Green tomatoes

 

We have lots of green tomatoes so we've put them on the kitchen windowsill in the hope they will ripen. If they don't, |I will be making green tomato chutney.

Florence has a limp

 

Florence, one of our nanny goats, has been limping for a couple of weeks. We have treated her for hoof rot but that has not improved the situation. So we thought she may have a problem with her front left elbow. We took her to the vet on Monday but she thought the problem was with her foot. For the past few days she has been on antibiotics but there is no recovery. I am beginning to fear she may have broken a bone in her foot. If there is still no improvement next week, she will have to go back to the vet.

Moving the firewood

 

We have a huge amount of firewood to use on our stove but we have had to move it. Much of it was stored on our Farside allotment which we are giving up. So we spent half a day moving it all to the farm.

Moving the raised beds

 

We are closing down one of our allotments. We have so far removed 8 raised beds and have started to dig up and move our soft fruit bushes. Not an easy job. See the video above.

Crab apples and bramble jelly

 

Despite the best efforts of the weather, we have a good crop of crab apples. The trees grow in the hedges on our farm so I recently pick some and I'm using them to make bramble jelly. The crab apples are full of pectin so getting the jelly to set is, hopefully, a straightforward task. Currently, I'm at the stage where the pulp is being strained to extract the liquid which will be turned into jelly.

Winning at the Bowes Show

 

Last month I took 30 entries to the Bowes Agricultural Show competitions and came away with 13 prizes. Check out the video above.

Another community fair

 

Tomorrow I will be taking two of our goats to another local fair, this time in Dunston Park, Gateshead. I will be taking Dandelion (see above) one of our young nannies and Basil (see below), a billy kid born earlier this year. The fair is open 11am to 3pm.