BALLYMACROWN HOMESTEAD BLOG

A journal of our progress towards our homesteading ideals.

February 2010 - Animal Antics This is the first winter that we have been self-sufficient in wood. The trees we planted last year will be many years before they can be harvested, but in the mean time the old ash on the north side of the barn and the surrounding fuchsia hedges have provided us with the perfect size logs for our little wood burning stove, although we have bought in bigger logs for the open fire in the Croft. We debated about putting in a wood burner in the Croft too, but the open fire is so lovely, even though it doesn’t make eco-sense, we have left it for now. Instead we have had a wood burner fitted in the Gallery. Here it has proved really successful as the tall chimney heats the air in the high ceiling very effectively and there’s also a hot plate to boil a kettle. February has been a very industrious month getting the garden ready for the coming year. Once again we are extending our vegetable patch. Originally we had thought of spilling over into the orchard, but then I had the great idea of getting rid of the grass paths between the terraced beds, which really are a nuisance to keep cut and we have virtually doubled the size of the vegetable garden. It was hard work lifting the turfs, but the soil is so rich and deep on this south-west facing slope, that it’s a shame to waste any of it. The turfs upturned were used along with the soil from the excavations for the greenhouse to create a long border either side of the drive. There are still a few veg beds to attend to, but whilst they are still providing us with leeks, broccoli and brussel sprouts, even though they look ragged from the frosts, I am loathed to dig them up. The chickens and ducks enjoyed all the activity in the garden, following us as we dug, feasting on the vast numbers of worms in the rotted horse manure. That’s the great advantage of living in the country – no shortage of manure! At one point as I was digging I looked up to find myself surrounded by the 5 ducks, 2 chickens and 2 kittens. The chickens have proved to be wonderful characters. There’s a cockerel who can’t hit the last note on Cock-a-doddle-doo and a pretty blond hen with yellow legs. They have a routine and are often found sitting on the top of a bench in the mornings, followed by a trip down to the greenhouse if it’s cold and visits to the duck’s pen to steal the duck’s food, which causes a great fuss amongst the ducks, who quack about it, but do nothing. Then the chickens end the day by knocking on the back door for their evening meal. If they don’t get a reply sometimes they try the doors of the other cottages. It’s very amusing especially as we have stable doors and we’ve been caught out a few times thinking there’s someone  at the door, opening the top half and finding there’s no one there, then looking down to see its the chickens! The ducks aren’t happy at the moment, once again we got it wrong and the ducklings we bought in Bantry market last June have all turned out to be boys. Rocky the leader is enormous he looks like a cross between a goose and a duck and unlike our previous ducks he has turned out to be a bit of a bully. We haven’t decided what to do about it yet, maybe we’ll separate them and keep the three smaller Khaki Campbell drakes at the back of the cottages and Rocky and his second in command a Runner duck called Lenny in the front garden. It’s a shame because up until Christmas they had all got along so well. It's probably lack of female company that’s the problem! At times its tiring work preparing the garden, but with the antics of our animals to amuse us and those wonderful moments when we pause for a second and watch nature happening around us, it makes everything worthwhile. Sitting against the old stone wall behind the Croft, feeling the sun on our face and watching great flocks of crows quarrel with even bigger flocks of starlings for the roosts at the top of the bare trees - the whooshing of their wings as the starlings sweep overhead, like a black cloud constantly changing direction and form. It’s those moments that make us thankful that we have the time to ‘stand and stare’.   'Leisure' by William Henry Davies What is this life if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare. No time to stand beneath the boughs And stare as long as sheep or cows. No time to see, when woods we pass, Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass. No time to see, in broad daylight, Streams full of stars, like skies at night. No time to turn at Beauty's glance, And watch her feet, how they can dance. No time to wait till her mouth can Enrich that smile her eyes began. A poor life this if, full of care, We have no time to stand and stare.

