I was asked recently by the Whinnies Wanderers, a toddler group based at the Whinnies Community Garden in Sunniside, to bring along one of our goats to their gathering on Thursday last week. I took Nettle and we settled down in the corner of the garden. Shortly afterwards I realised that the choice of a fully grown goat was not so good. Though some children were happy to stand next to Nettle and pet her, many of them kept their distance. It was hardly surprising looking back on it. Nettle is twice the height of some of the children! Next time I will take goat babies rather than goat adults.
We grow our own food in a suburban village in the North East of England. Follow us as we keep up the battle to be self-sufficient.
Sunday, 6 July 2025
Thursday, 3 July 2025
Goat feed windfall
A strong wind recently stripped lots of apples from local apple trees. This windfall bounty consisted of small fruit that had a few weeks to go before it would otherwise be ready for picking. The goats loved them.
And then there were 2
Penny was proudly lying down this morning with a baby next to her when I arrived this morning to feed the goats. She was chewing the cud but got up to have her feed. I assumed she was just having one kid. Though I was very happy she had had a baby, there was a hint of disappointment. The baby was a billy.
But when I came back at lunchtime, another baby had been born and it was a girl. Penny is our best milker and I was wanting her to produce a nanny to add to the milking herd. So well done Penny, great result!
Saturday, 28 June 2025
Lemon marmalade
We don't grow lemons - hardly a suitable crop for the weather in North East England - but we do use lemon waste to make marmalade. The peel is used to make marmalade. Nothing wasted.
How to make ginger tea
We are into the jam making season. One of the jams we've made is rhubarb, apple and ginger. We use fresh ginger which needs to be peeled. We waste nothing so the peel is used to make ginger tea.
Thursday, 26 June 2025
Guest chicks
Whinnies Wanderers are a group of parents and pre-school children based at the Whinnies Community Garden in Sunniside. Earlier this week, they invited me to bring some of our recently hatched chicks for the children to see. The good news is that they want me back next week. I will be bringing a goat instead!
Monday, 23 June 2025
First jam of the season
We are now entering the jam making season. First off the blocks was rhubarb, apple and ginger jam. This is one of my favourites and is easy to make: same weight of apple and rhubarb with a bit of fresh ginger to taste. Boil and then simmer. Once the fruit is pulped, add sugar - same weight as the rhubarb and apple combined. Bring to the boil and keep on a rolling boil until setting point is reached.
Sunday, 22 June 2025
Lovage and potato soup
We have quite an abundance of herbs at the moment. Given the large amount of lovage, an the problem that it never lasts long, we made some lovage and potato soup to which we also added fennel, oregano, thyme and sage. The problem we have now is that the store of potatoes is very low. We probably won't have any beyond the end of June and the new crop is struggling to grow, given the almost complete lack of rain during the spring.
Meringues
Our egg mountain continues so we recently used some egg whites to make meringues. The yolks had been used to make ice cream. The meringues were a first attempt for us. I was rather pleased with them.
Thursday, 19 June 2025
2nd batch of chicks
The second batch of chicks this year hatched over the weekend. The hatch rate was lower than the first batch a few weeks ago. Then we had 13 out of 17 hatched and survived. This time it was only 8 out of 16. Nevertheless, the chicks now had a foster mum, a broody hen which has been sitting on fake plastic eggs for the past few weeks. Mother and chicks will be moved shortly to the chick run.
Saturday, 7 June 2025
Spanish omelette or Tortilla Española
Spanish omelette or Tortilla Española - yet another attempt to use up some of our egg mountain. We also added bacon to the basic ingredients.
Thursday, 5 June 2025
From eggs to ice cream
The egg mountain continues but we found a useful recipe to turn egg yolks into ice cream. It went rather well with apple pie.
Egg and bacon flan
Friday, 30 May 2025
Two month dry period ends with a shower
We had no rain from 22nd March to 22nd May. Admittedly there were 5 moments of slight drizzle during those 2 months but that didn't even dampen the dust. Since 23rd May, the weather has been a bit more unsettled. So we have had enough to spot the damp on the ground and to soak my deck shoes (see photo below).
You can see in the photo above, taken of the allotment car park, the rain has been enough to dampen the ground. It may be enough to percolate into the ground but don't count on it. We are due a bit more rain over the coming week. We certainly need it to get the grass growing for the hay crop. We also have a potato crop that needs rain as well. Perhaps I need to do another rain dance!
