So most of the animals are sorted for a while...we get some ducks(Darren and his harem), so I make a pond in this once beautiful garden...hmmm yes that was a really nice garden.
When we first moved in, in the walled area of the garden that now houses the ducks and chickens, was a beautiful garden....you know the nice cottage garden with the perfect veg plot on the side...absolutely gorgeous...then once we harvested the veg...we didn't replant...the mud hardened....and the perfect lawn is now not so perfect...and most of the flowers are no more thanks to the birds.
We built raised beds in the hard standing drive way....which gave a good crop, but it could of been a hell of a lot better...but it was our first attempt... the problem was we planted too many different veg, and not enough of each of them!
this year we are determine to sort that problem out. Although choosing what we want to plant and grow, does become a major chat now and then....i hope we like onions!!
So we also put up a poly tunnel...it was up 3 weeks ish...then we had a major storm and no more poly tunnel...along with goat shelter number two! It turns out we are in a storm path...that will explain all the windy days (no jokes please)...and will explain why all our crops were wind burn last year..but hey we live and learn.
But we did grow and very successfully, Corn on the cob, onions, carrots, curly kale, peas, broad beans, perpetual spinach, to name but a few...unfortunately the tomatoes, potatoes and parsnip's were a disaster.... must try harder!!
well will tell you more as it happens as we are now almost up to date
Bye for now
xx
Friday 27 February 2009
Tuesday 24 February 2009
Back to Jan 08
So the goats arrived around autumn...whats next??
..............A dog!!
Meet Ghillie. (his favorite thing is his ball, favorite food is cow muck..and favorite person is my partner...unless of course i have food near me!)
We got him from a young couple who could no longer cope with him, he is very hyper as he is a Springer cross Collie, he was two when we got him, and it was a wonder that they could cope as they had two kids under two, a cat and 3 kittens, a chinchilla and 5 babies, and they themselves were under 20!
First impression of Sweep as he was called back then...was he was a bit too friendly! more with the baby bouncing in the swing that was attached to the door than anything else...that's it! his man hood had to be the first thing to go!! the second thing was his name...he just was not a sweep!!
Although it was me that wanted the dog, the dog attached himself to my partner...no not that way, get your minds out of the gutter if you please....I mean he went straight up to him and totally ignored me...but I didn't really mind...after all he would spend longer with me eventually.
So When Sweep arrived the first thing was his manhood!
...he wasn't impressed!
But it didn't help, that it snowed just after, and although it was funny watching him trying to sniff the white stuff, then lifting his head only to get covered in snow...but it would make the plastic cone brittle with the cold, which in turn would then snap bits off...and would finally end up with a yelp from me as he would catch it on the back of my legs!....talk about a dog getting his own revenge!
As the time past, Ghillie, which is what we renamed him to, became more attached to both of us...and although he loves to get in the posties car(which was a shock for the postie the first time), he is generally well behaved.
when it snows however, he does get a little confused...you throw a snow ball and he will dig for ages trying to find it!
He would still be digging now if we hadn't shown him another snow ball!
Although if this dog was to be a human... I think he would be very much like Kevin, out of Kevin and perry!
he just lollops about without a care sometimes...but will never stray too far!
..............A dog!!
Meet Ghillie. (his favorite thing is his ball, favorite food is cow muck..and favorite person is my partner...unless of course i have food near me!)We got him from a young couple who could no longer cope with him, he is very hyper as he is a Springer cross Collie, he was two when we got him, and it was a wonder that they could cope as they had two kids under two, a cat and 3 kittens, a chinchilla and 5 babies, and they themselves were under 20!
First impression of Sweep as he was called back then...was he was a bit too friendly! more with the baby bouncing in the swing that was attached to the door than anything else...that's it! his man hood had to be the first thing to go!! the second thing was his name...he just was not a sweep!!
Although it was me that wanted the dog, the dog attached himself to my partner...no not that way, get your minds out of the gutter if you please....I mean he went straight up to him and totally ignored me...but I didn't really mind...after all he would spend longer with me eventually.
So When Sweep arrived the first thing was his manhood!
