A Morning On the Farm

I needed to collect some eggs for my breakfast, and I thought I'd take you with me....

First we see Floss, always waiting to do a job, she's always so pleased to see me!

Next we see the cows as they are on the lawn for the next few days as there is so much grass there, and I can't mow the top bit. They love that long grass and clover.

This brown and white cow is Dot. We hand reared her a few years ago to be raised to sell for meat, but she decided when she was only little to jump two fences with elecric outriggers, and an electric tape to go and see the bulls. So we had to keep her.
I milked her last year, and she reared a lovely calf. She is due to calve again in about a month, you can see her udder growing again. I still don't have anywhere suitable for milking, but she's going to need it as she was producing 12L at the very start which is too much for a tiny calf.














Next are the beautiful Devons and their babies...





Into the hen orchard, the Bramley apples are looking good...













We are greeted by the hens, I hope there are some eggs!
The geese walk away, as they know Floss will try to round them up if they are too close. They used to peck her, but then all of a sudden everything changed in that relationship!









They have made their own nest, on the floor and there is one hen sitting, and one waiting. Why don't they use a proper box? Silly chickens!
I reached under her, but no eggs yet! I'll have to come back soon....

His Quilt

I wanted to make him a quilt, and his favourite colour is green.

Green can be quite a dark colour, or quite cool. And what colours go with green?

This is my first ever quilt, and I wanted to make something nice.

I decided to make a log cabin inspired quilt, with a central pannel that had iinteresting hot air balloon scenes on. I tried to cut the centres with a bit of balloon in each, and something else interesting for him to look at...

I like the way it came out. He does too.

I made it for him when he was just four I think. The crazy bit is that he was absolutely adamant that I didn't make it, I bought it!! Insulting and flattering all at once!

Now he knows I made it all those years ago. He is nine now, and loves his special quilt. 

It was such fun to make!

A rare tidy moment.

Curtains

I have waited quite some time to be able to make curtains for our home. First all the renovations had to be done, so three and a half years later the upstairs is ready!

Next came the daunting task of choosing fabric. We just couldn't find any we really liked, so in the end we chose some colours and patterns none of us were greatly offended by.

I wanted to start on the boys' smallest window, a triangle shape that can hardly be seen, so I thought that it would be the perfect one to learn on.

After 3 months of waiting for the fabric I was able to get started, and how wonderful!

I'm very pleased with the outcome.

The process takes an awful long time, and once I start I can't really stop on that curtain until I've finished, as I'm mostly working on the floor - quite dangerous with hungry and thirsty children everywhere!

The heat at the moment is very difficult to deal with, but hanging a good thick curtain up makes an instant difference
to the room temperature.

So the boys' room is done...

I'm not sure we'll ever get them up now in the morning......

Natural hair care

For many years I have been interested in natural haircare, and concerned with all the chemicals in shampoo.

Thirteen years ago I was in the UK and it was easy to choose from many natural product shampoos, but still I was concerned about all the ingredients - the main ones seem the same as regular shampoos.

Edward has always used soap on his hair, but I was too afraid to try it, as I've always been told soap is really alkaline and will ruin hair, and he cuts his hair before any damage could be noticed.

Then about six years ago I became aware of the 'no poo' no shampoo movement, and just read about using bicarbonate of soda on hair followed by vinagre to flatten the cuticles, but never tried it.

When we moved here, four years ago I thought I'd try it. I liked the tingle on my scalp, and I could hear the squeek, but my hair didn't seem too stripped of oil, and then after using the vinagre I though my hair looked a bit unwashed still, but anyway...

I have continued this for the past four years thinking I was being really good for my hair, and the planet etc.

Then a month ago I went to the hair dressers for a trim, and I can't believe she did it, but she chopped off eight inches from the back, and twelve from the front. My hair used to be above my elbow in length, but now I have an awful mullet.

What a shock!!! All the time she was going on about how damaged and dry and ruined my hair was!

It is true actually now I think back, that my hair was a bit like straw, but I liked the way it changed colour to a  lighter shade - thanks to the dreadful damage.

Now, a month later, I have admitted the truth to myself that I might have actually ruined my hair using such strong alkali for so long.

So I looked up in the internet about how shampoos and other products clean hair.

There is a wonderful scientific lady in the UK somewhere, who has done lots of experiments on her own hair, and her husband's hair.

She has taken strands of unwashed hair, and then looked at them under a microscope having washed them with different products.

Her results were so interesting!

The bicarbonate of soda wash left as much oil on the hair as just water.

