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Liz Wright is Editor of Smallholder Magazine, which she compiles from her smallholding in the Cambridgeshire Fens. In her spare time, as well as keeping bees and growing fruit and veg, she works with her Exmoor ponies, which include a stallion, and sometimes even gets to ride her Welsh cob. She also covers Cambridgeshire for the Donkey Sanctuary, which is based in Sidmouth. She's a parish councillor and a school governor for a local secondary school and her friends say that she clearly spends more time outside than inside to judge by the state of her unfortunate house! Liz says she doesn't mind if one of them offers to clean it for her but so far no one has! Liz really enjoys visiting other landscapes and is very fond of Wales where she has always felt very welcome during her time of involvement with the RWAS Smallholder and Garden Festival held in May. Her really big vice is second hand books - she collects farming and gardening books from the pre and post war years - and sadly ebay has fuelled this rather space occupying habit so that the books now have more room than the family!
This picture shows Liz with Duckle. Her book, Choosing and Keeping Ducks and Geese (available from Amazon), is dedicated to Duckle. Liz's latest books 'Self-sufficiency: A Practical Guide for Modern Living' has just been published and is available from Amazon.
This is an archive of Liz's articles. For her latest news, see her most recent article.
June 2011
Making Hay While the Sun Shines!
Liz Wright ponders the forage crisis
We walked through our hay field just before it rained and it was just above our ankles – only slightly higher than our neighbour’s wheat crop! Yes here in the East of England we have been declared a drought area but we already knew that as we watched grass struggle to grow and saw the shortest stemmed wheat ever. As we only make hay and don’t have the pressure of cereal crops to follow, we can make it later on in the year so we are hoping that it will thicken and grow before we finally go in. But for many with cattle or with other farm work to consider, they had to go in and cut with yields being disappointing to say the least. The NFU have reminded people of their member’s initiative, the “fodder bank” which helps farmers with shortages and surpluses of cattle feed and bedding.
The free member benefit helped hundreds of members in 2008, who posted what they were selling or searching for on a dedicated NFU Online web page. It proved a boon to livestock farmers through two consecutive wet summers and now, following the exceptionally dry start to the year, the NFU are hoping it will again help to address shortages in feed stocks. Meanwhile the National Pig Association is urging arable farmers to bale all available straw this year, including rape straw, to assist livestock producers who are facing a serious shortage of bedding.
“There is going to be significant straw deficit in the eastern half of England and we need all arable farmers to go the extra mile to help keep their pig farmer customers in business,” said Howard Revell, chairman of NPA Producer Group.
Pig-keepers are already paying record prices for straw and are worried there simply won’t be enough to go round. England’s pig farmers rely heavily on straw. They use over 350,000 tonnes a year says the NPA.
So smallholders need to secure their hay, haylage and straw supplies this summer and be realistic about how much they need. At the same time they need to think about non wasteful ways of feeding – time to look at the excellent feeders for field use. Livestock does trample hay and straw when out in the field but a well designed feeder can reduce or eliminate hay waste. It may mean a return to hay nets for those of us (me!) who have gaily gone back to feeding loose hay from the floor. They slow down the eating process and allow you to carefully measure the hay. And good storage of hay or haylage is essential, it must be undercover so none is wasted. Good rodent control is also important especially for haylage where a gnawed bag nomally means that the whole bag has to be thrown away. For hay, rodents seem to chew through strings, making it difficult to handle.
Consider too hay supplements in the form of bagged forage feeds – consult your local merchant for advice. Keep worming well up to date to ensure that your equine gets the very best from their food and have regular dental checks for the same reason.
It doesn’t matter if your hay is of low protein quality, in fact for many ponies it may be preferable. You can make up protein, minerals etc with supplements and bagged feeds if necessary. It does matter that it is free of ragwort and dust free with an attractive ‘nose’ (smell). If it makes you choke and sneeze, imagine what it will do to your horse.
Straw is likely to be short as a bedding material but luckily there are plenty to choose from at your local merchants and perhaps consider deep littering rather than a full muck out every day. If done correctly this can be a warm and clean method for the winter whilst helping to conserve precious bedding. Grass too can play a part in winter management. Shut up a bit of grassland if you have enough for a winter field and the grass will play its nutritional part if well managed. Ask your agricultural merchant for advice re long acting fertilizers and seed for “patching”. Rolling and harrowing will also help and there are often contractors in your area that will offer these services.
Here on our smallholding we plan to do all these but most of all we are already worrying about finding a week of good weather to get our (slightly higher) hay. We have also have made sure that our insurance covers theft or loss of hay and if you have good stocks, it might be worth checking that your insurance is valid for this.
The garden is a bit more cheerful. As yet no hosepipe ban so our salad crops are looking great. We were a bit late getting them in due to work pressures but they have done well and we are now reaping the benefits. I was sent various “gardens” to trial this year such as a bag garden as they use in Africa and the square metre garden which is very effecting. It consists of a number of separate bags within a square metre and the idea is you replant each bag as soon as it is harvested to allow for continuity of crops. Our soft fruit is really heavily laden this year so I’m going to have to do a hundred ways with black currants.
The poultry are also doing well with ducklings from both the Abacot Rangers and the Muscovys and both are proving to be excellent parents. In this month’s Smallholder magazine we focus on the Sebright bantam, look at the legal and ethical responsibilities of the poultry keeper, highlight quail – a most productive bird – and discuss egg shell quality. July issue on sale now.
We recently bought our Exmoor stallion’s granddaughter who is a year old and she has proved to be a delight. She decided we were friends on day one and that has made life so much easier. So we have seven Exmoor ponies one of which writes in our local village news letters with his views of life from his field. I’m sure he will have plenty to say on the subject of haymaking…
Liz is reading The Haynes Bee Manual by Claire and Adrian Waring – this is a very clear manual with large easy to follow photos and getting ready for winter with How to grow Winter Vegetables by Charles Dowding (Green Books).
May 2011
Don’t Cast a Clout Until May is Out
Liz Wright revels in the long light days but worries about the work load
I’ve longed for this time, I’ve planned for this time, I’ve dreamt of it and now its here I am exhausted. My day no longer ends about 6pm as it does in the winter, with livestock tucked up and warm and the heater on in the greenhouse but instead, whenever the light fades, which is currently approaching nine at night. Between the loudness of the dawn chorus and the light coming in through my curtainless windows (not keen on curtains), staying in bed beyond sevenish is also a problem so that makes for rather a long day. Being full time Editor of Smallholder magazine rules out the option of afternoon naps so until the days draw in again, I’m looking at quite long and active days as are most smallholders!
The hot weather rather took us by surprise and led to a sudden panic in applying lice prevention and fly repellent to our various livestock. There has been quite a lot of lice around in our area as spring came in, shown by the patchy coats and rubbing. Luckily there are some excellent products now that deal with lice and some also act as a fly repellent too. I’m also trying to keep on top of red mite prevention and scaley leg treatment in the hens – no excuse for either now with all the new products on the market. Of course, moving the hens to a different house for a couple of days and thoroughly cleaning out their house while treating with a red mite preventative, is also necessary.
If you ever get red mite on you, don’t panic. You’ll know because you’ll feel like someone is wafting cobwebs all over you but you can’t see anything and you itch like mad. Red mite can’t live for long on you but what you should do is to change all your clothes and have a shower. Put your clothes straight into the washing machine and run it. What you shouldn’t do is sit down on the sofa or leave your clothes on your bedroom carpet. Mites quite like sofas and carpets and can live for ages in them. If you have to treat poultry that have mite, do it in the expectations of having a shower straight after. It really is best to keep on top of mite and prevent them from developing.
Did you know that a red mite infestation can kill a laying hen, as it will drain her of blood at night? And that red mite are one of the most common causes for hens getting off their eggs half way through their brooding? Look out for tell tale signs of speckles on the eggs, which are blood. Red mite on young chicks is nearly always fatal. So treat the problem with urgency and visit Mole Valley Farmers for advice on products. Scaley leg, though less fatal, is deeply irritating to the chicken. Imagine having a leg riddled with mite and how itchy and painful that must be. Again preventative treatment is best but it can be cured with products now on the market.
We are very busy at Smallholder Magazine (www.smallholder.co.uk) with final preparations for the RWAS Smallholder and Garden Festival on 21/22 May. There's plenty more about the Festival in April and May Smallholder magazine or you can visit www.rwas.co.uk or email smallholder@rwas.co.uk. You can also call 01982 553683. If anyone is visiting who reads my blog, do come and say hello.
The bees are doing well and I have already taken off one super of honey and expect to take off another this weekend. My partner, Mick, enjoys the honey processing but is a little distrustful of the bees themselves so I tend to do the bee keeping and he does the processing. I had not expected to have honey this early on in the year and was totally unprepared – without a honey spinner. Much thanks to our bee club, who when I emailed the members, was offered several spinners to borrow including one quite close to us. I think we can dare to buy our own now as we are producing enough honey to warrant one but I am so grateful to the response of our members who really got me out of trouble.
Much of this honey is from rape flowers and it crystallizes really, really quickly and then you can’t get it out of the frames so you have to move quickly and get it out as soon as or even when it is partially ‘capped’. No time to wait to choose and have a spinner delivered. I think I may also have to invest in one of those all over bee keeping suits instead of the “Oh Brother” type hat and top I currently have which means I have to wear extra trousers and so on to be safe.
I’ve finished the June issue of Smallholder, which is due out 12 May and this features how to get your first bees. We’re also looking at making Elderflower Champagne, how to construct the perfect poultry run and the dangers of blowfly strike to sheep. With the early warm weather but still with a few weeks to go to shearing time, vigilance for blow fly in sheep is vital. Blow fly maggots can and do kill sheep by causing internal damage. I would always ‘crutch out’ any ewes that were lambing as a matter of course but it would be a good idea to do the whole flock and keep the area around the tail and bottom clean until shearing. Also treat with a product that prevents blow fly strike and examine the flock regularly until shearing.
As for the garden, well plenty to do there. I’ve got some wonderful products to try, the metre garden which looks ideal for small spaces and a bag garden from a charity working in Africa. There really isn’t a moment to spare at this time of the year except perhaps for an hour in the evening when we sit down, glass of wine in hand, listening to the countryside turning to night. As the birds go to bed (the blackbird usually the last one left singing), the bats come out. The noisy Little Owl finds his voice and foxes bark in the distance. We are so lucky to be able to do this I always think.
April 2011
Spring Cleaning
.jpg "Liz Wright's Blog Exmoor Pony")
I know that spring is here when the Exmoor ponies start to moult and it's heavy duty grooming. As they grow three coats a year, with the snow coat complete with fan shaped snow guard across the tail coming in January, you can imagine they are very hairy indeed. I find one of those blade scrapers used firmly but not so it causes any discomfort very useful initially followed by plastic curry comb and then finally a good sized brush. A bath too with one of the many products on the market will also help when some of the hair has been shed. My donkey is due for a bath as she is off to Ely Cathedral’s Palm Sunday Service on the 17 April but as far as I can see there are no specialist donkey shampoos on the market so she gets the ponies' ones. I have one called ‘Dirty Beastie’ which amuses me plus various Tea Tree, Aloe Vera and other soothing preparations. It won’t be long before I will be needing one that keeps flies away as well.
We are very busy at Smallholder Magazine (www.smallholder.co.uk) with final preparations for the RWAS Smallholder and Garden Festival- 21/22 May. There's plenty more about the Festival in April and May Smallholder magazine or you can visit www.rwas.co.uk or email smallholder@rwas.co.uk. You can also call 01982 553683.
This year we are running a special Editor’s competition for a look round the show that money just cannot buy and I am looking forward to seeing who wins this and what in particular they would like to do for the afternoon. I am picking up my Serema bantams from the Poultry Show – these are the smallest bantams known and come from Malaysia. I need to get a new little house for them and one that can be moved under cover in the winter (inside if we have a winter like last year I think!). I’m looking forward to seeing all the breeds of poultry at the Poultry Show which is on for one day only.
Meanwhile on my smallholding I am beginning to replace any border plants that were lost to the frost and planning my salad cropping. I’ve turned out my green house and banished by hanging baskets to the great outdoors in the confident and, I hope, not misplaced view that there will be no more frosts! It’s a great month for sowing and successional sowings of salad leaves, spring onions and radishes should keep us going now until October – and save lots of money. I do these in a deep bed and in grow bags. I’m a bit late but I have now sown my tomatoes and I am sure they will catch up.
.jpg "Liz Wright's Blog Busy Bees")
I’m thrilled to report my bees are thriving and having spent all winter worrying about feeding them and keeping them alive now I am just worrying about keeping them, e.g. not having them swarm and leave me! I think I will need to practice active swarm control. Luckily we have an article about this in the May issue of Smallholder magazine, out 14 April.
I spent Sunday checking my bee keeping equipment and hive parts and actually anticipating some honey this year again! Bee keeping is very complex and I am grateful to my bee keeping friend and also to the excellent Bee Keepers Club that I belong to. I cringe when people say they are going to get bees and have no intention of going on a course or joining a club. You do need help to get started and then until you are a very experienced bee keeper, you need to be able to share your experiences and learn from more experienced people. Plus we really enjoy our bee keeping meetings. Contact www.britishbee.org.uk for a list of clubs in your area.
Note to self – remember to wear glasses when inspecting bees – the eye sight is not as good as it was!
My poultry are popping out eggs at the rate of one a day. I have hybrids in the form of Blue Rangers and Black Rock. They are fed a balanced layer’s ration and regularly treated for red mite and scaly leg prevention. I do get a very high return from them.
My Pekin bantams are resolutely refusing to sit so I think I am going to have to give in and get out the incubator if I want to add to their numbers! I use an elderly Brinsea incubator and it gives a very good hatching rate. My ducks too are thinking about nesting – both my duck breeds are capable of brooding and rearing their own. I have Abacot Rangers and Muscovies.
It’s a great relief that the nights are getting lighter as it seems somehow to give more time during the day. Though by the time we get to the very late light nights of mid summer and I am still working, I shall be secretly glad they are drawing back in – that is until the dark days of winter re-appear.
March 2011
The month of winds and of new life - Liz Wright sees another growing season begin
So far so good. The March weather has begun in an encouraging way; not exactly warm but not freezing cold either. The willows tree are greening up and my bees are doing well, beginning to forage but supported by their big lump of baker’s fondant. Snowdrops are being replaced by daffodils and its time to turn my attention to the seeds and the greenhouse.
I had the greenhouse as a Christmas present several years ago. There seemed to be an unnecessary amount of swearing over the Christmas period as my partner erected it but eventually it was up on its concrete base and has been a delight to me ever since. It’s looked after my geraniums and fuchsias in the winter, my herbs for all round use – how impressive is it to get fresh sage for Christmas dinner - and my tomato plants and salad leaves for the summer. Plus I start a lot of seeds in the greenhouse. I have a polytunnel as well which is waiting to be erected by same partner, I think I may go out for a few days!
