A review of 2015

Blogging is a funny old thing. You don’t know what to say or you save it all up until you think you have enough, or you have so much to say, you desperately trying to not make it sound like the rantings of a crazy cat lady. Having said that, I originally wrote this blog in November and stashed it away in my drafts folder for a future posting .... two months later!! But it does mean that I can add a bit more to it.

Having gone through a new year, this blog has to be a review last year. The polytunnel has been a HUGE success. It is a steep learning curve but built upon what we already knew from our meagre vegetable plot in Tillingham.  We have had a few failures and certainly there will be things we will do differently this year.

Polytunnel in early construction.
In February, if it's sunny - it's cold too.

 The Tunnel
When we purchased our tunnel from First Tunnels around this time last year, we got the smallest commercial tunnel available to get the heavy duty ribs so that it would better take the rigours of the extreme weather we have here. Whilst we haven’t had that much in the way of extreme weather yet, I feel it in my bones that it is only a matter of time. We have had high winds of around 50 mph and that was definitely a worry for the tunnel’s expose location, but it has held up well. I have confessed to having pierced the covering plastic with the edge of a seed tray but it was quickly repaired with the tape supplied and it hasn’t given us any problems.

One of my favourite scenes in the polytunnel.
The overhead watering system in action.

We also purchased the watering system with a supply coming from the outside tap at the house. This has been a god-send as it quickly waters whichever area of the tunnel you select. Owing to the low water pressure, we can only water one quarter of the tunnel at a time but with the use of a timer, we are able to regulate which areas are watered and for how long.

The vegetables We have grown everything we like: chillies, carrots, onions, brussel sprouts, purple sprouting broccoli, tomatoes, peppers, spinach, chard, squash, cucumbers, beans, courgettes, herbs, aubergines, lettuce and included new residents such as figs, lemons, peaches and olives. We have also had complete failures in the form of garlic. I don’t know what happened. All the garlic – inside and out failed – a bad batch? 

The cucumbers suffered  from the vast swings in temperature, so probably this year I would be looking at some outside varieties or leaving them completely to someone else here who can grow them better than me. The brassicas probably would be better outside as they take up a huge amount of space and then get eaten by caterpillars. They have recovered now that the caterpillars have gone but probably better outside.

The pests In addition to the caterpillars, we have been visited by rabbits, rats and the occasional bird. We were able to shoo away the rabbits but the rats are far more cunning. The very last straw was when my favoured aubergine plant looked a little peaky. I decided to dig it up and put it into a pot, only to find that it had no roots! I invested in some rat bait boxes and have been quietly winning the battle ever since. We have also had a collection of birds visiting the tunnel and I have no objection to them other than making sure that they weren’t shut in overnight. They were attracted to the tunnel by the feast of bugs that have pollinated the various crops and all have been welcome (except the caterpillars). I did wonder if the chickens would like some caterpillars and set about collecting about 50 in a very short amount of time. Upon being presented with the little green monsters, the chickens didn’t think they were very appertising – it was probably the green ‘blood’ oozing out of them. It was a shame as I had a plentiful supply.

Fabulous fresh vegetables picked from our polytunnel.

This year We should be able to get started sooner as the beds will be already in place. I have managed to clear one the bed of crops and we have set about improving the soil. This was the first bed that we constructed and it was filled with basically garden mud, hence it is called the mud bed. Whatever we can put into that soil will make it better. Beds number 2 and 3 (in the order they were constructed) were filled with some very expensive bought in compost. They have performed quite well and will probably get a different dressing each once they are clear. The rest have Maurice’s Marvellous Muck, the plentiful mountain of compost that was brought in by a friend. This was used in just about all of the rest of the growing areas, including outside. It has fared well and will just need a little bit of attention when the beds are emptier. Last year I hastily constructed a cold frame within the polytunnel to bring on the plants until the beds were ready. This might be an idea again if the weather is too cold to plant up.

Hopefully we should be able to continue to grow ‘something’ all through the winter but it really all depends how severe the winter is. The watering system will be disconnected soon as we are down to watering once or twice a week. As the beds are cleared, I could probably manage with a watering can but I am concerned about the hose getting frost damage.

Sheep We have increased our flock with the addition of another female lamb, roughly the same age as our existing flock. The plan is to fatten up the boys and have them processed while the girls get more mature, possibly get in two more orphaned lambs (definitely boys this time) to fatten through the summer. Then in the autumn get the girls pregnant for the following spring.

The range of coloured eggs from our flock.

Chickens We currently have 15.5 chickens, with the half being a bantum cockerel called Nugget. He is a lonely boy who needs a flock of his own so we might get him some suitable girls  and set up his love shack in our spare house and run. We are currently averaging six eggs a day with the possibility of 12/13 eggs a day in the spring!!  

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.

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.