Easter Sunday sees the return of our Swallows

Let's start with the weather.
It rained constantly for the first two months of the year with storm upon storm sweeping through, but all this wet and windy silliness was put to bed by Coronavirus. Since its arrival we've had gorgeous weather, particularly since lockdown. We've gone from complaining about mud and flooded paddocks to complaining about bone dry ground.

Not too longer ago things were very different

As I write this on Sunday evening, the Easter weekend has seen temperatures into the mid 70s (old money). Saturday night we had some heavy showers, but it didn't make much difference to the soil. To do that we need sustained rain, even if it's just drizzle. Late afternoon today brought a change though. A chill wind howled across the fields and thunder rolled around the fenland skies.

I was up very late last night after nocmigging till the early hours. I added another new bird species for the farm list. That's seven new species heard in the last two weeks. This will have to stop when I go back to work though, as I'm now seemingly too old to burn the candle at both ends.

There was a big job planned for today, planting the maincrop potatoes.
I grow six varieties of maincrop: Orla, Cara, Desiree, Blue Danube, Valor and Pink Fir Apple.

Fossicking chickens

I no longer bother with digging trenches or burying seed potatoes deeply. Now I just clear the ground, nestle each potato into a small indentation made with the trowel and cover everything with a thick layer of compost. I then have to net or fleece the bed to stop the chickens and turkeys scratching all the compost back off the potatoes. The beds can be uncovered once the potato plants emerge and the compost settles down a bit. By then the ex free range chickens will be confined to their pen again as they can be a little too destructive in the veg plot. It is lovely having them fossicking around the place though.




I managed to get four beds cleared and planted up today. Normally the beds would have already been cleared, but my bad back over winter put paid to getting ahead with everything.
One of the beds still had last year's parsnips in. I harvested to the end of one row and was very pleased with the parsnips I got, though some were afflicted by carrotfly. That's why I always grow more than I need. These are one crop that does require soil disturbance to harvest.
I left half a row of parsnips standing and just planted the potatoes in the spaces.

I also finally discovered where the other turkey hen has been hiding as I happened across her nest complete with three eggs. She is in last year's summer salad bed, which is now full of flowering rocket and borage. Fortunately her nest was at one end of the bed so I was able to clear enough to leave her nest and still plant my Cara potatoes.

One of the beauties of no dig is that it is far easier to leave things in situ and plant around them, whether that be a turkey nest, a perennial herb or a self-seeded plant like poppies, borage or marigolds.


Not everything goes smoothly in the veg plot though. The broad beans I sowed direct a while back have germinated poorly. It may be that the voles found them, but less than half came through. These were from quite old collected seed though. It's not a total disaster as I always end up with too many broad beans. I have resown into the gaps, two beans per station this time. If they germinate it will spread the broad bean harvest over a longer period.

Of course our smallholding has plenty of livestock too. Now that the paddocks are drier and the grass is growing the sheep pretty much look after themselves. The poultry are pretty easy to look after too, thought they need twice daily feeding and locking away at night, as well as chasing out of the veg garden occasionally.
They can be a little messy though, especially the ducks. While I pottered in the veg plot, Sue was busy deep littering the chicken houses. Every couple of weeks we (well, mostly Sue) completely clean out the poultry houses, but in between we just add more straw. This bedding makes a valuable addition to the compost heap.

The bees take a fair amount of Sue's time too. One of the new hive stands had settled down and left the two hives it was supporting leaning forwards. First job of the day, while the bees were very active in the glorious sunshine, was to lift up the whole shaboodle while Sue wedged offcuts of wood under the front legs. This involved putting myself right in the line of fire at the front of the hives. This is where you need total confidence in your protective bee suit. We managed to level up the hives, but not before a bee got inside my bee hood. (The suit has a small tear which was theoretically closed off with a clothes peg. I have since insisted that Sue patch it up for me.)



This was a bit unnerving, but fortunately the bee was more intent on finding a way out than attacking my face.

I've saved the big news till last though, so if you've not managed to read this far you won't find out, but then you'll not be reading this so you won't know you've missed out.

So here goes. DRUMROLLLLLLLLLLLLLL...

The swallows are back! Yay!!! Three appeared above the veg plot early afternoon. Their calls and chattering stopped me in my tracks as I delighted in the sight, the clearest symbol of the passing of the seasons.

