Realising the Dream

Gardening with a Rooster

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 21:09:00 +0000

Last weekend I decided to hit the garden and get some seeds planted out, nothing overly fancy, basically I decided to have a bed that used up all those seeds that have been sitting around going past their plant by date!

Helping me out was my all time favourite chicken. Not sure of the politically correct term for him but Differently Enabled seems the best! He suffered what I can only describe as a chicken stroke and couldn't walk. I have had a hen do the same and with patience and time she came around and now, besides a slight robotic style limp, is absolutely fine. I am hoping with the same time and effort my little pal will do the same, he is already much better and hobbles around quite the thing.

I took him into the patch with me and he sorted out all the beasties and bugs as I was digging, then came over and helped pick out the best seeds and their placement!

We found a mouse nest under the carpet that I had laid down on the bed over winter. Empty of course!

Save, Recycle and Repurpose

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 22:39:00 +0000

Save, Recycle and Re-purpose

Our extension is not, as you may imagine, the cheapest undertaking in the world, and, as with all building work, the cost is never going to stay what it says on the quotation!! So, in an effort to save pennies we have been looking into the worlds of secondhand and upcycling. We have taken stock of our current furniture and worked out what can be reused somewhere else, perhaps with some creative painting or a bit of sanding. We have chests of drawers being swapped from one room to another. A kitchen unit (which was bought secondhand for the kitchen!) being converted to a sink unit in the bathroom, along with a large kitchen dresser which came from my parents coffee shop!

We have kitted out the bathroom completely with shuffled furniture and reusing the old suite, bar the sink, that will need to be new, or at least new to us! The spare room is done thanks to some shuffling of furniture and a donation bed from my parents who are having a change! The family room has much of its furniture, moved from elsewhere in the house! Things are looking good!

One thing we couldn't repurpose from elsewhere in the house was a sofa for the family room. We have a suite but it is staying in the old lounge to make seating for the library-come-sitting-room- come-sewing-office-room! We knew what we wanted; colour scheme in the brown area, corner sofa, good lounge-about-ability! We looked all over the place at new sofas, thinking that that was the easiest way to get exactly what we were after, even if it did go against our save, recycle and repurpose philosophy. But we weren't without hope for a miracle so kept our eye on the Small Ads. And would you believe it... we found the perfect thing! A tiny fraction of the cost of a brand new one, 2 years old but in great condition (not sure these people spent much time sitting down!), corner sofa, right colour and!.. just 15 minutes away from our house! We hitched up the trailer.....

The thing is huge, 9ft on the longest side (which adds to the miracle as this was exactly the size we'd been catering for!) and the seats are deep, great for lazy afternoons, just what we were after. It did however, completely fill our trailer, thank goodness there was no more of it, and the cushions stuffed the back of the car!

This is a photo, not the best light but gives you an idea. (This isn't our house by the way, this is where it came from).

We have been very much enjoying the chase of getting our furniture and not having to pay through the nose for it! Hunting down exactly what we want and then fitting it into our home!

I'll do more updates on each of the furniture transformations as they occur. There will be more house renovation updates this week, it is coming along very quickly!!

Down Go the Floors

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Mon, 18 Feb 2013 13:50:00 +0000

They dug out all the floors to get everything to the correct level. Then it has been a case of building them back up. End of last week and beginning of this week have been the laying of the concrete, among other things, for the new floors.

It's been a tight squeeze getting the concrete lorry in and around the corners. Some of the concrete has been wheelbarrowed in, hence the plastic floor coverings in the photo, trying to contain some of the mess!

Getting the floors down, and with the roof looking more like a roof, it is really getting easier to see what the finished house is going to look like.

Going A Little More Self Sufficient Every Day

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 21:08:00 +0000

(Don't know if this post needs a disclaimer or something, weak dispositions beware!)

Self sufficiency has always been my dream. Some things are out of reach at present; I don't think we are going off grid any time soon! But the whole food thing is something, in which, I can see we can make a difference in our lifestyles. We can grow what we need, or at least start with enough to supplement and slowly progress to having a larder stocked through our own hard graft. And, until today, vegetables and fruit have made up that pantry filling effort...

Today however, was different.

Today we stepped into a new realm.

Today we went were we had only speculated that we would like to go but had always found some excuse not to. Excuses coming mainly from a little bit of fear, mixed with uncertainty, mixed with a tiny sprinkling of good ol' fashioned squimishness.

Today we delved into meat!

