Tips on Electric Fencing

My childhood was different from a lot of peoples. Of course when you're growing up you think everything is normal, and it's only when you look back that you see it wasn't, but I think even at the time I knew it wasn't like everyone's.

There was a lot of "jobs" involved, we were forever helping dad on the farm. I can remember being picked up in the carpark of school and dad throwing our overalls and wellies out to us (my brother and I, along with my sister when she was old enough), telling us to get changed before we got in. The dog would jump all over us and we'd then go off to manage some of our sheep or some other job that needed our attention. 

Seems like a lifetime ago that we had the sheep here. Part of me misses it, but then a big part of me likes staying sane...

Dad would plan the jobs around what help he had, every job with the sheep was easier with one of us helping, this could be drenching them or sorting them, but more often than not it was was doing something with the electric fencing. 

All of our land was rented, and most had questionable fencing. Our land was fields dotted about the place that dad had managed to rent from different people, every time we moved the sheep it was with a stock box, and before we could let them out, we'd walk the perimeter and see how bad the fences were. 

A field I used to rent. I'd love to go round and visit all the fields dad used to rent and get pictures one day.

Electric fences became our first line of defence. This is also my very early memories of driving (very young), dad would sit the Landrover in low box (1st gear) and I'd steer it along the field at walking pace. He would walk behind and take the fence posts off the trailer, counting his paces to make sure they were spaced evenly. 

Then we'd each get a reel of wire and walk along the posts he had just laid out. The reel would be held on a fence post so it could unravel easily, dad would walk behind and clip each one into a slot on the post.

Then with an old car battery dad would power it all up, and we'd go quiet waiting for the rhymic "click, click, click..." to show it was on. Dad would always try to get one of us to touch it, saying we needed to test it properly, but even holding a piece of grass on the fence it would send a shock down your arm. 

We learnt a lot doing the fencing, but a few tips - 

The sheep had to fear the fence, if they got through it once, without it kicking them, then chances were they'd try again, it made us really good at changing the batteries (before the days of solar chargers) as the last thing you wanted was the sheep thinking it's not on. 

The fences worked better near another barrier, so a electric fence alongside a hedge would always work better than one cutting a field in half. 

You made sure it was clear under the fence when you put it up. Chances are the sheep would keep it clear afterwards, but was worth cutting where the fence was going to go with a strimmer (brushcutter) or at least driving the tractor wheel to flatten the grass. If grass could touch it then it would often short the circuit and not work properly. 

You took care when you wrapped the fence up. Rushing the packing up would cost so much time when it came to putting the fence out again. We used to make sure the reels were wrapped tight and the posts all laid the same way. You got a nice pace as you walked and wrapped, but as the wire got older I would hold a handful of grass in my hand to stop the stray wire from cutting me. 

You didn't leave it up longer than it had to be. It was easy to wrap it straight away when the grass was short, but if the grass grew long around it, you'd have a game trying to remove it. 

You left the fence unit out of sight - we only ever had one lot go missing, but they took the time to wrap it all up and take the posts as well. We used to chain the expensive unit to an old wheel or something tricky to move. Probably not so effective now with cordless angle grinders, but I feel you should make it as tricky as possible for them. 

I dread to think how many times we put up fences! Worst was as we got into our teens and dad would make my brother and me go and do it on our own. We then lived in fear of the sheep getting through one of our fences and knew where the blame would land! 

Do you use electric fencing much? 

Do you have any tips for using it?

Was it a part of your childhood like mine? 

Saving Rain Water On The Homestead

I said to my wife the other day that it feels like it's been raining for 40 days and 40 nights now. So, at times like this it's sometimes hard to think about the possible dry times ahead and storing water for use around the homestead. But as always it's best to be prepared, especially with some of the summer we've had lately. 

We have a number of ways of collecting water. Most are cobbled together from a time when we were on a very tight budget. I have always dreamed of installing some much larger water tanks which would mean I could dispense with some of the maintenance that goes with having linked storage barrels. The one lot are filled from the roof of my workshop, although I could easily add gutter and more barrels to the other side as well. 

A bit of green growth around the fittings - tell tale signs it's leaking. 

Last summer was case in point of this, where I had both sets of linked barrels leak. The barrels in question are old olive barrels, bought cheap. I try to make sure I never have more than 4 barrels linked up in a series. This is then is about a thousand litres, The row of 6 (in the picture above) is linked as two lots of three, with a filling pipe placed at the top to link them up. That way if one leaks it won't drain the whole lot so we're not left without water when we need it most. 