Planting garlic cloves - the first job of a new decade

It was at the beginning of the last decade that we took the plunge and bought our smallholding in The Fens. A lot of water has gone under the bridge since then.

And so we enter a new decade.

One of the things which we love about growing most of our own food is how our lives are now so entwined with the weather and the seasons.

The first bed of the year planted up with garlic cloves

New decade or not, the turn of the year has seen me planting garlic every year. This marks the start of a new growing season. The ancestors of the garlic cloves I planted today go right back to those three bulbs of garlic I bought from a greengrocer in London quite a few years back. Every year I select some nice plump cloves from last year's crop and each develops into a new bulb, multiplying itself by about 10.
And by my selection every year I get stronger stock adapted to growing here on the smallholding.

In keeping with the developing patterns of climate breakdown, this winter seems even warmer and wetter than previous ones. In fact, it would be good if somebody could tell the rhubarb to stay in hibernation for a couple more months. It really is quite confused at the moment.

Some very confused rhubarb

I had to wait for a protracted spell of dry weather before I could consider working in the veg plot. Even though I have gone no-dig, so no need for digging over sodden soil, even just walking around on the paths would create a mud bath.
Fortunately that dry spell has now come. The puddles are receding and yesterday I was able to prepare the first bed ready for planting up with garlic cloves. The whole family came out to help. Sue cleared the asparagus bed of its old stems, Gerry climbed a tree and the dogs went digging for voles.

My team of helpers.
Left to right: Boris, Arthur, Gerry and Sue

I have had to move the sheep more frequently to stop the ground from becoming poached - with water lying on or just below the surface, their hooves quickly turn the ground muddy and the grass is slow to grow. We have moved the rams well away from the ewes as we are not breeding this year. They were spending all their time frustratedly pacing up and down the fence-line turning it into a swamp.
We have had to feed more sugar beet and more hay this year. Hopefully the paddocks will recover with drier weather and we won't have to hunt for more hay towards the end of the winter.

The ewes are quick to move to a new paddock when I lower the electric fence. 

But the grass doesn't last long in these conditions. 

Stocking up for Winter

Sunday 7th October 2018
The first winter thrushes arrived today, first a lone fieldfare followed by small flocks of redwings heading in across the fields.
Doubtless they looked down on me as I harvested some of this year's pumpkins and pulled potatoes out of the ground. Some of the pumpkins have fared poorly this year, but the Giant Pink Bananas (which are indeed pumpkins) have excelled, as have the Naples Long.

Sue was doing a sterling job making inroads into the wood pile. We won't need to skimp on the woodburners this winter.



Tuesday 9th October 2018
We can provide most of our own fruit and veg. We can provide our own meat. But there are some items which we cannot provide for ourselves. Loo roll, flour, cleaning products - none of these are totally out of our reach but some things are not so practical to produce at home.

In an ideal world I would buy organic, ethical and environmentally friendly, but unfortunately prices are sometimes prohibitive. I know there is often a hidden price to buying cheap, but economics do have to come into account.
Personally I think that some of the worst products should be taxed to directly support some of the most ethical products, but that is never going to happen is it? Until then, ethical shopping unfortunately remains the preserve of the middle classes.

My posh shopping

But I have come across a scheme which offers these products at very good discounts, bringing their price down close to their bulk standard cheap unethical counterparts. It is a national scheme which supplies local food clubs with a delivery once a month.
So not only can Sue and I now afford some of the products we want to be able to purchase, but we can run a food club to encourage local people to do so too.
Ok, we will probably be preaching to the converted, but we can only do so much for the cause.

Anyhow today our order arrived. All this for just over £30! (we did enjoy a twenty quid introductory discount). Now we know it works, we will be looking to get our food club up and running.

Wednesday 10th October 2018
A while back I discovered Priscilla (daughter of Elvis) ensconced in the stables harbouring a nest of eggs. Since we don't actually want more chickens, I left her with just three eggs and forgot about her.

On my way down to the chickens today I heard a familiar cheeping. There under the hedge was Priscilla leading two tiny chicks down to the rest of the chickens.

We set up a house for her in with the Silkies. The two little chicks are certainly very confident and seem strong

Meanwhile, by way of contrast to our harmonious country ways, the farmer next door was doing his best to erode the rest of his topsoil. I would be grateful for his gift, but I don't particularly want my whole smallholding covered in his denuded and chemicalised dust.