We have in our flock of hens, 5, yes, count 'em, 5 cockerels. One is the original, bought to allow us to have chicks and perpetuate our flock. Two came from the inevitability of percentage cockerel to hen in any clutch of eggs. And two arrived as a gift, three babies given and we managed only one hen! Our cockerel numbers are all well and good when they are youngsters but as they grow a decision has to be made as to what to do with them. We were lucky, even though two were now pretty much the size of their dad, he was tolerating them without too much fighting. He'd give them a hard stare and they'd wander off. But they'd still have to go, if nothing else they eat like gannets and of course you get nothing back.

We had basically three choices: sell or give them away, kill and dispose or eat them. Selling and giving away are easier said than done, no one wants cockerels. Even at auction you get around £3 - £4 per bird which is negligible to the amount you've spent feeding them, and, to be honest, the feeling is, the people buying them are just going to eat them, so you've paid to raise someone else's dinner and they've given you next to nothing for it!

Straight killing seemed a little wasteful and disrespectful to the bird, so we went for kill to eat. A tricky concept to get your head round. Although I eat meat, I know where it comes from, I know what is involved in getting it there is still something inherently 'oh dear' about choosing to do it yourself, to your own bird. The first step is always the hardest. But I wanted to be there for every step, I wanted to see what was done.

We didn't know the techniques at all. We wanted it to be quick, without fuss and without undue stress to the bird, so Farm Guy's dad was called in, a veteran in poultry dispatch, he showed us the best way to do every step. The two oldest youngsters were chosen and the whole thing went very smoothly. The whole process was a lot simpler than I had imagined and I think it is something that we will now continue to do. Our two boys are now in the freezer and will be much appreciated.

I think there is something to be said for killing and preparing your own meat. As I have stated before I am an animal lover but also a meat eater, I believe the two can go hand in hand, but I also feel that there is a tendency for people (myself included) to become separated from the reality of eating meat. We all KNOW what is going on, but we don't connect with the actual act. This whole experience was good for me, a reconnection with the whole food chain cycle. A greater respect for what is going on with the food we eat, and that it doesn't just come pre-packaged and shrink wrapped!

What's Going on in the Kitchen?

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 12:00:00 +0000

My new kitchen.... Ahhhh! I have been dreaming about it since we moved in... Since before then! And the one thing that I wanted in it was an Aga, always, no matter how I pictured the kitchen, there was the aga, centre stage!

I grew up with an Aga, my mum still has it! It is one of my biggest memories of home. And to me it symbolises the total heart of the home, let alone the kitchen. So Aga it was. We are on oil here, so oil would have to be our fuel for it. We began investigating.

It soon became apparent that although an oil Aga was within our purchase budget range, the week to week cost of running one would mean we'd probably end up never being able to turn the thing on! Not the best. An Electric Aga had the best running costs of all the Agas but its initial purchase price was out of budget, and even if they weren't they only offered the cheap running ones in extra small, which was not what I was after. Poop.

I was determined, however, that my stove dreams would not become nightmares. I researched all the Aga style stoves available. I knew I wanted big and I knew I wanted cheap to run and I had an initial budget in mind.

My travels brought me to a new company called Everhot, who have been making waves in the Electric 'Aga' world. The running costs were extremely low, they offered a huge range of sizes and oven configurations and the purchase price was reasonable. We found our local stockist, who happened to sell loads of different makes of stoves, which was good as it gave us a chance to look at a range of ranges!!

I loved the Everhot, it was just what we needed. We took a week to discuss, decide and order! It arrives the beginning of May! Cannot Wait!!!!

Here's a sneaky peak.....

Week Two.. Three.. and Four!

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 20:47:00 +0000

So, once again another ridiculous length of time between posts! What's been happening? Well, the place looks worse than when we started! The whole roof had to come off, and I mean the WHOLE roof! We knew this would be the case but its still something when it actually happens!!

Once the roof was removed a whole load of internal walls needed to be taken out. This then allowed the floor levels to be determined. This is where we hit an issue. It was found that the floor level needed to be lowered a lot more than was previously thought. So, on average, two feet of soil needs to be dug out before the floor can be put back in again!

The piles of rubble are the floor. Throughout the barns the floor was concrete which needed to be lifted, the uncertainty of the thickness was what caused the 'oh we need to take out two feet' issue!

It's so hard to describe everything to give you a feel for it, from just these photos. The ones with those stall walls is the family room. The photo here ---> is possibly the best to show what is really being done. You can see the corridor on the right (notice the tiny bit of visible green wall? Remember that!) you can also see the fact that the back wall of this stall room has a room beyond, that will be the kitchen, all the walls are coming out. A double archway will replace that dividing wall there! Not sure that makes sense, ill have to make a floor plan.

