To worm or not to worm .....

Being first time flock owners, we have sought a lot of guidance from books, magazine, videos, online and friends and most of them seem to say that worming your flock should be a routine part of their care and we were up for that although it is apparently quite tricky – getting the weight and therefore the dosage correct, getting the sheep to co-operate, actually getting it down their gullet not their windpipe  – it wasn’t going to be an easy task. The worming liquid is quite expensive too and getting the correct one for our small flock was going to be expensive as the minimum amount we could buy would be a litre and we only have three sheep. And then there is the debate of drench over injection ......

Years ago I really wanted to be a vet. I was quite enthused so my Mum took me along to have a chat with our vet. It soon became clear that I was not academic enough to get the qualifications that were needed to get me to vet uni so that idea fizzled out into the ether. It has occurred to me that being a flock owner will actually give me the opportunity to look after animals in a way that would satisfy that longing to be a vet albeit in a very small way.

Can you spot the rabbit?

We struck upon the idea that what we needed to do with our sheep was a faecal egg count. OK. I found a nice laboratory online that would sell us the kit and included in the price was the egg count. An egg count is where a small poop sample is examined under the microscope and the number of eggs from parasites are counted and therefore determined whether to be a problem or not. The kit came as two zip lock bags and ten (yes, 10) blue plastic gloves. I eagerly read the instructions that were included and established that I needed to collect 10 samples from the sheep, pop them into the bags with the gloves (5 in each bag), fill the paperwork and put it in the post. Marvellous. Timing was everything here as I could see that putting the samples in the post after the last collection on Saturday (around lunchtime) could mean that they would be festering in the post box until late Monday. So come one Monday morning I summed the courage to do this collection. Was this like being a vet? I completed the paperwork first, something which turned out to be a good idea as it meant that I could get them away to the post quicker. I wrote on the bags first, again something which would have been trickier once they were ‘full’. I put 5 blue gloves in one pocket, one on the left hand and 4 in the other so I knew when to change collection bags. All was good and away I went.

Possibly a different rabbit or the same one

Luckily we only have sheep in the field and the occasional rabbits. It is amazing how similar everything looks when you are searching for a fresh sample. How much was a sample? A handful? Just a few ‘bits’? Sheep poop has been described in our household as chocolate raisins and we have been blessed with sheep that have had good digestive habits so I was collecting chocolate raisins, but finding ten lots?!? It then occurred to me that I should try to get a fresh sample from each sheep even though it was to be tested as a group. Standing around in a field in late September waiting for a sheep to poop is not such a bad way to spend an hour and it occurred to me that it probably wouldn’t be a vet who would be doing this job but his student. I was duly rewarded eventually by each sheep getting the urge but as I lurched towards them with an outstretched blue gloved hand, they do have a tendency to run for it, leaving a trail of precious fresh poop lost in the long grass. I found that it was distinguishable from the old stuff because it was still warm. I know, its all in the details.

Realising that collecting ten samples by this method was going to take me beyond the post time, I set about collecting from their sleeping area, a rich source although not necessarily all sheep. Very quickly one bag was full and so I switched to another pocket. The second bag started to fill up until I had just one glove left ... I could have done with a spare so that I didn’t have to do everything one handed. Two bags full and zipped, I was back inside as bemused sheep looked on and I was eager to get my bounty into the post. I then had the idea of double bagging the samples with a bigger zip bag and stuffed the lot into the pre-paid posting bag along with the paperwork. Hand cleaning took on a whole new meaning that day. I had identified the best (earliest collected) post box and posted my samples with just minutes to spare before the collection. Phew!

To my surprise and delight the laboratory didn’t ask me about any rogue rabbit readings that they may have found or about the amount of each sample that I managed to collect. Instead the email that arrived the next day said that they had a very low infection of all the expected parasites, so we concluded, no worming necessary. We will monitor the situation (do another one in a few months) but this time I will have eleven gloves.

