the accidental smallholder :: diary archives

Pig & Hen in perfect harmony

The pigs are doing just fine. They sleep a lot more than last year's, but make up for lost time when they're awake. The pen is already well-turned, and by July should be pretty clean, ready for sowing a green manure and maybe some spuds. The main worry when planting potatoes on newly cultivated grassland is usually wire worm, but we should be okay - the hens, canny creatures that they are - have taken to following the ploughs that are the pigs, snatching any beasties that are unfortunate enough to be exposed by those powerful snouts. It's inevitable that some beneficial worms and insects will also suffer this fate, but many will also survive, and from what I've seen the brightly coloured wire worms are more attractive to the hens' eyes than the less conspicuous night crawlers.

Tonight while watering the vegetable beds, in the biting easterly wind, I noticed that the early peas are just starting to show through the soil. The tomatoes, aubergines and peppers are coming along in the greenhouse, as are the herbs Rosemary sowed about 10 days ago - thyme, sweet basil, chives and parsley. The established comfrey plants seem to swell daily, and might be large enough for a few leaves to be had to line the trench for the early spuds next weekend, and the dozen or so offshoots I planted weekend before last are showing signs of rooting strongly already.

Edinburgh break

It was my birthday on Friday, and my wife treated me to a surprise night away in Edinburgh. We stayed at the fantastic Scotsman Hotel on North Bridge - it is without doubt the best hotel we've ever experienced. Everything was spot on - the staff were genuinely friendly and very efficient, the room a study in comfort and the food exceptional. The hotel was opened 3 years ago, and is located in the beautiful building which previously housed the Scotsman newspaper, and is quintessentially Scottish.

We arrived mid-morning, and set out to wander the Royal Mile and surrounding streets. For lunch we went to the Mussel Inn, which we now heartily recommend to anyone who enjoys seafood. The restaurant is owned by producers of mussels, oysters and scallops, and the menu reflects this. Rosemary's seafood chowder was the highlight. In the afternoon we hit the shops and did our bit to keep John Lewis in business.

We dined in the North Bridge Brasserie, attached to the hotel. While the hotel is 5-star, and has a formal restaurant to match (the Vermilion), the brasserie is for everyone - a very nice menu at reasonable prices, and the food was exceptional. I continued my seafood motif with a crab starter and scallops with Stornoway pudding for main, while Rosemary plumped for a ham shank starter and perfectly cooked liver for main. I took cheese to round off the meal, including some Mull cheddar, Dunsyre Blue. and St. Andrews.

On Saturday after a good breakfast (fish for me again - Finnan Haddock) we went food shopping - bread, salami, olives and other bits and pieces from Valvona and Crolla, then to Ian Mellis, the Cheesemongers, in Victoria Street. If you're a lover of cheese and are anywhere near Edinburgh you owe it to yourself to visit this shop - a huge range of cheeses and helpful staff who can assist you in finding the perfect cheese for your palate. We left with 4 - Dunsyre Blue, Waterloo, Organic Staffordshire and Mrs Kirkham's Lancashire.

Then it was off to the Royal Botanic Gardens and a stroll in the spring sunshine. We had a motive for going beyond the plants - Rosemary's great grandfather worked in the Botanic Gardens, and he and R's great grandmother were married in a house on a street adjacent to the gardens, which we visited while we were there.

To round off a great birthday break we stopped at Falkirk on the way home to see Kevin Costner's new film Open Range. It's a Western in the old tradition - you know who the good guys are, who the bad guys are and who is going to prevail in the end. Costner is great in it, but the real stars are Robert Duvall and Annette Benning, proving that there's no substitute for acting talent.

Trampolining hens

On Sunday afternoon I planted about 400 Sturon onion sets in the big bed beside our garage. Since onions form a part of just about every meal we eat these will keep us going for about 10 months after harvest.