These two pictures above show both the walls being taken out inside and how far the floor has dropped. In the first picture you can see the existing corridor and then in the lower picture you can see the remaining bit of painted green wall once the corridor wall is taken down. You can also see how much has been dug out.

The one above is taken from one end of the family room looking into what will be the kitchen, through an archway. Going to the right, from the kitchen, around the corner, will be the new raised dining room.

Above: Looking I through the new 'front' door hole. The window at the back will be the window of the smaller spare room.

Finally after two or so weeks of demolition things start looking better, the roof trusses arrive and they start being put in place. The roof that is shown having been done is over the (from left round) the family room, kitchen and dining room! The very last photo is the family room from inside the kitchen, you can see the hole that will lead to the corridor going to the two spare rooms, bathroom and cinema room.

The Work Begins

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 18:03:00 +0000

I can't believe it has finally arrived! Since we moved here we have dreamt of extending into the barns. Looking at them everyday and imagining what it would be like! We have waded through acres and acres of paperwork, signatures from here, checks and tests from there, it has all been leading to this!!!

I can't wait, it's a 14 week project and we will have, essentially, a new house tacked onto the side of our current house! We will be upped from two to five bedrooms, a new kitchen (old one becomes a laundry room) a family room (old lounge becomes reading room), two new bedrooms, bathroom and cinema room.

I have been looking at decorating ideas already! Maybe a bit ahead of the game as we currently don't even have a roof! But it's tricky not to! So many possibilities and so many great ideas out there!

It's going to be a life changing build, we have never been able to have people over for meals as we had no where to eat, unless you want to eat off your knee in the living room! We can't have guests to stay overnight unless they sleep on the floor or in the caravan! Farm Baby is getting to an age where I want the norm to be eating at a table and in the living room as a treat rather than the other way round! One of the spare new bedrooms will double as a playroom for her too, so her little life will be better because of that too!

The photos below show the progress so far, we had to lose the downstairs bathroom, (the wet room) which was removed today, this will be knocked through into the new open plan dining room, kitchen and family room.

The roof of the whole thing is coming off and being replaced, that's the other photos.

A Little Layer

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 13:36:00 +0000

Our new hen, Custard, is just a little bantam hen and there was concern that she may feel a little overwhelmed by the masses of larger hens, not to mention the cockerel! But it appears that she has settled in perfectly and is happy enough to lay us a little show of appreciation. I have never seen a bantam egg before and they are very cute! I am kind of keen to add a few bantams to our collection, although I am also after quail too! I shall become 'that crazy woman with all the birds'!

The other hen has had to be separated unfortunately. The cockerel was getting too aggressive and she was getting stressed. She now has her own run, within the main run, and has settled right in. I return her to the coop at night for safety and back to her run during the day. This is hopefully not a permanent arrangement, I am hoping that with slow, careful steps we can make a better and successful introduction down the road, and harmony shall reign again!!

It's Buttering Time!

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Sat, 11 Aug 2012 19:35:00 +0000

There has been some interest in the butter making, many people like me who thought it would be a whole lot harder than it was. I can assure you it is easy and I am going to show you exactly how easy it is!

You only need three things to make butter, and one of those you could probably live without! I have here one tub of double cream, one jar and one spatula. For nice quick results I would recommend leaving your cream out of the fridge overnight before starting this. It is possible to make butter from cold cream straight from the fridge but your shaking time will be longer.

Pour your cream into your jar and put the lid on tight. Now just shake it! You don't need to be violent, just regular. Obviously if you want to shake it like a crazed person then go don't let me stop you! But if you are using cold cream then you could be churning for a while!

The cream will gloop about for a while and then all will go quiet and it will feel like you are shaking a small brick. Keep going! After a while you will begin to see yellow flecks in the cream, this is the first of the butter. Keep shaking!!

The final stage happens suddenly. There will be a sloshing and the butter will quickly appear, floating in its own little sea of buttermilk. Give it a few extra shoogles for luck and your butter is formed.

It is now necessary to wash your butter, so you can either head down to the cool mountain stream that meanders at the foot of your garden or, failing that, the kitchen tap is fine. The aim of this stage is to remove any buttermilk that remains, from the butter. Buttermilk in the mix will cause your butter to go rancid quickly.

