Hay crop disappointment

 

Last week we started cropping the hay. The result was disappointing. From a 3 hectare field we got only 12 bales. Admittedly the sheep have been grazing here but the main reason for the low yield has been the drought. Our big hayfield is next to be cropped. The hay will be cut tomorrow. I suspect the yield is not going to be much greater.

Isolating Rambo

 

Rambo is our Cheviot ram and has spent the spring and first half of the summer with the ewes on our two main fields. Sadly for Rambo we have, in the past few days, isolated him from the ewes. He is in the goat paddock instead and he will remain there for 10 weeks. The reason for this is the timing of next year's lambs. We want to avoid lamb births in the winter. Instead, we want them born in April. We needed to move him now because the ewes will shortly start to come into heat. Hopefully he will enjoy his rest.

Starting preparations for the Bowes Show

 

The Bowes Agricultural Show is this Saturday so we are starting the preparations today. My first task is to defrost 2 half pig heads that have been in the freezer for some time. They should be defrosted by tonight and will then be boiled and simmered until the meat is cooked and can be removed from the bones. And then comes the task of making pork pies.

First apples

 

The apples are late this year. I suspect the near drought conditions in which I live at the moment has delayed the crop. We could do with some rain to fatten up the apples before they are picked. Nevertheless, we have had some apples. As you can see, they are far from being eatable for humans. These are windfall and are for the goats. They love them.

How to make gooseberry chutney - video

 

I made some gooseberry chutney recently. Lots of ingredients but easy to make. Here's my video - I list all the ingredients so be ready with pen and paper.

How to make gooseberry chutney

 

We have picked all our gooseberries and have made jam and fruit liqueurs with them. The last batch is today in the preserving pan to make chutney. Here are the ingredients:

• 1kg gooseberries
• 800g apples
• 600g onions
• 150g sultanas
• 2 red chillies (dried and chopped)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1kg sugar
• 700ml apple cider vinegar
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp coriander
• 1tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 8 cardamon seeds
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground black pepper

Put all ingredients into the preserving pan, bring to the boil, let it simmer until it is reduced down to the consistency of a thick sauce. Then put into jars. Leave a couple of weeks before you start to use it.

Lovage and vegetable soup

 

We have an abundance of lovage but it won't last much longer. We have therefore picked some to use in soup. We found some vegetable soup in the freezer, decided it was time to use it up, thawed it and added in chopped lovage before simmering it again.

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!