Running out of water.

Despite the huge collection tanks we have, with hosepipes taking the water down to the garden, we are starting to run out of water.
Here is the water trail from shed to garden ( not the most exciting pictures I've ever taken!)

Rainwater collection at the back of the big shed

Through one of the chicken runs

Past the other shed and down the garden

All the way to the water butts by the polytunnels with a ballcock so they don't overflow

  So we need rain! But not just yet as we need to get some hay baled first. Although we are beginning to think the Gods are against us, Him Outside went out this morning to find the hay turner and the tractor had both got a flat tire overnight.With the problems we've already had with breakdowns it is lucky that we have had a longer than usual spell of dry weather.
There are people coming to help load and collect bales later this afternoon, so fingers crossed for no more breakdowns. Will the very old baler work without  a hitch ? We shall see.

Lovely surprise in the post this morning

Look what I got in the post this morning

What a lovely surprise. Someone who has stayed on the campsite has taken the trouble to contact the Camping and Caravanning Club and has nominated us in the category of " Most friendly welcome".
Makes all the toilet cleaning worthwhile!

We had a complete change in the weather this morning, as a bank of cloud moved over giving us a little drizzley misty rain, not enough to ruin the hay thankfully. Him Outside spent some time in the polytunnels catching up on tomato de-shooting, which it has been too hot to do for a week. Then he got some weeding done with  me popping in and out to help between making bread and biscuits.

Guess how much mess a split bag of chicken feed makes in the back of the jeep- answer = LOTS!
In all the years of bringing home  bags of feed this has never happened before, but the pellets went everywhere, trickling down into gaps and even getting inside one of the folded down back seats. Took us ages to collect up as much as possible, then the rest was hoovered up with the hoover bag then tipped into the chicken run.

I'm still gooseberry picking and have picked and sold 107kg so far- that's 214 punnets!!!

Hooray for help to finish the path.

After nearly 8 months of climbing over rubble or using the temporary slab path to take us on a detour around the garden and then wondering how we would get it done after strenuous wheelbarrow work became a problem, THE PATH IS FINISHED! Many thanks were given to the people who helped and when one of our visitors on the campsite and his son-in-law offered to help too the job was soon done.

Now we just need to bring round some soil that we have in a heap on the field to fill the gap, as the new path didn't need to be as wide as the old one.

I'm worried that we have frightened away some frogs with something we did today.
This is an old stone sink that we found half buried here when we moved in all those years ago. At different times it has had herbs or heathers, but has been unused for a while waiting for the path to be done so that we could put it beside the path and fill it with water. We had a tiny pond that our youngest dug when she was about 10 and she's 25 now. It was gradually disappearing under a tree and impossible to clean out and we thought there was nothing in it except pond weed and sludge, so I filled the new sink pond, scooped out some water from the old pond to top it up and Him Outside
fished about in the sludge and much to our surprise found four frogs. We moved them to the new pond and they promptly hopped out and hid under the conifer! Oh dear, looks as if the new pond wasn't suitable accommodation for them, I hope they hop back in again, or we shall have to dig a new little pond for them somewhere else.

Thank goodness for a bit of warmth -AT LAST

Before I forget ( which I often do) I must say welcome to new visitors who have left comments and new followers who have added themselves to the pictures on the right. I hope you enjoy this simple blog about our  life here on the smallholding where we try to live frugally and lightly on the planet.

