July 2006 The great balancing act

July has turned out to be one big juggling act. As I thought last month it has been extremely busy with the pheasants arriving and looking after their needs whilst trying to keep everything going at home.
It has shown me very quickly that game keeping is something I could not think of doing long term, as the commitment to the birds is a fulltime job in itself and there are no short cuts to take. I will of course see this year out to the end of the shooting season, but will really have to think hard as to whether it is the right move to continue as the priorities at home have been moved down the priority ladder which is something I don't wish to happen for long periods. After all we have built up a smallholding lifestyle to have our needs and ourselves as the main priority.

(Feeding time at the pheasant pen)

That may sound quite gloomy but the reality is that I really do enjoy the work and get a great deal of satisfaction from it, just that the commitment seems too much for our preferred lifestyle. By the time all the work is done looking after the birds it leaves little time for anything else except to have a bite to eat, water the plants and grab a few hours sleep. Of course it won't be like this for long as the days grow shorter but this time of year is a special time where everything is flourishing and there is so much to see and do around the place. The kids are all off school and there is no time to spend on day trips or even just spending a few hours playing.
So for now I will carry on enjoying the experience and see what happens next year? At least I can say I have had the experience and given it a try something I may have regretted had I not taken the opportunity.
Around the holding more chicks have been born. It may sound bad but at the present time I have lost count of exactly what has been born although I can say that from 7 Peafowl eggs we now have 3 Peafowl following around their surrogate mother a New Hampshire Red. We did have 4 but I am thinking a buzzard ate one as I have seen one regularly perched near to our place. 4 Slate turkey poults were successfully hatched by one of our Light Sussex hens, whilst the 6 Bronze turkey poults are now free ranging around the holding. It seems that we may have quite a few stags amongst them but intend to swap some of the stags with friends who have other bloodlines.

(A STAGgering photo!)

Lambing season seems like a distant memory now as worming and trimming the ewes and lambs last week they seem to be growing very quickly especially the rams who this year we castrated to see if they grew quicker. It does seem to be the case as Whizzer the only entire ram who is going for breeding stock to one of our friends does appear smaller when compared to the other ram lambs. That would leave us with 8 lambs of which 2 will be added to our flock leaving 6 for the freezer. Sounds a lot but having 4 last years I notice we have nearly eaten all the lamb I processed in February so 6 lambs and 2 ewes for mutton wouldn't be a bad thing.
The 6 young weaners have now been separated between 2 pens now as they are rapidly coming up to breeding age, 3 gilts in one paddock and 3 boars in another. These should provide our pork over the winter and the boars I think will probably be going to the abattoir around October with the gilts late in the year. The last 3 of our adult gilts from Bonnie's first litter went to the abattoir last week and are now processed into the freezer.
Bonnie is still keeping us waiting at the moment in the field shelter and is due to farrow on the 1st August. She has found the heat had to cope with but the new paddock she is in provides a great deal of shade under willow trees and a wallow helps to cool her off.

(Bonnie cooling off)

Up until this year our gardening efforts have been unremarkable although we have had some successes. This year has been a great success up to now. I have employed some of the lessons learned previously such as watering regularly (yes I was that bad) and also used slug pellets for the first time and what a difference they have made.
I used the poly tunnel to start some crops off early and it worked a treat. We have been eating roast dinners for a while now using mostly our own veg, including sweet corn, carrots, and cabbage. I have a big crop of cauliflowers which are about a month away from providing more additions to meal times as well as mistakenly planting brussel sprouts in there too, at least we will have early sprouts!
The tomatoe plants are now providing us with all our tomatoes, as are the cucumbers and courgettes. Along with the other salad crops of rocket, spinach and lettuce we have white and red radish, spring onions, shallots and soon to be added sweet peppers.

(Success at last in the polytunnel)
I have planted a few pumpkins in the hope of having some fruit from them by Halloween but fear I have left it too late for this year time will tell.
Outside we planted a large amount of potatoes which all seem to be growing well along with those missed from last year. The peas and beans are also growing slowly but surely and our winter brassicas are growing well along with the leeks, so wintertime should see us with plenty of veg. I think that at the end of August/ beginning of September I will be planting more brassicas in the polytunnel to see what crop it will give over the winter and if successful will use the polytunnel to ensure we have veg all year round.
The fruit crops are also producing although need a few more years to be bountiful. The blackcurrants have provided a crop again although having netted them for protection after loosing large amounts in the past to birds I left them to ripen too much to the point that only enough fruit was left on the bushes to produce 2 large jars of jam. The liberated Rhubarb is thriving now and should grow well over the next few years. Having had an initial crop from them when planting I think we will have another crop before the summer has ended. The apple trees have a small crop on them, which is a bonus although they should start to produce well from next year. I will also be using runners from the strawberry plants to produce an outside bed as the crop in the polytunnel ripened early and finished a while back. An outside bed should mean strawberries for at least 4 months of the year instead of the glut we had in 2 months. The only thing missing is gooseberries, which hopefully will be sorted later in the year.
All in all a very productive time in the garden and with the animals. Slowly but surely we are adding to our list of own homegrown produce and I have to say it feels very satisfying indeed!