It is very easy to raise vegetable plants and I prefer to start them in the greenhouse before transferring to the outside plot or to the raised beds. 
I marvel every year at the wonder of seeds even though I have had over half a century seeing them grow. To think that tiny seed explodes into a high yielding tomato plant, a fragrant sweet pea, a pungent and useful herb, oh I could go on and on. It is endlessly fascinating and satisfying. I find that each person works out what works best for them and a lot depends on your approach to cooking. I love using herbs and as a result I love to grow them. As well as raising them from seed, I also “rescue” them from the cheap shelf at supermarkets. They are a bit like ex-battery hens – to begin with they are pale and delicate but if you look after them, they find their roots and grow into strong, confident plants. I have so much mint around my borders and much of it came from those cut and come again supermarket plants bought for 10p or so from the cheap shelf. I have been known to lecture supermarkets on the necessity of watering their plants, one particularly low cost chain is especially bad at this. I think I shall become a guerrilla waterer, taking in water in plastic bottles for them!!
Bee–ing spring
The girls are well and have come through the winter despite the terrible temperatures. I have been meticulous about feeding them, sugar syrup in the autumn when they were flying and changing to fondant when they were inactive. They still need feed to support them but they are also finding something to bring in. I sit on the concrete blocks by their hives and watch them and talk to them. They seem to quite like me or at least not actively object to me. Our local bee keepers club (I recommend any would-be bee keeper or existing bee keeper joins a club) had an excellent first aid course in an evening. I thought it would be all about bee stings but it was a full on course about dealing with breathing and non-breathing casualties, CPR complete with dummies, anaphylactic shock, bleeding and choking. As I have a heart arrhythmia myself, I am particularly keen to know how to treat an emergency.
It was run by Heart Start, which is sponsored by the British Heart Foundation and was really excellent. It’s amazing what membership of your local Bee Keeper’s Association can do for you!
Leaping lambs
Although I no longer have sheep, I can remember when this time of year was lambing time. I read at that time a book on lambing by Andrew Eales and my life and my lambing was changed forever. He believed that all lambing results could be improved by constant monitoring and knowledge and it certainly worked for me. His book, Practical Lambing, was always in the kitchen for easy reference and together with a lambing course, me and my girls didn’t do at all badly. It’s not true that sheep just want to die, mine were very keen to live and with the appropriate support and actions, they were able to achieve this. The mistakes I did make, I anguished over and did not make them again. Apart from understanding the process of lambing and being trained in delivering mal-presentations, the most important thing you can do is to observe 24 hours a day. Even if this means getting someone to help you out. However good your skills, they are useless if you’ve failed to inspect the ewes and therefore not noticed a difficult lambing.
Be prepared with all your lambing equipment and have milk replacer to hand. If a ewe has more than two lambs then supplement them with milk replacer and sometimes even with two, it might be necessary to offer some milk replacer in some circumstances. Ensure you have a supply of colostrums and be meticulous in ensuring all lambs born get their share. Never assume a ewe has milk but check and check again and make sure all in-lamb ewes are “crutched out” - that is shorn around their vulva area so you can see what you are doing and the lambs can find the teats. It’s a good idea to visit your local Mole Valley Farmers for advice on what you should have in stock before lambing. Your next job then is to ensure that the pasture is of good quality for them to grow and grow and to use a creep feeder and pellets to achieve optimum growth. Also remember to consider mineral licks; sheep are particularly sensitive to mineral deficiencies.
Other friends
Meanwhile its heavy-duty grooming on my native ponies, who are starting to shed their big woolly winter coats. I’m not planning any early shows but I want to get the being covered in hair bit over as well so am grooming to get the coats out. I’ll have to be careful as there may be some bad weather yet to come. My cob wears a thin turnout rug just to keep her clean to ride and my donkey has a rug to keep her dry as our turnout field does not have a shelter. Incidentally the Donkey Sanctuary have some excellent free workshops this year and anyone considering keeping a donkey or who already has them would find them very interesting.
Smallholder this month has our annual show listings and there are so many interesting events to visit throughout the year. We’re also focussing on perhaps the most widely kept hen in the world, the Rhode Island Red.
Meanwhile my girls are laying every single day and I am starting to resemble an egg as I eat so many of them. Apparently they are no longer a cholesterol risk which is just as well as I like a four egg omelette (only 60 calories an egg!). I have Bluebells and Black Rocks which I reared from day olds, and they are very prolific. So I am prepared for Shrove Tuesday and then next month’s Easter! I’m also selling, giving, pickling, baking and freezing eggs…. Still it’s a lovely position to be in and like seeds, collecting fresh egg never loses its wonder for me. Another wonder of spring.
Words by Liz Wright.
Liz is reading the Romantic Poets for her Open University course and wondering why no one at school ever mentioned how keen they were on nature as she might have been more interested. Also ‘The Serama Bantam’ by Carrie Wright as she is hoping to buy some of these tiny and delightful chickens and Sepp Holzer’s ‘Permaculture – A Practical Guide for Farmers, Smallholders and Gardeners’.
February 2011
Eggs, Eggs Everywhere
The days are still quite short and the weather far from bright but the hybrid point-of-lays that I reared from day-olds are enthusiastic in their egg laying, joined by my own special “Hook House” breed of splashed white game bird / leghorn / various crosses. Even the Pekins have joined in. I am awash with eggs. The hybrids consist of six Bluebells, a Speckeldy and six Black Rocks (which I still need to sell). Plus of course my other banties. I have around 15 eggs a day which rather piles up in a week. I have gone back to giving eggs away for favours and use them as presents as well. I must find time to actually put a “for sale” notice out too.
We are also eating eggs as fast as we can go. An egg is 60 calories and is no longer a link with higher cholesterol so I reckon we can eat four each in an omelette and we do! How lucky are we to be able to fling round fresh eggs in this quantity. When Mrs Beeton proclaims, “Take a dozen eggs”, well I can without even worrying! An egg is a perfect meal; nutritious, delicious and low in calories and so versatile. You can also freeze them if you break them into plastic tubs and then use them later in baking. Haven’t quite got to that stage yet but I must remember to freeze some for the winter, although the happy hybrids keep going all year round anyway.
I won’t be preserving them in water glass as per the war years. I asked my mother if she had done this and she said they had and they had a very distinct taste, not altogether pleasant. The theory is that water glass will harden the shells and close up the pores so that air cannot get in to the eggs. Some people also used to use wax or even a fat like lard. It’s not that easy to get hold of water glass (sodium silicate in solution) as we no longer have high street agricultural chemists but some smallholding suppliers have it or you can search the web. I have to warn that some people who have preserved eggs in this way have not been thrilled with the results and found the eggs to have an unpleasant taste. Remember that when this method was in use, eggs became quite scarce in the winter and they were much more expensive than they are now. Have a go by all means but do it safely and don’t eat the results if you have any doubts about them at all.
Pickled Eggs
Something else I might try is to pickle eggs. This is the recipe I use:
Backyard Pickled Eggs
- 6 hard-boiled eggs
- 1 pint approx (or sufficient to cover eggs) of malt vinegar
- 6 peppercorns
- 1 whole clove (optional – not everyone likes the taste of these)
- 2 tsp of allspice
- Fresh dill (again optional – don’t worry if you don’t have it)
Method
1. Take the shell off the hard boiled eggs (it’s harder with really fresh eggs), discard any that break or expose the yolk. Allow to cool and place in a sterilized (dishwasher will do this) jar.
2. Boil the vinegar and spices and then simmer for ten to fifteen minutes.
3. Remove from the heat and allow to cool to about room temperature.
4. You can strain the liquid or you can leave unstrained with the peppercorns – personal preference.
5. Pour over the eggs and seal the jar.
Spring
“Spring is sprung, the grass is riz, I wonder where the birdies is? They say the bird is on the wing, but that’s absurd, because the wing is on the bird…”
A little ditty from my childhood, but I think of it every year about this time when I am so desperate for signs of spring. They are everywhere but I am still very worried that winter has not finished with us. It’s hard not to be optimistic with buds appearing, snowdrops in flower, the birds so obviously courting and the fat Exmoor ponies still finding grass and other vegetation in the field to get them, well, even fatter. I had hoped they would lose some weight this winter as they are supposed to do so but despite freezing temperatures and only a very occasional slice of hay when the weather was -5C, their figures are not much thinner.
As we know these days, overweight ponies are a bad thing and we should be aiming for fit not fat. Luckily many horse and pony feeds are designed to help the horse or pony owner in this goal and websites and feeding advice are very good – or ask staff at your local Mole Valley Farmers. But my ponies don’t get any food and are not on particularly good grazing so it’s a bit hard to know where to go from here. Perhaps I should be praying for some more cold weather.
Meanwhile the bees are receiving fondant to get them through the hungry gap and, I hope, get them into spring. They came through the freezing weather OK and I am about to have a look to see if I need to feed any more fondant.
I went to a Seed Swap last weekend and it was fabulous. What you do is to take out of date seeds or seeds that you have grown and saved or packets you are not likely to use and swap them with others. We swapped some of ours for some Walking Stick cabbages with an expiry date of 2005 so I will be interested to see if we get any germination. It was such a well supported event, it quite kick-started my whole enthusiasm for Spring and I am sorting out seeds for sowing in February (sweet peas for example) and then for March. Spring really is here or almost – honestly. I want to get a strawberry tower as I think it would be a great way to grow them and keep them away from my chickens’ sharp claws. I want to add to my deep beds as they were so successful last year.
Meanwhile, much to the shock of the twenty year old Welsh Cob, I have begun to ride her reasonably seriously – well three or four times a week – and even put a light rain sheet on her to prevent the worst of the mud. I’m aiming for the Veteran Horse Society Classes in the summer, so we need to be at our best, and a bit of local dressage. We are both middle-aged ladies and I am sure we can manage these aspirations.
It’s also not long to the RWAS Smallholder and Garden Festival which is the 21st and 22nd May. We shall be running a ticket competition in our March issue of Smallholder (out second week in February), which also includes a pull out vegetable planting chart and hundreds of show listings in our annual event diary. Our February issue contained a free incubation chart to keep track of your success with hatching eggs.
So all that remains now is to go and cook another couple of omelettes. Bon appetite and let’s cautiously welcome in early Spring.
Liz is reading Sepp Holzer’s ‘Permaculture, a Practical Guide for Farmers, Smallholders and Gardeners’ published by Permanent Publications and finding it fascinating. She says: “I really liked the section on keeping poultry humanely. I’m also enjoying ‘Vegetarian with a Vengeance’ by Tina Scheftelowitz and Christine Bille Nielson, published by Grub Street. Although we are not vegetarians, we are having an increasing number of veggie dishes, fuelled mainly by our lovely fresh local and home grown ingredients and much more interesting recipes.” Liz is also off to a ‘How to Plant a Heritage Orchard’ course this month.
January 2011
Swine Flu is Not for Wimps
My blog is late. It was due at the beginning of January but New Year’s Eve saw me groaning on the sofa, watching episodes of Come Dine With Me (they need some smallholders on that, they really do). Despite my plans for a wonderful, green Christmas and welcoming in the New Year, I was laid low by the dreaded Swine Flu, despite having had the vaccination – my doctor helpfully told me it could have been even worse without it - really? How exactly? I could hardly breath, couldn’t eat, couldn’t get up and couldn’t stay awake but also couldn’t sleep. And how on earth do you run a smallholding like this?
Well thankfully I do have a partner, the long suffering Mick, who had to become chief cook, bottlewasher, mucker out, poultry person and fieldsman. In addition it was veering from between -2 and -12 which meant more extra work. He was continually breaking water, taking food to those out in the fields, putting hay in our home field and making sure the poultry didn’t freeze on their perches. Plus he was also panicking about whether he had put sufficient anti freeze into his beloved grey fergie and his work horse International tractor. Predictably the gritters only remembered we existed down here about once so the aged Discovery became the vehicle of choice, creeping up and down the only hill for miles in flat Fenland (and it has a bend in it).
For my part I am a bit of an expert now on daytime television and when I felt remotely better, I read the entire Stieg Larsson trilogy. This did take my mind slightly from my own problems except such a lot of it seemed to be set in freezing weather. And did I mention we ran out of heating oil? And yes we do have an open fire plus a supply of logs but only in the one room. It was very, very cold in our big, old, rather well ventilated (gaps in the windows) farmhouse.
After visiting the doctor and getting appropriate treatment I was well enough to return to work with the entire festive period spent suffering from flu. Not a great start to the New Year! The week we went back to work was spent putting our February issue together which was quite inspiring as it did make me feel as though spring was on the way. The issue is now out in the shops and is full of “how to” tips such as “How to – cure your own bacon and ham, how to grow rhubarb, how to choose and use an incubator and how to make wild brews”. To help with this we also have an incubator chart to record incubation details such as temperature, details of eggs, when looked at and hatch results. It’s really important to keep records if you incubate eggs so you can compare and learn from any mistakes or even accidents such as a sudden change in temperature in weather, which can affect a hatch. And don’t put every egg in the incubator as you can soon end up with too many chickens. Think before you breed. Remember too that at least half will be cockerels and they will have to be culled unless you have really, really rare breeds and even then it’s often the hens that are wanted.
Wild Birds Welfare
My partner also had to look after the wild birds as I am an obsessive bird feeder. We live in the middle of an arable farming area where there are not so many hedged pastures giving food and protection for birds. We have great hedges here and as a result we see so many species of birds on our smallholding. I encourage them with peanuts, sunflowers and specialized feeds. The price of peanuts has rocketed due to a shortage but there are plenty of alternatives on sale for wild birds, some of them probably better balanced nutrition wise. I bought a ground feeder with a cover but my squirrels soon worked out how to get into that. Their cleverness amuses me. But at last the jackdaws cannot get in so the robins and smaller birds can feed in peace. The RSPB offers good advice on bird feeding and Mole Valley Farmers has a great selection of feeds and feeders.
New Year Resolutions
I thought I would share these with you and then at least I might have some chance of keeping them!
- Spend more time with the ponies – ride at least three times a week – when I was a child and then a teenager I used to ride every day. In my twenties and thirties, most days. Now I seem to have lost the habit despite having a safe ménage and a well mannered welsh cob (forgive me other welsh cob owners but how often have you heard those words together in a sentence!).
- Be even better with the bees. This was last year’s as well and one I did at least partially achieve but there was room for improvement from the year before to say the least. To that end my bees have fondant in their hive and I am going to check how much they have taken this weekend.
