Yesterday we weaned the piglets from our welsh cross sow and moved her back into the serving paddock in a bid to keep our boar 'Barry' in his rightful place. He's been absolutely impossible to keep in despite having eveything a man could dream (apart from a lady friend)for the past three months.
After only a few hours together he was back out in the fields having smashed his way through a fence again. Obviously love was not in the air.
Unfortunately at this time of the year when much needed grass, veg and fruit are grwoing we can ill afford a rampant boar on the loose so for the sanity of all concerned tomorrow 'Barry' is going to the great unfenced pig paddock in the sky..
RIP Barry
Thursday, 12 May 2011
Monday, 9 May 2011
A New Dawn, A New Diary
So after a few weeks of struggling by with an ever slower laptop things finally came to an abrupt end last week when after 2 hours of photo editing and writing the newsletter the laptop died completely losing the work I'd just done.
Normally we'd just calmly find a solution but this particular day it just happened that everything else had also gone wrong and it coincided with a delivery day which means a silly o'clock start and up to an 18 hour shift at work so the laptop was promptly slammed shut smashing the screen!
With no possible chance of recovery, the only choice was to replace the old girl with a newer and hopefully more reliable beast. And that's why I'm back to blogging, having a new laptop brings renewed vigour for using this resource a lot more.
So the plan is to do a few lines each day, more as a farm and business diary for us (and you if your interested) to see what went on during the year. Which brings us here.
9/5/2011
3 Pigs back from abattoir. Probe depth 14,14, and 19mm. From the pure Berkshires, note reduced back fat and intramuscular marbling compared to last weeks draw of Berkshire/welsh/saddleback cross of same feeding regime. Under 50kg seems to be optimum carcass weight.
Beth planted approx 50 raspberries from runners in garden.
Extremely hot, temperatures up to 23.More rain.
Last ewe still to lamb.
Normally we'd just calmly find a solution but this particular day it just happened that everything else had also gone wrong and it coincided with a delivery day which means a silly o'clock start and up to an 18 hour shift at work so the laptop was promptly slammed shut smashing the screen!
With no possible chance of recovery, the only choice was to replace the old girl with a newer and hopefully more reliable beast. And that's why I'm back to blogging, having a new laptop brings renewed vigour for using this resource a lot more.
So the plan is to do a few lines each day, more as a farm and business diary for us (and you if your interested) to see what went on during the year. Which brings us here.
9/5/2011
3 Pigs back from abattoir. Probe depth 14,14, and 19mm. From the pure Berkshires, note reduced back fat and intramuscular marbling compared to last weeks draw of Berkshire/welsh/saddleback cross of same feeding regime. Under 50kg seems to be optimum carcass weight.
Beth planted approx 50 raspberries from runners in garden.
Extremely hot, temperatures up to 23.More rain.
Last ewe still to lamb.
Monday, 3 January 2011
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Monday, 12 July 2010
Getting round to the blog after such a long break it feels like there is a lot to write about..some crops have been and gone through the 'garden' since the last blog with lots of salads, some spring onions, broad beans, baby turnips, radishes, garlic, mange tout all doing well. we had a great salad last night which consisted of everything in the garden so all of the above plus beetroot the flavours were amazing but the best it was the fusion of all the colours..why is that baby versions of sliced winter veg like turnip and beetroot look so good and in winter look so unappetizing?
The garden and polytunnel have faired better in the driest spring and early summer we have had in the region for over 80 years than the field crops. After two of the wettest summers on record we decided to grow the field veg on ridges this year, which has been a complete disaster.
I got a bit of a shock when I went to water the polytunnel and found piglets sleeping in amongst the tomatoes, squash and cucumber plants. They got a shock too and tried to bash out of the sides of tunnel ripping the plastic and loosening the sheet further. Beth has had to chase geese of the kids early potatoes and her own beans a few times too. This particular batch of pigs have caused a regular headache as they seem unwilling to stopped by electric fences, I assume that the ground is just too dry for them to get a good contact to earth as all the sow's still get a shock and are rarely spotted outside there own paddocks. Strawberries have proved a particular delight and those that were not chopped of by the plastic mulch flapping in the wind have now all been eaten by them, luckily the blackcurrants aren't quite as tempting for them.
