Bringing In the Cabbages

The high winds of the weekend took one of my little net wigwams off the Veggie Patch under cover of darkness ... where they took it too I have no idea, it's completely vanished ... so the cabbages that were safely nestled under it have been exposed to the elements and the critters that live on the hill, that last bit sounds like something out of a horror movie doesn't it  ;-)

Alan even walked along the road looking for the wigwam but no luck!! 

So I had no choice but to start bringing the cabbages in and processing them.  This first lot were soaked in salted water, rinsed and then shredded and whizzed in the salad spinner before being frozen as they are.  As we should be eating them over the course of the Winter I thought I would see if I could get away with not having to do a mammoth blanching session.

The Sweet Chestnuts in Nut Wood were falling off the trees so they have all been brought in and taken out of their very prickly coverings.  This is the first proper crop from these trees, we were really pleased to get so many/

In other news ... I still don't waste anything and this lone crust was whizzed in the Nutribullet ...

... just three seconds later and I had a tub of breadcrumbs for the freezer, the next crust I get I'll do the same to and fill the tub up to the top  :-)

Sue xx

Tidying for Winter ... and Potato and Onion Soup

Alan is in the process of tidying up around the raised beds on the vegetable patch and emptying some of the beds ready for putting them to bed for the Winter.  The four beds highest on the hill just a few potatoes left to harvest so he started off by digging them up, then after a good weeding the beds were covered in black plastic which he stapled round the edges to try and stop the wind lifting it.

These beds are going to be the asparagus and rhubarb beds for next year, two of each, so we want as much goodness as possible kept in the soil and not washed down the hillside with the huge amount of rain we get here every Winter.  That is also the reason for keeping the little compost bin in place for now so it can carry on feeding the soil.  The rhubarb will be transplanted through slits in the plastic in a couple of weeks when it goes dormant.  That way, hopefully, next year we will have a lot less weeding to do :-)

I brought the potatoes he dug up into the house, after he had very kindly washed them for me, and added a couple of handfuls of my huge spring onions from the polytunnel to them.

They were sautéed in olive oil along with some garlic, a sprinkle of chilli flakes and a couple of sticks of celery, before I added lots of vegetable stock.  Then it was all brought to the boil and left to simmer long and slow in the bottom oven of the Aga while we went out for a few hours.

Once home it was whizzed up with my stick blender and portioned out.  A jug full that we had for lunch today.  The glass bowl of soup that has been left chunky and has added peas, is for Alan's lunch tomorrow while I am in Manchester for the day, and the two two portion tubs are now safely stashed in the freezer for future use.

I have to dash now as it's time to deal with a vast amount of beans he has just harvested.  It's hard work this putting the hillside to bed lark .... I'll be ready for mine before he's finished at this rate.

Sue xx 

Tour of the Plot - Part Three

Part three of the Tour of the Plot is the Veggie Patch. 

Situated above the Poly and Net tunnels it is a sloping area of raised beds and woodchip paths. We took the decision to grow in raised beds as I have found this the best way to grow vegetables.  You can feed or water specific beds without waste, dig up a bed of potatoes without disturbing another crop and I like the way it centres my mind on a small area.   I find can give each bed more care and attention than if I was faced with a large flat space.

We have four long beds each divided into smaller sections and one special bed.  Three going up the hill and one at the top going horizontal.  The special bed is Dad's Memorial Bed and is a wildlife haven, with flowers and a birdbath for all the little pollinating visitors and our feathered friends.

The woodchip paths between the beds was all given to us free of charge by our local friendly tree surgeons who have mandatory tree trimming to do each year for the local electricity companies (so the trees are not threatening all the overhead power lines).  They leave the owner of the land they are working on the chopped lengths of wood for their fires and log burners and have to come away with the chippings off all the small branches (if the person doesn't want them).  We were happy to offer to be a dropping off point for the whole of last year ... so we are making good use of the chippings.

The centre part of bed one has my new netted tents, bought in the Wyevale sale last year after a lunch with Mum, and up to now working brilliantly to protect my new Cabbage plants from all the Cabbage White butterflies that are in the area.

The first bed ... three Cabbages and a French Marigold, then a tyre with Peas growing up a support, behind them are half a dozen Tomato plants.

Under the net tents are 20 Cabbages.

The top section of this bed has the Runner Beans growing up the fixed wire mesh  and two Courgette plants on this side.