...he wasn't impressed!But it didn't help, that it snowed just after, and although it was funny watching him trying to sniff the white stuff, then lifting his head only to get covered in snow...but it would make the plastic cone brittle with the cold, which in turn would then snap bits off...and would finally end up with a yelp from me as he would catch it on the back of my legs!....talk about a dog getting his own revenge!
As the time past, Ghillie, which is what we renamed him to, became more attached to both of us...and although he loves to get in the posties car(which was a shock for the postie the first time), he is generally well behaved.
when it snows however, he does get a little confused...you throw a snow ball and he will dig for ages trying to find it!
He would still be digging now if we hadn't shown him another snow ball!
Although if this dog was to be a human... I think he would be very much like Kevin, out of Kevin and perry!
he just lollops about without a care sometimes...but will never stray too far!
Sunday 22 February 2009
The goats arrive!
So the chickens had arrived!
I got to to thinking again...Oh dear...groaned my partner..... Goats Hun, what about getting a goat or two?...
after much persuading, I sourced a goat from a friend of ours, a British Saanen called Rita, and told my partner, that as we have a goat arriving we had better start building a pen out of pallets. The blue air in the barn was lifted when the pen was finish, and we could both relax and wait....we were due to collect her the following weekend....The journey to my friends, to collect the goat, was uneventful, apart from the fact that i casually dropped in the fact that we couldn't just have one goat, other wise Rita will start to think she is human and attach herself to one of us!...with that thought planted in his mind, I went quiet for the rest of the journey.
So Rita arrived! ...she was a big goat! and my partner was still a bit nervous of her...he said her eyes looked evil LOL but she turned out to be very affectionate...It took her a little while to settle in...and i guess she saw me as head goat for a while. but she seemed happy none the less...although she was lonely...so while i was clearing out the walled garden of beautiful, but poisonous (for goats) plants,.... i had a cunning plan!!
Knowing how nervous my partner was with goats in the first place, and throwing him in the deep end already with Rita... I thought of a way where I could get another goat to keep Rita company! (hehehe)...so i said to (convo went something like this) "honey we need another goat!" "why, am nervous with one! let alone two" "but that's the whole point...goats are herd animals..and she needs company, otherwise she will follow you around and that will include indoors...with another goat she wont, also if we get a different breed, we can have one for milk and one for the hair!"
So then We ended up with Daisy! the angora....great !......or was it Rita wasn't happy with daisy in her pen...or with us being near daisy!!...soooo
This is Daisy...goat number two! I started to build another pen attached to Rita's.....only problem was that Rita thought she was missing out...and would jump into Daisy's pen...the bulling would start...we would go into the barn to find both out of the pens and eating the food!!!
Pen was built higher!!....but daisy found a way of escaping out of the gate!!...so gate was rebuilt!! when they finally were sorted in their pens...it was the paddocks we had trouble with!
Originally we put both daisy and Rita into the walled garden...now paddock....and both were happy...for a week!!! Rita decided to jump the gate! which i still find daft because if she had gone round the corner she would see the little bit of fencing was a lot lower!!. But no, Rita would jump the gate every time we put her in this paddock!! leaving Daisy to bleat her heart out while Rita went home to the barn!!
And every day we would try and get Rita back in the paddock without letting Daisy escape! this would be an ongoing saga! until my partner found in other paddock that we had a bit of corrugated tin...not a lot mind...but enough to make the gate from 4 feet high to 5 and half feet high...yippee i though..... how daft was i!! they were in the paddock as normal...my partner had just finished putting the iron on the gate...and as he turned back to walk away.....there was a thud and he turned to see Rita following him!! Grrrr back to the drawing board!! We cleared the second paddock from anything poisonous from them.... built a shelter in there......fixed the old electric fencing....checked the other bit of fencing...and when we were both happy...we put in the goats! first Rita....she went in and was happy to walk of in the paddock....we shut the gate and went to the barn to get Daisy.....once inside the barn we opened Daisy's pen...turned to get her out and came face to face with ..............RITA!!!!...she had jumped!! ..... now we had two goats outside the pen and paddock!! both very stubborn minded!! But I was more stubborn than both! and we put daisy in paddock first....shut the gate...went and got Rita....came back to paddock with her opened gate and put Rita in as Daisy shot through her legs, and ran down the lane!!!!....so i ran down the lane after her.....and when i caught her and turned to walk back up the lane......there was Rita....right behind me!!! both went back into their pens in the barn to try again another time!!
