And into December

Where to start ......

Russell & I are a bit stressed. In fact, we admit to feeling a little overwhelmed with everything we need to do on the "farm".

Starting with good news though - the plans for the riding school have finally been submitted.  It's only taken 7 months of blood, sweat & tears since the pre application but it is done! Still a few loose ends to tie up - surface material for the parking area (still waiting to here back from the env agency on that one), disposal for the wc in the yard, moving the telegraph poles to name but a few but at least we are getting somewhere. I am preparing myself for a few complaints though, I am off to the local Parish Council (hopefully) on the 10 Jan to talk to them about our plans and then the Planning Committee is scheduled for the 6 Feb, so we will know either way after that.

On Friday I attended a first aid in the workplace course - a qualification needed to be a Group Instructor with the RDA and I have been trained in stage 1 of turkey processing at  Cuckoo farm in Rutland with Pat.  We were going to "do" the turks on Thursday, but really, really mild weather is forecast so we have had to delay until Monday.  Not too sure how I feel about it really, best not to think about it too much.

I have no idea of heavy the birds will be, Russell and I spent a couple  of interesting mornings recently trying to catch them to weigh them. We're not very good together with the turkeys -I can't catch them (hate the flapping wings) and Russell's back isn't v good so he can't bend down quick enough to grab them.  Our attempts start out  well, but invariably end up with me giggling, then us swearing and shouting at each other and then Russell storming off the field in a "huff".  It is a bit hopeless, for me to be a poultry farmer and not even be able to pick the bloody things up. Obviously I haven't let on this fact to Pat.

Unfortunately things didn't work out with poor Rita and she had to go back to her owner. She just hasn't done enough recently for her to be a useful horse for me.

Springtime is settling in and hopefully she will be more suitable.  She is a typical thoroughbred horse and has already lost one shoe and eaten around 100 bales of hay but I do really love her. 

The freezing weather has made watering the livestock challenging -carrying buckets of water out each morning and night has kept me fit.  Poo picking (of which I do so, so very much) is much easier though, frozen manure is much less horrible than non frozen.

No photos I'm afraid as my phone is jammed on to text message mode (I know, another i phone ruined) but hopefully I'll get  round to taking some over the holidays.

xx

New Faces

There is plenty to update on the blog today.  Firstly, riding - the kids have been riding lots and are really coming on. I have finally taken the plunge and let Luke ride off the lead rein. I have also taken him to two local shows where he and Quito have jumped in the clear round competition and Luke now has two rosettes. We have friends' children come to ride regularly at the weekend now and this is just great. It is great practise and experience for me and good for the ponies too.  

We have a new horse, meet Rita ........

She is on loan from a lady over in Stocking Pelham.  She is great to hack out on and time will tell if she will like going round in circles and so be good for the riding school. There is a bit of Educating Rita to do as she hasn't been ridden regularly or schooled for a number of years but she is very sweet.  A tad on the bargey side - like cobs can be - but nice natured.  She is also totally in love with Quito, he is such a pretty boy and is loving the attention. 

 

I have also just had a Thoroughbred vet checked, which has passed and will be coming on Wednesday. She is called Springtime and is also very quiet and I'm hoping will be really good in the riding school.  More on her next post.

 

 

 

Rugging up in the cold weather.

I have sold all the turkeys for this Christmas.  We are doing 16 this year and keeping the rest for breeding.  I won't go on about this and will only say this once:

I have been worrying sick about the bloody turkeys.

Will they be big enough? will they be too big?  will they have enough meat on them? what if they are too fatty? what if they don't taste very nice?  etc etc and so on and so forth and on and on and on.

We have put down 200m of plastic on the field in order to kill off the grass so that we can plant our lovely new hedge. Very excited about the hedge. Very.

Greg is back on the farm with his tractor and digger, reinforcing the brook. The new chicks are all doing well and getting big. 

The riding school: after many tedious e-mails in which I failed to communicate what exactly I wanted, the architect and planning consultant had to come back here for another meeting to go through the plans.  The problemo here is I have a fixed idea in my mind as to what the stables and yard will look like (having my own yard having only been a  dream, for like, my whole life and so have given it much thought) but the architect keeps coming up with his own ideas.  Some of which are actually v good and are being incorporated, but it slows the whole process down.  Anyway, we now have agreed layout for the yard and siting of the manege.  We also had the Flood Risk Assessment back and that is also ok. 

However, major stumbling block now is that the one place on the whole bloody field where the stables can go (that keeps the planners happy, us happy and the environmental agency happy) and would you Adam and Eve it it is right underneath the overhead power cables. Argghh. 

After a million zillion telephone calls I now know who owns the cables and has responsibility for them.  It is Power Networks UK and they are sending out an engineer type chappy to see how close to the telegraph pole and cables we can build and also give us a quote for moving the telegraph pole if need be.

Keep smiling :-)

xx

Oh Holy Sat Nav

The "Greedy Cockerel" - as named by the kids - has obv been a  busy rooster as 7 chicks have hatched out this week.  Each time we have new chicks I forget quite how cute one day old chicks really are. Thanks Sam for helping me move the two mum hens and the chicks into a separate hen house and run. 

