Blooming July

It's hard to think that we are already at the end of July, this year seems to be flying by and the days are still full of jobs to be done. A local farmer remarked at how much hard work it was for us to maintain our land and grow all the fruit and veg we have. Funnily, it really doesn't feel like hard work when you enjoy what you are doing. Oh and we do enjoy being outside in the fresh air, digging, planting, hoeing and even the never ending grass cutting.

One of the best things is when we stop, taking a moment to look around and see how things are progressing.

 

This is the main long flowerbed in the garden which M dug last year; it's almost impossible to take a photo of the whole bed. It is still quite immature but starting to fill up nicely. It is a massive experiment this year as I have sown lots of new varieties of flowers to see what suits our conditions and more importantly what we like. On the plus side, my plant identification skills have soared and I'm now less reliant on M's vast horticultural knowledge. I may be a little obsessed but it's so interesting to see how they are coming along and deciding what we will remove or keep. Sadly a few of the big blooms we have been waiting to see have just been snapped off by the strong winds last week.

I am a huge fan of poppies and sowed some seeds last autumn, these have been continually flowering for weeks now and show no sign of ending yet. These are ladybird poppies and although most of them are pure red with black spots these ones seem to have a white edge.

This Geum was part of a cheap collection we bought last year, it has taken a long time to flower and shortly after this is collapsed in the wind. At least there are a few more buds to come.

It must be said that we are particularly rubbish at growing roses. We have 4, 2 were kept in pots and came with us when we moved house, one was a gift when we moved and the fourth one we bought last year. All four roses have suffered, they are in the main bed and having the dead bits pruned out and a dose of feed I am finally hoping they are recovering. These are the best flowers I think we have ever had on any of the roses.

Having waited for so long it is great to see some colour in the garden and there is more and more everyday to enjoy.

My poor wind battered Echinacea is still managing to flower (just) and has some Nicotianas, trailing Nasturtiums and Marigolds for company.

This is the old winter pig enclosure, it was totally dug over and fertilised by the pigs last winter and we weren't really sure what to do with it. We decided to try and grow some wildflowers in this area and gathered together all our old seeds (mainly poppies) and also bought a butterfly mix of seeds. So:

Tah-dah!! It is lovely but the photos don't quite capture the wide variety and beautiful colours; it's starting to get a bit overcrowded so perhaps we didn't sow the seed thinly enough. It also has quite a few weeds present but as it is meant to be natural we've left them in. The bees and butterflies are already having a great time.

This side is mainly the butterfly mix which has some Cornflowers, Gypsophila, Borage, Calendula, Cosmos, Red Campion, the occasional Poppy and a few others we have yet to identify. It's been interesting to see it grow as we had no idea what would appear. Hopefully I'll be able to save from seeds from here for next year.

A quick update on the cut flower bed. Well, it hasn't been a raging success, there are quite a few flowers but I'm not sure they would look great in any kind of flower arrangement. I think if I was to do it again (unlikely) I would definitely plant more plants closer together, not only to provide more blooms but also to support each other from the wind and rain. At least there is a bit of colour next to the greenhouse.

This is by far the best of our hanging baskets. Despite my early reservations as to the trailing ability of the trailing lobelia (a new variety to me and all blue) it has now drooped enough to cover the baskets and the bumble bees love it.

We found this unexpected flower growing in very poor soil/rubble next to the byre. After some investigation the closest I could get to identifying it is an Evening Primrose. However, the flowers appear during the day, not just at dusk and there is a very faint scent which although not unpleasant is not particularly appealing. If it is a weed then it one of the prettiest we have around.

It's been a busy month as the harvests have begun and M has also been keeping himself occupied with the renovation/decoration of the living room. This is only a sneak preview as it's not finished yet and I really want to do a before and after reveal when we're moved back in again - more on this soon.

Meat Feast

It seemed a little insensitive to write anything even vaguely meat orientated at the end of my last post so I thought it would be better to dedicate a single post to how we got on after Ginger and Spot left us. Apologies to any vegetarians for the numerous photos of pork.

Our local butcher did a wonderful job and brought us a total of 5 crates of pork. Thankfully he had frozen the first pig so it could go straight into the freezer without any hassles. Both pigs had be been butchered and packed into manageable sizes of bacon, shoulders, chops, belly, loin, ribs etc. He also brought us some curing salts to make up a wet cure (brine) solution.

This is the fifth crate which wouldn't fit on the kitchen table.

Our plan was to start with wet and dry curing bacon and see what happened and what tasted good before attempting any of the slightly larger cuts. Although our butcher had supplied us with a wet cure salt we headed off to the supermarket for some salt and brown sugar for the dry cure. I'm sure the lady at the till was giving us funny looks as we bought 5 large bags of salt and 2 huge bags of sugar. A full day of curing lay ahead as we sought to organise the massive amount of pork we had.