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

Our orchard of apples and pears

I LOVE autumn although some would still call this late summer, there is definitely a feeling of it being a season of mists and mellow fruitfulness. The mornings are cooler and darker and we are generally being greeted now with the sunrise as I am seeing my better half off to work.

In the polytunnel the cooler evenings have put paid to the cucumbers although they haven’t been a huge success. They are difficult to grow and the temperature swings tend to play havoc with the tender plants. We have definitely used this year to experiment with the plants in the tunnel and have already drawn up a list of ‘mistakes’ or learning opportunities (being an ex-teacher) that we can put right next year. 

Rampant squashes

Desperate to grow brassicas, the cabbages were devoured by caterpillars in the tunnel. The purple sprouting and the brussels have all been stripped bare by the fuzzy monsters but I have been assured by others that the plants may come back as the colder days see an end to their life cycle. They could also be grown outside next year. Also facing eviction next year are the squashes. With just 3 plants, we have seen one bed turn into a matted jungle of leaves and yellow flowers. We appear to have an abundance of male flowers, something which following some rapid research is quite normal and patience will bring the female flowers in due course. I have hacked back the foliage to reveal the flowers and in an effort to restrict their growth to just one bed but it is an uphill battle. Once the female flowers appear, I can tailor the plants even more to their space, or at least that is the plan.

Three San Marzano tomatoes and a Roma for comparison

The San Marzano tomatoes are finally showing their class and producing the most enormous red, juicy tomatoes of all time. The taste great and cook really well. We have made sauces and passata out of the them and they are one of the main ingredients in any self-respecting chutney. They do seem to take longer to grow than the Roma tomatoes but it is well worth the wait. The hanging baskets of Tumbling Tom cherry tomatoes were a moderate success too as long as they were in the spray of the overhead watering system.

Cluckingham Palace is finally finished

Five nest boxes and a big 'people' door

The chicken house was completed yesterday to the extent that the chickens were allowed access to their new accommodation. This is my husband’s own design which is off the ground to allow the chickens access underneath for shade and shelter from the rain. It has a large people door for cleaning access, five nest boxes and two roosting perches. It has been covered with thicker wood than is normally found on chicken houses and has a corrugated bitumen roof to keep the weather out. It will have a draw-bridge style access ramp when finally finished as the current on is only temporary. I feel that it needs some mesh ‘windows’ but for now, its finished. 

Light Sussex cockerel checking out the accommodation

We have managed to rehome one of our Light Sussex cockerels which brings its own feelings of success as these were my first batch of eggs hatched out at Easter. His brother is currently enjoying being top 'dog' for a while longer. We hope to find him a new home too as our six Araucanas are gradually reaching maturity and there has to be a cockerel among them just by the law of averages. 

 

Many 'Firsts' and a Best In Show!

Oh dear. I failed to blog in July so I had better try to get two done in August.

The sheep are getting bigger, and heavier. They have enjoyed the outdoor life, sleeping under the stars with all the grass they could wish for. The poly tunnel is stuffed to the brim with vegetables and we are still expanding our chicken flock. The final batch of Araucana eggs hatched 5 out of 6 but as with this breed, we have no idea what sex they are and probably won’t until they either start crowing or laying eggs. I have mapped out their age on the calendar and have found that we probably won't know that until next year. But all in all, we should have 19 chickens. That has led to the construction of the BIG chicken house. We saw some interesting designs for chicken houses at the Suffolk Show this year but were generally unhappy with the thickness and quality of the wood used. As a result the construction of the BIG house has begun in earnest to accommodate our growing number of chickens. The current accommodation has 9 (including the two cockerels) with a potential additional ten still in the ‘pipeline’.