 

 

The cockerel is still aggressive however, and has a nasty habit of attacking you as you walk away from him, unsuspectingingly, with your back turned.  People have taken to sort of shimmering across the chicken field, side stepping, so as to be able to keep one eye on the Greedy Cockerel at all times. Still, with 7 babies produced, I have a new fondness for the old boy.

 

 

Elsewhere, we are finally making progress with the planning for the riding school.  Its really exciting, designing the yard from scratch and being able to choose exactly where the windows should go, how the yard should be configured and what size everything should be.  I am now thinking rubber floors, asphalt yard, roof pitch and drainage.  Not to mention ventilation!

My training with the RDA (Riding for the Disabled Association) is going well and I have started being able to offer riding here on the field once a week too, which is great.

We have not been at all successful with the quail.  After starting with 6, we are now down to only two.  A ferret / rat or similar had been digging in and taking one quail away each night.  Anyway, hopefully Russell has now fixed the problem and made the quail enclosure safe.  None of the eggs hatched either:-(

However the turkeys are still going strong.  I have taken quite a few orders and have only five or six more to sell.  They are absolutely driving me insane now at bed time.  We're going to have to trim their wings again to stop them flying up on to the turkey house.  It takes me about 15 minutes every night in the pitch dark to chase them round the field and into bed. 

A few weeks ago we went to Peppa Pig world for the day as a treat for the kids.  We were very late home and when we finally got back it had been dark for hours.  I was so worried that a fox had got all the turkeys that the car journey home was stressful to say the least.  When we finally got home the turkeys were exposed, sat on the roof, but all fine.  Luke cheered me up on the car journey home though by saying that the sat nav woman must be God's wife, as she always knows where we are and which way to go.

I am a firm, firm believer in the Hugh Fern Whittingstall approach to eating meat: that it is ok to do as long as the animal has had a life worth living i.e. that it is better off having being bred for meat, rather than having a horrible, sad and miserable existence from which slaughter is actually a relief.   I also agree that it is too easy to buy processed meat without any thought to the animal from which it has come.  Having said all that, I am finding it hard to eat our own cockerels - they have had a natural, free range life and so I am doing what I believe in, but it does feel rather odd.  Hopefully it is something we will get used to.

My vegetation step daughter was here when I cooked a cockerel recently.  It was a little unfortunate, she came home just as it was , without any dignity, defrosting in the roasting tin on top of the oven. She said "that's a funny looking chicken".  I said "ah, its actually one of our cockerels", "Oh my God, did it die?" " Erm, yes, sort of ............."

Anyway, blog about the farm not the kids, as Russell keeps telling me.  So the final piece of news is that we are making plans to plant around 100m of native hedging, bare rooted, in the new 12 acre field we have seeded with grass.  To try to keep costs down, Russell and I will do this ourselves.  First job is to cover the area we want to plant the hedges in with plastic, so that the new grass dies off.  I am very excited about growing this hedge, very excited.

xx xx

I'm now taking Christmas Turkey orders

 

 Brook Cottage Farm

 

Free Range, HeritageTurkeys

 

Please call to order

 

01279 777235 / 07919 888655

 

 Traditional and rare breed turkeys - Norfolk Black, Cambridge Bronze, Bourbon Red, Slate Blue and Lavender, reared slowly having been fully free ranged at low density on a generously sized grass paddock (see picture).  Humanely slaughtered on the farm to reduce transport stress: compassionate farming and the highest standards of animal welfare are at the heart of what we do. 

Traditional breeds do not have the "double-breasted" conformation of modern breed commercial birds but they produce meat with superior texture and flavour. 

 

Please call to order your turkey.

A £20 deposit, balance payable on collection from Furneux Pelham.

 

As this is our first year of production, we are pricing at an introductory discount rate of £10.50 per kg.

 

Louise Seddon

 

Harvest Time

I always did understand the importance of harvest time, of course, and why it is celebrated religiously around the world, in each country at around the time of the main harvest for the crop that is grown there.  Traditionally in Britain, poeple took along harvest baskets to the church service, with produce from their own gardens and allotments, to be distributed amongst the local poor.  This year, I have really taken pleasure in the harvest festival (not least because of our village celebrations that are great fun) but also because I can see the wheat has been harvested from our fields, the apples from our first little apple tree (thank you John and Ann) have been picked (we have 3!) and the garage is full of sweet and new smelling hay for the ponies and sheep for the winter.  It is a nice feeling. Below is my favourite harvest hymn "Lord of the Harvest":


Lord of the harvest
Lord of the field,
Give thanks now to God in nature revealed.

Give thanks for the sun, the wind and the rain
And thanks for the crops that feed us again,
The corn safely cut is gathered inside
We thank you , oh Lord, that you can provide.

The trees ripe with fruit stand proud in the sun,
We gather them now that summer is gone.
For yours is the wonder, yours is the power,
Yours is the glory of fruit and of flower.

So in all our plenty, help us to see,
The needs all round whatever they be.
With food for the body, strength for the soul,
It's healing and caring, making them whole.

