New Life on The Farm

It must be spring there are farm babies everywhere! 2 weeks ago I helped the neighbour deliver these little chaps, one was a little complicated as its feet were facing the wrong way but we got there in the end.

On Easter Sunday this hen decide she wanted to be a mummy, I quickly sourced some, what we believed to be fertile Welsummer eggs and left her to it. On Monday 4 chicks hatched 3 are the brown colour I expected but one is a white bird.  The person I got the eggs from thinks the father of her cockerel was a Light Sussex so this might explain the white bird(on the left). All the chicks are doing well and the can't half eat, I have another hen sitting on some rare breed eggs which are due in another 2 weeks and another went on some light Sussex eggs yesterday.  We will keep a cockerel to add to our flock but all other cockerels will be re homed or added to the freezer, it will be satisfying to start processing our own meat.

 

The farm has had some lambs arrive, not babies but last years lambs that are almost a year old and destined for the freezer shortly, but not before spending a couple more weeks feasting on the spring grass.

In addition to farm animals we have a pair of wild ducks nesting in our front garden and there are baby sparrows and pheasants everywhere. We have an order for 3 pigs which can come to us mid may once weaned so we are reading up on registration requirements etc, it seems complicated but am sure its easier in practise than it appears on paper.  One pig will go for pork and the other 2 a little later as ham, bacon and sausage, we really need to source another freezer between now and then! We do plan to sell a little to help cover costs but will keep most of it for ourselves.

We are busy hedging and ditching at the moment so apologies for the lack of posts and blog visits but we should be back to relative normality soon.

Forthcoming Courses

A friend is offering some courses over the next few months:

 

Short courses at Bridge Farm, Snitterby Carr,

between Gainsborough and Market Rasen

Smallholding with dairy goats Sunday 28^thApril 10am – 2pm

 

 

Tutor: Patty Phillips.

The course looks at all aspects of small scale goat keeping including housing and feeding, breeding, herd health, milking, legal requirements.

The course costs £40 including an information pack, refreshments and a delicious homemade lunch.

 

 

 

Living willow garden structures Saturday 4^thMay 10am – 3pm

Tutor: Alison Walling

Create elegant natural plant supports for your garden. Learn the different techniques you need to make an obelisk, a fan-shaped trellis and a small border hurdle, using hazel and willow. You will have time to make at least one, usually two pieces to take home with you.

The course costs £50 including tools and materials, refreshments, a delicious homemade lunch and your own willow structure. 

 

Rib/frame basketmaking Saturday 7th September 10am – 3pm

Tutor: Alison Walling

Learn to make a small, round basket with handle suitable for storing eggs or fruit. This simple technique was traditionally used by agricultural workers and travellers and can be made from a variety of hedgerow materials as well as prepared willow.

The course costs £50 including tools and materials, refreshments, a delicious homemade lunch and your own basket.

Cheesemaking on a small scale 9.45am to 3pm Dates to be arranged to suit students

Tutor: Patty Phillips

Students will make a semi-hard cheese and a soft goats milk cheese. There will be opportunity to discuss the making of other varieties of cheese and dairy products which can be adapted for home production.

The course costs £50 including an information pack, refreshments, a delicious homemade lunch and

some cheese you have made.

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Alison Walling is a freelance Environmental Artist and has been working with living and dried willow for over ten years. She has trained with basketmakers and grows many varieties of willow from the East Midlands and Lincolnshire.

Patty Phillips has over 15 years experience of managing dairy goats and cheesemaking on her

37 acre farm.

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Numbers are limited and booking essential

To book call 01673 818272 or email patty.bridgefarm@phonecoop.coop

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Bridge Farm, Snitterby Carr, Lincolnshire DN21 4UU is certified organic by the Soil Association and low input, sustainable techniques are used as far as possible. A herd of Golden Guernsey goats are kept for milk and cheesemaking. We also have Kune Kune pigs, Dexter cows, hens, ducks and geese. A willow bed provides material for the courses.

A Reminder to Self

One of our new neighbours

It has been seven months since we moved into the new place and at times, I have felt that progress is far too slow but yesterday I took the time to think about what we have actually done since taking over our land in August.The biggest and longest task was erecting 200 metres of rabbit/poultry fencing this took weeks of work and was quite demoralising at times , but satisfying once finished. We still have a small area of stock fencing to put up but this should be quite straightforward by comparison.

We have planted 30 raspberry canes (3 varieties) the support wires are in position and yesterday they were given a generous mulch of well rotted goat manure and wood ash obviously these won't produce any fruit this year but the 30 blackcurrant canes will :)

We have transplanted 5 rhubarb plants into tyres, there is a hole under each tyre allowing the plant roots access to the soil underneath . The thinking behind this is that the tyre acts as a small raised bed which should drain well and prevent soggy crowns The tyre itself should act as a heat sink too by absorbing all the suns heat and getting the plant off to an early start. This appears to be working as despite all the bad weather the plants are growing, the first shoots and leaves are about 6 inches long.We also planted 2 gooseberry, 2 redcurrant, 1 blackberry and 1 Jostaberry, again in tyres to keep weeds down and roots well drained and I plan to grow my sweet potato slips this way too.

