The craft Fayre

The craft Fayre was not a success, it was more geared towards children than anything else, when i spoke to other stall holders, they had the same result as me, but it wasn't totally wasted, i sold some peg faeries and made some new ones, and the end of the day i sold a laptop bag and some candles to a woman who had a stall next to me...and a couple of other bits and bobs, so i came out in the plus which is better than a kick in the teeth!
Also sold some items to my partners sister when she came up last week...so that also helped.

When we got back the pigs were squealing for their supper and the goats were bleating like there was no tomorrow!
Funny how much noise they make when they all get going, the neighbouring farmers must think we are torturing them! But i promise we are not....funny how livestock can be so demanding at times!

Sunny has been playing up a little too, We know what the cause is, as he is spraying a lot! but it doesn't help that he decided to break down his door from his pen!
My partner and I were having a cuppa and through the window i saw Sunny looking at me,that was a surprise in itself but not only that he was quite happy eating from our veg patch!, so we both shot outside, and he was in his cantankerous mood and went straight for my partner, lifting him off his feet, thankfully not hurting anymore than my partners pride.
When we finally got him in the barn, which looked like a hurricane had been through it thanks to Sunny, we saw the door to his pen was clean off the hinges and about 20 feet away from where it should of been!! So a bucket of feed distracted him(along with some veg), while my partner fixed the door I cleaned tha barn back up, my partner then said" a Rhino wont get through that door now"....I bleeding hope not! I am having enough trouble with the billy let alone a Rhino!!
He has also been having another go at the shed! Although its still up right! but now it has two entrances and exits! I will be glad when mating season is over!

Rita is also being a pain, she has started screaming for a billy, even though there is one beside her!
Although she is getting better with letting me milk her, think she has just resigned to the fact she is going to be milked whether she likes it or not!


We have two hens going broody now even though we have stuffed ice under them, i am sure the daft hens are trying to hatch the ice, either that or they like cold bums! The ducks are on strike in laying eggs too! but that could be that we have now introduced the ducklings to them...will have to wait and see, not that we need any eggs at the moment!


Not sure whats up with Mollie the cat at the moment, twice recently she has bought us a mouse! this is very unlike her...she normally goes outside during the day to sleep and then comes in at night.......to sleep! think there must be something in the air!


Well i must go and make wedding invites.....oh didnt i tell you? ... i am getting married next August, trying to do most of the prep and planning myself, so i am making all the invites and cake etc....begining to wonder why though...its hard work ontop of everything else!

Which reminds me i will have to start making christmas cards soon! oh what a scarey thought!!

By for now xx

quiet week!

You remember Sunny knocking down the shed, and my son re-building it with his girl friend...well it still stands!

Sunny has tried in vain to knock it down....but its held up nicely! .... phew!

The veg is looking good. we have frozen some curl kale ready for winter, hung the garlic, and will do the same to the onions when they are ready, Strawberries are over now, although we do have one or two hanging on!

Onions are swelling nicely, wont be long before we are drying them out, and we have been and will continue to harvest peas for a while!

You just cant beat your own home grown veg!

The birds seem happy enough, they are scratching and pecking in the garden and havnt escaped or even tried to, apart from Ruffles that is,but then she likes to be awkward!

Mollie the cat has been a little worried though, she sat on the table in the garden and was suddenly surrounded by birds...bless her, she look scared, but also had that look as if to say "all these birds and not one small enough for me to kill!"

We do, however, have a glut of eggs, so i have put tons in the freezer for winter, also been baking and putting that in the freezer too, hopefully, a lot of all this will carry us through the winter this year! There are only so many things you can make with eggs.... and i am rapidly running out of ideas!!

But the poly tunnel has been a great success this year! we have melons, sweetcorn, tomatoes, chillies, cucumber, fennel bulbs, lots of herbs, gogi berries and grapes to name but a few!

So you can guess we are as pleased as punch with it....pity the poly tunnel is not bigger though.