News from the farm this week:

The turkey with the poorly leg, remember him?, is better. The turkeys are starting to be quite difficult at bed time.  There is one, the largest, who seems to be the ring leader and encourages the other 6 or 7 wayward turkeys to fly up on to the turkey house roof every night instead of going into the turkey house, like the good turkeys do.  These naughty turkeys are, for some reason, extremely difficult to get down from the roof and into bed.  Russell has been doing this task for the past few evenings, it is just at the wrong time of day - he has finally got home from work and just wants to have his tea and instead he has to put on his wellies and a head torch and chase the turkeys around the field for 20 minutes.  Last night it reached a climax and in pursuit of the most wayward turkey Russell actually pushed himself through the electric fence to catch it - both the turkey and Russell got severely zapped.  I think he could have wrung their necks then and there.

Tonight, I went out with Claudia and between us we managed to get them all in.  The turkeys are less afraid of me, when they see Russell they go a but mental.  As if he's going to kill them or something ....................................  You see, maybe they are not as daft as we think! In  fact, generally they are very curious and inquisitive - a sign of intelligence surely?

We have lost a quail and I think it is the boy.  We have lots of little brown field mice in the garden and they have ben digging little holes all around the quail enclosure so they can get in and eat the corn. Russell has now put chicken wire along the ground so it is mouse and rat proof, but before he had chance to do this the boy quail must have got out through one of the holes cos I found him, headless (yuck) in the garden yesterday.  All stiff and headless, poor thing.

But we have a broody quail, sitting on some eggs, and a broody Light Sussex, also sitting on eggs.  We'll have to wait and see if anything hatches.

There is NO NEWS and there are NO DEVELOPMENTS with the planning for the stables, The env consultant has been away on holiday again.  ARGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

All fine here on the homestead though, the animals are settling into their winter routine (ponies are now in their stables in the night and out in the field in the day) and the sheep are being fed daily.

Happy Harvest time everyone.


xx

E-bay Fantastic

OK, Russell has been buying riding school equipment on ebay.  When kids and adults come to the school for riding lessons we can give them a nice pair of boots, a back protector and a hat to wear.  Last night we unpacked it all (felt like Christmas), marked it all up so that Russell can give feedback to the sellers on e bay and put it all way neatly in the shed.  If we weren't setting up a busines you'd think we have that awfully sad hoarding illness.  Anyway, we now have riding boots in every size, lots of hunter welllies (I've decided only hunter wellies will do for sloshiong aound in our mud and muck), body protectors and hats for all our clients.  Friends have also donated their old wellies and boots for our collection - thank you very much.

When we moved to the country seven years ago, Russell and I didn't even own any wellies. I remember Russell bought himself a lovely green pair of wellies, which he proudly put by the back door.  I used to joke  over the years that these wellies were never even worn, let alone saw any mud.  How things have changed.  We each have several pairs and I wear nothing else these days.

This is how we got the sheep tame - by feeding them from buckets every other day and sitting in the grass with them whilst they eat.

xx

 

Produce and Services

Here is a summary of what is available on our farm:

1. Brook Cottage Farm

Available in 2012:

• Compassionately farmed and totally free range, heritage breed Christmas turkeys.  A range of weights will be available;

 

(Our birds. This picture was taken today, 11 September 2012)

• Professionally produced birds;

• Orders being taken from 1 November 2012 (for more information and to order please call Louise 01279 777235 / 07919 888655 or e mail louise.seddon@btinternet.com)

Coming soon in 2013:

• Finest rye grass hay, delivered free of charge;

• Seasonal vegetables and soft fruits available throughout the year on site;

• Fresh quail eggs;

• Free range chicken eggs;

• PYO soft fruits;

• Bags of horse manure.

2. Brook Cottage Riding School

Hopefully opening in Spring of 2013 (following completion of planning application)

• Top of the range, new, brick built lovely stables and facilities including an all weather surfaced manege (20m by 40m) with viewing area;

(Example yard design)

• Parents - enjoy a cup of tea or coffee whilst you watch your little ones ride and stock up on seasonal, fresh produce;

• Instructors are friendly, professional, fun and BHS (British Horse Society) qualified;

• Private and group (maximum of four) lessons for children and adults.  We also have 28 acres of safe hacking here on the farm;

• Full time livery and working livery available.

More details later in the year.


Brook Cottage Farm
Barleycroft End
Furneux Pelham
Hertfordshire
SG9 0LL

01279 777235 / 07919 888655

louise.seddon@btinternet.com

Louise and Russell Seddon

Some animals getting a bit fatter, some a bit slimmer

Firstly, I'm afraid there are no recent pix in this post. I haven't blogged for a while because I wanted to put on here pictures of the fatter sheep, the slimmer ponies, the enormous turkeys, the new quail, the turkey house etc etc but hadn't had chance to take pix of all of the above.  On Sunday I put my mobile in my pocket, full of good intentions to take the photos, but during riding with the kids on the field the phone must have fallen out of my pocket and after many hours of searching the field (methodically, up and down in rows, a bit like wot the police would do) I have failed to find it. Damn and blast it, that's the fourth i phone I've lost this year.

Anyway, on with the news sans photos.

The sheep are on the large paddock now, doing their job and eating the grass.  They are a little fatter, but friends reassure me this is OK.  One of the ewes had a bad leg last week and would not put any weight on it. I said to Russell I could take it in the back of the car to the vets, he said oh yes on a lead you mean.  I reaslied, duh, one can't take a sheep to the vets like wot you would a dog or cat.  Anyway, we bathed the foot in salt water and I put the magic purple spray on it each day and I am pleased to say it is now better.  Our first little bit of shepherding experience, box titled "sheep with limp" - ticked.

