Learning to Work Together

This time last week Alan was on his way home for the last time, no more weekly commuting to a place far, far away for the day job.  Working from home is now the order of the day, both for our company and for the smallholding ... it's a good feeling when a long worked for plan comes together.

 .... and that is exactly what we are doing together  :-)

There has been a lot of work over the last week and with the two of us pitching in so much more is achievable each day.  Areas that we have turned a blind eye to for a long time as other more pressing jobs were tackled in preference, have now been tidied up.

The grass has been cut every where ...

... and even the chickens are benefiting from nice short grass in outer Chicken World.

Alan turned over the last few remaining manured beds that were not yet in use on the Veggie Patch, and then while he went indoors to do his 'day job' on the computer ... now from the comfort of our office in the house ... I spent the next few days filling them with Butternut Squash, Cabbages and then this mornings planting was sixty four Leek seedlings ... my 'day job'.

It's nice to see it all looking so productive.

And it's very nice to take a step back after a good mornings work and enjoy the view.

Now we have to get used to a whole new way of working.  Sometimes together lifting and shifting, sometimes we will be working in different areas of the smallholding on completely different jobs, sometimes we will be each doing different tasks that compliment the whole plan ... as in the veggie patch with Alan digging beds over and then me following with the planting.  Sometimes one of us is indoors and one of us outdoors, we need to begin sharing the computer ... and I have to learn to be quiet and unobtrusive during conference calls. 

It might take a bit of getting used to having that man of mine here all the time ... but up to now he's been very well behaved  ;-)

Sue xx

Making Money from Nothing

At the moment my head is in a space of 'making money from nothing'. 

It's car boot sale season for the next few months and we are both having a good sort out of the house and jettisoning all sorts of things that once we would have felt were necessary and useful, but are now most definitely not what we need or what we want in our lives.

It's interesting sorting through the things you own with fresh eyes and a totally new perspective and sometimes when you are looking at things slightly differently you spot things that have been right in front of you for a while that have merged into the background.

The Aloe Vera plant in the top photograph was a case in point.

Bought from a car boot sale a couple of years ago for 50p with the large green mug it sits in also from the same seller for another 50p ... although she hadn't thought to put the two together until I slipped the plant into the mug to free my hands to put my purse away ... it has sat just as it was purchased on the bookcase next to the sofas ever since.  Moving it over to dust after a sorting out session the other day I noticed how very top heavy it was and had a closer look.

It had a mass of baby plants all around it.  I was pleased ... this is the first Aloe Vera plant I have ever kept alive  :-)

I took it over to the polytunnel with me this morning and spent a pleasant half hour repotting it.

Ten plants from one pot.

Yes, I feel totally guilty that this lovely family of plants once resided in the tiny black plant pot to the left of this photograph. 

Seven small plants that I hope to sell for 50p each ...

... and two larger ones that I'm hoping will fetch a pound each.

So a possible £5.50 in takings.

And the lovely thing is that I still have my original 'mummy' plant along with the one baby that did not have a root system of it's own so was not ready to detach.  So the green mug is back in it's original position on the bookcase and nothing has changed in the house.

Except that hopefully once we have done a couple of car boot sales, or popped them out at the farm gate on a sunny day, we will have made some money from nothing to pop into the Food and Plants Fund.

Sue xx

Composting Brainwave

 

 

I had a bit of a brainwave a couple of weeks back. 

 

 I was busy weeding in the veggie patch when I sat up to straighten my back and have a little break, like you do, sitting back on my heels and surveying all the work still to be done I glanced over at the compost bins.  We have three, built together out of old pallets on the side of the veggie patch handy for the patch and the tunnels.

 

Now the grass and weeds growing all around the bottom of the compost bins was longer and lusher than anything else growing on the veggie patch and it made me think.

 

Why not build a smaller version of the compost bins and site it in the middle of each of the raised beds in turn.  Leaving it there for a while for the grass trimmings and all the other contents of the bin to start leaching their goodness directly into the ground where I will be wanting to grow next year.  The compost when it is on it's way to  decomposing nicely can be added to the main bins and then the little bin can be re-sited onto another raised bed.

 

The soil on our veggie patch is very poor, after all it was once part of the main paddock and has only ever been used for grazing for animals and growing grass, and of course it drains downhill so any goodness gets washed downwards with any heavy rain, so the more we can do to feed it and pull up the nutrient levels for growing vegetables the better. 

 

We'll see if this little brainwave is a good one in the years to come if the quality of the soil improves ... but in the meantime it can't possibly do any harm.

 

Sue xx

 

 

 

 

We Did Something We've Been Putting Off For Years .....

We did something last week that we've been putting off for years .... planted up an asparagus bed!!

