"Pig in mud!" Self Sufficiency.

Veg plot

2011-07-15T21:51:00.000+01:00

All winter i planned my veg plot, the pigs lived and pooped on it for a year.... we added huge amounts of farm yard manure... in spring i bought loads of seeds ready to plant, I also planted some out in a cold frame... which was very warm, i bought sad veg plants to revive, chitted my potatoes, all nicely ready to plant.... and my veg plot... mmm well, it looks very green, its self seeded a lovely bumpy lawn.. I'm soo sad about the state of it, i nned help preparing it and digging it, it still isn't ready to plant up... so yesterday i fed the pigs most of the chitted potatoes, and officially gave up.. but i cant, i kept some to plant some where, who knows where.. i decided today , never give up, when i get the poly tunnel up then i can catch up and keep on going through winter... am i delusional ??? mm don't know just cant give up yet, am considering moving the pigs back on and clearing it so as to plant up in autumn ready for next season.. so that's the latest mad plan.....

Also i've discovered how to check who is reading my blog... its real cool in the 1st hour of posting earlier i had 9 vews from the UK, 5 from USA. some from Mexico, France and Germany... so i hope you readers return ,, maybe i should carry on my warbling on, or just take a look on my face book the welsh small holder page and comment just say hello please so it will be a bit more real.... bye... so Bonjour, GUtten targue, Hey there , and Buenous noches!! excuse all those awful spellings please.... xx

ABATTOIR CRUELTY

2011-07-15T17:28:00.001+01:00

HORROR & CRUELTY AT THE LOCAL ABATTOIR....

ABATTOIR HORROR. the other week we took 2 pigs in to bishops castle.. DAYS DROVE.. we watched as the farmers pigs in front of us were kicked & booted severely by the ab man, he at 1 point held on to the roof bars in the trailer back & booted with 2 boots.... he then picked up the back of 1 and thew him out of the trailer... I tried to film it but didn't do good job, so.. we gingerly unloaded our friends precious piggies that we had given him 4 xmas... escorted them in & they ran very willingly, 1 dared to go in the wrorng directon where upon he kicked her in the face.. I nearly killed the man, put in huge complaint, they say its not regular practice....

IT IS UNACCEPTABLE>>>> they have given the guy final written warning and say it will never happen again, they have sent him 4 training .& said he had a bad weekend after being robbed, they phoned me to discuss it seriously & made every attempt to put it right...

i paid £116 to get the meat back & unsure if they can be trusted ... I told them if i was to use them again, i would take my pigs in & not allow there staff near them & i would also be there at the end inspecting there handling, they say they are happy to accommodate me..... i will leave comment 4 u..

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Free range eggs... The super market way.... not my way...

2011-07-15T17:19:00.003+01:00

Egg laying madness, the free range dream, of the big super markets!

IS time to tell you what I think of the super markets free range well all the big names too... We went to a very clean and new looking barn, in the middle of the country side surrounded by fields, 10,000 birds were housed here... all down the one side of the barn they had a metal slatted area, about 15 foot wide, then they had electric fenced off and netted small paddocks, all had no grass on, just dirt and stones with shelters on for rainy days, the chickens all hung out on the metal slats, mostly..outside they had a large metal cattle trailer that was stuffed full of birds, we started to load them, I couldn't believe the birds were in the condition they were, bald and patchy, totally anemic looking, with most of them having no colour to there combs, a lot had, bleeding and saggy vents..~(where the egg come from) one had a slice radiating out from hers, it must have been so pain full to lay, just like an appeasiotamy.. I also have never seen hens bleeding from there vents, and grazed from there too...they were bleeding from being attacked by each other, they were so stressed and panicky... the lady explained they were 12 mnths old, and have to be culled or rehomed at that point due to not being able to carry on.. i thought only battery hens would look so ruff after a period of intensive laying, not, free range birds, I'm not implying there was any cruelty to the birds, just the system I believe to not be as it should...

So what shocked me????

Well meaning, ethical shoppers are being duped into a false sense of security and helping this continue!!! What I imagined free range to be and what the super market reality is is quite another... the birds legally have to have 1square meter of land each, could this include the metal slats and the barn?? I wonder!! To me free range is exactly that.. free to range, my hens are free to range, whether that be, on my field of lush green grass, dust bathing under the hedge, or being brave, crossing the road and going onto the neighbours open moor land, being free to scratch the grubs up in my veg patch to be... or going into the forest on safari, hiding under the old roots and laying in peace and quiet... these birds looks tooo tired and stressed, living on there nerves, imagine living with 10,000 panicky women, living in terror, if one became scared the others all followed, they behaved as one...

I wouldn't be surprised if a) they used a light at night to trick them into a 2nd lay thinking thy had had 2 days!! and b) that most of the birds never saw the outside due to be unable to get through the congestion at the metal slatted area... only the brave ones may have fought there way through!!! so I suggest you post and repost this and ask your friends please support your local small holders, buy from the farm gates, there free range eggs, as in my eyes, this practice afore mentioned, is not free range, and should not be supported... Also I went into Tescos yesterday and took a look at there free range eggs, look at the lovely ideal picture on the box, a lovely fluffy, full feathered, non bleeding hen stood free ranging on deep lush grass.... what an ideal... but oh not a reality, yes in reality you can't farm 10,000 chickens on a piece of land and keep it lush and green and expect them all to access it... I am tempted to go back and buy another 100 or so, as Wednesday they are all killed for pet food, Joe's comment.... he said , you know whats the most shocking and upsetting part???? the fact that in 1 month, when they have disinfected and scrubbed the whole unit down, for that is how long it takes... the whole process happens again, and another 10,000 birds will live the free range night mare again!!! Please stop supporting this sham... Please search out your local farmer with truly happy free range birds.. PLEASE.. xx I'm off outside to talk to the girls, to see how many eggs they have given me.... and for there future what lies ahead??? well... I am not going to give them layers pellets, for a few weeks, I wont them to rest, I don't want to force them to lay, I will provide them with grit to help harden the egg shells that they are laying, they, will relax and free range on my farm then i will rehome, them in small numbers to responsible people for £ 5 or £6 each, when they look happy and feathered... i am rehoming some of my original flock so I can keep these new girls as one unit, to avoid any possibility of cross infection, Oh one other note.... I asked at the farm weather they fed antibiotics as a norm to prevent illness, she replied she hadn't had to yet, but that they had them should they need them... I will next post you my experience of visiting a real pig farm who supply Tescos and you will then see the relevance of the anti-biotics issue!! please post and repost.. oh by the way, the ladies that ran the farm, were kind and gentle, they wanted to rehome as many as poss before they were all culled, they showed kindness in all there contact i witnessed with the birds, gently handling them etc, its the big picture i'm angry with, the system, not the individuals who are running it with in the guide lies the RSPCA and others have given them.... and the industry standard

TO SEE THE PICTURES LOOK ON THE WELSH SMALLHOLDER FACE BOOK PAGE and look for the artcile

SLAUGHTER HOUSE CRUELTY

2011-04-04T10:58:00.001+01:00

Local abbatoirs bad behaiviour.

SICKENING SLAUGHTERHOUSE CRUELTY

I have just googled to check out more info, and its rife, cruelty that animals endure to give us meat.... I wish I could do something to change things... why cant we have the right to have a traveling slaughter man again, like in the old days, a fully licened kind man, that you contact and therefore vet, choose to bring onto your farm and responsibly kill your meat animals.... its enough to make you go vegitarian, How dare people abuse your carefully reared livestock, and undo all your love that you have put into them, I thought I was being responsible, rearing and slaughtering my own meat and not going to Tescos etc for meat that I had no idea of ther animal welfare situation, just for it all to go wrong out of your hands at the final mins of life..... take a look at yesterdays blog about the ordeal at the local abbatoir.. thanks for listening..x

ABATTOIR CRUELTY....

2011-04-03T23:27:00.002+01:00

HORROR & CRUETY at the local abotoir...
...
Last week we took 2 pigs in to bishops castle.. they were 2 we had bred and given to a good friend for xmas... he had brought them on beautifully feeding them on barley and wheat...