We ended up with 4 containers of dry cure in one fridge and 8 (slightly larger) containers of pork in brine in another fridge (unfortunately I forgot to take of photo of the wet cure but it was pretty similar only the meat was submerged in liquid).

It didn't take very long for the dry cure to start removing all the liquid from the meat and after 4 days the salt mix was replaced, then replaced again after another 2 days and then removed completely after 2 more days. So this stage was finished in about 8 days.

While we were sorting through the fresh meat I thought I'd have a go at boiling a ham. I had never done this before so it was a bit made up along with the usual guidance acquired from the internet. With some mixed herbs, peppercorns and balsamic vinegar, it was simmered for a few hours and then cooled in the liquid for another few hours.

The ham smelled lovely and tasted delicious although I was slightly disappointed that the flavours I had added were not quite as strong as I had hoped. Still, it wasn't bad for a first attempt. One other lesson learned was that as the ham begins to boil there will be some white froth which bubbles to the surface and should be scooped out. Note to self: it is best to do this before adding the herbs and peppercorns as you just end up removing them too and then having to add more!!

  

As I was having a go at boiling ham M was enjoying the opportunity to use all the kitchen gadgets. He decided to mince some shoulder meat which was then vacuum packed before labelling and heading for the freezer. It'll probably be used to make some sausages in the near future when we have a bit more time on our hands.

At the end of that very long day of curing, brining and boiling we had a piece of shoulder roasted. Along with our homegrown veg and M's amazing Yorkshire puddings it was one beautiful meal and a perfect end of to a tiring day.

Our aim after all the curing was to try and smoke our pork but as a trial run we bought some haddock and used oak sawdust in the cold smoker maze. It's hard to convey quite how delightful this was; our own home smoked fish and the taste was just incredible.

  

After all the meat turning and changing of cures for about 8-10 days we were eventually able to move on to the next stage. The wet cured meat was washed and dried before being wrapped in muslin and hung for a few days to completely dry out.

The dry cured meat was a bit quicker, it was washed off and dried and then M sliced some pieces so we could dry fry them and have a taste. Wow, it was truly delicious although maybe a tiny bit salty, but I guess we can adjust that for future batches.

We couldn't wait to get going with the smoker and it was on the go for 3 consecutive days. The first day was all dry cured bacon with oak sawdust; the second day was some dry and some wet cured bacon along with a big chunk of cheddar cheese and maple sawdust; the third day was the remaining wet cured bacon with a trial of brie and edam cheeses with beech sawdust.

The resulting cured and smoked bacon is just amazing, and I can't think of another word to describe it. There is no yucky white stuff (like shop bought bacon) when it is dry fried and the cure and smokiness enhance the already beautiful meat. A bacon and smoked brie toastie after a morning of weeding and harvesting makes it all worthwhile. Thankfully we like it as we have quite a lot to get through.

Unfortunately all the enticing aromas in the kitchen just got a bit too much for Jess and the drool appeared, normally an event usually reserved for a piece of cheese.

We have had a wonderful year learning about pigs, taking care of them, providing them with the best environment possible and dealing with the ups and downs of smallholding. One big lesson we learned here was that our pigs really should have gone about 3 months earlier. Our meat is wonderful but those extra 3 months have ensured that our along with the pork we have quite a lot of fat. However, we are really pleased with how it all went and no doubt we'll have another go but only when the freezers (yes, plural) are starting to look a bit empty!

New Experiences and Challenges

As we are well into summer we find ourselves in that strange in-between period when all the sowing, potting up and planting out is finished and we bide our time until the harvesting and storing of produce begins in earnest. The crops are growing, the flowers are eventually blooming and we have had a few succulent peas and beans to enjoy.

It's hard to believe that it is almost a year since these 2 cheeky little piglets came to live on our smallholding.

It was exciting and at times also a little scary to think that we had 2 feisty piggies to look after while trying hard not to get too emotionally attached.

I can't quite get over how big they got in such a short time.

I love this picture of Ginger's tail poking out the back of the ark.

They were always really difficult to photograph as they never both looked at the camera at the same time so this is one of the few pictures of them both.

Spot

Ginger

Breakfast and Dinner - their favourite time of day

You have probably guessed from the numerous pig photos that we recently bade farewell to our 2 porky friends. It has been an emotional few weeks preparing for their departure both physically and mentally. However, this was always the plan, using our land to provide our own food and alongside all our fruit and veggies that included our meat. So, our little smallholding just got that little bit smaller. It's somewhat quieter and there is a certain empty feeling as we pass the pig pen but it's getting slightly easier every day. Thank you Ginger and Spot for all the fun times and the wonderful memories we have - it's certainly been an experience.

