What a Sow and Sow - February.

Hello there, before I begin here is my usual greeting at the start of all my posts, just incase this is your first visit, so best wishes to everybody as we are once again in lockdown and hope you are coping well physically and mentally.

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Right it's January 18th today and, as is the norm, I'm not getting up to much outside in the garden. Having said that I have begun some work in the polytunnel which is adding fresh compost in a couple of places. I also gave my compost 'daleks' a bit of a turning but if you have seen my recent super professional, 🤣 ,YouTube video you'll know I explained my plan of making two compost bays out of pallets. I really would like to get these made as soon as possible; Jon has access to as many pallets as we need so we can hopefully get this done by the beginning of next month.

Ok, seeds. These are the things we like to eat and that I hope to grow this year!

I may sow some Early Nantes carrots in the polytunnel in a container this month. However next month will begin the main sowing dates. As I said in my last post I'll be following advice from Charles Dowding and my polytunnel book; I've decided to keep sowing, keep sowing this year to make sure I have no gaps in the polytunnel or outside in the beds. I'm sometimes worried about wasting seeds but I often put things outside the front door in our egg house for people to help themselves to and hopefully I'll still be able to do that again should I still have some spare seedlings. During the first lockdown I enjoyed swapping lots of things, including plants, via our community Facebook page. 

Right February will begin with the following: (MS stands for multi-sow)

Turnips (MS) Purple Top Milan, the classic variety.

Spring Onions (MS) Ishikura, a mild flavoured bunching variety.

Khol Rabi Delicacy Purple tasting similar to stems of broccoli which I love in soups or stir fry.

Cabbage Greyhound, an early variety with pointy heads to harvest  from June/July.

Cauliflower All The Year Round, such a versatile seed.

Broccoli Matsuri F1 which is a compact variety, may be easier to protect from pests.

Aubergines Black Beauty which I'm trying really hard with as never been successful and so want my own ratatouille!

Salad leaves of various sorts, whatever takes my fancy really and these will go direct into the polytunnel near the door again so they don't get to hot.

Peppers including a Romano red one and one called Etiuda Orange, possibly a third that I may have ordered - more of that later.

Basil Red Leaved which is so very tasty and Sweet Green as it never fails.

I have some herbs in pots in the polytunnel ready to plant out when the weather is right.

Tomatoes are something I'm determined to keep improving on after last year's better efforts - 

Maskotka a bush variety to grow in pots, some outside and in the polytunnel.

ILDI F1 a lovely, small yellow plum type needing some support.

Marmande which are a large, fleshy, late maturing bush variety.

Big Mama Plum Large are good for soups, sauce and salsa - these I hope to have a go at bottling if I get enough!

Tumbling Toms which are not frost hardy so will be in hanging containers in the polytunnel.

Maghrebi are a fleshy, blight resistant variety.

Should be something to suit everybody out of that little lot.

In pots, not sure of the name but red, I have 60 sets in the poly house. Of those 20 are looking good but not so sure about the others. Here comes the order issues, I received an email the other day saying my order of Vulcan Spring planting onions are on their way! I don't remember ordering them but they may be a replacement as I've had a few issues with orders recently! Some space will have to be found for them along with something else. My seed spud order came but only half of it was right. I expected a 1st and 2nd early order but got the first and then some maincrop ones. I'd decided not to grow the latter as I just don't have room for the plants when they get to the full size and they are the only things I really like to rotate and that doesn't work well for me - where they'll go I don't know, probably growing bags as I do luckily have some of those in the poly house.

The MS items are the only things I will have tried this method with so far along with the leeks I'm still harvesting and we're really enjoying those in soups and pies just now.

Still on the subject of orders, I have coming in the next month or two Rhubarb crowns of  Temperley, an early harvesting variety and I'm also very excited about establishing an asparagus bed so have three crowns of Mondeo variety arriving in March - work to be done on the bed for those.

Flower wise I'll sow some marigolds to pop in between the tomatoes plus they look pretty. I have annuals outside the poly house and various perenials and others in the planters outside the Airbnb rooms.(Funny describing them as such seeing as we're not intending to take any guests throughout 2021.)