Washing it is just as it sounds. Use cold, cold water, else your butter will melt and disappear! Take the butter in one hand and squash it gently with the fingers of the other hand, under the running water. You want to keep this up until the water runs clear. I found putting a bowl under the flow as this made it easier to see when the water went clear.

Once you have clean butter you are essentially done, you can add salt if you wish, just knead it through, I didn't bother. Butter freezes well, I popped the butter into a small block shaped mould I had and froze it in there, then I take it out, wrap in baking parchment and back in the freezer.

This isn't a money saver if you buy the cream full price BUT if you want to save money with your efforts then the thing to do would be to watch the reduced aisle of your supermarket. Cream that is 'on the brink' can be radically reduced and is perfect for butter making, you can then freeze the butter and ta daaaa saved money! Hopefully!

Enjoy your butter making!

It Always Tastes Better...

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 13:20:00 +0000

Monday and Tuesday this week have been filled with two small bursts of pleasure. On Monday I decided that it was time to get back to basics and make some bread. I have a bread machine, my striving for a more traditional way of life is not without its need for speed and convenience. And, come on, even when using a machine you are still making the bread yourself, no additives and no 'what's in this' concerns.

But this Monday I decided to go back even further and do the whole thing by hand. While I was kneading away at the dough and staring out at the lashing rain (we had some sun last week, what's the complaining!) I was taken, not only by how sore my arms were, but that in the not-so-long ago people got up near enough every day and made bread, just like this!

I have to admit to a certain pleasure in looking out at rain, particularly when there are people in it, knowing that I am nice and warm inside. And that day I had the added feeling that while others worried about buses, trains and deadlines I was just kneading and staring, there was no hurry in this it would be done when it was done, I couldn't hurry it even if I wanted to. This had its own deadline and I was just along for the ride.

My attempts at hand made bread have been hit or miss in the past and I was quite nervous about the rising stage, that's when I murder a bread loaf! I have rising issues! So for the hour and a half I left it to rise I couldn't help but keep peeking over at the bowl with its damp cloth hat. Finally, the feeling of relief, and a little pride, that came upon me when I saw that the cloth was forming a little mound in the centre! Huzzah!

Then the slightly nerve racking but fun procedure of punching out the air, after all my success in the rising I have to destroy it. Hour and a half up, 5 seconds down. I made two loaves, a standard loaf and a fancy plait thing which I brushed with herby butter before cooking. After the punching and forming another hour was required while they rose again under their cloth. This time it was harder to see the rising - was it that high before?

I had no need to worry it was perfectly risen and ready for the oven. After cooking the house smelled great and we had fresh bread for snaking and dinner!

The full procedure from cupboard to bread board took about 3 hours, if I had been wanting this for breakfast I'd have been up at 5am! 4am if Farm Guy had wanted some for his breakfast! I couldn't do it, not every day! Hats off to the people of the past.

My desire for the perfect homemade snack was not over however. A call to farm guy to buy double cream on his way home was sent forth and duly he returned that evening with it. One carton was placed on the kitchen side and to bed we went...

Next morning our room temperature cream was placed into a jar and the shaking began. I had feared a morning of jar shaking, rolling, flinging with no result but in only a few minutes the butter was there, floating in a little sea of buttermilk. After some rinsing and patting we had butter! The whole process was so fast, I knew the theory but apart from an experiment in Primary 2 (about 6 years old) I had never tried it myself. I didn't bother to salt it just left it as it was, yellow and yummy! I know have a reason to use the beautiful butter dish my mum gave me, no butter so far has quite been good enough for it, but this shall take pride of place!

I had asked Farm Guy to remember the price, which was 60p, for the tub of cream and we managed 74g of butter, nope no saving there! But we don't use butter often, I use marg-y stuff for cooking so this butter would do us for toast and sandwiches, times when we can enjoy the butter for itself. It came out at snack time with the loaf of bread. There is something quite satisfying and, as a mum, comforting in watching your little one eating, and thoroughly enjoying with fistful happiness, something which you have not only made yourself but you know what is in practically everything she is eating. Now, if I could just get cream from a cow then it would be 100% known ingredients. Here.. mooey mooey mooooo.....!

New To You

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 07:00:00 +0000

What a week!!An acquaintance of ours came to us with an offer/request. He had chickens but was down to only two, for various reasons, so had decided that he wanted to call it a day. He was looking for a new home for these last remaining two so asked if we could take them on.

Of course we said yes!

He has no idea what type they are or anything, they could easily be crosses but they are apparently very friendly and great layers.

They seem to be getting on fine with our bunch!

That takes us to seventeen......

