January Homestead tour

 It honestly feels like it hasn't stopped raining for months now. So with a few days of clear skies I thought I'd do a quick walk around the homestead and show what we've got going on. 

Of course, compared to summer things can seem a little quiet, but I feel like I have so many jobs to get through, as well as trying to do everything else. 

How To Make A Harvest Basket

 So I got asked to write an autumnal project for Woodcarving magazine. My mind went straight to harvesting and a harvest basket. I make many of these already for sale, but I didn't have one that you could carve the sides on, not really anyway. 

I decided to make a new design, more like a traditional trug in shape, that would have a wide side that I could carve. 

This is a video of two parts, this first part I'm making the new basket, bending the ash for the handle and just dialling in the design. I was really pleased with it. The handle looked great. I ended up listing it on Etsy as a one off and sold it within a few hours, so I guess others agreed as well! 

If you want to support me and what we do here you can buy one of my other harvest baskets here -

I put a lot of effort into my baskets and other products and I really love it when people buy them, but even more when they send me pictures of them in use! It really makes me smile.

I keep wondering what the next step with my products is. Do I list them with more online stores like Notonthehighstreet, or do I approach physical shops? I've had a few contact me lately. Or do I start doing shows?

May Garden, Orchard & Coppice Homestead Tour

Nothing hidden here, just a tour around our place, warts and all. 

If you're feeling a bit behind what you're doing this will probably make you feel better. That said I have some things that are doing great. The soft fruit in particular has been awesome for a number of years now, and I'm looking forward to future harvests. 

How is spring treating you? 

Are things as far on where you are?

 

How To Build A ToolBox With Simple Tools

On Twitter I asked people what they'd like to see in a video and a few said a toolbox, but using just a few tools rather than my usual array of every tool going (I'm certainly guilty of that, but it is my job!). 

So last week I made up a toolbox using just a few hand tools and a cordless drill and filmed the process. 

A Tour Of Our Abundant Organic Orchard - In It's 10th year

It's 10 years since we planted the orchard. When we moved here I was digging holes by head torch to get them in and our eldest was just a few weeks old. It's beautiful to walk round it now and see the sheer abundance it provides us with now. 

This video is only short (about 10 minutes), doesn't have me talking and just shows our little orchard in all it's Autumn glory. 

Let me know what you think. 

How has your orchard cropped this year?

 

How To Make The Best Traditional Sawhorse

Yesterday I did a online talk for a group of homesteaders and smallholders about woodworking and how is best to start. I had a great time and really enjoyed it!

To accompany this talk I decided to put together a video for what I think is one of the most essential things you can have to make woodworking easier - a way to hold and work wood - a sawhorse. 

A sawhorse is a great way to work wood. It's the ideal height to use your knee and body weight to clamp the wood your working on. A pair of them supports wood easy and can make a useful work bench or hop up. 

This design is the one I built as an apprentice, it's what Andy (the carpenter that trained me) said was the best design. You can carry it on your shoulder up a ladder, set it tight up against a wall and balance all your weight on the very edge without it tipping. 

The best bit is to make it uses no fancy geometry to make it. There's a simple set of rules to set it out, using imperial measurements. It's 2'6" long, set it 6" in and 1/2" all round. I explain all in the video below!

It's a simple project, uses very few tools and once you have built it all other woodworking projects (where you're using hand tools) become easier. I love them, take at least one on pretty much every job I go on. the old ones I use have been on so many jobs, up roofs, laid floors, helped make kitchens, helped me saw thousands of pieces of wood over the last 20 years.

Watch the video and let me know what you think. 

Do you have and use a sawhorse? What style of one do you have?

Making Damson Jam/Jelly

Damson Jam is easily my favourite jam to eat. Sweet bit with a hint of sharpness! 

But with so many stones it can be a pain to make.

Here's a video of how we make it and make sure we have no stone in it!

Let me know what you think!

What's your favourite type of homemade jam?

Making An Insulated Pantry Door

The pantry project is moving forward!

I've decided to upgrade the door to this storage room. What I want to make sure is that the kitchen stays warm and the pantry stays cool. Having a door with insulation in it and having it well sealed will help me do this.

This video is quite carpentry based but shows how I went about making a new door. Not traditional construction but hopefully a few will find it interesting!

Let me know what you think.

November Walk Around

Another vlog and walk round my place on a cold November morning!

Let me know what you think! 

Vlog 8!

Another vlog!

A walk around our place showing you all what we've been up to this summer. 

Also I pop into the extension and show you how much I got done over the summer. 

As always let me know what you think and if there's a video you'd like to see then let me know!

Vlog 7 - Sheep & Chickens

I've put together another vlog! 

Lots fo high lights from the last few weeks and a walk around the homestead. Make sure you watch the end as there is the cuties video of my daughter trying to say "Peas if you please!", makes me chuckle every time I watch it! 

Thanks for watching and let me know what you think!

Harvesting Soup Peas & Lots More

The garden is constantly producing lots of produce now, I've just set to harvesting my big batch of soup peas and trying to make sure I keep on top of everything else. 