As we waited in the small que we watched as the farmers pigs in front of us were kicked & booted severely by the abotoir man, the farmer just stood back and watched whilst this cruel beast of a man booted hell out of these pigs that refused to leave the trailer...

He at 1 point held on to the roof bars in the trailer back & booted with 2 boots.... he then picked up the back of 1 and threw him out of the trailer... I tried to film it but didnt do good job, mobiles are not that good... Joe and I couldnt believe the beating that was happening we discussed leaving, but they were not our pigs and our friend was in Cyprus so no one was home to feed them, we decided to carry on but under no circumstances was he to touch the pigs.... we had no where else to take them as there are 3 week waiting lists....

So.. we gingerly unloaded our friends precious piggies ... escorted them in & they ran very willingly, the man spoke not a word, just muttered under his breath, I treated him with contempt, for that was what he was due...

he gave us no direction but the pigs, moved on well , I had no idea which way to go and he told us nothing, he thumped them on there backs with his heal of his hands his attitude stank.... I know in a business theres no time for messing about and they need to move on and not hold up production, but they were moving on and no one was behind us. so I just moved between him and the pigs and spoke gently to them...

1 dared to go in the wrorng directon where upon he kicked her savagely in the face.. I nearly killed the man, I said " Dont you dare kick my pigs!" I was so angered I was about to kick him my self.... he was so nasty... I hung about for a short while to check they had settled and then completed the paper work, he didnt look me in the eye and muttered inaudiable words... ignorant beast I though.....

I was shaking with anger what a vile 2 legged creature, I stormed into the office to put in a huge complaint, they looked shocked , they say its not regular practise....

IT IS UNACCEPTABLE>>>> I heard them rip him to shreds... I said if he wants to go an kick animals give him a job in the back and let him kick dead ones...... they told me he was a sad guy that they had kept on from the former employers and managers of the old abotoir and that he was local , and bla bla bla he was a poor old thing... this didnt wash with me he should not be there doing that....

On the yard a man come to me and said it was his first time there and would I recomend them, well you can imagine what I said, he looked quite shocked and said if they hurt his pigs he would kill them, and I think he ment it....

I recieved call from them later that day, they have given the guy final written warning and say it will never happen again, they have sent him 4 training .& said he had a bad weekend after being robbed, they phoned me to discuss it seriously & made every attempt to put it right... They did seam genuine I gave them my ideas, that the man that recieves our preshous piggies is actually a very important face for there business... he needs to make us feel we have left them in safe caring hands, and that they would do well to get rid of him and see the opportunity they have for promoting them selves with the individual that would do his job...

I paid £116 to get the meat back & unsure if they can be trusted ... I told them if I was to use them again, I would take my pigs in & not allow there staff near them & I would also be there at the end inspecting there handling, they say they are happy to accomodate me..... I was shocked they actually took money off me after my experience... I will leave comment 4 u...

fortune 500 referrals scam ????

2011-03-12T20:08:00.000+00:00

My experience of this company..I hope you take a look at my previous blog page and can make a educated decision.....
For me its back to my self sufficient life, writting my blog and eating my produce... simple life... but quality..

fortune 500 referrals temptation... clicks make money .... mmmmm

2011-03-12T19:53:00.000+00:00

I oh so nearly got sucked in..... scam or no scam????

Well the other day I got a phone call from a very wierd looking number, I missed it so rang back.... 1st mistake..lol
When I heard a strong American accent I nearly died, I told them I dont know where I 'm ringing but its obviously an expensive call so if they wanted to speak to me to go ahead and ring me back....

Money is tighter than ever, so why would I want to waste it on ringing a stranger, who probably wanted to sell me the most expensive pile of nothing... ( who in the end I found our was a man pretending to be american, ringing from PAKISTAN!)

Alarm bells were ringing in my head but I thought, if theres a chance of making money, what if I threw that chance away, I knew that there are clever ways to make money... well there must be as theres new millionaires everyday....

So they rang me back with a very strong American accent, the lady told me she worked for fortune 500referals.... I bit my tongue and listened... she asked me how much money per month, extra I would like to make, so I thought and decided that £1000 would be a really usefull figure.... so would a nice thin figure like a size 12, but I knew that would be imposible...lol... if they had said something like that .. now, I would have put the phone down as thats, down right impossible, but they pulled the right strings.... MONEY..

MONEY TALKS!!!

And boy could they talk... well she said a load of stuff but managed to say nothing,

I was none the wiser as to what they were selling, she asked me about running an internet business, and making a fortune at home doing nothing.... tempting.. but possible???? Surey not....

So I sort of managed to work out that they were selling the idea of you being paid when people clicked on adverts that are attached to your site that they build for you after you pay them 100's of dollars.. to be taught how to run this sight, that they, build for you, and then, at the end of it they, pay you... ALL the money back that they took off you.... mmm perfect????

well maybe they should have offered to pay the lost interest too..

While they were making these amaizing promisses... at this point I was about to say no way, but she asked me if I would listen to some words from the big boss of the company... mmm ok... so whilst I listened to the recording with pretty music etc.... I looked on the net about there company, nothing bad came up,

~I~ couldnt find anything, they said they were linked to the big 3....

Google, Ebay and Amazon,

and that you cant fail as people would be directed some how, to click on these ads and then when they rang up there company ,if they, too got conned to pay up the money, then you would get up to I think it was $400

......I THOUGHT SOUNDS LIKE A PYRAMID selling thingy .....I'm sure there illegal... but as he went on... and on.... and on....It started to sound plausable, I put him on speaker phone for Joe to hear there message he also started to prick his ears up thinking money....

So then I was handed to this other Guy who started asking me to write down figures, then started ordering me to right down other stuff, and look up this site and look up that, at one point he told me to look up ....

mypersonalcashcow.com
&
mysuperaffiliatesite.com (amazon made easy) came up with that one...

the firstis stream lined ebay ad.. there were people adverts for stuff they were selling on ebay..., HE TOLD ME that these people were in there scheme and made money because of it, so me being devious, clicked on an advert which then directed me to a doll for sale, in America by a normal ebay customer... so I mailed this guy, I told him about this companies claims.... I told him they said he was making money through there programme etc etc... and pressed send...

Mean while this sales man banter was begining to make sense I could see there might be a way of making these huge amounts of money....

THEN HE MADE A CRITICAL ERROR!!!!!

He told me... if I paid this huge amount of money today at the end of this phone call... by giving him my credit card details..... he would take so many hundreds of dollars off the cost, but only today, If I chose to think about it and research it and ring him back... then I would loose this one time chance to save .... right surley its a scam!!!

But I still felt uncomfortable doubting .... hed bee very clever and built up a friendship , a relationship, I didnt want to say no to him...

What if I was throwing away this chance to make money???

Dare I loose this opportunity???

Uncomfortably and also nervously I said that I would be interested, BUT, in one months time, after I had come back from my fictitious business trip.... He tried again and I repeated that I was about to leave the country for a month, and that I would speak to him then...... little did he know that in one month I will have finished with my present phone contract.. he wouldnt be able to get to me... I could choose to call him if I wanted from my with held number.....

So after I managed to get rid of him......

I started to think, I thought maybe I was wrong, maybe I was going to make terrible mistake and loose out on this chance of a life time, oh yes there were only limited opportunitys only 3 in my area and those were disapearing to others every minuite I wasted..... thinking....

So I thought again and cooly looked on my laptop at the links he'd given me I looked hard and read the fortune500referrals contract..... pages and pages of it .. loads of small print.... now that was eye opening, def not good... then looked them up on a scam reporting website... wow.. what a shock there they were with story after story from conned people desperate to make money, all the storys were the same, I'm not saying these storys were totally true surely people may add bits etc and they are there thoughts but, people were talking about money being drained from there bank accounts.... large figures of cash....

WHAT A NEAR MISS....

My desperation to make a few extra pounds to help pay for food, diesel, animal fodder, could have been a terrible error for this family, I nearly lost sight of our goals our special little bubble we live in,

NOW IM NOT STATING THESE PEOPLE ARE 100% CON ARTISTS AS I WOULD HATE TO BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR SLANDERING THERE LOVLEY LITTLE BUSINES....

BUT FOR ME I CHOOSE TO LISTEN TO THE STORIES ON THE NET...