Wool sacks
The byproduct of shaving the sheep earlier in May was a big pile of wool. We have no use for it. We typically give some of it away to allotment keepers and gardeners but we always have plenty left over. Recently we posted on local Facebook pages that we were giving the wool away. We discovered that local stables use wool and they took the lot! Problem solved.
Another egg recipe
Our egg glut continues so we've made custard to use up some of them. It goes well with apple crumble.
Eating her greens
Crystal, the lamb we are having to hand raise, has started eating solids, mainly weeds and grass. This is good news as we are able to start reducing the amount of milk we give her. She was on 6 bottles a day but is now on 5. Once she is weened, we will take her back to the farm and put her in with the rest oft he flock.
Thursday, 29 May 2025
13 chicks
Two of our Buff Orpington hens went broody a few weeks ago so we collected up 17 white leghorn fertile eggs and put them into the incubator. Three weeks later, 15 chicks hatched though one died in the incubator. The chicks were introduced to the two broody hens to be foster mothers. This went well except one of the chicks died. The brood is now well established in our former quail house and the chicks are growing rapidly.
Meanwhile we have another two Buff Orpingtons gone broody. The are currently sitting on fake eggs while 16 Rhode Island Red eggs are in the incubator. Hopefully lots more chicks hatch in just over a couple of weeks.
Tuesday, 20 May 2025
Bottle feeding
We were hoping to repeat last year's success in lambing by not having to bottle feed any of this year's lambs. Alas, it was not to be. This lamb - named Crystal - by some local children, was rejected by her mother so we are having to bottle feed her. She gets 3 feeds a day, polishing off 2 bottles each time. Fortunately she has started to eat grass and leaves, though it is early days at the moment.
Eating the trimmings
One of the local residential homes cut back their hawthorn hedge recently and phoned me to ask if I wanted the branches and trimmings for the goats. I'm not one to give up an opportunity for free fresh food. The goats enjoyed the feast.
Monday, 19 May 2025
Egg curry
The egg glut continues. Egg curry was a useful way of using up some of the surplus. In this meal we went further. We had egg fried rice as well!
Saturday, 17 May 2025
Sheep shearing
In previous years we have sheared our sheep ourselves. It has normally taken us a week to get the job done. This year we decided to buy in the service. A friend (who is also a professional sheep shearer) offered to to the shearing at a competitive price.
So, on Friday evening we rounded up the sheep into the goat paddock (see video above) and this morning we set up a pen and got the sheep into it in time for the arrival of the sheep shearing equipment. It took less than 45 minutes to do the shearing. With the current dry, hot weather, the sheep no doubt were pleased to be relieved of their coats.
Sheep shearing video below.
Thursday, 15 May 2025
Chicken liberation day
Today the avian flu restrictions that required birds to be caged came to an end. At last the chickens can go free range. I filmed this video this morning. Notice how some of the birds headed straight for the compost heap, rich in bugs and worms!
Tuesday, 29 April 2025
The egg battle continues
Our hens are continuing to lay eggs at a rate faster than we can use them or give them away. So we have continued to have egg based meals. We've also trawled through cookery books looking for interesting recipes. Anyway here are three more egg dinners we've had recently. Above - scrambled eggs on toast.Yorkshire pudding with baked vegetables.
Saturday, 26 April 2025
Tractor envy!
We have been using a rotovator recently to plough up the top of field one so we can plant a potato crop. It is a long and arduous task. Imagine the envy we felt when we looked over the hedge to the next farm where a giant tractor was ploughing up in seconds what was taking us hours to do! Here's the video!
Tuesday, 22 April 2025
Creating a market garden
We have put aside about an acre of our farm to create a market garden to grow fruit and vegetables. The grass here has not been ploughed in living memory so getting the rotovator to bite into the earth was something of a challenge.
Wednesday, 16 April 2025
Egg recipes
Our hens started laying late this year. Normally they start around New Year. This time they started around the end of February. They are however making up for lost time. We now have an egg mountain which seems to get bigger by the day. We are trying every egg recipe going. Above is that old trusty dish - an omelette.
Above is a savoury bread and butter pudding which conveniently used up some of our goat cheese and breadcrumbs.
Flan with chips (made from our own potatoes.
There will be plenty more egg recipes coming up!
Wednesday, 9 April 2025
Plum brandy
We made this plum brandy last year and left it to mature over the winter. Very pleasant. The plums will be stoned and then go into the sweet mince we will make in the autumn.