Yes, the lower part of the Runner Beans have had ALL the leaves eaten by rabbits or squirrels, but somehow the top parts are still surviving.  This happened last year and I left the roots of each plant in the soil, luckily they regrew and we ended up with a bumper crop off just two plants.

The horizontal bed at the top of the patch has an empty bed nearest to us, the mini compost bin in the centre one ... 

... a fantastic crop of Cob Nuts on the overhanging trees ...

... and a good crop of 'Estima' Potatoes in the far bed.

We have decided to use these top beds as two new Rhubarb beds and two new Asparagus beds from Autumn of this year when we will transplant the Rhubarb from the current Rhubarb patch and plant the Asparagus seedlings that I am currently growing from seed.

Going back down the hill and looking at the centre bed we have a couple more Potato plants and another tyre of Peas.

Then we have one empty bed (soon to have the Turnip seedlings) and then even more potatoes and a tyre planted with French Marigolds.

And then there is Dad's Bed ...

... a little wildlife oasis in the midst of all the vegetables. 

Lots of plants around a bird bath and  a small tree.  Salix 'Caprea Pendula' which is a half standard and this year is so lush it appears to be a big green pom pom.

Back to the bottom of the hill and we are at the last of the long beds.  The first section has six Butternut Squash plants.

The next section was to have been our Asparagus bed, but the escapee chickens last year killed all but two of the Asparagus plants, so now it has just been planted with this years Leek crop.  Which I carefully did around the ferns of the remaining two Asparagus.

Yes, teeny tiny Leeks.

The final section, has a couple of Runner Beans growing up the mesh (the rabbits ate the rest), and at either side of the wire there are some Marrow plants.

Meandering across the back of the plot to go back to the house we have a Hop plant at the top of the fence.  Hopefully one year there will be enough hops for Alan to use in his beer brewing, or at least to add flavour to his beer.

Continuing down the fence line there are the Blackcurrants ....

.... then after the compost bins the Raspberries.

All this leads us back down to the Belfast sink and round to the gateway that takes us back to the house.

The last part of this little tour will be in the next post.

Sue xx

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

Help ... No Cabbage!!

I'm pretty well known for my 'hiding behind a cabbage' profile picture .... but what do you do when there is no cabbage available and there's a man roving around armed with his phone taking pictures ..... simple you hide behind a baby fruit tree.

Thank goodness it had leafed up a bit and has some nice blossom to afford me just a little bit of cover :-)

The roving photographer was snapping away just before we moved the chickens back to their original, and now much rested Chicken World.  We decided to move them on Sunday night as I really needed to get the raised beds on the hillside back into use, I have lots of plants now needing to be transplanted outside to their final positions from the poly and net tunnels.

We just had to wait for dusk when the chickens were making for their night time perches in the hen house and then one by one we lift them off and put them five at a time into our large chicken crate.  It must be funny for them going to bed in one house and then waking up in another identical house ... but one that is in a totally different place.

They love being back near our house, they can see what we're up to and more importantly keep an eye out for me when I'm coming out to feed them, and I can see what they are up to most of the time.  But best of all for them they can now go through the gaps in the old stock fencing into the little wooded area that actually belongs to our neighbour, hunt for bugs and creatures to eat and keep out of the heat of the sun.

They are very happy little chickens ....

... and I am a very happy veggie grower.

Now that they have moved back I have managed to get a large proportion of the Veggie Patch weeded this morning .... and got two beds of Runner Beans planted out.  This photo show one of them.  I'll be adding some more vegetable plants to the front of the bed over the course of the next week to make the best possible use of the space I have.

It wasn't possible to plant or even weed over there before as we had three daily escapee chickens that no amount of fencing would keep in, who came out to rummage around through the chippings on the pathways between the beds and dug into any disturbed soil that they found, looking for creepy crawlies to eat, luckily they never got into the poly or net tunnels ... I wouldn't like to imagine the devastation they could have caused in there!!

So this week in the mornings before the sun gets everything too hot, I will be found mainly weeding and planting on the Veggie Patch, and thus making lots more space in the polytunnel for the Pepper and Aubergine plants to have the space they need to be potted on.

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

 

 

 

 

Quick Harvesting, Long, Slow Loading

The harvesting is coming thick and fast at the moment, unlike the computer which is going long and slow ... these three photos just took 35 minutes to download, it's because I am posting from my little laptop at the moment while our office computer is in to have all it's stored information loaded onto our new computer system. I guess that's the downside to only usually blogging in comfort from my desk and on our office computer.

