Here Comes The Sun - for a good few days!

 Hi!

So it looks as if there is light at the end of the tunnel regarding the pandemic. I hope you are all getting your vaccinations at the right time, though don't get me started on our little story of that. Let us stick to the rules for a while longer and you never know where we might be for summer!

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I didn't used to watch a lot of YouTube but my very good friend Tracy has her own channel over at Our Smallholding Adventure and is collecting new subscribers all the time. She told me about various interesting channels, as I have shared here before I think, but there is one I have told her about recently and want to do so here. I actually came across her via the channel of Liz Zorab who can be found at BytherFarm. If you don't know Liz she lives in Monmouthshire, Wales and has a fantastic growing space and is a keen permaculture fan. I need to learn more about that! She has also just written a book called Grounded and you can find out all about it and order a copy from here as well as other well know online platforms.

Anyway I digress! This new channel belongs to a lovely lady called Lorella in Missouri in the US and her channel is Lorella Plan Bee Orchard and Farm. The first video of hers I watched can be found here after Liz talked about it on her channel. It is a wonderful intorduction to Lorella's sense of humour, charachter and way of thinking as she and her husband work their homestead. 

I enjoyed it because she talks about being overwhelmed by stuff! including tasks in your garden. Production not perfection, being honest about what can achieve and bascially not beating yourself up if everything does not go quite to plan. I took a lot away from it about being overwhelmed by things.

As I worked outside yesterday in #mylittlepatchofparadise I couldn't help thinking of Lorella's words. I'd been putting off dealing with my raised beds and garden areas in preparation for the new growing season because I thought it was going to be a big task. However, as the sun shone down and I gradually took off my coat, scarf, waistcoat and hat in the, almost, Spring weather, I realised taking one thing at a time did make things sooo much easier. I know this isn't rocket science but sometimes you just can't see the wood for the trees. 

I'de been fettling in my poly house, sooo loving being back in there since it was recovered, and was getting ready to plant the last of these onion sets plus the red ones in pots.

and had already managed to do some planting of onions and finished mulching one bed with a little bought but mainly my own compost. Go me!

The next job I have looked at I don't know how many times. This planter had some peas in last year and when they finished I just took them out and left it; it isn't as if it's even that big a space! So as I headed to sort out the raised bed NEXT to it, stil in ignore mode, I remembered I had actually moved a couple of weeds from it so I thought COME ON, DO IT with Lorella in my head saying break down those tasks. 

I actually cleared it quite easily and I'll be growing Butterbush butternut squash in it this year. I also cleared around the base which helped me see the blackcurrant bush next to it was still alive. Bonus! 

I felt I had achieved so much even though it only took me about 15 minutes; I moved onto the other bed and got that finished, too.

Lorella also talked about honesty regarding your garden; don't strive for perfection but production - I think that is going to be my new mantra. It's important to realise you can't do everything, hence breaking down those jobs or projects into small bites.

Thanks so much Lorella.

The good weather is set to contine for a few days yet as we come into March, even though the mornings are still a little chilly. This morning Jon and I walked the fields and found 2 new borns and we finally have a girl - 11 boys and 1 girl now. Here you can see the frost.

We checked on a mum and her twins in the barn, too, and she was stamping her foot at me protecting her young as I took the photo!

I took this lovely photo of Jon, with Belle in the distance, as we walked in the early morning light and the moon was amazing!

He has become such a wonderful shepherd in the last couple of years and I am so proud of him. Our dream is to have our own farm but that is a dream unfortunately.

I'd love some of you to let me know about any YouTube channels you like, find useful or just watch for fun. Do comment here.

Take care, stay safe,

Lou.xx

This And That - Outdoors and In.

 Hello, I'm celebrating! 

This is because my laptop is now my own again as my youngest has bought himself a new device and therefore no longer needs to use mine for his homelearning, hurrah! This celebration comes in the form of a new blog post.

This is a little ramble about what's happening here on our little homestead, also know as #mylittlepatchofparadise, from the end of last month and into February. February! How did that happen? Also I'm talking about jobs and this 'n' that around the garden in the coming weeks.

February is a wonderful month really. Even though we are still having some wet and chilly days, with it comes the promise that Spring is just around the corner. It's also the time to be chitting seed spuds, if that is your thing. Not everybody bothers as you can see in February's issue of Grow Your Own magazine; Blake and Laura debate whether it's a necessary job to do. I always chit mine, I'm still waiting for my Charlottes to be delivered, as I think those early shoots give them a little kick up the garden path to a good start and a hopefully healthy harvest! 

As for existing plants/edibles and in garden, the frosts in the coming months need to be prepared for so make sure you have your closhes, fleece etc ready; our last frost should be in April, fingers crossed.

In February you may be able to spot Wild Garlic underneath hedgerows and in woodland and be lucky as English Country Life to have been to pick some already. (You can find them on YouTube, Twitter and Instagram plus their YouTube channel here with oodles of help and advice for the smallholder, budding or experienced.) If you are forraging for it always be careful to only take a small amount; we're lucky enough to have a good clump growing in the garden. 

However, last year we lost most of it to the chickens and orphan lambs nibbling away at it. This year I think I will take up and re-locate it to somewhere safer!

Whilst out forraging you may be lucky enough to spot the odd primrose or catkins on the Hazel branches and of course snowdrops are for a lot of people one of the first signs of Spring not being far away - their nick name is flower of hope as they bring that hope of lighter and brighter days to come.

Each month no-dig guru Charles Dowding - find him on Twitter, Instagram and here, too - has a column in Grow Your Own magazine dispensing help and advice so here are a few snippets ready for next month. At this time of the year he says it is too early to start tomatoes and best to sow them in the 3rd week of March to be kept on a warm windowsill then be planted out under cover in May. It is worth remembering that seeds need more heat when germinating than seedlings need for growing; windowsills are a great place for the first 7-14 days after you've sown your seeds.

