Getting In The Harvests

As the season winds down, I have been continung to harvest from the poly tunnels and raised beds.

Peppers have done really well this year as well as picking during the summer I picked all these the other day with the idea of clearing out the plants but there is still about half again coming on so I have left the plants for now, these all got chopped up and in the freezer ready to add to meals.

Tomatoes have been very prolific and bounced back well after an early attack of blight, I wont bother growing the Amish again but the Nepal which are the big ones have been brilliant.

These potatoes are from a pallet collar bed I set up, our fourth lot of succession potatoes this year, that is the way I am going to do them I think rather than put a big area over to them and then having to store, I will just grow them successively perhaps having 5-6 harvests a year.

The last of the Blueberries have been picked and added to the 8lb we have in the freezer.

The melons have now all been cleared, they may not be the biggest but they are juicy and sweet, I am going to have a go at dehydrating some.

Kale we are picking as we want it 

same with the carrots, they are a fantastic size, this year I grew them in a double height pallet collar bed, in very very sandy soil that I mixed myself, I did the same for the parsnips and both have excelled themselves.

Now do you remember 8 months ago I started curing a ham Serrano style, well yesterday was the unveiling day

I happy to report it was a success it taste like a Serrano I am over the moon with it, next year I want to do a couple of them.

Here are my blog links to the process I did 

Stage 1 Of The Ham  

Stage 2 Of The Ham  

 

😀🐖😀

 

Now I just have to master some hard cheese from the goats milk.

 

 

 

 

 

Feet Of All Shapes And Sizes.

A regular job that needs doing around here is feet.

The mama goats get feet checks every fortnight 

 Thelma has problem feet and I am trimming them to try and bring them back into the shape should be. She came to us with poor feet and two years on there is only 1 now that still needs regular work. Thelma has a bit of an attitude and tries to show she is boss stamping her feet

 Helen with her dodgy leg is no easy task, standing on only three legs she falls over if you pick up a foot, so I need Martin on hand to hold her up, as she was born here her feet are in good shape and never been a problem as we have done them on a regular basis

 Connie came with poor feet as well but hers are now in fairly good shape, having the goats on the milking stand makes feet trimming very easy, they get groomed every day as well, Connie has long hair and it often has tangles she enjoy being brushed down and smartened up.

 Helen is just Helen and is very friendly she likes to were ever the action is, she is very aware of those horns but has never used them in anger.

 The boys feet are still fine being kids.

 Every couple of months the Alpacas have to have there feet trimmed, its a two person job, yesterday we got them shut in for a pedicure,

 They don't really like there feet or legs being handled, It is usually me at the feet end while Martin holds them still or tries to, they are really strong animals and can easily throw you around.

 Nick Nack who is the best trained I can hold easily then Martin can do his feet, its good that we both know how to every ones feet

Injuries from yesterdays feet trimming were minimal 

One bruise for me, Daisy kicked out and caught the inside of my leg, Alpacas have 2 toes and those toe nails grow like 2 talons, in the natural habitat they are on stony rocky ground that keeps those talons ground down, having there shelter with a concrete floor helps but its not enough.

Martin did his sheep the other day, being a small breed they are easy for one person to handle.

I did the dogs.

Every ones feet are now in good shape to see them into winter.

Goose Obsesssion

Tom one of the ganders has an obsession

It might even be goose love 

 He has fallen head of heels in love with the pink wheelbarrow, he follows the wheelbarrow everywhere 

even when you know he hasn't seen you and he is down the other end of the field and you move that wheelbarrow out of sight he will find it.

 today Tom was most upset when the wheelbarrow was turned over and the wheel taken off, it had a puncture

 while it was upturned he stood guard over his friend, give gentle little pecks as if to encourage it to hang in there.

 he doesn't like his friend being upturned and out of action. 

Hang in there Tom, Pinky will be better soon.

The other two Jerry and Gertie have no interest in Pinky and not at all concerned when Tom disappears to be by Pinky's side.

