Glendale Show

 

Yesterday we went to the Glendale Agricultural Show in Northumberland for the first time since before the pandemic. We had a great time looking at livestock and chatting to people about goat tags, mineral and energy licks, tree planting and what to do with all our wool. A good time had by all.

Shepherd's pie - with a difference

 

This was dinner recently - shepherd's pie. It had one small difference with what people would expect in it. Instead of lamb or mutton mince, it was pigeon mince. We still have lots of pigeon breasts in our freezers so we are becoming more imaginative in how to use them up.

Self-sufficient in Suburbia - February 2022

 

I am behind with my video editing but here is the February edition of Self-Sufficient in Suburbia. We had 6 baby goats born, the duck run was demolished and rebuilt and storms damaged on of the chicken runs but the most important issue was the purchase of the neighbouring fields, taking our smallholding from 2.5 acres to 17 acres.

Self-sufficient in Suburbia - July video

 

My latest video from the world of self-sufficiency, covering July. We harvest our first hay crop. The goats and kids are on the move. The greenhouse is overgrown with nettles. The cherries are ready for picking. Ducklings have hatched. Lots happening.

Experimenting with alternative poultry feeds

 

We are carrying out an experiment with alternative poultry feed. We are doing this for 2 reasons. Firstly, if we are to be genuinely self-sufficient, we need to produce all the feed consumed by our animals. Secondly, the price of animal feed has gone up 25% in recent months and we need to cut or eliminate altogether the costs we incur to keep our self-sufficiency project operating.

So we have made a start and tested out rowan berries, with mixed results, on the poultry. The video shows the results.

Cod and chips

 

On searching one of our freezers recently I discovered some cod which we got from a friend, John, in a food swap. John had been sea fishing off the Orkneys last year so for a good quantity of jam, we got a good supply of cod. The one in the photo above, sadly, was the last of the fish we had, but it still made for an excellent meal.

Baling the hay

 

I'm a bit behind on my video editing but I filmed this in mid July on the day our first hay crop was baled. We now have lots of feed for the sheep and goats to get us through the winter.

Keeping the lane clear

 

One of our lambs is still small enough to get under the gate to our sheep field. She then does a good job of keeping the vegetation down!