Other than that i have been crafting like mad, in order to get some pennies in! I am making flower peg faeries galore:

And a fair few cards! Here are just some of them:

and hoping to sell my things at the Fetterangus craft fayre this sunday so fingers crossed.

Other than that theres not much to tell this week....i may be late with next weeks blog as my sister in law to be is comming to stay for a week with her partner and their four year old! so it will be a busy week i hope!

another day!

Well my son and his girlfriend are up at the moment, and they have been great help while they have been here so far, the shed that took a huge battering is now upright and solid, Sunny had a go at it and it still stands, thanks to the two of them for fixing it!

They have also built a trap for the rooks to stop them getting at the hen eggs, although unsuccessfully so far, this trap is a humane one, but at the moment the rooks seem to know what its about, and haven't fallen yet!
Although I bought an air rifle yesterday, and my partner managed to shoot one! the smell of death must of scared the others away, as we haven't had any eggs nicked today..........yet!

So far while they have been up, We have baked bread, foraged for blaeberry's....bilberry's to some of you, walked on beaches...and built things around the house and garden! as well as the usual jobs and practicing with the air rifle!

We have also harvested some Peas, Potatoes, Strawberry's(although we are battling with the slugs with them) Marrow, curly Kale and Onions! so all in all a busy wee while.

weather has not been horrendous, a couple of days of sunshine this week....even managed five minutes in my hammock!! Although saying that, its a beautiful, warm sunny day today, and that hammock is calling me....oh what to do...oh what to do ;-)


Yesterday the animal welfare came round to check on my paperwork, which i am pleased to say was all in order, and he went away a happy man! But when i Rang to register the pigs, they said they would send another one to check the feed etc...you would of thought that they did all that in one hit! Oh well....we are tidy, the feed bins labeled and ready for anything they chuck at us, so now we have to wait and see.

Today my son and his girlfriend have done a fantastic job of clearing the barn! as well as clearing all the rubbish that the pigs have dug up!
Its really surprising, not only how much they dig up...but how much was buried as well, I wonder if they ever dig and say " another piece of inedible rubbish"
I must admit, I do sometimes wonder if all the livestock 'plot' together.....I am sure i have seen them all gathering in a little meeting in the barn now and then......nahhh they can't be............can they???

The Piglets arrive!

There has been upheaval in the small holding recently............the goats have been stirring and trying to work out what is going on next door to them..........

and the commotion that went on when the piglets arrived!........ well .... see for yourselves........

You can almost hear the goats saying....

"oh no! we have pigs for neighbours!"

But the piglets have settled down nicely....they don't seem bothered by our goats....or the fact the the daft dog keeps touching the electric fence with his nose....thought spaniels and collies were intelligent....but poor ghillie must of been in the back of the cue for brains....four times in one day he touched the electric fence, then yelped, and once the following day, as well as yelping in his sleep(could of been reliving his day i think!), the piglets don't even look bothered by next doors cows that have also had a shock from the fencing...oh well!..

Already we have named them Salt and Pepper, I know, I know, you shouldn't name something your going to eat!

Which is why we named them salt and pepper, so we wouldn't forget we were going to eat them and so we wouldn't get too attached to them, besides it wouldn't of been fair to name all the livestock so far and not these two would it!?!

Salt is the closest and bravest of the two....she also looks the biggest, but they are the same size, i just that's my bad photography at work!

Picked some lovely red strawberries today...put them with the other fruit to see if my partner will spot them...yeah i know they are bright red....but he is colour blind, and rarely sees them against green, guess what i put them with? ...... hehehe yep green apples hahaha

Guessing i will be in trouble when he reads this next hahaha

He now has his house up for sale, so we are hoping it will sell quickly, then we can put the money into expanding the farm.....well that's the theory anyway.....so anyone want to buy an investment? 120k set price....in a quiet village not far from a sandy beach(about 5 miles ish)....two bedroom with large back garden.....only an hour(just under actually...well more like 40 mins haha) from the city of Aberdeen....oh well worth a try..... we have a viewing tonight....so fingers crossed.

