This Little Piggy...

Sunday 2nd September 2012

 



The Last Photo of Gerald?

Today saw Gerald moving off back to his farm. He's done his job here. Very sad news though...

Gerald's next journey will probably be to the sausage factory. He has grown rather large which means that his line of work puts smaller sows at risk of injury. On the harsh, economic side it also means his feed costs are higher, as I have witnessed while the farmer has been not collecting him!

There's also the fact that his first offspring on his own farm are now the farmer's breeding sows so new blood is required. This is an eternal problem with all animals when they are kept on a small scale. These days, not enough people keep a boar to make it viable to swap them around, as artificial insemination is the more common way to impregnate the sows. Not only is it cheaper than the cost of hiring in and feeding a boar, but you don't risk damage to the sow and you can choose the pedigree and bloodline easily. 

We will miss Gerald and so will Daisy. She had a good relationship with him.

 

 

 

Gerald moved just in time that we could move the pigs around a bit to separate our own two boars, ready for their own little journey tomorrow morning! They had a final treat of fresh grass and runner beans before being led up the garden path and into the waiting trailer.

They are one week short of six months old. Since we left them intact as boys, if we keep them longer there is the risk of their hormones spoiling the taste of the meat (boar taint). Although some people reckon you can keep them up to a year, we prefer to play it safe, even if it means they go off a little on the small side.

 

In the past this moving process had been somewhat stressful and occasionally chaotic. We have learned to leave enough time so that, if the pigs wish to stop for a munch on the grass or double back a few times to more familiar territory, it won't be a problem.

 

More importantly, the whole run from the pig pens to the stable yard (that's more of a measurement than a description!) is securely fenced. This means that, in theory, we could even leave the pigs alone in this stretch. It also means that we no longer need to worry about them bolting past us and blundering through one of the areas of weaker, temporary fencing.

And so, everything went very smoothly and the pigs spent the night nestled in a pile of clean straw in the trailer, completely ignorant of what was to come.

 

Do I feel guilty? No. Not at all. As I've said before, if you are going to eat meat then better to face up to the facts of where it comes from and ensure that the animals have a good life and a humane death. It does not grow in neat little frozen cubes on trees, nor are neatly trimmed chops, joints and strips of bacon harvested from the ground!



Thinking forward to next year.

Swallows gathering ready to leave

This year has been a challenging one but still I have learned a lot and things have moved forwards here on the smallholding.
But as September is upon us, I start to cast my mind to next year. Which varieties have earned their place in next year's plan? What should I change? What has worked well?

Saturday 1st September 2012
An autumn sunrise!

Of course, next year may well be completely different. But here are my initial thoughts.

Potatoes - They liked the water this year, but the swollen lenticels made them a difficult prospect to sell. Then The Blight hit. I tried over a dozen varieties, which has given us way too many spuds given that I can't really sell many. And that's a lot of digging to plant them in ridges, earth them up and then dig them out at the end. So next year I'll be more selective. I've not even investigated how some of the types have fared or harvested, but my initial thoughts are:
Earlies and Second Earlies
Bonnies - a definite - large, smooth, abundant, good-looking. Quite large losses to blight, but next year I'll be more ready to deal with it!
Red Duke of York and Salad Blue - The Yorks are a mealy potato, great for chips and roasting. Didn't enjoy the wet soil though. Salad Blues did well, but more of a novelty crop. They give a nice, sweet mashed potato, but the purple flesh turns a little greyish.
I'll probably choose one of these varieties each year. Both hit heavily by blight.
Dunluce / Arran Pilot - Two good early potatoes. Dunluce grow big quickly but Arran Pilot didn't reach full size before the tops were bitten. Probably grow one of these in future, along with Charlotte. All affected by swollen lenticels, not great on a new potato.
Swift - I won't bother with this one again. Maybe it just didn't like conditions this year, but poor yield, never really got going.
Edgecote Purple - An attractive, purple potato (clue's in the name) which has cropped fairly well. Not too many tubers got by blight. Shame I had to take off the foliage so early. The spuds which reached full size were amazing. A definite for next year.