We have an acre of what should be secong early potatoes that we should be harvesting in about two weeks time which are no where near ready, some having not shown any growth and all still far of flowering. An acre of carrots will mostly have to be written off, a few leaves are showing but even if it rained heavily and the temperatures maintained this level it would still be too late. The broad beans and parsnips have been a total failure with about 3% germination. We have some hope for the onions, greens and turnips as these were later going in and have had some rain but still they should be up and away by now and are nowhere near. It's amazing the difference water and wind protection makes..some of the seeds like the beans were sown in the field the same time as the garden but in the garden the plants have grown, been cropped and are now being replaced compared to maybe an inch at most of growth in the field. We can see that it's not impossible to grow veg up here provided we break the wind, improve the organic matter of the soil to retain moisture and add irrigation. Nothing a few hundred thousand quid wouldn't sort out anyway!
Speaking of cash it's the worst time of year financially for us at Christmas Farm. We have yet to get any of this year's lambs finished for the box scheme as the grass just is not growing as we would expect. We've paid for the turkey's, duck's and geese for Christmas and they'll be eating us out of house and home for another five month's before they meet there demise and we get some cash back. So order your turkey or goose now and you can come on Beth's Christmas prep courses free..the crops in the field being a write off will cause us more financial hardship as we normally rely on these providing staples like carrots, beans and lettuce for a large part of the year and whilst the garden crops keep us going for boxes during the summer they will not provide much to store for winter.
To try to get some cash in Beth's been doing evening meals the first saturday evening of every month which have been incredibly popular but I do feel sorry for her after being stuck in the shop all day and then coming back to do it all again on a night. I've also been trying to add to the farming fund by doing some fencing and building jobs locally, which is taking us both away from progressing the building work on the farm that we had hoped to get done this summer. It's a difficult time of year recruiting new members for the box scheme too, as a lot of people are growing there own or away on hols and don't want to commit to regular deliveries. Still as we always remind ourselves 'we eat well for peasants'.
We'll get an open day organised as soon as we can get the place tidy enough not to be embarrased soon but we may see you on our Steak night on August 7th. Check the website or call in the shop for details.
The garden and polytunnel have faired better in the driest spring and early summer we have had in the region for over 80 years than the field crops. After two of the wettest summers on record we decided to grow the field veg on ridges this year, which has been a complete disaster.
I got a bit of a shock when I went to water the polytunnel and found piglets sleeping in amongst the tomatoes, squash and cucumber plants. They got a shock too and tried to bash out of the sides of tunnel ripping the plastic and loosening the sheet further. Beth has had to chase geese of the kids early potatoes and her own beans a few times too. This particular batch of pigs have caused a regular headache as they seem unwilling to stopped by electric fences, I assume that the ground is just too dry for them to get a good contact to earth as all the sow's still get a shock and are rarely spotted outside there own paddocks. Strawberries have proved a particular delight and those that were not chopped of by the plastic mulch flapping in the wind have now all been eaten by them, luckily the blackcurrants aren't quite as tempting for them.
We have an acre of what should be secong early potatoes that we should be harvesting in about two weeks time which are no where near ready, some having not shown any growth and all still far of flowering. An acre of carrots will mostly have to be written off, a few leaves are showing but even if it rained heavily and the temperatures maintained this level it would still be too late. The broad beans and parsnips have been a total failure with about 3% germination. We have some hope for the onions, greens and turnips as these were later going in and have had some rain but still they should be up and away by now and are nowhere near. It's amazing the difference water and wind protection makes..some of the seeds like the beans were sown in the field the same time as the garden but in the garden the plants have grown, been cropped and are now being replaced compared to maybe an inch at most of growth in the field. We can see that it's not impossible to grow veg up here provided we break the wind, improve the organic matter of the soil to retain moisture and add irrigation. Nothing a few hundred thousand quid wouldn't sort out anyway!