So that is my plan for February so far, quite a lot of work but I'm really looking forward to it. The weather here in Wales is quite wet and miz right now and I'm only inclined to get outside if the sun is shining a little bit, guilting me to get my wellies on and so something! I love it when I get out there, though, and here's why.

I'll keep you up to date when I get started but would also love to know if you are growing something for the first time and how you get on with it.

Bye for now, 

Lou.xx

 

My Little Patch Of Paradise.

Hello there. I'm here and we're back in lockdown, again! For fear of sounding like an old record I hope you are staying safe and keeping sane. I'll leave it at that.

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As is my want with my posts I start I rarely finish them without some sort of interruption, like a day or two. My husband quite often tells me I try to do too many things at once, the same as when I try to carry too much if tidying up or putting away the pots - I do drop things! We're currently on day two!

Anyhow, I'm here thinking about the outside of our little homestead, my little patch of paradise althoug it isn't looking much like right now! We have had our polytunnel since April 28 2020 so I didn't have time to make the best of it but I was however quite pleased with some of the results; amongst others we had salad leaves all Summer into Autumn, a fabulous amount of kale even though only I eat it but hope to change that. My point is that I want to get it up and running as early as possible to maximise the space over this year.

Currently it is home to the following:

-    20 or so dwarf peas Meteor

-    spring onions

-    a variety of salad leaves

-    a small amount of garlic and onions left over from the ones planted outside

-    10 or so khol rabi

-    three small broccoli with teeny tiny heads

-    2 small kale 

-    pots of parsley, oregano and lemon balm 

-    sweet peas

Some of these are seemingly in suspended animation but look fairly healthy. I hope that once the weather starts to warm up a little next month they'll kick back into life. Something which has come back inside are the strawberry plants; these are about seven or eight I think which were runners off those I cleared out at the end of summer. I gave them a tidy up and have hopes they will develop nicely -  they are called Delizz which are a late fruiting variety.

So looking towards sowing and growing for 2021 I'm not keen on starting many things too early in the year, but I may put some Nante carrots in later this month as these will possibly give us a small crop before those outside. Mainly I'll begin next month when I'll be doing my best to follow Charles Dowding and his sowing schedule with more multi-sowing than I tried last year. My polytunnel book by Joyce Russell says peppers and chillis do well in an unheated polytunnel so I'm crossing my fingers for those to crop this year as I've never done well with either; the latter will have to be a mild variety with more flavour than kick! Any suggestions?

A job for in the polytunnel before much else is to clear some un-successful turnips out; shame about those as I love cooking with them. (Since beginning this I've had another look and there may be a couple growing better. Anyhow, they'll eventually come out and all along the back wall I'll add fresh compost and that is where the tomatoes will be this year. I think they will get more light there due to the way the polytunnel is positioned  to the rising and setting of the sun. I have compost I bought some time ago, which is great seeing as we are in lockdown and cannot get any unless buying feed or bit and pieces for the sheep or chickens.

I'm aiming to do a post by the end of the month about my sowing plans for at least the next two or three months, wiggle room allowed obviously, but I've also set myself a little challenge; check out my freind Tracy over at Our Smallholding Adventure, along with her YouTube channel, as she absolutely loves a challenge. Mine is simply to make a YouTube video where I speak as I'm not keen on my voice when it is recorded but I'll do my best; I want to show the growing area, polytunnel and poly house, oh prepare for some work in progress shots! No point not being honest, real life is what you get in my garden. I'm not good outside in the bad weather but I really am looking forward to sharing my plans for when I'm up and at it when a little of the warm Welsh weather returns.

Aaaah, I knew I'd sneak some in-house stuff in! I have some Seville oranges and will next week be turning them into marmalade to add to the stores of preserves I have in the cellar, some made by me and others gifts. My first time of making it so wish me luck; I'm a nervous preserver but very keen to have a go at things. 

NEWSFLASH - In my last post I showed photos of inside the polytunnel and poly house but I have just uploaded that video I talked about and you can find it here.. I watch a lot of YouTube and people are soo good at it, like Tracy and also Hugh and Fiona over at English Country Life. Me I managed to film the whole 11 minutes in portrait only realising at the end. Duh! Hope you still like what you see!