January 2010 - The Big Freeze The frosts continued into the New Year, but once again we avoided the heavy snow experienced by the East coast of Ireland and throughout the UK. We did have one day at the end of the ‘Big Freeze’ when it snowed all day – great excitement – enough to make a snowman, but the next morning all that was left was his scarf and hat! Throughout the period the weather, although freezing at night, was beautiful in the day encouraging us to pack a flask and biscuits and enjoy the sunshine walking the coastal road to Barloge Pier and our favourite, the road to Spain a deserted village on the cliff edge. The Barloge walk heads up on high ground and about half way we always pause for refreshment looking down on the peninsula. Ballymacrown Homestead is easily spotted, a bird’s eye view of our home!

December 2009 - Christmas is coming Christmas is creeping up on me, it does this every year! We always buy our Christmas trees late, so they look good on Christmas day and haven’t been reduced to twigs. And for us there’s nothing like a real tree, as the smell of the pine with a peat fire, captures the aroma of the season. That’s a guilty secret – we don’t use peat anymore. This year we have opted for living trees, so hopefully with a bit of tender, loving care, we will be able to keep them alive over the holiday period and plant them out in the spring.  December has been picture postcard perfect - no rain, blue skies and surprisingly for West Cork – frosts! Now the garden is defined by the sharp lines between the boundaries and the skeletons of the trees and shrubs, which the frost contrasts starkly each morning, particularly in the maze. Joy of joy, no more sloshing through the mud, as the ground is now frozen hard. We’ve gone all eco with the lawn mower and bought an old fashioned push mower, so it’s out with the ‘toys for boys’ (which cost a small fortune to run and maintain each year and spend more time out of action being fixed) and it’s in with the muscle power. In fact it’s a much lighter mower, so it doesn’t take any longer to cut the lawn and the result is just as effective. It’s the Sunday before Christmas – the trees are decorated, the stockings hung by the fire, cards and letters sent abroad – oops just the Christmas Cake still to make, but that’s OK as I have a recipe for a last minute one. Then there’s the festive fare to plan. We’re having Stargazy pie for Christmas Eve, a modern take on an old Cornish recipe. I just love the story behind it of the fisherman returning home to the quay lit by candles, after he braved the stormy seas with his cat to bring his catch home to the people of his village on a Christmas Eve. 'Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night'

November 2009 - Floods November is usually spent trimming the hedges, turning out the compost heap and preparing the veg beds for the following year. But this year it rained and rained, not just the odd day, it seemed to rain for the whole month, culminating in the worst floods seen in Ireland for hundreds of years. We were fortunate as we are 200ft above sea-level, but for a week or more towns and roads throughout the region were seriously affected. We moaned about the rain, but when we heard the experiences on the radio of families who had fought to stem the flow of the rising water and lost the battle and had their homes and businesses destroyed our hearts and prayers went out to them. Their fighting spirit is to be admired – just a few days after the water had subsided I ventured into Skibbereen. Most of the shops had reopened, but the scares of the flood remained with tiles and carpets taken up. One shop even managed to see the humour in the situation with a big sign in the window saying ‘Sale - Clothes at washed out prices’.

October 2009 - Seed Harvest The fine weather continued through the first half of October, in fact the weather was so fine that buds formed on the fruit bushes and the fuchsia hedges were speckled with flowers. We took advantage of the good weather and off we went to the beach at Toe Head to gather seaweed to fertilise the garden. The day was so warm that the local children had gone for an impromptu swim! The dry weather also made it ideal for harvesting the seeds from the fennel, nasturtium and camomile flowers. The fennel and camomile make a great herbal tea, whilst the nasturtiums pickled are very similar to capers – great on homemade pizza. The hedge along the drive was covered in plump red rosehips, which we gathered and made into rosehip syrup, before the hedge was trimmed for the winter and mulched with straw.  But the big news this month was that we finally had the foundations laid for the greenhouse. We’ve never had a greenhouse before, so it’s a great adventure for us and hopefully we will be able to grow all the Mediterranean vegetables that up until now we have had to rely on the supermarket for. Now at the end of the month the weather has turned and unfortunately the green house had to be put up in a terrible storm. I think we will have a long wait until it dries out so that we can weather proof it properly. As I write this on Halloween with the clocks gone back and the nights drawing in, the vegetable garden has treated us to two huge pumpkins 10 and 8 lbs in weight, which have been duly carved in to scary faces and the off cuts made into pumpkin soup to enjoy, after trick and treating, on a Halloween night by the fire.