Maincrops
I've not harvested many of these yet. Last year the Desirees and Pink Fir Apples did brilliantly, but that was a dry year so I'm expecting the opposite this year. However, there'll always be a place for both of these in my potato patch. The Setantas cropped well. Although the tops were decimated by blight like all the others, I seem to have a good crop of healthy, red tubers under the soil. I've not tried them enough ways to comment on taste yet.
Sarpo Mira - strange to see one variety almost totally unaffected by blight. Top growth is still green, even now. This is a big advantage, though I have been told that the taste is a bit bland. I'll let you know.
I'm really hoping the Orlas do well, as they're sold as the organic gardener's spud. Top rotted away with blight, so we'll see what lies under the soil.

Peas
Well, we've all learned that peas love loads of water. What a great year for them! I used to think they weren't worth growing, and they're probably not if you're going to put them in the freezer. But as a fresh crop they take some beating, even if they don't stay on the fork, especially raw which is how I prefer them. I must say, I find it hard to tell between different varieties. They're all lovely! The traditional Kelvedon Wonder did well this year and they're going cheap in the shops at the momnent. I could save my own seed, but if it's economical I like to change it every now and again.
The Sugar Snaps were lovely too, so fresh and crunchy, but I'll make more effort to get a successional crop next year. As for the mangetouts - well, the purple-podded look nice and crop well, but for me they're a bit too cabbagey. Next year I'll be trying a more traditional green mangetout.

Beans
What a disastrous year! Virtually none made it past the slugs, which is such a shame. I grow French Bean Blue Lake for fresh pods and Canadian Wonder for kidney beans to dry. I tried the latter as fresh pods last year but couldn't bear the stringiness. The Borlottis joined both these varieties in totally failing this year.
On the plus side, the pack of "exotic beans" which I got from the 99p shop (or was it Poundland?) gave me a pretty good crop of purple pods (Purple Teepee) and the yellow pods (Monte d'Or) tasted beautiful. I'll be interested to see how the black-eyed beans do.They are healthy at the moment. I'll be buying a few of these packs next year, though it's a bit of a pain having to sort out the seeds from the mixed pack.

Runner Beans
Again, these struggled to get past the slugs. The Painted Ladies are a heritage variety which I've chosen on account of their red and white flowers. They are vigorous and crop well, but I've decided to go for a stringless variety next year. I don't like a mouth full of razorlike stringy green stuff and, even if I try to pick them young, I reckon that a customer finding themselves chewing on one of these would not come back.
The Czars, which I grow for their white flowers and white beans, are much less vigorous but, when I do eat them as pods, less prone to be stringy unless they are obviously too big. So they get another chance next year.

Three Sisters
Well, it only ended up as Two Sisters but I've been pretty impressed. The Sweetcorn (Lark) has flourished, it's wispy heads towering above the carpet of courgettes, squashes and pumpkins. Aside from the courgette mountain problem, this system may get even more space next year. I'll add more different winter squashes, as they look great and store well.

The cucurbits which I grew in tyres have done very well too, so I'll continue with this next year.

Leeks and Celery
The leeks and celery seem to be growing very well indeed in each other's company. We've started taking some of the young celery already and I look forward to the leeks later in the year.

Root crops
The Parsnips (Tender & True) have, I think, done brilliantly. Another crop which likes plenty of water early on I guess. I'm confidently expecting to have to bring in a digger to get the whole roots out. I don't know whether interplanting with garlic has helped, but since they've done so well I'll repeat this next year. In stark contrast, none of my Hamburg Parsley came up from two sowings. Such a shame as I really like it. I'll try again next year, but if it fails again...
Carrots of all varieties have had a catastrophic year. I've always been able to rely on these doing well before. I'm sure they'll do well again next year and I'll still grow lots of different colours and shapes.
The Scorzonera, which did so well last year, also failed to materialise. We really like the taste but the long, black roots are extremely fiddly to peel. In contrast, its sister crop, the Salsify, has done brilliantly, as has the Celeriac next to it. Both crops need longer to harvest, but I'm full of expectation. I'll leave some Salsify to flower, since it's a lovely plant all round.
Beetroots have done OK this year, though germination was poor and the slugs got all of those which were planted later. But I do love the taste. I think three types is enough, a red one (may try one of the longer tubers next year), stripy Chioggia and a golden one for sure.

Brassicas
As usual, everything else has got on top of me and the poor brassicas have dropped off the bottom of the list. Next year! The turnips did well early on!



So, that's the beginnings of my plans for next year. No doubt over the winter months I'll be absorbed in planning everything in much more detail. There's the flowers and herbs too, and of course I have a polytunnel for next year which will give a whole new range of opportunites and challenges.

Roll on 2013!