So many lettuce

In July this corner of Essex has 3 consecutive village shows and our local one (prior to the move) was the Tillingham Handicraft and Horticultural Show. This is a grand event with two marquees, one for handicraft and one for horticultural, a parade, tug of war, grand prize draw – all the usual stuff. I was particularly interested in entering our produce from the poly tunnel into the horticultural competition, but for the first year, as an outsider. Tillingham boasts many good growers but the outsiders class isn’t usually too well supported, so I might stand a chance. The schedule was feverishly pawed over and numbers of items duly noted. The entrants have to state their intention to enter on the Wednesday and Thursday before the event on Saturday. Those few days can make all the difference to the size or quality of a vegetable so I always enter as many classes as possible in the hope that things will come good by the day. I entered 15 classes but only managed to find enough quality vegetables for 9. It might be enough. As a previous winner of various trophies, I was invited along to help with the entries on the Thursday night and having said that I wouldn’t be entering anything in the handicraft sections, managed to make/find enough jams, chutneys and curds to make a sizable entry for the Cooking trophy. I like making these things as I think it helps to capture the flavours of the summer and brighten the winter months.

Saturday came and I gathered all my entries from the poly tunnel and kitchen. Unfortunately overnight there had been quite a violent storm and the ancient handicraft marquee was ripped to shreds. The remaining structure was deemed to be dangerous and was dismantled before the entrants arrived. Arrangements were hurriedly made and a new location was established to receive the entries ... handicraft in the horticultural marquee, horticultural entries in the village hall. Plans were in place to replace the handicraft marquee next year anyway, but I have fond memories of helping with the erection of the huge handicraft marquee. Shame.

When you want to see a red card

Entries safely installed in place, carefully arranged and labelled, the entrants have to retire from the marquees (and village hall) and let the judges do their job. Then the wait begins. The Show opens to the public at 2pm and I was back in the village around 4pm. First visit .... the horticultural section. Many Seconds and Thirds ... and one First for two lettuce. Hmm. Not enough to win anything but not a bad showing. The winner had many Firsts and I was left with the thought .... I’ll get you next year!!

It was a different story in the Cooking section. I won Firsts for most of my entries with the only exception being Four Cheese Scones which won a Second. That’s ok ... I don’t like cheese scones anyway. The real shock was a large white card which said Best In Show for my lemon curd. That was brilliant!! I frequently make lemon curd to use up some of the eggs and have perfected the recipe for just two jars - one normally gets given away and we consume the other one. Sweet!! The Best In Show has its own trophy and I was surprised to see my name already on it from 2002 - having racked my brains I think it was for a jar of strawberry jam, but that was 13 years ago and could be wrong.

So life in the poly tunnel continues – post Flower Show. The tomatoes are starting to ripen and I have constructed a drying rack for the purposes of sun-dried tomatoes. We have grown Roma and San Marzano. We have grown Romas before but San Marzano are supposed to be the best Italian tomatoes in the world. Having done some research, they are what Roma were bred from but they are relatively slow growing and take longer to ripen. But they do produce large, rounded, juicy tomatoes ... if they ever go red. We have also grown cucumbers, blue chillies and aubergines. Long may the summer continue and these things all get to maturity so that real fun of harvesting, pickling, chutney and cider making can begin!

Decisions, decisions

Shade is always welcome

So aiming for a minimum of one entry per month, I had better write something on here.  The lambs are growing and are now off the bottle. They have a fair space of grass to graze on which includes some trees for shade and, although we have had a few escape attempts, they seem pretty content. They are Easy care by name and seem so by nature.

The chickens are growing with two more batches hatched out. In addition to our one Light Sussex cross female with two Light Sussex males (urgh), we have hatched out another Light Sussex cross female who looks very much like the Legbar that was the cross, a maran which is possibly a female and a donated Old English Game bantam which is looking like a male. His future is very much open to debate as he is only bantam we have and might need a step stall to mate with the females in the rest of the flock. He was donated to us as a solo successful hatching that was lonely and in need of company. Then we moved onto Araucanas. We purchased six hatching eggs from a stand at the Suffolk Show but were still a little disappointed that only two successfully hatched. That gave me an idea to hatch a second batch of Araucanas from eBay, then whatever we get from the first and second batch wouldn’t be related and we could breed from them.