So now we have reached February...life on the small holding was calmer, the goats finally settled into the fact they were going in that paddock whether they liked it or not!....apart from that we lost two hens to marek's and a cockerel had a bad cyst on his leg, so my partner did the humane thing for him too....but all in all things seemed ok
It was now march...and Daisy however had seemed to of developed a cough...It didn't help that Daisy had had a few bouts with Rita a few days before....and so we called in our vet who gave her a jab to help the bruising etc and said she will be fine...she wasn't...so we called out our vet again....the coughing and heaving got worse... took her some greens and she stretched her neck up to eat but that was it ...tried to put it just out of reach to make her stand...but she refused!!she wouldn't stand....and wouldn't eat....so we arranged for a completely different vet to arrive..By now we were in the later half of march!
The new vet said she would be over on the 27th...two days away...that's ok... we were sure Daisy would be fine for then...and we went to bed
The next morning, my partner came rushing into the house all excited!! ............ "We have three goats!!!".... "Don't be silly!" i said ...."go back and count again!!"....no honestly...we do we have three goats......Daisy had had a baby!"
Meet goat number three!!
Banjo!..born 26th march 9.55am...this is him a lot bigger now, but he again is lovely! The vet arrived the following day and checked him over..yep he is fine..we finally went in and drank some tea to calm down!
Goats are hard but rewarding work we decided...lets get some more!!(but that is a later date ;) )
Saturday 21 February 2009
the start of it all
Well since i was a child, i wanted to do three things, one of which was live on a small farm with lots of animals...and I have been lucky to do two of the three i hasten to add...and now I am on the third one!
We bought a small Bungalow in August 2007, in the north of Aberdeenshire, with our nearest shop being two and a half miles away..... the property came with a barn, a small walled garden and a very small paddock...all in all just under an acre in total.
The inside of the house was very 70's...you know the sort of thing, swirly loud carpets, flock wall paper...and very dark!
As there was only myself, my partner and the cat at the time, we concentrated on decorating the inside of the house, with the flock wall paper being the first to go, followed by the 80's gray bathroom!
we also decided that as there wasnt a huge amount to do outside, we would take advange of the lovely veg that was growning in the walled garden area and we also decided we want chickens!
Having never owned chickens before, we were very nervous about them disapearing over the hill to the next farm or worse ...to mr fox!...Also so we wouldnt get attached to them we gave them names like Kiev, nugget, Kay, Eff, and Cee...you get the idea!
So to combat this we build a very large coop in the barn..making a hatch in the brick wall so they would go out during the day...this worked at first, but the chickens werent happy...they started to fight even though they had a huge amount of space...they were bored.
Christmas was entertaining...we had family over to stay, my cousin asked...."do any of the farms have chickens near here?" .... we replied with "not the closest two farms ...think the one in the distance does...why?"
she then asked "well who owns the chickens in those fields over there?"
we took one look outside...to see our chickens going for a wander on next doors land!!..the next scene, was my partner....running around the field in his wellies, with a fishing net.....trying to catch the chickens, while my cousins laughed and filmed it all!! The film "chicken run" came to mind! LOL
Yep the chickens were not happy in their home, so in the new year, we had a change of action...we build new hen houses and put them in the walled garden...they have been there ever since and not once tried to escape.
I have to say though...that we did get eggs when they were in the barn...and the day we got our first egg, we also got our first carrot and two pods of broad beans!...we celebrated with an omlete with the veg sliced up finely and added...a true feast from the garden...and we were over the moon!
now we get eggs on a regular basis...so we have learnt to make no end of things ....just to use them up!...and still loving the moment when we collect the eggs from them!!
The next post will be the next step on the small holding!
bye bye for now
kimmie xx
We bought a small Bungalow in August 2007, in the north of Aberdeenshire, with our nearest shop being two and a half miles away..... the property came with a barn, a small walled garden and a very small paddock...all in all just under an acre in total.
The inside of the house was very 70's...you know the sort of thing, swirly loud carpets, flock wall paper...and very dark!