Bye for now,

Lou.xx

Inspiration, we all love a bit of that!

Hello there. How is everybody? 💖 Not wishing to sound like a broken record but we are just keeping on keeping on here, except for the fact that my youngest was sent home on Monday. A classmate tested positive and he has to isolate but is returning to school on Wednesday, something he is VERY pleased about as he is not a big fan of online learning!

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Saturday.

I'm in the living room, no woodburner lit yet so have an extra layer on, but having some ish-quiet time with a brew and a biscuit. The weather outside is miserable as sin, the dog is asleep in the kitchen, Jon has popped to Aber for dog food (missed off my shopping list yesterday) the boys are upstairs putting up Christmas lights and Aled Jones' dulcets are wafting down the stairs, don't ask, as I sit here and write my blog post.

This morning I came across a note scribbled in my Household Notebook about sowing some tomatoes which can be grown outside. I've never been brave enough to do this because my efforts growing toms have never come to much with those IN doors, although this last year I did have better results in the poly tunnel. So this coming growing season after feeling inspired by my good friend Tracy of Our Smallholding Adventure, as usual, I've decided to give it a go. She's always very enthusiastic when it comes to growing tomatoes, most things really, and tries so hard sowing early, different varieties etc. So as well as trying some outside I'll be sowing a good variety of this very useful fruit - yes I think we all know tomatoes are a fruit not a vegetable!😄

So here are the sowing choices I've made for next year.

IDI F1: Quite a tasty variety I found this year and great to add some different colour to a plate. They are small, yellow and pear shaped, an indeterminate, vining variety and produced by the RHS and Mr Fothergill's.

Tomato F1Tumbling Tom Red : Next year will be the first time I've grown tumbling tomatoes, these seeds are from Simply Seed, and thought I would have them in a hanging basket in the poly tunnel as this variety is not frost hardy.

Maskota : This is a cherry variety by Mr Fothergill's, the seeds of which I was given by a neighbour. Now these were not a real success last year however I'm trying with them again which gives me the chance to grow at least one variety outside. These are also a bush type and ideal for pots, tall ones as they can tumble.

Big Mama F1 : I so do want to grow some big plum tomatoes to make sauce, my dream is to have jars of them in my cellar store room. These are said to be good for sauces, soups and salsa and they skin easily after par-boiing; wish me luck with these seeds from D T Brown.

Maghrebi : These are from the Heritage Seed Library and originate in Morocco They are said to be blight resistant and work well fresh, cooked or pureed. 

Marmande : From Kings Seeds these seeds produce large, attractive fruits which mature slightly later so you can hopefully extend your growing season. They are bushy and don't require side shooting. I hope to do better with these next year.

I'd be interested to know if you're growing anything different or special next year - inside or out.

Inspiration also struck after watching  on Homesteading Family on YouTube who are based in North Idaho in the States- I was put onto them by Tracy! In one of their many videos Carolyn the lady of the house talks about home management including about turning from consumers to producers. Now I think this is pretty much the main idea of those who own or wish to own a smallholding or homestead depending on your description of choice, see my blog post wth some of my thougts about that here.

Obviously we'll still be trying in what will be, amazingly, our 6th growing season to provide as much food as we can; with the advent of my poly tunnel I hope to improve on my harvests as we will have 4 extra months at the beginning of the year compared to last. I'm constantly learning when it comes to sowing and growing and I know those who have been doing it much much longer than me are also still learning and I think that's just great. When it comes to indoors and providing food I think next year I'll try having a couple of days a month to batch bake and make in the kitchen. This will cut down on buying certain things like snack biscuits but also to have meals and dishes to just take out of the freezer when at times we need to make things easy for ourselves or we are busy. We plan on getting a bigger downstairs freezer for the cellar room next year so I'll surely have space. 

Inspiration also came from Hugh and Fiona over at English Country Life on their latest YouTube video. Suggestions were given for books as Christmas presents for those who wish to learn about or gain more information about smallholding and all it can bring. I will now be asking Santa for a copy of this: 

I really want to up my game next year and I think this could be the book for me. Funnily enough Tracy has this on her list, too. You get the feeling we are a couple of peas in a pod!

