Porky Delights

Thought i'd post some shots from one of our 'Pig Days'. I'm looking forward to the next one, I want some more bacon, we've run out and egg sandwiches are getting a little dull!

Pouring salt on to a whole leg of pork is the first step in making a 'Parma style' ham

Sausage making is loads of fun

Some freshly made salami

Sausages hanging up to dry for a few hours before freezing

Frozen troughs and frozen fingers!

Fences need fixing whatever the weather!

We've been busy as per usual since the last post.

Everything is covered in snow now and every trough on the farm is frozen solid each morning.

I hope this snow melts soon. It IS beautiful, but we don't want to have to start feeding the sheep extra feed yet, not until February at least!

Filling the trailer with manure for the pea patch next year

Sheep Skins

Today we've taken some sheep skins from the slaughter house to the local tannery. In 10 weeks time we'll get them back and we cant wait! As luck would have it, Britains oldest working tannery is just 10 mins up the road from us and still uses traditional techniques.

Check them out at

http://www.devoniaproducts.co.uk/

If all goes well and we're happy with the results we're hoping to start producing and selling sheepskin rugs and a small range of baby/toddler clothing (made by kelly)

The thought of being able to put another part of the lambs to good use makes me very happy.

I'll post some photos when we get them back.

Gathering the hill today

I'm absolutely knackered!

I've spent the best part of the day on horseback with Jill my sheepdog following. We've been gathering the black sheep in from the moor and I'm 2 missing! I know they're there somewhere, I need to get them all in and sort them into 2 groups before friday. That's when we'll put the rams in, giving us a lambing date starting April next year. 

I'll have to find those missing ewes tomorrow!

Autumn sowings

We're digging the carrots as we need them at the moment. Soon we'll have to dig the whole lot up and store them in bags so the frost doesn't ruin them.

Today, we sowed 3 rows of broad beans and 100 onion sets.

I really need to get my act together and prepare some ground for some winter peas and garlic too. I didn't get round to planting any garlic last year and we really (really!) missed it this year.

Check out me plums!

 Our plum tomatoes in the greenhouse - just starting to ripen earlier this year. They were absolutely delicious! When you compare the taste of a home grown tomato to that of a shop bought one.... well they couldn't be more different if they tried!

 River looking very smug after helping to harvest several kilos of blackcurrants from just ONE bush. Kel made jam with it all.

  A barrow load of runner beans a couple of years ago with my old sheepdog Tess (RIP)

A squash just starting to swell in mid summer. We love growing squashes, you get so many different shapes and sizes we try and grow a new variety every year. The plants take up a lot of room and the plot takes a lot of preparation before planting them out - but they're worth the extra effort!

The veggy plot

 This was taken just before kel and I started to dig our 1st veggy beds. As you can see it's quite a large area with heaps of potential. A sloping south facing field with a little shelter from the strong south westerly winds and good soil. I remember how excited we were!

 We started off by cutting out long thin strips of turf and turning them into 'raised beds' by edging them with salvaged wood. I'd go pulling wood out of skips or ask for off cuts on building sites. It's amazing (and depressing) what gets thrown away.

Several years down the line and we've started to grow in much larger beds. If you want a years supply of spuds, growing them in small raised beds just doesn't cut it. We've also found that although the raised beds look nice they harbor a lot more slugs than growing in larger areas.....