I CHOOSE NOT TO TAKE THEM UP ON A ONCE ONLY OFFER TO LOOSE MY CASH... YOU CHOOSE HOW YOU FEEL, IF IVE BEEN HARSH I MY JUDGEMENT OR NOT.....

BUT AS A LAST NOTE...

THE EBAY GUY GOT BACK TO ME........

suprise, suprise he had never heard of them, he NEVER had any dealings with them, he never knew they were using him to sell there business idea, we have spoken through mail twice today and it is quite clear they were lying about him.... I WONDER COULD THE REST OF THE STORY BE MORE OF THE SAME????????

YOU DECIDE.... IM OFF BACK TO MY PIGS IN MUD,

My new litter of piglets, my chucks and ducks, my mess my mud, and yes very little money, but I shall carry on,

I USE ADSENSE THEY ADVERTISE ON PEOPLES BLOGS ETC,LIKE MINE....

THEY PAY YOU FOR SURE... WHEN PEOPLE USE THERE ADS, I KNOW THIS FOR SURE...... I HAVE EXPERIENCE OF THEM...... WELL I NOW HAVE EXPERIENCE OF THE OTHERS TOOO,.....

You want to make money out of clicks?? then set up an interesting blog, hopefully more so than mine as I only have 8 followers.... much appreciate though you are.... and go look into moneytising your blog, look up ad sense.. see if its for you.... they are not a scam they make you money.....

RANT OVER!!!!! here piggy piggy , now wheres that hen laying, oh no Lily dont drop the eggs ....aarrrgghhh!! mutter mutter ... mutter....

Pigs.

2011-02-20T22:02:00.000+00:00

Well Babe my Pietrain sow is bagging up and very vocal at the mo, so we decided to get her maternity quaters ready, We have flattened out an area on some stone and parked a horse trailer stuffed with straw there for her, last time she pigged she went out in the middle of a storm from her beautiful sty packed with straw and dug a huge nest outside, sadly it rained all night and in her struggles to give birth in the mud she drowned most of her litter, so this tim she will be unable to get near mud and the only option will be the nice bed...
we had visitors before we finished so I hope she will hold on till at least tomorrow.... All thats left to do is fence it off...
Ducks and Geese..

Diane and Paul popped up....

Yesterday we went to Aberaron to pick up some beautiful ducks, 3 Muscovey females, 1 gorgeous Drake and 2 youngsters... Also a trio of Kakhi Cambells, stunning birds... for a total of £18, which was very affordable and great as we were in a poor week... then we drove to Pwllheli and picked up 2 wonderful geese, they are supposed to be both male, but me thinks an error may have been made, I feel they could be a pair, we shall see... Geese can be difficult to sex, as they age they become easier, the faces show one sign, I can see definate masculin jowels and more refinment in a females face, then when older the females under carriage almost draggs the ground, I believe this is because they have a egg pouch, its a place were the eggs sits closer to her skin, well, we shall see with these 2 they are about 10 mnths I think the lovely lady said, They were such a lovely couple, showing me there lovely little herd of cattle and there goats, I hope to do a deal with her and swap piggy for a young cow, we shall see if she gets back in touch....

We left there quite lte and drove to Cricieth, there we were the only ones on the beach, we played and ran and even Dotty the dalmation enjoyed splashing about, it was about 10.30 and the tide had just turnered to go out, it is a memory that shall never leave me, how lovely it was on the beach with the kids and Joe...

Wing clipping...

To ensure our wonderful ducks and geese didnt try to fly back to the sea, we had to clip there wings, you do this on one side to unbalance them so flight is impossible, you cut off the primary flight feathers so no wind can be held in there wings, they look really awkward after being done and I hate doing it but, hopefuly they wont need doing again... they are in our poultry paddock and have a huge pond to play in ... what a lovely feeling it was seeing them in our pool, and collecting our first 2 duck eggs..... great day..

I decided to kill one of the spare cockerals that had been dumped on us at christmas time, some body drove up and chucked about 7 out on the bottom of our land, we have no idea who it is but, it happens every year...So as they were wild I shot one on the head with our airgun and then bled it, I had lots to do so asked Andre to pluck it, this was the first time he'd plucked a bird, he did a very good job, then he left him hanging for us, in the mean time Paul and Diane came up, so we finished off outside and I took in the bird to dress.

I asked if they were screamish and wouldnt be offended by me dressing it in front of them.... they were fine, I think they expect wierd stuff from us..

So I put some newspaper down and set to work in front of my Rayburn.... All went fine, they were actually quite interested in the goings on, I showed them the inside of his heart, his liver, lungs, and Gizzard, as I prepared the bird I kept laughing to myself... how many people would entertain and do this, with my 3 children helping and Lily age nearly 5 interested and asking questions.... what an unusual sight...

He was put in a pot with all the bits and bobs, liver etc.. and I added my organic veg that I had bought at Portmadoc Farmers market and sat him in the pot, adding only salt, peper and a bay leaf.... 2 hours later he was done, absolutley wonderful taste, the kids adored the organic veg and everyone could taste and see the difference, we now believe in the difference of organic and eagerly await the growing of veg in our huge garden.... I am so tired Joe has just cooked pancakes and I'm off to bed as we need to do a lot of building tomorrow.... night night...xx

Outside at last!!

2011-02-18T21:07:00.000+00:00

Well at long last I plucked up courage to go outside, have been realy down and sad... went in the forest and I was very shocked, Devastation everywhere... there must have been 100 trees fallen by the wind, I thought it was bad, it looks like the worst wind we have ever had up here. I'm glad we hadnt put the new poly tnnel up yet as it would have surly been ripped!!

Today, we took all our very well rotted manure from the heap onto the garden, spread it around, a liitle and left it for the pis to fo there best, we also gave them a fresh straw bed, they were so funny dashing between there new bedding and galavanting in the muck, they were so excited, it was soo good to watch, what happy piggies we own, I also moved and cleared the electric fence as it was shorting out in a few places, they are dooing such a good job leveling the lad and adding to it, it has grown in depth by a good 8 inches easily, the power of the pigs nose is amaizing.... I have at last settled n a plan for the veg patch!!

The veg plan..

There is still a poorer side of the garden and a better richer side, even thought the pigs have been on there now for approx 6 months... So on the poorer harder side I have decided on the one poor half side we shall put the compost heap, and on the other poor half we shall build the raised bed, then next to these, still on the poorer side I shall dig the potoato trenches, the thinking behind all of this is, that.. why fight and try and plant into such poor soil.. last year we failed this year we wont..

Raised beds...Hot beds for Pinapples and strawberries...

I'm so far unsure of how we will construct them, I do know they shall be insulated and with double glazing, We will use the one raised bed for salads and fancies.. the other shall be a modern idea of the Victorian hot bed, insulated sides, and double glazed tops, we shall fill the bottom with good hot farm yard manure, then some leaf mould on top and some loam to top it off, then the pineapples are grown in pots that shall in winter be lifted out and put into the polytunnel, everything in the garden will be temporary, as at the end of the year everthing will be cleared on site and then the pigs shall return to dig in all the goodness....

Paths..

Well I always wanted lovely grass paths, but what a waste at the end of the year to let the pigs dig it all up, so all around us on roadside there are tree men, cutting and trimming down all the trees and leaving behind lovely piles of shredded wood, So this shall be my temp paths then all the goodness from the trees shall be returned to the land, giving it an extra boost and add heart to the soil...

Compost...

Well this is a hard one, normally all compostable materials are given to the pigs snout to process and send to the land, so I really struggle with not giving it to them, but I'm going to be hard on myself and the pigs and try to develop a compost heap on the poor side of the garden.. I might even go as far as telling the lads to pee on it to activate it..lol...it seems such a waste letting such a valuble liqued go into the chemical loo....

Compost loo...

Why not give it a go.. I've been looking them up and with land as poor as ours every valuable thing we can add to the soil shall be added... Im also thinking of getting a garden shredder to add heart..

Newspaper mulch..

Oh I have definantely been thinking too much... and sat inside too much too... It got to be worth trying, i am collecting news papers to put under the paths of shredded wood, this should help prevent weeds and at the end of the year be worth digging in..