- Get on top of the greenhouse. This too appeared last year and was partially successful but the fact that I have had boxes of seeds in the middle of the kitchen for about, er, almost a year now means that I didn’t quite succeed completely. I want to actually manage to plant in February this year and have my tomato plants ahead of schedule rather than desperately catching up in July.
- Weed my house. Again a resolution from last year, which completely failed. If I don’t actually clear out my office soon I won’t even have a path to my computer so this may well be a necessity rather than a luxury.
Last year’s resolutions included “Use National Trust Membership” which also failed and to cycle to the field in the village to see the ponies (completely failed although I did finally find the bike). We have about two months to use the National Trust Membership and it owes us about £80 for the two years we have had it so not much hope there but I am planning to take up the cycling as soon as the weather improves marginally and I won’t slide off our ungritted roads into the dykes, never to be seen again.
I also had “cook more home produced produce and cheap cuts” and this was reasonably successful but could be added to the list again this year as there are so many fascinating recipes out there.
So now my resolutions are put down in black and white I will have to stick to them. If you see me slacking, then put me back on track. I’ll wave to you from my bicycle!
Liz is reading Tom Pretherick’s 'Biodynamics in Practice, Life on a Community Owned Farm' and 'Soil Mates, Companion Planting for your Vegetable Garden' by Sara Always (especially useful for deep beds and greenhouses). Liz has sadly spent far too much time watching re-runs of Come Dine With Me and will be doing her best to atone for this.
December 2010
Deep and crisp and alarmingly even
I hope that this reference to snow is not going to apply to all of December but at the moment it is uppermost in my mind. I live in the Cambridgshire Fens which, although some people think can be bleak, are not renowned for their snowy “peaks”. So being surrounded by the white stuff especially at this time of the year is a bit of a shock.
Last year was bad by Fenland standards. My donkey was the star (well I think she was) of a village nativity play, which involved her carrying a teenage Mary in a lovely royal blue gown through the village, having Joseph knocking at the Inn (village pub), to be sent to the “stable” outside. Then much mulled wine all round apart from Daisy’s driver, my partner Mick, who just had to watch us drink. This was particularly hard as by this time it had started snowing and we were absolutely freezing. Still it was an improvement on the year before when it was cold and Mick and I had some kind of flu (and it was flu not a cold, honest!). I digress. My point is that this was 17 December and it seemed to me that it snowed on and off until about mid-February and then it was just cold until May. So I hope this snow is merely a blip on what will be an otherwise mild winter but I’m not banking on it.
I keep Exmoor ponies and they are in a big grass field with some straw in their shelter and they are fine. In fact they are grossly fat and so woolly that they look like balls of fluff with a head and a middle on stick-like legs. Typical native pony in winter in fact if not being ridden and stabled! I’ve made sure they have a salt and mineral lick and if I see any signs of a serious weight loss we will bring on the extra hay and feeds, but I think we may need severe snow for several weeks before that occurs!
Meanwhile the ponies at home who are stabled and ridden are feeling the cold a bit and so I have upped their feeds and we have increased the hay as well. The donkey is included in this although she does need to lose a little weight before spring – though yet again she has a hectic social calendar this winter ending in her being stood under the Christmas tree at the Ely Cathedral Crib Service on Christmas Eve, where I get to sing carols from my childhood.
It’s advisable to always keep two donkeys as they need to have a companion rather than keep a single donkey with ponies as we do, but Daisy is not over keen on other donkeys on the occasions that we have tried. I am going to try again when the weather improves. Meanwhile I have no intention of selling any of our ponies so at least she won’t be upset by her companion disappearing – she and the Exmoor two year-old have a special bond.
Chickens at Christmas
The time is rapidly approaching for the table birds to become just that but we have become very fond of them. They are proper broiler hybrids so they are very weighty now but still come outside with us and peck and scratch. Although their life is short (ten weeks to table), we want them to have a good life and I am sure they have had that. We shall be very sad when they have gone although our whole intention as it always is when we rear something ourselves, was to know exactly how they lived before becoming dinner. On a happier note, the day-old layers are now also ten weeks old and well on their way to being 18 week old point of lays, which is when we shall sell them. I’m very keen to do this in a responsible way with plenty of help and advice where necessary. We have Blue Rangers, Black Rocks and Speckeldys and I have some older Blue Rangers who were POL a few weeks ago. They have now come into lay, beginning tentatively with little pullet sized eggs that are now quite a respectable size.
Although the weather has been cold and awful, they are in full lay and seven of them are providing me with more eggs than I can use, so I’ll have to sell some or give eggs as Christmas presents! They are remarkably active in the cold weather and don’t seem to notice it as they scratch and run about in the afternoon when I let them out of their run as I finish up in the yard for the night (well at 4pm on these dark days). I put it down to them having good quality food – these days it is so easy to feed laying hens correctly by buying a bagged ration that includes everything they need. But I also give them some maize, grits and mixed corn late afternoon as they love to scratch for it.
People often ask me what food waste they are allowed to feed their poultry so in the Christmas Smallholder we have a definitive article from Defra about the regulations on this. We also have ideas for making poultry pay and a free year planner.
I hope my bees are OK. We checked them a few weeks ago and they had plenty of stores but I shall feed fondant as well. It seems odd that I’m running around keeping everything else warm and well fed and all we can do with bees is build them up in the summer, make sure they have enough stores and put in some fondant. I want to do more for them!
Finally my winter obsession is wild bird feeding. I do spend a serious amount of money on this but I find it so rewarding, seeing the many different species that come to our bird station. I buy niger for the goldfinches, peanuts for everyone plus the much loved black sunflower seeds and then I also get dried meal worms too. Oh and the fat balls. Also I break the water every day and provide fresh. In the village, where the outdoor Exmoor ponies live, I take some wheat on a daily basis and throw it in the hedge (where the ponies can’t get it of course). The hedges come alive when I do this with small birds of all kinds. I’d rather people gave me bird food for Christmas or bought bird food and fed their own birds, than give me anything else for Christmas.
I’m a bit of a scrooge at Christmas, I like practical presents so an agricultural merchants is an Aladdin’s cave of delights for me. I don’t want the boxed sets of body lotion, give me some thermal gloves and something for the animals and I am happy. I really do need to buy the young Exmoor a new head collar so that will be a treat, shopping for that.
Our Christmas will be spent at home with the animals and of course, wild birds, plus the cats draping themselves around the fire and, rather shamefully, our Christmas dinner on our laps as we watch some nostalgic film on television. To me it’s the perfect smallholding Christmas, especially as many of the ingredients will have been produced by ourselves or by local farmers and growers. Though not the red wine I plan to have with it or the Port afterwards… Cheers to everyone out there with livestock and I’ll think of you all as I trudge round on Christmas day feeding and watering as usual – I’ll know you are all doing the same!!
We might play the “Go Green” Board Game (we like board games). This one is particularly good as it’s all about being self sufficient with lovely pieces and intelligent questions. In the Christmas issue of “Smallholder” we have three of these board games to win.
Liz is reading ‘A Gate at the Stairs’ by Lorrie Moore, which is an American novel of some complexity. Liz says “What fascinates me is that the main character’s family have a smallholding and live from it as they have found a niche market for older varieties of potatoes. A great read. I’m also reading ‘Five Fat Hens – The Chicken and Egg Cookbook’ by Tim Halket, which not only has great recipes but has a diary of day to day life with his hens. In fact I’m off to make his Toad in the Hole recipe now – ideal for these cold, cold temperatures”.
Liz's latest books 'Self-sufficiency: A Practical Guide for Modern Living' has just been published and is available from Amazon. Another book, 'Keeping Pet Ducks' will be published shortly and is available to pre-order from Amazon. All of Liz's books make excellent Christmas presents - treat someone special today!
November 2010
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds!
November
No sun - no moon!
No morn - no noon -
No dawn - no dusk - no proper time of day.
No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease,
No comfortable feel in any member –
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! -
November
No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,
No fruits, no flowers, no leaves, no birds! -
November
By Thomas Hood
I think this is an unnecessarily gloomy description of November though painfully accurate except perhaps for the lines on ‘no warmth’ – clearly written before central heating, log burners and electricity! For smallholders, November is a month where we wonder if the short days can get even shorter (they do) and wonder if we have enough forage to get through the winter in the form of hay, haylage or silage.
Hay is still very highly priced in many areas due to the low yield from a cold, cold start followed by a dry spring and summer. Some folks believe there is more in the barn than is thought but others are wary of another cold, frozen back end to the winter. Whatever the truth of the hay supply, it’s expensive at the moment and so particular attention must be paid to how you feed hay. It’s far too expensive to be battered into the ground by grazing animals so suitable containers should be used – there are some excellent hay feeders for both round and small bales on the market.
In the stables, we do feed from the floor because we keep greedy native ponies who would still eat their hay if they had stomped all over it but for most equines its best to use a hay net and for haylage, a special net with small holes so they cannot eat so fast. Some people prefer to have no fitments in their stable but a hayrack, especially one of the new modern designs, can save a lot of time in doing hay nets. There are also gadgets that will hold open the net while you fill it, making it easier to use.
For horned animals such as goats, hay nets are not suitable and choose mangers with care. Goats even without horns stand up on their hind legs so consider this when choosing hay feeders – they shouldn’t be able to catch their legs or even their necks.
Hay should have a sweet smell and not be dusty. I wouldn’t get too hung up about protein, though if you wish you can get it analysed. We make our hay late, anything from July to September and the lower the protein the better, it means we can feed lots and lots to our native ponies without danger of them getting overweight or getting metabolic problems such as laminitis. Like all grazing animals, the ideal for equines is that they are eating nearly all the time. That’s how their insides are designed, not to have bucket feeds and then nothing for ages. The old books that talked about the importance of protein in hay were talking about feeding horses who may have hacked more than ten miles to a meet of hounds, hunted at least half a day and hacked home again. The only horses now that approach this level of work are sports horses of various kinds.
Haylage is now increasingly widely used. If you made your own then have it tested to check it is safe to feed. Shop-bought haylage will have met standards and should have a label on it to show this. It’s not the rocket fuel that we were all taught years ago – like hay it varies in quality from the high fibre haylage to the high protein haylage. Choose the right one for your horse and make sure you feed the right quantity.
If you cannot get hay then consider clean barley straw – remember that unlike hay not all of the straw can be utilized by the animal so although some is left they will still need fresh straw daily. Wheat straw bedding, though never considered ideal for food, is used by many equines for browsing (and in my welsh cob’s case for total consumption!) and does have an interest value. Years ago, wheat straw was considered bad due to the fact that there were still wheat ears in it but modern combines normally remove all of these. Again it must be clean and dry and smell pleasant – if you sneeze so will your animal.
Other substitutes include bagged forage such as dried grass, forage mixes and chaff mixes. Ask the staff at Mole Valley Farmers for help in selecting the right one. Don’t think that all forage based feeds can be fed ad-lib and are low protein. Some are now formulated for competition horses and though they look like chopped forage, they provide nutrients for horses working at a high level. High fibre cubes are also a consideration and sugar beet either the instant soak or the 24 hour soak type will help bulk out food. In some areas carrots can replace part of the hay ration (though they do seem to make the horses wee more and make for wet stables). Parsnips too, if your horses will eat them, are also good especially for feeding in fields.
If you know your hay stock is low then use the hay in conjunction with some of the alternatives suggested and make it last rather than running out of hay altogether and trying to use only substitutes. And continue to look for an alternative hay source.
Donkeys are lucky because Mollichaff have a special donkey feed which can replace hay if necessary. It is low in protein so the donkey doesn’t get fat but is high in fibre and provides the minerals and vitamins that are needed. Again consult with your feed merchant who will be able to help and advise you.
Make sure you are on top of the worming programme so all your feed is going to the animal. Shelter from inclement weather and where necessary a rug will help but never use rugs to replace feed – most young, fit natives and coloured ponies do not need rugs even if out 24/7 unless clipped or unless you want to keep them clean for riding. The equine is designed to be outside and if let to grow, the coat on native and coloured ponies will provide all the protection it needs. I’ve actually heard people give rugging as a reason to reduce feed which is totally wrong. The animal doesn’t want to be shivering in a field but with a good natural coat, some form of shelter and adequate diet, then they won’t be. A rug cannot make up for lack of management. Obviously older ponies may benefit from a rug but then their management needs carefully planning anyway.
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Welsh Cob slightly embarrassed about LIz's choice of pink fleece rug for when she is sweaty after riding. |
Luckily for those people who need to rug there are a huge selection of rugs on the market but you will need two outdoor rugs if the horse is rugged all the time so you can take one off and dry it. You must take the rug off daily to check the horse is not being rubbed and also check that it is not too hot. Don’t choose a rug because you happen to be cold, but take a careful check on the management you plan, the field and stables and choose what is appropriate. Check with the staff at your local Mole Valley Farmers, they tend to know what is suitable for what and which type of rug fit clipped natives and which are good for other types of horses. Measure carefully before buying a rug. As a very, very rough guide a 5’6” fits a not too chunky 14.2hh.
My ponies are not rugged at all in the winter, being Welsh Cob and Exmoor and not clipped. The donkey does have a rug when it rains as although it would be better for her to live with another donkey, she lives with the ponies who don’t notice the rain and so she stays with them outside the shelter if it rains. Therefore I pop a thin waterproof on her in wet weather so she can stay with them in comfort. Donkeys do not have waterproof coats as they originate from North Africa and don’t need them there so they suffer in cold, wet weather if they have no shelter. Most pony rugs are too big for donkeys round the neck but there are specialist donkey rugs on the market.
And… don’t forget to rug yourselves! Get a good winter coat you can move in and that is totally waterproof, add a couple of pairs of gloves in case one set get wet, a decent hat and some waterproof wellies and the weather can do what it likes!
In this month’s Smallholding we look at wildlife on your smallholding and consider planting soft fruits for next summer. We also ask what is a Utility chicken, do they still exist? And we find out about Care Farming – is it the future? December issue is on sale now – look out for the Aylesbury ducks on the cover.
October 2010
Home Sweet Home
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October is a preview of what is to come.... |
The nights draw in and there is more than a hint of cold in the air signalling the imminent arrival of winter. At the end of the month, it will be even darker and the days even shorter as the clocks go back and winter is a reality. October can be a really lovely month though, full of late autumnal sunshine and with just a hint of crispness to tell of things to come. It’s a good month to check your animal housing and storage areas. These days most people don’t bring animals into housing for the whole winter and smallholders will certainly be trying to ensure that their livestock has exercise all year round.