Meh! Meeeeehhhhh!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 07:00:00 +0000

It's official, we can call ourselves a farm, smallholding, general cool place!

We have goats!!

After much preparation for goaty arrival, ad searching, paddock making and all the other fah-de-lah, we managed to find the perfect pair. These two lovely ladies are Angora goats who were in need of a new home as their owner really didn't have the space for the two little escape artists! They are eight years young and have beautiful personalities!

It all happened very fast, as I have noticed things do for us when it is the right move! We heard about them on the Wednesday, visited on Saturday afternoon, showed their mum and dad what we had to offer them Saturday night, discussions and chatting and Sunday morning they arrived.

They are keeping out of the fabulous Scottish summer at the moment, in a cozy stable, which also gives us all a chance to get to know each other better.

Their paddock needs a fence propping up as a Shetland Pony decided that if the fence is too high to lean over to get the grass, squish it! As soon as we have a new fence post in then the girls will get their first glimpse of their new field!

They are very friendly, especially if you have a carrot or two and Farm Toddler (the artist formally know as Farm Baby!) adores them, with an announcement of 'Goats. See um! See um!' Every few minutes. At which point a carrot is prepared and visit ensues!

We hope these two ladies enjoy their new forever home and give us many years of pleasure!

Among The Weeds

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 20:27:00 +0000

We had summer here in Scotland, I think it was last Wednesday, about 12 o'clock! Apart from that it has rained pretty much solidly since time began! As a result my trips to the veggie patch have been few and far between - big mistake! All this rain is prime weed growing weather and in our patch in particular this is not good! (For those new to the veggie patch, we reclaimed the area from a field and have been fighting the decades of established weeds ever since!)

Well, at the first sight of sunshine down the patch I went and the weeds were chest high, you quite literally pushed through until you unceremoniously dropped out into the actual veggie garden patches! These had stayed surprisingly weed free, our laborious weeding had paid off, just the rest that may contain tigers! The raspberry patch I had basically given up on this year. Essentially, right it off and try to save it later, but through the dock leaf plants, which grew higher than the raspberries (see photo), I spotted red and went in to investigate. Our little raspberries had persevered through the weedy onslaught and were producing like crazy. I spent an hour digging them out and hacking through weeds and old raspberry canes (hangs head, I didn't prune last year :O( ) and came out with over a kilo of raspberries with the promise of more!!!

Well done little plants! Goes to show what I have always thought if I just leave plants well alone they get on a whole lot better than when I faff about with them!!!!

Quick Update...

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Sun, 06 May 2012 22:47:00 +0000

On Friday our little hen emerged with a second chick. I made a check of her nest while she was away and there was some sad news.

It appears that the third egg was broken, it must have been only a day or so before, and the chick inside hadn't made it. I suppose it is possible that the fact one chick came early meant there was a lot of movement in the nest that the other two could have lived without in the final stages.

However, the two survivors are doing well and mum is very proud (and, yes, so am I!) They are good little learners and she is a great teacher. Pecking lessons have commenced and both chicks appear to be excelling!

Meet the Newest Farm Member

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Thu, 03 May 2012 18:45:00 +0000

This afternoon marks a momentous occasion for the farm and it's chicken stock. Our broody hen has hatched her first chick and our farm's first animal birth!

She was sitting on five eggs but is down to three now as she discarded two over her sitting time. This chick arrives on the twentieth day of sitting so hopefully we shall see the others come along tomorrow. Even if we don't she is still our little hero hen.

So far she is seeming to be a good mum, protective but not overly so. She is letting the chick explore whilst still keeping an eye on it and helping it scratch and peck.

The other hens are very interested too, there is much queuing along the fence line to take a look at the new arrival and mummy hen seems happy to show off her one man brood!

Fingers crossed for her other two eggs as we go into tomorrow.

Chicks A-Plenty

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:30:00 +0000

About a week ago I discovered a hen showing signs of broodiness. I set up her own little area of the pen and successfully moved her and her five eggs across. She has since been sitting well but I am glad that she also appears to be looking after herself, coming out to eat and drink and stretch her legs. I hope that is a sign that she is going to be a good sensible mother.

Fingers crossed for the 2nd of May, that's the expected hatch date, - ish!

We have also opened up the top paddock to our hens as it is dog proofed. Unfortunately it wasn't totally chicken proofed as last evening they had got through into the neighbouring field and couldn't get back. Some chicken round up was required.

I have been out today in the rain trying to chicken proof the area. Hope it should be okay now!