September 2009 - Swallows  The late summer burst of fine weather made blackberry picking a must and several apple and blackberry crumbles ensued, following walks to Spain (a deserted village on the cliffs, where it is said that a spanish galleon once sank). The wild flower meadow this year has been dominated by wild thistles, each year a different species takes control. Last year it was the feathery grasses that made the meadow look like lavender fields. This year the purple seed heads of the thistles attracted flocks of goldfinches, with their pretty red faces and yellow markings on their wings, as well as beautiful butterflies.    But this September will be remembered for the swallows. Great flocks of over 50 birds congregated on roofs, trees and power lines each afternoon for a couple of weeks. Suddenly they would take off and swoop and glide up into the blue skies, then dive down at low level through the meadow feasting on small insects. I’ve never experienced such sight or sounds before. The baby swallows that hatched this month were obvious in the flock with their yellow beaks and frantic flapping of wings, every now again they would land on a windowsill to be fed by one of the parents. As I write this at the end of September and with the departure of the swallows, the homestead has a completely different atmosphere. The fine weather has continued, but there is stillness in the air as though the land is getting ready to snuggle down for the winter. The trees have lost most of their leaves. The birds which visit our homestead now will stay with us throughout the winter. Tree Sparrows and cheeky robins come to watch as we dig the soil hoping for a worm or two. The seasons are wonderful. Having enjoyed the summer months there is still nothing better than lighting our first fire of the autumn in the stove and with the growth slowing in the garden, there is more time to contemplate our plans for the homestead for next year.

August 2009 - Menu Planning August saw me reviewing my homesteading. I’ve tried to design a two week summer menu that meets the criteria of using only natural produce (i.e. not processed); fresh veg from the garden, using least amount of cooking pots ( I hate washing up); using herbs from the garden; and allows us to cook two meals at a time (one for the freezer). In the winter it was easy as it usually involved a weekly roast and if it was chicken the carcass made excellent soup. The sort of soup that felt like it was doing you good. Or fish pie, the recipe copied from Dinty’s bar in Union Hall - haddock (from the fish shop in Union Hall) in a cheese and leek sauce served with garlic potatoes..yum. To expand our menu I treated myself to a couple of second-hand books on Amazon – "The Thrift Book” by India Knight and “How to feed your family a healthy, balanced diet with very little money” by Gill Holcombe. It was against my better judgement that I bought the “Thrift” book, as thrift is a word I’ve never liked the sound of. I don’t think it describes what homesteading is about – homesteading is about eating only the best – just making it go a little further! On second thoughts maybe that does describe thrift. Anyway this book is as far away from thrift as is possible. It’s really only suitable if you are downsizing from having food flown in from Fortnum and Masons! On the positive side it did contain lists of some very useful websites. The other book "How to feed your family...", was a great improvement, the recipes were easy to follow and there were plenty that I was inspired to try. At the end of the book there were menu suggestions, which was the reason I bought the book and they were costed for the UK supermarkets coming in at less than £30 per week. Just one recipe horrified me “Fish finger pie”!   Sad news this month one of our cats “Clive”, passed away. He was 16 and had lost his sight, so in a way it was a release. Phantom his sister really seemed down and missing him – apparently cats do grieve for a lost companion. So we searched on the internet for kittens in West Cork and surprisingly found that one of neighbours at Loch Ine had some kittens that needed a home. We chose a little black one, the image of Clive, who we named Trixie and a black and white kitten we called Lilly that looks just like Phantom. Phantom was not amused especially when the kittens very cheekily pushed her head out of her food bowl. She’s gradually getting used to them and in time I think she will enjoy their company. I often see her watching the kittens as they play.  I think cats often get a bad press when it comes to birds, but our cats have rarely caught birds and when the ducklings were tiny they seemed to know that they were part of our family. Talking of birds the swallows have laid a second clutch of eggs, which is a really good sign that its going to be a good September, as they must be planning to stay on. One year the swallows left on the last day of August and sure enough in came the sea mists.