It's been a lovely sunny day here  on the edge of Suffolk, and at last there seemed to be a bit of warmth, to cheer everyone up. We zoomed out early to  two local  small car boot sales. Him Outside found a trailer light-board for £5, which is a bargain apparently. I thought we had at least one or two already but  another was required in case one of the others got damaged.
I found a couple more things which will be Christmas presents. That means I have almost finished my Christmas shopping! ( Except for the 3 children and their partners who will be asked what they would like much later in the year). I also found someone selling brand new tea-towels for 20p each. I'm  glad that so many people now have dishwashers as that means that those of us who don't can buy tea- towels so cheaply. I usually stock up during the car boot season if possible so that I can turn some of my old ones into rags. My other £1 spend was on 4 pairs of brand new cotton knickers! Very useful, and 25p each must be good value.
We did  a bit more in the garden after our coffee break and got some leeks planted out and the new flower border hoed again.  I decided on this flower border after we took down some huge leylandii a few years ago and replaced them with a fence all along the front. So I sent for some cheap perennials to fill it up. They are growing- but VERY slowly which means there are lots of spaces in-between where weeds soon pop up. I now remember why I prefer a shrub Border!
Then we spent a few hours in the conservatory with all doors open.He listened to cricket on the radio and dozed and |I started a new book. I'm looking forward to watching some of the French Open tennis which I've just discovered is on TV all through the week. Wimbledon fortnight is my favourite time of the year and that's not far away either.
Here is another colourful garden photo. 3 shrubs and 2 apricot trees which have only ever fruited once. Before we had the new kitchen extension I could see these from the old kitchen window.

But now this shed and greenhouse need moving to give me back my view of the shrubs above.

Busy, Busy, Busy.

Phew! I'm kn******d. After so many days of wet and cold we needed to get a lot done outside today. We started before 8.30am, stopped for coffee at 9.30 and again at 11! We were taking things steady because Him Outside got some chest pains and breathlessness, and after reading more info about angina yesterday evening, we reckon that will be the definite diagnosis when he goes to the chest pain clinic. We have no idea what that will mean for our life here on the smallholding. There might be some things we will no longer be able to do, so slow and steady will be the plan from now on and no heavy lifting and lots of rests between jobs.
First job was to plant out four dozen hardy winter cabbage plants.Two different sorts that I have grown from seed. Then I potted up the late-sown tomato plants into larger pots, they will go out into the polytunnel in a couple of weeks and hopefully will give us some late tomatoes when the others have finished. We had 4 courgette plants still in the greenhouse and used 2 to replace the ones lost in the strong winds a couple of weeks ago, the other two have been squeezed into a poly tunnel. We then put straw around the strawberries and put in the hoops and netting over them. Next job was putting the last of the climbing French beans into a pot to go with the other 6 pots already planted.  Then we put a strip of plastic down each side of the summer raspberries, this is to stop the grass creeping in when we cover them with netting in a few weeks time. I put the nasturtium plants into bigger pots ready to go outside in a few days. In the fruit cage I used the secateurs to take the tops off the late summer raspberries as they were poking out of the top. Finally we pulled up the cabbage stalks and Him Outside used the rotovator to prepare  the bed that will be for leeks later. Of course there were all the normal campsite and egg collecting jobs to be done too.
That was before  lunch!
 After a long  lunch hour Him Outside took the strimmer up the road to the second home he now looks after and did a bit more tidying and grass cutting. I finally finished the job of tidying all the pots of herbs and tree seedlings  and got the small mower out to cut a couple of bits of grass that can't be done with the ride-on.
Finally I thought I would take a few close-up photos of  things in the garden.
These pretty little flowers, just about to open are on the quince tree. 

 Finally opening AT LAST are the flowers on our Horse Chestnut.  Pink flowers are more unusual than the white flowered Chestnuts.

 The rainfall over the last few days has been really good for the gooseberries, a bit of sunshine and warmth over the next few weeks and we will be soon be picking and selling and getting scratched to bits!

Now we can have a restful evening and a quiet Bank Holiday  Sunday and Monday, with a couple of  local car boot sales and some reading. That's the sort of Bank Holiday we like, avoiding the crowds!