This week it is the turn of one of the turkeys to have a bad leg, and I am not so hopeful for a full recovery.  I don't know if it just sprained / damaged from falling or jumping off the perch or something more sinister but the bird is not happy and not eating very much.  I will keep a close eye on it.

The turkeys' electric fence seems to be doing the trick though.  After managing not to get zapped (and being the only personage of this household not to get zapped, including the dog) I got well and truly zapped this week.  The turkeys drink loads of water and in the hot weather they guzzle it by the gallon (feels like). 

We haven't designed the electric fencing very well in that the gate to the fence is a long way from where the turkey house is and where the water station is.  To prevent me having to faff about taking the top two strands off the fence, climbing over and then walking down to the water, I had been (cunningly, so I thought) kneeling on the grass by the fence and carefully stretching my hand and arm through in between two of the strands of electric fencing to turn on the nozzle on the water butt to fill the drinking tubs.  Over time I had become a bit blase about this manoeuvre and one day last week I knocked one of the strands with my arm, and then knocked it again and whoozzuuummmmpppppppppppp I got a massive blast, a pulsing electric shock, on my right arm near my shoulder.  I felt it pass across my chest, and I did think my heart would stop.  I am now faffing about taking the top two strands off the fence, climbing over and walking to and from the water station.

I'm back on the case with the planners, architects and env agency re the stables and have an end Sep deadline in mind for submitting full plans to the Council.

New photos with the next post and a video of the lovely turkeys following me round the field. here is an old one of the sheep and a couple of chickens.

And Quito xx

making hay whilst the sun shines ....

.. not really making hay, but certainly making progress here on our little "farm".  The arrival of two experienced and v hard working farm labourers, aka my Dad and Jane, on Tuesday has meant that after 5 days hard, hard graft on their part and Russell's we have achieved lots, including the following:

1. The Turkey house is FINISHED (I will post pictures soon, it really is fabulous);

2. The turkeys have had their wings clipped (Jane is a super turkey catcher, who knew?) and are in their new home and fully free ranging;

3. The rappa fencing is complete, with the electric cable neatly buried (thanks dad for digging the trench), the biggest earth stakes you have ever seen all dug into the ground;

4. We have hose pipes out to the field, a harder job than it sounds;

5. I have a neat muck heap, with panelled sides and everything, I'll show you we mean business when we say we will keep the farm neat;

6. The sheeps are tame, bucket trained and in the top paddock with the ponies;

7. The sheep have shelter.

The compliance officer came to see us last week and we showed him around. Apart from one slightly sticky moment when I had to leave the compliance officer  alone with Russell whilst I saw the grass topping guy it all went very well.  Russell isn't safe to be left alone with anyone from the council, just in case he starts going through all the little bug bears he has with the Council.  Anyway, the compliance officer has since written us a very nice letter, saying that our turkey house and shelters are all legit and no further action is needed.  Plus he gave us some advice as to how to use our permitted development rights, i.e. we have the right to erect buildings for agricultural purposes such as barns, animal houses etc but we need to write to the council first.  So now we know and he has printed out a copy of the policy for me and popped it in the post.  He signed off his letter by saying "May I take this opportunity to wish you every success in your farm business".  How nice.

xx

Mary had a little lamb

After what seems like months of waiting I finally picked up the sheep on Saturday night.  We haven't got a trailer yet and after looking into hiring one or bottowing one it dawned on me that they would probably fit in the back of the 4 x 4.  "Can I take them home in the back of my car?" I asked Jane, who runs the Rodings Plantery where we bought them from. "Err I'll have to check" came the reply.  Anyway, Russell laid the back seats down flat, and this space combined with the already large boot, made plenty of room for the 6 three month old ewe lambs. I took Luke to pick them up with me on Saturday evening after he had been to a party and well, they are gorgeous.  is it rude to brag about how gorgeous your sheep are? Well they are and they are in the bridge paddock until they are tame.  After a week they are starting to get used to us. 

In every post I write "the turkeys are enormous" but really, they are now. We were meant to be in Scarborough on holiday this week, but we cancelled and actually I'm so pleased we did.  The kids are having such a great time on the field anyway, and the Rappa fencing went up today - giving the turkeys an acre to free range in. As soon as Russell has the house finished we will move them to their new one acre home. 

I was in Homebase buying a power hose to clean the garage and managed to get into an awful converstaion with the guy that works there. In certain walks of life and situations, I have discovered one tends to come across people who have worked in turkey farms / chicken farms / or know someone who has and they seem to want to discuss the grizzly details of the business. I was looking at the power hoses when the shop assistant came over to me and began to ask me lots of questions.  I feared he may be a person with turkey farm / chicken farm experience or know someone who has and so I didn't want to tell him that I wanted the hose to clean the garage where the Christmas turkeys had been kept whilst little.  However he kept asking and so eventually I told him, as soon as I had his first question was "how are you gonna kill them?" and he then launched into a discussion of the many and varied forms of slaughter, hand signals and gestures and everything.  Yuck.