You don't get anything from your asparagus plants for the first three years, you have to be patient and let them grow each year and settle down without taking a harvest,  so it's never been wise to get a bed started.  We were on our first farm for three years, our second smaller place for two and now we are here in what is hopefully our last home before we retire to the seaside as pensioners so it was now or never.

There are only eight plants in here ..... I'm not that keen on the stuff, but it's a start.

For more information on growing asparagus for yourself have a look HERE.

And before anyone comes on and laves a comment saying how neat it all looks ..... I'll hold my hands up and show you the state of the bed below the new asparagus bed.  I'll be weeding it tomorrow, I was working higher up the patch today on another even worse bed!!

Sue xx

Mother Goose and the Toilet Roll Inners

I had a little helper in the polytunnel this morning.  

 Mother Goose the Hyline hen is on her last legs.  I actually think she has had some sort of mild stroke as she went from being perfectly healthy to not seeing and not being able to walk properly in the space of one evening.  Over the past few days she has been slowly getting back the use of her legs and is no longer missing her step and falling over as often as she walks.

Putting a few wriggling little worms in front of her got her instincts going again this morning and apart from perking her up a bit with the relative warmth of the polytunnel and a few high protein snacks, it showed me that her eyesight has also improved greatly.  Unfortunately she has the hunched over stance that most chickens get when they are convinced their time is up.

Oh well she is another hen that has had a brilliant life and if I can spend a little bit of time with her and make her feel better before she goes then so much the better.

I was in the polytunnel with my little companion for a mass seed planting marathon using my favourite method ... planting in toilet roll inners.  Myself,  my Mum and Mary from next door all save them  through the Winter, flattened and banded in big bunches they wait for planting time.

Then they are cut in half ...

... and placed forty to a tray.

Then  filled with sifted compost.

 I use a mix of general purpose and John Innes fine seed compost in a 4/1 ratio for good seed germination and to keep costs down.  Then I sow one or two seeds per tube and water well.

Once the seedlings are strong and well rooted the whole lot, cardboard tube and all is potted on into a small plant pot or later in the year I plant directly into the raised beds either in the polytunnel or out on the hillside.  With lots of watering and rain outside the cardboard inners soon disintegrate and are absorbed into the soil.

It's very cold here at the moment and these pictured courgettes have suffered a little bit as a result, even in the polytunnel.  They are currently back under a plastic cloche to help them warm up and hopefully survive.  They were lusciously green and healthy only a few days ago.

It's proving to be a very strange Spring, the hills opposite were absolutely white with snow and hail first thing this morning, and we have had on and off hail showers and heavy rain all morning, not good for a grower with itchy to get on with things green fingers!!

Sue xx

All Very Organised ..... or is it?

It's all coming along nicely in the polytunnel, my favourite seedlings in the world, the Courgettes,  are looking deliciously chunky, everything else is showing it's face nicely.

Little touches of green peeping through  :-)

I even have Aubergine seedlings showing their faces .... I struggled a bit with these last year.

All very organised and productive.

Unfortunately the weeds in the front flower bed are equally productive, and it doesn't help that the wind scattered grass seeds in there when we sowed the new grass next to this bed last Autumn!!

Oh well if it's dry tomorrow you know what we will be doing  :-)

Sue xx

Ooops .......

Most definitely an 'Oops'  moment!!

I left my potatoes chitting .... in the dark ... in the cupboard under the stairs and forgot all about them, I think they have most definitely chitted  ;-)

They have been rescued by having the extra long chits removed and are now sitting in the light of the conservatory still in this bag.  The chits are now happily firming up and turning slightly green ... phew!!

I have planted three of them in large pots in the polytunnel to give me a head start with some potatoes, but the rest of them can wait another week or two until the soil outside in the Veggie Patch has warmed up a bit.  Two of the raised beds are covered with membrane so they can go in those as they will be the driest and warmest, and so hopefully will give our spuds a good start.

That is of course if they will survive their abandonment in the cupboard and survive to give us a decent crop of homegrown potatoes.

Sue xx

In the Net Tunnel This January

It's a bit desolate in the Net Tunnel at the moment, the pathway is still waiting to be covered in membrane and a layer of bark chippings, we've used all our supply for now though but we've been promised some more by the guys that cut tree branches down as they grow too near the electricity wires in the area.  I should have weeded it but I've damned if I'm going to go out in the rain to weed a path :-/

There are of course some edibles in there, mostly the cabbages.  I've been simply picking a couple of outer leaves of each one whenever we need some for the many pots of soup that I've made recently.  It keeps each plant growing and hearting up nicely.

The garlic on this side is looking a little bit weedy, but it is growing albeit very slowly.

The garlic on the other side is stronger and more upright, yes we have A LOT of garlic growing!!

Something has eaten it's way through the netting, I don't know what but nothing has been eaten inside the net tunnel, just a bit nibbling by some slugs, so whatever wriggled it's way through the net didn't like what it found inside.  I'll have to have a little sewing session here before the hole gets any bigger.

