We started keeping chickens so that we could free range them and raise them to high welfare standards. Unfortunately, bird flu (caused by the Avian Influenza virus) has become a large issue in the UK as well as across Europe, the USA and many other parts of the world. This means that at the momentContinue reading “Bird Flu and Chicken Boredom Busters”
Category Archives: homesteading
The last of the Fruit Harvest (thank goodness!)
If you’ve been reading our blog you’ll know that we are self sufficient in fruit. That is unless we decide we want a banana or pineapple which struggle in the UK climate. All of our apple trees can be found in the field where we keep our chickens so we make maximum use of theContinue reading “The last of the Fruit Harvest (thank goodness!)”
I love HOT chilli sauce!
It’s true! Hot sauce is amazing and thankfully Hugh grows lots of chillies for me and every year grows a new variety that he’s never grown before. 3 years ago it was a yellow variety with a lemony, hot flavour called Lemon Aji. Last year it was a variety called Red Basque. This year heContinue reading “I love HOT chilli sauce!”
Maintaining Our Woodburning Esse Oven
We are incredibly proud of our little cottage. It’s bigger now but back in the 1700s it was only a 2 up/2 down arrangement and our lounge would have been the main room for preparing, preserving and cooking food. We decided to pay homage to the original purpose of the room by installing an EsseContinue reading “Maintaining Our Woodburning Esse Oven”
Time to Repair and Paint Barn Windows
We love our smallholding/homestead. Our year is dictated by the seasons. In winter we decorate the inside of the house, clear and tidy barns and build/repair coops. In Spring it’s all systems go with planting and growing fruit and vegetables as well as hatching chickens. Summer is tending and harvesting which leaves Autumn/Fall for buildingContinue reading “Time to Repair and Paint Barn Windows”
Who Knew Parsnips Are So Versatile?
The humble parsnip is a vegetable that only EVER was roasted in our home before we started our smallholding lifestyle. Like most things in our home we use the phrase “Waste not, want not” every day so we do much more with parsnips now.
Our Mixed Chicken Flock
We breed Buff Orpington chickens and anyone familiar with our social media accounts will be very familiar with the chickens either running towards us, or after us. Fiona’s accounts on both Instagram and Twitter as @theflooflady is totally devoted to the hens and cockerels stampeding across the field. In the sea of golden fluffballs thatContinue reading “Our Mixed Chicken Flock”
The Rural Network Fuels Our Home
To keep our home warm we have 2 multi-fuel burners. We use wood as much as possible mainly because it’s a sustainable fuel. We obtain felled trees and we plant new trees to replace them. This is one of our long term stores. In this store we have wood for burning in 24 months time.
Our Cheap Fruit Cage is Paying Off!
Over this last winter here in the UK we were required by law to keep our lovely chickens either indoors or in fully netted enclosures due to Avian Influenza Restrictions. We bought three 3m x 6m polytunnel frames that we connected up and covered with bird netting. It was much less space than they wouldContinue reading “Our Cheap Fruit Cage is Paying Off!”
Sometimes it can be Overwhelming…
Our home is our wonderful sanctuary. It gives us so much joy and our move to the smallholding lifestyle has been amazing, but…. yes, there’s a “but”. The work on the smallholding is dictated by the seasons and sometimes balancing this with earning money as well as supporting friends and family can be overwhelming.
English Country Life 