"Cows Are In The Meadow" (back to weeding on my veg plot)

  Howdy Folks.  

That picture was taken this merry morn (Monday) of my cattle and Bracken the Shetland pony.  Aren't digital camera's amazing?  Remember when you used to drop your film off at Boots the chemists and some helpful assistant would say:

"They'll be back next week."  

Now thanks to technology everything is almost instant.  I went into Argos in Killarney and purchased my digital camera.  The reason I chose the certain model was because:  

"It was red."  

I then proceeded to ask the helpful Argos lady:

"What film does it take?"

Moving swiftly on.  Any way the weather is brilliant at the moment and the cattle and Bracken the Shetland pony are happily grazing and looking at the view down Bantry Bay.  The field in the background was sprayed the other week with MCPA and all the rushes seem to be dead.  Well I have tried to cutting them and sought organic advice yet it's all been to no avail - so I killed them.  I would never use chemicals near the vegetables but I had to do something with the rushes.  You just can't win.  I keep saying that don't I?

Here's a view of my vegetable plot this morning again.  I have cleared the overgrown onion bed (complete with onions -"No?") with my trusty Azada hoe and gave the weeds to the pigs and ducks and forked over the soil and spread a wheelbarrow of farmyard manure over the soil.  

That lad could do with some Grecian 2000.

Me filling a bucket of grass and weeds while my Azada hoe takes a rest.  That one is called: The 'Crocodile".  Chillington tools make them.  I feel like quoting that old Remington razor advert:  

"I was that impressed.  I bought the company."

They  (Azada hoes) are superb for clearing weeds and grassland.  However, you have to supply the elbow grease and back pain.  Why did God put the ground down there?  

Later this week I will hopefully (if I can get them) plant some 'Japs' or Winter onions.  They are brilliant and grow through snow, rain and ice.  They are normally ready to harvest around June, but you can pick them when ever you want.  Go on give them a go folks.  They are really excellent.  

I'll be back later in the week.  See you then.

A Smallholders Ale Cellar.

That's my stash of Scottish Heavy Bitter resting in our Utility room (Boot room if you're posh) and waiting for me to drink.  That picture was taken last week and quite a few of the bottles are no longer full of bitter.  I have attempted brewing ale in the past but never been really successful.  However due to encouragement from readers of this blog, I have finally managed to grasp the nettle and know how to make a reasonable pint of bitter.  

If you have never attempted to make your own bitter or lager or stout or mild.  Here's a fool proof way of making some of your very own ale.

Get yourself down to a home brew shop or somewhere like Wilkinsons.  Then get yourself a fermentation bin, an airlock, a beer making kit (I prefer bitter), some sugar, sterilize everything and just follow the instructions.  A week later or so your beer will have stopped sending bubbles up and it will be ready for bottling.  So sanitize your bottles and fill them with your grog.  Then leave them for a few days (about a week to ten days) and you will be ready to drink it.  Of course I don't wait that long (7 days) and I have to drink a few bottles.

If for some reason you're not happy with your brew do not despair.  Pour some in a jug and then pour it from an height into a glass and top up with some bought bitter.  I tend to use Theakstons or Newcastle Brown Ale.

C'mon folks.  If I can make my own ale, anybody can.  Plus you will have made yourself forty pints for less than twenty two quid and that's including a bag of sugar.  Not bad eh?

A Cheap Shelter To Keep Our Smallholding Silage Dry (All About Eve:"In The Clouds")

That's 2 photographs of a new shelter we built this weekend to keep the Silage dry and the cattle quite like sticking their heads through the head-feeder and are quite oblivious to any incumbent weather.  The silage shelter is made from 2 metal gates, some box iron and a few corrugated iron sheets.  It cost me eighty Euros to make the shelter in total.  Since this picture was taken the top part above the head feeder is also closed in to stop the silage getting ruined.  We still lose some of it though, with the cattle pulling it and lying on it and once it gets oxygen, the silage seems to decompose very rapidly.  You just can't win can you?

There is still no chance of getting on the vegetable plot so things look very untidy at the moment and wweds are having a field day.  We are still managing to harvest some crops though and if the weather ever books up I will attack the plot with my trusty Azada.  

Talking of the weather or rather a song about it.  I thought I would mention one of my favourite rock bands of the 1980's:  All About Eve.  Think I saw them twice?  Once at Manchester Apollo and once at Glastonbury Festival in 1989.  Julianne Regan is one gorgeous lady. If you think Florence and the Machine is good, check out this lady.  Talk about gypsy Goth.  Here's a video of Julianne and the band  in action at the said Glastonbury Festival in 1989. Oh yeah, the song is: In The Clouds.  I knew there was a link somewhere to the weather.  

Meet Domino Our New Smallholding Mouse and Rat Control Officer.

This is our new cat or even kitten: Domino.  His Sunday name is Dominus.  Which means'Master' in Latin.  So Dominic is our new mouse master.  Regular readers (especially Cumbrian who named him Domino) will know that Alan the cat did a Jenny Agutter (went Walkabout) and he's never been seen for over a fornight.  If you're reading this Alan, please come back, we miss you very much.  There's milk in the fridge and we will give you a slap up feast and you can sleep all day on your favourite cushion like you used to do.