Speaking of cash it's the worst time of year financially for us at Christmas Farm. We have yet to get any of this year's lambs finished for the box scheme as the grass just is not growing as we would expect. We've paid for the turkey's, duck's and geese for Christmas and they'll be eating us out of house and home for another five month's before they meet there demise and we get some cash back. So order your turkey or goose now and you can come on Beth's Christmas prep courses free..the crops in the field being a write off will cause us more financial hardship as we normally rely on these providing staples like carrots, beans and lettuce for a large part of the year and whilst the garden crops keep us going for boxes during the summer they will not provide much to store for winter.
To try to get some cash in Beth's been doing evening meals the first saturday evening of every month which have been incredibly popular but I do feel sorry for her after being stuck in the shop all day and then coming back to do it all again on a night. I've also been trying to add to the farming fund by doing some fencing and building jobs locally, which is taking us both away from progressing the building work on the farm that we had hoped to get done this summer. It's a difficult time of year recruiting new members for the box scheme too, as a lot of people are growing there own or away on hols and don't want to commit to regular deliveries. Still as we always remind ourselves 'we eat well for peasants'.
We'll get an open day organised as soon as we can get the place tidy enough not to be embarrased soon but we may see you on our Steak night on August 7th. Check the website or call in the shop for details.
Monday, 22 March 2010
Hello
my name is Sarah. I am a WWOOF from Germany working with Beth and Lee for the past 4 weeks. To be honest, it's quite hard work, especially getting up very early in the morning. But to see all the animals being happy, makes it all worth it. And that is my main task on the farm. Make sure that everybody has enough water and feed. That includes the sheep which are now having their lambs, the pigs and their piglets (which are nice and fat now), the hens and chickens, the horses and the cattle. Apart from that, there are always quite many things to do. Yesterday, we got all the posts for 2 new fences sorted out, so that we can start putting up the fences very soon. It's to separate the horses, some sheep and two pigs from each other and make them move into another field, so we can broadcast seeds for having nice and rich grass for the animals this summer.
Today, we had a new lamb. It was the first time ever for the ewe having a lamb and in the beginning she didn't really know what to do with it. So, it was up to us to keep the lamb warm, milk the mother to give the lamb its first drink, which is very important because of the colostrum and make sure that the she doesn't abandom its lamb.
Last weekend we caught some black lambs from last year, measuered the weight and moved them into another field. It was quite difficult to get them all together and catch them. If you have ever seen a sheep running away from you, you defintely know it's hard work to be quicker and grab them. Sometimes, it even seems impossible. So, instead of being quicker, we just thought of being smarter: we put up some hurdles to make a small path which had on either end the weight scale. We waited till the sheep went it. It all went very quickly as we just had to move a little closer to them to make them go in. As soon as their were all in, we took another hurdle and closed the construcion which made it appear as a little shed. One by one, we wrote down their weights and numbers and released them into the new field.
What is really fabulous about working on a farm is all the machinery we have to use to get things done. Beth and Lee let me use their quad bike e.g. to take posts to where the fence is going to be, to take new and fresh straw down to the pigs stables and hens house to make nice and cosy beds or just to carry heavy things from one end to another.
As now the weahter is getting better day to day, it even makes more fun to stay all day outside and get things started.
my name is Sarah. I am a WWOOF from Germany working with Beth and Lee for the past 4 weeks. To be honest, it's quite hard work, especially getting up very early in the morning. But to see all the animals being happy, makes it all worth it. And that is my main task on the farm. Make sure that everybody has enough water and feed. That includes the sheep which are now having their lambs, the pigs and their piglets (which are nice and fat now), the hens and chickens, the horses and the cattle. Apart from that, there are always quite many things to do. Yesterday, we got all the posts for 2 new fences sorted out, so that we can start putting up the fences very soon. It's to separate the horses, some sheep and two pigs from each other and make them move into another field, so we can broadcast seeds for having nice and rich grass for the animals this summer.
