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 

Poly Tunnel Pleasure and other stuff!

Hello all.

How is everybody doing? I hope you are coping but if not it's ok to have a wobble now and then, take it from one who knows!

I have to be honest that, in general, we're just keeping on trucking here on our little homestead. Jon is at work for now and I am still stay at home mum. Chatting to somebody on Twitter the other day I explained how I don't have the connections which are normally provided by our Canolfan close to the house. The activities, like the regular coffee mornings and lunches I normally attend, have been put on hold but right now but I'm more than happy to shut the door behind me and stay home after any necessary visits.

I read a blog post here about home by the wonderful Rebecca at Fforest Hill, that is well worth a read when you have a moment, which most of us do at some point just now. It talks about where and what home means to you.

Obviously things are different in a way for the boys; they are coping with the school work really well in general and when that's over for the day they still have their jobs to do around the place; they still want their pocket money so it has to be earned by things like fixing fences, storing logs for winter and helping tidy the garden.

In another admission we are loving actual lockdown. Tracy at Our Smallholding Adventure and I have talked about this a lot over the weeks. Although she is a total super woman, as in a lot of households, where she is having to work from home, manage her animals, keep up with home schooling whilst looking after the children and Steve, she is enjoying the way we have been forced to live just now, too. However using the word 'forced' implies it is a chore and I have to be honest, again, I (we) don't see it that way.

We're still using shops closer to home, more so than travelling to major supermarkets, including the butcher and fruit n veg cabin both just eight miles away. We've plans to continue making a monthly visit to the wholesalers for dried goods but we're baking and making in the kitchen and getting on with growing our own as well as we can, which brings me on to the big even of recent weeks...

We've lived here in Wales for just over 4 and a half years, crikey are those numbers right? Ever since being settled I've wanted a poly tunnel (PT); I was very lucky to have Jon build me a wonderful poly house not long after we moved here. It's been fantastic and will continue to be once it is re-covered because at the moment it's masquerading as a gazebo!

Anyhow, the PT arrived last Tuesday so after tea with the help of the boys we had the frame put together without too much trouble.

I did help but was also chief photographer, obvs!

On the Wednesday night the whole gang were outside again - soooo thankful for good weather at that time, we measured out and made up the lengths of wood for the beds.

We, do you like the royal we, put in the steaks REALLY far down so the frame could be drilled and attached to them; this sucker is going NOWHERE!

On Thursday we put the cover on and that was, surprisingly, not that difficult.

I've ordered a massive bag of compost which will be here on Thursday, squuueal, and this will mean we can put a really thick layer on top of the manure; hope it comes in the morning then me and the boys can get it done. In the meantime I'm getting used to the space so have moved all my sowings and growings in there; still trying to figure out where planting out will go but sowing like a mad woman at the same time, Maryline at Rural and Rustic shares this way of thinking with me, so when the time comes I will be raring to go! 

I made this little video the other day showing of the seedlings etc that I have in there just now. As ever, I apologise for my voice as I sooo dislike it.

In the last few days we have, thankfully, had a bit of rain after some wonderful sun and the first early spuds are really coming on. The first photo here was April 20th...

and here is the same tyre on the 29th.

I was too impatient the other day and, seeing as I had to go out for chicken feed, I decided I couldn't wait for the compost delivery to finish a little project. This bed is in the far right corner of the growing area. I have trouble as things are in the habit of popping up in the middle of it. I properly took the Charles Dowding approach with it and covered it with cardboard and then a really good layer of compost. 

I suppose I was a bit silly planting the raspberry canes where I did but there you go. I'll be planting through the cardboard at the left hand end with butternut squash and dwarf beans at the right hand end. The seeds sown for the squash were those that can grow in a container but it can't hurt to plant them outside.

Back to the 2020 spud campaign, always a source of worry for me like most things in the garden! I began by planting some of the maincrop in our two massive tyres and the rest are going in the top end of the main veg bed, see photo, where the onions were last year. I always forget just how much space they need so have to be careful how far up the bed this year.

Well, today is Friday and the weekend is upon us. Weather is set to be a bit wet but we hope for some sun in between as Jon and the boys have fencing to do and I'd like to get some work done outside. 

Late edit I've been working on a craft project for ages and finally finished it. My 13yr old son put the music on the background for me, I know! 

So take a look at my Vintage Junk Journal Reveal here. 

Best wishes for a lovely weekend, under the circumstances, stay safe and well and we'll see what the next week brings us.

Bye for now.

Lou.xx

Spuds, Seeds, Storms and Spring.

Bore da, good morning.

It's been about a month since my last blog post so I thought I would have a little ramble and a catch up.

I am gradually regaining my mojo, well I was until Storm Ciara arrived (more of that later) so I have managed to get a few things done inside and outside.