Pig power..Digger power..

Im feeling lazy and have decided to after watching my igs compost, weed and level my garden, the next step is use the back actor of the digger to dig the potato trenches and carry in the muck to lay on the bottom. Im also thining of adding some small branches to the bottom of the trench to airate my clay soil and help with drainage, well thats what the Romans did in there drains.... We shall also be using the digger with Joes huge rake on the back end to level off a fine tilth......

Mmm.. what else, I think thats all my thoughts on the garden, We will be turfing the pigs off soon, We have a litter of pigs due soon, I'm going to move a couple of the young pigs onto my flower bed to weed it.. I have nearly finished diggin out all my plants and then will fence it and let them loose.... I know lazy but I hate weeding and they will give poo power too..

Sarahs soot..... Im unsure where to best use my prize soot its all saved up ready to use, also Rays ashes evry day go on the garden...

Dogs....

Am busy trying to sort out doggy quarters too... we are using builders tall 8 by 6foot parimeter fencing to create temporary runs for each dog that lives outside, with there kennel, then we shall be getting some concrete and building there proper quarters.... thats it i'm off Ray is heating my rain water for a lovely well deserved bubble bath...

After the storm!!

2011-02-08T21:42:00.000+00:00

Fallen trees!!

Today we decided to harvest the silver birches that had come to an end in the storm,

We used our digger to hold the trees up off the fencing whilst cutting them into logs, then we loaded the diggers front bucket three times....

I also played on the quad, and walked all of the dogs whilst Joe and the boys loaded our stock trailer that we now use as our log store, its 3/4 full so not a bad day...lol... Joe also split most of the trunk logs too..... Bit worried about Joe hes not feeling his best he always tired and sometimes looks real grey... I rang the doctor today to discuss it, Joe keeps feeling this weird neurological thing, its like a tap driping on the side of his head, the first time it happened he came to me and asked if he was bleeding, but there was nothing, Doc says he needs to have an appointment, will drag him in in the next week or so the doc did ask how his memory was, which basically is awfull... I wil say smething to him and with in half an hour he swearrs I have said nothing, so mmm, I dont know, the doctor says he must go in so he will...

I just dont feel to happy with the worry of Joe, I know we both need to loose a load of weight, eat more sensibly, and give up on human friends there no one hardly out there these days I classify as a friend, less than 5 people.... but loads animals qualify.... wierd hey!! see ya

What a paoinful day....

2011-02-07T21:00:00.000+00:00

I had a call from my doctor this morning.....
It was bad news.... its going to change my life....

I've been having problems with my back and neck for a while, as bad as Joe having to lift me out of bed and turn me every 10 mins throughout the night... Its been hell, I've been in so much pain, sometimes I'm ok, but others I'm in accute uselessness!! its been coming on every 3 to 6 months..

Any how Doc said I have athritus is my neck, with degenerating discs, lumpy growths in a couple of places, I've been told i'll never ride a horse again, I'm to have a gentle life, I'm not to lift heavy objects etc etc.... love me and give up my unusual life ....
I spent the morning sobbing, she told me I would end up in a wheel chair, and that I need to go in in the next 48 hours to discuss everything and get xrays on my painful hands and my poorly hips, .... lots of things are going through my head is this genetics??? is this my fault??? anyhow I made an appointment at the chiropractor and she worked wonders she also gave me acupuncture and told me she felt I should enjoy my life and carry on, keep active and fit, dont worry about wheel chairs and even horse ride if I want.....

Well the acupuncture was fantastic, I cheared up immensly and I have decided to be careful, but will carry on enjoying my life and being self sufficient.....

Got a new car today so that will be my distraction and I will try not to take any more Diazapan, they work wonders for releasing the muscles, but there just arent any good for you... I'm off now bye! xx

Rain Rain.... and Gale force!

2011-02-06T21:00:00.000+00:00

I am so tired....
It feels like days we have been stuck here in the caravan unable to go out, the winds are so severe, we dare not go out, in case something blows into us, Joe dashes out if theres a break in the weather to feed animals and bring in tons of wood for Ray, my rayburn...
hes proving to be a typical man, loves his belly and never knows when enough is enough!!! But hes worth his weight in gold, last night after a good 5 hour stint doing my washing, with harvested rain water, carried in by the bucket!!! Ray was good enough to dry all three loads...

Its so tiring, rinsing in the bath, then reloading to spin, then loading more water in to wash and heat the water, but I have it down to a tea now, I still have no probem doing this huge chore, as I'm grateful for the rain and being abe to wash our clothes, I used the last nights bath water to wash the dirty load first true recycling...lol...

There are friends of mine being scathing as per usual, saying I sed a lot of time doing nothing, 4 hours to heat a bath up 5 hours to do the washing!! but what else is there to do in this rain storm...lol... I wil not be put down I chose this life..

New front door!!

Today Joe spent the day modifying our front door and put back the old caravan door, the gale and torrent of water that had been coming through was defeating all Rays best efforts... Now with a lot of muttering, banging, some old fidge panels, to fill in the gap as the new door is smaller, a lot of expanding polystieine all is well and job done...

But I'm so tired, I'm desperate to go out and work, It so frightening sitting here feeling the caravan lifting and banging the sides and roof are visibly moving by bout 4 inches in and out, or up and down... the new building behind us today actually lost one of the main roof joists, a huge piece of timber 10 x 4 inch, by 10 foot long fell from the roof top, 6 meters up the wind had loosened the bolts holding it up there, thanks goodness no one was under it when it landed.... I did hear a huge bang 2 nights ago... now I know what it was....

Trees have been falling all in the lanes, we are too scared to go out in the car incase one lands on us!! When the wind has given up we shall have to go out with the trailer and chain saw and collect some offerings for Ray!!

Right I'm off, Ray as cooked a lovely chicken soup, which has been bublling all day, i through a whole chicken in my jam kettle and a few veg and left it till its falling apart, wow its good so bye ... I'm off.... Pudding is pear tart....yum yum

Storm warning!

2011-02-03T19:19:00.000+00:00

This morning I woke, sure that there was trouble in store with the weather.

So Joe and I have batterened down the hatches, We have a sheep trailer full of cut logs for the fire, we have put all our water containers to collect the rain water for a nice bath, picked up everything that could go flying in the wind, Strapped down the chicken shed, so it cant blow over this time...lol.... and I asked Joe to park the digger and Landrover with horse trailer attatched infront and around the caravan to prevent us from tipping over... so I can sleep easy knowing we are safe....The wind is buffeting us hard, the rain is pounding down on the roof of our caravan, the rayburn is lovley and hot, has cooked us a lovely meal, Beef soup, Beef Cobler, Scones and a stuffed cake, wonderful dinner devoured and now starting to boil up the rain water for a jacuzzi bath later.... then early to bed.. night night!!

Piggy day!!

2011-01-21T08:12:00.000+00:00

WORMING....
Today the neighbour gave us ther pig, they are moving on and had no where for her in there new life, She is about 3 yrs old and a bit thin compared to our pigs, also been indoors in a small space like the pig crates in size...

She seemed friendly enough and as a youngster she had lived on our farm, so after giving her a good feed in the trailer so the others wouldnt confront her over food, we locked the others in there bedroom whilst we put her in the piggy field, she was quite wobbly on her feet as hadnt been out for a while, she just ate and ate.... before we let her into the field we obviously wormed her and checked her over..

Whilst my lot were contained, I went in armed with a bottle of red nail varnish and a hyperdermic!! Worming time!!!
The piglets were not too difficult to do all but 1! As we wormed a piglet we marked them with a red dot.... Farmers would use a spray can of marker, but we improvised....
Babe who is quite a huge beast didnt want to be dne and as she has no fat just pure muscle being a Pietrain, it was an extremely dificult day, I next time I think I will be getting an alternate method for her, oral adminisration, she really didnt like me after that....

Pig introduction....
Well the new pig was really quite aggresive even at half the size of babe, they had 2 confrontations, sadly she bit Babes ear in one but Babe, remains top pig, it quite scarey when you see there emense power, scuffulls over, the pigs just gave the new comer a wide birth and Babe did her usual trick of banning her from the comunal bedrom, that is her ritual for 2 nights and on the 3rd she allows the newcomer to join them all, So she had to sleep in the spare pig bedroom on her own, Shes ever so wobbly on her feet and very vocal, but she will be fine when she builds her muscles up again and gets fitter...

