Sweet mince pies

 

I found an old jar of homemade sweet mince in a cupboard recently. It did not stay full for long. One batch of sweet mince pies and the jar was empty!

Early trees

People give us their Christmas trees to feed to the goats (and later use as firewood). The first trees normally start to arrive on Boxing Day with the majority arriving in early January. This time however, people have started early by giving us their tree stubs! The goats are having an early treat.

Still milking

 

Penny, our best milking goats, has been lactating for over 2 years. There was a short period of a few weeks in winter earlier this year when she stopped pumping out the milk, but by spring she was back into milk production. All this without her being mated.

We had been hoping she would stop lactating this autumn. We have reduced her frequency of milking to once every three or four days but she still produced two litres each time. We want her mated as any nanny kids will be very valuable for future milking. So we have put her in with the billy. She went in a week ago and to ensure she's pregnant, they will stay together until early January.

Feta gone wrong

 

One of our goats, Penny, is still pumping out lots of milk. We turn most of it into cheese and recently we had a go at making feta. Alas, as you can see, it was something of a disaster. Far too much salt, never mind the mold. As it was indigestible, sadly we had to throw it out.

The hay arrives

 

We have bought hay from the neighbouring farm rather than make our own this year as the sheep are on our hay field. We took delivery of 2 bales on Friday which were dropped into the goat paddock. They were all over them in no time!

Name the new ram

 

We have a new ram (see video above). He is a Cheviot and we bought him to breed with our Texels. But he needs a name. Fell free to post up your suggestions and we will choose the best.

Game casserole in orange sauce

 

This was dinner earlier this week - game casserole in orange sauce. All ingredients except the oranges were either produced by us or swapped. Very enjoyable!

Self-sufficient omelette

 

Lunch yesterday: potatoes grown on our farm and eggs from our hens. There is goat cheese in the omelette. A very pleasant lunch.

Moving the goats

 

Until recently, we had two of our milking nannies and one of the kids on our Nearside allotment. Penny, one of the nannies, is our best milker but we have been waiting for her to stop lactating at which point we would move them to the farm to be with the other goats over the winter. Alas, she just won't stop milking so we decided to take her to the farm anyway along with the other two and put them in the nannies' paddock. The milking operation has therefore moved with them. The Nearside allotment was starting to get too muddy and with the autumn rains already with us, the mud was set to get worse.

Leek and bean soup

 

We were sorting through the contents of our freezers recently (to create space) and discovered a bag of venison bones and some broad beans. Away from the freezer we had some leeks that urgently needed to be used up. So I invented this recipe for leek and bean soup in venison stock. 

Hawthorn for the goats

 Autumn is a good time to trim hawthorn hedges. We have lots of them on our allotments and the farm. The goats love them but the time to cut back the hedges is limited to September and October. The hedges are popular nesting sites for birds so we need to wait until the end of August before cutting them back. And from mid October onwards, the hedges are not worth cutting back for goat feed as they have lost most of their leaves by then. So a 6-7 week opportunity needs to be seized. Blink and you will miss it!

The branches left over once the goats have stripped them make good kindling. Noting wasted.

Crops still awaiting harvest

 

The harvests are still coming in. This video explains what needs to be picked.

Late rowan

 

I was out and about recently and spotted a rowan tree sagging under the weight of berries. It is very late in the season for them still to be on the trees. Not being one to miss an opportunity, I filled a carrier bag. Though the berries can be made into a jelly, I fed them to the poultry instead. I find rowan to be rather bitter but the ducks and hens love them.

Farewell Pushka

 

Our cat Pushka died earlier this week. She was very elderly and had not been in the best of health in recent months. Fortunately I filmed this video of her earlier in September.

She was previously living as a stray but adopted us 13 years ago. She never moved out once she had discovered our house.

Hedge trimmings via the van load

 

A friend recently dropped off a huge quantity of privet from a hedge that presumably had not been cut for a few years. It took 2 runs in his pickup to transport the branches to our nannies' paddock. The goats had stripped them bare in just a couple of hours. The thicker branches will now be chopped up and used as kindling.

Competing at the Bowes Show

 

On Saturday 14th September, we headed to south Co Durham for the Bowes Agricultural Show. We had entries for 12 competitions, from jam-making to cake-baking. How did we do? Click on the video to find out.

Stuffed marrow

 

A common sight in the late summer is stuffed marrows in our house. The seeds are scraped out and replaced with sausage meat, cheese, vegetables and herbs. Baked in the oven they make a great dinner.

Tomato soup

 

We got a big load of tomatoes recently in a produce swap. When a glut appears, the normal response is to turn some of it into soup. That's what happened here. Very pleasant!