The vinagre left as much oil on the hair too.

Soap also left lots of oil.

Shampoo left it the cleanest, and conditioner-only left the hair very clean.

It turns out the bicarbonate has been doing nothing for my hair all this time, apart from degrading it due to the strong alkali which has lifted the hair follicle, and caused it to become damaged.

If I think about it, my hair was always a bit greasy, but I thought it was all good and natural.

I'm using shampoo now, and conditioner again. I don't wash my hair every day, and all the ingredients are safe for septic tanks and degradable.

I'm growing my hair back, and I see how foolish I have been. I knew the science behind alkali and hair proteins. I just wanted to believe the cool people!

I just want anyone else with lovely long hair to think twice about using bicarb or soap, and to look for real research into this craze, not just someone saying its 'really good man!'.

It is very sad, but I have certainly learned a lot from having my hair chopped off!!

My hair feels lovely and silky again now.

Broody hens and the weather

Well, its so very hot here still, with humidity up to 100% (that day was horrid).

A hot spell usually means I'll have a few hens go broody.

A few things seem to trigger broodyness, such as leaving the eggs too long before collection. Especially when I am too busy, or forget to collect the eggs in a timely manner. I usually collect the eggs twice a day - first thing in the morning when I give the water troughs a clean out, and some nice cool fresh water. And about lunch time, when most hens will have laid.

The reasons for this are because I like the hens, and enjoy watching them, and I feel they should always have fresh water, and also as even though there are 8 nest boxes for 10 hens, they all seem to insist on fighting over one space. This can mean that an egg gets stepped on by a sharp claw, and cracked, and worse is then eaten!!

So I've just found one hen who took herself off to a secret nest, and has been sitting on rotten eggs for ages, and just as I had her back to normal, another one went broody. 

I left the eggs in the nest all day for about three days in a row which was perfect to prompt a round of broodyness in her combined with the high heat.

I caught her early though, and three days in the dog carrier box with plenty of food to build her back up, and no comfy nests has sorted her out.

I decided I was going to eat the next broody, but she is a young, very friendly orpington, and I like her. So she might just stay.

I had help with the egg collection today - I was so impressed! And we had seven eggs. Pretty good!

One of the hens is laying very thin shelled eggs now. They have a high quality feed and always free range, and have access to oyster shells at all times, but when they get a bit old, some hen's shells get too thin.

It looks like one was broken and eaten.

I have two older hens that I may have to retire. The Plymouth Barred rock is doing well though, I'll have to see who lays the thin shelled egg....

Off they go!

Part of the cycle of keeping our animals to nourish us and our land, and to contribute to the costs of upkeep, such as fencing, is to send animals to slaughter, which happened today.

We had a big steer, two and a half years old, who we initially meant to keep for ourselves go today, and a youngish cow of four years to go. 

They have been having our finest grass for the past six months and are looking extremely healthy, shiny and fat. 

The steer should go either for the export meat business, or for premium meat here, and the cow will probably become mince. Her calf has just had an abrupt weaning, and I'll be bringing him back up the hill with Floss later, as he'll be scared, and too fast for me. He'll keep the bull company as they know each other, and will become firm friends.

The stock agent called at 8am to ask if they'd gone yet. What? No, I was having a cup of tea, then I looked out of the window and saw the truck coming down the road!

Right, straight into the car, with the paperwork, and down the drive. Just in time! I kept the calf in the yards with them, so the cow would be content, and he wouldn't be upset.

The driver was very profesional, and they were on the truck calmly and gently. 

The slaughter house is just 30km away from here, so they'll have a short trip in the truck.

If I think about them going, it is a bit sad.

But all animals for eating have to be killed in an abatoir, and inspected. We just can't prossess them here. Just our own meat.

The money will be wonderful too, we really do need to sort out our crazy weeds!

True costs

A few years ago I had some enquiries from people wanting to buy any excess eggs of ours.

Our hens have a half acre all to themselves, fully fenced from predators, with 3 coops, and about 8 permanent nest boxes, although they like to make up their own in odd places! Where they live I have planted an orchard, and they can sit and dust themselves under the trees and eat any fallen fruit and bugs.

We had seven hens back then, all heritage breeds laying interestingly coloured large eggs.

I did a rough calculation in my head (when they were laying well) and guessed the eggs cost about $3.50 per dozen, so sold them at  $5 per dozen, and soon I had far more orders than I could fill!

At the time proper free range eggs cost $14.95 per dozen at the supermarket.