Happy Easter All

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 10:20:00 +0000

Hope everyone had a good Easter weekend whatever you got up to!

We had a lovely day out on the Saturday with family. Picnic at our local park with lots of food. A walk for farm Dog. Playing on the swings and see saw and a trip on a miniature railway for farm baby and grandad!

I took a shot at making some Easter cupcakes for the day out. Creme Egg ones and marshmallow sheep! They came out better than I expected, my decorating skills aren't the best! They tasted pretty good too!

Farm Baby also got a new dress and sunhat for Easter. I just managed to get them both finished in time, just seemed to keep running out of stuff or the various machines breaking down!

A great day out, tiring and enjoyable!

How did I miss reporting on this?

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:01:00 +0000

Don't know how I've been able to miss reporting this news.

Our main aim with our extra land was to rent to people for their horses, as you will have read before we had the stables put in just this side of Christmas. Well we got our first renter a month ago but we still needed to add a field shelter to the field. So Farm Guy was on the case. He started building the thing from scratch and working on his weekends. It took him four weeks of weekends but it finally got finished.

I had thought I should have taken photos as he was going along but hadn't. However, Farm Guy was more on the ball and had been photographing as he went. So the following picture walk through are courtesy of him.

Adding the featherboard walls

The start of the roofing

Coat of protector and finished!

Homemade Washing Powder - The Beginning

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 17:33:00 +0000

This year I am all about homemade and money saving. So after reading an article on making your own laundry detergent, so I decided to give it a go.

You only need three ingredients:

2 cups of borax

2 cups of washing soda

2 bars of soap

So I went about it, we had washing soda and soap but no borax. I discovered that borax is no longer sold in the UK for health reasons but we can get a borax substitute so that was all I needed to obtain.

It is just a case of grating the soap and mixing it well with the borax and soda, then away you go.

I was a bit sceptical as apparently you only need one tablespoon per load but I gave it a try on my whites wash.

I took a photo of a farm baby dirty sock ( no one dirties socks like a farm baby!) for a before comparison. And the one for the after! Which you will see below. I was amazingly surprised! I also did our bed linen which is all white and it turned out fabulous.

I washed on 40o on my machines Eco wash and used no softener, which I usually do but I wanted to see what the powder alone did. I used the recommended 1 tablespoon amount, which looked quite silly in the drawer compared to the usual heap I seem to add.

I did some maths for costing purposes.

Usual powder -

Surf at £14 for 90 washes = 15.6p per wash

Homemade Powder -

Borax Substitute at £3.94

Soda Crystals at £0.90 for 1 kg. I used 600g so that is a cost of £0.54.

Soap Bars at £0.85. I used Imperial Leather soap as it is what we had.

Total = £5.33 for 55 washes = 0.10p per wash

So a definite saving there. I think next time I would use a cheaper soap, by using a supermarket own brand I could bring that cost down to £0.20 (ish) so that could make a cost of £0.09 per wash. I didn't factor in the fact that it appears that fabric softener doesn't seem to be needed, as I haven't tried this on clothes yet ( other than my test socks!) so I may find I still need it but I do have another recipe for homemade softener too! Another time I think.

I am also happier with the space saving too, my homemade stuff fits into a tiny space compared to the huge washing powder box.

The before sock.

The after sock

Tiny Gardening

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 09:39:00 +0000

I haven't been doing as much as I should in preparation for the 'grow your own' season. But I have been planting a few seeds and this is where I stand at the moment. Cucumbers and tomatoes. I don't have the greenhouse (still) so it is still all being done on the windowsill.

They aren't looking too bad, thought I wasn't getting any cucumbers but they eventually appeared and are looking very healthy. I have never tried growing cucumber before so this should be good. I am also going to be a better mum to my tomatoes this year and hopefully I'll get a better crop to do some exciting recipes!

I have potatoes waiting to go in, so I should probably get off my bum soon and do that. We are also adding some more fruit trees to our collection this year as well. They should arrive soon and will need to be in the ground as soon as possible.

Smurf Loaf

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Sat, 24 Mar 2012 17:19:00 +0000

My mum had sad news yesterday. After fifteen years she had to say goodbye to her last cat, Smurf. He had suddenly collapsed a few days ago and was rushed to the vet. After being diagnosed with bad kidney failure he seemed to respond to treatment and the vet was hopeful. But his condition suddenly deteriorated and mum was called in to make that choice that is no choice.