More tidying!!
The rest of the day was spent tidying up preparing for the snow I feel sure is on its way!!

Dinner..
BEEF of course.....
I defrosted a lovely fillet of beef, unsure how to cook it I rang Chris my friend from the caravan park, she is desperate for me to bring round some Dexter beef for her...
She suggested Beef En croute, mmm thought I .. I love it with salmon.. so I quickly made a batch of pastry, with my secret ingredient.. Atora suet, its so easy then and sparkling water... with a bit of mustard powder for added taste...
Then, the pepercorn sauce, out of a packet, well no ones perfect.... I remebered I had a tool for making lacey pastry, lattice I think its called...So after tipping my cupboards upside down, off I set making pretty tops.
So rolled out pastry and tops seperately, with a dollop of sauce, place the beef fillet on top, then, A little more sauce, top it off with the lattice, paint with some egg and in the Rayburn, After running out of beef I decided to make Joe a Brie cheese one, which looked good.....
Half an hour later, wowI decided to make another batch of pastry and made some beef sausage rolls.... Perfect...
So that was the end to another perfect day in happyness, or so I thought....

I recieved a phone call from a friend....
I was full of how perfect life was and how much I had in life and how lucky I was... He just said oh if your happy with nothing,, and if you dont want anything else in life,,, and how I have nothing worth owning, that I had nothing, and how I was waisting my life and would never have anything and would never make a farmer....
mmmm....
well the old me would have been devasted and upset,

But, no.... I'm happy living in a caravan with no running water, Soon to be fixed, With a lean too with my lovely Ray living in.. thats the Rayburn... a Jacuzzi bath that I collect rain water for and boil up on Ray..A small holding with loads of jobs to do, A blossoming writting career.... Perfect hubby and wonderful kids, the life I want.... How dare people who call them selves friends try and put me down and make me feel so worthless... how dare they!!!!

Plus I have no morgage and own my own home, I have a very small carbon foot print, I'm nearly totaly self reliant, have no debts, No major worries, and live in my own self made paradise... RANT over ... Well... the cheek of some people....

What a Lovely day with my son.. down on the farm!!!

2011-01-10T00:37:00.000+00:00

A Horid job....

I seriously had a wonderful day doing a revolting job with Andre's help, he such a good boy he will be 11 this July time does fly...
The pigs have been getting out so I eventually tackled the electric fence, armed with rubber gloves, water proof trousers, awarm clothing, I set about fishing the electric tape out of the slurry, yuk!! the pigs as the eat and poop make the mud move like a great wave and it start engulfing things... they are very good at flattening out land using this process in winter, My next task was reinforcing the fence with extra posts and highering the wire as the piglets are now 30 odd weeks so much taller, I also had to pull out the spare fence that they had trod into the snow and mud that had frozen solid into the ground... not nice, Whilst there We decided to have a general tidy up, after all of that the fence still wasnt carrying any electric, even though there seem to be no reason, no earthing out, a clear perfect run for the fence, conected properly , as e problem the elecric conector had fallen out of the crocodile clip which clips onto the wire, easy to miss in the snow, reconected the pigs started screaming, I couldnt help but laugh as I thought I really shouldnt but... it did prove it worked.. we got the tester out and the wore held a good 3000 to 5000 volts which is the higest you could ask for..
Working with Andre made it easier and fun I do love him so much..

We next tackled a tidy up operation, picking all things up that had been hidden by the snow, next we decanted the last of the pig food into a dustbin and put a tight lid on... We also moved onto the chickens collecting all the wire we could together so that soon we can build them a huge area, I feel mean not letting them freerange at the moment, but there are so many foxes aout and we have had such heavy losses to them...
I might even put an electric fence around hem to upset Mr. Fox...

We also collected some logs and as a treat I took Andre off into the forest on hs quad for another lesson, I like to make sure he knows how to drive safely and efficiently so his petrol will stretch as far as it can....Dotty and Sasha had a great run with us and are getting on so well...

EBAY..

I've spent all night buying veg seeds on ebay after chatting with Sarah about her veg plot, I need to get a riggle on by the sounds of it, she is so organised and digging her potatoe plot already.. I shall eave mine to the pig power a little longer, but it has made me think about getting my poly tunnels sited!!
I spent abuot £60 on thousands of seeds, no flowers just veg... I'm worried now that I wont have enough room, I definately need to sell some veg boxes this year to help with cash flow...

Snows back....

2011-01-07T14:22:00.001+00:00

Am I the only one who loves seeing that white stuff arrive???
Life on the farm is so much easier, cleaner, faster.... the pigs bedding stays cleaner, there moods are better they jump and play so much... theres far less mud, and us having no water is not a problem, we take our shovels outside and buckets, if we want a bath we half fill the bath with snow then boil up saucepans full of snow or hand picked iciccles, boiling them up on my rayburn, its so clean for the dog, she pops out and brings in no mud, its just perfect......
Just imagine if snow was a murky colour, everything would be so dark, how lucky we are that it bright, sparkly and gleaming, a friend says " Every bodys farm looks the same in snow," not oh thats a dirty farm, and so and so's is so clean, all are bright and beautiful, the crunch under foot, the play in the air.... bring it on,

We have a 4x4, six months of food in store, plenty of loo rolls, and no visitors as they cant get up the hill, no stress about what the postys bringing you, as he cant, I control bad news days, as I go get the post when feeling brave enough!!!...lol ..

Well I say no visitors, lol I couldnt believe it when we climbed up our hill under 2 foot of snow the other week in our trusty landrover discovery, to fing the post hadnt been ... yeah suprise ... not. but the Jehovahs Witnesses had, we had a copy of there Watch tower and Awake, which I read and found very interesting...(I used to be a J.w as a kid and always found it a huge chore to read the mags...)
I'm still not sure I want to go back but see no harm in such a peacable, loving people ... I dont like the outside world and feel being snowed in is my security blanket and protection from it....

The Dexter has landed!!

Had a call from the abotoir, I need to go pick up her, at a cost of £255 for butchery, killing and BSE testing, I feel a little expensive and shall be shopping around next time...

So tomorrow I will be bringing the bounty home...

My new love....The RAYURN

2011-01-03T01:44:00.000+00:00

I havent told you all what I've been up to in my new kitchen, we've added a little lean to to the front of the caravan, after some large piece of metal sheating hit the side of the caravan and ripped a hole through it.. so we decided to use the old lorry back that we used as our patio, turning it into the base of our new kitchen, using fridge lorry panels we built the walls up and some rejected roofing sheets, a couple of old windows, some old caravan lining sheets for the internal walls, and a kitchen we bought o ebay for £60 hey presto my new kitchen....

There was one thing missing, which I didnt know about till we went to the last Coed y Dinas farm sale.. A Rayburn, I bid £65 and couldnt believe I was the winning bidder.....

Before I had paid for it a man offered me £250, I was tempted and told him if he gave me £350 I would deliver it, luckily after thinking about it for a while he decided not to go for it... So we brought it home and built a heat retaining wall, or heat safe behind it and 2 slabs under it, and there it sat, whist we tried to ebay the flu pipes, imposible.. then we looked at Welshpool Coed y dinas farm shop, and Derwas' but each pipe started at about £40, too much for us to afford, so clever old Joe went of to the metal man, Jermans of Cyfronydd, nice old boy, known him for ages and he cuts the steal too. .. For £30 odd. Joe had bought all the pipe he needed and a lovely bend one too, he welded it all together, and hey presto one perfect working flu pipe....
Years ago, in Shrewsbury we spotted a skip with some fancy stainless steal flu pipe and cap cowel thingy in , so after asking the gent, he let us take it, to the disgust of the local scrap man driving past, who slammed on his brakes and tried to take it from us but to no avail, it was ours.... its been sitting in the useful one day pile and now its come in... we popped the cowel on the top of out flu pipe and it works just fine,
We've been struggling to get our head around the plumbing, but maybe we will get there, we have recyled old radiators, copper cylinder and expansion tank to make it complete, but so far we are using it without finishing the job...