Keets reunited.

Friday 31st August 2012

Chickens lay chocolate eggs
Today something really amazing happened. We have had family staying for a while and the children have been collecting the chicken eggs for us. Well, today the chickens only went and laid a couple of Kinder Eggs for them! In all our time keeping chickens they have never laid even one of these for us!

Keets reunited
The seven keets already outside with their parents have flourished. It has been fascinating to watch how their mother and father look after them. Every evening Lady Guinea disappears into a deep tussock of grass and G'nea G'nea goes off on his own to roost with the chickens. In the morning they call to each other and he rushes out to join his family, foraging through the grass in the orchard and soft fruit patch. The little ones have learned to keep up with the parents, all staying together by constantly calling to each other. They are finding plenty of food for themselves, even leaping up into the air to catch insects disturbed from the grass. It is also notable that Lady Guinea has started to bring her family back in with the chickens, though she only trusts the older chcikens, with whom she grew up. In fact, Cocky often stands over the keets to protect them.
Fortunately the weather has been a bit fresher of late, so the grass has been a lot drier, particularly in the early morning.

So, having said that we'd decided not to place all our baby guineafowl in the one basket, today we decided that was exactly what we would do! Rearing the chicks inside pretty much guarantees their survival, but it is another job and they need plenty of cleaning out as they sure do produce a lot of odorous waste for such little fluffballs.


Today we carried the eight keets from inside down to the chicken pen and placed them on the ground. Lady Guinea quickly responded to their little calls so Sue released a couple of the keets into the midst of the others. This was the moment of truth. Would they be accepted or rejected and possibly even attacked?

Lady Guinea went straight over to the calling keets.

Well, it was as if they'd never been away. They mixed straight in and were welcomed back into the family. Pleased by this outcome, we reunited the rest of the keets and it was a true delight to watch all fifteen feeding under the feet of their parents, then slowly head off back into the orchard.

All fifteen keets. Confident little critters now.

Legbar chicks cast outside
That wasn't all the fowl action for the day though. We decided that the two Cream Legbar henlets could also go out, but into the protected environment of an enclosed run. We put them in with the Polands, who have been proving slightly shy of the other much larger chickens since I accidently let them out a few days ago.
I reckon they get picked on because of their ridiculous hairstyles. Apologies to any readers with similar hairstyles!

Way Hey! A new home.
Sue releases the Cream Legbar chicks.



The two Cream Legbar chicks in their new home with the Polands.

Just when you thought it was safe to venture into the courgette patch!

Thursday 30th August 2012
The wind went northerly and the showers blasted through.

 

A week ago the march of the courgettes seemed to be slowing. I should have realised this was just down to a spell of dry weather. As soon as the soil was dampened again, off they went again! And, with the help of those wonderful plants, I may soon actually be turning water into wine, as I have found a recipe for courgette wine!

 

It's available here...http://www.courgetterecipes.co.uk/ along with a pretty good selection of other courgette ideas. Though I'm reckoning there will still be enough to keep the chickens happy and maybe even some left over for the pigs.

 

We took another harvest from the bean plants today too.  The purple teepee do, of course, quickly turn green on cooking. The yellow varieties, I find, are hard to beat for their sweetness and crisp texture.

And I've left the haricots and black-eyes to plump up for their beans. If the tomatoes ever get going I may prepare a few batches of alternative baked beans.
All these beans from a £1 seed packet from the cheap shops! They've earned their place in next year's plan.

That's Shallot (and other Alliums)



Alliums ready for drying and processing.
Red Onions, Shallots and Garlic.



Wednesday 29th August 2012

A bit late for this really, but I've been clinging on to the hope that my onions, shallots and garlic might just somehow manage to plump up a little more. This goes against all the laws of nature, as the leaves have faded long ago.

So, a couple of weeks ago, I unearthed a few of my alliums and presented them to Sue to do something with. She consulted her books of potions and turned a dirty, straggly basket of onions and shallots into this...

Last year, Sue conjured up a most wonderful Red Onion Marmalade which went down very well with all who tried it. The lingering aroma of slowly cooked onions has just about left the house in time for this year's harvest to be preserved.

I also had a good first go at plaiting onions and garlic. Unfortunatley a repeat is unlikely this year as the stems are gone.

Anyway, though not a classic year, there's more to pick and process when the weather turns dry again and there'll be enough to keep us going till the next harvest.