Today, we had a new lamb. It was the first time ever for the ewe having a lamb and in the beginning she didn't really know what to do with it. So, it was up to us to keep the lamb warm, milk the mother to give the lamb its first drink, which is very important because of the colostrum and make sure that the she doesn't abandom its lamb.
Last weekend we caught some black lambs from last year, measuered the weight and moved them into another field. It was quite difficult to get them all together and catch them. If you have ever seen a sheep running away from you, you defintely know it's hard work to be quicker and grab them. Sometimes, it even seems impossible. So, instead of being quicker, we just thought of being smarter: we put up some hurdles to make a small path which had on either end the weight scale. We waited till the sheep went it. It all went very quickly as we just had to move a little closer to them to make them go in. As soon as their were all in, we took another hurdle and closed the construcion which made it appear as a little shed. One by one, we wrote down their weights and numbers and released them into the new field.
What is really fabulous about working on a farm is all the machinery we have to use to get things done. Beth and Lee let me use their quad bike e.g. to take posts to where the fence is going to be, to take new and fresh straw down to the pigs stables and hens house to make nice and cosy beds or just to carry heavy things from one end to another.
As now the weahter is getting better day to day, it even makes more fun to stay all day outside and get things started.
Tuesday, 9 March 2010
Lambing starts
Heavily in pig Welsh sow in her favourite position
In-lamb ewes, making the most of the excellent red clover silage we managed to get hold of this year. We would have suffered a shortage of forage without the help of a fellow local organic farmer to keep us topped up.
Frozen veg can still be fresh veg?
Triplets up and about within 10 minutes of being born.
The new hen house. Pleased it wasn't too windy when I erected it, as my arms weren't quite long enough in the first place.
Ginger, a few weeks off farrowing.
The packing shed progress.
Pleased it's 4x4 - snow mobiles would have been used if available!
When the lady loves good hay.
Sunrise, out delivering one morning.
A few memories of summer to cheer us up.
Fearnley helping prepare for our annual organic inspectionSpring has definitely sprung here at Christmas Farm - we've had clear skies and fair weather for at least a week now. It's amazing how cold it must have been when you start to think 3 degrees is a good opportunity to work in a T-shirt.
The slightly better weather has coincided with the first lambs being born, and it's going well so far with only one single in the flock, and a set of strong triplets has made up for that. Piglets are all doing well and are desperate to be out of the farrowing shelters they have been in for nearly four weeks now. It's the first time we've housed pigs inside for farrowing at Christmas Farm, which says something for the lousy weather we've had. To keep in with organic standards the finished pigs can only be kept inside for a fifth of thier lifetime, so we need to get them out as soon as the ground dries up.
The cattle are going through a frustrating time watching the ewes get the best silage, nuts and high energy lick blocks, whilst they have some straw and crushed barley. The smaller ones have worked out that with a little limbo'ing they can get underneath the creep bar that should be keeping them out, and once the bigger ones see this they just jump over the fence anyway.
Winnie is coming up to foaling time and is being fed like a dairy cow, again this must be frustrating for her welsh pony companion, who is on basic rations but stands and watches closely at feeding time.
New stock arrivals have been kept to a minimum with lambing coming up, but we did manage to get a new batch of table chickens put into the newly fenced off orchard, which should help us keep the grass down this year. It feels like I spent ages last summer just keeping the grass down, so this year we are trying to maximise the under-utilised areas for stock, which will not only keep the grass down but also fertilise and condition the soil.
Jobs we've been busy with:
- Fencing off the orchard and veg beds
- Lambing
- Attempting to tidy up
- Moving the little polytunnel
- Digging ditches
- Planting garlic, beans, and radish
- Putting black membrane onto beds in the kitchen garden, ready for planting
- Building a new hen house that we can pull around the field to clear up after the veggies have been harvested
- Planting trees for a windbreak
- Having our organic inspection
- Delivering boxes, feeding the animals etc
Jobs we should have been busy with and need to get done before April:
- Building the big polytunnel
- Planting the 1000 strawberry plants, 200 blackcurrants, and 100 raspberry canes that have been waiting for the ground to thaw
- More ditching, and scraping out a duck pond
- Filling in the bare patches in the hedgerows
- Cleaning all the mud off the entrance track, and filling the winter's pot holes
- Getting the old tractor fired up after sitting out all winter (fingers crossed)
- Laying the rest of the concrete for the new packing shed base
- Finding some more customers for the box scheme (any ideas?)