I'm so in love with my rayburn and at last my kitchen is finished except for putting the lyno down, its wonderful, my rayburn saves so much money, I cook on it, in it, it heats us wonderfully, we are so warm, if not too warm.. we have to open the back door!!! it drys my clothes much faster than the dryer, it makes me happy, it produces lovely ash and soot for my veg patch... i'm in love!!!

Every one should have a rayburn, I have decided to have a savings fund, every week I will put some of the money it, that the ~Rayburn has saved me, as I want to buy a much bigger Hungarian ceramic, self build fire kit, they are beautiful to look at and you can build them to what ever design you want, mine will encorperate, a huge oven, a slow oven, a cooking plate, a smoke chamber for curing sausage etc, a clothes drying area and an in built, wood drying unit which will blow warm air around the logs so they are lovely and dry before you burn them, thats my design, the output on our rayburn at the moment, running on just tick over not roaring away, with wood, not much coal etc. we measured at 80 degrees c.. now thats amaizing..... Every day Joe goes and cuts 6 or 8 logs splits them and puts them in the rayburn oven to dry, so its so easy to maintain and not at all dirty....yipee....

Ive just been sitting in frot of it reading my slef sufficient books deciding how lucky we are being able to have the chancce to feed our selves from our land... We are going to become Tom and Barbara Good in mind set.... We will produce everything we can and I'm making plans for a compost loo.... this is going to be such a good year for us....honest...

Lucky the cocerals truly lucky day!!!

2011-01-02T23:22:00.000+00:00

Well I decided today we would have a nice chicen soup... My son Louis had incubated some Rhode Island eggs last spring and well the incubator was faulty and out of a huge clutch, he hatched 1 and called him lucky!! Joe & I had decided before the snow hit to move the chucks to a sheltered area in the forest, using building site fencing as a temp home, so its been a while since I had a good luck at the birds as the boys have been looking after them, well today I went to take a look to see who would be for dinner.... Lucky was the one I was planning on, when I had a good luck I realised the cockeral was no longer, he has matured into a beautiful hen.... and he really was a cockeral last time I looked... honest.. So after looking around, I found we only have 1 cockeral left as we have given some to friends to start there flocks off as we had decided to be sensible and not feed too many birds over winter as here it is a harsh winter, we had also been desimated by a fox before we moved them into the forest, so there we have it it was Luckys, lucky day!!!

Well how about a recipee???

It for BONE SOUP!!!

Its not that bad honest….. my mother in law is Hungarian and I learnt this from her…. its tasty and frugal.

What ever bones you have put a pile of them in a saucepan full of water,(I use my jam kettle as you can fit a whole chicken in there, or a load of bones..)
When its boiling, turn down to a simmer,
Start taking the skum off....With a spoun or a Tea strainer... when you have finished you should have a clear water base, with the bones,
(The meatier your bones the better, when butchering I always leave more on the bones knowing they are destined for soup… well thats my exscuse any how and i'm sticking to it!!!)
you could also have added any offal , heart, kidney,
Add the veg, at least, 2 carrots, 1 parsnip, a whole onion, spice and seaoning… Celery sticks or celeriac… and whatever else you have around,
I some times add star aneise, 2 cloves, one dry chilly, bay leaves, mustard seeds and a selection of store cupboard herbs or a bouquet garnie….
Simmer up till all cooked through, add in small potatoe cubes and when they are cooked serve….

Joe whos Hungarian prides him self on his chicken soup, its perfectly clear with a golden tinge, he puts in the onion with the skin on, which gives the gold colour… after he has stolen the chickens flavour he removes it and puts it in the oven to roast, (at least half an hour in the soup with the veg before you remove it) this with a home killed bird, helps tenderise the meat and is the only way to cook home reared chucks as otherwise we find ours have a tendency to be tough….

Little funny story..
In Budapest I ate the most amaizing chicken soup my mother in law had ever cooked, On stating this, my mom answered me.. saying "you dont want to know whats in it!!"
On looking in the pot I saw 2 sets of chickens feet floating and the whole head including the chickens comb…..euuw!!! Next my sister in law started knawing at the feet…. almost too much for me…..lol….. But it was tatsy…
So as I said put as much offal in as you dare!!!!!!
Oh and serve with fine noodles floating in the soup….
Yum yum….

Dottys training...

Dot's doing so well, shes walking on the lead to heal perfectly and listens intently to you, so off Andre and I went in the forest today, I've been giving him some advance quad driving lessons, how to use the gears properly, judging hills, careful driving means more miles out of limited petrol reserves... and emergency driving technics, if bike rolls or tips What to do.etc. but best to drive so carefully that you never need to get to those points....lol
Any how I have been training Dotty the dalmation to follow her roots, they were originally carriage dogs that would follow under the carriage or just behind it, so she's learning to run by his side on the left, and how she enjoys it, her tail never stops wagging, when you get in she pops on her bed and thats it shes out for the count... shes such a happy dog and definatly becoming one of the family.. I think we shall have to consider teaching her to be the only spotty sheep dog in the area.....mmmmm

Any how I better go, I still havent finished my wishes, wants and needs lists.....byeee

Reflection & Inspirations

2011-01-01T23:53:00.000+00:00

Well lets just reflect a little on the last year.... What have we achieved??

Well we under went huge stress' being harrassed by over zealous planning inforcement officers, even if he was sweet and quite cute, he still made my life hell... but we won we went through to the end all the way through the appeal and won....

We have been severely threatened and harased by the lovelyest of neighbours, having pipe bombs let off in our entrance, when it got out about our success in the planning appeal...

We achieved a great deal on the farm, we fenced off large fields, we processed useless land into beautiful grass fields, using only the power of the pigs nose, tons of organic matter processed through the pigs stomach, which produced tons (literally) of wonderful manure to fertilise out soil, we drained, and leveled the soil, with the help of the digger and our family of five armed with rakes each, and hand picked huge amounts of pesky stones, planted up flower beds, bordered with said pesky stones...

Erected the barns metal frame work, cleaned the farm and yards of lots of Joes scrap, leftover remnants of his inventions and creations.....

Rescued and rehomed a number of animals including some dogs that really needed help on the path through life...

We planted 30 odd fruit trees, and a lovely little orchard of indiginous species, required by planning, re dug the old pool and created the chicken garden....

Found a wonderful poly tunnel to re build our beaten up one, note not built up here on site yet...

Successfully reared, 3 litters of piglets, butchered them and created the most divine, charcutery, pork, ham, sausages, bacon....reared and ate our own chicken, I now know how to humainly kill a chicken and dress it, and no longer feel screamish about the process, I dont know why it was, I could Kill, butcher and dress a pig, without any quarms but ask me to help Joe kill a chicken and I couldnt look.... I must have home killed 6 or 7 pigs this year for our own consumption, and the others went to the abotoir for customers. ..

Oh yes we also tasted our own beef from our Dexter, and await the return from the abotoir of the 2nd.... cant wait we shall be making beef jerky and all sorts of specialities will be indulged in!!
I certainly wont be sharing too much of this prime meat with outsiders, it is the most devine wonderful tasting beef ever, and those I let taste the odd morcel agreed... nothing like supermarkets finest....

We bred a litter of Rotty puppies to help fund the farm improvements and shall always be in debt to Sasha for her help in the fund raising stakes, we have kept in toush with many of the offspring and they all have wonderfull homes, which is great to know...

The Veg garden was a farce, it looked good for the planners but never came to anything the land was still to hungry in that area, the grass fields we planted had had the pigs nose and bum working on them for 10 years, the veg patch maybe only 4 years, so this year we must endevour to correct this, we have had 15 pigs on the veg site from late July, we have fed them tons of veg and fruit, maybe 2 ton a week at the peak, and they go through upto a ton of barley and wheat per month, less now thank goodness, so theres a lot of input there now concentrated... Jim my lovely sugar daddy figure has brought me in loads of muck well rotted, which the pigs have been turning in, too....we need to work hard on this field, fix the drains and put in maybe another 30 ton of muck, oh yes must not forget Sarah here.. one of the pups moms, her hubby got me a good lot of soot from wood fired chimneys so thats gone in too, and all that our rayburn can produce in ash also goes in there too. . its never ending this soil improvement, the coucil say we are too slow to improve site and get things done, if only they read this and would appreciate the amout of work we have put into the site.....