One of the downsides of keeping hens is the need to protect everything in the garden which can be damaged by the hens pecking, and scratching. With many vegetables, especially those sown direct or planted as small sets or tubers, that means netting. You can probably see where this is going.

I spent a good deal of time before planting the sets making supports and pegs out of old fencing wire and unravelling a large (4mx5m) net to cover the bed. After planting I stretched the net across the fence and supports, and pegged firmly into the ground. It's just high enough to stay in situ until harvest, and easy enough to take down a couple of times during the growing season to weed (onions hate competition).

Yesterday I arrived home from work with the aim of blocking on the tomato and pepper seedlings which have already germinated. The onion netting was still in place, but there was a large hen dropping right in the middle which indicated that all was not quite right. Regardless I proceeded to make some soil block mixture in the shed. When I came out I was greeted by the sight of 4 hens bouncing on the netting pecking at the sets on their way down, and balancing themselves with open wings on the way up. It was extraordinary, and I watched for a few minutes before coming to my senses and shooing them off. I've erected a temporary barrier from various bits of wood, large pots and the wheelbarrow to try to stop them getting close again, but I suspect they had far too much fun to give up easily...

Cassius' presents

Cassius, number 1 cat, has taken to bringing us presents of dead rabbits. They seem to be his favourite prey at the moment. On Sunday, we noticed one of the dogs sniffing round our bed - we thought Cass was under it, but further investigation revealed the very small remains of a rabbit. Today (Tuesday), he appeared on the doorstep dragging a fresh kill. Shut out, he devoured it on the patio, with an audience of half a dozen hens.

The good side is that I've stopped worrrying about him not eating his cat food. But it's certainly nature red in tooth and claw...

Long distance riding

I have been seeking an activity to undertake with Smokey. He's too big to show, even if I wanted to, and neither of us are that keen on jumping. After some thought, and a recommendation from our vet, we are planning to start long distance or endurance riding. Our vet described this as "hacking with style".

The sport is run in Scotland by the Scottish Endurance Riding Club (SERC), through a number of branches. We're kind of in the area of Glasgow, Lothians and Tayside, but I think we'll go for Tayside.

Most club events have three categories of event - pleasure ride, which non-competitive and where most people start, training rides and competitive rides. Top events can be up to 120 miles over three days. We're looking at starting with a 10-14 mile pleasure ride. Except at the highest level, rides are not against the clock - they are set speed rides. The rider decides what speed they will cover the 20 mile, say, route at. This will be maybe 6 - 6.99 mph or 7-7.99 mph. The object is then to do that, arriving at the finish with your horse's heart rate at 64 beats per minute ie without your horse being thrashed to death. The condition of the horse is always paramount and there are always vets and farriers at events to make sure that the horses are well looked after.

So, on Sunday (Mother's Day), Dan and I popped up to Scone to have a look at an event there. There were horses (and riders) of all shapes and sizes. The favoured breed for the serious competitor is the Arab or part bred Arab, but there was a smattering of Highlands and Highland types. In fact, a half sister of Smokey (by Monarch of Millfield) was competing.

It seemed pretty good although Dan's a bit concerned about my ability to follow directions (!). He suggested I identify someone else doing the same route and just follow them. Alternatively, he offered to accompany me on his mountain bike. This is the man that lost himself and his brother (some time ago, I admit) while hillwalking BECAUSE HE HAD THE MAP UPSIDE DOWN!

Anyway, I now need a fitness programme for me and the Smokey boy. Every night that I'm doing him, we'll be riding out. Up and down hill, where possible, to build up stamina. It'll be good to see him get fit (and me).

Our target is an event on 27th June at Devilla Forest, which is a few miles away. As usual, I'll keep you posted...

Mad March

The inclement weather has kept us out of the garden today, with high, cold winds and torrential rain limiting activity to the greenhouse. The pigs have also taken to shelter, spending most of the day (apart from feeding time of course) in their ark. We've big plans for tomorrow though, weather permitting - the planting of several hundred onion sets, sowing of various herbs in the greenhouse and the blocking on of some tomato and pepper seedlings from 3/4 inch to 2 inch soil blocks.