Sold

 

The billy kid born a few months ago has now moved to a farm near Dipton, Co Durham. He is now living with 2 nannies which he will be servicing once he has grown up. He has a very calm and friendly temperament. I'm told he has settled in well with the two nannies.

A woolly story

 

At the moment we have no use for the wool we took off our sheep this year. We have been giving it away and another 8 sacks went today. A friend took the wool to act as a fleece on the ground around her soft fruit plants. It will protect the root systems over the coming winter from frost while gradually rotting and releasing nutrients. We will have lots more wool next year!

Windfall

 

The apple tree on our Farside plot has produced a massive crop. The ground is carpeted with apples. Expect lots of pies etc to be made. Apples are also important in preserves. Many however will be used for chicken feed over the coming weeks.

Potatoes growing well

 

Our potatoes were planted a bit late this year but that doesn't seem to have stopped them growing well. The photo above was taken on 3rd July. The one below was taken just 17 days later. Potatoes are one of our key crops and probably our most important sources of carbohydrates.

New baby

 

One of our nannies, Star, gave birth yesterday to a baby boy. Both mother and baby are doing well. He was quite a weight.

A year old

 

Our two young billy goats Ant and Dec have recently turned a year old. They are both in excellent health and are thriving on the vegetation I pick for them each day. They consume between them a heaped barrowful of greenery every day - mainly willowherb, nettles, dock and goosegrass. There is an abundance of these weeds on local footpath verges so we have a ready supply for free food for the boys.

An unexpected chick

 

I recently found a day old chick wandering around our Nearside allotment following a hen which was clucking away. I have still not found the nest but I gathered up both and put them into the quail house. Both are doing well but I wonder if there are more unexpected nests waiting to be found.

On the verge

 

The lane outside our smallholding has been getting a bit overgrown on the verges. We therefore took the haycutter and trimmed all the verges and the central strip. The byproduct was a large amount of cut grass and vegetation which after a few days was turning into hay. We fed as much as we could to the goats and the rams in the paddocks at the bottom of the site. We will run it over the bottom of field 2 soon to ensure we have another heap of feed for the animals.

Saddle up!

 

This morning I experienced one of those rare occasions where all the animals lined up for an amusing shot at the same time as I was ready with my phone to get a good picture. Our chickens have taken a liking to sitting of Nettle's back. And Nettle herself doesn't mind.

Just in time

 

Our two billy goats, Ant and Dec, are living temporarily in the secure paddock on our Farside allotment. We recently dismantled and moved it within the paddock. Ten minutes after finishing, the skies opened and there was a huge, if short, storm and downpour. Fantastic timing.

Redcurrant gin

 

We made this redcurrant gin last year and sampled it over the weekend. A very pleasant, smooth taste. I will be putting some aside for the fruit liqueur competition at the Bowes Agricultural Show in September. And remember - please drink resposibly.

Nuts!

 

One of the most important wild crops is hazel. The nuts contain protein, oils, carbohydrates, roughage and so on. They could be called a superfood. I checked out some trees recently and found a good crop of nuts. They are not ready for picking yet. That's a job for September. 

Spare wool

 

In June we finished shearing our 27 adult sheep. We therefore have a large amount of unprocessed wool. We have no use for it ourselves though we have given a bit of thought as to what to do with it. (Using it as filling for homemade cushions is the only idea we have so far. Someone took 3 sacks last week to use in a garden and she gave one of the sacks to a local gardening charity. One friend is wanting to take some to protect plants from frost during the winter. Any ideas on what to do with the remaining sacks of wool will be appreciated.

Fruit liqueurs ready

 

The fruit liqueurs made last year are now ready for consuming. We've already finished the strawberry gin. The gooseberry vodka is well on its way to being finished. Always drink responsibly.

Eat your greens

 

We are at that time of year when there is an abundance of vegetation waiting to be picked and fed to the goats. It's free and the goats thrive on it. We pick nettles, dock, willowherb, grass, dandelions, goosegrass and so on. The milk yield has rocketed as a result. Indeed, we are running out of space for milk and cheese.

Onions

 

Our onions were planted a few weeks ago. They are all coming on well. Onions are a key crop for us so we don't hold back when it comes to planting as many as we can.

New milker and baby

 

On Monday we went to Alnwick to buy a new milking goat (called Nettle) and her 10 day old baby (as yet unnamed). This video follows us as we make the trip north to collect them and bring them back home.

First crop of the year

 

Our first crop of the year was rhubarb. We've had a rather nice crumble as a result.

Unexpected milk supply

 

Penny, our Saanen milking goat stopped producing milk in October last year. She had been producing milk for 13 months at that point and it seemed for a while that she would not stop. This is not necessarily good for her health. Fortunately we managed to phase out her milk supply so that she could recover. We also took the decision to give her a year off before having her mated again. She is making a good recovery and is putting on weight. However, she has now started producing milk again. It's not a huge amount but her milk sacks have partially bagged up again. We are not going to milk her as this will simply encourage her body to produce more milk. Hopefully she will stop producing milk and enjoy her year off.