As there was only myself, my partner and the cat at the time, we concentrated on decorating the inside of the house, with the flock wall paper being the first to go, followed by the 80's gray bathroom!
we also decided that as there wasnt a huge amount to do outside, we would take advange of the lovely veg that was growning in the walled garden area and we also decided we want chickens!
Having never owned chickens before, we were very nervous about them disapearing over the hill to the next farm or worse ...to mr fox!...Also so we wouldnt get attached to them we gave them names like Kiev, nugget, Kay, Eff, and Cee...you get the idea!
So to combat this we build a very large coop in the barn..making a hatch in the brick wall so they would go out during the day...this worked at first, but the chickens werent happy...they started to fight even though they had a huge amount of space...they were bored.
Christmas was entertaining...we had family over to stay, my cousin asked...."do any of the farms have chickens near here?" .... we replied with "not the closest two farms ...think the one in the distance does...why?"
she then asked "well who owns the chickens in those fields over there?"
we took one look outside...to see our chickens going for a wander on next doors land!!..the next scene, was my partner....running around the field in his wellies, with a fishing net.....trying to catch the chickens, while my cousins laughed and filmed it all!! The film "chicken run" came to mind! LOL
Yep the chickens were not happy in their home, so in the new year, we had a change of action...we build new hen houses and put them in the walled garden...they have been there ever since and not once tried to escape.
I have to say though...that we did get eggs when they were in the barn...and the day we got our first egg, we also got our first carrot and two pods of broad beans!...we celebrated with an omlete with the veg sliced up finely and added...a true feast from the garden...and we were over the moon!
now we get eggs on a regular basis...so we have learnt to make no end of things ....just to use them up!...and still loving the moment when we collect the eggs from them!!
The next post will be the next step on the small holding!
bye bye for now
kimmie xx
Thursday 19 February 2009
intro
First time and a blogger, it seems to be the thing to do these days, instead of putting everything down in a little book that has a lock and key, see now there's another thing...its open for all to view if i wish, which doesnt bother me, yet if this was a hand written diary, it would be hidden from everyone.
Funny how a computer will change your way of thinking.
Anyway, this is my blog about our life on a smallholding, we have only been doing this a little over a year now, my partner works in construction, and before running this place I was a make-up artist and a skin consultant...funny, I remember family saying how extreme in difference my life is now, I mean...now i patch up my jeans, don on some wellies and muck out the goats, instead of my previous life of putting on my make-up, grooming my hair so it was perfect, and dressing fashionable clothes with nice heels!...yes i guess they were right...it is a bit of a difference!!
Going back to the smallholding, well we are up in Aberdeenshire, you know that bit of Scotland that never gets mentions on the weather maps. We have a small bungalow (seems that most of Scotland have bungalows rather than houses) but very little land...in fact its under an acre! so every bit of it has to be used wisely.
We currantly own 3 goats, 5 ducks, 8 chickens, a dog and a cat....but it is still in the early stages
Tomorrow ....or even maybe later today...i will start from the begining, on the life, and how we started....but for now i am off to bed to try and catch up on the lack of sleep i had last night!
Night night
Funny how a computer will change your way of thinking.
Anyway, this is my blog about our life on a smallholding, we have only been doing this a little over a year now, my partner works in construction, and before running this place I was a make-up artist and a skin consultant...funny, I remember family saying how extreme in difference my life is now, I mean...now i patch up my jeans, don on some wellies and muck out the goats, instead of my previous life of putting on my make-up, grooming my hair so it was perfect, and dressing fashionable clothes with nice heels!...yes i guess they were right...it is a bit of a difference!!
Going back to the smallholding, well we are up in Aberdeenshire, you know that bit of Scotland that never gets mentions on the weather maps. We have a small bungalow (seems that most of Scotland have bungalows rather than houses) but very little land...in fact its under an acre! so every bit of it has to be used wisely.
We currantly own 3 goats, 5 ducks, 8 chickens, a dog and a cat....but it is still in the early stages
Tomorrow ....or even maybe later today...i will start from the begining, on the life, and how we started....but for now i am off to bed to try and catch up on the lack of sleep i had last night!
Night night
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