.

Boris and Arthur have been enjoying the life of Riley lately. I discovered a supplier of knuckle bones who sell a whole sack full for under a tenner. These should keep the dogs busy for quite some time.

Most delightfully, a year and a half into his life, Arthur has finally realised how much fun it is playing with a ball. He bounces around with sheer joy at his new discovery.

Poultry
The farm fowl are all back outside now, albeit with a few restrictions in place. The geese make regular trips back into the stables to lay. They are sharing two nests this year.
We collected the first 60 eggs or so as they are Sue's favourite egg for eating and we managed to sell quite a few of them, which will have gone a long way to offsetting the costs of feeding the geese while they were imprisoned inside.

Caught in the act by The Silver Stag

The turkeys are laying too. Again we collected the first couple of dozen eggs, but the hens quickly started sitting for long periods. Currently two nests are set up next to each other and two birds seem to have settled on them. I will be very happy if they hatch any young. We would like to keep about six for meat, but any more than that should be fairly easy to sell as chicks to fellow smallholders wanting to rear them.
In the same pen, the Muscovy Ducks are creating a sizeable clutch of eggs too. Last year, letting the duck hatch out her own eggs proved unsuccessful whereas Elvis, our broody hen, managed to rear all of her ten successfully. So that is the plan again this year. I would like to get two batches hatched out over the year as the Muscovy Ducks are the tastiest of birds, as well as being rather charming inhabitants of the poultry pen.
Last but not least we have started the cycle of hatching out chicks. These are collected from our trio of Ixworths and will be raised for the table. The first hatching only delivered eight healthy chicks, which was a bit disappointing. We have started collecting the eggs for the second batch in the incubator. Hopefully this lot will do better.

The chickens were absolutely delighted to go back outside. I herded them down the land to their pen and they instantly set about dust bathing and scratching around. Their egg production has gone right up again too and it is lovely to have them attending to my every move as I dig in the veg garden.

Last years ram lambs tucking into a nice piece of willow

Just going by their tummies,

it's looking like a 3-2-1-0 again this year.

Sheep
We have brought the four Shetland ewes down to the stables in readiness for lambing, which was due anytime from Friday onwards. Hopefully we won't have to wait too long.
Rambo has settled in with the three wethers (last year's male lambs, no longer 'intact') but he likes to show them who is boss occasionally. There are enough of them to share the hassle and they have enough space to escape it.


Yesterday we went to a sheep day run by Mick at CSSG. We had a fantastic day and it was great to finally be properly shown some of the techniques which we have so far just been using common sense to achieve. We haven't been doing anything dreadfully wrong, but I know I will be more confident from now onwards.

Bees
Sue's department. She is very happy with how the two colonies are faring at the moment. They have come through the winter strongly and the queens are laying well. One hive already has a super over the brood box where the bees can make honey for us. The second hive should have enough brood in to extend upwards this week.
All around us the rape is in flower. There seems to be more this year than ever. Probably something to do with subsidies and not a lot to do with need. This means that the bees will be well fed but their honey will need taking off and processing quickly before it sets like concrete.
At least we now have the tools to cream the honey which stops it setting solid.

Fruit and Veg
Fruit
Pruning is finished, moved, new bushes and canes are planted and mulched, blackberries are tied in to new supports and the raspberry beds have had an overhaul. Mr Rotavator has done a brilliant job tidying up the strawberry beds. Leaves are unfurling and buds are bursting. We should get bumper crops of everything this year.
The fruit trees are coming into blossom and the weather has been good for pollination.
We have already harvested mountains of rhubarb and we managed to sell a fair amount which made a small contribution to the coffers. We don't charge much, but I would rather people enjoyed it than it went to waste every year. Rhubarb plants are dead easy to grow, even easier to propagate and they shade out all weeds. The perfect crop!

We have had both mowers out and they are both still working. The veg patch starts to reveal its plan once the top is taken off the winter grass growth and the beds are cleared and worked.













Veg plot
The soil is warming up and drying rapidly. Working it is a delight at the moment and I have been working hard to get all the weeds out and prepare the beds for planting. Broad beans, early potatoes, parsnip seeds, garlic and onion sets are in the ground already. In the next week there'll be a lot more crops being sown.

The garlic is doing well.

I have now sown parsnips down the rows.

These two crops always do very well together and

the garlic is out before the parsnips take over the space

If we don't get any rain very soon I'll have to consider watering just so that the young seedlings don't wither and die before they can get their roots deep enough.

Polytunnel
The early potatoes in the polytunnel will be ready soon and the mangetout are rapidly growing. I am anticipating the first flowers and pods very soon. My second sowing of carrots has germinated well, unlike the first and my turnip rows are already shading out the weeds.
The polytunnel is full of seed trays at this time of year, young plants being raised either to go in the tunnel beds or to go outside later.
Today I start making my rosemary oil which I am hoping will be my chief weapon of destruction when it comes to spider mites this year.