There’s been a return to horses and ponies living out all year round and although books years ago used to pronounce that “a good stout hedge is all the shelter that native ponies need in the hardest of winters”, these days we prefer to provide a man-made shelter as well, preferably with some hard standing around the edge. Although not necessary for hardy, unclipped native ponies there are also some excellent all-weather turn-out rugs on the market to ensure that even the most thin coated thoroughbred can be snug and warm in the coldest, wettest weather – but do remember to have at least two rugs so that one can be dried, cleaned or mended at any time. It’s important to refit the rug at least daily and check for rubs.
Poultry need to have dry housing and sufficient ventilation is very important. Birds inside the house huddle together and create an effective warmth but they don’t want to be breathing fetid, damp air as this will certainly lead to respiratory problems and even death. Make sure ventilation is towards the top of the house and don’t confuse drafts with good ventilation. As the dusk falls earlier and earlier make sure you are one step ahead of Mr Fox who is getting hungry and has his eyes on your poultry. You must either commit to shutting in the house at dusk every night, as soon as they have roosted, or provide a fox proof area for them during the day – but still shut them in safely at night. You can also buy automatic pop hole closers.
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Hedges provide natural shelter but a man made one is also advisable in the winter |
Your house should be mite free at this time of the year – use one of the many products on the market to treat the house and birds (as per instructions on the label) on a fine October day. If you can keep it mite free now, you might stand a chance of controlling the irritating and life-threatening little horrors through the rest of the year. Consider too the bedding and make sure it is clean and dry. Give birds some perches if possible, it is better for their breasts and for many it is their natural inclination and they prefer to roost in this way.
Goats do not do well in the wet weather and need shelter available all the time, as do donkeys. Neither have grease in their coats (they both originate from a hot, dry part of the world where rain is rare) and need protection from rain, though they can withstand cold weather. Most young to middle-aged donkeys do not need a rug if they have access to shelter but if your donkey is particularly determined to stand in the rain or if he or she is elderly, then consider buying a rug for the really bad weather. Goats may need to stay inside with space to move and something to play on such as a large trunk.
Sheep technically do not need housing but I swear they do appreciate somewhere to get out of heavy rain and if you can provide some form of shelter they will be grateful. If you have good hedges and an undulating paddock they will fare better but if your field is of the flat and no cover sort, then you need to provide a man made shed. It helps too to have somewhere dry to feed them.
Feeding all animals outdoors is an art as you want to avoid “poaching” the ground, e.g. having them walk round and round in the same place turning the grass into a mud soup. You also, particularly with the price of hay, want to avoid wasted food. There are now some excellent big bale holders which can be moved around the field. If you use hay nets there is a risk of them getting their feet caught while you are not around and hay nets should not be used with goats or sheep. Have a look at hay racks – there’s a good range of field feeders on sale now. If you do decide to just put the hay out in piles always put one pile more than the number of ponies so that they don’t kick each other. Try to feed in a sheltered place and don’t over feed, if they are walking it into the ground it is likely they don’t need as much unless you are feeding it in a way that causes unrest amongst them.
Watch out that poultry feed does not get wet – hens will not eat wet feed and it will be wasted, but worse they will not get the nutrition they need.
Rats about!
In the winter, the rats move house too – into your housing. Watch out for them and if you see so much as one rat, do something about it as I have said in my ‘Top Tips for Smallholders’ in the November issue of Smallholder. It is possible to use poison even when you have dogs and cats but you must take expert advice on where to set it and which sort to use. Get on top of rats straight away or it will become a really big problem. Seek advice from the staff at Mole Valley Farmers.
Finally, food storage is very important. Don’t ever leave bagged feed unprotected. Buy a feed tin that protects the feed from rodents and keeps it clean and dry. Make it a priority to store your precious hay – don’t just put it under a tarpaulin. It is an expensive and vital commodity so keep it dry throughout the winter. Those pop up garden carriers are really good for feeding loose hay, just fill them up and tip them in the stables (the ponies get used to them after they have climbed the walls a few times!). Don’t waste a thing – it costs far too much money.
Here on my smallholding we have our own hay which this year was not made until the first week of September as we were hoping the grass would grow more – which it did but I am not sure it was worth the heart-stopping anxiety of cutting this late to get the extra! If we hadn’t cut when we did then there was no other time we would have got it and that’s a frightening thought. Next year July or August would be a bit less worrying!
We have an absolute flush of grass at the moment which, considering for about eight weeks our paddock was brown earth almost, is amazing. I’ve heard of lots of cases of laminitis locally from this autumn growth so be careful.
I’m also feeding the bees a sugar syrup which I’ll change to fondant later on in the year. Much to my surprise I won the novice bee keeper cup for my honey this year, which has encouraged me. I’m going to put it on the hive for a day, the next fine weekend we have, so the girls know what they achieved. I read in a book written in 1901 the following words which sum up bee keeping:
“Men are pleased to call themselves bee keepers but the best of them can do no more than study the ways of their bees, learn in what directions it is their will to move, and then try to smooth the way for them.”
(The Lore of the Honey Bee by Tickner Edwardes)
As for poultry, we are rearing some day old Cobbs for the freezer and a mixture of hybrids, Speckeldy, Bluebells and Black Rock to sell as Point of Lays. They are very amusing as chicks but you have to really watch them carefully to see if they are too hot or too cold and to make sure they have enough space. So far we haven’t lost any of them which is largely thanks to the informative articles in Smallholder that I have absorbed for the last twenty plus years. In our November issue we take a special look at the big Championship Poultry shows later on in the year.
September 2010
Harvest Festival
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The hedges dripping with jewel-like berries |
Liz Wright reflects on a month when abundance has smallholders flocking to the kitchen…
Everything happens at once in September. If the smallholder isn’t collecting straw for the winter and scratching their head on where to keep it dry, then they are in the veg patch harvesting before the frosts come or starting to pick apples or suddenly remembering that most herbs don’t grow all year and, and… Yes it’s a real panic at this time of the year, not only getting the harvest in but wondering what to do with it. And that’s without looking at the hedges dripping with jewel-like berries and thinking “I really must find time to pick some blackberries and put them with my apples and bake some pies for the middle of winter”.
Further pressure is added by well meaning people telling you that rosehips and elderberries can help to prevent colds and why don’t you make some syrup from them now ready for, yes you’ve guessed it, the winter. Even my fig tree joined in this year by producing a massive crop of large figs all at once sending me scuttling to a book recently sent to me for review. The book, helpfully called “The Realm of Fig and Quince” written by Ria Loohuizen and published by Prospect Books, is an absolute godsend and fig jam is very easy to make whilst being rather impressive. There are also other lovely quince and fig recipes from round the world and lots and lots of info on these wonderful fruits. My figs now reside in two clean jam pots to bring out at times when I want to show people my culinary skill (but actually it was very very easy to make). The jam pots are honey jars, purchased in bulk for my honey harvest.
What to do
The first thing to do at this time of year is not to panic. There are ways of capturing nature’s bounty without spending hour upon hour in the kitchen chopping, baking and boiling. Well not all at once anyway. Your best friend is the humble freezer. When the classic books on storing crops for the winter were written, the freezer option was not available so the pressure really was on to get everything bottled, pickled or jammed. Now we can freeze the surplus and use it in the kitchen at our leisure (if smallholders can remember what that actually is). Things like blackberries (and all similar berries including elder berries) can be very quickly flat frozen. Get a baking tray or any tray that will go in the freezer and spread your berries on it in a single layer. Put in the freezer. When frozen you can transfer to freezer bags, duly labelled. (Honestly, you won’t remember what they are otherwise and will be peering at them wondering if they are small blackcurrants or large elderberries). I also keep a list of things in my freezer which I cross off as I use. This brought unbridled mirth from my friends who think this is a very odd thing to do but I find it stops me groping around the freezer trying to find dinner and also reminds me to use things.
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September is a time for storage |
Now you have some basic ingredients. In the long dark evenings, when you are not so exhausted that you lie sprawled on the sofa summoning up the energy to turn off “Come Dine With Me” (but secretly knowing you won’t because you are addicted to it!), you can go into the kitchen and make syrup, jam, cordial, chutney, whatever you like from your September berries – even if it is January.
Same goes for herbs. You can dry them in a very cool oven, airing cupboard or over the Aga and put them in jars, or you can flat freeze them in very small freezer bags, freezing only what you would need per dish. Freezing makes them limp but they retain their flavour and are great for cooking – basil at Christmas anyone?
It’s interesting that back in 1962 Smallholder magazine ran a special three page home freezing review which revealed that “no elaborate installation is needed for the home freezer” and that “the ideal position for a home freezer is a cool, well ventilated room, of good size (why?) and preferably facing north. Ideal conditions will keep down running costs”! They also advised not to site it below a bedroom as “the stopping and starting is disturbing in the dead of night”. You should also “give your freezer a regular application of wax polish. This really will keep it as new.” Anyone for furniture polish and food?
I love making jam, pickles and chutneys and enjoyed writing that section of my book, “Self Sufficiency” (Gaia). They are all very easy to make, especially pickles which really just involve pouring hot vinegar (sometimes flavoured) over whatever it is you want to preserve but my only warning from experience on jams and chutneys is don’t go away and leave them to boil over or burn. They do have to be simmered for a while and the temptation is to go and do something else but when you do they can often spoil so keep a close eye on them.
There are some things you can produce all year round. In the issue of Smallholder now on sale we look at how to get duck eggs all the year round. Ducks are often thought of as seasonal layers but choose the right breed backed up by correct feed (specialised pellets) and you can be eating duck eggs nearly all year. Polytunnels too can aid and abet you in your mission to grow food all year round and that is also a feature of this month’s issue, taken from a new book by Andy McKee and Mark Gatter called, aptly, “How to Grow Food in your Polytunnel”. There’s a special offer on the price of this book in Smallholder. I shall certainly be sowing my coriander this month as they suggest – and not worrying if it bolts.
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Judging the poultry at the City Farm Show 2008 |
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Bee products at the City Farm Show 2008 |
I was also lucky enough to go and look at gardening and smallholding in schools for this month’s issue. There is so much happening in both primary and secondary schools. I find this very exciting as I hated, absolutely loathed school and sports and I know my school life would have been much happier if I could have replaced sports with gardening. I’ve never had to catch a netball or dodge a hockey ball since I left school but I have had to learn gardening skills so it would have been better to have learnt them in the class room.
Finally I’m off the City Farm Show at Capel Manor, Enfield on 18 September to judge some of the livestock classes. I love this show, which demonstrates how city children can have respect and knowledge for both livestock and gardens. I am always amazed at how tame the animals and poultry are with the youngsters and the pride that they have in their charges. If you are in that area, do go and have a look. The City Harvest Festival is the one time in the year when the hard work and dedication of talented community farmers and gardeners from across London are celebrated. This year, animals and produce from a wide range of London’s 16 city farms and more than 100 community gardens will be making their way to the event. Visitors to the festival can see Golden Guernsey goats all the way from Newham, honey from Dagenham, pumpkins from Kentish Town, Indian runner ducks from Vauxhall, Bengali kerala from Shoreditch and blackcurrants from White City.
The day includes a fiercely competitive tug of war, a contest for the biggest pumpkin, the most unusual looking fruit or vegetable and even a competition for the animal that looks most like its handler - last year won by a rabbit called Fay. This year’s event will also be part of 30th anniversary celebrations for the Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens, a UK charity which helps support the City Harvest Festival. For more information on city farms and community gardens open to visitors around London visit www.farmgarden.org.uk
It’s a busy month ahead but one of the most satisfying in the smallholder year. Enjoy.
Liz's latest books 'Self-sufficiency: A Practical Guide for Modern Living' has just been published and is available from Amazon. Another book, 'Keeping Pet Ducks' will be published shortly and is available to pre-order from Amazon.
August 2010
The Truth about Cats and Dogs
Liz Wright says don’t forget the other animals in the smallholding team…
For many people, cats and dogs are not only companions to their life but also an important part of their daily working team. Dogs work in a variety of ways from the sleek gundogs to the enthusiastic sheep dog but also, less obviously, as a constantly alert presence, advising owners of the comings and goings of the smallholding and people at the gate. They also often bring attention to unwelcome animal visitors such as the fox near the hen flock or somebody else’s dog on the property. In addition dogs can help in pest control by killing rats.
The cat though is the king or queen of pest control and provides an efficient service where the number of rodents is reasonable – the poor cat cannot wipe out hundreds of rats or mice on it’s own but once the premises are as clear as possible of rodents, the cat can help keep a lid on future population explosions. Don’t forget though that to a cat, tackling a full grown rat would be like a human wrestling an angry Doberman with their bare hands so don’t expect too much from the cat. Some cats are braver hunters than others. I have eight cats and one petite female is a mouse specialist, a massive neutered tom is the rat specialist and another neutered tom keeps the rabbit population down.
I am a very keen bird feeder and none of my cats are interested in the birds although I am careful to use hanging feeders of course. If you do have a cat that concentrates on birds you may well have to put a safety collar on him that has a bell and of course keep him or her in at night and early mornings when birds are feeding. Cats do not normally ever touch domestic hens and ducks and are usually not keen to tackle a broody with her chicks. There are exceptions but they are not frequent.
Cats on a smallholding should be neutered and fed. Keeping rangy wild feral cats continually breeding will result in hundreds of wild kittens that cannot be homed and ill health will make the cats weak and reluctant to hunt, so keep outside cats the same way as you would indoor cats - in good health, neutered and well fed. Hunting is an instinct for cats and they are more likely to be prolific if they are feeling well and not having to stop and eat their prey. Neutered feral cats are excellent for a smallholding and The Cats Protection League are always on the look out for this sort of home. (Check the website for your local group). They do of course need feeding and some housing, be it a snug hay shed or a small purpose-built cat shelter.
Feral Cats
So what is a feral cat and why is it different to a domestic cat? Sadly many feral cats came from domestic cats that have been abandoned or thrown out. A domestic cat is but a tiger by the fire, who shares our homes and shows us real affection (though most still have the typical cat characteristics inside them). When abandoned, if not old or ill, they “go feral”, they are frightened and on their own and all their natural instincts kick in. They don’t trust anyone, they hunt for food and they become savage when cornered. If they are entire, females pass this on to their kittens who then know no different. I found a three week old feral kitten some years ago, lying in a field in the blazing sun, no sign of a mother. I brought her home and hand reared her and she was spitting so hard at me that she was spitting out milk almost as fast as I got it in! Today she is a fully grown cat but she retains much of her feral characteristics, she sleeps somewhere that’s the closest she can find to a cave, she distrusts people (except for us) and she eats whenever she can (feral cats don’t know when their next meal is coming).
It’s very hard to tame feral kittens but if you are going to try, you really need them at a very young age and do take expert advice. (Now you are all going to write and tell me of your tamed feral cats and kittens success stories!). But around the smallholding, it is fine to let adult feral cats live in a feral way as long as they are safe and fed – and neutered.