I have bought my first early spuds, Arran Pilot, and these are currently chitting on the window sill in the conservatory.

The main bed in the growing area is FINALLY covered with a mixture of chicken poo, leaf mulch and homemade compost; this has taken me soooo long to do so pleased this is crossed off my list.

I have exciting news about this area, too. We are going to buy a poly tunnel, a domestic one, and we have seen one which is just about the same size as this area, 19 x 6 foot. It will go over the bed, be strongly secured to it and I'm now having to re-jig where I intend to sow/plant/grow things! Tracy over at Our Smallholding Adventure has one the same as we're going to purchase so really great to have a first hand account/review before buying. We hope to have it in position by the end of April.

I'm attempting to turn the bed outside the poly house into a cutting flower bed. For this I ordered some new seeds to go along with the ones I already have. In the same order I chose some dwarf beans, which I love growing, and there was an offer for 24  begonias which I plan on putting in the hanging baskets and maybe the planters outside the Airbnb listings.

Back to Storm Ciara. It began late Saturday afternoon after what what really was a lovely day. I completed the compost job I talked about at the beginning, collected up some leaves to mulch in a corner and put fresh bedding in the chicken house which I had cleaned out on Wednesday.

The chickens were put back in there from having been in the pond enclosure for quite a while. I was really pleased at getting these things done as we couldn't believe how quickly the storm came in. This was on Friday afternoon, before...

and this was yesterday afternoon.

I'm holding back on starting any sowing too early this year, for a number of reasons. Firstly I don't have my poly house, as I am sure you are WELL aware of, so will be using the conservatory in which to start things once I have cleaned the wooden stools and tables I normally use along with the staging . Secondly there is the poly tunnel to be made use of. A big part of it is connected to being lucky enough to  go and hear Charles Dowding talk back in November; this was arranged by Maryline of Rural and Rustic. I dug out, no pun intended, some magazine clippings about the sowing schedule he uses alongside his no-dig approach. Not really starting until March/April time when hopefully the ground will be warm by the time I am planting out; I'm also going to try his multi-sow idea, too.

Jon has acquired a new quad bike, when I say new I mean pre-loved, and it is already showing its worth with jobs around the place and helping with the sheep, along with our youngest having his own beast.

Jon has got back to working on the 4th Airbnb listing/lodging unit getting on great guns with insulation and plaster board.

Again before the storm I saw signs of Spring, if a little early. I do hope the magnolia tree Strellata doesn't flower any earlier than normal as it has a very short flowering season under normal circumstances.

Last night we were supposed to be heading out to take the boys to their Monday night activities but the weather made us think we really didn't need to leave the house. Boy was I pleased! We sat by the fire with a pot of tea, Jon strumming on his guitar and the boys being very grateful for not having to go out in the cold.

I was generally feeling a little overwhelmed yesterday as I seemed to have a lot to do and too many places to go. Mother nature seems to have stepped in to make me slow down a little and I am very grateful for that. Today I have nowhere to go so just plan on finishing this post, getting on with a few jobs around the house, bake a cake and be grateful that we are safe.

Hope you stay safe, too, and have enjoyed my ramblings.

Lou.xx

Random Bits and Pieces

Morning.

Today is Dydd Santes Dwynwen, the Welsh version of Sta Valentines Day. Here is her story.

Other things going on around our little homestead are a few signs of Spring. I left some daffs and hyacinths in pots in the Poly House over Winter and they are showing signs of life.

The strawberries that were sitting outside are looking ok, too.

Obviously nothing can actually be classed as being IN the greenhouse with the amount of natural ventilation it is getting at the moment!


The sink outside the Poly House has been tidied up and looking good for the coming months.

I need to sort out the old loo on the other side of the door and sow some new seeds when the time comes and also hope to put some rosemary in.  

Jon was at Charlie's recently and he came home with these boot for me which were in the sale at £9. They are a size bigger than my feet but with a good pair of socks they will be great. My walking boots which I live in are starting to fade so these will help, but a bit big for driving in!

The beginning of sowing and growing is here as my seed potatoes have arrived from Thompson and Morgan; always fabulous service from T and M - I'll be putting these to chit next week.

A variety you can't see close up is Vizelle. They are a brand new early maincrop, a miniature early potato which apparently have a good yield and flavour.

I have gone for Arran Pilot 1st earlies as I liked them last year and Cara as they were a recommended variety and are a new one to try.

Jazzy are a 2nd early and Tracy is trying these this year, too, so look forward to comparing results! I have Charlotte 2ns earlies, of course, you can't not have some of these - were an offer from GYO magazine came with....

three growing bags and some incredicrop.

And with the order I got another offer of seeds if I ordered something I think or it might have just been a special price; always good to have a few spare seeds.

Also outside there are signs of life; here is my Lautrec garlic...

and the beginnings of White Radar onions.