 

I didn't realise until I came to use it for this but my small laptop is still running on Windows 8, which is now an unsupported system so I am going to have  to upgrade as it makes sense to have them all running on the same programme.  At least that way I'm not having to adapt each time I use a different computer ... and maybe this will perform a bit better after an upgrade.

 



 

So I think it's fair to say that for the next two weeks you are not going to get more than one photo a day ... sorry!!

 

Out on the Veggie Patch the sudden cold nights are having a detrimental effect on the outdoor courgette plants so I have been harvesting them as quickly as they get to a half decent size and having grating sessions.  The grated and squeezed out courgettes are then put into flat ziplock bags and will be great for using in soups, casseroles etc. over the Winter months.  Freezing them flat like this takes up  less space in the freezer as they stack so nicely and it also means that if I only need a smaller amount  I can snap off just part of the pack.

 

It's time to step away from the computer now and take the dogs out for a walk, a bit of fresh air after a frustrating computer session is exactly what is needed.

 

Sue xx

I left you hanging in the air ...

I left you hanging in the air at the end of the last post ... mainly because I had to go and get a photo of a little addition we have had to add to the new Chicken Land.

We have added some short trellis fencing to the top of the stock fencing that separates Chicken Land from the Veggie Patch and I'm sure you can guess the reason why.  The 'Welsh Girls' the four youngest, fittest of our birds have spent the last few days hopping over the fence to scratch about in the Veggie Patch, making a real mess of the bark chipping pathways and nibbling at the few veggies that are currently in there.  

Not so much of a problem at the moment but it would have been a huge problem when I start to transplant the seedlings that I am currently growing in the polytunnel ready to grow on outside.

To stop them ... or so we thought ... we clipped their wings.  It doesn't hurt chickens at all, a bit like us clipping our fingernails, but what it does is make them lopsided and they find it harder to fly. Chickens don't like to fly much anyway .... unless there is a good food source just over a fence  :-)

One of the culprits!!

We didn't realise how young, fit and agile three of our girls were, the day after we clipped their wings they just flapped and jumped and they were over the fence.  So alternative methods had to be thought of.  Luckily the way Lovely Hubby had fenced the veggie patch to separate it from the orchard included a horizontal rail at the top of the stock fencing, it was put there to help the fence posts remain rigid on a wet hillside.  So he has nailed and added supports to this and topped at all with the trellis fence topping panels that we went out and bought yesterday.

So now we will just have to see how high these three chickens can jump, up to now they have not made it over the newly raised fence .... but I have a sneaky suspicion they could be in meetings to plan the digging of a tunnel  ;-)

Sue xx

Fat or Sugar

Infographic borrowed from Mail Online/Food and Drink

Fat or sugar the debate rages on, which is bad for you, which does the most harm, which one should we avoid.  My view and that of a lot of well respected researchers is we should avoid sugar.  It does nothing for us other than give us insulin spikes, rot our teeth and cause us to become more and more addicted to it, there are NO vitamins, minerals or nutrients at all in sugar.  But the good thing is once you start it is surprisingly easy to cut down your consumption of it until your sweet tooth vanishes altogether.

I thought my sweet tooth had simply gone into hibernation until last Friday.  We were out and about running errands, picking up building supplies, paying for the last lot of building materials that had been delivered etc and I said to Lovely Hubby "I'll treat to to a cream tea", his eyes lit up like the eyes of a man that had not eaten a cream tea for a long time (he hadn't, he's been very good).

The reason for my offer, we were just about to drive past our favourite, and possible the cutest tea-rooms in Llanrwst .... Tu Hwnt Ir Bont, which means Beyond the Bridge.

Inside it looks like this, but with the glorious sunshine on the day we sat in the gardens and enjoyed the fresh air.  Why this ramble ... well I always order a plain buttered scone with my coffee while Lovely Hubby goes the whole hog with a pot of tea and a cream scone.  You get pretty impressive portions of jam and cream here so he offered me some, I spread the smallest quarter of one of my scones with jam and topped with some cream ..... and it was sickly sweet, I swallowed it down and had a quick swig of my strong black coffee to take the taste away.  

The thing is we know jam is full of sugar, but seeing the infographic shows just how much sugar is actually hidden in foods we think are good for us.  I used to eat Activia yoghurts, but I haven't for a long time, while they don't taste overly sweet because of the sour fruits in there I prefer to eat food in it's more natural state so just simple plain yoghurts for me and I add my own additional ingredients if I want any, usually a banana or some strawberries.