- Pruning fruit trees and bushes, and trying to get the veg beds sub-soiled and mucked by a contractor
It feels like we've still got a winters worth of work ahead of us, and only a few weeks to go before we need to start planting this season's veg. The plan for this year is to use more WWOOFers at the busiest times for planting and harvesting. They can be a lifeline for getting jobs done that we otherwise wouldn't have time for, and our current volunteer (Sarah, from Germany) is saving us a lot of time with the feeding and bedding duties each day, although the 5:45am start is six hours ahead of her usual wake up call, she says!
It would be nice to get some volunteers from the UK through the scheme, as nearly all come from Europe and need a reasonable length of stay to make it viable. Most also want to use it as a summer break too, which is the time not much is going on other than weeding and harvesting. As a host, it would also be good to be able to call on people for a weekend for jobs that need lots of hands for a short period, like re-sheeting polytunnels, or digging potatoes.
Thursday, 26 November 2009
Farm update
Wow, nearly ten weeks since the last Blog..It wouldn't feel too bad if I was reporting a load of progress but as usual things haven't gone according to plan although the wet weather did hold off longer than we thought, it's now here to stay. I won't whinge too much given the worst it's been for us is the clay has turned to sludge and is sticking to everything whilst in Cumbria people have been flooded out of there homes or worse. A trend seems to be developing with these late, mild but very wet winters. Hopefully Christmas won't make a bad situation all the worse for those affected by the floods.
On a more positive note we have some new additions to the farm. The 'Christmas Herd' has been established with us buying ten head of dexter cattle. Some from a rare breed sale in York and others from another local, organic smallholding. They have settled in nicely, getting on with the various mixes of horses, sheep and pigs without problems. We hope to halter train a few of the cows, making it easier if we decide to show them as our cattle skills develop. We have got two finished dexter's coming ready for Christmas too..hung for nearly four weeks this will be the best beef we have had and the thought of a nice thick steak and some quick fried greens on Christmas Eve has got me salivating more than the following Turkey! We still have a few turkeys left, so if your leaving it late to get your order in now is the time. Order online before 1st Dec to save any disappointment.
Another addition to the menagerie are the hundred hens that arrived a few weeks ago. They came as sixteen week old point of lay pullets which should be laying an egg a day after in the new year. They are working there way through the organic pellets we are feeding them at a vast rate but seem to spend most of the energy provided jumping over the fences to rake around in dirty puddles!
The building work has slowed, but with help from a few committed volunteers we've managed to get a field shelter up to use for winnie foaling and getting 'Big Daddy' the naughty escaping sow trained to not go back to her piglets. She's been inside for nearly two weeks and still shouts for them if she hears any small pig like grunts. Another few day's and we'll shift her in with the others on the potato field and see what happens.
Work on the big shed must resume over the weekend as the concrete man is booked for Tuesday, just need to book the dry weather and we'll be ready. Beth's been drafted away from the coffee shop for a day on the other end of a concrete tamp, multi-talented doesn't come into it.
We had yet another complaint put into the local planning office, this time complaining about our 'summerhouse' on the farm which we use for getting out of the rain when it's hammering down. It's essential to have somewhere to wash the dirt off and have a hot cuppa sometimes but we'll have to move or lose it by the sound of things. A shame considering that you can barely see it from about fifty metres away, never mind the roadside which is at least three hundred. The inspection with the planning team went well though and resulted in another route being pursued..watch this space.
Beth's getting excited about decorating the coffee shop with the Christmas stuff, more of which we accumulate every year. December's menu is replacing all other options with turkey, so any guest will be forced into the festive season whether they like it or not. Do pop in and have a sneaky early Christmas lunch if your passing.
