Days off, and a bargain

Spring is coming a bit slowly. It's still cold, and things are growing cautiously. We had a frost this week.
I've got five days off work now, and the job list is growing!
Top of the list is to disassemble and recover the polytunnel. It's way past its best, and really does need an overhaul.
I've also got a lot of seeds still to plant and lots to prick out/pot on/possibly even plant out, too.
I haven't been to see Diva the welsh pony for a while - Neil looks after her while I'm at work - but if the collie's coat is anything to go by, she'll need a good spring brush.
The sheep are already sheared, as they were due to be shown at the Bath and West, but our class has been cancelled, so no show prep to do.
One hopefully pregnant goat might need some tlc, and the two 'baby' chickens will need to be moved outside.
Not to mention a bit of a house and garden overhaul. I need five weeks off !

I am usually wary of magazine subscription deals, but I couldn't find much wrong with Kitchen Garden's £5 for three issues, plus free seeds.

Today the seeds arrived! A very good deal, I think!

February Freedom

I'm not even going to say anything.
I always love it when people pop up and say, 'I'm so sorry I haven't posted in a while.'
I'm pretty sure no one was waiting.
Had the lovely H home for the briefest of visits this weekend. So lovely to see her, and hear all her news.
Boo, meanwhile, who nominally lives with us, works so many hours I barely see her.
This weekend we vaccinated the sheep and goats. We've moved the sheep around so the girls are all on our field and the boys are at the field in the next village. So a bit of driving around with a satchel full of sharps, but all done.
Then H came home, and we had a late night chat, and then Sunday morning church, big  roast, sleepy afternoon, and then she went home.

Thus begins a whole week of 'work' in which I have to make inroads into the veg garden, and try to sort out the house and bits of the general garden. Two cubic metres of recycled compost due for the veg garden have been delayed until Thursday, so Monday is starting slow and I really must be careful not to waste the week.

Updates to follow, I hope!

Late Harvest

It is August now, and the time of harvest. Well, maybe, for some.
I planted a lot of things late, and will be harvesting a lot of things late, weather permitting.

We have had some very chilly nights, and I believe in some northern areas it has been down to 1C which is not really your usual August night time temp.  I have stepped outside some mornings to a chill reminiscent of autumn. It can't be autumn yet?

We haven't even made our hay yet - and I'm getting twitchy as Neil continues to put off talking to the contractor. Hay is a very key part of our operation.

As the season threatens to shift, perhaps too soon, to a new phase, I feel my own impatience to do all that I have tried and failed (or talked about and not tried) to do for year after year. It's so easy to believe that because you have tried (or talked about) a thing many times, and it hasn't happened - somehow it's too late.

It can't be.  In my heart, I know I need to make this farm be and do all it can. Some days I feel drugged by my inability, my lack of knowledge, the lack of time.

What do I really lack? Faith.

Maybe it is the time of the harvest of lost dreams and failed attempts, the harvest of wasted youth and fertile middle years, the harvest of plans and schemes, knocks and trips, sorrows and misfortune, hope and belief, of God's promises and my lack of faith in our own ability. The actual harvest.

elecampane

motherwort

garlic

Catch up with our antics

on www.chestnutsfarm.com

We spent most of the day today at the Devizes Food Festival, and despite an early soaking had a good day, handing out information about our Permaculture project and Veg Box Scheme.

The girls got their photo taken for the local paper, and I had a chat with our local MP about sustainability and Transition Towns.

We're running an Introduction to Permaculture course in October, and all the goats are about to kid.

More in depth thoughts when I've recovered from today!

One Good Idea.

If you're very, very short of money, and you have any garden available to you, which you can in any way utilise - give this a thought.

A packet of Suttons or T&M or similar seeds costs around about a couple of quid. There are some cracking varieties available, and some tempting descriptions to ponder, as well as beautiful pictures, a fabulous catalogue, and Alan Titchmarsh or his like (is there such a thing?) grinning at you from the depths.

This lot cost under ten pounds.

I bought Lidls seeds for my Dig For Victory garden last year and the yields were fine. Some of them were exceptional. Yes, I'd love to meander back through the hallowed halls of the Real Seed Company or even my old faithful, Edwin Tucker - but beggars, it seems to me, can't be choosers and we are in a corner here.

29p, one of those smaller packs at the front costs. If you grew a dozen of those lovely lettuces, or a pound of those tomatoes, you'd be quids in. No, it's not ground breaking horticulture. Yes, I'd love to stick to heritage varieties (the germination rate and yield of which have often been woeful, to be honest) but you know what, I can't afford to.

It's seeds week in Lidls. If you have a patch of bare earth, or a patch which could be bare earth, do yourself a favour and spend ... maybe even 87p:


to supply yourself with good, solid, staple food - vitamins, minerals and real flavour for a fraction of the cost in the shops. And it's going to go up more, believe me.

And yes there are one or two flowers in there - I treated myself. I do however eat sunflower seeds and calendula flowers!

Now, moving on, I have finally finished batch one of the marmalade, six pounds of pure tangy bittersweet joy.




And what's interesting is - either of those would qualify for a 'Choosing Contentment' slot - simple things that can fill your life with joy. Homemade marmalade - minimal cost, maximum flavour. Cheap seeds, that nevertheless hold God's promise, and really can feed a family. All that's required? Sun, rain, earth and hard work.

As the very wonderful Jonathan Brain would say (you'll have to shout to get the feel): WOW! HOW AMAZING IS THAT?

Something of Spring

has been in the air, though it is only January.


for the first time in months, there was this, for a start.


and the view in the lane has been like this - look, no snow!



There is green goodness in the garden - this is Black Tuscan Kale, which thankfully we all love and revere - because we have a lot of it!



The smallest shoots of spring goodness are growing in my tunnel in a tunnel.



and in the kitchen, goodness from the fruits of autumn. Oh, how I love these squashes.



and the daily goodness of milk - we just have one goat in milk at the moment - our dear old Scallywag - and this is our daily quart of milk - along with the pile of books which seem to follow me everywhere, as I seek information and inspiration!

So many good things.

The fact that I am fairly sure the soap I made last night has gone horribly wrong almost seems unimportant! Almost.

Not THAT frost tolerant

Half a row left of my wonderful savoy cabbages, much beloved of the Dig For Victory campaign, and a real winter standby. We've loved them, despite never having thought of a 'savoy' as a separate entity before, we were total converts. And of course they're frost hardy.
Well. Maybe normally they are. But -9 seems to have done for them.
Even my purple sprouting looks as if it may be struggling. What an extraordinary winter we are having.
Still. Now I know. If I grow them again and it gets this cold, I can fleece them.