So thats the reflection now the Insperation.....

Well whilst all of this has been going on I have been beating my self up as couldnt get on with the plans for the challet build, just couldnt settle on the layout, now I realise why its just is not right for us, yes it's recycled .. but just not right for our family, so Insperation from Hungary hit, Whilst out there staying in my sisters house we fell in love, it is a mud or rammed earth construction, of L shape design, well whilst out there we have always said it was perfect in shape and lay out.... Another thing, years ago Joe had a dream that there was something special on the land here that would do something big for us......so what do we have loads of under our shallow useless soil???? CLAY Tons of perfect CLAY..... I wonder shall we build a L shaped rammed earth grass roofed ECO house??? Well shall we???? I THINK SO!! What do you all think?

We shall ..So the plan is... L or U shaped, single story, eco rammed earth or cob house. With a Hungarian ceramic fire, built to our own design with a cooking hob, 2 ovens and a door to feed the fire from the outside as in the Self sufficient Seymores bible... he discribes the perfect small holders fire place that you can cook on, smoke food in and service from out side to reduce the dust in the home, we shall bring in floor tiles and marble from Spain and oak from France all these contacts we have made over the years on our Gypsy travels. We shall also have an old fashioned bread oven and buttery, Everything inside shall be recycled other than the afore mentioned. Fixtures and fitting will all be from the internet, recycled....Where possible Joe will use his wood working skills aquired in Austria when he was a refugee, he calved and built hand made stair cases, so together we shall build all the wooden items our house shall ever need.

So theres the plan... all we need now is to convince the planners, we also want to have a house cow, rear more fowl for meat and egg production, defenately need to keep bees and the garden and the poly tunnel have to work this year ..
This year we SHALL be TOTALLY SELF SUFFICIENT..... Pig in mud will live and we shall prosper wih the rich abundances that our hard labour and land can give us , we shall continue eating richly like kings, we shall spend less and live more, we shall stay home and make every moment with our kids count..And we shall continue helping lost and struggling animals find the journey and path through life easier......

HELLO AGAIN!!!

2011-01-01T00:35:00.001+00:00

I know its been a long time since I blogged, have been having a hard time of late.... lots of bad things have happened.. any how what have we all been up to??

Well we took to the abotoir 2 pigs we had bred on the farm here ourselves... young mother of one litter and the father of the same litter. We had them made in to sausages, ham and bacon... I was prepared in the freezer, got all my customers ready, but the one thing I wasnt preparred for was the cost £288... I'm still in shock, we managed to cover or costs and leave some over for us, also on the same day we also took our black Dexter in too, she had quite a journey, firstly I neglected to contact DEFRA in time for a special movement license as the farm she was on was under restricton. There TB test was cancelled by the vet due to his ill health, panic!! I rang Defra after we had loaded the pigs and they said it would take at least 5 days to get it though, I begged and grovelled, gave them all the details CPH number, ear tags, passport ID etc addresses where she was from and where she was going to, and with in 1 hour they actualy did it, they faxed the papers through to the fax office in town and as we loaded her I had confirmation, Well stress over I thought....yeah only just started..
Oh I forgot to mention that the pigs had to be transfered to my friends trailer which is larger and had partitions in so we could then load the WILD, KICKER that she, the Dexter had become known as..... she was really bad tempered dangerous girl, she took some pushing in, after we had put her in the cattle crush to put her new ear tag in, I then chased her up the barn and in the trailer and promptly had a huge asthma attack.It was so cold it got to my chest it was actually -16 that morning, it dint rise above -6 all day, any how we got to the abotoir eventually.... pigs off loaded and we were told how good they looked and yes hey did look good fed our way... they were just about to ask us to unload the Dexter when he asked how many months was. She 60 months old, oh he looked relieved, thanks goodness he hadnt said unload, as if we had they would have shot her and burnt the meat they aren't licensed to kill over 30 months I think it was, just stupid, so we then had to drag her miles off in the freezing weather to another abotoir who was prepared to kill her... she is still hangin now as we like our beef hung for a good 28 days, she will cost us £250 not cheap but wow what meat it shall be.....

Now what else, well since the pigs were dispatched we changed our feed we are now buying in bulk, it costs us £160 per ton, so instead of £7 to £8 per bag, we now have an equal amount for £4 its 45% barley 45% wheat and 10% soya beans, they are fattening so well, if not too well one piglet looks obese, we think Babe the Belgium Blue is in pig from the young boar too....

The Welsh Smallholder site is born on face book I set this up to share ideas likes and info with fellow small holders in the area to share surplus produce and advertise farm stock... promoting local quality produce.. We shall have to see if it takes off....so far there 4 that use it...

DOTTY THE DALMATION.

Well yes I've done it again I've taken in anther dog in need, She is or was a red zone dog suffering from severe dog aggression, not safe with kids, and quite nervous, nutty and not well adjusted, her ex owners were going to put her down as they had tried everything they could to fix her.. well straight away she mixed with our pack, showing good behaviour, she groweled at a couple of dogs a tiny bit in town, but nothing too bad.

The first night she slept by the side of my bed and screamed in terror in her sleep, the next day she seemed fine, after that she got better and better, I just treated her like a normal dog with no problems, expected her to do as told and behave well, which she did, shes so perfect, and loves me to bits, so far so good... another success story, I think her old master worried too much about what she was going to do as she had behaved aggressively in the past, she is confident most of the time, and giving up screaming, the more she walks and is exercised the better she feels about her self, she is always by my side and into what ever we do...

Joe had an acident and cut through his knee with a circle saw, had to have 1 hours plastic surgery, we had upto 2 foot of snow that day and I was at the abotoir, so he rang me and calmly asked me to come home as he realy needed o get to the hospital, after he told me exactly what he had done well he had a 8 cm gash by 1 cm wide by 3 tp 5cm deep, he had realised what he had done andbefore he passed out with shck, he put a peice of kitchen towel n it and celotped his leg together, I rang the docs and they said he needed an ambulance, i calmly explained that he was up a huge hill under 2 foot of snow and that no ambuoance could get to him, he was home with 3 kids, I had to get home to him as I had the 4x4, it took me nearly 3 hours to get to him, Andre and Louis 9 and 10 years old knew what to do, Andre let me know how bad his leg was and then set to feeding all the pigs chickens dogs etc, then packed a bag for themsleves as I was leaving them at a friends on the way to the hospital, they also helped Joe pass the time and get him ready, They paked Lilys stuff to and nappy incuding there meds, I'm so proud of them, eventually I got close to home the weather conditions were getting worse, 2 cars span out in front of me, then the road was closed after me there was no use in tryinh to get back out on that road.... We dropped the kids off with friends who had to walk down a hill to get to them, then eventually after visiting 2 hospitals he was treated...Next, well... 2 days ago I thought I would have my last cadburys Whisper bar and start my diet, I sooo wished I hadnt bothered..... It had some foriegn object in it and broke half my back molar off and below the root, you could bury a baked bean in there......aaarrrggghhhh. thats a few of the bad bits.....

I'm off to write our Wish Want and Need list for next year... will post it on here for you to see later on... byeee! Have a really good celebration and I hope you all have an easier and better year than the last..

