the accidental smallholder :: diary

Planting potatoes

We cleaned the greenhouse on Saturday; we didn't do it last year and it was pretty mucky. It took about 3 hours to do; Dan took out the panes and I washed them, while he cleaned the frame and floor. By then the panes were ready to go back in. We managed not to break any this year and it looks great.

Now the greenhouse is clean, I can put some stuff in it! We're not going to plant the vegetable garden this year. We will sow green manure, probably red clover and we can graze lambs on it if we want to. We're going to plant stuff in pots and take it with us, and hopefully sow and plant when we get there in mid-May.

Today, I sowed 28 pots of tomatoes from four varieties - Gartenperle, Moneymaker, Gardener's Delight and Tamina. They are last year's seed so I put two or three in each pot. As a companion, I also sowed some marigolds.

Leeks went into trays today - one of Hannibal and one of Bandit. And some early potatoes, Mimi, Vivaldi and Red Duke of York in pots. I've labelled them well so we shoudl know what does well. Come April, I'll start more plants off, ready for the journey North.

Countdown

Well, it's eight weeks and five days until we get the keys of our new place. It's exciting AND frustrating. Dan's folks are now living in their caravan in Dunning, which is lovely. We called yesterday and were so surprised to see a foot of snow in the fields. There's still snow on the Ochils, but it's taking a shift in the lovely Spring weather we've been having so far this month. I hope March isn't going to live up to the old saying and go out like a lion.

We keep list of lists; we're hoping to get in with the architect and builder next week. I just want to be doing SOMETHING, so I'm emptying the freezers. Makes for some interesting mealtimes as I hate waste.

We've decided not to plant the vegetable garden here. After reviewing the seed packets, much of what we grow can be sown in mid-May or later, so we'll just have to get our skates on when we get up there.

I've already tidied out the cupboards and drawers. I asked Dan last week if I should start taking down the pictures; he just looked at me over his laptop like I was mad.

And it'll get worse before it gets better.

Finally, missives concluded

Well, the missives on our new smallholding have finally been concluded, with an entry date of 14th May. We're relieved and excited but we now have a lot to do.

We hope to get in to inspect the property with our architect in the next week or two. We won't need planning permission as all the alterations are internal but we will need a building warrant. We also need to firm up on the list of other work to be done so that our builder can start costing it.

We're asking the Energy Saving Trust for advice on insulation and heating. The windows need replaced, the loft insulation upgraded and, since the solum needs sealed and new heating pipes put in, we'll insulate under the floor too. On heating, we're quite keen on using a wood pellet boiler for heating and hot water. There's no mains gas so we need an alternative and LPG or oil won't do. That will leave us with electricity, so we're thinking about installing PV cells, but perhaps not immediately.

We're just looking to get on as quickly as possible with the house, so that we can get on with the "real" stuff on the smallholding.

Green ginger wine

We bought a bottle of green ginger wine on Saturday. It was reduced in Marks and Spencer and I, in particular, love ginger. Especially covered in dark chocolate, but no matter.

We've both had colds but Dan has been taking a cold and flu remedy which was quite horrid - very chemically and fluorescent green. Anyway, he's invented his own remedy - juice of one lemon, large teaspoon of honey, three capfuls of green ginger wine topped up with hot water. That plus a couple of paracetamol makes him feel a whole lot better.

I didn't realise green ginger wine was alcoholic - I suppose the clue is in the name- so we're going to buy or make some ginger cordial, so we don't get into trouble. In fact, I know the very thing to warm me up after doing the outside jobs...

Spring "lambs"

The ewes and ewe lambs have been confined to quite a small paddock, albeit with adlib hay and a lick. It was a lovely day today, cold but sunny, so I let them through into the river paddock. What excitement! The three ewe lambs were leaping and skipping; even the pregnant ewes had a little skip, but not too much. Amazing what a mouthful of fresh grass does for the sheep spirit!

"Spring" Lambs from asmallholder on Vimeo.

They are back in the small paddock overnight but will be released again tomorrow. Lucy Lamb is big girl - I hope she has some high energy lick tonight or she won't be able to throw her weight around with the same abandon as she did today.

More beekeeping

Well, it's week four of our beekeeping course tomorrow. Week one was an introduction and bee biology; week two was equipment (and we were given catalogues away with us!!); week three was handling bees (without actual bees) and week four is swarming.

Last week we also had a demonstration of how to light a smoker. It all looks very simple in the hands of an expert. Dan flicked through the catalogues and asked if we needed one of evrything - I said no, we needed two of somethings and none of others! I'm not sure if this made him feel better or not.

