Well a 10 hour power cut on Thursday really messed up all my plans. My night shifts started on Friday and with more snow each day. Its been a struggle to get in each night and home each morning and this morning took over 2 hours to get home and its snowing again, so I'm taking a holiday tonight and I thought I'd batch bake all my mincemeat pies tonight as they freeze beautifully for up to a month. I made my Mincemeat back in September
Getting down to the chickens thought 2 feet of snow (its drifted) each day has been a struggle but they appreciate liquid water and topped up feeders. They seem warm enough with lots of fresh wood shavings inside and lots of deep snow all over the outside to keep the heat in. I even got an egg yesterday, bless my little black pekin hen, she is the only one currently laying.
A lot of my guttering has come down under the weight of the snow but otherwise we're all ok having said that its snowing really hard right now.
Monday, 29 November 2010
Thursday, 25 November 2010
2010 Produce
The green house was a good success and I'm hoping for even better next year. I got a steady supply of ripe tomatoes August & September, which went into sandwiches with my fresh homemade bread.
When high winds brought down all my cooking apples in September, only about 5lbs but 4 times what I got last year, they needed using up, SO I made 3 huge jars of 3 Delia Smiths sweet mincemeet and 3 classic Christmas puddings, 1 Christmas cake, 2 Apple pies and then using up the huge glut of Green Tomatoes, the first 8 jars Delia's green tomato chutney was bottled on the 3rd October followed by another 8 jars about 4 weeks later when I cleared the green house out.
Because so much vinegar is used in the recipe you must wait at least 8 weeks before eating so I can't yet report on the taste but hopefully the jar of "store bought" chutney currently in my fridge will be my last.
I got a bowl of cherries early September but they weren't very tasty might just be cos it was the first fruit or maybe I should have picked them earlier, more worrying is that it might just get hot enough up here in rural Northumberland. The plum, eating apple and pear trees have yet to fruit. I can't wait for the plums
The onions did so/so, the carrots & parsnips did great but were short & stumpy, the turnips were small but very tasty (I made lots of stews). The rest didn't germinate.
When high winds brought down all my cooking apples in September, only about 5lbs but 4 times what I got last year, they needed using up, SO I made 3 huge jars of 3 Delia Smiths sweet mincemeet and 3 classic Christmas puddings, 1 Christmas cake, 2 Apple pies and then using up the huge glut of Green Tomatoes, the first 8 jars Delia's green tomato chutney was bottled on the 3rd October followed by another 8 jars about 4 weeks later when I cleared the green house out.
Because so much vinegar is used in the recipe you must wait at least 8 weeks before eating so I can't yet report on the taste but hopefully the jar of "store bought" chutney currently in my fridge will be my last.
I got a bowl of cherries early September but they weren't very tasty might just be cos it was the first fruit or maybe I should have picked them earlier, more worrying is that it might just get hot enough up here in rural Northumberland. The plum, eating apple and pear trees have yet to fruit. I can't wait for the plums
The onions did so/so, the carrots & parsnips did great but were short & stumpy, the turnips were small but very tasty (I made lots of stews). The rest didn't germinate.
Wednesday, 24 November 2010
Winter has arrived to Sleppy Hollow
With 6 inches of snow outside it seems that winter is well and truly here! It seems to get earlier every year.
With the chicken breeding stock separated and housed up for the winter except for the black pair as she is still laying.
I'm now looking forward to many long dark nights off curled up on the sofa with my blanket, a hot cup in one hand and an endless supply of seed catalogues and recipe books in the other. Granted it may seem mind numbing boring to many people, personally I just cant wait.
With the chicken breeding stock separated and housed up for the winter except for the black pair as she is still laying.
I'm now looking forward to many long dark nights off curled up on the sofa with my blanket, a hot cup in one hand and an endless supply of seed catalogues and recipe books in the other. Granted it may seem mind numbing boring to many people, personally I just cant wait.
So how did the 2010 plan go
The PVC greenhouse was much harder to assemble and secure against the wind than I could have imaged. I'm very exposed here so I went for a large lean too and my dad came down and drilled it to the wall, but even so it takes such a hamming that I've took the PVC pannels out and stored them for the winter.
I started 8 Tomato seeds in a germinate dome off on the dinning room window as that's the only warm and light place I have but it worked fantastically. Its a big deep window so I'll manage more plants this spring. I need a shelve about half way that I can use to start other plants off and then remove as the tomatoes grow up.
I already said why the turkets and geese failed but that I plan to get some day old chicks in the spring 2011.
I bought 4 plastic raised bed kits and went about putting them together, filling them with top soil and a goody amount of my compost. I planted onions, turnips, beetroots, potoatoes, carrots, parnips and raddishes.
I started 8 Tomato seeds in a germinate dome off on the dinning room window as that's the only warm and light place I have but it worked fantastically. Its a big deep window so I'll manage more plants this spring. I need a shelve about half way that I can use to start other plants off and then remove as the tomatoes grow up.
I already said why the turkets and geese failed but that I plan to get some day old chicks in the spring 2011.
I bought 4 plastic raised bed kits and went about putting them together, filling them with top soil and a goody amount of my compost. I planted onions, turnips, beetroots, potoatoes, carrots, parnips and raddishes.
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
Getting though the Winter 2009/2010
Lulled into a false sense of security following many mild winters that long cold hard winter took me by surprise and much was lost. Some of trees, plants and herbs just didn't survive, but thankfully I lost no animals at all.