Won't be long now until I need to start thinking about autumn planting some garlic. The shallots traditionally go in on the first day of the year, though I suspect this is not too critical if that New Year's Day hangover is too heavy.



Salad Days

Tuesday 28th August 2012

 

If I had any sense of pride I'd not be making this post. I'd be quietly not writing about salad crops this year.

 

As it is, I have had to wait till almost September to actually harvest a cucumber (though a very fine specimen it is) and my first two tomatoes, and there's not exactly a glut on the way. Like all failed gardeners, I do indeed intend to blame the weather.

 



The first cucumber of the year.

...and the first tomatoes, outside.

 

So here goes...my excuses!

Earlier in the year I had a very frustrating time with my tomato seedlings in particular, losing them to damping off. That put me at least a month back.

This was followed by months of dull, cool days so growth was sluggish (must try not to use that word, too many bad memories!) in the extreme. My little greenhouse became crammed with plants waiting to go outside, or into the polytunnel which sat in its packaging in the stables.

 

But I suspect there may be another reason for the staggering lack of progress made by my tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, peppers and chillis.

For my little polycarbonate greenhouse was dismantled and brought with us from London. Now, when I originally put it together I remember a thin plastic film on the polycarbonate sheets declaring THIS SIDE OUT. Apart from that film, now peeled off, I can see no discernible way of figuring out which way round the sheets go, so it may well be that half the panes are actually deflecting the light and the heat!

 

Not to worry though. Gardening is a slow process of learning and improvement year on year, every year with its own unique and unpredictable challenges. Next year there'll be a polytunnel bursting to the brim with salad crops as well as all manner of other experiments going on.

And there's a new greenhouse waiting to go up too.

As for my little old greenhouse, it will find a use. Maybe a potting shed.

Sheep... Friendly maybe but clever not.

This didn't take long to happen again.
This time I had the camera with me.

You can see how the sticky out ears act as a non return valve!

Fifteen Keets.

Monday 27th August 2012

My dyke (The Lambert Drain) joins this much larger one a couple of hundred yards further along. What brought me here this morning was a very rare sighting of a fox (not so welcome now that I keep poultry). A few minutes before a roe deer had been in the dyke, the second morning it has been around. With most of the fields harvested and harrowed, these animals are much more conspicuous now.

Soaking wet feet this morning as a heavy morning dew filled the grass. I quickly checked the guineas and their keets before heading back indoors to wait for the sun to dry things out a bit.

So it was with some surprise that, a couple of hours later, I was presented with this...!

Whilst showing Don the newest recruits to the smallholding, Sue had found seven of the keets huddled together in the long grass, clearly unable to keep up with the rest of the family and in a bad way. So the decision was taken to bring them inside and put them under a lamp.

Good news is, all but one made it and they are now healthy, and very noisy, little fluffballs. G'nea G'nea and Lady Guinea still have eight keets to keep their parental instincts satisfied. It should be easier for them to look after that many and the ones inside should be assured of making it to adulthood now.
If your maths is up to scratch, you'll have worked out that we now have eight keets outside, six brought inside this morning plus the one originally rescued, which has perked up and is happy to have plenty of company of its own kind. One passed away quietly, unable to warm up quickly enough, and one must have died somewhere in the long grass. But still we could end up with fifteen new guineafowl which would be a resounding success.

We have thought about whether or not to reintroduce the seven we have inside to their parents, but we have decided it is better not to have all our eggs in one basket!

A couple of funny incidents

I really did work very hard yesterday, so today I took things a little easier. First thing I did, even before the 'sunrise' photo, was to go and see the guineafowl family. There was rain last night and the grass was wet, so I was very concerned for their survival.
Not to worry though. I found a very contented, healthy family pottering about around the base of an apple tree.


It took a while, but eventually I managed to count 16 healthy keets.
How many can you see in this picture?

Sunday 26th August 2012
Not the best weather for the the newborn keets.

The keets are very special, but the other animals on the farm have not been forgotten. The ducks have a new pool and have been let out with the rest of the poultry. They just waddle around in a gang making contented noises to themselves. The geese, all four of which are now peacefully cohabiting in the same field with the sheep, have the other half of the pool!

The ducks are growing fast.
They are very likeable creatures.

The sheep, affectionately known as Number Ten and Number Eighteen, have really surprised us. They are friendly, gentle and quite entertaining. Number Ten's feet seem much better now.