....Life continually gets in the way so I'm now finishing my little ramblings on Sunday morning at the kitchen table. I've already fed the chooks, lit the Rayburn, put a wash load on, put another load to dry and had my first coffee. Jon took Belle out first thing and I can hear the kettle boiling for a second cup as we've now had breakfast and he and the boys are on a shed clearing out day.

I'm continutally inspired, like lots of people, by lots of people and I'm sure you are, too. 

Please leave a comment if you have time as I'd love to hear about how you are inspired along with any plans you have for the coming growing season.

Bye for now, 

Lou.xx

Inside and out, this and that, keeping on keeping on, still!

 Hello.

I really am loathe to start with my usual how are you all doing opener. Things are detreriorating with the pandemic in many places just now which is very sad indeed; we really have gone back many steps. I continue to feel very guilty about not wanting to go out more than necessary, yet want the boys to get their education in school as I think that is so important - I can't do a good enough job with the home schooling. I've been shopping and stocked up, sensibly, on top of the shopping trip I made last week so hope to not need going again for a couple of weeks at least apart from fresh fruit an veg if needed until the garden get going with autumn growing.🤞 We're going back a little to how we cooked, baked and ate in the early days of lockdown so I feel this will start to make me feel a little more comfortable. I hope with the nights drawing in that people MAY beginto stay in more and help with slowing the spread of infection but who knows. 

I continue to say we're doing our own thing andTracy at Our Smallholding Adventure talks about here in her latest post, what we are dealing with right now IS right now, normal for the foreseeble and we just have to deal with it - keep on keeping on.

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Anyway, here's me cheering myself up with inside and out of my little patch of paradise. 

If you read my last post the week was set to end with some really warm days and it did, however this weekend there was a distinct change. We'd already lit the wood burner on Friday night...

 and on Saturday morning with this lovely ice pattern on the bathroom Velux window.

the decision was made to light the Rayburn; yes, the old girl was fired up!

I feel sooo cosy just looking at this photo and as I type this my back is lovely and warm! We cooked our chicken Sunday roast in and on it yesterday and I'm looking forward to start baking bread and goodies for the tin.

The woodpile has been ready for this moment for a good few weeks now, even having a third extension plus roof so the Welsh rain doesn't ruin Jon and the boys' stacking efforts, so we're good to go for a lovely warm Winter indoors.

On Saturday afternoon the temperature in the poly tunnel was a surprising 32 degrees but I started work on something Jon and I had talked about; just a little project outside in the garden. The sink outside the poly house was cleared and will have new compost added and the sage, thyme and oregano are now housed in one of the tall planters on the garden side of the veg patch.

We plan on putting herbs in all the three planters so I'll need to check which herbs like living together. I know there three are happy house mates but will have to do a little homework reseach - just may ask the lovely Sara at Hawkwell Herbs for some advice.

I'm planning on growing flowers in the sink and toilet so have to move the two mint plants, replace that compost and get my bumbs organised - I would love to have some cutting flowers.

Also around the garden my multi-sown leeks seem to be coming along very nicely so fingers crossed we can have those on Christmas Day - unlike my second cropping spuds as blight has done for them I'm afraid.

  

Looking around I spotted these strawberries in some  planters I've left outside for some time. 

Still seem to be fruiting and just today I saw these others in the poly tunnel. They are some of  the runners I've planted - obviously one pot had some seeds in it already which I didn't realise!

My tomatoes are just about coming to an end. They are finally ripenening and read somewhere that laying the plants down can help with the process so giving that a go.

We haven't had anywhere near as many tomatoes as we would have liked but what we have had have been much better quality than in the past so maybe I'm getting there, finally!

I'm so pleased that the runner beans are really flowering now but not sure when I might get any pods.

I'm really please that the first lettuces I sowed and planted are doing very well so hope for the same with the ones planted later.

Earlier this morning I took a llittle walk a few minutes from the house and picked a couple of things to go with the crysanthymums and gourds I bought yesterday. A taste of Autumn in the kitchen so brighten my days.

That's enough of my ramblings and, as usual, I say stay safe.

Bye for now,

Lou.xx

Switcheroo In The Poly Tunnel - Times They Are A Changing.

Afternoon!