The chickens were OK kept inside there house but keeping liquid water available to them for more than a few minutes at a time was a real challenge. First I tried giving them warm water but it still froze within an hour, as I work night shift that was not a problem, they don't need water during the night, but after a 12 1/2 shift I need to sleep for 8 straight hours. So giving them warm water at 08.30 when I get home was just not going to cut it, as it was dark long before I get up at 17.00. A google search, a trip to the supermarket later and liquid glucose added to the chickens drinking water proved successful. Vaseline applied to the chickens combs and waffles helped to prevent frost bite. I'm really exposed here, not that far from the north sea coast, we had many nights of -20 C even the days were about -5 and the snow was deep between the back door and the chickens house.
The water butts were frozen (it seemed like completely) for about 5 weeks then thawed for a couple of days before freezing again for weeks.
I keep about 4 gold fish in each of my water butts, firstly because I love to see life in strange places but more practically because they eat all the biting insect larvae that would use my butts to mature and then bite me and my animals. They have really thrived on eating insects and the occasional pinch of fish food, and they along with some oxygenating weed weighted to the bottom keep the water crystal clear. I know the worst thing you can do is break the ice as the vibrations kill the fish but feared my lovely goldfish were ice cubes or worse slowly suffocating! But the ice was so thick, there was no way I could have broke it, like I said, it looked like it went all the way to the bottom! I was trilled when the ice finally melted and it seemed like all of the goldfish were fine.
The chickens were OK kept inside there house but keeping liquid water available to them for more than a few minutes at a time was a real challenge. First I tried giving them warm water but it still froze within an hour, as I work night shift that was not a problem, they don't need water during the night, but after a 12 1/2 shift I need to sleep for 8 straight hours. So giving them warm water at 08.30 when I get home was just not going to cut it, as it was dark long before I get up at 17.00. A google search, a trip to the supermarket later and liquid glucose added to the chickens drinking water proved successful. Vaseline applied to the chickens combs and waffles helped to prevent frost bite. I'm really exposed here, not that far from the north sea coast, we had many nights of -20 C even the days were about -5 and the snow was deep between the back door and the chickens house.
The water butts were frozen (it seemed like completely) for about 5 weeks then thawed for a couple of days before freezing again for weeks.
I keep about 4 gold fish in each of my water butts, firstly because I love to see life in strange places but more practically because they eat all the biting insect larvae that would use my butts to mature and then bite me and my animals. They have really thrived on eating insects and the occasional pinch of fish food, and they along with some oxygenating weed weighted to the bottom keep the water crystal clear. I know the worst thing you can do is break the ice as the vibrations kill the fish but feared my lovely goldfish were ice cubes or worse slowly suffocating! But the ice was so thick, there was no way I could have broke it, like I said, it looked like it went all the way to the bottom! I was trilled when the ice finally melted and it seemed like all of the goldfish were fine.
Composting (Something for nothing)
I love composting as I hate waste and it feels like I'm doing a little bit for the planet.
When I moved in my council had a deal with a delivery company for large black composting bins for just £10 each and 330lt water butts for £15. So I bought 2 bins and 5 butts (metered water here so I thought of the butts as an investment). Wish I'd bought 5 bins though as my 2 are always full. Some gardeners make their own bins with wood but I'm not the slightest bit handy at all.
Things I compost
When I stripped out the last of my veg from the raised beds, I turned them over and added a good amount of well composted matter to the digging in, so they'd be ready for spring 2011.
When I moved in my council had a deal with a delivery company for large black composting bins for just £10 each and 330lt water butts for £15. So I bought 2 bins and 5 butts (metered water here so I thought of the butts as an investment). Wish I'd bought 5 bins though as my 2 are always full. Some gardeners make their own bins with wood but I'm not the slightest bit handy at all.
Things I compost
- Shredded paper and junk mail,
- Coffee grounds and any un-drunk coffee (great activator), tea leaf's/bags,
- old wool and cotton clothes,
- egg shells ~ they don't really break down but they give off a lot of minerals into the compost
- fruit & vegetable peelings, apple cores, dead flowers, uncooked veg/potatoes going bad,
- the contents of the Dyson (mostly cat hair) human hair works too,
- kitchen roll and cardboard inners, bits of cardboard to small for the recycle bin,
- lint from the dryer,
- garden waste (I do leaf's separately for leaf mold),
- chicken poo and dirty wood shavings,
- Grass cuttings
When I stripped out the last of my veg from the raised beds, I turned them over and added a good amount of well composted matter to the digging in, so they'd be ready for spring 2011.
2007/8/9
So the first couple of years. All I produced was herbs, potatoes and cut and regrow salad greens. The fruit trees did nothing for a while but I kept planting more trees as much as I could afford to buy. 2 of the 3 black current bushes took and seem to be doing well but both the gooseberry bushes died, the soil needs work before I try again.
Then last year the chickens were the first to produce some thing I could eat and I did. Those eggs were fantastic, followed later in the year by a few small cooking apples which went into a lovely oaty apple crumble!
So 2009 some Eggs and a hand full of apples added to my annual bounty, but still I felt like a small holding fraud which let to a plan for 2010
Then last year the chickens were the first to produce some thing I could eat and I did. Those eggs were fantastic, followed later in the year by a few small cooking apples which went into a lovely oaty apple crumble!
So 2009 some Eggs and a hand full of apples added to my annual bounty, but still I felt like a small holding fraud which let to a plan for 2010
- green house
- raised beds for planting veg
- Turkeys for christmas
- some geese for eggs/meat
- more trees
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)