Unfortunately my seed potatoes are struggling badly in the shed. In previous years they have been chitted in the house, but this year the redecoration of the front hall made me seek an alternative location. I think it's just been too cold at times in the unheated, uninsulated shed, and many of the shoots from the spuds have withered, and other tubers show signs of rot. I'll move them indoors tomorrow in the hope of rescuing some of them, but I'm resigned to buying more seed - very frustrating but I've learned an important lesson - ignore the cosmetic effect of chitting spuds indoors!

This morning I confined myself to the kitchen to prepare some lunch for a couple of (vegetarian) friends who were coming to see the pigs. The New Covent Garden Soup Company books provided the fare - Puy Lentil and Thyme soup, and a fantastic loaf of bread made with yoghurt which required no proving and was so simple to make. It's likely to become a regular!

I did find time this week to take some root cuttings from our most mature comfrey plant, and they have now been planted in the bed beside the permanent veg garden, so we now have 16 or so comfrey plants from which to make liquid feed and to act as a compost activator. We plan to sell the liquid feed and comfrey root cuttings in the future, so further expansion is likely later in the year once I've prepared a suitable site. http://www.comfrey.biz will be put to real use soon!

Pig planning

It's nice to have pigs around the place again. Apart from the satisfaction of watching them turn over a large piece of ground where we can grow veg next year, saving me a sore back and blistered hands, they are such friendly, lively animals. This lot, being a good bit older than our two last year, and used to dogs thanks to Holly, already follow us around inquisitively and love a good scratch.

Now we've got them we need to start thinking about the when, how, and who of their eventual departure. That means seeking out those potential customers who last year expressed an interest in buying pork from us but for whatever reason missed out, and offering more to those who did buy last year (but who might still have half a freezer full!), and giving the butcher an early warning of the likely date for the carcasses to arrive.

These three are 3 months older than the Tamworths we had last year, which means that they will most likely go to slaughter in late July. That provides much more scope for cultivating and planting up the vacated bed before autumn, and while there's no solid plan evolved yet we're thinking around spuds and a good over-wintering green manure such as grazing rye, phacelia or winter tares. That way come the spring the soil will hopefully be much more workable than this year, when the bed vacated by the pigs was quite badly panned and took a lot of effort to open up.

Homer's Odyssey

I'm pleased to report that Homer's journey back into the family is continuing. He now makes his way around the house at night, once the dogs have gone to bed. Although he's still nervous around people, he's much more relaxed than he was.

A couple of nights ago, we were sitting in the living room when we heard thumping in the hall. On investigation, this turned out to be Homer chasing his tail and leaping around on the rug. This was the first time we'd seen him play and I have to confess I had a bit of a lump in my throat.

His physical condition continues to improve and I think he'd quite like to go out. He was looking out the front door yesterday when I had it open to feed the hens. I'm not sure if he knows how to use a cat flap, so a wee training session might be in order. I'm just worried that he goes out, gets a fright and bolts, but maybe I'm being over protective.

Mind you, he won't want to go out tonight. It's bucketing rain and blowing a gale. Good night to be in, I think.

Meet the gang 'cos the boys are here

Here are our new arrivals, the 3 Tamworth boar weaners we picked up from Dumfries today. Everything went very smoothly, and we had a great time at the breeder's farm meeting their animals, including some gorgeous Golden Guernsey goats, Ryland sheep and of course Tamworth pigs.

Our pigs have settled in already - after a quick scout around the perimeter of their new home looking for potential weaknesses in our defences they set to rooting and grazing, met the dogs, had a feed and eventually found their way into their ark shortly after dusk.

A big thank you to Pauline, Steve and John for making us so welcome, for the soup, the honey and the pigs. We hope the wee lamb pulls through, and that the salami is less scary than it looked.