July 2009 - Baby Swallows    July brought our first proper harvest of the year, although it was very nearly a disaster – the sudden warm weather with bouts of heavy rain at night were perfect conditions for potato blight. The earlies were due to be harvested, so that didn’t cause a problem and the potatoes – Charlotte, were excellent but I had to cut down the vegetation from the maincrop potatoes well before they were ready. The new rhubarb planted this spring also had a burst of growth and provided us with several rhubarb crumbles. I’ve tried not to take too many stalks, as the plants are still young. The fruit bushes have treated us to fruit throughout most of June and July. The gooseberries were the most successful as the birds were more reluctant to take these because of their prickly spines, whereas the raspberries and blackcurrants were stripped by the bullfinches and the tree sparrows. Best of all the berries were the wild strawberries and the more we picked the more grew. These combined with the gooseberries made great fruity compote.   The swallows did decide to stay and two families were reared in the barn. Usually when they fledge the nest the mother bird lines the babies up along the rafters of the barn to practise flying, but this year they took to the washing line. For the whole day the parents were flying backwards and forwards feeding the babies. Then every now and again they would all take off, often leaving one poor nervous swallow swinging on the line waiting for his siblings to return. They were quick learners and the next day they were all swooping in the water meadow like miniature jet planes. It is amazing to think that soon they will be flying all the way to Africa.                                  We had two surprise visitors this month, firstly the lady who used to live in our cottage before us and she kindly sent us photos of the farmstead when she originally bought it, showing the Croft and an old stone outbuilding where the Gallery is now. We had guessed that there might have been a building there before, so it was interesting to have that confirmed. Then an American visitor stopped at the top of the drive to ask where Mary Sheehan’s cottage was. We were so thrilled to find out that his great grandmother, a Minihan, had lived in the Croft before emigrating to America. One of her descendants then built our cottage in about 1900. This explained where the enormous leather trunk that is in our bedroom had come from. It has been a mystery to us how it had got upstairs as it is too big to go up the stair well or through the windows – it must have been put up their when the house was being built in 1900. It was really special to have a descendant of the person who built our cottage visit Ballymacrown Homestead. It feels like we have completed a jigsaw, we knew bits and pieces about the history of the cottages from neighbours and the deeds and finally we have filled in the missing pieces.