Of course the truth is I don't know how we're gonna kill them, it certainly won't be me but a "professional" and I don't want a discussion of it. In fact, the word is banned from now on. I am slightly concerned that we may have 26 pet turkeys come January 1st. Joke - for those of you who will order one, I really am joking but I am fond of the strange feathered creatures.

xxxx

Complying with the Compliance Officer

Well I spoke to the Compliance Officer at the Council today and I think everything is going to be alright.  I explained what the turkey shelters are being used for and that we have 28 acres etc etc and he told me that he thought it sounded fine but that he would have to come and look at the site, to follow process properly.  He is coming in a couple of weeks when he gets back from holiday.

I also managed to do half an assignment today, the meat chickens have started laying eggs, I've booked onto a training day for my Riding Instructor qualification and I've had two offers of help over the summer holidays with the animals, offers I will snap up.  Snap snap.

Russell is away with work so only "business as usual" is happening out on the field ie feeding, watering, mucking out all animals and riding of the ponies.  The weather is amazing and the kids are happy just running around playing on the field and in the sun.

They are muddy, tanned and tired. Just like me.

xx

Sunshine in the sky, but not sunshine everywhere today ........

Not going so well today. 

We've had a letter from the Council saying someone has complained about the turkey shelters on the field.  The letter says that the land must be used for agricultural purposes only, and that even if it is being used for agricultural purposes, land of less than 12 acres still requires planning permission for erection of buildings.  I'll call the enforcement officer tomorrow and explain that the structure isn't a building, it has no base or foundation and is being used to house Christmas turkeys - a bonafide agricultural business.  Plus, the site is 28 acres, comfortably larger than the 12 acres needed to erect agricultural buildings sans permission, so with any luck it will all be OK. 

I am concerned that someone is obviously upset / angered buy what we are doing - enough to complain to the council.

Also, I spoke to the environment agency today regarding the stables.  The recent issue being that the strip of land alongside the brook is an area of flood risk  zone 2 and 3 and so the env agency don't want us to build in this area. The guy said on the phone "we take the safety of horses as seriously as the safety of people when building in a flood risk zone".  Hmm. The thingy majigy here is, as I said to the env agency chap, the council want us to build the stables as close to the hedge line (and so the brook, which runs behind the hedge line) as possible so as to "minimise intrusion on the countryside".  So there you are, stuck between a bit of a rock and a bit of a hard place. 

My planning consultant is back from her jolly hollybobs today- think I'll call her tomorrow and see what she says.

I did it, I did it

I've only just gone a bloody well done it. 

Pluck and dress a chicken ready for eating that is. 

On Friday, Fred came round and killed 3 of the cockerels, I will keep 1 to breed from.  That was horrible, Russell and I were quite shocked with how horrible it was in fact, to see the beautiful, big birds hanging in the garage wasn't nice and we found it profoundly upsetting.  The images of them stayed with me all Friday night and into Saturday.  On Saturday night, at Russell's sister's wedding, we were telling people we may not do poultry after all and may even stop eating it. 

However today, with a terrible hangover, I took the birds round to Sam's mum Christine who showed me how to pluck them and dress them.  Plucking is fine but dressing (taking out the innards) is the most disgusting thing I have ever done, it is not pleasant at all.  The smell, the sight, the texture - so very disgustingly puke inducing. Still, I did and and I have a bird in the oven as I type.  Not  that there was much meat on them, so we'll see how they taste. I can't quite believe I did it.

I took the ponies along to be used for the Riding for the Disabled annual picnic.  The girls came too as it was a day neither of them went to pre school.  The lorry isn't mine, its Pep Brookbanks, and it is very nice indeed.  I would love one of these  ..... I think they are horrendously expensive though so maybe I will have to work my way up to a lorry and start with a second hand trailer off e bay. The ponies were well behaved.

Elsewhere on the "farm" the dog has been castrated and then ill with a virus.  A week, a course of antibiotics (tablets and injection) and several trips to the vets later he is back to his normal self and is better.  Poor thing, he has not had a good week. 

When I take him places, people seem to like him and make a fuss of him but people do keep asking me if he is a rescue dog.  "No, he isn't" I reply, and then the person who asked always seem to look a bit embarrassed. Anyway, I knew he was feeling better when he chewed holes in Quito's fly mask.  He is a very melodramatic dog, I don't think he is particularly brave or has a very high pain threshold.  He looked like he was on his way out one day, but actually I think he just had a bad doggy cold.

Oh, how could I have left this piece of news until last? You'll never Adam and Eve it but the turkeys are finally on the field.  In a cage, as you can see in the pix to protect them until they are a bit bigger. but they are free ranging! They love it outside, the feel of the wind in their feathers and the sun on their backs.  Although lately they have had to feel quite a lot of rain on their backs too of course.  This also gave us a sleepless night or two as we lay in bed worrying in case a fox gets in to eat our little turkeys.  Russell has spent hours putting 3 layers of mesh around the cage and some barbed wire.