So the next season when I went to pick up some chicks for a broody, I chose far more than I needed, 10 I think. And for some reason I picked 9 hens and one cockeral! Then someone gave us four more young hens they couldn't keep. Then one hen wouldn't stop being broody so I just bought her six eggs to sit on, and 4 of those were hens.

So we ended up with twenty four hens, which really we didn't need.

Never mind I thought, we'll just sell the extra eggs and that might cover the feed bill. Sounded good, good for me, good for purchasers.

However, things didn't go to plan.

It turns out people really don't like paying for things. Some were always really good, and wouldn't even consider not paying - as I thought most would be.

I had two regular 'forgetters' of their money. That's ok I thought, next time, but they ended up only contributing to at the most half of what they took.

I had all sorts of funny reasons why people shouldn't pay too.

"But I have hens" was the weirdest!

"But I come out to see you" was insulting.

"I can't be bothered to find where my hens are laying" 

"its just easier to get eggs from you"

"I lent you something once"

"I've just given you a few egg boxes"

After a while I became tired of the excuses, and insisted on payment at the time. I had all sorts of guilt remarks, such as I've had to take this money out of my daughter's money box for you, I only have a twenty dollar note - that's ok! I have change.

Eventually they stopped comming, and I felt a bit easier about the whole thing.

Then I went through the number of eggs laid and the feed cost bill.

What a shock!

Being old breeds, they don't lay every day, and they have a break for moulting, and a break in the winter, all this time they still need to eat. Also to rear a hen from a chick to laying costs feed for more than six months. Some weeks in the high summer or winter I would only get 1 egg a day, and still put out $5 of feed.

So I finally admitted to myself that my eggs were costing me a massive $12.30 per dozen over a year.

That's not counting petrol etc to fetch the feed, and time.

I felt dreadful, and so foolish. All that money wasted! All the time I spent trying to explain to people that they should pay, as the eggs don't just materialise in my fridge by magic.

All the feelings of hurt and emptiness I had when people took from us, and never contributed. 

I realised these people were using me, they weren't my friends - they certainly stopped visiting when they weren't handed eggs as they left.

Every one wants good food. Some people want free food. But the price of high quality food is far more than battery laid eggs are. I have no idea how they charge so little for them. I suppose when you are buying feed by the tonne you might get a better price, but not from the feed store as I do it.

Now I am back to 10 hens, we get 5 - 8 eggs per day at the moment, and I have 2 two year olds who will soon become dinner. I don't feel bad eating them. They have had the best life on our farm for a long time, and I am so grateful to them. Chicken is an absolute treat for us, and a rare one at that. The chicken in the shops is just an eight week old chick, which can't have had much life in comparison.

I'm happy again. I love my hens, I love their beautiful eggs, and the way they nourish our family. Every egg has been given so much love and care to be produced, and they are the best eggs I have ever seen or tasted.

I guess I wanted to share how wonderful they were a while ago.

I felt a bit guilty not sharing them!

Now I don't feel selfish anymore. 

I'm glad I've learned from that time.

Walk at Moon rise

There was a full moon this evening. 

I went with Floss for a walk around the farm to check on the bulls as I hadn't seen them around today. They were fine, resting by the brook, enjoying the cooler evening air.

Even walking at that time I was very hot.

As I walked past the bulls I heard a little sneeze, followed by some rustling in the dry grass, then some crunching and another tiny sneeze. It was a young hedgehog!

Apparently here I'm supposed to kill them, as they eat kiwi eggs, but there haven't been any kiwi around anywhere near here for generations thanks mainly to more aggressive predators such as wild cats, dogs and stoats and weasels. And I think there was some concern at one point about TB, but we are in a TB free area, and all our cows are tested. I just keep quiet, and feel really honoured to see a hedgehog! In fact I rejoice when I see one, and like tonight hear one crunching on snails or crickets or grass grubs and beetles that destroy the fields.

I'm so pleased to know they are doing such a good job!

I managed to catch a photo of the surprised looking hedgehog...

Bye for now!

Bees on the farm

We run our little farm a bit differently to most. We are, due to lack of money, organic, although I really need to get rid of the crazy weeds.

We also practice conservation grazing. So we don't intensively graze the grass down to soil the move the cows on. We have very few animals in a huge field, and they are free to roam around eating the forage. Effectively it means the herbs and grasses always have time to flower and go to seed, then I move the cows on to the next space, thus giving the grazed area lots of time to recover, grow and flower again.