Dogs are a big subject as different breeds show particular talents for certain kinds of work, i.e. labradors and spaniels as gun dogs and border collies as sheep dogs. But although they have a tendency to work in this way, some people make a big mistake in thinking that they do this naturally without training. The perfect gun dogs and good sheep dogs have had many months of training, which is on-going, for them to behave in this way. As well as selecting the appropriate breed and making sure it comes from working parents, training has to be organised and consistent to get a useful, mentally balanced working dog. A working dog has been bred to work so it wants to be busy and occupied, not left on its own with minimal exercise or confined to a kennel.
Guard dogs are also a big subject. For most of us, the “guard dog” is the family pet that barks at intruders and may or may not tackle a stranger. A true guard dog is a specialist animal, trained and selected and highly controlled by one person.
Best Behaviour
Dogs require considerable care and commitment and crave companionship from their owners. Luckily on a smallholding they can usually be with the owner most of the day and be busy running around. This means they have to be particularly well mannered. It is never acceptable for them to chase chickens; it is not a “game” to the chickens nor the dogs. It is a hunting instinct which stops short of the kill though the chicken does not know this and is terrified as a result. So a smallholding dog has to be trained not to chase any of the livestock on the farm. It also has to learn to stop barking at visitors when you tell it to and never to jump up at people. Dogs jumping up is extremely rude and as their pack leader, it is an invasion into your status. Of course it is also impractical as a dog on a smallholding is likely to be very muddy as well and you and your friends will end up with filthy clothes.
Even when your dog is well behaved, do not let it near animals or poultry with young as they see a wolf and feel very threatened. Their panic could result in injury to their young.
Your smallholding dog needs to learn to stay quietly in your vehicle (obviously not in hot conditions, which is unforgiveable) while you do jobs on the smallholding or pop into Mole Valley Farmers. You should not be driving along with its head hanging out of the window. When our of the vehicle, it needs to learn to stay with you and never run off on its own.
A quick word on the danger of rodent poison. If you have cats and dogs on your smallholding then you have to be very aware of your use of these. If you have to use them then consult an expert for safe baiting stations and a rodent control that will not harm your cats and dogs should they eat a poisoned rodent.
Both cats and dogs will also require regular worming, especially as you do not want them to transfer worms to your grassland or other stock. Again, contact Mole Valley Farmers for suitable products and of course, your vet. Dogs and cats also need their appropriate vaccinations – cats should always have the feline enteritis vaccine if nothing else. Parasite control is important to keep on top of fleas and ticks. For dogs, ticks can cause severe illness.
Other Working Animals
Another possible working animal for your smallholding is the oxen and in the latest issue of Smallholder we talk to a woman who explains how a baby calf can, in time, be turned into a useful working animal. Donkeys too can help out on the smallholding and we look at how their behaviour can be shaped. You can see some working donkeys at the Donkey Breed Society Annual Supreme Championship Show at Moreton Morrell on the 21/22 August.
I’m very keen that new poultry keepers have plenty of advice on how to choose the chicken for them, so in this month’s Smallholder we include a section on how to select the right hen for your smallholding.
On my smallholding I am trying to keep successive sowings in the garden going and we are making late hay, which is worrying. The poultry are all laying well and the Abacot Ranger has stopped ranging for a while to become a very broody duck indeed! I can feel a nip in the air sometimes and the nights are drawing in but there is all of August to look forward to first before the onset of the Autumn. Enjoy!
July 2010
Now is the time to look at livestock finishing
Liz Wright says summer is the time to get feeding and management on track
The image of summertime is long, sunny days with the animals out on pasture, feeding themselves. No mucking out, just a pleasurable walk round the livestock a couple of times a day to keep an eye on them. The reality is that the summer weather cannot be predicted. Either it seems to heave it down with heavy rain for weeks so that the ground gets poached and flooded or it dries up to a crisp so that the grass shrivels and the animals lurk in the shade, hardly moving let alone filling themselves on nutritious grass.
Lambs that were born earlier in the spring need to be now carefully examined and the management that will take them from weaning to finishing (whether this be your freezer or whether you sell the lambs to a butcher) has to be evaluated. To be able to do this, first of all you have to accurately assess the condition of your grazing and secondly the condition of your lambs. EBLEX have some very helpful leaflets on judging the condition of lambs but staff at Mole Valley Farmers also provide a wealth of knowledge.
For some people (who are either lucky and have wash land available or have managed their own grassland correctly), finishing on grass may be an option if the lambs were early born and will be at target weight before the winter kicks in. For everyone else it means a long hard look at their stock and their grazing and then an informed decision as to what course of additional feeding to follow. Finishing feeds for all stock are available from Mole Valley Farmers. They are designed to bring stock to meat weight without getting them over-fat. Speak to staff at your local branch for advice. If your grass is really poor you may have to also feed hay or some kind of forage as well or you might consider (especially in the case of sheep) moving the flock to temporary better grazing, using electric fencing. This opens up other areas of grass such as friend’s orchards, overgrown paddocks or waste land but remember to provide plenty of water and a mineral lick and to keep the fence fully charged at all times. Sheep are beginning to grow fleece back now, or in the case of lambs beginning to grow a fleece, and this means they are curiously unmoved by electric fencing, especially any that has a low voltage or has gone flat. For this reason I would never put sheep near a main or busy road using just electric fencing without an outer fence. It’s bad enough getting the Sunday afternoon phone call: “Your sheep have escaped and are in the wheat field/sugar beet/garden” but it must be heart sinking to have a phone call telling you they are on a road.
Seek advice on electric fencing. It is widely used by sheep farmers large and small but a working knowledge of how and why it works plus an investment in a good system is invaluable. Again, your local Mole Valley Farmers can help you. You must also remember to buy a fence tester – few of us want to test it with our own hands!
If you plan your finishing programme now, then when the nights are drawing in and there’s a nip in the air your lambs will be on course to finish at the target weight. If you don’t, you will be shovelling food into them in the winter as you won’t have access to nutritious grass to help you, just to get them anywhere near. The costs will go soaring and it can also be a welfare issue.
If your grassland has failed then you need to consider now how to improve it for next year as it is an important partner in the management routine. Without at least adequate grassland, getting lambs to slaughter weight will be so much more difficult.
In Smallholder magazine this month (August issue) we examine the role of traditional cattle breeds in smallholding and also consider using traditional breeds to make calf rearing easier – that is to let the cow do the work by having a system of suckler cows.
On my smallholding all my spare time has been spent either in the garden or with the bees. I have a polytunnel this year, so am trying to decide what exactly I want to do with it and I veer wildly in this. I’d like to do some protected winter greens but then I might use it for strawberries and then I’ve always wanted to do cut flowers and what about doing some Christmas bulbs to sell? The choice really is endless. The greenhouse has gone through another incarnation with most of the crops in it now outside apart from the tomatoes and pots of basil. I’ve got odd things dotted around too like some pepper plants and a loofah plant – bought cheaply as seeds for children and hastily put in right at the end of the suggested sowing period.
The poultry have kept me busy too. The Old English Game bantams brought off about 25 chicks between three of them who are not pure bred but a result of years of mixed breeding. We seem to have arrived at a “type”, a white bird with black spots (splash) and we laughingly call it our “house breed”. When we have removed the cockerels, who have just started to crow and account for about 75% of the brood, then I shall put these home bred pullets in with our bought-in Bluebells. Three cheers for Bluebells, not only are they very pretty with their pale blue colour and fluffy bottoms and legs but they produce a nice brown egg each, day after day. They are hybrids but all my friends admire their beauty.
Just a reminder – if you are planning to raise turkeys for Christmas you need to have ordered or be ordering your poults by now. They want to be in situ very soon. Make sure you have fully addressed the humane slaughter of your Christmas birds – they get very large and are daunting indeed if your only experience has been slaughtering chickens. Check out the Humane Slaughter Association website for full details.
You also need to order any table birds for the Christmas table. You can get specialist free range table birds although we have always run the Cobbs as free range (obviously protecting from inclement weather) with great success.
As for bees – I have some living under my bathroom floor which will be difficult to move. I put a nucleus hive opposite the crack in the wall where they have entered and a swarm flying by must have thought ‘whoopee, here is a des res’ and took residence so now I have two sets of bees, one just below my bathroom window and one on the roof. A bee-keeping challenge indeed!
I’m happy because I won our local village cup for horticulture, mainly because of my herbs. I’m quite impressed with my herbs but it is a big undertaking finding out about all their uses from culinary uses to medical applications.
This month I am taking a short holiday with my welsh cob mare - we are going off to adult pony camp. Here we are having a lesson in the morning and a ride in the afternoon and fun activities in the evening which, unlike Pony Club Camp, are likely to contain wine! So for a few days at least I can forget my responsibilities and go back to being a teenager, with my only worry being if my saddle and bridle is clean enough for the lessons!
June 2010
No Flies on Us!
Liz Wright dodges one of the downsides of summer – increased insects
Actually I love insects. If it crawls or creeps I want to watch it, touch it and ideally pick it up and look at it. From woodlice to silver fish, stranded bumble bees to large spiders with hairy legs, I like handling them and finding out about their fascinating lifestyles. That’s partly why I became a bee keeper – it’s not the handling of the bees that worries me but understanding their complex lifestyle and trying to do the right thing for them whatever the weather. I love to watch the brand new fluffy bees in the hive (they are fluffy – bee keepers will know what I mean because by the time they have become flying workers they are more streamlined).
I also never kill slugs, preferring to transport them across the fields, and the same for snails – but to be fair we are not very troubled by these probably thanks to the Abacot Ranger ducks who forage so well.
But there are some insects that even I have to admit are at best irritating and at worst down right life threatening to livestock. Last month I looked at shearing and the problem with fly strike in sheep and continuing on with this theme, what about flies in summer?
There are many people who can tell you all about the types of flies and are far more expert than me. To me they fall into two categories, those that are harmless and those that bite and cause livestock irritation and ill health.
The good news about fly prevention is that there are now so many products on the market that will help to control flies that your livestock should not be allowed to suffer. As with any problem, it is all about the level of challenge that will determine your control. Quite simply, a few flies around your pony can be controlled with pleasant and possibly herbal or organic fly sprays. On the other hand, donkey owners whose donkeys are plagued by the black biting flies that burrow into their legs, drawing blood, will be turning to something a bit stronger such as Deosect (you will need to get a prescription from your vet in order to use Deosect on donkeys as it is only licensed for use on horses). This is a remarkably effective fly prevention liquid which has to be applied with care and if you are in an area with a big fly problem such as low lying ground or a marshy area, then this sort of product is a sound choice. It can also be applied every few days so that you can rely on turned out horses and ponies being protected for more than a few hours.
There are a range of equine products on the market including fly prevention products that can be fed. What is important is that you do use a good preparation and that you are not afraid to change it if it is not working for the level of flies your equine is experiencing. Ask staff at your local Mole Valley Farmers branch for advice and find out more about this season's fly sprays made by Net-Tex (50% extra free).
Fly prevention means keeping a clean environment. It’s not practical to have a sterilised stable but it helps to wash down the floor with a suitable preparation perhaps weekly in the summer. Other tips are to keep your muck heap at a suitable distance from the stable, to clear up any waste food, if feeding carrots keep them in a cool place as they soon get soft and attract flies in the summer, watch out for any opportunity for flies to lay eggs in your stable yard. Remember to keep changing water in troughs so mosquitoes do not use it as a breeding ground.
Other animals have their own pour-on preparations and it’s important to use fly control on cattle and even more so on sheep where fly strike (eggs laid on the crutch area usually that turn into maggots that burrow into the internal organs of the sheep) is a real risk.
Rabbits too can and do suffer from fly strike and need to be inspected around their rear ends regularly and a suitable preparation used to deter flies. They too need to be kept clean and waste food cleared away regularly.
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| Liz Wright at the RWAS Smallholder and Garden Festival with the smallest breed of chicken – the Serama Bantam |
Even some poultry can attract fly strike – the loose feathered breeds are most prone to fly strike around the vent (rear area) and should be checked during the summer months. Birds like the Sebastopol goose which has loose, curly feathers, are particularly at risk.
In the July issue of Smallholder magazine we have begun a two part in-depth look at the problem of external parasites which are a real challenge to new and experienced poultry keepers. The only way to prevent mite be it red mite (the most common) or Northern mite is to be constantly vigilant and constantly taking preventative action. This involves treating houses and bedding with anti red mite preparations and also treating the birds. Again there is now a wealth of products on the market but you also have to practise basic hygiene in keeping the house clean, spraying it with a red mite solution and checking the birds for infestation. It happens to most poultry keepers at some point so if you don’t have red mite then make sure you keep it that way by good preventative action.
Other summer items for livestock include sun block cream for the white sensitive noses of horses and ponies. They are easily sunburned and it must be very painful to get a sun burnt nose that you can do nothing about so do use a sunburn block or lotion. Fly bands for head collars can help and some equines and donkeys really need a full fly mask to stop them getting poorly eyes.
Look round the paddock too – is there shade at all times of the day? If not then erect a sun shade in the form of a right angled full height wood screen. And plan to plant some trees for future years (they will need protecting from grazing livestock). Sheep too appreciate shelter and a low shed of some sort will afford great comfort during the hot weather. Don’t force any animal to stand in a sun drenched field with no shelter and no hedges, a choice of pre-made mobile field sheds is available if you prefer not to make your own. Make sure poultry houses are not in full sun and that the birds are not too hot and stuffy over night – add ventilation if necessary (but remember to keep it fox proof).
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| The Book of Self-Sufficiency by Liz Wright |
Poultry runs too should include shade. Waterfowl in particular hate full sun and need an ample supply of water. A child’s rigid paddling pool makes a good pond for the smaller breeds and it needs to be full of clean water all the time. It is very relaxing in the full sun of the day to retire with a cup of tea or freshly made fruit juice to the shade for an hour or so listening to the sound of happy ducks splashing.
I’ve had a busy month talking to bookshops and groups around the country about my new book, “The Book of Self Sufficiency” published by Gaia. It’s great to hear what people are doing in their gardens, on their allotments and on their smallholdings – and in the kitchen. This month I expect to pick the first of the currants and I normally freeze these whole – they are like jewels in the freezer – to use in recipes throughout the rest of the year. I have far more herbs than last year and plan to preserve these in a number of ways, drying, freezing and in oil. My surplus eggs can also be stored without their shells ready for use in baking in the freezer. The summer is a time of hard work but it’s all worth it when the days are short and the freezer and pantry is full of your home produce from the warmer weather.
