Potato harvest - the video

 

The potato crop is gathered in. As you can see, some of them are the size of rubgy balls.

Raised beds

 

We have closed down our Farside allotment. We had 13 raised beds there, all of which were filled with our own homemade compost. They all had to be moved to our Nearside allotment. That meant shovelling all the compost into the wheelbarrow and wheeling it over a distance of about 100 metres to the Nearside. The wheelbarrow also came in handy for moving the raised beds - they are heavy and made from slate boxes. It took a couple of weeks to do the move but I'm pleased to report that everything is now on the Nearside.

We were however not able to recover all the compost. We had enough to fill 9 of the 13 crates. The empty ones will for the year ahead act as compost bins. Once their contents have rotted down next year, we will plant them up. 

The raised beds are on part of the allotlent where it is otherwise impossible to grown anything. The ground is concrete and dolomite. The raised beds therefore have given us the opportunity to bring this space into use.

Finally, 2 of the raised beds are planted with strawberries, 3 with rhubarb and 3 with raspberries. A further bed is full of compost waiting to be planted up.

This bed is filled with potato stalks - we've just finished harvesting the potatoes. There are also lots of stripped out nettles in it. The warm weather this autumn means the weeds are continuing to grow.

Florence has arthritis

 

Florence, our boss goat, has gone lame in her front left leg. The vet said it was very likely that she has arthritis. She is a fair age - 8 years - but the vet advised us to learn to live with the condition, just as humans do. We will continue to monitor her. See video above for more details.

Raddling the sheep

 

Raddle is a paint that is applied to the chest of a ram. When he services a ewe he leaves a smudge of the paint on the back end of the ewe. It means we know which ewes have been mated. This video explains more.

I need grouse recipes

 

I was given 4 grouse a few days ago. Although I've used lots of game in the past, I've never before cooked grouse. I think I will have to search through the game cookery books.

The potato crop is harvested

 

I am pleased to report that the potato crop is now harvested. Contrary to expectations, it is a goood crop and some of the potatoes are the size of rugby balls. This crop is key to us and should keep us in calories and carbohydrates well into next year.

A self-sufficient omelette

 

I'm rather proud of this meal. Everything in it is home produced: potatoes, eggs and tomatoes. We are yet to gather in the rest of the potato crop but the tomotoes have all been picked. We are using some old eggs up. The hens have now gone on a go-slow. We are getting typically one or two eggs a day as all the hens are moulting. Their energy therefore goes into growing new feathers rather than laying eggs.