Treacle the maran chick, possibly female with
Toffee the legbar chick under the heater

The whole debate about what to do with the male chickens rattles on as our two Light Sussex males get close to maturity. We had a cockerel and the novelty soon wore off as he became increasingly aggressive towards us until he was finally dispatched and processed for the freezer. Should the next two meet with the same fate? Do we need a cockerel in the hen house? The girls will lay eggs regardless, but the two eggs that we hatched both were successful and were females so having a cockerel on site gives you a good chance of hatching out healthy chicks. Decisions, decisions.

 

One of the raised beds in the poly tunnel

In the poly tunnel we had added several more beds with the additional problem of what to fill them with. The first one was filled with garden soil, which is fine but we are limited to how much spare soil we have. The next two were filled with 2 tonnes of expensive compost purchased over the internet. Then a casual conversation with a friend resulted in several tonnes of well-aged manure being deposited on the drive for a fraction of the cost of the expensive internet stuff. It needed some sifting to remove various foreign bodies – glass, brick, plastic, an arrow, a pair of broken sunglasses, a child’s toy, wood and metal. It then had to wheel-barrowed around the house to the poly tunnel to fill up another three raised beds. As fast as that was happening, I was planting out all the seedlings that had germinated and been potted on and on in anticipation of some growing space.

Produce from the poly tunnel

The watering system has been a god send and the hosepipe which has been annexed to it easily caters for any plants which have been placed outside.  Life is good with daily harvests from the tunnel. We have had so far: strawberries, potatoes, lettuce, chard, beetroot, onions, spring onions, radishes, courgettes, rocket and herbs. Thoughts turn to what to grow afterwards and some pre-planning is required to get sowing so that they plants are ready to fill up spaces as they occur. According to the many books we have on the subject of growing in a poly tunnel, we should be able grow something it all year round if we plan ahead. We might not use all the beds during the winter allowing for the rest to be reinvigorated ready for next year whilst just growing things in the central beds.

We are still learning lessons about spacings and pests but with the weather warm and a slight breeze, if we get too hot, sitting in the tunnel with the overhead sprayers on is very pleasant indeed.

 

And there was life!!

I can’t believe that it has only been a month since my last blog as so much has happened.

Using some of the scrap wood from around the place we have constructed a raised bed. It was filled with soil from around the garden and then filled with some of the many onions waiting to be planted out. This is part of my cunning plan to confuse the rabbits by masking the smell of other plants with a ring of onions. We aren’t really expecting many rabbits in the polytunnel but as the weather warms up, the huge sliding end doors seem to be more open than closed and it would only take one opportunist rabbit to devastate all our hard work. We have since added tomato plants, beetroot, radishes and spring onions to the bed. But of course, once you start planting things you need to start watering them too. We always had planned to have water in the polytunnel so that seemed to be the obvious next job to do.

The First Tunnel polytunnel came with an overhead spray water system which is fed by the mains. This is a necessity as we need good water pressure to achieve a good spray coverage. Pipes run along both side via the cropping bars and each quarter has an isolation valve to control which areas receive water. So we fitted the sprayers over our new raised bed. This is when we found the spray shadow is rather bigger than the bed and very quickly pots and containers populated the area in the middle of the tunnel. Two more raised beds have been created from some very nice wood purchased for the job but we now have the problem of finding enough soil/compost to fill them with.

Light Sussex and one Legbar egg

Now I don’t really think we can call ourselves smallholders without livestock. We have had chickens for seven years now but were looking to expand our flock. I was fortunate to receive an incubator for my birthday in March and the very next day it was filled with some fertilised eggs which we sent for in the post. I fancied Light Sussex hens so six were duly deposited into the incubator along with a blue Legbar egg from our girls, fertilised by Henry the cockerel. We waited, we candled and after 21 days three of the seven eggs including the blue egg hatched out. One of the fabulous things about Light Sussex is that they are auto sexing which means you can tell what has hatched out by the chickens colouring. 

Chicks in the brooder

We had another two cockerels. More excitingly, you can do the same with Legbars and the blue egg had produced a hen, which we have called Henrietta.  After a brief spell in the incubator, they were moved to the brooding cage which we created from a dog crate placed in one of the spare bedrooms. They have now moved onto outside in one of our spare chicken runs and are big and very white.