Lambing is not far off now. We had the lambs scanned and we hope for 26 singles and 17 twins, no empty ones. 

In January Jon refurbished a trailer incase we need to transport ewes from the fields down to the barn should they be in trouble.

We have medecine, injections, tube feeders etc. ready if we have any mums or their lambs needing help. All set but fingers crossed for not too many problems.

Indoors now. I've never made Seville marmalade before - I normally go for a much easier 

all-in-one method which I took from I don't know where! I decided to give it a go and used the recipe, complete with this YouTube video, from Pam The Jam Corbin. I'm going to be honest and tell you I needed to do the dreaded "re-boil" as it didn't set the frist time! Consequently my batch is a good thick preserve but I'm very pleased with myself as we have a jar in the fridge and five more to add to the cellar stores. (An embarrasingly small store but you have to start somewhere.)

I was determined to start the year off with a bang and I will, hopfeully, continue to make and store as much as I can from things I've grown.

My new blog, Put That Light Out, is so much fun. I'm reading my books for research but also enjoy watching some TV programmes, often on the Yesterday channel, plus YouTube videos

to give me more detail for my posts but also just to extend my interest I have in the 1939 - 45 period.

To finish up, the weather here today, Friday, is damp and miserable. We've had snow this month

and the forecast says we can expect more this weekend....It won't make much difference as in Wales we are now into another three weeks of lockdown. We just continue our usual routine; I shopped on January 22 so I won't be going again for a week of more except our local fruit and veg cabin and meat deliveries from the butcher in the same town if we need them.

I hope you are all excited about the sowing and growing season being around the corner. By tomorrow it will be 5pm when the sun is setting so the days are defintely getting longer; before we know it we will be in our gardens, poly tunnels and greenhouses until all hours! My last post was about my own plans for next month and I'd really love to hear about what you have planned for the coming weeks and months. You can find me on Twitter @Goodlifeinwlaes and Instagram @livingthegoodlifeinwales.

Take care everybody and stay safe.

Bye, 

Lou.xx 

Strange Times Indeed.

Good evening all.

Well we are living in some strange times that is for sure. Not wanting to dwell on the current situation for suffice to say there has been a bit of prepping going on at Bronllan and it is always interesting to see how people are dealing with this kind of situation. We have decided to block any Airbnb bookings for the time being as we do get quite a lot of guests from Europe. Our boys are still going to school but teacher friends say this will possibly change in the near future. We have made the decision to try and stay away from town for the next few weeks; there were 13 new cases over night and non-essential/elective surgeries at all hospitals have been cancelled.

Deciding not to make trips to town unless emergencies after tomorrow means we're stocked up on basic items which we can utilise as much and as usefully as possible.There is a lot of home baking going on and using up things in the freezer like soups, fruit from the summer etc. We're looking upon it as a challenge and also a short term solution in a situation that we feel we can manage for ourselves if we go about the right way. Aside from this is does make me feel extremely lucky that I can be at home if the boys are off school and that Jon works in an environment where social distancing is not an issue. However I do feel very sorry for parents who rely on things such as breakfast and after school clubs and organisations who will not be able to support vulnerable children during this situation.

Aaaanyway, moving on.

I have been outside getting a few jobs done today. I decided to sow some dwarf beans as these are something that I grew really well last year and I over wintered. This year I'm trying variety Speedy from Thompson and Morgan starting some off in a drainpipe...

and a few more in my home made pots; I'm feeling very optimistic about the change in weather and my conservatory is getting warmer each day so this is where the beans are sitting along with the sweet peas and a few other things germinating.

Talking of the weather this is now my little patch of paradise was looking this morning; a bit breezy but very pleasant all the same.

We are popping out late tomorrow afternoon to add to our brood. Yes, we are fetching 10 new chooks.👏👏👏. In preparation for this I have today also cleaned out the hen house and replenished the bedding ready for the newbies. Also, the pond enclosure has had a tidy - I even dragged some of the leaves out of said pond but that REALLY does need a proper job doing on it soon! The chook poo was superbly rotted down as the bedding in there had been sawdust and has turned into luverly compost stuff and is a great addition to the garden prep so I'm ready for sowing and growing this year.

All eight tyres have had a nice covering along with some gently worked into one of the small beds. I just managed to get the job done before the heavens opened and very pleased as the existing girls are in their new abode and the new ones will go straight into a clean new house.

Inside these are some of our preparations but there has been no panic buying by us. Plenty of cheese for snacks, sandwiches and with pasta dishes,  

carrots blanched and frozen so easy for throwing into stews/casseroles or just as veg portions,

biscuits and cakes for the tin and freezer and bread will be added to that. For mains I'm freezing tomato paste in small portions to use in pasta dishes or on pizza bases (easy to make for pennies, too)

and of course spuds which we're mainly storing in the cellar but with some in the kitchen, too.

Don't judge me for getting organised in such a way - just looking after me and mine; I'm upset that the veg side of things are now our own, at least we still have our own garlic from last year! but I am SO on the sowing and growing this year!

Lambing 2020 is in full swing just now. After a few unfortunate hicups in the beginning we are getting a steady stream of healthy twins and singles with about 20 or so ewes to yet give birth. This little one needed some help from Jon to make its way into the world but was up and about quite quickly and is now a healthy boy.

Tomorrow morning Jon and I are going to have a proper count up so we know what we have and what we may have to come.

Well, that is about it. Stay safe everybody, look after each other and hope you enjoyed my ramble.

Bye for now.

Lou.x