There's 25 Jerusalem artichoke tubers in this bed, they will stay in this position at the north end of the veg plot and offer a bit of wind protection to whatever is grown in front of them(they will get some support when needed). The bed is about 9ft x 9ft and has a generous topping of goat muck which will keep the tubers nice and warm. Obviously I have blogged about trees before so just a quick mention of the 30 fruit and 150 woodland trees we have planted, the buds on the fruit trees are swelling and look to be healthy. A few of the woodland trees have been a bit nibbled (we ran out of tree guards for the last 10 trees), hubby has bought some now and has taken to patroling the area at dusk with  the air rifle ........rabbit pie may be on the menu soon. 

We have this week prepared a runner bean trench, we added lots of muck, scrunched up newspaper and some poultry bedding to the trench then  we put up a very substantial support. We plan to grow lots of beans and the site is quite exposed so a wigwam of canes was never going to be enough, we used 3 x 8ft round post and some heavy duty plastic mesh usually used underneath gravel on driveways and car parks.

We have also built 2 chicken coops, laid slab bases for them to sit on and added guttering and rain barrels to collect water of the rooves. We are up to 17 chickens now but will have more soon as one of the bantams is broody and I plan to get her to hatch some fertile eggs.

So all in all  upon looking back we have achieved a lot  in quite a short space of time on a relatively small budget. I must remind myself that Rome wasn't built in a day and time to reflect on the positives.

Birds

We have been surprised at the diversity of the bird life in our little corner of the world, We have 4 bird feeders(niger seed, peanut, sunflower hearts and fatball) hanging from a mature Lilac tree at the end of the garden facing both our bedroom and the kitchen. On the feeder as well as the usual  garden birds we have seen:

House, tree and hedge sparrows
All manner of Tit's including the beautiful long tailed variety
Bullfinch
Yellow hammer
Red wing
Fieldfare
Goldfinch
Redstart
Blackcap
Greenfinch
Sparrowhawk......well it is a bird feeder ;)

 Goldfinch in the garden

On the river we have seen:

Mute and Whooper swans
Gooseander
Heron's
Moorhens

A Heron on the riverbank

In the sky above the fields we have seen:

Buzzard
Hen Harrier
Barn owl (we have heard Tawny owls too)
Swallows
Housemartins
Common Terns
Lapwings 
Skylarks :)

 Barn owl in our field

My favourites are the long tail tit's, unfortunately they won't stand still for a photo! so here's one from the RSPB 

  RSPB photo

What birds do you see in your garden?

Tree Suppliers Reviews

When I posted the details of trees we had ordered I promised a review of the companies in the end we ordered 28 fruit trees and 150 woodland trees from 3 different companies. I had used one of the companies before, I had also met people from one of the companies at our local apple day.

Buckingham Nurseries 

This is the company we had used before we bought some hedging from them a few years back and was very happy with the product. we ordered 8 fruit trees:

Quantity	Description
1	Apple, Bountiful - maiden MM106
1	Apple, Limelight - bush
1	Apple, Red Devil - maiden br MM106
1	Apple, Winter Gem - maiden MM106
1	Apple, Scrumptious - maiden MM106
1	Apple, Arthur Turner - maiden MM106
1	Apple, Ashmead's Kernel - maiden MM106
1	Apple, Howgate Wonder - maiden MM106

and all the woodland trees from here:

Quantity	Description
10	Alder, Common 2-3ft Tr (Alnus glutinosa)
10	Alder, Italian 2-3ft (Alnus cordata)
5	Birch, Paper 2-3ft (Betula papyrifera)
10	Birch, Silver 2-3ft (Betula pendula)
10	Hazel 2-3ft (Corylus avellana)
10	Larch 2-3ft (Larix kaempferi)
5	Lime, Broad-leaved 4-5ft
5	London Plane 4-5ft (Platanus acerifolia)
10	Maple, Field 2-3ft Tr (Acer campestre)
5	Mountain Ash 4-5ft (Sorbus aucuparia)
10	Oak, English or Common 2-3ft (Quercus robur)
10	Sycamore 4-5ft (Acer pseudoplatanus)
5	Wayfaring Tree 16-24ins (Viburnum lantana)
10	Whitebeam 2-3ft (Sorbus aria)
5	Holly, Silver Var. Female/Male Mix Pg
	- 4 Holly, Silver Variegated 12-18ins female pot
	- 1 Holly, Silver Variegated 12-18ins male pot
5	Fir, Caucasian 8-12ins (Abies nordmanniana)
5	Plum, Myrobalan 2-3ft (Cherry Plum)
5	Dogwood 2-3ft (Cornus sanguinea)
5	Lilac 12-18ins (Syringa vulgaris)
10	Willow, Goat 3-4ft (Salix caprea)

The trees came well packaged in 4 large boxes, you can select date specific delivery at the time of ordering for an extra charge but regular delivery was free. There was one item out of stock and we were contacted to ask if we wanted a replacement which we didn't and payment isn't taken until the trees are shipped. the trees themselves looked very healthy and had good good sized root balls, the root balls were packaged with damp straw and plastic to keep the fine roots moist, we heeled the plants in as soon as the arrived as we had to wait for a nice day for planting. Overall I was very happy with the trees and the service and have no qualms about using them again or recommending them 

