Sitooterie / Bert / Soup - The Accidental Smallholder

Posted: Monday 25 November, 2024

by Rosemary at 10:09am in Smallholding 69 comments Add your own

Monday 18^th November

It’s very cold. Dry and sunny but must be -2C and it hasn’t changed much all day. The outside taps thawed out about 4pm, long enough to let me fill the sheep’s water and the ponies’ trough in the barn. I had to use the spare drinker for the chooks this morning and both are now in the feed store overnight. My plans for weeding, of course, didn’t come to fruition. And won’t tomorrow, according to the forecast, so the plan is to prune the blackcurrants, gooseberries and blackberry.

There was snow in Aberdeenshire, first of the season.

My elegant dining table. Actually, it’s slightly better now because I have swapped out the chewed up box for a nice basket.

Kittens relaxing.

I’ve been looking again at the planting plan for the Spinney and trying to decide what trees to plant. I reckon we need about 200, but obviously it depends what planting distances we employ. And I ordered wormer for the ponies. That's always a fun task.

Tuesday 19^th November

Another hard frost this morning (-5C), but the sun was much quicker to come out than it was yesterday. I brought the sheep in early doors and Alistair & Janet arrived to take them home about 10am. I shall miss them and look forward to having them back in the spring.

Still too hard to weed so pruned the blackcurrants, blackberries, and gooseberries. I had a look at the redcurrants and blueberries but they were fine. By 3pm it was 2C, so I had an hour in the polytunnel – it’s the last green bin collection tomorrow, until February. I tidied up the strawberries, pulled out the cucumbers and peppers and did a wee bit of weeding. The green bin was so heavy, I had to get Dan to put it out.

In the vegetable garden, a single delphinium and some red flowers I can't remember the name of. I need better labels

Dan managed to get out for a potter, away from his desk. He took down some low overhanging branches then gave the paths in the front garden a good sweep. What a difference! By then the dogs were bouncing, so he took them for a good walk across the golf course. It was getting dark, so there were no golfers out.

After tea, I peeled and cooked the last Bramleys.

Wednesday 20^th November

Still cold and frosty; a few snow flurries but nothing lying. Other than chores, I didn’t go out much although Lorna and I had a walk along the front at Arbroath. It was actually really nice in the sun, but the wind got up and then it was brutal.

Thursday 21^st November

More of the same weatherwise, maybe not quite so cold but there’s a brisk and very cold wind. Frustrating, it’s lovely but impossible to get anything done in the garden.

Friday 22^nd November

Still very cold, with a brisk wind. We put a new bale of hay in for the ponies and I gave their wee nighttime paddock a good clean while the ground is still hard. We expect Storm Bert tomorrow – heavy rain and strong winds for a fairly short period of time. I’ve taken a note of the bale going in, so I can have some idea of how long a bale lasts. Consumption will go up now that they’re in for longer, it’s colder and there’s not much grass. I’ll start closing down the paddocks soon, until they’re just on Near Ditch.

Then it was off to the DCA for lunch and then to see “Paddington in Peru”. Not as good as the second one but very enjoyable none the less. Maybe it wasn’t exciting enough for the woman next to me, who fell asleep and snored. There was a man with her. I told Dan if I ever fall asleep and snore, he must wake me. No ifs, no buts.

Ponies in, time to batten down the hatches – or make up a Lego order while the sale is on. 24% off. Not to be missed!

Saturday 23^rd November

Storm Bert. We missed the worst of it; rain, cold and strong winds, but nothing you wouldn’t expect in Scotland at the end of November. Some standing water, but it will be gone tomorrow because the ground is so dry.

I kept the ponies in the shed until 4pm and the worst was over. Not sure yet how Mickey will do outside, unrugged. They had an extra feed in the morning, then their usual when they came in about 7pm. Mickey seems fine.

Working on an order for parts for a harbour. I’ve been chewing this, unsuccessfully, for weeks, months. But I’ve found a MOC I like, so will order the parts. I might (will probably) modify it – it’s bigger than I planned – but any extra bricks will get used in some other project.

Dan made soup – mushroom & garlic and Scottish tattie soup. My mum used to make great tattie soup. This was very good but needs some tweaks to replicate my mum’s. The great soup plan seems to be for celery & stilton, spiced butternut squash & lentil, and cock-a-leekie.

Saturday soups.

Sunday 24^th November

Beautiful morning, mild and sunny. Dan started the base for the sitooterie, which seems to be scheduled for delivery the first week in December. Murray showed us some photos – something was lost in translation, but I think it can be fixed. He’s gone off with the paint anyway.

Start of the sitooterie base.

I poo picked and cleaned out the hens. I’ve given them a couple of apples, cut up, and hung a bunch of brassica leaves from the gage tree – this discombobulated them not a little, but I’m sure they’ll work it out. We’re still getting four eggs a day most days. They deserve their treats.