Photos on a sunny day

Thank you to everyone for comments yesterday :- Bridget at Malbridge House, Pam in Tydd, Frugal in Bucks and Frugal in Derbyshire and welcome to a new visitor - Rolojo.( also apologies for missing Karen at Chelmarsh, when I was doing replies the other day).
 A warmer and sunnier day today and we got more gardening done, after our usual quick dash to the car boot sale ( £1 spent on two small Christmas gifts.) Plus  a couple of people had Hostas for sale some £5 and some £2, you can guess which ones I bought! I have several various colour combinations now but will still look for a one that has green edges to white leaves. I think they all have different names but the only one I know is called 'White Feather', it starts of almost white in early spring only changing to pale green as the summer comes.It's not very vigorous which must be something do do with the lack of chlorophyll - if I'm remembering Biology lessons correctly. (That sounds too scientific - probably a load of rubbish!)

We got the onion weeding finished, some rabbit fencing and enviromesh over 4 beds of various greens,one lot of supports and canes up ready for runner beans.

 Then Him Outside volunteered to climb up on a pile of bricks to take a picture of the whole vegetable garden.( this makes the pylons look even closer than they are which is actually on the adjoining field right at the top of our 4 acre meadow.)
It was so lovely and sunny I wandered around taking more pictures.
The Lilac, coming out at last.

The strawberry bed

Out of the front gate and over the road, this field is planted with beans, but they look a bit sparse.

And then it was lunch time- nearly all home grown today. Lettuce, mixed salad leaves, various coloured radishes and asparagus with a few cubes of cheese and a splodge of mayo being the only things bought.

That's my lot for today, need some reading time! Back tomorrow.

Saturday at the smallholding

The cold grey weather hasn't put off the Lightweight Camping Club as a few more arrived for the weekend, there are now 10 small tents on the field. This is one corner.

I started the day by making a gooseberry and rhubarb pie and got the things ready for a vegetable curry, with  homemade bhajis and homemade naans. Then I went outside ( fleece and fleece hat STILL required!) I started by sowing some runner beans in trays in the greenhouse then potting up and tidying some more herbs which will go out to sell later. I have several  huge pots of various Hostas, but they have been in the same pots for years and had been infested with weeds - especially this which looks like a harmless violet but BE WARNED, if it arrives in your garden you will NEVER get rid of it.

It must be related to violets but the roots are very invasive and the flowers turn into seed pods which pop and spread everywhere. It would be fine if it just stayed in the flower garden but it gets into every nook and cranny and every pot. I decided that 3 Hostas would have to go, I managed to rescue 3 smaller ones but will look out at car boot sales to restart my collection.
Him Outside did lots of tidying and weeding and prepared 2 beds for runner beans. He also took the fleece off the courgettes, but they do look sad as they got badly damaged by the wind.
Then it was all the normal jobs - cleaning campsite loos, checking bins, collecting, sorting and boxing up 8 dozen eggs.
The doorbell went mid afternoon and a lady asked to look at the campsite, she had clipboard and checklist and I was a bit puzzled, but she was doing an advanced 'reccy' for a possible visit by a group of 6 friends in September. They had come all the way from Leicestershire to look! They admired the bluebells under our Horse Chestnut tree and said that it has been so cold where they live that their bluebells are still not out.

Then it was time to finish cooking the curry, get cleared up and prepare ourselves  for an evening at The Eurovision Song Contest! I doubt UK will win but having grown up watching it for as long as I can remember it is compulsory viewing.We have a packet of chocolate coated peanuts to nibble as a treat! What an exciting life we lead!

Polytunnel cover on.

It's almost done! We took advantage of having our son and his girlfriend here and a sunny day to get the plastic cover over the polytunnel frame. We've backfilled the trenches with the dirt taken out, poured several cans of water over, and then it was all stamped down which then holds the plastic in place. We have the wooden door frames to cover with more plastic and  they will be fixed at each end tomorrow. It's so much easier to pull the plastic over and hold onto it with 4 pairs of hands. Just hope we don't get gales overnight before it's properly finished!