The money has been spent already, want to buy the field next door and get some boer goats as well as the livestock we have already....but its like everything you dream of doing....your finger tips just cant quite reach your goal....still one day.......one day (sigh)

heatwave!!

How hot has it been! Bit cooler today...but phew!!

Wasn't sure at first whether to keep the goats in in this temperature, but when i felt the heat in the barn at 10am...decided they were better off outside!

So out they went, Sunny has his usual routine, the first thing he does is to go straight over to the shelter in the paddock...this is the result!...........how can one goat do so much damage!?

Its struggling to stay up...and i don't think it will be long before we loose the 4Th shelter....back to the drawing board i think!
After demolishing the shed they all join in to eat the bark off the trees! Again this is the result...about a quarter of my trees look like this at the moment..not a pretty sight :(

Although the goats have a definite look of "it wasn't me, honest gov!" ... but they all have this lovely stain of bark around their mouths, which gives them away slightly!

Alice is coming on leaps and bounds, still suckling now and then, but I must admit its not been that often

The piglets arrive this Sunday! my partner is really looking forward to it! all i see is roast pork, pork chops, and a side of ham! Its suppose to be easy-ish to make a parma style ham...will let you know at a later date if it is or not.

I do keep thinking that I should get the chalk ready to mark out the joints, But my partner said i am not allowed to! I guess he is right really, after all the chalk would wash off in the rain!

still the sty is finished, just the pen to do really...and that wont take that long, its more of a case of making a gate to fit on and put the electric wire up...job done!....if only it was that easy, things will go wrong , especially as we don't have a lot to do to it! Or am i being too pessimistic?

We are chuffed to bits with the veg this year....its looking great

the veg are going great guns...although the chickens desecrated the carrots so we had all of 8 of them! but we don't eat many anyway...so no great loss really.

We did do an experimental bed...My partner built a coldframe, put a layer of straw down, followed by the contents of the compost heap....he then planted some pumpkin seeds.....and left it to its own devices....the result?

Well........ see for your self!!

what grew was Pumpkin, perpetual spinach, sunflowers, tomatoes, potatoes, marrow/courgette and feverfew...i dont think i missed anything out, but not bad seeing as we only planted the pumpkin hahaha.

Well i am off to hose all the animals down now...most dont mind it, although Ghillie and the chickens dont seen to like it much ....never mind it will cool them down a bit.

Bye for now xx

as life goes on!

Well not a huge amount to report this week.

Weather has been very hot, and poor Ghillie and Mollie don't know what to do with themselves in this heat...keep hosing Ghillie down, but he doesn't seem to like that either....no pleasing some dogs is there!

We have two more hens that have gone broody!....Bertha and Kiev...am surprised Bertha has...she is an old girl and usually chuffed to bits at laying the tiny est of eggs!!

But it also means that egg production is down a bit...but we don't mind that as we have so many at the moment...even a few in the freezer!

Darren the drake will be dinner soon!...he keeps attacking the cockerel and hens as well as the two new ducklings!....duck in orange sauce! crispy fried duck!....ooh what about roast duck and a few steamed veg!! yummy....feel like i should be drooling like homer Simpson hahaha

My partner has nearly finished the pig pen and their shelter, which is good, as they are due to arrive very soon!,

already have chosen one of them...not sure which to choose out of the rest of the litter yet....although i didn't choose her i should say she chose me hahaha...went for my crocks that were on my feet so had to have her didn't i haha.

