Plans for the autumn

It's been a funny summer, odd in terms of almost everything. The weather has been different, not terrible but certainly much more variable than in recent years. We have steadily been working on the house and whereas we have not finished we will not take on any more big projects for a few years. What I am determined to do though is finish all the little jobs that never quite get done. It will be a little bit at a time though as Steve is back to full time teaching this week.
My veg garden never happened, there always seemed to be too much going on. I am hoping to get the preparation done for a spring start. In the meantime, we have a whole lot of wood to chop as its getting uncomfortably close to winter.

There always seems to be too much to do. Have you noticed that?  I spend a lot of time wondering how I will fit things in. We recently had some friends staying with us. We have had such a good time with them. But I also have to thank them for moving a giant pile of builder's rubble from my garden and (if that was not sufficient) mending my badly broken spade.

 Honestly, you have no idea how inspiring an empty space can be and there are even built-in steps.

This is my spade all ready for use. So thank you, John and John, for all your hard work. My intention is to gradually get the whole yard in order over the winter. Keep reading for updates. This will make it more usable by our Airbnb guests and friends alike.Please note I have now included a link to our listing in case you ever feel like coming to stay.

I am also in the midst of a creative writing course, having decided after years of messing with blogs etc.that with some practice and study I can make writing a part of my income source. Smallholders need many and various sources of income and writing would fit in nicely, and I enjoy it which is always a bonus. Again keep reading for more information there, I have also started a separate blog for my writerly exploits, there will be a link as soon as I can work out how to do it. As part of that process, I am planning to keep this blog updated with all things to do with smallholding.

Speaking of income, I am back to teaching English again from Wednesday for at least one or maybe two afternoons a week.

Gosh, I am exhausted just writing that lot down, but we have more exciting plans in the future which are not firm enough to include yet. 

preparing the nesting boxes for ducks.

This is the time of year when the ducks start laying in earnest, and as we raise out ducks primarily for meat I knew that I would have to do some work on the nesting boxes if I wanted then to lay and hatch ducklings in there. The first thing That I always do is line the base of the nesting box with old magazines. The ducks like to dig down in the straw and lining the boxes means that the eggs at the bottom still stay warm. Ducks are also messy so have something which is a bit absorbent, but not so much as to get sodden also helps hatch more eggs.

The next step is a privacy curtain, they are quite fussy about having a private space . I want to encourage them to lay in the nesting boxes and not under a bush in the garden. The reason for this is that a duck, out side is a "sitting duck" very vulnerable to any passing predator. I am not the only one who likes a duck steak.
This is half an old sand bag which turned out to be just the right size for two nest box curtains, though it might not win me any design awards. As this has to be redone every spring I just staple the bag to the box and cut slits for access. Then I fill the nest up with straw and hope it gets duck approval.

Fortunately it seems that ducks don't have much fashion sense because the nesting boxees were in use pretty much as soon as Id finished them. 

Still no Floor so a little more garden

Well the third delivery date for our floor has been and gone and still no floor, we won't know why till after the weekend. Fretting about it won't get it here any sooner so we thought that we might as well get on with other things.

Steve has had his usual battle with tools that have been in the shed unused over the winter and refused to work when taken out. The lawnmower responded to a bit of bashing with the hammer and so we now have a neatly mowed Parking area. The strimmer, however remained stubbornly silent and no amount of poking and prodding would get it to work. Steve gave it a stern talking too, and put it back in the shed. He will give it one more chance in the morning, this technique has, rather surprisingly worked in the past.

Steve may have had a frustrating day, but I have made strides with the little greenhouse project. I have planted  four different types of chillies (kindly brought from the uk my our friends John and Cath) and coriander seeds. I have space left for a single tomato plant, which I intend to buy in hope of some early tomatoes and a pot which I may plant up with Strawberries as the sheep have eaten those I had previously.

I have also weeded the paths and put down a layer of woody mulch. I found also a load of leftover seeds from last year. A bit nibbled on my mice I might add. I never throw old seeds away I will either plant them in odd corners of the garden or in pots on the patio to see what comes up. A surprising number grow even when the packets have been kept in dreadful conditions or even rained on.

I Have tucked a Bucket for small tools and a bucket of wood ash under the table for use over the summer. We have a small garden shredder / mulcher and  I like to keep a wire bin of mulched material on hand as it has endless uses it gradually composts down anyway and any leftover adds to our compost supply, we have never yet managed to produce sufficient compost I use piles of the stuff.

Starting a Garden late.

It so long since I wrote a blog post that I had to sit and stare at the screen for a few minutes before I remembered what to do. I am hoping that this isn't a false start and that I can pick it up once again.

Time, or rather lack of time is a curse of the modern world and that is no less so with running a small holding. Although we have successfully cleared some of the busyness from our lives the sheer volume of jobs associated with our  (relatively) small piece of land means we never seem to catch up. Add to that a very wet winter and spring, and a big project inside of the house and we are way behind. When I say way behind I don't just mean no planting I mean nothing, Zilch, no preparation no mulching no nothing, and here we are and its almost May.

Sheep but not sheepish

As our economic survival relies on us producing a good part of our own food, I decided today that I really had better start. I have missed the best start times for some veg, and I may not have time to prepare enough ground to grow all that I would like, but I have decided that with a pragmatic approach I can still grow a good few things.


The first possible problem with this plan is the sheep. They still have access to the vegetable garden at the moment, and their destructive capabilities are impressive. So nothing out in the open then. This means my little plastic green house is my target for the day.