My thoughts are also turning to pigs, (nothing unlawful of course) as we've added a thirty acre block of mixed woodland to our organic license thanks to a trusting neighbour who would like the patch rejuvenated. I'm sure our mix of Tamworth's and Saddleback's will love it and really thrive in the sheltered and entertaining environment. We are currently shopping for a big electric fence ticker to keep any strays wandering to close to the perimeter fence. It's a great way of keeping pigs in provided they are trained from youngster's, the first time you leave a battery to go flat and the fence not working all the pigs will get out and never be scared of the wire again. If they get a good shock the first time it's hard enough trying to get them out of the field again they are so scared of the boundary.
The woods need a little clearing to get in for fencing and we need to make up some arcs but we hope to get this sorted out ready for stocking in the new year. All that's left is to argue about the recipes we'll use for our home made chorizo's and salami's, but i'll wait until Beth's finished with that concrete tamp first!
On a more positive note we have some new additions to the farm. The 'Christmas Herd' has been established with us buying ten head of dexter cattle. Some from a rare breed sale in York and others from another local, organic smallholding. They have settled in nicely, getting on with the various mixes of horses, sheep and pigs without problems. We hope to halter train a few of the cows, making it easier if we decide to show them as our cattle skills develop. We have got two finished dexter's coming ready for Christmas too..hung for nearly four weeks this will be the best beef we have had and the thought of a nice thick steak and some quick fried greens on Christmas Eve has got me salivating more than the following Turkey! We still have a few turkeys left, so if your leaving it late to get your order in now is the time. Order online before 1st Dec to save any disappointment.
Another addition to the menagerie are the hundred hens that arrived a few weeks ago. They came as sixteen week old point of lay pullets which should be laying an egg a day after in the new year. They are working there way through the organic pellets we are feeding them at a vast rate but seem to spend most of the energy provided jumping over the fences to rake around in dirty puddles!
The building work has slowed, but with help from a few committed volunteers we've managed to get a field shelter up to use for winnie foaling and getting 'Big Daddy' the naughty escaping sow trained to not go back to her piglets. She's been inside for nearly two weeks and still shouts for them if she hears any small pig like grunts. Another few day's and we'll shift her in with the others on the potato field and see what happens.
Work on the big shed must resume over the weekend as the concrete man is booked for Tuesday, just need to book the dry weather and we'll be ready. Beth's been drafted away from the coffee shop for a day on the other end of a concrete tamp, multi-talented doesn't come into it.
We had yet another complaint put into the local planning office, this time complaining about our 'summerhouse' on the farm which we use for getting out of the rain when it's hammering down. It's essential to have somewhere to wash the dirt off and have a hot cuppa sometimes but we'll have to move or lose it by the sound of things. A shame considering that you can barely see it from about fifty metres away, never mind the roadside which is at least three hundred. The inspection with the planning team went well though and resulted in another route being pursued..watch this space.
Beth's getting excited about decorating the coffee shop with the Christmas stuff, more of which we accumulate every year. December's menu is replacing all other options with turkey, so any guest will be forced into the festive season whether they like it or not. Do pop in and have a sneaky early Christmas lunch if your passing.
My thoughts are also turning to pigs, (nothing unlawful of course) as we've added a thirty acre block of mixed woodland to our organic license thanks to a trusting neighbour who would like the patch rejuvenated. I'm sure our mix of Tamworth's and Saddleback's will love it and really thrive in the sheltered and entertaining environment. We are currently shopping for a big electric fence ticker to keep any strays wandering to close to the perimeter fence. It's a great way of keeping pigs in provided they are trained from youngster's, the first time you leave a battery to go flat and the fence not working all the pigs will get out and never be scared of the wire again. If they get a good shock the first time it's hard enough trying to get them out of the field again they are so scared of the boundary.
The woods need a little clearing to get in for fencing and we need to make up some arcs but we hope to get this sorted out ready for stocking in the new year. All that's left is to argue about the recipes we'll use for our home made chorizo's and salami's, but i'll wait until Beth's finished with that concrete tamp first!
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