We're going to have National hives. I'm planning to get two, although we'll only get one colony - the spare will be for, well, spare! I'm also getting a bee suit - in stone (colour not material!), I think. White's a bit conspicuous and looks like there's been a chemical incident.

The beekeepers - the proper ones who are delivering the course - are just wonderful. They are so generous - with their time, their enthusaism and their expertise. This year, for the first time, they are running a queen breeding programme to develop nuclei that new beekeepers will be able to buy at a very competitive price. They hope to make importing bees from other areas unnecessary, thus preventing the spread of disease. They were meeting today to build the nuc boxes and hope to have nucs ready in May, June and July.

The Association gets a discount from one of the major suppliers of beekeeping equipment, so I have to get my list done and in for the mentors to check before the end of the month. That's my next job!

I love our kittens because...

they take their worm tablets wrapped in a little bit of cheese, like dogs.

This year's potatoes, onions, shallots and garlic

Our seed potatoes, onion and shallot sets and garlic arrived last week. I ordered them before we even thought about moving. As usual, I was surprised by the quantity I had ordered!

I've bought Vivaldi and Mimi as earlies to go in pots; Red Duke of York as a second early and Druid as the maincrop. We grew Druid last year and they were very good indeed.

This is the Druid "blurb" - "Very similar to Red Cara but a slightly later maturity. Short oval pink/red skinned with no white splashes, shallow eyes. Huge yields. Firm flesh does not disintegrate on cooking. Resistance to foliage blight, common scab and golden eelworm so ideal for the organic gardener." Also ideal for the "not very good gardener".

I've bought two garlic bulbs (Wight Cristo), which will be plenty, and 3 bags of "Picasso" shallots. We grew these last year, and they did well. We never have much luck with onions, so I've bought two mixed bags of white, brown and red onions - Red Baron, Snowball and ABS 101. In the two bags, there should be 100 - 150 sets, so that should yield, oh, about 20 onions.

Other then these, I'll just use up last year's seeds and start again next year in the new vegetable garden.

Bee keeping and other things

Dan's dad and I started our beekeeping course on Tuesday. Run by Dunblane and Stirling Beekeepers' Association over about eight weeks, it was very enjoyable and very interesting. Thirty three people had signed up for the course and we all turned up, which is pretty good, I think.

First week was and introduction and a bit about bee biology, covering taxonomy and physiology. Much of it was introductory and future sessions will look at things like equipment and swarming in more detail. Swarming seems to be a major issue.

I think DSBA may be very good and welcoming, because there were folk from further afield whose local beekeepers had been less than welcoming. I think most of us beginners joined the Association, which means we get hands-on training and, hopefully, access to a nucleas later in the year. I'm not buying anything until I've been close to the bees, just in case I freak.

It's been lovely here last few days - cold, but dry and sunny. I actually managed to get two loads of washing pegged out and almost dry. It was lovely to smell the fresh washing for a change.

Yesterday, Dan and I did a bit of tidying up outside. It's a bit strange to think we won't be here next year. Our seed potatoes, onion and shallot sets and garlic bulbs arrived last week. I think we'll just plant them anyway, and we'll split the yield with the new tenants. Dan pruned the apple and pear trees and burned the prunings, so we and the cats all smelled smoky. It was such a nice day that even Felix came out and had a wander round in the sun - first time he's been out for ages.

We designed a new sign for our new house tonight; John (Dan's dad) is going to make it. He did the one for Longcarse and it's very good. We're doing so much planning, but we really need to get access to the house to firm up on measurements and so on. Hopefully, the sale will conclude this week and we'll be able to get in. Then it will be full steam ahead!

The girls are back!

Well, it's been a sheep day today. Our ewes were scanned and came home, and Carol's ewe lambs left by return. Our ewes and ewe lambs are now in the top of the orchard and will be there until lambing; the tups are now in the big field with the horse. The horse chases the sheep and I couldn't have him chasing the ewes.

Before moving, the tups got the once over - feet trimmed, wormed / fluked and bums tidied up. Dickie also got the wool trimmed round his eyes - I'm sure he couldn't see properly. They look a bit lost in a 6 acre field.

The ewes have scanned exactly the same as last year - Juno has twins and Jinx and Jura have one lamb each. I'm a wee bit disappointed but I didn't flush them. I hope to do better next year, when the small paddocks will come into their own for restricting the ewes intake. They've also had their feet done and had wormer / flukicide; the ewe lambs just have to have their feet trimmed. That's tomorrow's job.

Actually must go and do my medicine book while I remember. It's nice to have them back, though.