 Our carboot outing this morning was a disappointment as most of the booters were the same as those there yesterday, so we had a quick dash round at Friday Street and then a even quicker look at the mini boot fair in our nearest village. My only purchases were a big red and white spotty mug for 25p  and a few more Beatrix Potter books which I have been collecting (as long as they are only pence each) I missed out on reading these as a child and also never really enjoyed reading them to our 3 when they were little. Preferred Shirley Hughes' lovely books.
Did manage an hour sitting in the conservatory between jobs- thankfully - feet up and good book!

I Don't usually buy these but......

I survived my long day sitting in a chilly village hall from 7am until 10pm. Election turn out was quite low, but of course as always someone arrived at 7am prompt and another couple arrived at 10 minutes to 10pm and dillied and dallied putting their crosses in the box. There are so many forms to fill in at the end and the Presiding officer then has to hurry with the box to the collection point. I only do polling clerk so just have to do the clearing up- taking down all the notices etc. and then thankfully home to bed.
Another lovely sunny day here but we can't shake off the cool wind. I expect it is warmer further inland.
The things that I don't usually buy are these -out of season plums flown here all the way from Chile. On the whole I try to eat things from this country in season, but this is the time of the year with so little fruit available that something is needed to add to tinned fruit for my daily fruit salad. There are only 5 plums in this punnet, but they are HUGE so I just need 1 a day, which is not too bad when chopped and added to half a tin of value mandarins, makes a good dish of fruit. I know an apple would be cheaper but after living on apples many years ago whilst being on a diet it put me right off them.

After taking this photo I then went around the garden taking some more pictures of things growing in the lovely sunny weather. First picture is some of our many gooseberry bushes. They are SO reliable and never let us down. Each year I pick and sell so many punnets - last year nearly 200! They are greening up nicely and soon I shall start checking for gooseberry sawfly , the tiny caterpillar things can decimate a gooseberry bush in no time.

This is our ancient Conference pear tree, always loaded with blossom, but doesn't have so many pears. Under the tree is our patch of Comfrey that we cut and soak to make liquid feed for the plants or we cut and add to the compost bins, where it acts as an accelerator.Below are the asparagus spears -such a delicious treat.Looks as if there are lots to cut for a meal tomorrow.

That's my lot for today, early night tonight, I never understand how sitting around all day makes a person so tired.

More about the Ash Tree Die Back Disease

This picture was taken  a few days ago and shows how the newest polytunnel is coming along.  Just some trenches for burying the plastic in and another path needed. The plastic has arrived so we await a hot,still day to get it fixed.
We have such incredibly blue skies here today - fantastic. Though I've been in the kitchen most of the morning for bread, cake making and cleaning.
Thank you to Karen,sft,Trudie and Pam for messages left and for the commiserations re the loss of all the Ash Trees. We planted them in Jan 2011 so that whoever lived here in 30 years time would have fuel. Ash are best for burning as the can be coppiced and they re-grow from the base, plus the wood can be used green in necessary. They were OK the first year then looked very sad last year, we thought at first it was just the weather. Then came the bombshell news that a disease had spread here from Eastern Europe and attacks both young and older trees. Being on the East coast we are straight in the firing line for the spores. There are a huge amount of large mature Ash trees in Suffolk and it is going to have a devastating effect on the countryside. Larger trees take longer to die so we are shall be keeping a watch on the mature trees we have in the boundary hedge.The young saplings will be pulled up and burnt. We have no idea what we will fill the empty spaces with. Thankfully the 25 Hazel and 25 Silver birch plus the mix of other trees we planted 10 years ago are all looking OK.
Now I must go and sort out what I need for tomorrow for my long day out  - 15 hours sitting in a village hall with someone I have never met ! not a busy village so I doubt we will see many people. I have letters to write, a puzzle book, book and papers to read so should survive the day but it always takes me about 3 days to recover. ( On my way to training yesterday I noticed a poster for another Car boot on Saturday morning - so we might get to 3 this weekend - that should keep us busy!)

CAMPSITE SORTED !