June 2009 - Hedgerow Harvest The first Friday in June was the Bantry farmers market, so off we went to buy some ducklings. We also purchased 10m of strong chicken wire and made a fully enclosed duck pen, so that the ducklings would be safe from the foxes. As they grow we will extend it and use the small enclosure when we are going out for the day. We considered buying one, but the price was 300 Euro for a tiny pen and instead we managed to construct one for a fraction of the cost.  The ducklings are so cute. We think we have 2 males and 3 females, a slightly better ratio than last time 3 males and one female! They have veracious appetites and David is busy cooking them barley porridge, which they are fed 4 times a day, along with cooked vegetables. They are growing before our eyes. They have a little basin to swim in with a shallow end for the little ones and a deep end for the larger more adventurous ducklings. Rocky (shown opposite) has established himself as the leader and where ever he goes the others follow. They have settled in very well and are not at all shy. We bought them from a young boy and I think they must have been handled a lot.   In the vegetable garden the potatoes and onions are really coming on. The peas are beginning to gain some height, but the beans are looking very sorry for themselves. Where we are 200 ft above sea level and quite exposed, it is a learning experience as to which varieties will grow or not. Broccoli is our biggest success. It grows all year and even when the plants finally go to flower the tender young leaves provide an excellent green vegetable.   The hedgerows are lush with greenery now and we have had such fine weather recently that we have left the work and gone to the beach. There is a secluded bay about 3 miles from us that only locals know about. It is sheltered, with soft sand and shallow water, so inviting that David has had his first swim of the year and I lay like a beached whale basking in the sunshine!    We have had our first harvest of the year this week – Elderflowers. I was determined to make full use of it this year, as in previous years it has been and gone with only a couple of bottles of elderflower cordial to show for it. The smell of the elderflower blooms is intoxicating. So it was out with the ladder on a barmy early summer day to reach the best blooms, which are always at the top of the trees. I then spent a day sterilising bottles and making ½ dozen bottles of elderflower cordial, a dozen bottles of elderflower champagne and elderflower sorbet. We will have to wait two weeks to try the champagne, although the longer we leave it the better. It’s already starting to bubble, so that’s promising. It should make a light fragrant drink for summer evenings and I will leave the rest of the flowers to produce berries for the autumn when we can make elderberry wine for the winter months to warm us. The gooseberry crop is looking good too; it’s the perfect companion for elderflowers. I’m off to look for some recipes – gooseberry relish would be nice for summer picnics!

May 2009 - Nature's Balance The swallows arrived as expected on 26th April, chattering excitedly with their characteristic call. They inspected the barn flying at great speed through a slit at the top of the door and built a nest in the rafters. I’m hoping we haven’t disturbed them with our daily comings and goings, we will have to wait see if they decide to stay. The fuchsia hedges are alive with the sound of the birds and the blossom on the apple trees is attracting bumblebees, which is nice to see as their numbers are reducing. The hawthorn bushes dotted about the fuchsia are in bloom too and there is ozone freshness in the air that comes from living on a peninsula, surrounded by sea on three sides. The green finch is our newest arrival at the bird feeders, which are now wired to the trees, to prevent the hooded crows from pulling them down. Originally they were tied on with string, but I was astonished to find the Crows could undo knots!   We have finally planted the stone circle at the entrance to the drive. We settled on blueberry bushes and wild strawberries - as plants are so expensive I like to plant useful ones. Blueberries are great because they have pretty white bell like flowers and then the delicious berries to follow. Wild strawberries are tiny but full of flavour. In the centre of the bed we planted a wild cherry tree, that our guests left for us. In order to increase the number of trees we plant each year we are giving our guests a young tree in a pot to take home with them. For visitors from abroad that are unable to take the sapling with them we plant the trees here at Ballymacrown. The trees include wild cherry, hawthorn, crab apple and silver birch, which were chosen for their beauty and the range of birds and insects they support. On a spring walk down to Loch Ine recently, I spotted a seal. Sometimes they can be seen surfing in through the narrow entrance from the sea to the Loch known as the Rapids. At high tide water enters the Loch. If you time it right its amazing to see the direction of the flow stall and then suddenly turn, with water flowing out of the Loch to sea like a plug pulled from the bath. It always feels special to see a seal in Loch Ine, up close they look at you like a Labrador would and I’ve even had a seal wave back to me.   Our very sad news is that we lost our ducks to foxes this month. May is when the fox cubs are born and they much less cautious, even taking a duck during the day when we were in. The ducks had had a whole year of freedom, wandering about our acre as they pleased. At dusk they put themselves to bed in their duck house and we locked them in each night. Within 4 days we had lost all our ducks, despite our best efforts to round them up earlier in the day. Still it is nature’s way. Keeping animals is always a balance between giving them enough freedom to have a full life and them being safe. I know our ducks had a wonderful life and a year is much longer than a farmed duck would ever have lived. We miss them terribly; each one had their own character. Ducks are such lovely natured animals. They are sociable and apart from occasional squabbles don’t seem to have the pecking order that chickens exhibit. We will keep ducks again, but we will try to get the balance between freedom and safety right next time.