The problem from these barrels comes from the fact that they are very curved on the inside, so any fitting I use is a bit of a bodge, using silicone. The other problem comes from the top of the barrels not accepting my broad shoulders, so every time we've added some of these to the homestead, one of the children has had to go inside to hold the spanner to tighten the fitting! 

It's worth fixing these leaks now though, while there is plenty of time for the barrels to fill back up. A job on my list is to empty them all out, clean them and then refit the fittings, possibly replacing a few of the older fittings. 

The one's in the garden, much the same set up, fed off the shed roof. 

The other thing we do is have areas set up for making sure the water is something the animals want to drink! My boy has an area where he cleans the chicken waters each week (scrubs them), and tops them all up with fresh water. I love seeing that he has used this old toy table as a workbench to clean them out. A while ago I added an outdoor hot tap and this has been brilliant for jobs like this. He uses the watering cans to then take and fill up the tubs we use for the chicken's water, knowing how far he can fill them and still be able to carry them using the gauge on the side of the can. When he's done he puts it all away neatly - quite organised really! 

Further down the garden, the water tanks are used to fill up a small plunge tank, this is ideal when watering the garden, and so long as you use a lot of the water it doesn't have time to go green. This will need cleaning out properly before the growing season starts however! The mesh screen I made stops any animals or birds falling in when it's not in use. 

The other job I like to do every couple of years is to change the "O" rings on all the hosepipe fittings. It's a quick job, and can save many litres of water from slipping away, but it's also a job that's really easy to ignore. 

We have experimented with many things over the years to save moving so much water about. Having barrels next to the pens works on the short term, but we find them very hard to keep clean, and without lids there is always the risk something will fall in. 

We tend to only fill these when we go on holiday now, to make looking after the chickens easier for whoever we rope in to do the task! 

I'd love to have more water stored here on the homestead, and it's something I need to put some serious thought in to improving in the coming years. More potable water that we can drink as well would be great (or better ways to filter it), and some proper water storage tanks for that would be incredible when we save the money for it. 

How do you store water for use on the smallholding or garden? 

How many litres do you think you have stored when it's all filled up?

What maintenance jobs are you doing over winter in relation to water storage?

Latest Woodcarving Magazine Article

I think I've been in the last 25 issues or so of woodcarving magazine now - time really does just slip by! 

I got to do the opening to the magazine in the latest issue, a part I always love doing. I got to include the bit about medieval carpentry with my boy and a few lovely pictures from the weekend. 

This issue also features one of my favourite articles I've written for the magazine, the carved axe cover. Hopefully people will like it!

Always nice to see your name in print! 

How To Make A Carved Sliding Axe Cover - Video

A follow on from my other post a few days back. The carved axe cover for my son. 

I've managed to put a video together showing how I carved it. I've left it  little longer than some videos as I wanted to show as much of the carving as possible. 

Give it a watch and let me know what you think! 

Extra Mason Jar Storage

 Another project for another magazine article! This time some extra storage for mason jars. 

I've been planning to make this since I made the door for the pantry. I built the door strong enough to take it. 

Carved Wooden Axe Cover - No.2

 My Son recently turned 10. He asked for an axe for his birthday - who wouldn't? 

I managed to pick up three really beautiful axes for him to work up to. The biggest was a lovely old Brades axe, in need of a cover though!

I'd been thinking of making another style of wooden axe cover for a while and I had a woodcarving magazine article due. 

Why I Fell Out Of Love With Social Media in 2025 & Why 2026 Will Be Different

So I had been thinking about making this video for a while, with a new year it seemed like the right time. 

I want to say that the blog is not in this negative spiral, I love this blog and that I have people read it, it feels like mine, unlike twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube. 

 This video is me opening up about those other spaces and about how, as a small business owner, I can't opt out, and in an ironic way how I don't want to, but also how I don't want all the worlds worries all the time. 

Thanks for reading my blog and the support I've had from so many of you for so long. It has meant so much to me and I have no intentions of stopping any time soon. 

Last Years Garden Club Talks - 2025

One part of my very varied work life I really enjoy is the talks I give to garden clubs. It's a good (small) source of income for me, but more than that it's fun and gets me out of the workshop and in amongst people. I've very much an extrovert (although I need a long, lone charging time between each large social interaction) so I love going out to give a talk about something I'm passionate about. 