A historical moment :-)

xx

xx

Weekend away

We went to Centre Parks for the weekend and I'm not sure I liked being away from the "farm" very much.  We had a great time, as one always does at centre park,s and the kids loved it but I am very pleased to be home.  I didn't sleep very well on the first night away, worrying about the wretched turkeys and then moped about a bit on Saturday morning missing the dog! Still, at least I knew all the animals were in the capable hands of the lovely Paula (ponies, dog and turkeys) and my fabulous neighbour Martha (both sets of chickens). I am pleased that we have cancelled our week long summer holiday for August, we won't need to go away again now until next year when hopefully we will be more set up and feel able to leave things more easily.

Anyway we are back now and the turkeys are enormous.  We are currently having a housing crisis, they are far far far too big for the run we have for them in the garage and so out of desperation I have let them loose in the garage.  They are making such a mess in there it is unbelievable. Russell is as I type trying to get the outdoor run finished for them so they can go out on the field.  Mind you, we are concerned about the wet weather and so it is probably a good thing that they are still indoors.

I had my first go at instructing today at RDA.  I was pretty nervous but prepared a little 30 min lesson (walking 10m circles, halting and trotting) and it all seemed to go ok.  I lost control of everyone a bit at one point, and Jaki had plenty of feedback for me at the end but overall I think it was a fair first attempt and I LOVED it! Its always quite nice being bossy and in charge :)

Exam Success

A lovely large envelope came in the post for me last Saturday, containing my certificates from the BHS Stage 2 riding and horse care management.  Amazingly I passed all the modules, flat work and show jumping. To say I was relieved is an understatement; I made some clangers during the practical exams, particularly around shoeing and clipping, so I wasn't sure whether I would pass it all. Even on the flat work, the first horse I rode was completely lazy and I had to use my whip quite a lot and then the second horse was the opposite - it was all het up and fizzy so neither ride was brilliant.  I did enjoy the show jumping though, the horses I rode for that were great.

So onto my teaching qualification (the PTT) and Stage 3.  Ever the dedicated student I have already received the text books and have started reading them.  I have also bought "How to teach Children to Ride - A Guide for Instructors", which is proving very useful bedtime reading.  I will put some of it into practise tomorrow on Luke and Claudia. The ponies are doing fine, they are quite fat but they have settled in really well:

The turkeys are huge and can go on the field in a couple of weeks.  Andy, from the Rodings Plantery, is coming out to see us tomorrow to advise us on electric fencing for the turkeys and some landscaping. He is also the guy we are buying the 6 lamb ewes from and they will come to us at the end of July. We really need them, I have had to pay twice so far to have the grass topped, we have too much of it and its going totally wild man. Everyday it grows taller and taller and I look out at the (already) fat ponies and think oh my, we need a whole flock of sheep to help keep the grass under control.

We have met with the architect who is going to create some inspired drawings for the stable block. He is the brother of our planning consultant and they compliment each other very well.  He really focuses on the design and throws caution to the wind when it comes to the planning aspect, whereas she is very risk averse and cautious and keeps him in check. Hopefully between us we will come up with a design that is acceptable to the council, but does not compromise too much on style, design and practicality of the building.  I have also been in touch with the water people, the electricity people , the env agency again etc etc so I feel that things are moving (albeit slowly) again with the project.

I have also booked Jack in to get the snip.  We are sick & tired of him running off to spray his scent all around Barleycroft End.  Whilst he is starting to be a good guard dog (helped I think by the fact we haven't had him "done" yet) I don't think our neighbours will really appreciate a male lurcher running all over their gardens looking for lurve. 

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Is it summer?

The weather has been awful, the fields are boggy and muddy like they are in the winter months and Quito has been going out at night in his lightweight new zealand rug.  Hard to believed it is actually June.

The meat chickens will have to be moved to the field this weekend as they are wrecking the few plants and flowers I have in the garden.  I haven't got the heart to leave them in their run any longer, they hate it in there. The turkeys are doing OK, one is a runt of the litter as it were and is very small.  Russell and I have been watching it and it does manage to eat and drink, but it is around a third the size of the other birds.  He is my favourite, and if he survives we may have to keep him. They make such a mess it is unbelievable, and the smell is fairly pungent. I had to clean them out at about 11pm the other night as they just couldn't be left any longer.  Every other day they need to be cleaned out and it is not a pleasant job.  Plus the little sods are always escaping as their run is being cleaned. We still have all 26 (we think) despite Luke and Cassia letting most of them out one afternoon without me realising.

Russell is spending all waking hours when he is not at work on the turkey house.  It is another high spec design, so when it is finished it will be amazing, but it is taking a lot of time and Russell is a bit stressed in case he won't have it ready in time.  He comes home from work at about 7.30 - 8pm, has some dinner and then heads out to the shed to cut wood until around 11.30. Every night. We tenderly removed splinters from each others hands one evening this week, how our relationship has changed :-)

I've got my BHS stage 2 exam on Monday, which I'm trying to prepare for.  The kids are on half term this week, but they have done a lot of drawing with me at the kitchen table as I try to revise.  I do need to practise plaiting, putting on bandages etc on the ponies but it is too wet to tie them up in the garden and the kids don't want to traipse down to the stables in the rain with me to work on them out there.  I'm hoping the field will dry up a bit over the weekend so that I can practise lunging and riding.

