Hello, I'm back

Hello everyone.  The blog is back!

Last year was a disaster on a number of counts and I got very disillusioned with the whole smallholding/gardening/better life/blogging scenario.  Farmers markets were tried and not a success, farmgate sales weren't any better, so I basically gave up.  So much so that we have had no winter veg this this year at all, apart from potatoes and onions and a few carrots.  Hubby has not been pleased to have been buying veg all winter.

Anyway that was last year.  I'm pleased to say things are back to normal again now, probably better actually.  I have renewed vigour and enthusiasm and the garden is looking all the better for it.  This is because I am having to follow a gluten free diet; that change has been overwhelming for me in terms of the amount of energy I have, the enthusiasm and willingness to get stuck in more than I think I've ever had.  Its fab!

So onwards and upwards.  I've got lots of ideas of things I want to change/improve/do on the smallholding so I hope you'll stick with me as I go through them.  Please feel free to comment on anything you feel you need to - I always look forward to reading your comments.

A few photos to see how things have changed/improved etc -

The polytunnel at the moment - Spring cabbages and overwintered salads on the left hand side.  More salads, radishes etc on the right.  Rest of right hand side bed is first early potatoes, put in a fortnight ago

Overwintered salads, and seed trays full of flowers, leeks etc

Peas under the cloches, the rest dug over and muck applied.  Only a small (weed-infested) piece left to dig over (top left)

Looking back towards the house.  Fabric fleece over some more spring cabbages, that aren't doing very well and so will get pulled up.  Canes are in for my Carnations

Garlic growing very well, despite only going in a fortnight ago

The 'new' veg patch.  Daffodils in the foreground

The patch being cultivated.  All poultry houses are now in this bit - two chicken houses (one currently empty and waiting for the new arrivals, hopefully at the end of the month) and one duck hut

Hubby's cultivating equipment! 

February 2014 stats

Stats for February 2014 are up now -

Sales -
13 dozen eggs = £22.00
3 bunches Daffodils = £1.50

Total = £23.50

Expenses -
Seed potatoes £9.45

Balance = £14.05

Expenses balance brought forward = £112.95
New Expenses balance to be paid off = £98.90

Well that mainly greenhouse expense balance is coming down, bit slow though.  Hopefully we can have an early and warm spring, get things growing and producing

Daffodils & Poo!

Evening all!  Thought I'd give you an update on one of our new ventures.

Remember me telling you we had decided to grow some Daffodils?  Well Michael had been reading up on the subject and said we needed to feed them, make them grow healthy and strong, with lots of flowers!  So we need poo and lots of it.  Enter bags of Kayal poo (my horse).  Collected from the stables in the trailer on the back of the tractor and we set about emptying the bags.

Obviously we had help, in the end we got so that we stopped scattering it about and let the 'unpaid' help do that for us, well, it's what they do best!

Keep going Michael, nearly there!

Thanks girls, you're doing a fine job!

Well that's about half way down the lines of bulbs, and would you believe it, we ran out of poo!  A whole trailer load of the stuff and we were short by about half a dozen bags!  Oh well, still plenty more to go at down at the stables - guess what we're doing next weekend too!

There's plenty more where they came from, and recyclable too, will refill over the next few months!

Stats today - 

Eggs produced = 4

Sales - Nil

Expenses - Nil