Looking back, last year was great. I did 20 talks (Hellen's isn't on this list for some reason), and enjoyed every one of them. I met some great people, had some brilliant questions at the end of my talks and honestly can't wait to start again this year - which is good as I have one tonight! 

They bring funny stories, a tiny adventure as I try to find some tiny village hall or school in a village I've never seen before, or even power cuts and pole dancers (but they are stories for another time). 

A list of last years talks - 

2025

11th February - May Hill Garden Club - Unusual Fruit And Veg I

20th February - Leigh & District Gardeners' Club -  A Talk About Our Homestead & How We Got Here

11th March - Arlington Garden Club - Unusual Fruit and Veg I (rebooked after road flooding caused                                                                                                                                             cancellation)

12th March - Oddingley & District Gardening Club - Unusual Fruit and Veg I

18th March - Stoke Lacy Gardening Club - Preserving The Harvest

19th March - Mickleton Garden Club - Unusual Fruit & Veg I

1st April - Grosmont & District (Abergavenny) - 

15th April - Ruspidge Garden Club - Unusual Fruit & Veg I

14th May - Blockley Horticultural Society - Unusual Fruit & Veg I

27th May - Hereford Fuchsia Society - Unusual Fruit & Veg II

11th June - Painswick Garden Club - 

24th June - The Narth Garden Club (NP25 4QN) - Unusual Fruit & Veg I

9th September - Puddleston - Preserving The Harvest

17th September - Afternoon - Make Time Friendship Group - Worcester - Unusual Fruit and Veg I

18th September - Wellington Gardening Club - Preserving The Harvest

19th September - St Briavels, Hewelsfield and Brockweir Garden Society - Preserving The Harvest

3rd October - Salford Priors Garden Club - A Talk About Our Homestead

16th October - Wigmore & District Gardening Club - 

28th October - Orelton Garden Club - Stone Soup - Extra Meals From The Garden

I have 20 talks booked up for 2026, and I plan on making a few more talks to add to my repertoire as I go. Hopefully the bookings will continue, so far it's largely been by word of mouth or the Gloucestershire federation of speakers list (which has been an incredible resource for me to get my name out there). 

So if you saw one of my talks last year thank you, know it's something I love doing! Looking forward to this year. 

A January Homestead Tour

 The homestead is a mess, and I have a lot of jobs to get done to make this place work well next year. In this video I have a walk round and show you what I need to be doing. 

Let me know what your job list looks like for the next few months! 

Books Read Of 2025

I kept my target of reading 52 books this year and I ended up reading 53, rushing to read one on the morning on new years eve as I had forgotten one earlier in the year! But still that's no bad thing. 

I'm sure you all know I'm a book worm by now, so no surprises here on the numbers, audio books were such a game changer for me, and I often wonder how much I'd enjoy my main work (small batch production) without them. I do also listen to a lot of podcasts and the like as well. 

Book highlights of the year - Fiction

Not sure where to start with this as there were so many good ones. 

Classics - 

Fahrenheit 451 - Ray Bradbury - I can think of no better time than now to read this book. It's surprising how long ago it was written, but my goodness it rings true of today. 

War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy - Always wanted to read this and this year I gave myself that opportunity. Not sure what I was expecting, but even though it's huge and has a huge number of characters I found it easier going than I thought. The war scenes were some of the best I've read and dare I say some bits near the beginning with the teenagers is almost a little trashy. Glad I read it, but might not be one I re read often! 

A Month In The Country - A beautiful calm book, just enjoy feeling like you're in a village in the 1920s, about a man with shell shock recovering while restoring a mural on a wall in a church. 

Far from the Madding Crowd - Gabriel Oak deserved so much better. That's all I say! 

Grapes of Wrath - Bleak, but worth reading. But bleak

Day of the triffids - Great bit of sci-fi fun, loved it. 

Fiction - 

Jasper Fforde - completely bonkers world building, almost gave up and then suddenly I was there and loved it - can't wait for the third one in this series. 

The Devils - Joe Abercrombie - Probably my favourite author and he's done it again. A cast of characters I love, loads of action and funny to boot. Incredible writing. 

Project Hail Mary  - Andy Weir - Great cosy Sci-fi, every bit of this was fun, and written in a way to keep you reading. 

Misery - Stephen King - I could not stop reading this. I was hooked. I wanted to turn away but couldn't. Such a great book. 

