Smallholding Self Sufficient Meal

Just a short post to let you all know that today we enjoyed our first self sufficient meal of the season.

We know that we are never going to be totally self sufficient here but we do try to grow as much as we can to keep what we have to buy to an absolute minimum.

On todays menu Sharon cooked up our own raised very free range chicken accompanied by cabbage, carrots & new potatoes all from our polytunnel the gravy was made from the vegetable water.

Hopefully there will be many more self sufficient meals to come from our smallholding, I will keep you posted.

Putting The Ducks To Bed

Its been quite a while since my last post, I have been trying in vain to get the house renovations finished but to no avail.
Something always seems to get in the way, I have been very busy with my busioness which has been taking up most of my time and so I could go on.

Anyway I have decided life is to short to go worrying about such things and I am going to aproach things in a more relaxed fashion and not always like a bull at a gate. I am also going to make time in my life to enjoy it & do some of the things I enjoy.

Since I last wrote our duck population has grown and we now have 8 white ducks who live hapily with the 2 geese on our top pond, there is a trio of young adults and 5 of their youngsters.
Initially it was a major task every night trying to get them off the pond and locked up in their shed, but after a lot of persistance we now have it down to a fine art.

Ive made a short video for you showing my nightly exploits

As you can see they know whos boss (sometimes)

How To Get A Mud Bath

The Warrior Returns

When you think of a mud bath you might conjure up thoughts of a fantastic weekend away at some health farm.

Well let me strip those thoughts from your mind and let me tell you that you dont need to visit a health farm you can easily get a free mud bath just by trying to lock the Geese up here at Smallholding Tips.

Let me begin. A couple of nights ago I was a little late locking the animals up, it was about 11-15 and I said to Sharon I am just going out to lock up the animals and put the birds to bed, wont be long.

I went down the drive and into the paddock where the Geese are as I got to their shed I thought something isnt right.

As I shone the torch into the shed I started to panic when I noticed the Geese were not in there.

I immediately thought the fox had been as the geese always go in the shed when its dark. As panic set in I started looking everywhere for them, then after about 10 minutes I heard a noice coming from the pond.

The pond edges have been left to grow wild to encourage wildlife so the pond is somewhat hidden. Anyway I shone the torch onto the pond after fighting my way through the rushes and there was the 2 Geese.

I tried to move them with a stick but no joy, and after chasing them round and round the edge, still no luck. I was beginning to lose patience and as I got somewhere near them I tried to jump on a little island but slipped and went straight into the muddy water which was like quicksand.

After a lot of choice words and much huffing & puffing I managed to climb out the pond and headed back to the house.

My wife and son came out to see what was going on and just burst out laughing. I then had to strip off naked in the freezing cold before She Who Must Be Obeyed let me in for a bath.

After a good scrub I then went back out and with the aid of a long pole I managed finally to get the Geese off the pond and into bed.

I then did the rest of the animals & birds then headed up to the house for a much needed beer.

Christmas is Coming

Christmas is coming but the lead up to it for me is not going to be pleasant.

She Who Must Be Obeyed has laid down the law and said she wants the house renovations completely finished by Christmas. She has only been waiting for 6 years so i thought surely 1 more year wont hurt, but Sharon does not see it that way and says she is fed up of living in a cave.

If Im honest I want to get the house finished as much as Sharon does, but dont tell her that.

When we moved to our Smallholding 6 years ago the house was in need of complete renovation and initially I took all the walls back to the bare brickwork, had all the damproofing done and also had the whole house completely rewired.

On taking down the kitchen and lounge ceilings (of which there was 2 plasterboard ones and a lathe and plaster one) I revealed the original wooden beams which were in great condition. Inside a crevice I found some old newspapers dating back to 1847 so that gave us some indication of how old the house was.

On seeing the beams Sharon said she wanted to see them exposed so I could JUST PLASTERBOARD INBETWEEN THEM.

I have had several plasterers come to give me a quote for this but none of them have wanted to take the job on. Sharon says I am a carpenter I should be able to do it myself. She is right I can do it, so that is part of my Christmas list, which is as follows

Board inbetween beams and skim in lounge & kitchen ceilings
Fit skirting in lounge
finish fitting log burner properly
box in pipes in lounge
repaint lounge
completely refit bathroom including new suite, shower, tiling etc
finish painting upstairs
strip paint off stairwell & wax
fit lounge & bathroom doors
carpet upstairs when work is finished (stone floor downstairs)
finish refitting kitchen including making canopy for extractor
Several other minor jobs and also some Ive forgot.