Bye Bye June

We (at last) say farewell to a very wet June in the hope that the days ahead will bring the wonderful and much missed sun and warmth we experienced in May. It seems that we tend to have a mini summer in May and then things cool down a little before the weather improves again in July so here's hoping the sun is on it's way. On the plus side the rainy days have given us the chance to catch up on some craft projects and begin a new decorating challenge in the living room but more on that later.

I just have to share a picture of this wonderful little Dahlia which did require a little bit of TLC to reveal it's true beauty. We bought it in the end of season sales last year when it had no flowers left and was in a pretty bad state. After a winter spent in the greenhouse we had lots of rich dark foliage appear in late spring, it went outside in early May and, despite the wet month, the flowers have opened. It is a gorgeous colour and if we were brave enough we'd love to use it in our living room colour scheme.

Patience, patience

In general I have never been a particularly patient person but waiting for the flowers to bloom or the fruit and vegetables to be ready for harvesting is really putting me to the test. The flowers, fruit and vegetable plants are all growing well but it may be some time yet before we see any real results from all our hard work earlier in the year.

The veg patch is starting to look quite full in this picture from a couple of weeks ago. You may just be able to spot our rogue potato plants infiltrating the onions on the left side. Despite our best efforts last year to harvest all the spuds it looks like we must have left some tiny bits in the ground. Initially we decided to just leave them to their own devices but they soon took over and the poor onions were lacking their fair share of light and space. So after much deliberation and hesitation I went forth to try to remove the potatoes without disturbing the onions.

Well, tiptoeing through the onions I managed to dig out most of the potatoes although I reckon there are probably still a few deeper in the soil. Thankfully only a couple of spring onions were disturbed in the process and stuck back in again to hopefully finish growing. (You may be able to spot a newly planted row of brassicas between the onions and beans. We had quite a few spare cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage plants so the hope is that they will not be too big before the beans and onions are harvested and will then have loads of room to grow.)

We are trying to squeeze in as much as possible and have two sowings of sweetcorn, leeks, leftover sweet potatoes, a late sowing of broad beans and direct sown peas. Much of this is an experiment so we'll see what survives.

This is the harvest from the rogue potato plants. Lovely though they are (we had some cheesy mash last night - mmm really tasty) I'm getting a little worried at the possibility of having more potatoes than we could ever possibly eat.

These are the potatoes we actually planted and if they are all healthy then we will definitely be eating spuds every day for the next 12 months.

As this is the first year for the polytunnel we are both intrigued and excited to see how the plants are growing in this micro climate. Although we are planting our usual range of veg we have had a go at a few new varieties. So a quick update on what is in here: closest to the camera, just poking into the picture is a bed with 4 cabbages (one red) and some beetroot. Centre left bed we have 2 summer squash plants, 2 winter squashes and 2 pumpkins with a few nasturtiums. Centre right bed: swiss chard, kale and pak choi with some newly sown spinach.

In this picture you can also see 3 new (half price leftovers from the garden centre) hanging tomato baskets. They don't look great just now but I'm hoping we can reuse them next year either for hanging tomatoes or maybe some strawberries.

From the other end it's easier to see the brussels sprouts, broccoli and cauliflowers in the raised beds, cucamelons are in the canvas pots and 3 types of sweet potatoes in the grey coal sacks.

On the other side of the polytunnel we have 4 grow bags containing a total of 12 tomato plants of 9 different varieties. At the far end we removed the patiogro for now so we could squeeze in some new grow bags which have more brassicas from a later sowing.

 

We have also managed to squeeze one lone gherkin (above left), a single herb chicory, one little aubergine (no picture yet) and our little fig (right) isn't quite so little any more.

M says it is not a competition between the greenhouse and polytunnel produce!! From an impartial standpoint it seems only fair to give you a tour of the greenhouse. Purely in the interests of experimentation and learning we have tried to replicate the varieties of tomatoes here. They are growing well but have been suffering a little from some recent cold nights and the vast difference in day and night temperatures.

On the other side of the greenhouse I have some more green canvas pots with 2 tomato plants in each and a single gherkin in the small one.

As last year the sweet peppers and jalapenos are on the bench at the end of the greenhouse where they get the majority of the sunlight available. Some of the later sown ones are still tiny but we already have flowers appearing on the tallest jalapenos.

Just like in the polytunnel we have used some grow bags for the surplus brassicas. I had hoped to keep them going in pots for longer but they were growing too quickly so this is yet another experiment.

Off we go now, full steam ahead into July, praying the sun is coming and anticipating the busy time of harvesting, preparing and storing our harvest. Soon we will have garlic, onions, carrots, peas and beans filling the kitchen before filling the store cupboards and freezers. Now I just need to work out what to do with cucamelons, gherkins and all that kale! Happy holidays to you all and next time I hope to have lots of beautiful flowers to share with you.