Kudos to Scottish Water

Our past experiences with utility companies have not been positive. When we bought our cottages the electricity company were adamant that we were in possession of a spare meter, even though we had stood and watched one of their employees remove it just a week before. At one stage they suggested that the only way to end the dispute would be for us to report the meter stolen! They must have discovered their error eventually because everything went quiet after about a year.

The gas company were no better. They wouldn't accept that they were supplying us with gas, despite the fact that one of their work crews had been out the week before to re-route the supply into our front hall, and our heating and cooker were defeinitely burning something. They didn't charge us for gas for over a year, despite repeated attempts by us to get them to do so.

I shudder to think how long I spent on the telephone to these companies.

So it was with some trepidation that last month I tackled the issue of emptying our septic tank with Scottish Water. The initial call was encouraging, but the lady on the other end of the phone didn't inspire confidence. She couldn't tell me much - when the tank was last emptied, when it would be emptied this time around (within 28 days was the closest we could get which was fine because the 28th day would be the Friday before the pigs arrived), how much it would cost and so on. She assured me however that the job was now in their system and that we'd be contacted in due course. 3 weeks passed. No contact from Scottish Water.

The complication was that the cover to the tank is located in the pen where the pigs are going to be resident from Sunday. We had to get it emptied before they arrived - I had visions of the poor wee souls falling into the tank and being sooked up the big hose into the bowser - a most unpleasant demise. So on Monday past I girded my loins and called Scottish Water. I have to say it was a most uplifting experience (as far as phonecalls to public utility companies can be).

No, the tank wouldn't be emptied before Friday because the 28 days were working days they told me. News to me, I told them. I have pigs arriving on Sunday, it needs to be emptied before then!

Well, they pulled out all the stops for us - the tank would be emptied on Thursday, the driver will call 24 hours before to confirm (which he did), and if we go onto a contact we need only pay £99 instead of the £168 we were going to pay. And everything happened just the way they said it would.

It hasn't restored my faith in customer services in general, which in the UK at least are on the whole consistently poor, but it was a refreshing experience to feel that the company were doing their best to provide a service which met my needs.

The Earth Moved

I've just finished reading Amy Stewart's excellent 'The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms'. It's not as specialist a read as it might sound from the title - it's wonderfully readable and the worms themselves so fascinating that everyone should enjoy it.

Read my review at Blether for more, or see Amazon UK or Amazon US to buy. Also be sure to visit the author's site - Worms of Endearment.

Spring sowings

Lots of veggies sown this weekend, and preparations made for future crops.

• Parsnip, Tender and True
• Beetroot, Libero RZ
• Tomato, Harbinger
• Tomato Super Sweet 100
• Pepper, Jumbo
• Pepper, Sweet Nardello
• Pepper, Hungarian Hot Wax
• Lettuce, Saladini
• Spring Onion, White Lisbon

One of my challenges this growing season was to keep better records of sowings, soil inputs and harvests. Although summaries will be posted here I'm also going to be recording the detail in a database which the saddest reader will be available to view. It will be extremely useful to be able to look back at what varieties did best where and with what inputs and techniques - otherwise I'm liable to make the same mistakes every year.

This afternoon the old strawberry plants were cleared from the raised perennial bed and the ground prepared for the arrival of our asparagus crowns later this month. The soil was forked over, hoed and then riddled to remove larger stones and other debris. A good quantity of compost was added, and a touch of sand, phosphate and lime sprinkled. Finally it got a good rake over and was securely netted - the hens were looking hungrily at all the worms I'd uncovered, and Cas was looking in admiration at the new latrine he thought I'd made for him.

