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Copyright Dave Yates Cycles & Engineering 2007
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Our Smallholding Year - 2006 January We welcomed our first new livestock to Ivy House Farm, 3 Light Sussex hens.... We have chosen to keep Sussex, as they are a traditional dual purpose breed, meaning that the hens are good egg layers, and the cockerels are good table birds. In future, we hope to breed our own Light Sussex and Buff Sussex birds. We ordered a greenhouse, due to be delivered mid-February, so the first seeds of the year (onions and some early cauliflowers) were sown in trays in the kitchen. 29 fruit tress arrived on 30th January, so it was a busy end to the month, but they are all planted and mulched. They are mainly apple trees, but also plum and pear. All the apple trees were bare root maidens (one year old from grafting on a three year old root system.) It is believed that they establish better than older trees (they are also much cheaper to buy!) They should start cropping two years from planting, and be in full crop after 5-6 years. We have chosen a wide variety of apples for eating, cooking and cider making, including a number of old Lincolnshire varieties (Peasgood Nonsuch 1850, Allington Pippin 1880, Ellison's Orange 1904)
February/March There wasn't much smallholding activity in February as work on, and in, the workshop took priority. In March, however, we eventually managed to get our new greenhouse erected, so seed sowing started in earnest, if a little later than planned. We also managed to get shallots planted in the ground, and garlic planted out that had been started in pots in a cold frame in December. With nowhere near enough hours in the day (or days in the week!) and a need for over 500m of new stock-proof perimeter fencing before we could expand our menagerie, we decided against erecting the fencing ourselves, and hired a fencing man (and his Dad!) They did an excellent job, and we now just need to install some temporary 'internal' fences to sub-divide the paddocks, and build a couple of shelters. One for a small number of sheep, and one for 2 weaners. Wally, our goose, came in to lay mid-March. As I write, she has a nest with 8 eggs in, but she hasn't started to sit yet. She sat on 9 eggs last year, but unfortunately none hatched. We decided to set some of our own (hopefully fertile) Sussex
eggs in the incubator, and if all goes well they should hatch mid-April. April Well, our Sussex eggs were fertile, and here to prove it are some of our new arrivals (with their minders!)
May May Day brought more new arrivals, as Wally our goose hatched 6 goslings: Mid-May saw the arrival of our first sheep (Shetlands). We chose to keep Shetlands for their small size and reputation as good sheep for novices! The variety of colours also appealed to us, as did the possibility of learning to spin and put their fleeces, known for fineness, to good use. We were keen to ensure that they had somewhere to shelter from the elements, and in true 'Womble' fashion, we found some old tin roofing sheets rusting away in the corner of one of the paddocks, recycled some old fencing posts and rails, and combined these with a large wooden pallet and some straw bales to create our very own 'Sheep Shack'.......
And finally - remember that bare patch of ground in April that the chickens had cleared for us? Well, this is how it looks on 28th May.........
The arrival (at last) of some warmer weather this month brought yet more new experiences - mainly focussed around the sheep! We had managed to acquire some second hand sheep hurdles that needed some running repairs, and the sheep needed shearing! So, ask yourself, where could we possibly find someone skilled in the use of a welding torch, and someone who might be good with a pair of sheep shears?
Remember those eggs that arrived through the post last month? Well, here they are getting their first taste of grass at 3 weeks of age (below left.) Proud mum on the right did all the hard work herself! Warm sunny weather this month gave us ideal conditions for hay-making, and the baby swallows below, left their nest under our barn roof for the first time.
Remember those cute balls of yellow fluff that were hatched by Wally our goose on 1st May? well look at them now on 1st July:
July turned out to be very hot, and very dry. Whilst some of our vegetables suffered in these conditions, we had the first of what turned out to be a bumper tomato crop. We grew 5 varieties this year, Roma, a plum tomato, good for soups and pasta sauce; Sungella, a large fruited and very tasty golden tomato; Gardener's Delight, a delicious, very sweet, red cherry tomato that did well both in the greenhouse and outside; Shirley, which cropped very heavily and had an excellent flavour; and lastly, Alicante, medium sized red fruit that also did well indoors and outside. Planning ahead we also took delivery of a Solar Tunnel this month, or rather, we took delivery of a 16 consignment load, weighing a total of 300Kg! It rather resembled an enormous Meccano set! The master plan is to erect it in the menage, which is currently 'wasted' space. The tunnel, when erected, will measure 4.5m x 10.5m, and will give 'indoor' growing space that we hope to use to extend our growing season.
August - December Unfortunately, during the last 5 months of 2006 we were unable to devote much time to smallholding projects. We had to direct all our energies and time to our business, which at the end of the day pays the bills! Our plan to erect the Solar Tunnel had to be put on the back burner due to shortage of time, but we also discovered that it might not be possible to erect it in the menage as we had hoped. Beneath the menage we discovered an extremely thick layer of compacted hardcore, so plan B is now to erect the tunnel elsewhere, and use the menage in future winters for the chickens. A number of those cute looking chicks and goslings became dinners. This is never easy, but it is the way we have chosen to raise our food. We can say hand on heart, that they all had a good life, albeit short, and that their lives were ended humanely. We only have to think about the horrendous suffering of broiler house poultry to realise that although our choice is a difficult one to carry out, it is absolutely the right choice. Happily, we were able to share some of our home raised chickens and geese with close friends, all of whom reported the taste to be excellent. One friend said the chicken tasted like chicken used to, it took her back to her Mum's kitchen, listening to Family Favourites! (The same friend also said the chicken had legs like Linford Christie!) I actually weighed the thighs of one cockerel - 1�lbs!! To certain friends we offered PYO - pluck your own! On New Years Eve, Mike and Jill gallantly took us up on this offer and it made for a memorable and fitting end to our first smallholding year:
By popular demand, you can follow our 2007 Smallholding Year by clicking here
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