ROAD CLOSED - time for a bit of tree pruning

Monday 12th March 2018
ROAD CLOSED - that's what the sign read outside our house. I had been waiting for this, my chance to take off the last few top branches from a willow tree.
This willow is supposed to be a small weeping willow, but it has shot up from the base and turned into a full-scale tree.

But first I decided to move sixteen elder cuttings to their final position. I am creating an elder copse on the edge of the orchard. I think elder is a wonderful plant. It's bird friendly, the berries and flowers are great for cordials, wines and even champagne, as well as pontack sauce. It is easy to take cuttings and the older bushes grow back even stronger when cut.

My new elder copse. It will be impressive in the summer.

I was on Plan B today, for it was too wet and miserable for rotavating the area where I want to sow the butterfly and bee meadow. The soil was too wet and heavy to continue digging the duck pond either.

Our lovely empty road, complete with 

new posts for a new electricity line.

So back to the willow. The branches were rather more high than I remembered and thicker than I thought too. This is probably why I left them last time! But with the catkins coming out, they would soon be in leaf and even harder to deal with. Left for another year they would just be even bigger.
Luckily I had taken off some branches last year, so when I got to the top of the ladder and had to move off it and into the tree, there were plenty of secure places to plant my feet.
I took the job slowly, lopping off the fresh growth first, the wonderfully straight and long poles which had sprouted and reached for the skies from where I had cut last year.
I had three big branches to take off, but did one at a time, stopping for breaks in between. For it is when you are tired and pushing yourself too hard that accidents happen.
This was one job that I was pleased to get out of the way.

The rest of the afternoon was spent sorting the wood I had cut. Logs for the fire, poles and whips for plant supports in the veg garden and the rest for the sheep.

Rambo and his friend appreciated the 

willow I threw in for them.

They especially enjoyed nibbling off the catkins.

Winter's nearly over - quick, take cuttings

Saturday 10th March 2018

Quick to the cuttings

15 degrees today. What a contrast to last week.
Heavy rain last night left some fairly substantial puddles on the land. The water takes a while to sink through the clay, especially when the water table is already high after the snow melt last week.

I am running out of time to move last years cuttings and to take new cuttings. Everything is springing into growth and the pace of gardening is hotting up.

Last Wednesday I planted a new mixed hedge of about 100 plants.

Next on the list were the yellow willow cuttings which I poked in the ground last year. Most of them had survived and some had really flourished. With the ground wet, they were not too difficult to uproot. My plan was to plant them closely in a line along the boundary of the land. I will pollard them so they form a colourful boundary, especially during the winter. During the summer and autumn they should provide shade and shelter to the sheep paddock. 

I had quite a few spares, so decided to plant them even closer in amongst a wild area of nettles. This area needs taming a little - there are plenty of nettles elsewhere so nothing will suffer. The idea is to form a willow spinney.

Not much to see now, but my new area of willow coppice will be an attractive

part of the wildlife garden behind the bug hotel

Next a bit of sorting out. The pallets which make the compost bins make great storage for canes, stakes, guttering and hazel poles. The added benefit is that these form a more solid wall to keep the heat and moisture in the heap.

With that job completed, I moved on to seed sowing, potting up and moving some seedlings into the polytunnel. The spring conveyor belt of plant rearing is truly in full swing now

Sunday 11th March 2018

The Pest from the Zest!

Some days I seem to get very little done. Some days I get a lot done. Some days I get loads done!

Today was one of the 'loads' days.

The day started with identifying what is wrong with our small lemon tree. It has been secreting a sticky sap for a while now and the leaves have started to yellow. Some have sooty mould on them and the baby lemons have turned black and fallen off. A close look and an internet search identified the culprit as brown soft scale. These are flat, armoured insects which suck the lifeblood out of the plant. 

Now that we know the problem, we should be able to solve it with careful cleaning of all the leaves, repeated applications of insecticidal soap (just a weak solution of castile soap) and occasional wipes with surgical spirit to penetrate those armoured shells.

Butterfly Heaven

Transplanting continued with 25 buddleias. They had rooted really well. Final home for these was to be weasel ridge, around the living willow chair and overlooking the veg garden. First though, I needed to dig out a load of nettles, roots and all. This is a satisfying job but it is hard work and can be painful at times.

I was pleased to be distracted halfway through by buzzards calling overhead. When I looked up there were seven circling over together - quite unprecedented here.

I didn't intend to use all the buddleias on the mound, but in the end I planted them close. They should be absolutely alive with butterflies later in the year.

Plenty of help from the chickens today as I planted up the buddleia bank

While I was doing this, Sue was cleaning out the chicken houses and equipping them with fresh straw. I knew her every move as I have fitted her with a new wife-tracking device - aka very squeaky wheelbarrow!