Orange Fenland

Autumn brings dramatic sunsets on the farm. Given clear weather, almost every evening sees the western sky ablaze.
The only trouble is the days are really drawing in now. But that is part and parcel of the beauty of the seasons.

My last picture shows an increasingly common fenland upside down sunset.

Fields of pumpkins to satisfy the annual demand at Halloween. In an age when any sort of deep beliefs seem rare, the public seems to increasingly need to throw itself into more and more festivals, the origins and meaning of which are completely lost. 

Wisbech's historically famous orchards are thin on the ground now and Spalding's bulb and flower fields are scarce too. Times change and pumpkins are just as widespread now.

One day I must put in the effort and capture an orange sunset behind a field of orange pumpkins.

Just one final plea. If you do purchase a pumpkin, please don't just throw it away at the end. If you don't want to make soup out of it, at the very least add it to the compost bin or feed the wildlife with it. Alternatively seek out a pumpkin recycling point. They do exist.

Spring... for one day only

Tuesday 30th January

Spring is here!

Today I heard a song thrush, a mistle thrush, great tits, robins, dunnocks, chaffinches, little owls (more of a duet than a song), skylarks and goldfinches all singing for joy. The sun beat down and cheered up the whole smallholding,

A farm record 22 Tree Sparrows were at the feeders. There were probably quite a few more as they were coming and going, their familiar chipping calls announcing their flights in and out.

I put up some very temporary stock fencing along the boundary where the geese kept going yesterday, but they just waddled further up the land, much further than they have ever been before, until they found the end of the fence.

This was solved with a few sheep hurdles. Why didn't I think of this earlier?

I got on with washing plant pots and cleaning plant labels - the best way to get the pencil off them from last year is to rub wet dirt on them.

I sowed 54 Mangetout seeds to grow in the polytunnel. This has worked brilliantly in previous years and the plants have cropped and are out before the space is needed.

This year I am trying some Sugarsnap peas too. The seeds are old but hopefully they will germinate successfully.

I can't grow peas outside - they need more water than I can provide, so this quick early crop in the polytunnel is perfect.

I sowed my chillies for the year too. Just four varieties and I will only grow one plant of each, for they are prolific.

The Piccolo tomatoes have germinated well already, as have the Black Russians and Gardener's Delight. They germinate on a heated propagator base. As soon as they come up, I open the vent on the plastic lid to allow air to circulate, otherwise they will just rot off.

In another couple of days they will come off heat and go into a mini greenhouse in the conservatory. At this early stage in their growth, light is essential so they don't get leggy.

Taking advantage of the glorious weather, I took Boris and Arthur out for a nice long walk along the river. Unfortunately the drainage board have felt it necessary to completely strip the banks, so no kingfishers, moorhens or reed buntings to be seen. The photo below shows the only small stretch where the vegetation has been left on one bank.

There was still time when I got back to plant up three small blueberry bushes which I purchased. I did have some of these in the soft fruit area, but the rabbits took a liking to them. Besides, they are better in pots which I can fill with ericaceous compost.

I will only need one decent harvest to repay the investment.

Wednesday 31st January 2018

SuperBlueBloodmoon!

Supermoons seem ten a penny these days. Hardly a full moon passes without making the grade. It is encouraging that people are finally noticing the natural wonders around them.

Tonight's supermoon was a blue moon too - that just means the second in a calendar month, so really it's just a coincidence of numbers. What I didn't know was that February will be a Black Moon month - no full moon.

The Blue Moon was also a Blood Moon, something to do with an eclipse earlier in the day and on another side of the world.

To be fair it was a nice moon that shone in through the skylight, though my camera totally failed to do it justice.

Snow reason to worry

Sunday 10th December 2017
A touch of the white stuff
Snow brings out the child in people. I woke up at 7.30am and peered out of the window to see if the forecast white stuff had come true. It had. Outdoors was a winter wonderland and the flakes were falling thick and fast.
Then I remembered I am an adult with a smallholding. The sheep need hay. The poultry will need checking. It'll be hand-stingingly cold. Then the inevitable slush, and mud, and wet animal bedding.



The dogs were a little bemused and Boris went running madly in circles around the poultry pen.
The ducks and geese seemed completely unperturbed. The chickens were less keen. The sheep just brushed it off lightly.

