Archive for February, 2011
Pig-proof fence?
We’ve been busy the last few weekends getting the field ready for the arrival of the pigs. The first stage was to put up some stock fencing, which took us the best part of two weekends to complete. This was then followed this weekend with the construction of the electric fence. This first required us to cut back the tussocks of grass along the line of the fence so that the electric fence didn’t short itself out by touching any grass. So with grass sickle in hand this was achieved relatively quickly and easily, but unfortunately not painlessly, as one of my fingers decided to get in the way. Read the rest of this entry »
Spring bee
What a difference a day makes. The sun is out and the bees are buzzing. The heather is in flower just outside our back door, and the bees are making the most of it. They’ll also be enjoying the crocuses that I noticed were in flower today.
Long may it last!
Homemade hurdles
The garden is looking a bit of a sorry state at the moment. Most of the vegetable beds are empty now, just a few leeks, parsnips and kale still standing. The spring bulbs are beginning to emerge, even in areas where the chickens have been scratching about. Because of this, and as I’ll be starting sowing again soon, we’ve now confined the chickens back to their run. Needless to say there’ s a lot of whingeing coming from the top of the garden. To make matters worse for them they are having their twice-yearly dose of worming treatment this week, so are not allowed any extra treats over the next 7 days. Read the rest of this entry »
Potatoes in bags
We’re still clearly in winter, as we managed to get down to -3C yesterday. However, generally the days seem to be getting warmer, as well as longer. So it seems about the right time to plant some early potatoes, albeit in the polytunnel. I’ve had my seed potatoes chitting on a cool window sill, and sprouts are beginning to emerge. I didn’t want to put any potatoes directly in the polytunnel beds, as potatoes are the same family as tomatoes, so don’t fit in with my polytunnel rotation plan, so I thought I would give them a go in bags. Read the rest of this entry »
Mmm sausages!
This weekend we went to see the piglets we are hoping to get in early spring. As you can see from the picture they are very sweet, although the mother was alarmingly large. They are a Saddleback and Middle White cross, so they have a few black markings on them, but otherwise are the typical pink piggy colour. The crossing of these two breeds apparently makes good meat (but that is some time away yet). Read the rest of this entry »