Birdlife on the farm
Our winter visitors have all but moved on now and we are still awaiting the arrival of most of our summer visitors. Every evening I anticipate the chattering of swallows in the skies above the veg patch but as yet they are still not back.
Our resident birds are taking full advantage of the early start that braving the English winter gives them. The Little Owls are back in the hollow Ash tree again and the Pied Wagtails are back under the pallets. Crows, Woodpigeons, Blue and Great Tits are all nesting in the Ash trees while Blackbirds, Stock Doves, Song Thrushes and Robins hide away in the ivy which clambers up the trees.
A pair of Linnets has appeared and I am very pleased to see Greenfinches occasionally visiting the feeders, though the Tree Sparrows are not around so far this year.
It's been a good spring for Reed Buntings and Yellowhammers which continue to frequent the feeders, both near the house and the feeding station I have set up down in the young woodland.

Giant Eggs and PSB on the menu

Sunday 19th March 2017

Perky Turkeys
A few days ago I found a turkey egg sitting out in the open all on its own. We placed it into one of the houses in the hope that whichever hen had laid it would get the idea and lay any future eggs in the same place.
Since then three eggs a day have appeared buried in the straw. This morning I found two of the girls in the house laying. We want the older hen to incubate the eggs and we don't have plans to keep all three hens. But at this rate there will be a mountain of eggs before anybody decides to sit, so turkey eggs will be on the menu for a while. Once we reach the Easter holidays, one of the turkey hens will probably be on the menu too!




A Pruning Lesson
It was an early start today for we were off to Three Holes for the Fenland Smallholders meeting on pruning fruit trees. A bit late really, as I had already done all mine, but I thought I might learn something and it would be good to meet up with some of the club members.
Fortunately I found out that I did all my pruning correctly. 😁

A Pre-lambing Health Check
The good thing about an early start was that it left a decent portion of the day to get other things done. I wanted to check up on the adult Shetland sheep as the ewes are only a few weeks off lambing now. Main job was to give them a pre-lambing dose of wormer. Each ewe looks about the same size as last year, so I wouldn't be surprised if we get triplets, twins, a single and a zero again.

Rambo and his ladies, tightly penned for worming and inspection.

PSB!
We have a new crop to harvest. My attempts to grow brassicas yield slight improvements year on year. I never quite understood how long Purple Sprouting Broccoli took to give a harvest. It is almost a year since this beauty was sown, yet only now am I harvesting delicious purple sprouts. I missed some of the harvest but this year I shall be growing my PSB plants in a less hidden away location. I plan to plant them out into the broad bean bed once those plants have come out.

Monday 20th March 2017
Giant Eggs Galore!
As if a pile of turkey eggs is not enough, we are getting between one and four goose eggs a day too! That is a lot of egg.
We do our best to keep up, but one goose egg makes a large omelette for lunch.

Planting Potatoes in the Rain
I needed a hearty lunch today for I worked like a trooper in the morning, battling to get as much done as possible before the forecast heavy rain arrived. I didn't fancy another soaking, but more importantly the soil would become unworkable very quickly. I just about managed to get the early potatoes in, but I was drawing the earth up over them in a downpour.
I have planted Arran Pilot, which is my bulk standard early potato. I do find it stands well in the ground though. There's also Red Duke of York, my favourite early as it makes great chips. I've also gone for Duke of York, another variety which can be left to turn into a Main.
The advantage of the Earlies is that if blight comes early again then there should at least be a crop to be had.
No pictures I'm afraid as I had to make a run for the polytunnel and stay there, for the rest of the day was a day for the geese to enjoy.



A Splash of Yellow(hammer)
The afternoon was however brightened up by the sight of eight male yellowhammers feeding on the ground in next door's horse paddock. These birds are becoming scarce in our countryside now but they seem to like the horse paddocks. Their bright yellow plumage is enough to bring a little sunshine to even the rainiest of days.

21st March 2017
Conquering the Grass with Mr Mowtivator
Yesterday's wetness was forgotten today. The sun came out enough to feel on the back of the neck. The grass has been growing at an alarming rate this last week. I have learned from the past to take full advantage of any dry day to tackle the first mow. Miss the chance and a week of rain can leave you with an impenetrable jungle of grass which struggles to ever be dry enough to mow.
It is important to establish who is boss early in the season!
Starting up the lawn mower is always a dread. I do not pretend to be mechanical and if the mower doesn't work there will be no chance of getting it fixed in a hurry. I always do the first couple of mows with the hand mower. It is a more reliable and trustworthy machine than the ride-on. So out came Mr Mowtivator. Mr Mowtivator suffers from the opposite affliction to Mr Rotavator. The latter's engine always starts first time but has been racing apace. The former never wants to start after a winter of rest in the shed. I have to pull and yank the starter cord endlessly, experimenting with choke in, choke out, leaving it for five minutes, trying again... But eventually it splutters and burps into life and all is fine.
I had to wait until late morning for the dew to be driven out of the grass, but by mid afternoon, after four hours pushing the lawnmower, I had tackled the veg plot, the front lawn, the back lawn and the path through the orchard and young woodland. What a relief!
This year I want to treat my grass as a resource for mulching, though I am making the best of a bad job for I consider grass to be a curse. If there was a cheaper way of covering the ground I would. I wouldn't even have a problem with plastic turf, though the voles and moles might not enjoy it quite so much.