Gone to seed winter salad leaves.

Being limited in this way is no bad thing in my experience, When faced with the possibility of a huge quantity of work it can be a bit overwhelming, sometimes in fact it can paralyse you to the extent that you give up before you start. One thing that I have learnt, or to be more accurate that I am constantly learning is to tackle one small job at a time. Start small finish your small job, start the next and get wherever you get to. Its amazing how much I can accomplish that way.

So my garden job for today was to clear the beds and water. I also hosed down the walls which washed off snails, mould, green slimy bits etc. I will do the same again tomorrow, the reason for repeating the task is that any weeds I missed today will respond to being watered and poke their heads up ready to be pulled out tomorrow. The beds will soak up the water so when I add compost and seeds everything should grow.

Needless to say I had help! They are insatiably curious and there is not room in one small greenhouse for three fully grown sheep.......and a cat........and a couple of chickens.... and two large dogs and a handful of duckings..............

slate grey day

Well here we are two days into a new year, drizzle outside cold inside if I'm honest. Need to get dressed because I am so fed up of this cold as in illness and temperature now.

This is a picture of my neighbours roof in the rain.

Not that you can tell from here but it's quite pretty,covered in moss and filled in with bits of tin can.The rain makes it shimmer and brings out a multitude of colours It's old probably the original roof  hence the tin can wedged between the slates to try and keep it waterproof. The houses here kind of hunker into the hillside as though they expect rain, the slate and granite bring a solidity, A bit stark in the winter but softening as the spring comes until the whole village blends into the summer greens and morning mists.

I am glad of the rain not only because it reflects my current mood but also because we have had a year of drought, First time ever in Galicia. Yes of course there have been dry spells, none that required serious water conservation though. The reservoirs still need water so the rain needs to continue. The trouble is we also need to cut wood, better done in the dry. Life is full of conflicting needs.

new year

The worst thing about having a cold is not the symptoms, though no one would suggest blocked noses sore throat and eyes and a perpetual headache are pleasant. It not even the tiredness that magically disappears the minute that you get into bed but becomes overwhelming the minute that you get out. The worst thing is the fact that you don´t want to do anything, a kind of mental tiredness that makes even getting dressed a struggle. Feeling like this on the first day of a new year is particularly stressful. This is the time for being full of resolve, planning new adventures, dreaming a little or a lot. A day for possibilities, a day for hope.

Instead all I am doing is sitting in front of the fire drinking hot chocolate.My tissues have overflowed the bin and are creeping across the floor and the disturbing thought of doing any of the small jobs planned for this holiday day is out of proportion to the size of the jobs themselves.

My resolutions are put off then as is the new in new year, for another few days. Saturday here in Spain is Kings, The last day of the Christmas break, the day when children, in this area at least, get their presents, there will be a parade, A market, lots of people eating Pulpo, lots of people in bars. The bakeries will be filled with special aniseed flavoured biscuits and the children have their last chance to be hyper and over excited.So my new year will move. Maybe the rain will have stopped, The tree man will be at the market so I can replace the apple trees that the sheep have eaten. I will be able to plan my garden and my normally overly ambitious plan for the year will seem realistic.

If am really honest a couple of days with a good book and a supply of hot chocolate Is a joy in itself, if only I had enough energy to enjoy it.

keeping Chickens

The one  thing we have done almost from the beginning is keep  chickens. Up to now they have been mainly  kept for eggs. Some times we buy a few cockerels to fatten up for meat. Sometimes one of the girls ends up in the pot, not often though for two reasons; They are pretty scrawny, and they are funny. Yes I mean funny ha ha, they provide endless entertainment, despite being fairly stupid they often have big personalities and some have huge egos. At the moment they are pretty much free range, having the run of the garden. We keep them out of the orchard and away from my veg patch though, as they happily destroy every thing in sight, and therein lies the problem. Our slightly hippy totally  free range animal policy has proved to be impractical as probably any country dweller will tell you.
We did take on board some things, we generally don´t name our animals, dogs and cats excepted. You have to have certain frame of mind from the outset, generally animals must pay their way.We are not vegan so some will end up as a meal. A small holding, however small, is a farm, animals all have a job to do, sentimentality has to be kept to a minimum.
So back to chickens, the long term plan is to try and find duel purpose birds meat and eggs. This is a little out of sinc with our neighbours, all of whom eat chickens raised at home but tend to raise two varietities of bird and only eat cockerels (They do use old hens who no longer lay for making chicken stock.) Buying hens for eggs or cockerels for fattening up is easy here, There are plenty of shops selling young chickens and there is a livestock market 3 times a month.
Our current girls are a little long in thebeak and now lay infrequently so we have just bought three more who will join them shortly. In the spring we will add a new cockerel and start looking for a larger breed of bird. Steve has named the new chicken run Stonehenge and has it well under way.

 This is Stonehenge under way, not a great photo,but its gives the idea.

These are the new girls, living in the broody coop for the time being.

Three important rules for introducing new chickens into the flock.

1. Always introduce more than one at a time. A single bird will get badly bullied and may never integrate.

2. Always keep them separate for a few weeks, they may be ill(you don´t want your current flock infected) and they need time get used to you and their new environment. We gradually let them spend time with the other chickens in the daytime before putting them in the same coop.

3.Put them in with  the others in the dark, and try and make other changes at the same time, clean the coop, introduce new toys, rocks, and a big bowl green veg to the run. This distracts the current flock and means than they have other things to focus on.

Remember chickens can be really mean.

I will let you know how it all goes.