Well into preserve-making season

 

We have had a good crop of redcurrants and gooseberries but the amount of raspberries and blackcurrants has been disappointing. Nevertheless, we are making lots of preserves including fruit liqueurs. For the first time, we have used apples in fruit liqueurs (apple vodka). Most apples aren't ready for picking but a handful were just about big enough to collect.

Jam-making has progressed well but we still have a big quantity of gooseberries and redcurrants to use up. I'm about to turn some of the gooseberries into jelly. This is a 2 day process - boil up and then simmer the fruit, strain it and then put back into the preserving pan with sugar and heat.

A mountain of redcurrants

 

We have just harvested our biggest crop of redcurrants. Quite what we will do with them is the great unanswered question of the day. So far we have made redcurrant gin. We have 2 bucketfuls still to use up. I suspect most will be used to make jam.

Firewood in abundance

 

Some of the big branches that broke away from our oak trees at the south end of our hayfield have been chainsawed. They still need to be split but we have started to move them to our compound where the log splitter will be used.We won't use them this autumn and winter on our stove. Instead, they will be left to dry for a year. We have plenty of firewood from other sources.

Rotten to the core

 

There are some large oak trees at the top of our allotment. One of them recently lost some large branches. We have been using the chainsaw to chop them up but you can see just how rotten the cores of the branches are. Nevertheless, it will make great firewood.

Nettle hay

 

We have moved our goats from our Nearside allotment to our farm. The Whinnies Community Garden, from whom we rent our two allotments, have revised the rules (for insurance purposes) on keeping livestock on the site. No goats can be kept there. We kept some of our goats on the Nearside when they were needing extra attention, such as when they were expecting but the entire livestock setup is now on our farm. The problem now is that we had a runaway surge of nettles growing across the Nearside. I've spent the last few days stripping out the nettles and leaving them to dry out. This nettle hay proved to be very popular with the goats.

Lovage

 

We have a good crop of lovage this year. Great in salads and soups.

Handing over the hives

 

We need to spend more time looking after our bees. However, time is something in short supply for us. So we have come to a deal with a friend. He keeps his bees on our farm and we have handed over to him all our hives and equipment. In return we get a regular supply of honey. Yesterday we moved a large number of empty hives to the farm. More will go there shortly.

This is our friend's existing apiary on our farm.

Getting ready to move the goats

 

A change in the tenancy agreement at the Whinnies means we have to remove all large animals from the site. So the goats we have there have either already been moved to our farm, or will go soon. The only ones left are Florence and her two kids. They will be moved soon. Our cockerels will also have to be removed as part of the new terms and conditions. We had already planned to slaughter all but two of the cockerels anyway. They too will be removed to the farm where we will build a chicken run to house them and the hens.

Moving Florence

 

Florence is very pregnant! She had been on the farm over the winter but we have now moved her to the Nearside, the allotment where we keep the pregnant goats. In the photo, she is on the farm eating Christmas trees, one of her favourites.

Blackthorn blossom

 

Blackthorn is common in local hedgerows where we live. And it is now blossoming. Hopefully we will have a good crop of sloes in the autumn.

Taking the goats to the library

 

On Saturday 21st March 2026, we took Nettle (one of our milking goats) and one of her babies to Whickham Library fair. This has become something of a tradition for us. They help raise money for the library. As usual, they got a great deal of attention and helped draw people into the library.

Chewing on ash

 

Someone near our allotment has chopped down 2 ash trees. The goats are loving the branches and the bark.

Spring has arrived

 

You know when spring has arrived - the rhubarb shoots are growing. It's looking like it will be a good crop again.

Eggs galore!

 

Our hens normally stop laying from October to January. This year has been different. They stopped laying in November and 2 weeks later they started again. This has left us with a large surplus of eggs. We are thumbing our way through recipe books for ideas on how to use them.

Lambs looking great

 

Our 4 lambs born last year are looking great. Note the orange colouring on their backs, indicating they've been mated by the ram.

First babies of the year

 

A bit earlier than expected but Nettle had three kids this morning - 2 boys and a girl. Kids and mum are doing well.

Mulled wine

 

12 years ago we made a huge amount of red and white wine. We still have lots of it to use up. As we are in the Christmas period, we've been making mulled wine. Very pleasant!