He was a lovely big lad and we got him from neighbours when I still lived at home. (I must have been 14! Good grief!) We also ended up with his mum who sadly passed away a couple of years ago, again from kidney trouble. He was a happy cat who liked the good things; eating, sleeping and love but was also a great little hunter too. Called Smurf because he was blue... no, not really. Can't remember where they name came from but it certainly suited him.

Mum and I live at some distance from each other now so phone support is all I can offer. However my dad is stoping in tomorrow on his way home after a trip away, so I decided to send some comfort food back. I scoured the net for something nice to make and found a Banana and Chocolate bread recipe. I made a few adjustments to it, to fit to my tastes and I thought I would share the result with you all, so you can make Smurf loaf and remember a lovely cat.

It comes out black and white - just like him.

BANANA AND CHOCOLATE SMURF LOAF

100g plain chocolate
150g butter
175g granulated sugar
3 eggs
175g self-raising flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
25g cocoa
2 large bananas , peeled and mashed
50g plain or milk chocolate chopped into chunks (or use choc chips)

FOR THE CRUNCH TOPPING

25g butter
2 tbsp plain flour
1 tbsp demerara sugar
Chopped walnuts, around 3 tbsp

Oven 180C/fan 160C/gas 4.

METHOD

Grease two 1lb loaf tins.

Make the crunch topping by rubbing the butter into the flour and sugar. Stir in the chopped walnuts.

Melt the chocolate and stir till smooth. Allow to cool slightly.

Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Add one egg at a time, beating well between each addition.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and cocoa and fold into butter mixture.

Add the mashed banana, melted chocolate and chocolate chunks and mix well.

Divide the mixture between the 2 tins and sprinkle on the topping.

Bake for about 45 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Cool on a rack, then enjoy!

A Tropical Experiment

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 09:41:00 +0000

Not sure how this will turn out as it is a post from my new iPad. I have entered the technological age!!

I am attempting something that I have been wanting to do for a while now, grow a pineapple from its top. So after extensive research on the interweb I have made my first attempt.

Apparently it should take about two weeks or so to be able to see whether it has worked or not. But I will keep people up to date on the progress of our pineapple.

It should grow actual pineapples too if it works but that's somewhat jumping the gun!

The first step was removing the fruit, just leaving the leaf section. Then removing the lower leaves to leave a small stub. Then popping it in the soil. Some people suggest using a rooting hormone but as I don't have any I haven't used that. That is likely to be something I try differently if this experiment doesn't work!

I need to keep it warm, but not hot and not too light. Not in the first few weeks, this is to encourage the roots to grow and not to try and grow new leaves without the root base to support it.

I should expect to see the existing leaves dying at the tips and then new growth from the centre.

We shall see!!

Chicken-Knox

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 09:00:00 +0000

Thought I would introduce to you a couple of the adaptions both successful and experimental that I have been adding to chicken-knox. The first was the addition of a water butt. My dad added a roofed section to the inner run to help protect the house and also make my life more plesant when cleaning out in the rain! So I decided to utilise the roofing further by getting free water for my girls (and guy). I added some guttering and a water butt and after frozen hands, shouting at it a couple of times cos no matter what it kept draining out in the middle! Even with a proper connector, then gettting Farm Guy to come take a look we had a functioning system. It isn't the most attractive and guttering experts are clawing their eyes out right now but it works and it makes life easier and a little better for the environment!

I am always trying to make life more natural for the hens, I believe that animals should (and are happier) when they are living as much as they would in the wild as is possible when in captivity. Even my university studies reflected this as I did my final year project working with keepers at a Safari Park to enrich the lives of their three elephants. So I intend to make my chicken habitat as natural as I can.

We now have 12 chickens and the little shop bought drinker we have gets a bit crowded at high drinking times, is not really in keeping with the 'would you find it in the wild' approach and is broken! Also, I always strive to get the chicken chores done as quick and efficient as possible. So the drinking pond idea was born. Dig out a small pond which is attached to the water butt by a hose, then I can just turn the nozzle and fill the pond fast when I see it needs it. No more getting wet feet flipping over the full drinker. No more fighting with the broken leg on the drinker. No more chicken queues and punch ups waiting for a turn to quench thirst! And more .... yep .... natural!!

This is a small pond, I may decide to move/enlarge it at a later date. I was experimenting with the ease of the system and whether the chickens liked a more au naturale way of drinking. (It's not as wonky as it looks, honest, the ground is on a hill!). So far they seem to like it, more chickens can get in at one time as they can get all the way round and they seem to like being able to put their whole beak in the water. The filling system works well.