May 2010
Shorn, The Sheep…
Liz Wright reflects on summer and the shearing season
When I kept sheep, shearing was a big event in my shepherd’s calendar. I was a bit horrified to discover that fleece wasn’t the valuable resource I remembered from my history lessons but barely covered the cost of shearing, though it is a tribute to the BWMB that they manage to still sell wool in a world that seems determined to clad itself in chemical based fibres.
I recovered from this but the next problem was finding a shearer. If you live in a sheep keeping region this is not such a problem. Either you can load up your small flock and take them to a neighbouring farm where a team of expert shearers, often from across the world, will whip through your girls before you have had time to say, “I wonder if I will get round to spinning a fleece this year?” or one of the aforementioned shearers, suitably bribed with a reasonable sum of money, will pop round to you and quickly remove sheep from fleeces.
But in other areas such as arable based land, it is more difficult. It’s a good idea to ask your farm vet practice for some names, your local agricultural merchant and of course your local smallholding club. You might have to travel further than you would like or pay more than the average rate. But shear you must. There is nothing more horrible on a hot day than to see a gasping sheep in full fleece trying to get out of a blazing sun. There is also the added problem of external parasites that will live on a shorn sheep but absolutely love the cover of a full-fleeced one. So plan for shearing well ahead of time. It’s usually done between early May and early June, depending on how far north you live and the weather forecast but don’t wait until the last minute to make arrangements. You might also have to book time off work to accommodate the shearing team, not the other way round.
To make the day go well and be stress free to sheep and to handlers, pen your sheep before the shearers arrive. They really don’t like it if you say, “Oh can you give me a hand to catch them from the big field and by the way I don’t have any hurdles or a dog.” So have them ready and clean. Don’t keep them in a deep straw bed the night before – their fleeces will be covered in it. And they absolutely must not be wet.
Make sure there is a clean area for rolling the fleeces and that you have someone available to do that while the shearer shears. It’s not difficult and the shearer will tell you how to do it if you ask. Have somewhere to store the fleeces if you are having them collected by the BWMB or if you are going to spin them yourself or try to sell them to spinners. If this is the case then it is a good idea to label them with the individual sheep’s name if they have one and their breed. Sometimes shearers will take the fleece as part or full payment for shearing.
When the shearers arrive, offer tea, cold drinks and biscuits and make sure you are on hand to help. Have cash ready for payment. Remember to tell the shearers if you have a tup (ram) or a wether (neutered ram). When you are shearing at speed there is a danger that, not expecting to be shearing a male, the shearers will go right down the belly removing all appendages in the way with painful and tragic results. This really is important.
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Newly shorn sheep |
It’s not a good idea to shear heavily pregnant sheep but I’ve had to do it in hot weather and if you do them standing and are gentle and quick then they are probably better sheared than not but they have to have extra special attention to achieve this.
You may wish to carry out other sheep tasks at the same time such as worming, vaccination, applying blow fly treatment (though that’s best done in a couple of days when there is some regrowth) but do remember that each task creates stress for the sheep and it might be better to bring them back and do these in a day or so time. If it turns cold, house the sheep overnight.
Shearing won’t protect you from blow fly strike and it will almost certainly happen if you don’t treat the sheep. Check with staff at your local Mole Valley Farmers for a suitable product. Check how often you need to apply it through out the summer. Fly strike is a really horrible thing and often fatal – a very nasty death indeed!
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Will this be the year you get to spin your own wool? |
In Smallholder this month (June cover date – in the shops w/c 10 May), we’ve done a special on shearing in which we asked if it’s ever possible to shear your own sheep and highlighted a new series of courses on hand and machine shearing. We sheared our own sheep one year and it is incredibly hard work physically and takes a very long time. It’s hard to believe how quickly professional shearers deal with the sheep when you try and have a go yourself. I’d done a course and it didn’t seem too bad but confronted with 30 of the little darlings, some of whom were not too co-operative, was a different matter. Suffice to say the following year I had found a professional shearer. But I think you would improve with practice and if you only have a few you could do a couple every day for a few days. I had some dual shearers that could be used with one clipping head to shear sheep and with another to clip ponies. I did find them invaluable as I used them a lot during the rest of the year, “crutching out” (removing the wool from around the crutch and the tail) prior to lambing and also prior to housing. It was much quicker than using dagging shears. Ask the staff in your local Mole Valley Farmers for their options of hand shearing and shearing machines.
Here on my now sheep-less smallholding, the bees are flying well and I will have to do some work with them. My newly made deep bed is sown and coming up – radishes and salad close to the kitchen and well netted! My greenhouse has been sorted and I am about to try a “bag” garden as sent to me by Send a Cow Charity. It is used extensively in Africa and looks simple enough. It’s destined for French beans and more salad crops.
I have runner beans and broad beans in my borders – I’ve never done this before and I want to see if it makes it easier to pick them, having them close to the house. My ducks are laying well and so are my elderly chickens and I’m going to purchase some Hybrid day olds for delivery from the RWAS Smallholder and Garden Show on the 15/16 May (Builth Wells). I’m so pleased it’s warmer and lighter and I’m looking forward to summer whatever the weather!
April 2010
New Growth and Laminitis
The grass is green – hardly an earth shattering statement until you consider that until recently it has been a shade of burnt brown where it was visible and mud where it had given up completely. The trees are still hanging on to their buds but I can see that a few more days of rain and sun and the first leaves will tentatively make their appearance. And about time too. This winter has gone on far too long and it’s officially spring and as the clocks went forward on the 28 March, it’s also officially British Summertime.
But for many the growing grass brings its whole new set of problems in the form of the dreaded laminitis. Although laminitis is usually associated with overweight ponies during the grass growing spurt at the beginning of the season it has many other causes and is not confined to ponies. Cloven footed animals can also get the condition - in cattle it is caused by a pH imbalance in their diet, possibly because their silage is too acidic. In this case it’s necessary to feed a buffer – so speak to a nutritionist who will recommend suitable treatment (and of course consult a vet). Sheep too can get laminitis and I know this from first hand as some years ago to my surprise and horror my small flock became laminitic after being moved to very good grazing from their winter pastures. We didn’t lose any of them but it required immediate veterinary treatment and the horn of their feet actually sloughed off. There are other causes and the excellent Veterinary Book for Sheep (David C Henderson) Farmers devotes four pages to the subject – over feeding of concentrates (such as when prepared for show or sale), pregnancy imbalances, infection of the uterus are all possibly causes. Goats too also suffer from laminitis and the causes are more or less the same as for sheep.
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A lactating mare is unlikely to get laminitis even on good grass as she is feeding her foal but do monitor her weight |
So what is laminitis? Quite simply it is the inflammation of the sensitive laminae which are under the horn of the foot and help to hold the bone structure in place. It is very painful disease and obviously causes lameness which ranges from the pottery gait of a fat pony developing grass caused laminitis to the extreme pain caused by a sudden onset of laminitis through uterine infections, retaining of afterbirth and nutritional disturbances such as over eating concentrates or as a result of consuming poison. (Of course any laminitis left unchecked will soon progress from a pottering gait to severe pain and inability to move).
It’s heart breaking watching any animal with laminitis as they shuffle from foot to foot to find some way of standing to relieve the pain but most of them just give up and lie down. They are obviously reluctant to move and when they stand, they frequently do so with the painful feet pushed out in front of them. Laminitis can occur in all four feet, two feet or even in one foot.
The take home message to anyone learning about laminitis is that it is always a life threatening situation as the effect of the inflammation on the laminae will cause distortion within the hoof capsule which is a rigid structure, and may result in deformities that are so extreme (such as in the case of ponies, the pedal bone sinking through the sole of the hoof) that the animal can never recover sufficiently to stand again let alone walk). So veterinary treatment must always be sought.
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This welsh cob mare suffered laminitis due to a retained placenta after a bad foaling. With good treatment she is now well and has had a healthy foal |
Prevention is far better than cure so having taken note of the causes, consider your management of livestock to avoid them. Ponies should not be allowed to get overweight for any reason. In the showing world there is now a big swell of opinion amongst judges to prefer fit ponies to fat ponies so don’t fatten up your pony for a show career. The native pony was designed to leave the winter fairly trim having used up its fat resources. Instead of which, as we want to ride it, we put it in a stable at night, rug it and feed it. Subsequently it meets the spring grass already in good condition and the weight simply piles on. The obvious answer is to restrict the grazing and to ensure that the grassland is not too rich – either don’t fertilise or use a slow release organic type fertiliser later on in the season. Electric fencing is your best friend in reducing the area to be grazed and watch the weight carefully as you move it and move it gradually, literally strip grazing. In extreme cases there are grazing muzzles which some people have used with more success than others but its better than standing in a bare patch all summer. Combine the grazing regime with exercise and your pony, who nature did design to get fat in the summer and thin in the winter, will keep his or her weight at a safe level. Purchase a weigh tape and measure every week to keep another check on the situation. If your pony does get laminitis, then not only is it going to be expensive, it may also be weeks or even months before they can be ridden and there may even be permanent damage so its best to prevent the disease. I also think its very important on the other hand not to keep ponies shut up all through the lovely summer months so you need to plan the quality of your grazing so that they are able to be turned out as much as possible and if they do have to be confined, then a “starvation” paddock is best where they can still exercise and see their friends, not spend the lovely summer in a stuffy stable on their own. Always provide a mineral lick – speak to a nutritionist at your local merchant.
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Although this pony does not have laminitis, this is a fat pony as this back view clearly shows! |
Another aspect of prevention is regular farriery attention from a registered farrier even if the pony is unshod. Farriers are really primed to spot laminitis and they can soon suggest immediate veterinary treatment combined with the appropriate farriery. There is now huge amounts of research going on into this difficult disease which seems to have a lot of other causes though the major one is still over fat ponies and spring grass. There are many products which may help to prevent laminitis if used in conjunction with other preventative measures. And everything that I’ve said about fat ponies also applies to fat donkeys with the added problem that they are prone to another disease called hyperlipemia. The Donkey Sanctuary have excellent fact sheets on both laminitis in donkeys and also hyperlipemia.
So enjoy the spring and most people and their livestock will sail through with no laminitic problems but do be aware of the disease and watch out for any animal with a pottering gait or that is reluctant to move. Take immediate action in the form of veterinary advice if this is the case. A bit of care at this time of the year can lead to a super summer for you and your livestock but watch out again in September/October for the autumn flush of grass which can cause laminitis in susceptible animals (eg those that have previously had the disease and those that are overweight).
May issue of Smallholder covers the subject of improving and maintaining your grassland in some detail, written by two experienced livestock farmers, one of whom has an organic suckler herd.
Katie Thear – Self Sufficiency Pioneer Dies
After a long battle with cancer, Katie Thear died on March 18th and she will always be remembered as a pioneer in the world of self-sufficiency, long before it was fashionable to “grow your own” and when chicken keeping in your garden would have been though of as extraordinary. Back in the mid 1970s when glam rock ruled and intensive farming was having a hey day, Katie was almost a lone voice (but a strong one) advocating the ability to grow, rear and process your own food. Because of her, a new generation of smallholders kept the skills alive and I firmly believe that it is because of her contribution through her passion, her books, the founding of the magazine, Practical Self Sufficiency, and her example that kept the movement going so that smallholders today can benefit from those skills.
Recently she had also written a novel, set in rural Wales and bursting with authenticity. Valerie Charlesworth who used to own Smallholder Bookshop, said ‘I have no Welsh blood in me, but I really loved this book. It will give you an insight into the real Wales.' It’s a love story, set in a Welsh village during the Second World War and as you would expect, the farming and village life scenes are accurately drawn.
Katie Thear will be very missed but I think she will never be forgotten and her books will live on, giving inspiration to future generations of smallholders.
There is an obit to Katie on the Broad Leys website, the publishing company founded by herself and her husband David.
March 2010
Spring Time Promises
March doesn’t always deliver weather wise but the clocks go forward on the 28th and British Summertime begins which has to be a positive step forwards. At least the days are longer and lighter and despite chilly weather and sometimes snow (I know how to be cheerful!) plant life, bird life and animal life begins to wake up and think about a new breeding season.
My ducks have not yet come into lay which I would have expected them to usually but it has been so very cold and dark. It’s their first year and they are Abacott Rangers, bred in the mid twentieth century to challenge the Khaki Campbell as a meat/egg bird (dual purpose). Although they are amazingly attractive with their brown and fawn hoods and silver neck rings, the breed didn’t really get near the impressive egg laying performance of the Campbell but still do have a respectable expectation of around 200 plus eggs in a season. So they need to get going if they are going to achieve this!
My elderly hens began to lay in January and then were clearly frightened off by the bad weather and have just come back into lay, two eggs a day from four, four year old hybrid hens which I don’t think is bad, and the young bantams are laying too now but their eggs are a bit difficult to find. They like to lay in the hay shed but I am neither super athletic or thin these days and so tracking these eggs down is getting more difficult. The down side is that if I don’t, the bundle of fluff that laid them (Silkie cross) will return with several more bundles of fluff behind her – and she may do this two or three times a year.
In the April issue of Smallholder magazine out now, we are looking at how to take care of a broody hen and her chicks (www.smallholder.co.uk).
Chicks are very appealing but you really can have too many of them and then there is the down side of dealing with the cockerels. I reckon that most hatches are half cockerels and it’s not kind to pass them on in sales or as pets so they have to be despatched as quickly and humanely as possible. If you can’t do this then get someone to help you do it and do it at night when they have gone to roost as chasing them round is terrifying for them. I hate it, really hate it, but you cannot have too many cockerels running around as they do injure the hens as do drakes with ducks – in fact drakes can and do kill ducks through over mating. Neck dislocation with pre stunning is best but go on to the Humane Slaughter Society website for practical advice - www.hsa.org.uk. They have a booklet that covers all aspects.
At this time of the year I like to do a thorough spring clean with the poultry. Now is the time to get on top of red mite – move the poultry temporarily and spray the housing inside and out after a thorough clean and disinfect – there are some excellent products on the market for this. Mend any housing – foxes will be hungry with cubs soon and so housing needs to be fox proof. If you are hatching eggs or encouraging broodies make sure you have your chick penning or broody pen ready and waiting. You’ll need to be prepared with heat lamps if hatching without a broody and you’ll need chick drinkers that are safe, in that they cannot get into them and get wet or drown. You’ll also need chick feeders – have more than you think necessary as there is always a pecking order and the weaker chicks won’t get any food if you don’t.
Watch out for overheating – they try to get away from the heat source – and chilling – they huddle together and the faeces get sticky round their bums. Actually, do watch out for that because worse case scenario is that they cannot pass any faeces because of the cap over the opening.
I like to put a soluble vitamin into the water of a sitting broody and into the water every few days for my top laying hens as well as, of course, choosing an appropriate feed such as laying hen, duck breeder, chick crumbs – whatever the situation there will be a balanced ration to keep the bird healthy. Do not expect poultry to live solely from wheat and scraps unless they are a very hardy pure breed and you are not expecting many eggs.
