Blog: Real-Time Thoughts and Updates

The journey for amalgam removals

Conjunctivitis on the Smallholding

We tuck our heritage rhubarb plant in for winter.

We've had some hard frosts this week so we've kept the sheep in their corral for an extra hour or two so that the frost can burn off in the sun. Here's the ram with one of the girls:

In the dark, and with the rain still lashing down, we needed to get the chain saw out and cut back the tree fallen into the road. It took a while to dry off afterwards

It can be helpful to supplement the income from the smallholding with other external income. In our case, we carry out garden transformation and maintenance projects. Hannah is the expert with her extensive knowledge in this area. This week amongst other things, she has planted a rowen tree, magnolia, and hawthorn for one client, rescued a beautiful but trampled acer and moved fragile pot plants from a patio into a greenhouse ahead of the cold spell next week.

We've managed to grow some great cabbages again this year. Some do get attached by caterpillars, slugs, and pigeons. That said, today, we've harvested 10 cabbages, washed, cut, and salted them, ready for doing our next batch of sauerkraut. Please see the photos below:

One day we'd like to have own cow for our own organic raw milk. In the meantime, we regularly buy in raw milk and use it for producing Kefir. 

Hannah ran her latest Organic Sourdough Master Class during October. She had a lovely group of young ladies in their twenties. Here's a flavour of the master class below. 

In 30+ years of the orchard on our smallholding, I don't think I've seen as many apples as this year's harvest. Below are some of the windfalls collected for the sheep. This is just one wheelbarrow full of our Blenheim Oranges (...apples :) )

We managed to get short break away to the Peak District and enjoy some lovely autumn weather along with some beautiful colouring with the trees.  Below, we are on a small bridge crossing the river Dove.