Lambs in a dog crate

Around the same time, we had an exciting email from the Essex Smallholders Group that Kit Speakman would have some orphaned easy care lambs up for grabs. Now this was an opportunity too good to miss. I phone Kit and placed an order for three lambs. I also ordered bottles and ewe replacement milk to arrive all in good time. It was around the Easter weekend  but the postal service let us down horrendously with the delivery of the order for lamb care items. Kit was very understanding but we came to a decision that we would drive to find the necessary items for sale and then pick up our lambs. This all happened in a bit of a blur and we were suddenly in charge of three lambs!

Lambs enjoying some company outside

Memories of bottle feeding babies came flooding back with Kit’s words still echoing in my ears that you don’t need to feed them at night as you could get them into the habit of expecting a night feed. It also soon became clear that I couldn’t feed three by myself and the family were recruited as extra hands when it came to feeding times. We collected them and then subsequently kept the lambs in yet another dog crate (very useful things) until it became clear that these lambs were growing fast. I purchased a heat lamb in case we needed it but also purchased an indoor sheep pen from Solar Recyclables. This is a clip together pen made from recycled plastic. It came with a heat lamb fixing and it all very cleanable. Superb! The lambs were moved from the crate to the pen and seem much happier. It also soon became clear that we were going to need straw, lots of straw. Luckily the homestead already receives a hay delivery from a local supplier and an order was placed for twenty bales of straw. Sorted!!

Ronnie the lamb meeting Petra the cat

All of this seems ages ago now. The lambs have consumed 20kg of ewe milk replacement. They are too heavy to carry around and are walked to their outside space using dog harnesses and leads. I think we may have found the new sport of lamb racing!Their tails have fallen off and testicles have been found dotted around the place. We have created a safe enclosure for them outside and they are now spending hours outside although they haven’t managed over night yet. We recently discovered that at night we have a predator entering our land. The hen house took an attack which resulted in two dead hens. The back door of the house had been ripped from its hinges and bits of bluebell were left strewn around the area. One of the legbars was completely gone. We would like to think that Henry the cockerel was on hand to fend off any further attacks but on further investigation, our attacker was most definitely a badger who only attacked hen houses for food. The bluebell had been partially eaten and he had taken the legbar for his young. It’s all part of the circle of life etc, but still annoying. The hen house was duly fortified and the electric fence, which was in place, is now fully operational.  All this said, I am reluctant to leave the lambs outside until they can defend themselves.

We have also had our first harvest from the polytunnel and a very proud moment it was for all concerned. It was two long pointy radishes which didn't go very far but were a welcome addition to the menu, but from small beginning ...

  

And then one Monday morning ...

Door frames and base rail fitted

Things have moved along apace since my last blog. Only working at the weekends, you find that you are restricted by the weather and being in such an exposed site, it was invariably windy. We managed to get the door frames up and secure at both ends and the side and base rails fitted. The rails work as a floating system being fixed to brackets on the rib poles.

Side coverings on a not so windy day

Suddenly one Monday morning, hubby returned from his usual pilgrimage to the train station as there weren't any trains for the next few hours. Coincidentally, there was also much lighter wind. After a few phone calls to work, he arranged the day off and suddenly we were fitting coverings to the polytunnel. First up, the side plastic was fitted to the rails on both sides. Next green ventilation netting was fitted over that, again to the side rails. It was getting exciting! Finally the huge piece of plastic was unfurled on the grass, 48 x about 30 feet. We fed this up and over the ribs where it was fixed to the side rails on both sides. Next came the easing of the fullness around the doors, something which is usually done when fitting sleeves to a shirt, but it is basically the same thing. We had a polytunnel ... although it was more like a wind tunnel by the following weekend.