Into The Kitchen
That was enough of the great outdoors for the day. Time to hit the kitchen. This afternoon's delights were Portuguese Corn Bread (which did its rising while I was mowing), Spicy Vegetable Pasties, Walnut Cookies and Jerk Chicken - it was going to be Jerky Turkey, but we have run out of turkey breasts for the moment.

So there ends another three days of our smallholding adventure. No day the same. Always learning.

Living Willow 2 - A New Benchmark

Saturday 25th February 2017

The Good Samaritan
The day began with clearing the fallen trees without bringing down the telephone wires. It really was like tree surgery and my super-long-handled loppers were invaluable. The problem was that without them the only way to reach the branches I needed to cut first was to lean a ladder against those very same branches. I've tried that sort of thing before and ended up with my hand half-chewed by a bow saw!
Today's operation was successful, if a little tricky. With the telephone wire no longer under threat, there was just the small matter of a couple of rather large trunks leaning at an alarming angle. I couldn't even access the base where the tree had grown through the stock fence. There is only so much headway you can make with a bowsaw and a pair of loppers.
It was at this point that a passing Good Samaritan pulled up and produced a chainsaw out of his van. In a matter of a minute he had saved me at least an hour's hard work. It was nice to know that there are still people around willing to lend a hand.
I do actually possess a chainsaw, but I have not yet studied the instructions or been shown how to use it safely. I didn't think that using it at short notice and in a tricky situation would be a wise move. Better to learn when I have more time and in a more controlled task.
Goose eggs for sale
On a different note, the goose eggs are coming thick and fast now. We will have to start selling them as each one goes a long way! The duck and chicken eggs are coming thick and fast too at the moment.

Fried goose egg (L)   Eggs piling up (R)

Fougasse Fougone!
Fed up with clearing up after the storm, I decided to spend the rest of the day baking. I knocked out a multi-seed loaf, a couple of muesli breads, a rhubarb brown betty ( rhubarb from the freezer, but this year's will be ready in about a week) and three fougasses. Here they are pictured, except the three fougasses, which lasted less than an hour after coming out of the oven!!!

Sunday 26th February 2017
In between some frankly foul weather, there have been some fairly strong hints of Spring this February. Under one of the Ash trees, the border is subtly brightened up by the hellebores which are flowering beautifully.

I set about today's task, sorting the left over cut willow for my project.
Can you tell what it is going to be?


A couple of showers had me taking refuge in the polytunnel, where I have moved some of the hardier seedlings which I germinated indoors. It won't be long before the whole tunnel is jam-packed with young plants.



When the rain stopped I got back to the task in hand.
Can you tell what it is yet?

A Mystery Clutch
Along the way, I was distracted by a little weeding in the herb border. There I came across a clutch of mystery eggs. They are not guinea fowl eggs or duck eggs. If they are chicken eggs, they must have been there quite some time.
But there is another possibility, for Lady Penelope Peacock and her chick (now looking very much like Lady P) were hanging around the area. The eggs looked a little small, but just maybe they are the first eggs from a young female?



I got back to the project.
Can you tell what it is now?



Monday 27th February 2017

Elvis is broody again! If she stays broody, I will try to discover where the Muscovy Ducks are laying their eggs and sneak a few underneath her.

It was not a day for working outside. In fact, the dogs declared it an official laze indoors day.

Anyway, there was time enough to almost get the willow project finished. It just needs the seat rungs and the back woven and the bench will be ready, grandly overlooking what will be the new pond. If all goes to plan, the legs, the arms and the back are all planted willow which should root itself and spring into growth.

Tuesday 28th February 2017
A Few More Days of Incarceration
Today was the day when our poultry could, in theory, go back outside under some very strict rules. However, we have more gales forecast so I thought it wise to take down the netting rather than fix it in place. Without the netting, the turkeys would be sure to go a-wandering further than is permitted. Besides, I want to let the birds out over a weekend so I have time to keep an eye on things. They will just have to wait another few days.

I didn't mention it the other day, but I managed to jam a cut end of stock fence straight into my hand a couple of days ago. It hurt when I did it and bled quite a bit, but I thought it would heal fairly quickly. However, it must have hit straight against the knuckle, for it swelled a little overnight and was quite painful when I was working yesterday.
But last night it really swelled up (the picture does not show it at its worst), enough to force me into resting up for the day today.








Instead, I took the dogs out for a nice long walk.

And that, apparently, is the end of winter 2016/17.
Tomorrow, allegedly, is Spring.