Bereavements

Today we had two departures from the smallholding. Sadly the first was one of our new hens. We discovered a trail of feathers this morning leading from our shed along the hedge, under which we found the dead hen. It was most likely a fox, and we think the hen failed to roost with the other hens for some reason, and when we shut them in at about 9pm she was probably under the shed, where the hens have established dust baths. We stopped counting the hens in their ark at night once the new arrivals had settled in - we'll now start doing so again. This is the 2nd hen we've lost this year to a suspected fox, and we need to be more vigilant to prevent it happening again.

The second loss was our old apple tree, which was here when we moved in. It was riddled with canker, and I think was responsible for it spreading to one of our new apple trees about 40 yards downwind in the orchard. Since canker is wind-bourne we couldn't risk it spreading further, so the chainsaw got a wee run this afternoon. The birds still have plenty of places to perch - the tree was right next to a mature hawthorn hedge - and there's a rowan tree we planted a couple of years ago nearby which is getting large enough for the smaller birds to start using it.

A date with 3 pigs

No, not a Saturday night out in Alloa, but confirmation that next Saturday we'll be tootling down to Dumfries to collect our 3 tamworth weaners. They are all boars, and have been described bythe breeder as a huge fat one, a normal one and a wee skinny one (who is skinny because he spends feeding time sucking the ears of the other pigs). Sounds like they will fit in with our other disfunctional animals just fine.

The gender isn't terribly important since they won't be reaching sexual maturity. We had 2 gilts (females) last year, so it will be nice to bolster the number of males around the place this year - what with a dozen hens, 2 border collie bitches, a female cat and a wife and daughter us men (myself and 2 of the cats) need all the support we can get...

The scourge of Scotland

Today R and I both had the afternoon off work - the joys of flexi-time. We might have spent it pottering around the house, doing odd jobs in the garden or maybe just putting our feet up. But we didn't. Instead we spent 2 hours picking litter from along the road leading to our cottage, which passes through an industrial estate, with our Helping Hands. We filled 13 large black bin bags with the varied detritus of irresponsible litter-bugs.

Litter is fast becoming the scourge of Scotland (at least the bits I see regularly). The Scotland I know is without question a dirty country. Take a close look next time you're heading out - road verges are universally peppered with crisp packets, drinks cans and all manner of other items disposed by (presumably) motorists too ignorant or lazy to take their litter home or dispose of it reponsibly. No area of municipal planting is complete without its assortment of discarded plastic bags of various hues, stuck right in the middle where no-one, endowed with a helping hand or not, is able to reach them. Pavements are speckled with chewing gum spat from the mouths of the great unwashed.

Around here some people blame the local Council, but that's not fair. The Council is overburdened and under-funded by central government, and most importantly it is not the Council who drops the litter! There is only one solution - tackle the source and prevent people dropping litter, either by education or by financial penalty through fines or higher local taxation to pay for more workers to clean up after them.

I wish I'd taken before and after photographs to show here. Sadly it is an absolulte certainty that within 6 months we'll be out with our bin bags and our helping hands repeating the whole exercise, and I'll have another opportunity to illustrate the slovenly nature of the Scottish public at large.

Weekend past

Well, another glorious but cold weekend passes, and we're a little closer to being ready for our new pigs which we collect in 3 weeks. On Saturday we finished the fencing, stapling sheep netting to the rails, and on Sunday gave the pig ark and the old chook ark a coat of water-based preservative. They'll get at least one more coat in the next few weeks, and if we have the time and will another before the autumn.

Although the ground remains too hard to sow direct, meaning the parsnips still aren't in, the aubergines (Long Purple) were sown yesterday in soil blocks in the greenhouse. This morning the temperature in the greenhouse was -3.5 degrees C, the lowest it's been this winter, so everythign tender is on a heated pad, which doesn't really effect the ambient temperature but does provide sufficient bottom heat to prevent damage to seedlings.

Finally we detected a few common poultry louse on a couple of hens, so all were treated with powder on Saturday, to be repeated every week for the next month. We had a similar problem last year, which we're certain was imported on 3 new hens we bought, but it's not serious and does mean the hens get used to being handled, which is no bad thing.