Main cover on but not trimmed 

With the brisk North wind whistling through the tunnel, the next job was to cover and fit the doors along with finishing the plastic on the north and south ends. The floating side rails were movable to provide some tension in the main polytunnel plastic. Clever but hard work as you had to undo the clamps holding the rails to the ribs, push the rail down and do the clamps back up. At one point that was taking three of us, two pushing and one doing. The excess plastic was trimmed back to the side rails, neating it all up.

So much better with doors

The side ventilation system comprises the netting and a neat roller system. The bottom of the plastic was attached to a 48 foot metal pole and then rolled up at one end.  I was amazed that it worked so well. This lets the air in through the netting which acts as a wind break. With the bottom of the side plastic being attached to a base rail, this system was installed on both sides. And there we have it ... a polytunnel  - completed ... well nearly.

The poly tunnel rises!!

When we left our house of 15 years in Tillingham, we left behind a very nice greenhouse and an equally nice shed. It was a conscious decision based on the fact that they had stood firm for most of that time and removing them would probably seen them fall apart during the move so we decided to leave them for the new owners. Both the greenhouse and the shed had fitted their space well and were the biggest that we could get, so when it came to thinking about something to have at our new space, thoughts turned towards a poly tunnel. Burnham marshes are very exposed and its virtually always windy. Whatever we had would have to stand whatever the weather would bring but would also provide us with a 'controlled' growing space. A lot of research was undertaken into poly tunnels and we decided to get a 16 x 48 foot poly tunnel from First Tunnels. It is the smallest of their commercial tunnels but it is engineered to a higher standard than the domestic tunnels. The order was placed with as many attachments and gizmos as were available because we are probably only going to do this once. Shortly afterwards the 'poly tunnel of a thousand pieces' arrived. 

The site was cleared and the position of
the poles measured and roughly marked.

Having had some experience of flat pack building, the first thing to do is familiarize oneself with all the parts .... or at least their existence. There were straight poles, curved poles, fat poles and thin poles, brackets, bags of bolts, wood, pipes, polythene, netting, screws and nails. The first thing to be done after the site had been cleared and made as flat as possible, was to measure, measure, measure the positions of the 18 foundation poles. These were just shoved into the ground at their approximate position ready to be dug out.

One of the 18 foundation poles and plates being buried.

Each of these had to be dug out and a pole complete with brackets and fixing plate buried into the ground. It was much easier to say then do and it took several back-breaking weekends to complete. The position of each was measured and checked over and over again to ensure they were in exactly the right place. We also checked that they were the same height as all this would affect whether the rest of the components would fit together or not.

The rib poles are finally up and fixed to the foundation poles

One exciting day in February we were finally ready to start erecting the curved part of the poly tunnel. Nine ribs were slotted into the foundation poles and fixed together. We could finally see just how big this structure was going to be. It was much taller than I have envisaged but then there were many more poles still be added. One of the really clever things about the way these poles go together is the fixing screw with starts life as a drill bit but once it has penetrated the metal become a screw to hold the poles together. Genius!

Triple ridge poles, crop bars and storm braces to give rigidity

Did I mention that this tunnel was over engineered? The next poles to be deployed were the three ridge poles which connect the ribs together. These were aligned visually as they would be seen from inside the tunnel and would be a constant irritation if not straight. Stretching across the top of the each of the internal ribs were added cropping bars and storm braces, giving the structure more rigidity and places to hang baskets. These were connected to the ridge poles with even more poles and diagonal poles added to the front and rear sections. 

Staging down the right hand side, but no top

We had the option of staging along the right hand side and now was the time to add that. We didn't fit the end pieces as we felt that would impede the construction of the doors and can easily be fitted later. One of my criticisms of this tunnel is that the top of the staging is not supplied ... why not? Whatever you find to put on top of the staging will have to be 6 foot long to reach from pole to pole. They do provide brackets to fix the top to the staging supports, whatever one chooses to use. 

Working with wood now to construct the doors

With most of the poles now used, we have finally come to the doors. The tunnel runs north south so we have opted to have sliding doors (its very windy) at each end. The doors come as packs of pre-cut wood and each one had to be joined with long bolts and the joints strengthened with nail plates. There were four to do but it did mean that we had the luxury of working in some shelter for a while. Once these were constructed, the next job was to construct the door frames. 

