Firstly I must apologise for not answering some of your comments and posts, there’s no excuse really just that I’ve been having a bit of a computer free time. So after a really nice and sunny May, June and July were one thunder storm after another. Most days even if we didn’t get rain we…
Read moreCategory: Livestock
Everything’s growing, including the animal population
May and June have been a bit cooler than the the previous two years which has been great for us. We’ve had days where we are down to shorts and tee-shirts but also days when trousers and a fleece are needed, but it has rarely been too hot that we have had to retreat inside…
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The run up to Xmas and not a very Happy New Year
The weather stayed quite mild for us at the end of November through to mid December, so we did some more work on the walk way making it more weather proof for winter. Joe got the framework, wall and the window installed at the end of the walkway and the rest of the panels installed…
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What to make with a whole pig – year 2
This post is a follow up from our first butchery attempts. We learned loads in that first year, and we’ve tried to learn from our mistakes, got better with our recipes and tried a few new things. The first thing we’ve done differently this year has been the timing. Last year it was still really…
Read moreDucklings – here’s peeping at you!
We got our first ducklings today. Fifteen of them, just ten days old, and very excited about all the new things they’ve encountered today! We’ve got them living in a large cage until the chickens get used to them, then they will have a cosy house to live in. We also want them to get a…
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Gathering bees in May
It has long been an ambition of ours to eventually keep bees, but we hadn’t quite anticipated that it would be this year! We’ve spent winter swotting up on bee keeping with two books we got from a friend; Collins Beekeeper’s Bible and The Complete & Easy Guide to Beekeeping. The Collins one has been…
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What to make with a whole pig
We butchered our first pig on Monday. It was a monumental task, and we learned loads during the whole process. This is our attempt to document what we set out to achieve, how that went and what we learned from it, so we can remember for the next time as it will be a whole…
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The Non-vegetarian Smallholder
We’re killing our first pig today. Having raised him from a small piglet, back in May, today is the day we complete the reason why we got him. It seems to me to be fairly natural, especially as this is our first, to take a few moments to consider whether this is the right things…
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