As you can see Im going to be a busy boy and my life will be a misery if I dont finish all the jobs.

Roll on Christmas

Recipe Onion Bhaji's

This post is not strictly in the true spirit of smallholding but Im sure some of you might enjoy it.

A short while ago we decided to cull one of our excess Dorking Cockrels and have a nice roast dinner with it. The roast was jolly tasty and as Sharon does not like to waste anything she picked off the remaining meat when it was cold and made a Chicken Curry which was also very nice. As well as the Chicken Curry Sharon made some Onion Bhajis to go with it.

When I tasted them I was very surprised how good they were as Sharon had not made them before ( no offence intended ) so I thought I would share the Recipe with you.

Recipe For Onion Bhaji's

4 ozs Chick pea/Gram Flour Sifted
1/2 TSP Salt
1/2 TSP Bicarb of Soda
1/2 TSP Chille Powder
1/2 TSP Tumeric
1/2 TSP Cumin
1/2 TSP Coriander
1 TBSP Lemon Juice
Scant 1/4 pt Water
2 Medium Onions
Oil for Frying

Mix all dry ingredients together
Add lemon juice
Add water & mix well but do not make mix too sloppy
Leave to stand
Slice onions & add to batter
Heat about an inch of oil in a pan and heat till hot.
Place a small amount of mix in pan to test temperature

Place a Tablespoon of mix into oil and cook over a medium heat for about 3-4 mins making sure they are cooked inside.
Remove and drain on kitchen paper

You can reheat in oven if required for 10 mins on gas mark 6

May also be frozen make sure to defrost before reheating.

Enjoy

Chickens Smallholding Tip

Recently after the egg production dwindled a bit we inspected the chicken coops only to find a lot of Red Mite infestation. Red Mites are mainly nocturnal little blood sucking parasites that hide in cracks and crevices, they do not live on the birds but come out at night go on to the birds while they are roosting and make life very uncomfortable for them not to mention sucking out a bit of blood here and there.


You can dust the birds with Red Mite Powder and also dust in the cracks and crevices as well to actually kill the mites at source. There are also a number of chemicals that can be diluted and sprayed in the cracks to also kill the Red Mites.


Anyhow as we were treating the birds we noticed they had Mites crawling on them. Not Red Mites but these mites live on the birds all the time and make life even more miserable for them.


Here is a tip that we use to effectivly treat this problem and kill these mites without to much messing about.

In the morning before I let the birds out Sharon will wait outside while I go in and get one of the chickens, take it out to Sharon who will have some vials of DOGS ONE SPOT FLEA TREATMENT.


While I hold the chicken Sharon then pulls back some of the feathers behind its neck and applies a small drop of the One Spot to the bared skin, this quickly kills off the mites and keeps them at bay for 4-6 weeks. It does not do any harm to the birds and we have been doing it for quite a few years now without incident. The process is repeated untill all the birds are done.


If anybody has any views or alternative ways of doing this horrible task then please let me know.

After doing the job a good bath and a change of clothes are most welcome.

The Goats Are A Pain In The A____

Our two Pygmy Goats Milly & Willy are like naughty little school children they are always up to something they shouldnt be and forever causing mayhem in the chicken paddock. I had previously told you about them getting into the main chicken coop and eating the layers pellets, well I managed to stop that by reducing the size of the pophole so that the chickens can only just get in but the Goats now cannot.

We have another chicken house where the Icksworths and Copper Marans live, this is up on stilts and 4 feet off the ground, it is accessed by a ladder which the chickens have learnt to climb.
They all live in there quite happily and do not have any trouble from the Goats.

Not untill last night anyway.

Last night I went to lock up all the Chickens and the Goats and I always check just to make sure they are in their houses.
First I went to do the Goats and was panic stricken momentarily when the Goats were not in their shed, I shone the torch up the paddock and was horrified to see chickens perched everywhere.

I quickly twigged what might have happened and on opening the Icksworths hut door my suspicions were confirmed, there was the 2 goats curled up in the corner. They had climbed up the ladder and dislodged the pophole door clip and it had shut down behind them, therefore the Goats couldnt get out and the Chickens couldnt get in.

I went up to the house and asked Sharon for some help to catch the Chickens and put them back in their hut. First of all we shut the Goats up in their shed and after about 40 minutes and a lot of cursing and swearing all the Chickens were safe and secure in their shed, panic over for another night.

As we walked back up to the house Sharon said we are going to have to do something about those Goats they are becoming a real pain in the A---.

Watch this space.