In the infographic I was shocked at the amount of sugar in the KFC coleslaw ... WHY!!  Coleslaw is a savoury thing why would it need sugar at all.  It's as though we are being driven purposefully into the clutches of the sugar producing companies, after all the more we get addicted to and come to expect the taste of sugar in everything we eat, the more we will spend on products that they make money out of.

Sorry for the rant, this infographic really got me going didn't it  :-)

My opinion on fat?  Well it's natural, it comes attached to various foodstuffs and it has nutrients we need, it also helps our bodies pull the vitamins and minerals that they need from the foodstuffs we eat, particularly vegetables,  So in my book fat has a place in our lives but sugar should be relegated to the bin.

I'll jump off my soap box now and go and sob quietly in the corner ...... the rabbits have eaten ALL my onions and shallots from the Veggie Patch.  I have to stop rescuing baby rabbits from Rosy and Ginger  they grow up to be veggie munching monsters, so from now on I will let them get on with pest control in their own way and just not watch while they do it.

Sue xx

The Veggie Patch in June

I've been asked a couple of times for photos of the Veggie Patch, so here goes.

This is the view from the bench and by the time you've carried a few watering cans up the hill as I have been doing this morning you need the bench.

I don't always water with the watering can, but I have our 6X feed in the trough in the polytunnel and I'm gradually working my way round the outside beds feeding the soil with this lovely nutritious drink and then covering with mulch to keep in the moisture.  We've not had any rain for almost two weeks now and with lots of young crops on the parched hillside I'm just doing my best to keep them alive.

The 'pop bottle' crop is Sweetcorn, after I took the photos this bed was watered and mulched, I think I will risk taking the pop bottles off later on today, they are simply used as mini cloches to keep the plants a bit cosier at night after first coming out of the heat of the polytunnel if I've not hardened them off.  In front of  the Sweetcorn in the same bed are some Pumpkin plants, and then in the bed further down with the bean support I have planted Runner Beans and Butternut squash.

Planting tall or climbing plants, for example beans, sweetcorn or peas with a sprawling plant such as Courgette or Pumpkin means that the sprawling plant covers the soil keeping in moisture and anchoring the tall plants.  This is part of the 'Three Sisters' method of planting that I first wrote about HERE.

Two more Pumpkin plants are in the next bed and there is some space over for more Butternut Squash which I am just hardening off ready for planting out.  The bed to the left has got First Early Potatoes, the ones I got from the Pound Shop.  They are lovely healthy plants but still quiet small.  I need to feed this soil a lot more I think and carry on with the mulching.  The end bed is still covered over with membrane, it was going to be more Sweetcorn but my other batch of plants didn't appear .... dodgy seeds I think.

The view looking up the hill at the same part of the Veggie Patch, which shows the two beds of Second Early Potatoes lower down the hill than the Bean bed.

Looking up the hill through the net tunnel frame.

The centre beds have Courgettes under the net cloches, then it's the Garlic bed and behind that an as yet unsed bed covered in membrane to keep the weeds out.

The right hand beds have Red Onions, White Onions and Shallots.  This picture was taken before I watered and mulched and you can see how parched the soil is.  The bed with the bean support has Runner Bean seeds in, but I don't think they are going to come to anything so I will add some more seeds up there while there is still time.

In the centre of the Veggie Patch is Dad's Bed, a two metre square patch of flowering plants to attract the bees and pollinating insects.  Another day or so and the Poppy plant in there will be in full bloom the buds are on the verge of exploding open.  The tree is magnificent this year, lush, green and very healthy and the bird bath is very necessary for visiting birds and bees.

As you can see most of the crops that I have planted in the outside beds are the sort that rabbits and other creatures would not find too appetising, and my plan seems to be working.  Having planted the garlic and onions first seems to have set a precedent and they have obviously decided that this is all that's available on this part of the hill, so they have stayed away .... up to now!!

Soon there will be the net tunnel for the more 'rabbit tempting crops', salads, lettuce, cabbage cauliflowers etc, but for now all I can do is bide my time and wait for it to be finished, we have so much going on it's slipped down the order of importance :-(

I'll be back out in the Veggie Patch later to do some more watering and mulching, but for now it's too hot out there and even hotter in the polytunnel,  hence I can have a quiet hour with a coffee or two on the computer while the washing machine does it's thing downstairs.

Sue xx