Cats / Toad / Greengages - The Accidental Smallholder

Posted: Monday 5 September, 2022

by Rosemary at 1:11pm in Smallholding Comments closed

Monday 29^th August

Dan’s been experimenting with growing comfrey crown cuttings in boxes.

Comfrey growing

We’ve been walking Gwenna round Home; I hope Grey had fun dispersing the brash around. It smells very piney.

Grey's play area.

Tuesday 30^th August

Braw brambles. Wonder if I’ll get them before the hens do.

Brambles.

Wednesday 31^st August

Dan picks up windfall apples when he shuts the hens in. We’re almost keeping pace, cooking and freezing them. We're on Grenadier just now; Bramley to follow.

Grenadier

Thursday 1^st September

Our cats, living their best life.

Bertie.

Thomas.

Penfold.

And the extravagently sleeping Diesel.

Dan gave himself a blister peeling apples earlier in the week, so he bought a new peeler. It’s not much of an improvement because he managed to take the skin off the end of his pinkie with it.  Never realised peelers were so dangerous.

The demon peeler. Wow, you can see me refected in the worktop!

Friday 2^nd  September

Robbie, our vermin control man, came around tonight – shot seven fat rabbits and a fox. He also brought some of our beeswax that he had cleaned. It was lying on the dining room table but I had to move it as every time I saw it, I thought it was tablet.

Beeswax or tablet?

I’ve opened up the four paddocks to the cattle. It’s about eight weeks until they come in, so my plan is to close one down every fortnight until then. I also want to give them some time in Sheepfold. I’ve stopped lifting horse poop there and I’m planning to put the cattle on mainly to fertilise it. If it stays dry, they can stay out there into winter, running back into the shed.

 

Saturday 3^rd  September

Bronte seems to be in season again. I haven’t seen her standing, but Grey’s certainly sniffing around her. Monday marks eight weeks since they were jagged, so I’ll get them PD’d in six weeks. If she’s not in calf, we’ll sell her for fattening. I will be very, very sad.

Dan added a rim round the board where we season the potatoes.

The tattie table.

There were two toads on eth path last night when I went out to shut the hens in. Good to see.

Mr (or Mrs) Toad.

Sunday 4^th September

Piddling rain today but really warm. And windy.

The greengage harvest is in full swing. We have a few trees in the vegetable garden – two are done, so I think we’ll replace them with more gages. We also have Victoria plums ready but the quality is poor. Probably because we didn’t thin them.

Greengages>