The first of today's funny incidents concerns Number Eighteen, who has discovered that there are all sorts of tasty nibbles just the other side of the stock fence. So it was today (no photos I'm afraid) that he got his head stuck through the top square of the fencing! He did not have the sense to reverse and, besides, his ears were stopping his head getting back through.
With my several days experience of sheep handling, I tried to help him out gently, without causing panic. However, whatever I did it seemed he was determined to go forwards and not backwards. In the end I had to be quite forceful - only problem was that when I tried to push his head backwards he interpreted it as a headbutting contest and put even more effort into going forwards!

Anyway, in the end he was extricated from his predicament. I'm sure he's learned not to do that again ... NOT!

Say "hello" to Gerald.
After this usually comes
a vigorous shake
and a liberal
spattering of mud!

The second funny incident concerns Gerald, the boar who was supposed to be going back home today. Funny how the farmer has lost his phone every time  Gerald has been due to go back after his boar duties!
Gerald really does scream like a girl when he wants to be fed. And he has learned to stand up on the fence too. He is actually a rather big boy now, though a gentle giant.

But today he went one step too far and his front legs ended up the wrong side of the fence! So he just kind of flopped and lolloped over the fence!
Fortunately he was hungry and it didn't take too much effort to get him back through my newly built gate and into his enclosure. For a few moments he was definitely more perplexed than us though.

All in all an entertaining day. And this lot were still faring well by the evening.

Seventeen Keets!



Friday 24th August 2012

Saturday 25th August 2012




 

 

 









For a couple of days now G'nea G'nea's behaviour has been different. All the while that Lady Guinea has been dutifully sat on her seventeen eggs, he has pretty much got on with life as normal. Maybe a few times a day he might hop the fence and have a cautious peek, and without his spouse he has taken to roosting inside the huts with the other chickens, but apart from that he has been really rather subdued.

But this last couple of days he has been in close attendance to the nest, up to his old macho tricks whenever anyone approaches the nest, squawking and charging with raised wings.

For a moment Sue and I thought we may even be able to hear young birds cheeping under Lady Guinea, but when she went for one of her short excursions back to the chicken pen for food and drink, there were the seventeen eggs still.

But just look what met my eyes this morning.











 

Amazingly Lady Guinea has managed to hatch all SEVENTEEN eggs!!!

Her timing could not have been more perfect, as some sort of fence just had to be built today for the imminent departure of Gerald, and it needed to go virtually through her nest site. In fact, it was as I was wheeling the fencing equipment down that I clapped eyes on the chicks.

The male was in surprisingly close attendance and clearly intends to be the doting father. This is good as it will need the pair of them to be at their most alert and bravest if they are to successfully raise the chicks.

Before I continue, I should tell you that guineafowl chicks are known as keets. Guineafowl are not known as the best of parents and they certainly can't count to seventeen! With a cat, stoats, weasels and probably rats around, as well as the aerial threat from flying predators, we really have never expected more than a couple of the keets to make it to maturity. On top of that, conditions in blustery Lincolnshire do not quite match the more tropical conditions of native fowl. In fact, the primary killer of young keets is the wet, and Sod's Law says that our spell of fine weather is about to come to an end.

 

Read on to find out the fate of this lonesome straggler.

 

The two parents led their quite sizeable family of fluffballs through the grass and around the edge of the chicken pen as if they already had a plan. Unfortunately, one poor keet was unable to keep up and persistently got left behind. I tried not to intervene, but I did twice pick it up and place it back with it's family, but the same happened each time. In the end I decided to leave it be. That's the way nature works and the weakest would never survive anyway. Indeed it would be unwise for the parents to expend their efforts trying to save it. So, unfortunately, it's keep up or be left behind to fend for yourself...

 

That is, until the holy intervention of Sue, who some time later appeared with cute fluffball cupped in her hands!! We now have a second brood box set up in the hall.

 

All this meant that I had a day of great physical exertion driving in fenceposts and hanging gates. But of course I took plenty of breaks and guess which of our many animals got most of my attention! Though of course I did keep a respectable distance.

 

I daren't get my hopes up too much, but at the moment the future looks quite healthy for all sixteen keets. Lady Guinea seems to know what she is doing and both parents seem to be doing a good job. They have abandoned the nest site (a natural defence against predators) and set up camp in the orchard on the other side of the chicken pen.

 

The straggler now inside is still alive, but it is touch and go. It needs to get up and start eating and drinking soon.