Saturday, 5 April 2025
Grass
The grass is growing. That means lots of free food for the goats. All I have to do is pick it. I gathered 2 sacks today. They loved it.
In the wrong field
One of the fences on our farm had fallen over. Result: some of our sheep wandered into the field belonging to the neighbouring stables. It was time to check out what repairs were needed.
Thursday, 13 March 2025
Pan Haggerty
Another of the meals we had recently gave us the opportunity to use some of last year's surpluses. Pan haggerty is made from potatoes, onions and cheese, all of which we have in abundance.
Wednesday, 12 March 2025
More pigeon cooking: toad in the hole
One of my favourite meals is toad-in-the-hole. It's a great recipe for using up our goats milk, our eggs and the pigeon meat we have in large quantities. The meat from pigeon breasts was made into sausages. Definitely a meal to have again.
Omelette
We now have a large surplus of eggs. That means omelettes are now appearing in our diet on a regular basis. Typically we use about 9 eggs for an omelette for two. Boiled eggs for breakfast also help to use up the surplus.
More pigeon cooking: burgers
We've been doing a great deal of cooking with pigeon meat recently. This pigeon burger was delicious, especially with some of our homemade onion chutney. The chips were made from our own potatoes. Alas, the bread role and the salad leaves came from the local Coop so this doesn't count fully as a totally self-sufficient meal.
Redcurrant vodka
This redcurrant vodka was made last year using the berries left over after making redcurrant jelly. A rather pleasant fruit liqueur it has a bit of a kick from the tartness of the redcurrants.
Eggs at last
The hens were very slow to start laying this year. They normally start around new year but this year, they began in late February. Matters weren't helped by the ability of some of our hens to lay in very secret locations. In the photo above, these eggs were laid in the bamboo patch in the garden next to one of our allotments. I only discovered them because the owners allowed me to cut the bamboo to feed to the goats!
Tuesday, 11 March 2025
Pigeon meatballs
We have lots of pigeon breasts in our freezers and we have been using them recently to make into sausage meat which we can use in a variety of ways. In the photo above we have made meatballs which were fried and then cooked again in a sauce.
Thursday, 6 March 2025
Rhubarb shoots
The allotment is starting to spring into life as we edge towards the start of spring. The rhubarb has started to grow though as the photo above shows, the weeds are starting to grow as well.
Friday, 28 February 2025
A donation of ivy
One of the households which borders our Nearside allotment recently cut back the ivy in their back garden. They asked if we wanted it for the goats. The goats are now having a feast!
Tuesday, 18 February 2025
First egg of the year
Our hens normally stop laying by the start of October and then start again around new year. This time they started laying again only in the past few days. So after a disappointing start, hopefully egg numbers will soar.
Monday, 10 February 2025
Grape vodka
Last year I was given some grapes grown by a friend in his greenhouse. They were rather soft, still on their stalks and full of pips. Instead of eating them, I put them into a jar along with 200g of sugar and 70ml of vodka. We recently tested the result. Very pleasant.
Pigeon and duck casserole
We have a glut of pigeon breasts in our freezers waiting to be used. Some of them are from a friend who bagged about 40 on our farm recently. Some of the meat found its way into this rather pleasant casserole.
Tuesday, 4 February 2025
Building the goat shed
We have friends who run gardening and building businesses and they often give us pallets and old fence panels. These are ideal materials for building shelters and sheds for our animals. All we have to buy are the nails and screws used to hold the structures together. We also have a rather snazzy tool for prising off planks from fence panels which we then use to clad the new animal sheds. No waste and quite sustainable.
Check out the video above for more on building the new goat shed.
Monday, 20 January 2025
What we do with your Christmas tree
People have been dropping off Christmas trees for us to feed to the goats. Dealing with the trees is normally our biggest task to carry out each January. This video shows what happens to the trees.
Unwell over new year
Ant, one of our Saanen billy goats was a bit unwell over new year. We was off his food for a few days. He had the runs but for only one day only. The runs can sometimes we sigh that an animal has worms so we gave him and the other two goats in the paddock with him the parasite treatment. He made a slow and gradual recovery and is now fine and dandy.
Friday, 17 January 2025
And the winner is....
Last autumn we asked people to come up with suggestions for the name of our new ram. About 150 sent us their suggestions. The final result is that he is called Rambo! Thanks to everyone who took part.