How are you?

I'm ok although had a little bit of a wobble recently and today I'm not much better here and there. I'm concerned we're surely heading toward a second wave as infection rates are up everywhere- because of this I am having problems with conflicting feelings. 

I'm really happy our boys are back at school as I think they need to be, especially when they were off for so long and also the youngest is settling in so well to his new surroundings. However, I am tentatively preparing for when I really don't want to go out for a while which makes me feel guilty.... We will see how things develop but it doesn't harm to be ready. I don't want there to be another lockdown as the people who will suffer the most are those who are already in financial trouble. 

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The weather here is glorious for September and set to be so for the next few days.

I've dragged myself outside, yes I know I should have more enthusiasm for my little patch of paradise, over the last couple of days to do some jobs in the poly tunnel before its been getting too hot and things are changing in there. (Sorry this is a bit dark.)

I've been meaning to cut back the cucumber and tomato plants to let in the sun and today I finally got the job done. I ended up with a lot of garden waste after these jobs which will find its way down to the field when Jon is having a fire. I was really pleased to spend time doing this even though, as is my want, I was thinking I should be getting jobs done indoors!😖 

(This is my new little trolley Jon got for me from a well known social media platform.)👏👏👏

Another job I've done is to make the fridge pickles out of some cucumbers we were given so this will hopefully encourage me to eat more of our salad along with it!

The runner beans are getting close to flowering, below on the left, and the cucumbers have properly come on in the last few days! Bit late but very pleased. 

I've brought in a few tomatoes now, I can see through the leaves, which were close to ripening but left others to hopefully come on this week.🤞

I have something quite exciting - the first squash I've ever managed to grow!

It weighs 4.8lbs, the one vegetable spaghetti from my triffid of a plant given to me by a friend! Thanks again Karen, this will make some soup for sure! Never mind, I'm curing it in the conservatory and then will store it in the cellar to have in the winter, hopefully.

This is the space I have now cleared, for what I'm not sure.

I sowed Meteor peas some time back and today I put 15 of the plants in, still have some left, and to make the best of the space I've also planted some multi-sown spring onions.

I've planted some Autumn Corvina broccoli where some of the tomatoes were including two which I moved from the bed on the other side so I made the best of the space. I should sow/plant something else here to make the best of the room but I think I've got enough lettuce!

Today the weather is gorgeous and I tried to get outside. I needed to give the usual Friday whip round with the vacuum, I like everything to be lovely on Friday night when we are all having a cosy night together, clothes put out of the way and this blog post finished of course. I also decided I needed two bread loaves for the weekend, biscuits for the tin, dough for the boys' pizza tea and an apple crumble for puddings. I also had a zoom chat with a friend so it was a bit a bit of a busy day.

Biscuits and crumble-  ✅  (Crumble is in the fridge ready to pop in the oven when we need it.)

Dough is in the fridge, too, so I can make the pizzas fresh later ✅ and the bread loaves are cooling. 

Didn't manage to get outside, apart from to feed the chooks and collect the eggs. Never mind, the weather is forecast to be good over the weekend so I'll get stuff done then.

Hope you have a wonderful, and safe, weekend.

Take care.

Bye for now,

Lou.xx

 

Autumn School Days and Homestead Harvesting

Good morning everybody.

Well here we are in September with the nights certainly getting chillier and darker quite a lot earlier; I love the colours of the seasons changing, too.

Autumn and Winter are my very favourite seasons and I can't WAIT to get the Rayburn and wood burner lit. The first I think we'll light in the middle of this month. Sooo helps to cut down on winter outgoings as we do as much cooking on and in it as we can, it heats the water and keeps some of upstairs warm, or we put on an extra sweater! The boys love coming home to hot chocolate and cake in the warmth of the living room, curtains shut and I love sitting in there with Jon at night time chatting or listening to music. Even though the TV is only up two steps in a room off the living room it's a lovely quiet space if the boys want to do something else.

I have to admit to loving the winding down of the year and this year is one that surely needs to come to an end so we can look forward to a better, though I suspect still very different, 2021.

My usual question at the start of proceedings is how are you all getting on? I know a lot of people are describing our situation as lockdown having been lifted, but here on our little homestead we are pretty much behaving the same way, still living the dream in our own way here on my little patch of paradise.