Apr 2009 - Easter Blessings At last the garden is springing into life. The grass has had its first cut and the fuchsia hedge, which runs around our boundary, is no longer brown twigs, but flushed with vibrant green growth. It seemed to happen overnight. We’ve had lovely weather in fact, it’s been so dry that the pond as dried up, much to the ducks distain. Feathers (the female duck), has been laying an egg every day. They are about the size of chicken’s eggs, but blue and much heavier, with a richer yolk – great for cakes. We tried to hatch some in the Stanley, but it wasn’t successful. Now we are trying plan B, we’ve put them under Clive our old black cat who spends about 22 hours a day in his basket. He’s a real softy and wouldn’t hurt a fly. We’ll test them next week with a torch to see if any are developing. It’s a shame Feathers won’t sit on her eggs, but her and the three drakes are always out and about in the garden.    We saw our first hare of the year today on Easter Sunday, very appropriate! Last year a huge hare sat on top of the outcrop behind the Gallery. We are just waiting for the arrival of the swallows. It is usually about the last week of April. Some years they nest in the old barn and their flying acrobatics is a sight to behold – gliding at speed through the opening in the top of the barn. Once they arrive it really heralds the summer.   Vegetable wise we’re under attack by slugs. They’ve eaten all the asparagus and I’m not sure if it is them or the ducks that have had a go at the swiss chard in front of the Croft. Every now and again the ducks go on raids. I’ve tried seaweed to discourage the slugs as well as ash from the fire and gravel, but to no avail.   The cottages have been busy for Easter and we have been blessed with beautiful sunshine. A neighbour told me that the fishermen on Heir Island are predicting a dry summer and if you can’t believe a fisherman, who can you believe!

Mar 2009 - Painting the Cottages March has been a busy month spent painting the cottages. We’ve always loved the colours used in Portmeirion in Wales and the vibrant traditional country cottages here in Ireland, so we decided on pink for the Croft, pale primrose for the Gallery and kiwi green for our cottage. The yellow we tried first, called Magella, turned out orange and after two coats we decided we really couldn’t live with it, so we re-painted in pale primrose. We were so pleased to finish it felt like we had spent the whole month darting in and out between the showers to add another coat. We also painted the garden furniture and the rose arch around the Croft in white. I always think white looks beautiful in a garden. The local painter kindly painted the chimneys for us. He walked along the ridge of the roof between the chimneys like a high wire act. He explained that he had painted the Fastnet lighthouse, so our cottage was hardly a challenge.    The carpenter was also in, refitting the kitchen in the Croft for us. He built the original kitchen and although it was finished beautifully in a traditional style it never really functioned properly with modern appliances. The new design works much better and we were able to reuse much of the old kitchen in our cottage as a room divider. It looks as though it has always been there. Sometimes I get a spooky feeling that our cottage is making us put it back to how it was years ago.   My biggest homesteading achievement this month has been to give up the tumble drier. Its not been as hard as I thought it would be. I’ve just had to be a bit more aware of the weather and plan – in fact my washing has never been so organised. I really have no excuse for not using the washing line, as the back of the cottage faces southwest where all the weather comes from. So if its fine at Mizen Head, 50km away I know its time to put the washing out.   Garden wise David spent a week sclarating the lawn in preparation for the wild flower meadow, accompanied by his four willing helpers!. The vegetable patch has been neglected this month, although I did plant the potatoes during St. Patrick’s Day week – my annual deadline. The beginning of this month saw us fulfilling our aim to plant nut trees. We had a huge pile of rocks that we had dug up from beside our driveway. One of our neighbours said that the rocks had come from an old stone outhouse that was demolished many years ago. So we did a bit of dry stone walling and built a stone circle at the entrance to the drive. We’ve mulched the centre, but we haven’t decided what to plant inside it yet, maybe lavender to attract the bees. Anyway around it we’ve planted six hazel nut trees about 5 ft tall, which should provide us with hazel nuts in about 6 years. Behind these we’ve planted 2 ft high bare root wild hazel to use for coppicing in the future.    The old folk law says that if March comes in like a lion it will go out like a lamb and it certainly did this year!