Another bit of news Thomson and Morgan contacted me earlier in the week asking if they can use my blog as part of there 9 Wonderful Welsh Garden Blogger Article, of course I said yes, 

you can read the article here on there blog 9 Wonderful Welsh Garden Blogs

 

Its All Change In A Few Days

Harvests are still coming and something has to be done with them, I purposely didn't grow some things this year as I had plenty still from the previous year.

 The last of the Bramleys from the old tree in the garden have been turned into apple sauce

 I portioned it up for freezing, once frozen I took it out of the silicon cases and popped them into a bag, Martin is the only one who eats apple sauce I dislike cooked apples, now when we are having pork I can just take a portion out for him.

Tomatoes are still being harvested, roughly 6-7lb a couple of times a week, this lot are destined to be canned.

 Mushrooms are still popping up in the poly tunnels and they get added to dinners or mushroom on toast for breakfast, they certainly like growing in the poly tunnel, next year I am going to set up some mushroom beds in one of the poly tunnels.

 My father in law brought me some of the tomatillos he grew added to some of our tomatoes red onion garlic pepper piquant pepper from the freezer and some coriander

we had a lovely salsa. I didn't have enough fresh coriander as I was out I popped into Thomas and picked up a bunch for £1 also got a couple of pineapples for a £1

they got put in the dehydrator

I do like to nibble on them.

 Martin has got the last of the roof panels onto the workshop barn.

 and made  start on the dividing wall, this is workshop side

 this will be the wood store side, with a mezzanine floor giving a place to store vegetables so they will be close to the house. There will be proper stairs going up no ladders for me, thank you.

 New gates we now have proper opening on closing gates, all the old rusty ones that were just filling a gap and not usable as a gate have been changed, this one leads over to the Alpaca field on the new land

 The fencers have been busy another line of fencing complete, this one divides the sloped field from the Alpacas field, the other side separating them from the hay field was done a few months ago.

The brush is still being chipped, the hay field and sloped field have been cleared, just the Alpaca field to clear then we can start on the dividing hedges and the back fields.

Its all coming together 😀

 

 

 

Moving Homes

The past few weeks we have had an influx of family visitors,

It dosen't take much to throw you out of your routine.

Martin's parents were over staying with us from France, there was lots of trips taking them out and about to see the beautiful area we live in. 

Martin's mum got stuck into brushing out some lamb skins that we had tanned 

 she did a grand job

and chose one to take home with her, they come out lovely and once trimmed up they were ready for the guest room.

 Martin has got himself another tractor, it is bigger than his other one, as he has been buying lots of attachments he needed something with a bit more power, once unloaded the forks were put on and it was put to work

we needed a bigger house for the geese, now the first lot of table chickens are in the freezer we have used there house for the geese

of which we now have three, Gertie has joined Tom and Jerry, they spend the day roaming around the field at night they are shut in there secure house in a secure pen. I hope next year we will will have goose eggs and fingers crossed they will raise a nice little family to increase there numbers, they are Chinese crested geese.

 The younger second batch of meat birds are now free ranging in one of the paddocks clearing up bugs and slugs these Ross Cobbs like slugs, they have also moved into bigger accommodation, the old Alpaca field shelter in the background has been re roofed and the front has been closed in with a door and and pop hole, Martin got it done with the help of his dad.

The Billy kids have now been weaned from there mums they have moved into there own paddock with there own bachelor pad.

 Another field shelter that Martin adapted to a goat house.

 The boat has returned home after being re-tubed and serviced its now all ready to hit the waves.

 Another acquisition for Martin a transporter trailer, its just as well we have space to store all these boy toys.

This weeks project, Martin is re-roofing this barn with new box panels, the old leaky corrugated sheeting is coming off, half of the barn has had a concrete floor put in and will become Martins workshop the rest of the barn is being given over to a wood store and veg store. 

We need it weather tight before winter sets in, the roof will be finished today next job is wood cladding on the outside, as it is near the house it needs to look tidy.

I wont leave it so long for my next blog post everything is now getting back to normal.👍