Here's another video showing what's happening in the garden. 

First Watch Of Gracie's Backyard

I don't get involved with many kick starter campaigns unless it really grabs my interest. So far I've invested in two of them. 

The first was a for a video on the Market Gardener Jean Martin-fortier. I had become obsessed with his book (and still am to be honest), his methods have altered how I garden and how I see my future here on this little farm. 

His video didn't disappoint, I could see the methods he'd been talking about in his book put into practice and although there are many videos out there, this was presented in a really useful way, with chapters detailing how to tackle certain issues (planting, weeds, etc). 

The second video I've backed is called Gracie's Backyard and it's a documentary from Ridgedale Permaculture, which is run by Richard Perkins. I got the download yesterday and watched it straight away.  

He's been doing a great run of videos on YouTube detailing how he runs his farm day to day and all of it's integrated systems. I find his videos fascinating, not least because his farm does make a profit.

This video was certainly less of a how-to and more a general overview of the farm and looks at some of the main issues I have with the farm. The main one for me is people working for free to learn the skills, this isn't something I 100% agree with and I'd be interested to know if the farm was still viable if he had to pay everyone a living wage. He says in the video that he's not happy to pay people that he doesn't think are skilled at what they do, but as someone who was paid whilst doing an apprenticeship I'm not sure this is a fair way to look at it. Also if this new farm model is to work in other locations around the world then everyone working there needs to earn a fair wage, there are already plenty of places running course to supplement what they do. 

The farm is amazing though.

I do love how they have many different activities going on within the farm; the "no dig" market garden, pastured eggs, pastured meat birds, sheep, cows and pigs as well as fruit bushes and orchard trees. Splitting revenue streams like this makes a farm income much more secure, but again all the activities are quite labour heavy and might not be quite so profitable if everyone was paid in full. The variety of work does makes it really interesting for everyone who works there as their day is varied giving a much more enriched working environment as well as a better way of learning. 

I also love how by selling multiple products from the farm the locals are becoming interested in what is going on there, in an area where agriculture is a dying art and most food is imported people can now see that there is a future in farming.

I really enjoyed this video and it gave a good look at the human aspect of what they're doing there and it has certainly given me ideas of things I could do differently here as well and how I could alter a few things I already have set up.

If you don't fancy paying to watch the video he has plenty of them on YouTube already and as he is putting what he knows into practice rather than just preaching it, I think the man is set to become a lot better know than he is already. 

Vlog Episode 6 - Walk Round

The next Vlog is on YouTube now!

Join me on a walk round the sheep and a look at my very productive veg gardens! Everything is growing like crazy and we're harvesting so much at the moment! 

Let me know what you think! 

A Tour Of The Coppice

The garden and the sheep (and the children) take up most of my time around here, but I have got a few other areas growing on quietly in the background. 

The coppice is one of those, it's quiet happy being neglected  but it's looking better every year. I did make some extra plantings this year and I plan to plant even more this next winter/spring - I'll clear an area of grass by leaving plastic on it and then plant it up with self seeding annuals or perennial herbs and bushes. 

Here's a little walk around of what it's looking like at the moment.

Let me know what you think!

What would you plant in there?

May Garden Tour

Busy time in the garden at the moment.

Lots growing and lots to eat. 

Comfrey As A Weed Barrier

I've posted before about dividing up comfrey and using root cuttings to make new plants and the other night I decided to make another huge number of plants with one purpose in mind. 

Plastic down to suppress weeds. 

The idea is to grow a 4ft strip of comfrey (boking 14) down the side of my garden to create a "weed barrier". The idea being that if these plants are established it'll leave far less room for other plants to take hold (like the nettles that are there now), I'll also under sow the plants with clover as a ground cover. 

,

98 root cuttings to make some more plants.

I'm not sure how well this idea will work but it seems like a good idea on the surface. It should stop the buttercups creeping their way back in and with the plastic cover this summer it should get rid of the nettles. 

On top of this I'll be growing a hugely beneficial plant right next to where I need it, I can use it as a mulch, a plant food or to go in the bottom of trenches to grow beans on top of. 

I wanted more comfrey plants and this seems like a good area to plant them.

What do you think? 

Will it work as a weed barrier?

7 Tips For Lambing a Small Flock Outdoors

Things have gone well with the lambing this year so I thought I'd do a video show what I've done to try to organise myself and get things to run a little smoother. 

Let me know what you think!

Is there anything else you'd like me to do a video on?

Vlog Episode 4 - Homestead Tour

It's been a while since I did a video and with so much going on at the moment I thought it might be good to walk you all around some of the homestead. 

This video is just filmed as it is, very little editing except where I ran out of memory as I was looking at my beetroots! 

Let me know what you think and what you'd like to see in the next one and I'll try to include it. 

Or let me know if you'd like a video on anything in particular.

Two Milestones On The Extension

Just a short video showing the progress I made on the extension over the weekend. 

I just need to keep this pace up now!