Another 2 Hebridean lambs

 

So far this spring, we have had 18 lambs born, though sadly one died. The 2 most recent arrived yesterday afternoon. I rushed back home to grab the camera and caught the bird of the 2nd lamb.

Enjoy!

First Hebridean lambs of the year

 

Before yesterday, 4 of our Texel ewes had had between them 9 lambs. Our Hebridean ewes were a bit slower to produce their first babies but that changes yesterday. Our first 2 Hebridean lambs have arrived. At the same time, another of our Texels gave birth to two lambs. The total number of lambs now stands at 13.

Ant and Dec at Whickham Library

 

Ant and Dec, our two young billy goats, were at Whickham Library on Saturday. The Library invites me to bring animals to each of their fairs and it was the turn of the two boys to be adored and overfed with carrots by people coming to the Easter market.

New goat house

 

Now that we have carried out the majority of the fence repairs, we have switched our attention to the need to build a new goathouse in the big paddock at the bottom of field 2. The two billy goats will be moved into this paddock once the goathouse is finished. With them will go two of our nannies, Star and Snow White. Once they are pregnant, the two nannies will be moved back to the herd. Other than the nails and screws, the goathouse is being built entirely from waste wood, mainly pallets and fence panels which friends have given us in recent years. It will have a sloping roof so that we can channel rain water into a water butt (at the moment we have to bring in all the water we need from home).

I am hoping construction can be completed and the goats moved in later this week.

Like painting the Forth Bridge

 

Repairing fences is like painting the Forth Bridge on our smallholding. Just when you feel that sense of achievement by finishing the repairs to one fence, you have to move onto the next. When we bought the fields the fences were in a poor shape. We have gradually replaced the rotten fence posts and replaced the livestock netting. In recent days we've completed the repairs to the top of our hayfield and to the fence between fields one and two (see above). Today we were able to move on to the paddock into which we planning to move our two young billy goats. The gate into it is now repaired. The big job will be to build a shelter in the paddock. Hopefully a job to start this weekend.

First lambs of the year

 

Our first lambs of the year have arrived. Two were born last week and two a couple of days ago. Both mothers and all four lambs are doing well.

Rhubarb shoots

 

Another mild winter is just about behind us and some of our crops are now springing into action. Rhubarb shoots are starting to appear.

First duck egg of the year

 

Nice surprise for me this morning when I arrived at the duck run: an egg. It's the first of the year. Sadly, it was cracked. It will end up in an omelette soon.

Roast chicken

 

We dispatched 4 of our surplus cockerels recently. The biggest bird was roasted, making a superb Sunday dinner for us. We have another 6 cockerels which were hatched in the autumn so are not yet fully grown. They will be fattened up over the coming weeks. The rest of the birds slaughtered recently were made into pies.

Bamboo eating goats

 

We are keeping our two billy goats (Ant and Dec) and two of our young nannies (Snow White and Star) separate from our herd for the time being. Current home for them is our Nearside allotment. I give them three sacks of hay a day which I bring from our farm. Alas, yesterday I forgot to bring back the hay. The goats therefore got bamboo instead. Fortunately, this is one of the winter greens that the goats love.

Free fuel

 

Yesterday, the energy regulator here in the UK announced that the cap on household bills will be reduced by about £200 on average per household per year. It still means that average household energy bills will be about £1800 a year. The costs we pay are much lower. We have a woodfired stove which we use to heat our house and the fuel is free. We gather up dead branches from our farm or chop them off our trees and hedges. The fuel is sustainable as well, as is the electricity we generate from our solar panels. We remain plugged into the electricity and gas grids however. And that means we have to pay the rip off standing charges.

Ricotta cheese flans

 

We still have a freezer full of ricotta cheese so I used some of it to make 6 flans. They are being used for lunch and dinner this week although we may freeze some (something I am reluctant to do as we need the freezer space for other things).

Avoid toxic leaves

 

Some garden plants, such as rhododendron, are very toxic to goats and sheep. If you are composting them, make sure they are no where near any goats or sheep. In this video we were given 20 sacks of leaves but some of them were toxic. We put the sacks of leaves onto our Farside allotment as we keep no livestock there. The leaves will be left in their sacks for a year to rot down.

Fried duck breasts

 

Somewhere under the cabbage and carrots are some fried duck breasts. The ducks were from a friend who shoots regularly. The breasts were removed from the carcass and then fried in butter. The cabbage was from the allotment. The Yorkshire pudding was made using our own eggs. Very pleasant.