I on the other hand nearly got frostbite in my fingers and decided to stay inside in front of the fire.

We were on the edge of the snow band and got off lightly. By late morning the snow had turned to rain and by darkness most of it was well on the way to disappearing.

Monday 11th December 2017
Dentist day
Only one thing weighing heavily on my mind today - my visit to the dentist.
To take my mind off it I headed out to The Wash to spend some time out in the elements. I was looking for a Black Guillemot which had been about for a few days, a rare bird in Lincolnshire. I would have gone yesterday as this one was a good candidate for the High Arctic form which would be a first for me, but I had been put off by the weather.
As it happens that had been a bad decision. In the end Boston had been snow-free and today the bird did not put in an appearance. Still, it took my mind off the dentist.

Walking along the River Witham to where it meets The Wash

The dental visit went without incident. I was so pleased when my new dentist said she could do the two fillings without the need for injections.

I got back onto the smallholding just in time to witness a glorious sunset.

Honey bees get ready for winter.

As we enter September autumn is fast upon us. All the fields have now been harvested and Sue and I are spending most of our time picking and processing.



It's certainly autumn time for the bees as they gather in less and less pollen and nectar has run out. They begin to rely on what they have stored during the summer to get them through the long dark months ahead.
Sue has applied the varroa treatment which means it is time to stop taking honey and to start feeding the bees extra. In fact she decided to leave them the honey they had already collected rather than take one last harvest.
It has been a poor year for honey harvest. Some years are better than others and that is just the way of the world. Some people take all the bees' produce and just keep topping the bees up with sugar, but we prefer to keep things more natural. Most of the bees which are out and about now will die before winter takes hold. It is the young brood which will form the nucleus to get through till next spring, so better that these are reared on the most natural food possible.
Hopefully we can take strong colonies into the winter.

An extra hive has appeared on our land, on the edge of the woodland down by the sheep paddocks. For we responded to a beekeeper's request for somewhere to keep a few colonies. We are keen to share our smallholding with as many people as possible and this is a small start.
I have already started to meet the new bees in the garden - they are very docile, long-bodied and dark.

Cutting a path throught the swathe

There are still a couple of nests in the stables with young swallows leaning over the mudbrick edge, their bright yellow gapes wide open begging for food, but some of the others are now empty, their occupants fledged and taken to the big wide world. Every evening dozens of swallows gather over the smallholding, playing delightfully in the air and chattering loudly. They are joined by family parties of screaming swifts. It's a sign that nature's clock is inexorably ticking round.

This newly fledged young swallow was reluctant to join its siblings in the air.

The first combine harvesters have been in the fields, their distant chugging and clouds of dust signalling that harvest time is upon us.

When the crops are growing it becomes a bit trickier to walk the dogs along the field edges, so last week I decided to create a circular path around our land. I had been considering this project for a while but when it happened it was as usual very spur of the moment.

A nicely clear fence line and a new path for the dogs (and humans)

I needed to mow both sides of the electric fence, a major job which involves lots of walking and mowing up and down along the fence line, move the fence posts first one way and then the other. Thankfully it is a job that only needs doing a couple of times a year. I also wanted to replace a few of the posts.

But while I had all the tools out, the mower, the wheelbarrow, spade, post rammer, earth tamper... I decided to cut the new path, which meant completely moving the electric fence about 8 feet to one side. This way I could still leave a corridor of wild vegetation alongside the dyke.

The end result is brilliant. Most importantly, the dogs approve!


The new path gives a different outlook on the whole smallholding too. It takes us through previously inaccessible areas of young woodland and long grass, past the far sheep paddocks and along the side dyke, emerging at the back of the old pig pen and pumpkin patch.

I know I keep saying it but.... SPRING IS IN THE AIR!

The customary annual almond blossom photo.

13th March 2017
The equinox is coming up fast and this is when the smallholding goes into overdrive. All the groundwork should have been accomplished over winter. Now the grass is starting to grow at an alarming rate, the soil is warming up, buds are bursting, birds are singing, poultry are laying, ewes are waddling.

On a good day I can get the rotavator into the beds. A string of good days and I will be dusting off the lawn mowers - what chance they work?

And today was one such good day. Buzzards circled in the sky, bees buzzed around busily and a chiffchaff sang all morning from the copse.

A weeping willow - just a giant pollen bush for the bees

 The day didn't end badly either.