Goats arrive

2010-10-11T10:51:00.000+01:00

Allsorts have been going on of late!!!!
We had a call late at night to go and rescue a beautifull pedigree german shepherd dog, he was driving his foster parents mad, social services had told his original owners its the dog or the chidren, so he was put with there friends who could not cope with him pooing and peeing all over there house, so late at night i got a call come and get him before they kicked him to death for making a mess, they were in town in high flats and he was getting in more and more trouble, Ipicked him up and was handed all his papers i put him in my car wondering what i had just landed myself with, sure that our love would help him out... we drove home and walked in the forest with him till 1.30 in the morning as i wanted his firts poops etc in the forest not in his bedding area, we decided to keep him outside for now so there would be no issues with mess and him worrying about being knocked about for it, well so far hes never messed his area, and always goes on his walks, he sits, walks heals and also learnt to lay down, hes settled in well with the pack and is a perfect gentleman. Some people!!! well i think we will leave my comments there..lol
So the Goats!!!
Next arrival, I have an advert on preloved offering homes to unwanted farm animals, so i was contacted by a lady in Walsall, i assumed she had a small holding or city farm....mmm well she was a lovely lady, with an unusual back yard!!!! lol... she had 30 odd chucks 10 ducks geese, dogs and kids and a shed for the chucks, she's fed the goat very well on concentrates if any thing maybe a little too well..lol ... they are lovely tame goats and are being introduced to grass carefully today, they walk on leads and are very kind and gentle.... It was quite an adventure in our newly aquired landrover discovery. We decided that after last winter being snowed in it was time to get a good off road vehicle.. right its time for me to get on, must go walk all the animals....

Winter missery!!

2010-09-17T14:42:00.000+01:00

Oh I'm fed up of the weather theres so much to do and it keeps raining...Welshpool has glorious sunshine .... here rain... I have a new boar arriving soon, need to fix his accomodation, I have a broken car again!!! So stuck here, lukily I have a full freezer and store cupboards over flowing so no need for shopping, animal feed all here.. just i dont like the restriction, not being able to get out in an emergency. Andre's asthma is very bad again, and I seem to be a bit low, we seam to have had no summer this year, we have had another 4 piglets, we have a home kill to organise, cockerals to go in the freezer.. Im awaiting a delivery from wynstay we spent a fortune on fencingposts wire etc htey have a good deal on wire netting at the moment, I also have been ebaying and bought £200 worth of fram gates as new for £40 add on £10 for diesel and still winning!! So I need to slap my self and get out and do something...lol .. I'm on a diet and I think it must be getting to me now, I have lost a stone I have given up Ribeana and subsiquently lost my sweat toothe, so am being carefull about what i'm eating... hungary was great lovely weather, red hot... was nice to catch up with everyone but only managed to stay away from the animals for 12 days....It took 2 tanks of diesel in our Peugeot 406 estate which holds 80 litres which is very good, £20 on the ferry crossing. I was very happy to get back to my animal family and Babe my favourite pig wouldn't leave my side, she leaned her head in my knees for half an hour easily... she told me off for leaving her... Well thats it im off to shake my self...

Jobs nearly done...lol

2010-08-23T22:15:00.000+01:00

We are just a little tired.... we've managed to fence most of the chicken field, the ground is so hard and stoney that we had to fill the digger front bucket with huge stones, then carefully use the diggers weight to push the posts into the ground, even with all that weight, some refused to go in as far as they should... putting in the big fat posts, that have the triangulation post on for straining against was a very long job even with a really sharp point on they didnt want to go in... We've put in one gate way and are recycling some timbers from the floor of an old static caravan to fence by the side of the gateway, now what else happened.....???

We had a visitor , on preloved I have advertised on old stock trailer so a man whos been following my blog, came to meet the funny farm and to take a look at the trailer hes unsure if he will have it, I dont mind either way, its so useful but does need a little love on it soon.. I took him down to see the very muddy pigs, they seem to eat there bedding up very quickly, and make huge mud pits... never mind soon I will be putting in planning for the pig sheds, he liked looking at the piglets. We talked pigs and he left, nice man, another self sufficient nutter I think...lol

I cant wait to get the chucks confined in there field. the fence does look good. I think Joe wishes we had just thrown it up but I want it to last... I'm off to bed now I need to get up early, I'm going to put on some extra plastic netting to stop the younger chicks escaping through the pig netting..then there will be no escaping and just to make double sure i'll be clipping there wing feathers so they get used to staying on that side of the fence, now just for reference... you clip the primary feathers on one side so, on there wings that is, so when they try to fly they are lo sided, if you were to clip bothe side they would be balanced and would manage to fly, some think its a cruel practise, it may cause wilder chucks a stress whilst being cought , but ours all enjoy cudles so wont mind being caught, there is no pain because your cutting feathers well away from any skin and I feel they will be safer away from fox confined in there own area and in the future we will be getting a gaurd Alpaca for them to make sure Mr. Fox stays away..

Home produced breakfast....

2010-08-23T11:17:00.000+01:00

Is'nt it lovely being self sufficient..... home reared bacon, free range fresh eggs, on home made bread, if only we could produce our own flour, well maybe next year I will grow an experimental bed and try some grains not a huge amount just enough to grind up for a couple of loaves. Maybe a 10 ft square patch as we have plenty of growing space.

Todays job....

Andre has to go to the docs for an asthma check, whilst we are in Llanfyllin we are going to sort out the sugar daddys trailer.(Jim) A few months ago he put a huge load of muck on his trailer for our veg patch, but he only got half way and the over loaded trailer's tyre gave up, so we are going to go and try and get the wheel off and change it so it can hopefully comlete the journey and dump the lovely goodness the muck has for our ground.... It is much needed, our veg patch hasn't done very well it is crying out for humus...The plan is to put maybe 10 loads on the field, dig it in ruffly with our digger then put the pigs on over winter, then start again next year, hopefully then we will enjoy the heritage veg we had hoped to grow this year...

Right i'm nicley stuffed now so better go and see how much we can get done!!!

So today I carry on as if nothing happened last night,

2010-08-22T20:54:00.001+01:00

We have decided to fence off our new grass field making it chicken proof so the 30 odd chucks can concentrate there scratching and picking skills on helping me cut and eat the grass down, not dig and scratch my flower beds, and poop all over my path especially the entrance to the caravan on my wooden decking, or attack all of the stacked boxes of veg we bring home for the pigs, and there favoutite occupation will also be stopped which is.... pooping all over our tools in our tool shed....

We have managed to get the posts all in and tomorrow we will get the wire up, Joe and I had our usual mild altications... I want things done in straight tidy lines with posts all at the same level etc and Joe just wants to go go go!! Throw things in and move onto the next job, but as usual I won and yes it may not be finished today but its looking smart and is sure to last a good while as long as none of my lovely neighbours kick it down in the night....
I also popped out to buy some pond plants, I saw an add put in the local Morrisons for water lilys plus 5 other pond plants for £15, so phone calls later and off I went....well what a lovely man, he showed us around his garden, introduced me to his 2 colonees of bees, which I stood about a foot from taking pictures of there loaded up little bodies with pollens sticking to there legs, he told me how there were gaurd bees on duty around the hive entrance and explained that the wasps who go and raid them, of there golden honey have to get past the gaurds .. as I watced them 2 wasps tried to gain entrance and they were attacked having there wings damaged by the bees and then they killed them, amaiazing. They were so interesting to watch, I vow to keep bees next year and he has agreed to mentor me!! Then he took us up the garden path and showed me a lovely little den he'd constructed, the garden had 30 years of his love and attention, as we talked he realised he knew me, when I was a designer many years ago, I used to buy yarn from him and his wife in Welshpool, isn't it a small world, he spoke of how he'd lost his wife 2 years ago and had lost heart in the garden, but what a lovely paradise he had created, he gave me loads of tips and samples of his veg etc.
Whilst we were in his garage I spotted a jam kettle for cooking up jam, his wife used to make the most lovely jams, but now he said all the fruit on the loaded trees was going to waste, so I offered him a deal, if we come and pick the plums, pears, apples etc I will give him some of our meat produce... he like that and we shook hands on the deal, he found me some lovely plants, 2 water lilys, Iris, variuos bog and pond plants well so many that my boot was full and the inside of my estate car... I began to get a little concerned about how much I'd just spent...I was begining to think maybe £100.... he said £20 would do, what a deal, I had a lovely afternoon , found a new friend, done good deals, and learnt some great tips... lovely or even Perfik as Pop Larkin would say.... Any how when I got back Chef Andre took the job of cooking a lovely dinner, slow roast pork leg, luxury mash, yorky puds, lovely thick gravy with my home made apple jelly. whilst Joe and I put in posts for chicken enclosure, the new grass field will be theres any how, I now need to go out as its getting dark and the dogs are going mad some one is about.... will add pictures of the gardens that I visited today...