(Apologies for the cement mixer but work in progress!)

We're only going to the shops for things we need, no browsing for fun; August Bank Holiday has just passed and we drove into Aber on the Sunday and it was extremely busy so we got what was needed and, as we say, got the hell out of dodge!

Just now shopping involves getting school supplies for our boys. With one who is 14 the week they go back and currently 5ft 4 it's proving a little tricky getting regulation school clothes as we're on the brink of the age range seeing as he's already in 15 - 16 yrs shirts, and don't get me started on trousers! Things will be very different for them, I think I mentioned I'll be driving them to school but I'm still waiting to hear that we can transfer Alfie to join Harry at his school in Aber.🤞 They will be in school next week for two or three days but we have no dates for attendance confirmed beyond that as yet. We expect there'll be some blended learning ie. home as well as in school but again this information has not come to us yet.

Here on the homestead Jon is continuing work on the new Airbnb listing. It's coming on very well indeed and we are just planning the colours, layout and style and as we plan on having some much missed family to stay with us over Christmas, no not apologising for saying it, we're looking forward to it being very welcoming and cosy for them.

Harvests have really not been too bad this year. Still have lots of carrots to come along with the Maris Piper maincrop spuds which seem to be really good already. I was a little concerned about the spuds due to the little tomato things growing on them again this year but was confident it wasn't blight although they also seemed to be dying back a bit early - my diary said they shouldn't be ready before Sept 19 about. Aaaaanyhow, I decided to cut them down to soil level and when I harvested two plants yesterday I came in with 4lbs of quality produce which I thought was a good amount. 

(The bags in the background are the 2nd cropping ones.)

Of course, I have the second cropping ones planted which will be going into the poly tunnel at some point; the growing bags will probably take the place of the butternut squash that took over the corner for so long.

I've been out foraging for blackberries, too, haven't really had to go very far for them,10 minutes from home at the most, and there have been sooo many that we now have a good couple of lbs in the freezer. Great for breakfast with yoghurt - hope to go out again this week and see if they are still in such abundance before the season ends.

I FINALLY have quite a few tomatoes ripening, from different varieties, too; they seem to have taken an absolute age so hope to pick those in the next couple of days; not enough to process into anything but never mind another year maybe.

I took up my beetroot last week; not loads this year but hope to have a late entry of some I have planted outside. I used the fresh along with some from the freezer which I grew last year. I had enough to make a couple of jars of relish, plus some for tasting, from a recipe by Thane Prince, and it was yummy; this will be perfect to go with cold meats at Christmas, oops there it is again! Not much preserving going on but some.

The outside beds and areas are beginning to look a little bit naked. The empty tyres where I grew my early spuds will be for onions and garlic I think, should be enough space. 

One of my great successes this year is definitely the kale. Constantly picking, rinsing and popping it into a bag for the fridge.

Maryline and I from Rural and Rustic were just saying that an eye needs to be kept on poly tunnel temperatures just now to ensure the more delicate things are still happy. I'll be popping out shortly to  feed the toms and few other things when I do the rounds; we're having some rain here today so the outdoor plants should be ok.

Right, today is the last no-screen day for the boys and Wednesday is also Monopoly Day; we normally have lunch then start and play until about 3 or 3.30pm.

Enjoy your day and I hope you enjoyed more of my ramblings.

#stayhomeandstaysafe where you can.

Bye for now

Lou,xx

Self-sufficiency, Self-reliance And Me Rambling, As Usual!

I'm a bit behind as I started this post on Monday!😂 That was the day Jon went back to work after his annual 2 week summer break.! I have a busy life normally but there is always a bit more going on when he is at home all day.

I'm a planner and he is a doer so we fit together very well; I have to take care when asking for something to be done so I can allow for associated mess and clean up time -  when I ask he has the habit of starting it fairly sharpish!

As I wrote most of this whilst sitting in the garden on the tree seat, it was a balmy evening and the sky was pale blue mottled with clouds after a day of thunderstorms and rain. There was not a breath of wind, Jon was planing a seat made out of tree trunks for our elderly sheep-farming neighbour and our new sheep dog pup was running around as unsure of the noise.