It's interesting to see how the cows graze too. They love the lush leaves of the grass, but even more they love the flowers of the grass and developing seed heads. Usually we are told if a grass has gone to flower the grass is wasted, our cows disagree!

Also I think it depends on the breed of cattle. The high production dairy cow probably has a specific requirement, but our ancient Red Devons are perfect for this type of grazing, and get very fat on it!

Anyhow, back to bees, we always have lots of bees on our place, honeybees from nearby hives, and wonderful bumblers!

Also I thought we had Mason bees, but they are Mason or Potter wasps instead that paralyse and collect spiders for their young not pollen. I find them quite macabre. Mason bees haven't been imported here.

The bumble bees were imported at the end of the 1800s to pollenate the clover, which no native insect could do.
We have lots of bumble bees. Every year a new young queen makes a small nest in a hole in the ground or similar, then lays some worker eggs and collects pollen for them, and makes a tiny bit of honey. When they are old enough they do the foraging for her, and shee just lays eggs. At the end of the season the old queen lays future queen eggs and some male eggs. They hatch and mate, and overwinter in a burrow of their own and so it starts again after they wake up from winter hibernation.
I like it when I see baby bumble bees.
I think our system of farming suits them well, and in turn they pollinate our clover and my orchard!

I love bees. 

Round the farm

I had a quick break from flooring today to appreciate the wonderful fruits on the young trees I planted a couple of years ago.

This pear tree seems to have ripened first.

It is a Jargonelle tree, which I found quite by accident at a garden centre in the bargain area. It was quite old to be stuck in its black bag pot, but I liked the shape and the look of it.

The first recording of this tree was in a scottish monastary in 1649 or something. So to have made its way from France up to Scotland it must be much older.

It has a crazy mind of its own about growing, and we had no flowers or fruit last year. But this year we have been blessed with a beautiful crop of small yet perfectly formed little pears...

I was going to make perry with them, but all my kit is in the container and so I shall just have to eat them this year!

They are superbly flavoured, with a slightly crisp, juicy flesh, and none of the grittyness that sometimes I don't like in pears.

Tinsel to keep the pesky birds away.

This is a picture of the bramley tree, and they are growing nicely, but didn't fall when I shook the tree, so I'll have to wait a bit longer.

Then there is this little tree, a Kingston Black. Lots of small fruit, like baubles all over it. This should be a good cider tree, and I will have to find my cider makng kit for this one, as the apples are too sour for eating.

And I was joined by some little friends in the orchard. The grass is so long that I loose them sometimes. The geese were supposed to eat the grass, but they can't keep up.

Humid day on the Farm

Wow, such a humid day today.

Yeaterday and last night we had very heavy and much needed rain. The drive has suffered though. I took Floss down to get the post this morning and to turn on the water pump and what a mess! Deep grooves in the drive.

I'm carrying on with Edward's jumper today. It feels good to be back knitting.

Since we moved here almost four years ago, I really haven't felt myself. All the renovations, the clutter, and having to make do whilst always wondering if we'll have money to finish it has been hard.
But I really do feel we are making progress. The floor is going down slowly.

Shoving our stuff into the container on the drive has helped clear my mind too. And having heard about Marie Kondo, and her methods I am so pleased to have found a method to guilt freely chuck loads of rubbish out!

And I'm back knitting! Hurray!!

I've felt guilty about wasting time knitting before, but I think I have turned a corner and can carry on now!

So I'm over the belly zone now.
Its a coloured romney hoget fleece I bought unwashed, and washed carderd and spun it up.

I love the way the colours change as I knit it up...

My cardigan update

I'm getting there!

Here is where I'm up to at the moment with my cardigan.

I've sewn up all the panels, and then started work on the yolk. It is my first piece of fair isle knitting, and what fun it is!

The pattern section is quite addictive, and its lovely to see the design slowly emerging.

So I've run out of grey wool, so I'm at the wheel this morning having a quick spin - I really want to get this done!

Bye for now!

Collecting cicada shells

Yesterday afternoon we went collecting cicada shells from the big oak trees near our home...

We ran down the field to the trees...

Through the shade listening for where the cicadas were loudest...

I think they prefer oaks in the sun...

There they are!

Holding tight to the tree bark where the cicada crawled as a nymph for the last time were their empty shells.

There's one up there!

And three up there!

Oak trees are one of my favorite trees.

This one had a hole near the roots that made it look like a little doorway...

We collected lots, and took them home to the nature table.

I like this time of year. Lots of baby spiders are finding new homes, and the grass is shrouded with their tiny transport web strands.