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Turkey Husbandry

Raising turkeys is a little trickier than chickens, they seem to be better at doing themselves harm.  They need a heat lamp like chicks do, but their feed, water and bedding are all quite different. To really grow into top quality table birds, it is best to feed turkeys on turkey crumbs that have a protein content of 27 - 28%.  This is really hard to find, most feed merchants supply crumbs with only a 25% or 26% protein content.  I have had to buy organic feed at great expense.  In terms of water, obviously clean water is clean water but turkeys need really clean water.  Young birds make such a mess in their water, poop and muck and feed etc.  Quill do these waterers that hang from the roof of the brooder and have little nipple type things, that are metal and shiny and so attract the birds to peck at them, when they are pecked at a few drops of water come out and so the bird drinks really clean water.  I was quite sceptical at first, I didn't think that an animal that didn't suckle would have the instinct to drink in this way, but they all do.  It is so much easier than having to empty, clean and re fill the traditional water containers.

With bedding, turkey poults up to around 9 weeks can't be bedded on straw or shavings because they eat it and it stuffs up their digestive systems, which can be fatal. One evening we were moving bales of straw in the garage and a small piece of straw wafted into the turkey brooder.  Sure enough, a little turkey picked it up and I watched in horror as it ate it whole.  "Its eaten some straw" I shrieked. Anyway, it obviously takes more than one piece of straw to kill a poult as it is still fine.

They are actually bedded on corrugated cardboard, the uneven surface stops the birds legs from splaying and they do not seem keen on eating it.  The only problem is, whilst the cardboard absorbs some of the moisture form the turkeys, their poo does seem to get stuck to their feet.  The heat lamp is keeping the temp so warm in the brooder (around 90 degrees) that the poo drys on their feet and sticks there.  I'm not sure whether to soak it off or not, I'll keep an eye on it in case any one of the turkeys had poo stuck right round one of their claws, because this may cause it to drop off and become infected.

Apparently the first 2 weeks of their lives are crucial.  We are just going into week 2 so lets see how this week goes.  We had a power cut in Furneux Pelham one evening this week and by 9pm I was getting seriously worried about the turkeys; they were all trying to lie on top of each other to keep warm because the heat lamp had gone off.  I was concerned that they would be too cold over night without the lamp and also that they may end up smothering each other in an attempt to keep warm, so we decided to put them into small boxes in groups of 6 and bring them into the house to sleep in front of the gas fire. We had just finished boxing them up when the power came back on, but in doing so we counted 26 poults! I only paid for 25, a little bonus turkey!

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The Turkeys and ponies arrive

I picked the Christmas Turkeys up a week ago today an they are really, really cute. Surprisingly so, considering how odd fully grown turkeys look. As a novice Turkey keeper, I have spent quite a lot of time looking at them, wondering if what they are doing is what baby turkeys are meant to do. Anyway, they seem to be growing and their wing feathers are coming through.

 

This is what they look like now

We also have the two ponies, Thistle and Quito. They seem to have settled in well and get along fine.  Luke and Claudia have improved with their riding in just a few days and they will be excellent practice pupils for me!  Patience, deep breaths, patience and a bit more patience so far seem to be the key skills. Claudia rides just like a Thellwell's child - bottom bouncing inches out of the saddle with every stride, legs and arms flapping madly trying to get the round little pony to go even faster. Luke is rather more cautious and poor Cassia is just pleased to be able to ride either of them.  Russell thinks she needs her pown pony, but I'm not so sure - two ponies seem enough at the moment.  We are a bit rough and ready, no muck heap, water or flooring in the stables mean a lot of mannual work in carrying bedding, water and waste to and from the stables. 

But the view of the ponies in the field is just great.

Quito is 13.2 hh and so I can ride him once a week to keep him schooled.

I'll post a picture of the field shelter next time.

Elsewhere on the "farm" the meat chickens are big and desperately need an enclsure on the field.  I am letting them free range in the garden for now. The Quail house is finished (hurray) and Russell is starting on the Turkey house (woohoo). We are busy though, the light evenings mean we can work outside until after 9.  This is "start up" mode, which basically means long hours, with no real clue what you are doing, for no profit whatsoever.  But hey, life is for living and there is only rubbish on tv at the moment in the evenings anyway.



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Phew, a good day

It's dog eat dog out there in the world of pony buying.  On Sunday I called a lady about her pony she had advertised, she told me that another family had called her several times and were viewing the pony at 6pm that evening.  I was already taking Luke and Claudia over to Watford to see another pony, so I asked if I could call in to see her pony on our way back at 3.30pm. She said yes, but obviously the other family would need to have first refusal of the pony (strange world of pony viewing, where etiquette is v important). Anyway we saw the pony and Luke loved him (as did I), I called the lady on my way home and offered her the full asking price for the pony just before 6pm! She was pleased but said she would still need to let the other family see him.  Later that evening she called me to say the other family had also offered the full  asking price. Rats, I thought.  She said that she would happily sell the pony to either of us, but she thought we might also offer the pony a nice home and a home for longer, as my children were a lot younger than the children in the other family. She explained that she would take the night to think it over and call me the next day with her decision.  I took the opportunity, ala in the boardroom on" the Apprentice", to press upon her how well we would care for the pony and love him and keep him for many, many years.  A bit later on I texted her to up our offer by £200.  After a night of hoping that she would decide to sell the pony to us, the next morning she called to say she would! Yes! Luke was thrilled, I was thrilled. yes yes yes.  Now just to hope he passes the vet check on Friday.  He is such a lovely pony, I really hope he does. 