Although the promised snow didn't land on our fields overnight, it is on the hills opposite and now the black clouds have rolled back in and the rain has started to fall again after a day of clear skies and sunshine.  The dogs have the right idea and at every opportunity take to their beds and snuggle down in the warmth of the kitchen. 

For me it's time for a cup of coffee and a spot of blog hopping :-)

Keep warm.

Sue xx

Shiplap and Snowdrops

The workshop doorway is coming on nicely.

It will have two doors soon, but first the panel at the top is being shiplapped so that it will match the rest of the workshop which will also be covered with wood in Spring.  It will sit nicer on the hillside with a more natural covering.

When Lovely Hubby plans a job he does it properly and between him and Simon everything was cut to size creosoted inside and out and then put into place.  The inside will also be wood with a layer of insulation in the middle.

Drat he spotted me taking photos  ;-)

I was over at the polytunnel a few minutes before taking the photos picking the makings for a pot of soup for the workers and I noticed we have Snowdrops and other bulbs appearing all over the place, it's looking very green.

Sue xx

Ladies (and Man) Who Lunch

Last week while Lovely Hubby was off work we both went to Mum's for the day.  We nipped out as is our usual very nice habit, to the garden centre for a spot of lunch and a good natter.  Me and Mum do this regularly and it was nice to introduce Lovely Hubby to the concept of 'ladies who lunch'.

We also introduced him to the concept of ladies who like shopping at garden centres after lunching, and he was only too happy to join in with the bargain hunting.  With the end of season sale now on, which means they are making way for  shhhhh ..... Christmas decorations, I've put in small so as not to alarm anyone ....  there were lots of bargains to be had, but my best bargains were some packets of seeds to plug the gap in what I already have for next year that I've been collecting on my magazine each month and ....

... I might have been tempted to stock up on gardening gloves!!

These should see me through a good few years and at just £2.50 for three pairs,  reduced even further from the usual offer price of £4.99 for three pairs, I think it was a worthwhile purchase.

He enjoyed being an honorary lady who lunched and even bought us an additional coffee to refresh us after a really good shop  :-)

Sue xx

A Touch of Orange

Simon came for the weekend to help Lovely Hubby get the net tunnel up and ready for use, the orange van parked outside the house is his. He had to tuck it in close to the house to allow all the builders, roofers, brickies and delivery wagons to get in.  My car is actually behind his van right under the living room window.

Between the two of them, on Saturday, as well as coming to the Llanrwst Show with me, they got all the netting on the tunnel frame and one of the raised beds in place and partially filled,  Today LH has reduced the height of this bed as it really was unnecessarily deep and he's now working on filling it to the top with a mix of riddled soil, compost and '6 Ex' fertiliser.  Now that we know how poor the condition of our soil is, we are working to improve it whenever we can.

Everywhere I look I see touches of orange, the van, the little digger in the background ....

... both of them wearing orange T shirts for working in !!

It's Lovely Hubby's favourite colour and it's Simon's work colour ....

... when he's not driving these brightly coloured trucks ....

.... he's in the garage fixing them, now he's almost a fully qualified mechancic as well as a HGV driver.

And yes, you might have noticed his van in the top picture is an ex-company one.  Bought to do up and convert into a van to live in.

Meanwhile, and not a drop of orange in sight, the building work is going on a pace.  Since this photo was taken the workshop floor has been poured and has now set, the scaffolding around the roof has come down and the brickies have been here all this morning filling in the gaps around the top now that they can get at it without the poles being in the way.

And I'm busy sowing and harvesting more food ... no oranges here though :-)

Sue xx

It's All About the Potatoes

I spent some time on Thursday afternoon digging up one of the beds of the 'Estima' potatoes.  We didn't really need them up just yet but I wanted to pick out the best for the show this Saturday in Llanwrst and had my fingers crossed that there would be at least some that were usable.

I was pleased with the 5.5 kg haul from one bed, there's still another bed to be dug up but I'll do that in a couple of weeks, giving the skins time to harden off a bit now all the greenery has been cut off.

In 'old money' 5.5kg is 12 lbs, well according to our scales anyway!!

I laid them all out on a towel on the ground, along with the 'Swift' that I had dug up last week, to dry off a bit and so I could pick and choose between them.  I ended up with four rows of five, then down to three rows of five.  Then I went in the house for something, when I came out there were two rows of five and one of four.  I scratched my head and, thinking I'd miscounted or just gone mad, I found another one to go with the four.

Anyway I chose the ones I wanted bagged them up and put all the others in the 'potato bag' in the cupboard ready for eating. 

When I went out later to go over to Chicken World look what I found in the grass .....

.... a certain little doggy had decided to have a snack while I had gone into the house ... mystery solved.

Oh well, at least I'm not mad .... YET!!

Sue xx