Cob Oven

We were lucky enough to be invited to a friend's for tea the other night.

They cooked some amazing pizza in this cob oven they had built themselves as a family.

Now the idea is taking root in my mind and I keep think about where we can build one and what it would look like.

We had company!

Who on here has built their own outdoor oven or cooking area?

Cob or any other material I'd love to see some pictures or recommendations for more research.

Homestead Shop

A bit of shameless self promotion on this post for my products I'm starting to sell online.

I started making some homestead and garden related products to sell after my mother got me to make a wooden potting tray because she could only find plastic ones online or in the shops to buy.

Wooden Potting Tray

When these started to sell well I decided to make a range of products that should hopefully make jobs easier, be nice to use and look good.

Check out my Etsy shop here or contact me if there is something specific you wanted making related to the homesteading lifestyle.

Harvest Basket

Garden Tote

Wooden Garden Tool Box

Jumbo Harvest Basket

Click to visit my shop on Etsy here

All items are made by myself here on the homestead.

If you have any ideas on other products I could make and sell I'd love to hear from you!

Least Number Of Animals Since 2012

I realised the other day that we currently have the least number of animals we've ever had in the last seven years. 

We're down to four laying hens and a little chick I hatched at the local school who they named "Gary".

That makes a total of five! Which is mad when I think about it. Since getting chickens here the first year (July 2012) we've always had at least a dozen. 

There have been when I've had sheep and lambs here (nearly 90 animals) plus twenty laying hens and nearly 30 meat chickens!

Gary the chick

Having less animals certainly takes the pressure and workload off a little bit though. This April has been great not having the sheep lambing and has meant that I can try and get some projects finished here, the garden and poly tunnel being the big ones.

I'm still going to try hatching out a few more birds yet and hopefully have a better rate than the one we had at the school. This little guy (or girl) needs some buddies!

I do wonder if I should buy a few store lambs later in the year to fatten up to keep us supplied in meat for the winter? It also leave the question of what to do with the grass, dad says I should rent it out to horses but that's not a route I really want to go down at the moment!

Home Butchery

Like many skills I think butchery is one you can only really learn through doing. 

Last week I butchered four more lambs and as I get into double figures now (total) I'm getting a little faster and more confidant in what I'm doing.

I surprised myself with how fast these got done and how all the cuts looked right. I didn't bother to debone any joints like I did last time, nor take pictures of each cut - although I have a great post from last year showing just that.

The freezers are now fit to burst as we still have loads of chicken left as well. Maybe we need to have some friends round for tea (although with UK law only my family living under my roof can eat anything I've slaughtered myself).

I did end up with a good amount of trimmings as well. The mincer I brought years ago when I was given a whole cow has paid for itself many times over. I decided to mince the breasts of lamb, I've tried many ways of cooking it and every time it's never as good as a burger! and all the other bits and bobs from getting the joints tidy.

In the end I managed to make 26 burgers for the freezer! Even though these lambs were pretty lean they still have a bit of fat in them, I doubt I could cook these over a flame on a BBQ as they would just flare up the whole time. Inside using a grill will probably be best.

Really looking forward to eating some of this in the coming weeks. It taste all the better with how much work has been put into it!

A Year Of Using A Composting Loo

So it's been a year now since I started using my composting loo.

I don't use it every time but it does get used frequently.