The bird has as many eggs as its ever going to lay minutely within its body and to bring them all to fruition, it needs good nutrition with correct vitamins and minerals. Free range will help them to find inverterbrates especially in the case of ducks but it won’t compensate for an inadequate diet. Geese require good, clean grass that is not so long that it balls up within their gizzard. All poultry requires grit for the gizzard (don’t use oyster shell). If runs are a mess after the winter then close them and provide an alternative – don’t allow poultry to paddle on and on in a dirty, grass- and weed-free run.
I also like to check for scaly leg and apply one of the new products on the market if there is any sign of it and to sort out a louse powder that can either be dusted on the bird or put in the nest box (check the label for correct useage).
Finally consult your vet or SQP in branch about worming and follow their advice. It’s possible now to obtain comparatively small amounts of poultry wormer.
Then there is the problem of what to do with all those eggs…… Make sure you store them in a cool, dry place and in date order. They do keep for ages and you can pickle and even freeze to use for cooking if you remove the shells. There are no regulations to stop you selling at your gate (if you don’t grade them) or to your friends but you do have a responsibility to sell safely; that is clean, uncracked eggs that are fresh and not stale so it’s a good idea to keep some records. Find egg boxes, complete with an explanation of grading codes inside the lids, here.
Otherwise you may think you will start to look like an egg as we do at this time of the year having a minimum of two for breakfast and then perhaps some for dinner as well. Thank goodness it’s now thought there is no link with increased cholesterol! (I’m told that breaking one on your hair and allowing it to sink in is a great conditioner but I haven’t actually tried that yet!).
February 2010
A Touch of Summer Through Seed Packets
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| You need to really fill a hanging basket with plants to get a colourful effect |
It’s so cold here tonight and we are rapidly getting through the logs so carefully hoarded in the summer. We had to have a very large willow tree topped and kept all the wood – contrary to popular belief the resultant logs have not spat in the fire but that might be in some degree due to the fact they were left outside for over six months to dry. I know we have a hedgehog hibernating in one of our log piles so we cannot use that one!
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| This is a round basket - two half baskets pushed together. It is quite difficult to get enough water into it but very effective as it blooms all the way round |
It looks like it is going to snow tomorrow (oh no not again) so I have prepared for this by filling up all the waters, giving more bedding than usual and topping up all the bird feeders for both my domestic and my wild birds. So how shall I spend the freezing cold weekend? Possibly not out in the garden or giving an in-depth groom on my very muddy welsh cob. I also don’t feel like pressure washing the unused hen houses and giving them a timber treatment. I think when the livestock are fed and watered tomorrow I shall get out my seed packets and my seed catalogues and plan my strategy for the seed sowing season of 2010.
This year I am going to be very organised. A well known supermarket was selling hanging baskets for around 30p each last Autumn and Mick (my partner) kindly bought me about 30 of them. So now I have to fill them and also the 20 or so that I already have and the seed pouches bought from the local boot sale. I started making hanging baskets when I had a lot more free range poultry than I do now and it was almost impossible to stop them pulling up all my plants. Therefore I started growing many things up high. Unexpectedly I was quite good at this and to my utter amazement, the hanging baskets looked remarkably professional. I started to do more and more until last year, I ran out of space and gave some as presents. This year I plan to sell some, all bedded up. This means I need to raise some seedlings. I have tracked down some window sill seed trays that will utilise all my spare windows (many conveniently if not sensibly having radiators under them).
I also have to clear out the greenhouse and arrange the shelving for maximum effect. It is full of plants that have overwintered but sadly not my fuchsias, which I failed to bring indoors before the first lot of snow – the bit before Christmas – and I think I have lost all of them. Such a shame and my own fault.
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| Sprouting seeds can be grown indoors all year round and are very nutritious |
I also have a sort of back kitchen area that needs clearing so I can do all these things in preparation and I can plan which seeds to sow and put get them ready for the appropriate month. Many old gardeners (hang on I suppose I could be in that category!) say not to sow too early as seeds will catch up as the weather improves and they are spot on with this advice. But there is a tempting number of seeds that say “sow in February under glass or on a window sill” such as Sweet Peas and some Geraniums. I really do want to get on with those. I’m also quite keen to do a bit of research to find some annual bedding plants that are good for bees – I’m told the impressively reliable Bizzie Lizzie and Petunias are not great for bees.
I also want to play about with some herb hanging baskets and some perennial baskets plus there is an increasing number of veg varieties that will happily grow in baskets or tower type sacks. I have two good compost bins but as we hardly waste any food and the chickens have vegetables to compliment their layer’s pellets, we don’t get quite as much compost as we need so I will have to buy some I think for the baskets and also I need some liners. Sheep’s wool is said to be good but I no longer keep sheep so these also might have to be purchased.
I’m feeling all excited about this just writing it down. Whatever the weather outside, in my mind I will be in the spring and summer, visualising the riot of colour, the tasty veg and aromatic herbs that will spring from the seed packets.
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| A demonstration garden at the Smallholder and Garden Festival showing how much can be done with a small garden |
In Smallholder magazine this month (www.smallholder.co.uk) we have our seed special – look out for the delightful inset picture of the (very) young lady on our cover holding up high her very first crop of carrots. I was also inspired by an article from Send a Cow charity on bag gardens, much used in Africa but equally applicable to smallholders large and small. For their size they give good yields and allow you to keep crops close to the house for quick picking and to keep them away from sharp chicken beaks. I shall be trying this idea myself and also have a “keyhole” garden to try (Smallholder magazine – March issue – out 4 February 2010).
On the livestock front, my poultry have ground to a halt in the egg laying department – they were going so well until the snow – and the ducks have not come on stream yet. So I had to creep into a supermarket and buy some free range eggs – the first bought eggs for years and years and I am determined they will be the last. I plan to get some day old chicks in the summer and rear some more layers. I could get them now but I think I will wait until the weather is a bit better just in case we get any power problems. I have my dull infra red light ready and waiting to make the chick crèche!
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| Salad leaves in pots at a seed trial |
The bees – well all I can do is hope as I dare not look at them in this weather. I just pray I have fed them enough to keep them going. I hope to get into them very soon to check and add fondant. I’ve paid my membership to our local Bee Keeper’s Association and have noted several good talks that I want to attend. Incidentally, the bee keeping display at the RWAS Smallholder and Garden Show 15/16 May at Builth Wells includes a “live” demonstration whereby fully bee suited visitors can get a taste of handling bees. (Check out www.smallholder.co.uk for more info on the weekend). Throughout the UK, most Bee Keeping Associations are running courses for beginners and it is the best way to start so don’t wait, if you want to keep bees get on to the BBKA website and find your local bee club and get enrolled. Many of the clubs have schemes that loan out hives and provide a mentor and believe me, you will need some practical help and friends to discuss the strange ways of bees. Bee keeping is a very steep learning curve.
The Exmoor ponies are still in their element- they don’t notice the mud any more than they noticed the snow! Perfect for our weather. Meanwhile my donkey turns reproachful eyes on me and asks “make the sun shine”. Really I should have two donkeys as they bond for life, but she isn’t over keen on other donkeys and gets on well with the ponies. The Donkey Sanctuary at Devon (www.thedonkeysanctuary.org.uk) have some excellent free leaflets on donkey care so if you are thinking of getting a donkey then do contact them for free advice. They also have a foster scheme whereby you can foster pairs of donkeys.
So it’s off to find the seed catalogues now and get a whiff of summer sun. Spring really must be on the way somewhere…..
Liz is reading RHS "How to Grow Practically Everything" (published by DK) – this is a great book with clear illustrations and ideas for all levels of gardeners. She’s also reading “Farming month by month” by J Gunston and published in 1946.
Mole Valley Farmers sells a great variety of seed sowing and other gardening equipment. Browse the online shop or visit your local branch to find all the latest special offers, help and advice.
January 2010
A Chilly Lambing Season
It’s freezing cold, not that you need any reminding I’m sure. Much of our festive holiday was taken up with breaking water and feeding hay to ponies living out while continuing my bird feeding here at home on the smallholding. You know its cold when Fieldfares head towards the bird table and start squabbling over the apples and pears that I put out for them. I’ve become a regular visitor to the bird feeding section of agricultural merchants where I select feed stuffs and feeders for my ever growing flock. It is very important to keep the feeders clean to prevent disease so I choose easy to clean feeders and recently surprised myself by spending £20 on a Niger feeder* – a 16 perch Niger feeder no less. I was more than rewarded for this expensive purchase by the sight of no less than 11 goldfinches on the feeder. I also put out anything I think the birds might find useful that is in the pantry e.g. old dried fruit or old cereals. Quite by mistake I discovered they loved old bananas too. *Niger seeds are used as a 'tonic' for wild birds. Niger seed feeders are available from Mole Valley Farmers - see the Copper Plated Niger Feeder or Supa Aquatic 8" Niger Feeder, plus of course the Niger seeds to put in them!
So against the back drop of this cold weather, it’s hard to imagine spring let alone the lambing season. For some this has already started and how cold must that be! For most it will start around February or March, to catch the good grass at optimum growing times.
Either way, you will be thinking about your sheep now. If they are due to lamb in a few weeks then you need to bear in mind that the foetus will be taking up a lot of room in the ewe and thus not allowing her to eat as much bulk as she needs. You need to supplement her with concentrates and consider a lick as well to ensure she gets the energy, minerals and vitamins that she vitally needs. Without these she will fall prey to serious metabolic diseases that could have been prevented by paying attention to her late pregnancy nutritional needs. Ask your local Mole Valley Farmers branch or call the FeedLine on 01278 444829 for expert help. Also make sure she has plenty of water as she will need fluid to allow her foetus to flourish and to help her milk supply as she gets near to her time. Break the ice not once but two or three times a day and ensure that there are plenty of water troughs so that the most timid ewes also get sufficient to drink (the same is equally important of food of course – don’t let the greedy sheep get all the food, take time to stock watch and make sure that all the flock can feed).
A high quality forage ration will also help take them up to lambing safely – remember they cannot eat large quantities of food at this stage.
Make sure you have the lambing equipment already in place and that you have attended a lambing course (if not then try and find a local farmer who is lambing and ask if you could spend a day watching and helping). You will need to have lubricant, surgical type gloves that allow you to feel, disinfectant (check with Mole Valley Farmers – you don’t want anything too harsh for actual use when lambing but you will also need something to wash out the lambing pens), navel dressing spray or dip, thermometer to check the temperature of the lambs and if you are confident to use it, you will need a stomach tube and syringe or funnel. You’ll also need a warming box which you can make with a heat lamp – you must be very careful not to over heat the lamb or even burn it. I would also have a supply of powdered colostrum. I used this with huge success, sometimes just topping up after straightforward births. It’s also invaluable if a ewe has more than two lambs to make sure that all lambs get sufficient colostrum. You’ll also need milk replacer powder as you will need to supplement any births that produce more than two lambs and in some cases, the weaker lambs in double births. Use Mole Valley Farmers' handy check list. Make sure you have enough hurdles for quickly constructing pens, clean straw, water buckets and the a copy of Andrew Eales; Practical Lambing (Wiley Blackwell), one of the best books ever written on lambing and one which helped me enormously (and the girls!). Two other excellent books for shepherds are A manual of Lambing techniques (though I was taught not to use lambing ropes) and The Veterinary Book for Sheep Farmers.
In Smallholder magazine this month we look at preparing for lambing and how to lamb successfully including a look at the diseases associated with lambing (www.smallholder.co.uk).
Be sure too to have your vet’s phone number to hand and if new to lambing, have a chat with your vet beforehand to make sure you are fully organised and have everything you need. They might be able to provide certain drugs that will also help. Be prepared to keep records of the lambings. I cannot tell you how much you will want to refer to them in the future.
From personal experience I would also say make sure you have warm clothing handy, good lighting in the lambing barn, good torches for getting there and an understanding family – as they won’t be seeing much of you!!
On my holding I am obviously worried about my bees in this weather and really hope I fed them enough to take them through the winter. My plants around the house are devastated and I think I will have to do a lot of restocking this year. My winter salad in the greenhouse has given up the ghost more or less despite a greenhouse heater and I fear for my fig tree and herbs. It has been a tough winter (and more of it yet to come) but perhaps I am being too gloomy and more will survive than I think. Needless to say the Exmoor ponies are totally unmoved by the weather and refuse to even go in their shelter, preferring to stand against the hedge. Me, I rush into my shelter and cower against the open fire – thank goodness for a log splitter and a supply of logs. I think our boiler is going wrong and when it finally does so (oh please let it get through this winter), we shall be casting our eyes towards log burners for our future source of heat. The aged poultry keep on laying though to their credit and some of the new ones have come into lay as well so the poultry pellets must be doing their job in this cold weather. So, no winter salad but plenty of free range eggs for January!
December 2009
'Tis the Season to be Jolly
I’ve just collected some new ducks – a trio of Abacot Rangers. My much loved duck died back in the summer and that left me temporarily duckless. I have really missed the quacks and the excited waddling so when a friend told me of their huge success in breeding a number of these ducks and asked if I wanted some, I immediately agreed. The Abacot Ranger is, like the Khaki Campbell, another product of enthusiastic duck breeders in the early to mid part of the 20th century. The duck was strongly valued as a source of meat and eggs and duck laying trials abounded.
This breed came out top of the egg laying trial at the Wye College Duck Laying test in 1922 with a very creditable 923 eggs in the four bird section. That’s well over 200 eggs per duck so I am looking forward to some baking (duck eggs contain a higher percentage of fat than hen’s eggs which makes them ideal for this purpose), some lovely creamy tasting boiled eggs and maybe even some pickled duck eggs. Some people worry about salmonella and duck eggs, still the result of a scare way back in the 1950’s but like all eggs to be absolutely safe they need to be cooked right through. Having said that, I love runny fried eggs and I’m still here! But it’s best to be on the safe side especially for the young and old and anyone with an existing medical condition or a pregnant woman.
Again like many ducks of the time these are a breed developed from the Indian Runner duck which is a prolific layer but not so meaty – I am assured these ducks are excellent on the table as well but these three are not destined for that job. Unlike many other developed ducks they are apparently good natural mothers – which is how my friend came to have some for sale. I look upon it as an early Christmas present to myself. They are confined in an airy pen with a large bowl of water and when I think they have acclimatized I shall let them out in the afternoon, a few hours at a time, until we can free range them during the day, being shut in from dusk until mid morning.