Mr Motivator goes for a spin

With a little warmth in the air, I decided to give the rotavator a try while Sue took the dogs for a long walk down to the river. The broad bean bed, the turnip bed and the bed for the early potatoes all needed to be prepared. The soil was just about workable and the rotavator increases the air and surface area so it should warm up and dry out much quicker now. I gave a couple of other beds a preliminary tickle too.

This is a turning point in the year. Over the next month the winter veg patch will be transformed as beds get worked and borders neatened.

Another duck pond to dig

The ducks are moving back into the veg garden too - a decision I made after I had dug them a new pond!

This is all part of the Spare Veg Patch being turned into a paddock for sheep, pigs, goats, whatever. The heavy soil was too difficult to work and a haven for slugs, which made their homes deep down where the ducks couldn't reach them. This has been most apparent this week when I have been digging up cuttings. With the clay soil being so heavy it is not practical to keep it worked frequently enough to unearth the slugs and expose them to the attention of the ducks and chickens.

And so I spent the last hour of daylight making a start on a new duck pond. It was just a start as I had a place to put the excess soil but it needed wheeling away.

A busman's holiday

I received an email today confirming our summer holiday plans. For the second year in a row we are getting a week away, thanks to Sue's friend who has volunteered to come and look after the smallholding. The plan is to spend the week in West Wales... on a smallholding!!! We really are suckers for punishment.

The day ended on a possibly sad note. Putting the Muscovies away, I noticed that the brown female was not with the other three. Thinking about it, I don't recall seeing her for some days now. There is a very small possibility that she is holed up somewhere sitting on eggs, but I think it is more likely that she has come to some sort of mishap. 

I'll have a good look around in the morning, but don't expect to find her.

Hedwig comes to town

Friday 9th March 2018
Snowy Owl!
What a great way to end the working week. Straight home on a Friday night, pick up the dogs and off to Norfolk with Sue to see a Snowy Owl - the type to be seen in Harry Potter movies and known as Hedwig.
Now some birds are small, brown and boring. Only an enthusiast like me could ever get excited by them, and to be truthful most of the attraction is in their rarity on these shores rather than their aesthetics.
But a Snowy Owl. That is a very different story. There's nowhere to go wrong really. An Owl. Huge. Attractive. And rare.
This was only the fourth Norfolk record in the last 100 years. Rumour of one in the area earlier in the week remained just that until a couple had walked into Titchwell visitor centre with a photo. But days had passed and this seemed like a missed opportunity for everyone. Until lunchtime today, when the bird was relocated sat on the edge of Scolt Head island, separated from the North Norfolk coast by a muddy channel. Fortunately it was viewable, albeit distantly, from the coastal path at Burnham Deepdale. Better than that, the bird was quite likely to just sit there until the approach of dusk.
We pulled up at the site and it was a short walk out onto the seawall. The owl was quickly picked up in the telescope, perched on the ground on the far side of the muddy channel. It was livelier than I thought, constantly moving its head up and down and looking around. After about quarter of an hour it flew and it was massive. Luckily it landed in view, but the next flight wasn't long and this time it landed half obscured by the coastal scrub.
No photos I'm afraid. I am reliably informed it was just under 1km away!

This was only the third Snowy Owl I had ever seen. With darkness coming upon us and the bird unlikely to show any better, we headed back to the farm. In terms of time away from the farm and jobs missed, this bird was almost a freebie, though I have been managing to dig up and move some of last years cuttings in the evenings this week.

The first goose egg of 2018

Monday 5th March 2018
An authentic Lincolnshire myrobalan hedge
When they still had proper orchards in Lincolnshire, myrobalan hedges were very much a local feature. Myrobalan is another word for Cherry Plums which produce small red or yellow plums, perfect for jams and country wine. The hedges would act as a windshield for the orchard and provide an alternative crop.
The cuttings which I took last year have done very well indeed, but now needed moving. I had about two dozen flowering currants to find a home for. I also needed to move the bird cherry hedge which I put in last year, due to a lack of foresight on my part and a change of plans.

My cuttings bed last week in the snow.

This area will be making way for a small new paddock soon.

So I had the idea of a mixed Myrobalan, flowering currant and bird cherry hedge. It will provide wind protection, food for us, food for the birds and it should look pretty for at least  part of the year. To add even more colour, I dotted in a few red dogwoods, again from cuttings.
The only missing feature is the Cherry Plums, on order from the interweb. They should arrive just in time, for bare root plants need to go in before Spring really kicks in.