Door frame added to the North end 

These did require some cutting of the lengths of wood with more digging as each door post was concreted into the ground and supported by more clamps and cross beams as metal met wood. We started with the north end doors as these will be probably opened less as the access will be through the south end doors. 

Two more beds outside the tunnel

Whilst all this has been going on, two additional beds have been measured, marked and dug from the ground to the left of the tunnel. These are my rabbit experiment. The site has a rampant rabbit problem and I am trying to deter the rabbits by growing onions and garlic to hide the fact that cabbages are growing in the beds. They don't like onions and I am hoping that the smell will put them off. I am pleased to say that today, all the digging has now been completed and the planting of onions continues in earnest to get them established before the cabbages come out. Without the poly tunnel being ready I have had to adopt the 'table by the window in the lounge' method for propagation of seeds. The red flags mark corners and other hazards.

Next job in the poly tunnel construction: south door frame and side ventilation netting

We have our reasons

In this blog I want to look at the reasons for wanting to start a smallholding. 

It is a dream I share with my husband, although it is probably more like a passion, that we have become more and more reliant on someone else making our food available for us to buy. We have very little control over the food other than a choice of which sort to buy and from which shop but it is technically all the same, with organic available at a premium. Whilst we are very lucky in this country to have the Red Tractor logo to help us be aware of the origins of our food, it isn't on everything. I always try to buy locally produced food and then British. As a kid growing up in Stevenage, food came from Tescos, bacon came from Holland and lamb came from New Zealand. It was something we were told and it wasn't until much later that I began to ask, but don't we have pigs and sheep in this country? It was a very effective marketing campaign. I was disgusted much later to find that beef routinely comes from Uruguay. Really?? How can that be energy efficient? I have become aware of food miles. We are fortunate enough to be awake at 5.45am, listening to Radio 4, Farming Today and a constant barrage of stories from struggling farmers who have to compete with lamb from New Zealand and pork from everywhere, tumbling dairy prices, horse meat in burgers, pests and diseases plaguing their very existence. Instead of making me want to steer well clear, it has made me want to find out more.

Growing up in the 60s in a new town was far removed of the war time childhoods of my parents. They were both from London and evacuated to the countryside for their own safety. Looking into the lives of people during the war, I was fascinated with the Dig for Victory campaign whereby people were encouraged to grow vegetables wherever they could as a source of food. We were an island under siege as much of the food we imported was being attacked by the enemy. People did what they could. In the 70s the Good Life appeared on our tellies. Our household were regular viewers as Tom and Barbara dug up their suburban garden to become a smallholding. It looked completely insane at the time but it was all setting the seed of things to come. My parents duly dug up the lawn and grew potatoes and tomatoes for a year or two before it was turned back to lawn.

During our first residency here 18 years ago I did have a go at growing some vegetables, beetroot and onions I seem to recall. It was good and I also remember it being the time of my first attempts at jam making, which were very runny. It was a poor attempt but it was a start. There was also a problem with rampant rabbits something which we plan to address.

Our sheltered garden in Tillingham with
greenhouse, abundance of fruit trees and covered chicken run

When we moved out to Tillingham one of the first things to fall through our letter box was a Flower Show schedule. It was early February and July seemed an age away. When the day grew closer there was a flurry of organised activity as huge marquees were erected and plots marked out on the village playing field. I found a few handicraft items to put into the competition being held in one of the marquees and to my astonishment, I won .... half a cup!! It was more of a cup than I had ever won before but I was hooked. In the subsequent years I never had to share a cup again and won most of the cups available in the handicraft marquee from cooking to photography, handicraft and wine making. In the other marquee were the veg and flowers ....... I managed to win the vegetable cup a few times but the flower cup was to allude me. 