Speaking of Christmas, ‘tis the season to be jolly and although the rampant commercialism does grate upon my ingrained green beliefs, I do enjoy cooking and preparing food and buying the odd present. I am a bit scrooge-like and don’t buy very many but I do try and match them to the person. I am never afraid of giving a really useful present and these go down particularly well with my smallholding and horse owning friends – you really cannot have too many riding gloves, grooming brushes, chicken feeders or bee hive brushes. I always hope for useful presents myself and appreciate warm hats, socks (I’m that rare person who likes socks, especially the amusing patterned ones of ponies, donkeys and chickens that you can buy) and hand cream – rather boringly I get through a lot of that as well. I would love a good torch, one of those wind up ones would also be helpful as we suffer from powercuts and I’ve always fancied a really good pocket knife, you know the sort that get boy scouts out of horse’s hooves (er I think I have that the wrong way round). Of course a really good present would be a year’s subscription to Smallholder magazine as that’s a present that lasts all year! I love to buy the animals special things too from rabbit chews to pony treats - in fact my ponies have their own advent calendar. My partner was very upset when he realised it wasn’t chocolate.
To people with animals, Christmas isn’t vastly different to other days in that they still need feeding, exercising and cleaning out and I always ride on Christmas morning, even it its just ten minutes. It’s my own Christmas tradition. Sometimes we take the donkey for a walk Christmas afternoon but this year we are going to take the donkey and her pony friend to the beach on New Year’s Day – last year severe flu (mine) stopped play. The donkey has an engagement first in the Crib Service at Ely Cathedral on the 24th December – she loves to go out and meet people.
Meanwhile I want to have a go at some marrow chutney before Christmas and I have several large pumpkins that I need to deal with – have been searching for pumpkin pickle type recipes but think I might make a pumpkin pie or even cake. My winter salad is getting there rather slowly; I think its time to dig out the greenhouse heater. Finally this is the month that I finally put the bees to bed – they have already been well fed but on a fine day I shall check they have enough fondant left and batten down the hatches so to speak until spring comes again.
And indoors I shall admire my Amyrillis, I’ve never had any before and they are entrancing me. In our latest issue, luckily, it tells me how to keep them for next year so I will be following those instructions carefully when they have finished their spectacular blooming.
I’m looking forward to a bloomin’ good Christmas and New Year with all my livestock, family included. I wish you all a peaceful and happy holiday.
November 2009
Every Mile is Two in Winter
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| Welsh cobs on a foggy, frosty winter morning |
So says an ancient country proverb and don’t you just know what that means? It means going to work in the dark and getting home in the dark and fitting the livestock round this. If you work from home as I do or have a full time farm or smallholding, the situation is only marginally easier in that you do have some light hours but so much to fill them. I’ve developed a strategy over my many years of livestock keeping, not to let winter catch me by surprise. This year that was made harder by the fact one minute an Indian summer, the next wet and winter. But I was prepared. My partner has a huge log pile gleaned from other people’s unwanted fallen trees or tree trimming so we have plenty of fuel for our house while I have laid in warm waterproof clothes, a selection of hats and gloves and some good torches. If you haven’t already done so, have a think about winter heating inside and out. Check out the latest log burners and boilers – if you do have access to wood they can be very economical and these days are constantly developing to be increasingly efficient. And get sorted with the clothes. I made myself throw out some of my worst offenders – the jacket that doesn’t do up, the jumper with huge holes, the gloves with split fingers (deadly on icy days). If you are working outside, like any worker you need good equipment to protect you from the cold and that you can move in easily. Boots too need attention. I have changed all my outside boots now to those with toe protection – again products have moved on from the clumpy boots of several years ago and are now much lighter, trendier (if this bothers you!) and easier to wear. So now I know if a horse treads on me or I drop a log on my feet, it won’t hurt me.
We do have electricity outside but we live in a semi-rural location (as the estate agents say when they mean rather desolate) and we are subject to power cuts. A collection of efficient torches is essential so we can find the much older oil lamps that provide light on these dark occasions. (Why does the power always go off when it is dark?). I also have proper candle sticks and candle snuffers and also a small gas cooker or we can use the open fire as we still have these. It is surprising how fast you adapt when you have to though I feel sorry for anyone who needs the power for medical reasons, the old and the young and also anyone incubating eggs or rearing chicks. In our case it is just inconvenience and we cope and remember what it must have been like to live without instant power - a sobering lesson.
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| Hedgelaying at the National Championships |
This month in Smallholder many of our expert contributors are thinking about winter but winter is not all about sheltering and survival. It’s also a time to think about planting hedgerows and trees and it’s becoming attractive to choose species that provide fruits for foraging such as hips, brambles, crab apples or nuts. This is of great benefit not only to wildlife but to make mouth watering and traditional recipes for the family. This year we have made blackberry and elderberry jam (supposed to be good for warding off colds), pickled walnuts from a self sown tree and rosehip and apple jam. We’ve also looked at an alternative use for garden snails – as a delicious delicacy – no not for the song birds but for the table with garlic.
On my own smallholding we’ve almost dug up the last of the beetroot. This crop does particularly well on our land (light fenland soil) and we have pickled and pickled and eaten it hot, cold, raw and cooked and still it comes! My winter salad in the greenhouse hasn’t leapt into action as quickly as I would like but it’s getting there slowly and I am still picking peppers. This year I have moved some herbs into the greenhouse because I have become accustomed to using fresh herbs very liberally and I want to carry on doing so for the winter.
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| Liz making friends at Shepreth Wildlife Park near Cambridge |
On a sad note, we had to have an elderly pony euthanized – never an easy decision but he had underlying health problems and facing a possibly harsh winter, it seemed to be the right time to call an end. Having made the horrible decision, the vet carried out the deed quickly and kindly and he didn’t know what was happening and the end, with me talking to him all the time, was quick and peaceful. We let his friends say their goodbyes and a very long chapter came to an end – he was in his thirties. Wherever you are, we hope you are happy Billy pony.
The other ponies have big thick winter coats and with their solid shelter and well drained land, they are set up for whatever the weather throws at them, living out as nature intended, helped only by some extra food when needed. They are Exmoor ponies so they really appreciate this free living. The Welsh Cob, despite my telling her she should live on a mountain, is ready at dusk to get into her warm stable with feed as is the donkey. Smallholder features an article on donkey care – unlike horses they are not adapted to wet winter weather and their own coats are not waterproof so they always need a good shelter and to be warm and dry. Which brings me back to warm, dry clothing for farmers and smallholders – everything feels better if it is wearing the right clothing be it a super duper Exmoor pony natural coat, a turnout rug for clipped equines or in my case, a waterproof coat, hat, gloves and scarf plus a good slap of face cream. Bring on the winter!!
For more information log on to Smallholder magazine – www.smallholder.co.uk or find the magazine in the newsagents and in selected WH Smiths and Tesco branches.
October 2009
Autumn Days
October is the month of the great country fairs, the goose fair, the cheese fair and of course the grain fair. There were also hiring fairs, where farm workers put themselves up for hiring for the coming year. Some of these still survive today in some form. All I can remember directly of October quotations attributable to my mother is that the “the Devil drags his tail across blackberries on 30th September” which means you shouldn’t eat them after that. Quite why the country people thought that or believed they were bad to eat might come from pre-climate change days but my mother was adamant that they shouldn’t be picked now. I’ve just picked some rosehips with the intention of making rosehip and apple jam, and green tomatoes wait in my pantry for green tomato chutney. Not quite sure yet what to do with the surfeit of peppers, most of them rather too hot for my taste. Should I dry them, put them in oil or pickle them in vinegar as was suggested to me at the weekend? And then will I remember to drag them out for chillis, curries and casseroles during the cold days of winter? I feel another note pinned to the fridge coming on!
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Liz's partner is persuaded to put on a bee suit and help Liz's mentor |
Meanwhile I put the second lot of varroa treatment into my bees this weekend and noticed that they had taken all their sugar syrup. Now I will feed some fondant and ensure the hives are well insulated for the winter. Why are our bees disappearing? It could well be climate change, pesticides and varroa mite but I do believe that some of the responsibility lies with bee keepers too. Feeding bees is quite a complex subject and requires an understanding of how the insects work. For example, while it is hot and lush for us in late August, early September, around here at least there is little for the bees to find with the summer flowers at the end and the ivy not yet out. And because they are active, they are hungry. Without the help of a more experienced bee keeper it would not have occurred to me to give additional feed but thinking about it, it is an obvious thing to do. I shall also be looking much more closely at providing all year round sources of pollen and nectar. Sadly many of the lovely, showy bedding and basket plants don’t actually provide much for the bees to find. I ensure that we always have a good management article about bees in Smallholder but for our latest issue we are actually looking at honey and health – how honey can help to keep us smallholders well all winter.
To clip or not to clip? That is the question if you have a horse or pony and we’ve tried to address this in Smallholder this month. Personally, I’m quite lazy and although I might have to clear a saddle patch on the hairy welsh cob monster that is my pony to ride in the winter, it is not comparison for having to rug and clip. But if I wanted to do more than a little light hacking or riding in the ménage I would need to clip at least partially. And I have to admit to providing a light rug even without clipping for the muddiest days. I do like the look of a well clipped and rugged riding horse or pony and today’s modern clippers (mine are cordless) make it much simpler and safer than ever before. Points to remember are preparation of the clipping area, cleanliness of the horse and safety first plus having a good rug available straight away to provide warmth. 
One of my hens has chicks – they are about four weeks old now and seem to be unaware that this is the wrong time of the year for chicks. She is a superb mother and they are perky little things. I had to go and buy chick crumbs to get them off to a good start. We have a variety of poultry and it’s also time to think about worming. I’ve commissioned our poultry expert in Smallholder to take a long, hard look at how and when to worm as its something we need to consider very carefully. We worm other animals but sometimes the poultry escape the notice and they need worming as much as anyone else. They also need continually checking and treating for red mite which is an ever increasing problem. Thankfully there are now products that can control it but vigilance remains the watch word.
My top tips for October are to make sure the greenhouse is cleared of summer crops such as tomatoes and that the crisp winter salads are in grow bags ready for sowing through the winter.
Also ensure that you have correctly calculated the amount of hay and straw you will need until, I think, at least May and that you have sourced it and budget for it. Buy the best hay you can afford; it is a good investment or consider haylage from a reputable supplier for dairy animals such as goats (most good suppliers test their haylage).
I also like to look at my clothing, now is the time to get a new coat if necessary and don’t forget that ever important hat and a supply of gloves, you know some drying, some to wear and some spares! And get a good barrier cream for your hands and your face.
Winter has its upside; you might actually manage to get to sit down for a bit in the evening and watch television or read rather than be on the go through all the daylight hours! There really is something rather special about relaxing by a fire after a hard day in the crisp cold autumnal days. Go on – you deserve it.
For more information log on to Smallholder magazine – www.smallholder.co.uk or find the magazine in the newsagents and in selected WH Smiths and Tesco branches.
September 2009
What is a Smallholder?
Liz Wright, Editor of Smallholder Magazine, gives a personal view...
I am a smallholder and have been for over twenty years. By that I mean I have access to a moderate amount of land and produce some of my own food. But what is the true definition of a smallholder? According to Longman’s dictionary a smallholder is one who works a smallholding, which is defined as “a piece of farmland smaller than an ordinary farm (usually less than fifty acres)”. Alan Thompson, in his book “Your Smallholding” written just after the war in 1947, has several definitions which vary as to whether they are given by a large farmer, a bank clerk or a government official but the smallholder himself says “it’s a little bit of everything and that he has not had a holiday in ten years but he would not give up his independent life”. They are both good definitions – the only question being the lower limit of amount of land. Back in 1910, the then editor of Smallholder Magazine was telling a man who lived in the town and had just bought three laying hens that he was “well on his way to becoming a smallholder”.
It’s all of these things and also, I would add, it is a way of life where you choose to eat “free range food”, not only livestock and eggs but also “free range” vegetables, that come from your own patch still covered in soil and bursting with life and vitality. Just looking at our current issue brings home the diversity in the smallholding way of life.
We’ve been running a series on what you can do with a specific amount of land and this month we are looking at how much you can produce from an acre and it really is a surprisingly large amount. It might not be that you can quite give up you day job (unless you are especially nifty with the poly tunnel) but you can seriously reduce your food bills to almost nothing and eat seasonally and well. But that’s dependent on extending the growing season through the winter by using winter hardy crops and some protection – another subject we cover this month.
On my own smallholding, I plan to grow winter salads throughout the cold months and at a recent seed trials I was very impressed by the hardiness and prolific nature of some of the oriental vegetable seeds now coming on to the market. I’ll definitely be following the instructions given by a practical contributor on the subject of “hot beds” where the writer claims that while the crop is growing inside “snow can be tipped off the frames”. Can’t go wrong then I hope! Inside the house, on the window sills, sprouted seeds, harnessing the superior nutrition of the very young plant, grow reliably and provide a variant of flavour while being packed full of vitamins.
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| Liz with her Horticultural Cup for 2009 |
Winter is a good time to get out and go wooding. Our log fires are not only warm and friendly but also reduce our heating bills and the logs are all from trees that have had to be topped or have fallen. In our area it appears not many people are as interested in logs as we are so we are finding them fairly readily. I might have to enlist the help of one of my native ponies to do some horse (or in this case pony) logging (clearly they can’t cope with the size of trees pulled by a large draught horse but then we don’t really get massive trees in Fenland). The original horsepower is a subject taken up in one of the livestock articles where the writer argues that even if you don’t want to work a horse yourself, finding a traditional horse logger might be the solution for many small wood owners.
Last month we looked at growing willow for fuel while this month we examine other renewables for home heating. Because smallholding doesn’t stop at the back door – it is a way of life that is carried through into the home where we still preserve surplus harvests for the winter perhaps in the freezer, perhaps in a more traditional jar and where us smallholders try to tread as lightly on the earth as we can and rely on our efforts and what we can find wherever we can. In fact why not recycle textiles as well in the long dark nights? It’s much easier than you think and makes for colourful clothes. Our guide to this is from a woman who really practises what she preaches. So although the dark days are heading our way, there’s a lot to do outside and inside on the smallholding and every season brings its benefits.
My top tip for September is to gather hedge fruits while the weather is good (but do leave some for the birds) and put it in the freezer, open frozen so that they are spread out on a tray not touching each other. Then when the weather is bad and you are ready to make elderberry chutney or blackberry jam or rowan jelly, they are ready for you to use.
For more information log on to Smallholder magazine – www.smallholder.co.uk or find the magazine in the newsagents and in selected WH Smiths and Tescos.
Words and photographs by Liz Wright.
Liz's latest books 'Self-sufficiency: A Practical Guide for Modern Living' has just been published and is available from Amazon. Another book, 'Keeping Pet Ducks' will be published shortly and is available to pre-order from Amazon.
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