Mid-job

I was relieved to finally sort out the blackberry support frame too. The weight of the plants and the effects of the wind snapped off one of the posts last year. It was all too heavy to lift back up, but today I managed to cut out all of last year's fruiting canes and to disentangle this year's from the cross wires. The new structure is much more substantial so hopefully it will stand for a lot more than a year. It won't take long for the blackberry harvest to repay the cost.

Tuesday 6th March 2018
Time for seedlings to look after themselves.
A big day for some of the seedlings. Broad beans, leeks, tomatoes, peppers, all have got off to an early start in the conservatory. But they prefer the polytunnel, where there is even more light and better air circulation. Now that the temperatures have lifted and Spring may finally be here, with a little overnight protection they should survive and harden off nicely.

Broad beans coming up strong.

Leeks and coriander looking

a bit straggly but should grow on

stronger in the polytunnel.

As soon as the soil is workable, 

the broad beans will go out.

If the weather holds good,

they should quickly harden off.

Tender young tomato plants and peppers.

The mini greenhouse within the polytunnel

should give them enough protection.

The polytunnel mangetout seedlings.

These should give one of the first harvests of the year.

More cuttings
Today it was the turn of the dogwood cuttings to be planted out. A few went into the new hedge yesterday, but I had about thirty to place. The first batch went beside the new pond and I took some time out to start naturalising the edges. It is starting to look really good.

With the cuttings bed cleared and rotavated, I trimmed back the buddleias and took fresh cuttings. Again I got distracted and ended up digging out a sizeable patch of nettles.

Spring was really in the air today. Skylarks sang high in the sky and Sue's honeybees were out in force. The geese and the turkeys were mating - actually the first time I have ever seen the stag turkey 'on the job'.

A quaint place for a meeting
I had to stop slightly early since Sue and I were off to the Smallholders Club committee meeting. Gerry did his best to ruin our plans by disappearing under the killing bush with his first rabbit of the year. It's about time, as the rabbits are already causing a lot of damage in the garden this year.
We had a new venue for the meeting. The committee room the club used to use was being refurbished, which did us a big favour. For it forced us to look elsewhere and we came to The Bridge Coffee Shop in a place called Three Holes (wonderfully descriptive). The owner was happy to open especially for us. We only expected a room and tables, but she was happy to serve us the menu. I must say, a meeting with pizza and herbal tea was much more civilised and comfortable than a stale meeting room. At the end there was a decisive vote to hold our next meeting back at the coffee shop.

Wednesday 7th March 2018
The first goose egg of the year!
I did a bit of general tidying up today, trimming back bushes and tidying beds in readiness for new growth. I started collecting up all the bits of ash tree which have fallen over the winter. The lawn is littered with sticks and twigs right up to small branches. They don't take long to dry out and make excellent wood for getting the fire going.
Sue appeared with a big smile on her face, clutching the first goose egg of the year. Not quite the latest date for this annual event, but last year the first one plopped out on 16th February. That was the last I saw of the egg as it was quickly poached and gobbled up!

The cutest snow angel

I've just got to show you this from last week's snow.
The harshest element of last week's weather was the bitterly cold and strong easterly wind. It literally blew most of the snow off the smallholding.

There were strange noises going on everywhere with snow sliding and ice creaking. All a bit creepy. But a small thud from the conservatory sounded different. I went to investigate and there, lying on its side in the snow, was a blue tit. It was hardly moving. I guessed the snow must have confused it as until now we've not had any birds fly into the windows.
Then I noticed another one! Just a couple of feet away. This one was face down in the snow and completely motionless.

I gently picked up the first. It just laid in my hand, moving a little but looking none too good. I rolled my jumper up around it. Then for the second. This one I was sure was dead. I carefully pushed my hand into the snow and lifted the tiny bird. Suddenly it came to life and looked much more lively than the first. I put them both into my trapper's hat for a couple of minutes to warm up.

The pattern the second had made in the snow can only be described as a blue tit snow fairy!

Then it was time to release them. There would be absolutely no point holding on to them any longer. The livelier of the two flitted off up into a tree. The other just sat on my hand for several minutes. I tossed it into the air, half expecting it to flop back down into the snow, but it too headed off over the sheep paddock and into the hedge.
Whether each bird survived the cold spell I will never know. If they did, they certainly had a close shave.

Cheese and Wine Anyone?

As if we don't have enough to do, what with working, running a smallholding, birding, and running the Smallholders Club, I have set a new target for Sue and I - to hold a cheese and wine party next year.

Now that would actually be quite a challenge for me anyway, but there is a twist... it will be cheese and wine made by our very own hands.

Sue has taken a few tentative steps with the cheese and I have decided that my mangolds, parsnips, carrots, redcurrants, strawberries, gooseberries and apples are going to contribute to a general state of inebriation. These wines are known as country wines.