On the cons side, I think it could be slightly deeper to counteract the affect of the hill and if we ever got chicks it would need to be filled with stones to prevent any drowning issues. But apart from that it appears that it is working well so far.

The testing continues.

Pond Watch

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 19:23:00 +0000

Okay. I looked out of the window today at the front garden. Mortified. It looks like the garden of an abandoned house. No wonder everyone goes to our back gate instead of the front door! The beds are a mess of weeds with a strangled looking plant every so often. The path is more moss than gravel and the gate is so dodgy that the postman has wedged it open with a brick so he doesn't have to compete! No amount of bulbs is going to save this lot, this needs an overhaul!!

Right in the middle of this garden come field is our pond, which was a solid mass of slime - although beneath the slime I discovered pretty clear water! I determined that even if I did nothing else I would clear out the slime so I set to it it. Eugh...

But I was surprised to discover that amongst the No No slime there was some Very Much Hurray slime in the form of some Frog Spawn. I am very pleased with this, I have been wanting the pond to be more wildlife friendly and in particular attracting some frogs so this was a great sight for me.

I am going to keep an eye on this little group and hopefully bring you updates on how the little wrigglers are getting along!I don't know whether there is anything I can do to help them - protection wise so at present I am just leaving them alone!

Chicken.. Licked?

noreply@blogger.com (Rosie) — Sat, 18 Feb 2012 21:55:00 +0000

It was a hard year last year on our hens. We entered the New Year with only 6 hens, from 11 hens and a cockerel. Sad times. Some we found what remained, others simply never came back to the coop. All of our French Wheatens Marans have gone, such is the fate of the free range hen. We discovered, quite early that the Marans were hopeless at going back to the coop. If darkness struck before they got back they simply announced that 'the end was nigh' and sat down where they were, all our time was taken with ensuring that they were all back in the coop, this includes the cockerel! But slowly, despite our best efforts they disappeared, two on one night!

I have to admit this left me more angry at myself than anything, I feel personally responsible for each one, I could have done more. Gone out earlier, checked more often. But I know that in the real world I cannot be on chicken watch 24 hours a day. There are foxes, dogs, cats and all sorts out there. Even a ferret which took 7 of the neighbours ducks in one night from out of their locked house! A plan was needed. Something to contain the hens, deter the predators and try and encourage an early retiral to the coop by all hens involved.

We call it Chicken-Knox...

(Sorry for the bendy look, it's one of my homemade panoramas!)

The chicken house always had its own small pen around it, but the chickens were free to roam anywhere on the farmyard, but the land surrounding lends itself well to being fenced in giving the hens a nice area of land that is entirely their own. It is also butted up against our top paddock, so should we ever decide more land is needed we can make adjustments. It is a bit bare for hens at the moment but I am working on that. My mum is a collector of shrubs - when she finds them growing in her gravel they are dug up, put in a carrier bag with some compost and sent to us. She has been doing this since we moved in and I have quite a collection. Planting them has always been a 'I really should get around to that' job - some of these things are huge now! So, a decision was made and they have been planted at Chicken-Knox. And what with the summer growth that is usually down here I think the chooks will have a whale of a time!

With that in mind we added to the flock, all was safe and we wanted to top up the numbers. It happened slightly sooner than we originally planned we said "we should get a few more hens. Check when the next sale is." *rustle* *rustle* "Oh its tomorrow! Right-o!"

So off to the sale we went with specifics in mind, a checklist:

1 cockerel

Some hens

Something likely to go broody

There was a lot we were interested in as no one could possibly want it unless they were us: 1 Welsummer cockerel with 2 silkie cross hens. Who'd want that! What a mix match bunch. They were in a tiny cage which was dark, so most casual observers just saw 6 little eyes peering out of the blackness. But we hung around and soon saw a handsome cockerel and two black hens emerge. Bidding was non-existent, only a few people who seemed to be 'maybe he doesn't mean it' but we did and they came home with us for only a few pennies.

I am not a huge fan of silkies, they aren't the prettiest birds in the world, cute, but not pretty. But I think that these girls aren't too bad in the looks department. The photos aren't great, they are still a little shy.

Here they are with their guy....

We also wanted something we were sure would lay and we are certain of age and breed and all that jazz. So we got 3 Welsummer pullets as well. They are lovely girls and are so funny to watch! Its like they aren't too sure how to be chickens! They walk up to the others and stare hard at them before starting to copy whatever they are doing!

They all seem to be getting on fine and the eggs seem to be a sign of that, we are now getting 5 - 6 eggs a day, which is a great number! I need to find some eggy recipes, and fast!!