Avian Voices From My Smallholding Chimney.

That's a picture of my front room/lounge (computer room/study) taken this morning.  I built the fireplace myself when we built our dwelling in 2003.  The stones once belonged to an old stable that used to be on the site.  So I decided to recycle the stone and make myself a rustic fire place like you do.  The stone lintel came from one of our fields that I found lying on top of a crumbling wall.  The fireplace cost me nothing except for a bag of cement and some sand that I had left over.

The copper ornaments and horse brasses all came from countless car boot sales in England.  They could do with a polish couldn't they?  I only clean my copper and brass once a year.  I don't mind it looking tarnished and the ageing gives it character.  A very kind couple we know gave us the Stanley stove for nothing.  It was really kind of them.  The flowers in the picture are 'real' plastic.  They never fade like the real one's.

Any road.  We only seem to light the stove above when it's Winter or Christmas.  So it doesn't get used very much.  That's probably why we have got feathered friends chirping down the chimney at the moment.  So we won't be lighting the stove for a while. Anybody know how long I should wait until I can clean the chimney and remove the nest?  I believe that nests are great for carbon dioxide (is it monoxide?) poisoning.  There's always some creature taking up residence in one of the buildings.

Hopefully in my next post I will be showing you a picture of our new field mouse eradicator.  You see we are getting another cat because the field mice often decide to take up residence in the old farmhouse. This is not cricket when this happens and so beginneth a new chapter with another smallholding employee and feline friend.  A saucer of milk and a bit of cat food won't break the bank will it?

See you soon.

Animal, Mineral, Vegetable? Even a chemical free Dock weeder.

 

Greetings folks.  That's a photograph of one of my conversation pieces that I sometimes entertain visitors who visit Northsider Towers.  I bought it from a German gentleman who informed me that it was invented in Germany and Austria during the Second World War.  Mr Hitler and his pals decided to confiscate or even collect any chemicals from the German households and use them for ingredients to drop on the enemy.  

No longer could farmers use artificial fertilizers or weed-killers so they had to go organic or even chemical free.  I am told that smallholders went back to farming methods that most farmers had been using for thousands of years.  

I would love to be an organic smallholder but there is so much red tape and if you want to get any organic knowledge about vegetable growing or keeping organic livestock you have to pay to go on a course or something.  

I haven't used any chemicals on my garden vegetables for nearly twenty years now and never will.  But when it comes to the farming side I'm afraid I have to use some chemicals.  The cattle need dosing for Fluke and Lice and stomach worms.., and the soft rushes seem to be everywhere this year.  So it looks like the chemicals are going to have to be poured into the knapsack sprayer.  You just can't win can you?  

Why is the sun  always shining when I watch England play at Lords?  

See you.

Smallholders Trip To Killarney Part 2 (Wildlife Park visit and poignant thoughts in the supermarket).

The trip to Killarney involved a bit of retail therapy, looking at books, cheap cd's in Tesco and a visit to a Wildlife Park.  One good thing about the bigger towns like Killarney or the city Cork.  You can always purchase most things you want (12 tins of Ravioli, can't get it in West Cork, much too exotic what?) and they are usually cheaper.  You also spend a lot more going in several stores.

We walked in one store and the Irish army (not all of them) was standing outside watching the security vans delivering or collecting money.  It used to worry me when I first came to Ireland and saw real live soldiers carrying real live rifles.  I have often met frightened American tourists looking at the soldiers and saying something like:

"Gee Thelma they've got real shooters and there loaded."

I used to get quite worried myself.  Now all I think is:

"Don't the soldiers look young?"

Must be getting old.

We went in Aldi and stocked up on ground coffee (we won't drink instant) and the like. I walked along the centre aisles looking at paint, fishing tackle etc.  I think the cheap supermarkets are the kind of place that some body pays twenty cents for a can of baked beans and 500 Euros for a 50 inch television or a speedboat.  Not quite but you know what I mean don't you?

I noticed the cheap 'organic' veg flown in from the middle east and a far.  Talk about carbon footprints.  Then I walked passed the body products or what ever they call the shelves where they stock stuff for looking after your body, no not the drinks bit.  My eyes locked on to the hair dye which we used to always bring back for my mum along with the Hovis (a bit of England) and I started welling up inside.  You see my mum passed away in January and I realised the other day shopping, that she will never need the hair dye or Hovis bread again.  It's strange how the little things become so big.  Miss you mum.

Anyway...

We decided to go on a busman's holiday.  We got in the car and set off to see some animals:  Coolwood Wildlife Park.  It's situated a couple miles just along the N22 to Cork.  We found it easily and paid our admission fee. We saw all kinds of animals and they all seemed to be very healthy and very well looked after.

My only complaint or even suggestion would be some kind of transport to take you from the cafe/ ticket office to the wildlife park?  This was a good five or ten minutes walk and not very enjoyable for me because I was wearing a pair of trainers (they call them 'runners' in Ireland) that are a bit too small (I thought I was getting a bargain) and I endured a very  badly blistered heel.  So may I suggest a tractor and trailer with seats or even a horse and cart with seats?  Apart from that it was very good and I would recommend it to other people to take a trip there.

Here's some photographs for you:

See you next week.