I have read one book. It was originally written before I was born and yet everybody reckons it is still the best one. First Steps In Winemaking by CJJ Berry. Personally, I reckon it could do with updating. Anyhow, I have been reading and planning and reading and planning but it doesn't all quite make sense. Really I need to just get on and have a go.

As luck would have it, the Cambridgeshire Self-Sufficiency Group had a speaker on Thursday evening on the subject of brewing. I was keen to get along to the meeting, despite the threat of snow drifting across the roads. Unfortunately Sue would have to drive as my car was stubbornly refusing to start with temperatures below zero for days on end.
In the end the talk was a very general one as it covered a lot of different areas in a short time. We did have a nice time though.

I also found out that home brew beer, even from a kit, runs in at just 57p a pint. I'm not tempted to get into mixing my own hops and barley and malt and whatever, but now that I will have the equipment for the winemaking I see no harm in using it for the occasional 40 pints of beer!

Arthur is still not completely better and Boris has now caught the same bug. So I have been staying at home to look after them and to keep an eye on all the livestock in the snow. It's not been possible to do any work on the land though, so I've been internet shopping!
As a result, there is now a plethora of country winemaking homebrew equipment and ingredients winging it's way to the farm.
The first batch should be on the go by the end of the week.

Update:
The dogs are both on the mend and enjoying their new diet of rice and chicken. We even managed to get them both out along the river before the snow disappeared.

The Beast From The East Approaches

By the time I get round to publishing this post, The Beast from the East may well be the Blast from the Past, but here goes anyway.

Monday 26th February 2018

A terrible practical joke

The beast from the east is looming. We had a light dusting of snow and the cold air outside is starting to feel more uncomfortable than invigorating.

Worst of all, somebody had decided to play a practical joke on me and fill the pond up with tiny polystyrene balls.

I decided to light the fire and stay inside sowing seeds.

Arthur was not well today, which is always worrying. He was sick several times and was feeling very sorry for himself.

Tuesday 27th February 2018

Snow surprise

A fairly restless night as Arthur was sick twice more... on the bed!

I eventually woke up just short of 9 o'clock to see snow falling thick and fast outside.

Gerry was in two minds whether to go out or not.

I let the poultry out. Some of them were pretty bemused. Only Elvis, the guinea fowl and some of the geese have ever seen this much snow before.

Considering their tropical origins, guinea fowl are incredibly hardy.

They spent the night outside on the fence as usual.

Elvis is a veteran of the snow

The most snow the Muscovies have ever seen. They seemed unperturbed.

I checked that the turkey netting was not accumulating snow and let down the brassica netting before it weighed down too much. Then I wheeled a fresh load of hay down to the sheep. They are incredibly hardy and look in their element in this weather. I doubt the cold and wet penetrate very far at all into their thick, lanolin filled fleece.

The Shetland sheep don't even bat an eyelid.

They make Northerners look like soft Southerners!

For today that was it for snow. In fact it turned into a sunny day, with just the occasional flurry, and by late afternoon most of the snow was gone again. But we are in for colder days and may be lucky to see the thermometer top zero before the weekend.

News on Arthur. He is gradually looking better, although still feeling more than a little sorry for himself. He did venture outside for a little bit of fresh air while Boris engaged in the fruitless task of chasing snow balls!

When you get dangly bits in your beard

Sunday 25th February 2018

A new space for pumpkins
I wanted to move last year's cuttings and take this year's cuttings before spring breaks in March, but this week's weather forecast has put a halt to that.

For the moment we have frosty mornings and beautiful, sunny days.

So this morning it was out with the rotavator to begin shaping a couple of new veg beds. I just broke up the surface today, but a couple of more goes will have the grass turned in and the new beds ready to grow. They are going to be used for pumpkins and cuttings in alternate years.
I seem to be constantly reorganising the smallholding. Since the turkeys and Ixworths moved into the old pig pen, that space is no longer an option as an emergency holding pen for any sheep I need to keep away from the others.

So I have decided that the spare veg patch is to be sacrificed to make way for a small paddock with occasional use as a pig rearing pen. The mangels, the larger brassicas, the pumpkins and the cuttings will all have to squeeze in with the other vegetables.

At the moment that would be quite impossible, but where there's grass there's a future veg bed! The added bonus is that grass needs a lot more management than a veg bed, so I will be cutting down on mower time too.

Boris was especially keen to help today!

Though the problem with so much digging is how to get rid of the dangly bits that get stuck in your beard!Well, if you ever get that problem, I can confidently prescribe a good long walk with regular dips in icy dykes!