I'm very pleased that today we have finally got the campsite facilities sorted and declared open our "Tourist Information, Library and Group Room" . This sounds extremely grand but really it is just the end of the farm building that we have boarded out, painted the concrete floor and installed some shelves for books, tourist info leaflets and a table and chairs. This is something I've wanted to do for ages but it was only when we definitely decided that to keep goats again would be too costly and complicated that we were able to use the part of the shed that I'd been "saving just in case I keep goats again''. I kept goats for 18 years until 3 years ago we thought about moving and then I was ill for a while and that was when the goats went. I still miss them.
We've had our campsite since the year after moving here so  since 1993. We started a site because we were campers and had been to some good but a lot of really awful places and thought we could do better than some we had been to. We began with just the basics that you have to have to run a Camping and Caravanning 5 van site ( usually known as a C.S or a C.L). That is a tap, Chemical Toilet emptying point and a dustbin. Then we added a toilet and cold water washbasin for tent campers. Then caravans got more complicated and everyone needed electric hook-up points. For a while we couldn't do this without great expense as the power supply to the  house from the nearest transformer wasn't big enough. Then one night we had a bit of luck as lightening struck a telegraph pole zoomed along the wires and burnt out the transformer pole. When it was repaired the guys said that it had to be upgraded to a much more powerful supply and then we were able to run hook ups. We ticked over nicely for a few years and then found we were getting people who wouldn't come because we didn't have a shower.Then last year was our worst year ever with the weather being so horrible we had weeks and weeks with no visitors at all. So we decided that maybe adding a shower would be a good idea and had to figure a way to get electric to the building.
Now we are all done and just hope that we will recoup the expense before too long.
We've got a church group and a lightweight camping group booked in for later in the year so I hope they will find the room in the shed handy for evenings to get out of the weather if  (when) its wet. Hopefully we will have a good year, I'll keep you posted.

Some garden photos next. The Horse Chestnut leaves are just opening.

butterfly on a dandelion

There should have been a picture of the fruit cage with it's net over the top and the nice green gooseberry bushes - but it's vanished - who knows where?

Final picture is part of my baking session this morning. Some extremely delicious Chocolate Cappuccino cakes - recipe taken from the WI book of cakes and biscuits.I bake these quite often! but cut them into 16 small squares instead of 8 bars and they freeze very well. Always handy to keep in the freezer for visitors

and very good in the mornings with a cup of coffee for people who don't eat breakfast!!!

Shopping for shoes and daffodils.

Shopping for shoes is almost my least favourite activity, but needs must and as, due to foot problems, I'm unable to wear wellies now I've almost ruined my very old pair of Brasher walking boots by wearing them for splodging around the smallholding all through the wet winter. So time for a new pair to wear for just walking in (rather than collecting eggs, gardening, chopping kindling etc. etc.) First stop giant Sporty type out-of-town place. No one "serving" until I'd walked around and up and down searching. I have quite wide feet so not much choice. Then he trotted off to look for my size and of course they didn't have them. So we went into town and thankfully discovered Millets/Blacks still there - I thought they were one of the companies that had gone under this winter. Success! and IN THEIR SALE at half price - Hooray! Now I really must look after these. (Poor old well worn boots on right look better in photo than in reality, still just about OK for working here)

Hopefully no more shoe shopping for many months.
Before we started searching for shoes we called in at Sainsburys because someone on a blog had mentioned their Value Range Bacon ( whoever it was - thankyou!) We rarely visit Sainsburys as it is 25 miles from us at the wrong edge of town. Bought two packs of bacon and then divided it up when we got home before putting in freezer- 2 really good size bacon chops and 4 packs of rashers. Very good value.

A few days of sunshine have at last persuaded a few daffodils to open here, yet in Ipswich there were several out in gardens, it really is several degrees warmer in town compered to us on the East coast. We had a bed of daffs for selling at the gate but last Autumn decided that they were getting very crowded and not producing many flowers. So we dug them up and replanted the biggest bulbs in a new bed. These means not so many to sell this year but hopefully a good amount from next year onwards.