Feb 2009 - Tree Planting Brrr! Its been cold, but we shouldn't complain - our little peninsula in West Cork missed out on the worst of the snow, thanks to the Gulf Stream. Just one beautiful snow laden morning greeted us, by lunchtime it had melted away, leaving just the snowy tops of the Caha mountains in the distance . We might have avoided the snow, but Jack Frost was definitely down our way, making the zig-zag road down Loch Ine almost in-passable.  Still during the blizzards in the rest of Ireland we experienced several fresh, clear days of blue skies and warm sunshine - a hint of the Spring to come. So it was on with the wellies and out in the mud to plant 30 Ash trees around our boundary. We are trying to phase out the use of coal and peat in the cottages and eventually want to be self-sufficient in wood. We have tried just burning wood alone, but the pine logs sold locally in Skibbereen burn slowly and produce no real heat compared to coal. Having trimmed the Ash trees on our boundary we found that they burnt much hotter than pine and glowed like peat. It also does not need to be seasoned like most woods and can be burnt green – so Ash is definitely the solution. Just one problem – it has to be chopped up and this takes hours with a handsaw – perhaps we need to try an axe! Our other aim for this month was to expand our vegetable beds. Up until now we have had a pretty ornamental vegetable garden behind the Croft and although this has supplied us with a variety of herbs and vegetables through out the year it wasn’t enough to cut out the shop bought vegetables completely. We decided on an area of our orchard that had previously been the site of two huge compost heaps, the duck pen and an overgrown fuchsia hedge. We started by clearing the old stone wall which divides the property from the water meadow behind and then set about dividing the compost heap between the fruit trees and roses.  A new compost area was set up with enclosed composters for kitchen waste and wooden crates to hold the straw bedding from the ducks. This makes fantastic mulch and so doesn’t stay in compost bin long! It’s a great feeling to have finished the new raised beds. Now we just need to plan the planting regime - the fun bit. The birds - cheeky robins, bullfinches and wagtails, joined us each day as we dug and our ducks waited patiently for us to finish so they could pick over the beds looking for slugs. I just hope they leave the worms alone and aren't too upset when I plant a hedge of prickly gooseberry bushes to keep them out of this area once the vegetables get underway. We grow plants that are particularly prone to slug attack on the gravel out side the cottages e.g. courgettes, lettuces, swiss chard and up until today the ducks left them alone, but I caught them eating the winter lettuces this morning - so we might have to confine them to the orchard, which would be a shame as they have been grazing on the wild flower meadow, which should help to maintain it. January is an ideal time to plant bare root fruit trees and bushes, so we’ve added another row of cherry trees along our gravel drive and four plum trees to the orchard. We also replanted the raised beds in the orchard with berry bushes. These beds had originally been planted with onions in the autumn, but it turns out that our ducks, love onions and uprooted most of them, although they did leave the garlic alone. Still we are now looking forward to blackberries, red currents, and gooseberries in the summer and the delicious jams to follow.

Jan 2009- New Year Resolutions What a start to the year, such doom and gloom here in Ireland with banks going under, job losses and the prospect of increased taxes. This makes us even more determined to fulfil our homesteading philosophy. Its New Year the time of resolutions, new beginnings and time for change. By the end of the year we hope to be self-sufficient in vegetables, followed our homesteading ideals, reduced our energy consumption and have a larder well stocked with the fruits of our labour from the garden to see us through the winter.