On evenings as such it is so very hard to remember that Covid-19 and the pandemic are still having an adverse effect on our lives. I say adverse as we are generally still managing to live our lives the way we were before. 

I started to think about the following definitions, I think I have them correct, as whilst we have been, and still are, in lockdown we are as ever doing as much for ourselves as we can. I began thinking the other day about these terms and as the UK begins to relax the rules of lockdown. 

SELF-SUFFICIENT 

This is where you produce, obtain or already possess what you need - where you have enough.

SELF-RELIANT

This is about your skills and abilities with aspirations of non-dependency, not about having enough of something. 

We are no where near totally self-sufficient regarding our food but in lots of ways we are self-reliant. I know some people may think the two are the same but they are a little different. We are almost self-sufficient in the food we like to eat in the Summer months. We are self-sufficient in the wood we need to heat our wonderful Rayburn over Winter as we can acquire timber from the sawmill where Jon works. In turn we are self-reliant in not relying on paid-for energy to heat our home or water and, if we so desire, we can cook all our food and meals with the Rayburn or on the top of the living room wood burner; obviously we have other appliances that add to our energy bill.

What we are truly self-reliant in is various skills around the house and our little homestead so we very rarely need to call a tradesman. Thanks to Jon's talents we never need a plasterer, painter/decorator, locksmith, plumber, carpenter, fencer, builder, tiler, roofer, glazier but sometimes need an electrician. Jon has been know to sweep the chimneys but both the Rayburn and wood burner have had the professional treatment once since we came to Bronllan.

I can't imagine how much money we have saved over the 17 years we have been together!

If I'm being honest I was never happier than in the early days; when the PM made the historic announcement 4 months ago  "you must stay at home" I adhered to the rules very strictly. 

We live 13 miles from the seaside town of Aberystwyth and are now seeing more people out and about, including tourists. We're going back to not feeling very keen at all on going into the town so I now wear a mask in the shops; there are opinions about the use and efficacy but it does make me feel a bit more comfortable in places where people are not social distancing. 

So, as far as food is concerned we're trying harder with the self-sufficient thing especially now we have the poly tunnel; that has been a real learning curve as we had it just at lockdown and I'm already looking forward to producing food over Winter and into next year! Planning, always planning.

I hope to preserve some of the things I grow; I've a dehydrator on my birthday list. I've always thought it important to have food in stock in case a situation arises, as recently. There'll always be dried goods in the house and will persevere in our aims to keep us all provided for, be it through sufficiency or reliance.

Anyway, talking of sowing and growing, here are a few photos from the garden this morning.

I've borrowed some bean poles from friends so I can support the runner beans I'm trying to grow in the poly tunnel, not sure how they will do but whatever! I have little rubber hats on top of the poles to protect the tunnel roof.

I've planted out nine more dwarf bean plants as these seem to be doing better outside than in, again, see how that goes. .

Some lettuce seedlings grown in the poly tunnel will hopefully give us more salad for a while yet and these are planted outside, too; I've had another good year with salad leaves!

I've fed the tomatoes with my homemade nettle feed for the first time today. I had to dilute it 1:10 before using it and it will last a while as I made 24 pints of it!

My tomatoes are just beginning to ripen; here are some of the variety Black Russian.

In the back right corner you can just see something coming up and they are Snowball turnips.

The corn outside the poly house is coming along really nicely, as are the beans sharing the bed - can't say the same about the squash in the middle! 

The blueberries are great, sooo pleased with them and picking every other day or so.

This year is definitely one of firsts; tried to grow borage a couple of times but this year actually managed it!

So, today is Saturday just after 8am. Jon is outside painting the listing with the youngest, I've fed the chooks and looking forward to a day of indoor jobs today. It's cooler outside and I've been and taken a quick look at everything. I'll probably go out later and bring in a few goodies like some fresh spuds, kale, blueberries to add to the others in the freezer and salad for lunch; some is going to seed and this will give up some space for other planting to provide us with eatables over the Winter.

As ever, stay safe, enjoy your weekend and hope the weather is not too hot, cold or wet for you in the coming days.

Bye for now,

Love Lou.xx