Adventures in growing our own food, raising livestock and beekeeping on less than one acre
Over hill, over dale, Thorough bush, thorough brier, Over park, over pale, Thorough flood, thorough fire, I do wander everywhere, Swifter than the moonè’s sphere; And I serve the fairy queen, To dew her orbs upon the green: The cowslips … Continued
Wow! Our little fig tree planted around 18 months ago on the west facing wall beside our back door has nearly two dozen figs on it this year.
I’ve just set 11 goose eggs in the incubator. These are not mine but belong to a farmer friend who has a mated goose that won’t sit her eggs. They took a rather convoluted journey to me due to current … Continued
Some seeds are started where they are to spend their lives, such as lettuce, carrots etc, simply sown outdoors and perhaps thinned out as they grow and get too large for their space.. Some seeds are started indoors in seed trays, perhaps with heat.
I think almost every gardener I know has a favorite garden book, or perhaps a favorite gardener who influenced them when they first started gardening. I’ve gardened for as long as I remember. Even as a small child I always commandeered a corner of the garden in every house we lived in. My parents, grandparents and great grandparents all enjoying their gardens and passing on bits of knowledge here and there to me.
Nothing beats the taste of home grown potatoes cooked fresh from the ground. One of my all time favorite feasts has to be freshly harvested new potatoes along with freshly harvested broad beans.
With swarm control in mind I spent the afternoon sorting out all my spare beekeeping equipment, ensuring I have spare hives available in case I need to artificially swarm a colony at short notice. Everything was spread out in the sunshine, checked over and cleaned. Two spare hives were assembled including supers. Anything I was short of was listed for ordering.
Where do bats go in winter? Yes, this and other batty thoughts have been going through my mind as I spent the last half hour of twilight sat watching the local Smithy Brook bats flitting amongst the trees.
Hope…Hope that this will all be over one day very soon and we’ll be eating the courgettes and onions he’s planting over the same dinner table and maybe even sharing the same name as well as county and home.
If you don’t have the time or the desire to start your onions from seed then onion sets are the perfect solution, virtually guaranteeing you a successful crop.