Bob Mortimer - Satsuma complex and Avocado Hotel - Just fun books, light reading at it's finest. I love these. 

The Black Tongue Thief - special mention for a great audio performance, one review said it was "alright except for the non native English speaker" I thought that was odd so gave the sample a listen - he is Irish! And every paragraph he reads like it's poetry, very much a fantasy book, with magic and the like, but very fun, a pleasure to listen to. 

Non Fiction - 

Malcolm Gladwell - This year I started (on my brother's recommendation) to read Malcolm Gladwell. I got through four of his this year, they make incredible audio books as include the interview recordings and look at fascinating subjects. I was utterly hooked on each one. Not always the happiest of subjects, but ones really worth reading about. 

Everything is Tuberculosis - John Green - Again another incredible book about a subject I knew less that perhaps I should. very eye opening, especially about how we treat and cure things only when it suits. 

Less - Patrick Grant - A book that puts into words a lot of what I think. Beautiful turn of phrase and I'm going to urge more people to read this book. Superb. 

A particular highlight - Reading Terry Pratchett to my boy. We've been loving reading the truckers series together and the books have quite often made him (and me) laugh out loud. my teen years were spent reading Pratchett so I'm hoping we can read lots of these together in the future. 

The Children Of the Famine - Marita Conlon-Mckenna - I read this to the girls and I can see why it's an Irish classic. A trilogy of books about the Irish famine, the middle book about a girl of 13 moving to America on her own, it's history that should certainly be taught a lot more, especially when there are a lot of people that want Britain to be "great again", a lot suffered for that so called greatness. Docks shipping grain off to England while Ireland starved, it's made the girls and I look a lot more into that time period. 

Books that didn't quite hit the mark for me - 

Of thorn and Briar. It just wasn't what I wanted it to be, I think I wanted it to be another Burn (by Ben Short) and it just felt a bit flat, but maybe that was my expectation rather than the book itself. Also I felt that there was some underlying contradictions in opinions that I couldn't quite place my finger on, I do think it is a well written book though and I did enjoy it, just didn't fill me up (if that makes sense). 

Shogun Part 2 - Honestly I was so invested and then it just ended in such a flat way, wrecked the whole thing for me. 

Craft Land - James Fox - just felt a bit w&nky, just didn't feel right to me and I love books about craft. Skimming too softly and with too much reverence between the crafts. In one bit he talks about how much thought goes into stroke of the chisel of a stone carver, and as a wood carver I have to think that it's just crap, because I'm normally thinking about what I'm going to cook for tea, not that if I make a bad stroke the piece is ruined, otherwise nothing would be made. 

The lion Above The door - Onjali Q. Raúf - I loved, laughed and cried at The Boy At the Back Of the Class, but this one was just too slow, I read it to my son and I think it struggled to hold both of our attention, I think if it was shorter it would have been better (for us anyway), still a good book, just not in the same league as the other I just mentioned. 

So there you go, my books of 2025. I think 52 is a good target, not saying I'll get there this year, but I like having an aim. My wife and daughters are going to share their reading lists as well in the next week or so. 

What was your favourite book you read in 2025? Anything you think I'd like?

New Year Ended With A Bang

 We've been busy off seeing family, a trip to Stratford theatre on Tuesday night to see the BFG (which was amazing), then yesterday we were having a fairly lazy day before going off to see friends. 

My wife went for a run and tripped and fell, the first we heard was from some people who saw it happen, who luckily brought her home. She was covered in blood and straight away I could see she had cut her head pretty deep. 

So we left the children and I took her to the local injuries, they took one look and told us to go to A&E. We didn't have to wait too long when we got there, about an hour after being seen initially for a quick assessment. They said she'd need stitches and she ended up having nine above her eyebrow. 

We told our friend, who's house were going to for new years, as we were in hosptial, and she went to collect them. The girls had been baking all afternoon for the party and were ready to go. 

When my wife and I got home from the hospital we were a bit wiped out. But I came back tot he log basket full of logs, the fire lit and burning away nicely, chickens shut in, workshops all locked up. I was very proud of how our children dealt with it all. 

My wife stayed in for new years, I managed to drag myself out for a few hours, it was lovely being with friends, but also I couldn't help but worry about my wife (especially as it's her head she hit). 

This morning she is obviously a little tender, still shook up and still tired as her body tries to heal. 

Only up from her on in!

Happy New Year!