Penfold - The Accidental Smallholder

Posted: Tuesday 11 July, 2023

by Rosemary at 4:59pm in Smallholding 2 comments Comments closed

Monday 3^rd July

The recent rain and sun combo have made the vegetable garden burgeon. And the weeds.

Everything is growing!

Must get the blueberries covered.

Blueberries.

 

Two minutes ago, these two were in a full back-arched, toilet-brush-tail stand off.

Bertie & Pen.

Tuesday 4^th July

Our bull, Grey. I’m hopeful that we’ve found a home for him. I didn’t really want to eat him. I’ll have to look for a replacement though.

Hartons Grey.

Wednesday 5^th July

Diesel finds the weirdest places to sleep.

Weirdo.

We moved our four hens up to the orchard for the rest of the summer. With no hens in the orchard, we’ve allowed the sward to grow unchecked. Lovely to see the wild flowers there.

Orchard flowers.

Dan found his bit of timber. I think he has a plan.

Tree shaped wood.

Thursday 6^th July

Random foxglove – the bees love it so it can stay while it flowers

Foxglove.

I love Blizzard in the summer, when she goes all dappley.

Blizzard's dapples.

Friday 7^th July

Peas are ready for podding.

Start of the pea harvest.

And the strawberries are doing well.

Strawberries "Hapil".

And the blackcurrants are ready to pick.

Blackcurrants.

Saturday 8^th July

Sadly, our cat, Penfold, crossed the Rainbow Bridge this morning. He seemed to have had a stroke, his heartbeat was all over the place and the vet thought she could detect a mass. He’s lived with us for ten and a half years, and he wasn’t a young cat when he came to us from the cat shelter. He’s become increasingly frail over the last year or so, but it’s still hard. We’ll miss him very much but we’re happy that we could give him a good life for the time he was here.

Sunday 9^th July

The lime tree is in full flow and the sond of bees on it is incredible. The lavender is also popular.

One bee (out of dozens) on the lavender.