Also during this time Hugh Fernley-Whittingstall started his River Cottage series. It was the modern day Good Life. Here was someone who knew nothing about the countryside turning his back on city life and attempting to scratch out an existence, in front of the cameras, with his only skills being as an excellent chef. It was all very contagious. The Jimmy's Farm a little later was pretty much the same thing. The Victorian Farmer, Wartime Farmer and Edwardian Farmer were three series which fascinated me more, especially the Wartime Farmer as it wasn't that far removed from where we are today with the main change being machines to do the hard labour, rather than heavy horses. In these series three historians attempt to live out a year in the life of farmer set at various times. Superb.

About two years ago we heard of the East Essex Smallholders Group. Their meetings were fairly local and monthly. It was at a crucial point for me as I was also thinking of joining the Womens Institute but unfortunately, the meetings clashed on the same day, so we opted for EESG. They are a friendly bunch with a few familiar faces so I felt immediately at home.They have been a constant source of inspiration with Apple Days, venison butchery, pig and lambing talks, farm visits, country shows and an excellent supply of Norfolk Bronze turkeys. 

So we were set. We decided to create a smallholding ... somewhere we control what goes into our food, what kind of life our animals have and what they eat. We have had chickens for a few years which have provided us with eggs. They have been hybrids, ex-batts and pedigree birds. They have been free from fox attacks (thus far) and  

diseases. We can do this. I can grow vegetables, turn them into wine, jam, chutney and cider. We can keep chickens. We visited the Suffolk Show for several years checking out breeds of sheep and goats and I have been on courses about keeping sheep and goats. Brilliant. Where? Fortunately my inlaws were still living in the remote farmhouse just outside Burnham on Crouch. They have spent a lot of time and energy making the house more energy efficient and lower maintenance over the years. They also have 2.5 acres that they were prepared to divide. They have two horses and the space has been divided so that they still have grazing. I have no interest in horses as I find them a little scary and having had a few incidences with horses, tend to keep my distance. With their advancing years, it seemed the obvious choice to move in with them and use the space to realise our dream.

Our first step is to recreate what we can do already but in our new space, on a much bigger scale. We have our Mission Statement ..... to be self-sufficient in food and energy, and to have as little impact on water usage as possible. We had photo voltaic panels at our old house. Luckily at our new house, they were installed around the same time as ours so benefiting from the higher feed in tariff. Also we have from a small wind turbine at our new space. It is always windy here so that's paying its way. To cover the water aspect of our mission statement, we plan to add rainwater tanks to every down pipe. With a huge demand from the fruit and veg we hope to cover this using rainwater. Phew!! Lots to do. Better get started.

From small ideas ....

I have been blogging for a short while about knitting and weaving and such like, when we were fortunate enough to move house to live with my inlaws. They had moved to a remote house just outside Burnham on Crouch, Essex nearly 18 years ago and at the time, we moved in with them too. Things didn't work out then. We had two children under 5 and two dogs which didn't get on with the inlaws dogs, etc. and after two years, we moved out. But now we are back. The children are now much bigger, the two dogs have passed away and been replaced by one dog, four cats and six chickens. The oldest of the cats was a young cat when we moved out so he has returned too. 

Henry the light Sussex cockerel

So this blog will be about our plans for the space we now have. During our time away we have learned how to make sausages, bacon, cheese, wine, cider and butter. We want to use our space to graze animals for milk, fleece and meat. We are blessed by a small orchard to which we have already added 12 cider trees. We have also been given Henry, a light Sussex cockerel who has sent the girls running each morning. They were starting to look a bit fat but he will get them trim and fit.

During our time away, we joined the East Essex Smallholders Group who have been and constantly are a great inspiration and support for us. These are like minded people who are themselves at various stages of smallholding. I would suggest anyone who is looking to do something like this to seek our their local group.

Plans are already afoot for the erection of a polytunnel. We have a large space to play with and so we opted for a 16 x 48 foot polytunnel from First Tunnels. This is a commercial sized tunnel but it comes with industrial fittings - something we will need in our exposed, windswept location. More of that in future blogs. 

So follow me on a journey of blood, sweat and tears to our smallholding dream. There will be laughter, there will be mistakes and there will definitely be sausages and bacon.