Alice is looking like a devil that butter wouldn't melt in the mouth of hahah...she has these perfect little horns and an angelic face! my partner tried to milk her mum again the other night as usual...Alice decided that while he was she would clamber up his back and sit on his shoulder!! she really did look like an imp then! hahaha you could almost hear her whispering in his ear! hahaha

We put them out all together for the first time last week...and they all got along fine, we were worried about Sunny's horns more than anything...

but we regularly find Sunny and Alice cuddled up together, or laying next to each other...don't know what we were worried about now. But i guess as its a small holding, we tend to be a bit over protective of the livestock now and then...must relax more with them.

The hay in next doors field is looking yummy! would love to let the goats loose in there and then pretend i didn't know how they got out!! ....hm mm maybe a bit of Alice is in me too!! hehehe.

The fruit and veg in the poly tunnel is looking fabulous! as is the veg in the raised beds!!...wont be long before the strawberries turn red and are ready for harvesting!! We will be in undated with black currants again this year, already having to look for new things to do with them....worse comes to worse, we can let the chickens loose on them, but knowing our luck, they wont want them!

we are having roast cockerel for Sunday dinner this week....no not Beaky...but a friend of ours has a vicious cockerel, said she was happy to shoot it but couldn't eat someone she knows!...couldn't help but laugh...still we will still have to pluck and gut it...must find something to return the favour with.

Its a wonderful day though today, sun is shinning, birds singing, a gentle breeze, and not a huge amount to do on the farm.....everything is so quiet....although it wasn't earlier when i stood on a rusty screw that went through my shoe and into my foot! the air was incredibly blue then!!

Well the day has been good, and the sun has shone! had a visit from a friend this morning...and i am off to make something now to take to a friends this evening......we are learning how to weave baskets tonight...should be fun! :)

harvesting

Not much has changed since the last blog to be honest.

Alice is a little bigger and growing a lovely set of horns! Rita is getting a little frustrated with her, you can see in her face, she has that "now what can i get her to do" look... i wonder if goats ever suffer from baby blues after giving birth?
well they are both outside in the paddock at the moment, then its the turn of Sunny and the twins to go out....have notice that Tuppence has some udder development, i this she has come out in sympathy for Rita.
Getting two pints of Rita daily( we only milk her once a day at present), and a little under 500 ml from tuppence.

The ducklings turn out to be Runner Ducks...but yet to see if they are full runners or a cross breed...still yet to find out if they are male or female! i guess its one of those "we have to wait and see!" moments again.

Piglets arrive in a couple of weeks!! really looking forward to their antics!, my partner is busy trying to build a sty, and pen for them as well as housing for the runner ducks!

Any way... eggs ... lets not go there with eggs... we have far too many... enough said i think!

We are harvesting a lot more now...had some lovely lettuce out of the poly tunnel last night, and radish's are still as nice as ever!
Tomatoes are growing nicely, as are the peas, onions, leeks and curly Kale.

Had a lovely salad from the garden the other day, which included our very own goats cheese(thank you again Rita), and our own lamb salami (which was the very last of prudence, and was what my partner had so loving made)it was very nice.... but it was also a real "feel good" factor....knowing you had produced all these items yourself, and they had no hidden rubbish in them!

We were looking for elderflower again this year, to make more elderflower champagne ... but so far there has not been that many out ... or maybe they are a little late? who knows! i only know there are an awful lot of Rowan flowers out....i wonder can you make rowan flower champagne??

I am currently making honey mead and maple syrup mead, they seem to be doing very nicely...although i am a little confused...most recipes now days call for a Camden tablet in the wine!? why? years ago they didn't even hear of Camden tablets!...i must admit i will only use them for sterilizing the demi johns and will not put them in the wine!

Plenty to forage out there at the moment...sweet Cicely, comfrey, nettles ... wild garlic is nearly over though.....although if you know where they are, you can still eat the bulbs...just don't take too many!
Weather is all over the place, which doesn't help you when you are trying to get things sorted!, but that seems to be happening everywhere doesn't it.

well time to rest my back for 20 Min's before i start egg collecting ...pity there isn't a smiley section on here ....i need one for rolling eyes!

chat soon xx