 

Branch Nurseries

 this nursery runs an Ebay shop which I used because it sold more unusual varieties, the items I ordered from here were 

pear clapps favourite
pear louise bonne of jersey
serbian quince
vranja quince
medlar nottingham
plum victoria
plum warwikshire drooper
plum claude dalthan

These trees arrived very quickly in a large strong plastic bag, the branches were well protected by a plastic tube. these trees were the cheapest , £6.50 for the pears and plums and £8 for the quince and medlar. They were also the largest trees and bust be in their 3rd year, again a very healthy rootball and apparently free from any diseases.  Postage for these trees was £8.99 for the 8 trees, and as  say they came very quickly an excellent company that I would use again.

East of England Orchard Project

East of England Apples and Orchards Project (EEAOP) is a not-for-profit company working to ensure a future for local orchard fruits and orchards. I chose this company because they concentrate on supplying old local varieties, they also identify varieties at the various apple days they attend after meeting some of the volunteers I knew that I wanted to use them as their knowledge was incredible. They identify apple varieties by looking at an apple, a leaf and a bit of stem of the tree in question. These trees were £12.95 each and I ordered these varieties:

Apples:

Laxton's Pioneer,  

Lord Burghley

Ellison's Orange

Broadholme Beauty 

Peasgoods's Nonsuch

Pine Apple Russet 

Sandringham

Striped Beefing

Sleeping Beauty

Ballard Beauty

 

Pears:

Princess 

Laxtons Foremost

These trees came in the plastic bags too and were all well packed and labelled with healthy roots and buds, they also came with a detailed planting guide and a pruning guide for next year. Again I will use them again and would recommend them to anyone considering buying fruit trees. 

 

 

All of the trees are now planted and should hopefully be springing into life within the next month, I can't wait to see these seemingly dead sticks come to life!  

 

New Skills

When we knew we wanted to actively pursue the self sufficient lifestyle we armed ourselves with knowledge. Long before we even thought of moving we started to learn new skills, vegetable growing came first, we dug up our front garden and planted veg, we pulled out the shrubbery and replaced it with soft fruits. Next we learned how to make homebrew the beers and cordials were a huge success the wines less so, hubby like full bodied reds but we just couldn't reproduce this, we did however make some great fruity whites and roses from fruit flavoured teas.  

Preserving the surplus came next, jams and chutneys to start with then I bought a dehydrator which has been used a lot, I also had a pressure canner shipped from the states which has been used less so. Not because it doesn't work but more due to the large quantities of produce required, a pressure canner allows meat and vegetables to be stored in jars so means more space in the freezer this will come into it's own when we have our own meat and a much larger vegetable garden.We considered all this practise for when we got our smallholding, when it looked like that was going to happen we went on a pig keeping and chicken slaughter workshop. Both courses were very informative and made us believe in our own abilities, chickens for eggs are already here on the farm but meat birds will be along soon.

The latest skill learned was by me, I have always wanted to learn how to brick lay and our local college is running introductory courses of four evenings, last night was my second week and this is what I built. This is a corner section of a wall, I am working my way up to a barbecue and possibly an outdoor oven so learning the basics is really helpful. The tuition is great, it's one to one and tailored to help you give you the skills required to your own project. I am really pleased how it turned out and it looks so much better than last weeks pyramid (sorry no photos taken as I forgot the camera).

 

The college offers a similar course for welding, we have a machine that we bought 2 years ago which has never been out of the box, I am tempted to enrol but I suffer with migraines and worry the bright lights may trigger an attack. I might just send hubby instead, we have lots of old gates in need of some TLC so this would be a good investment, both courses cost £40 which for 12 hours tuition I think is a bargain, not sure what is next for me but I have a hankering to learn how to make salami and bacon as well as air dried hams and the like.

Have you done any courses to help you in your chosen lifestyle?

Worms

I had been planning to build a wormery using an old bath like Rhonda Jean's , unfortunately though a flu virus has spread through the house here and time has just ran away.......there's always a job to do isn't there? Whilst recovering, feeling sorry for myself I found a UK company that makes stacking wormeries and decided to take the easy option. Wormcity makes and sells a range of wormeries I went for the 5 tray model with a kilo of worms, It arrived the next day and after 5 minutes of simple assembly it was up and running.

The trays are much deeper than other wormeries we have seen in garden centres and the Instructions and back up information were very detailed, today was the first day we fed our worms (they recommend not feeding them for 2 weeks after set up) the worms are all happy and wriggling despite the cold night we have had lately. I would certainly recommend the company and can't wait until it warms up a bit so the worms eat more and produce lots of worm fertilizer liquid and worm casts.  It can take up to three months to create a tray full of worm compost, apparently worms can eat up to half their own body weight every day and can double their population every 60-90 days......more worms means more compost!

I am looking forward to turning our waste into garden enhancing compost, do you compost with worms? if so how do you do it?