Things are looking up.

In fact, today I have gone back to thinking how blessed we are.  If God does exist, then I am very grateful to him for guiding us to this point in our lives, and if he doesn't then I am still very grateful to whatever greater force; be it fate, or karma, or whatever, that has brought us here.  Plus of course the hard work over a good few decades of my lovely husband (and a few years of hard work myself, though really it is all Russell!) to provide us with the financial resources to buy the field.  We have also been  very fortunate recently in inheriting some money from my late step grandfather.  This is also a blessing for us and we will use this money to help create our little legacy, here, on our field in Furneux Pelham.  I know he will be thrilled at what we are doing.

I'm still worrying over a million things, I won't go on about them here but to provide a "high level summary" of my worries; today I am mostly worrying about:

1. Whether we can get the ponies on and off the field along the track, as the wheat crop is growing taller every day, thus making the path for us to walk along seem narrower by the day;
2. Will the fencing be finished in time? - I have arranged for both ponies to come on the 26 May (fret, fret);
3. Will the grass be cut in time? (worry, worry);
4. Will we manage the turkeys?
5. Will I pass my stage 2?
6. Am I giving the kids enough attention whilst soring all this out?

And then I think of the kids riding and its all ok again.  Claudia looks adorable in her riding hat and here is a pic of their little johdpur boots:

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Writing?

I read about a little idea that I think is so nice I'm going to share it on here (even though its not strictly linked to the farm). I love the idea of writing with ink pens, on lovely, thick creamy paper, writing letters to loved ones and sealing them with a wax seal. I plan to write individual letters to my threee kids, just telling them my thoughts and feelings about their childhood and telling them how much I love them and how we are trying to build a lovely life for them with the land and everything. They will be sealed and then kept somewhere safe, so that the kids can open them when they are grown up.


Got a bit gloomy this week, the rain has meant no progress on the field, the pony I found for Luke failed the vet check (actually, the vet didn't manage to get anywhere near the pony, it turns out the pony doesn't like vets and went completeley mental kicking, biting when the vet tried to examine her) and I have fretted and worried and worried and fretted that the insurance for the riding school is going to be over £7k per anum.  However, the week has ended on a much brighter feel, the sun has come out, I am now looking at ponies for Luke that I can also ride and, and the insurance quote came through for just under £2k! Thankfully, otherwsie all hope of profit would have been gone in an instant.  I still plan to apply for lottery funding though.  When, when though, I haven't even manged to contact the architects yet for quotes for the technical drawings for the stables.


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ooo - a bit stressful

Lots going on at the moment and I can't help thinking we have taken on a bit too much (and none of it even started yet!). I'm sure it will all be fine and even though there is a lot to think about it is really exciting.

The Council have come back to us saying that basically if we knock our proposals down to 8 stables then we should be ok, depending on any local objections etc.  So we are going on to the full planning application, for this we need technical drawings, a flood risk assessment and a few other things but it should be no more onerous than the pre app stage. This is really good news, but having to cut down to 8 stables has taken the shine off it a little - it is so so so so so hard to make any profit out of the riding school  as it is, with 2 less ponies it may prove impossible in the short term.  Add to that the horrible realisation i had this week that we may well need to pay business rates on the yard and manege. plus I am nervously getting some quotes for insurance from a couple of on-line companies. I have only budgeted for £3.5k for insurance, and I am really hoping I am not too far off the mark.

The only answer I think of at this stage is to apply for lottery funding. There is no money in running a riding school and I do not want to be another name who sinks a shed load of cash into a smallholding / stables project only to declare themselves bankrupt a few years later.  We hopefully would not be bankrupt if it all went wrong, but I would hate to lose the money!

Then I look at the business plan again and I feel a bit more positive, no one offers lessons round here and there must be a way, if we are good, to make a succeeful business out of this.  And if there is no business, then we will have v posh facilities to use ourselves!

I am having Dolly, a pony I have seen for Luke, vet checked tomorrow and all being well i will pick her up on saturday.  Due to the bad weather we are not ready for ponies on the field yet (long grass, no fencing , no field shelter etc etc) and so i am looking into alternative stabling in Furneux Pelham for her. the pressure id on to be ready here by the 26 May, which is when I am picking up Thistle and moving Dolly home.  The fencing man and the paddock man are on the case! i am also busy digging up nettles / bonfire patches / filling in rabbit holes in preparation. Good news this week is that the council have said we can have a field shelter, whilst we wait for the stables. I have ordered this from Redmire Stables and it will be delivered and erected on 22 May.  yeah!

After school tonight I am taking the kids to get kitted out for riding  - hats, boots, johdpurs and gloves, which will no doubt cheer us all up quite a lot :-)


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Christmas Turkeys

The one day old turkey poults have been ordered.  I am getting 25 chicks from Rutland Organics free range poultry farm:

http://www.rutlandorganics.co.uk/

They are £7.29 each, organically raised and produced heritage breed turkey chicks.  The heritage breed means they are the traditional Norfolk Black or Cambridge Bronze turkeys - they take much longer to raise to full weight than more popular commercial breeds.  The longer growing time (8 months as opposed to 2 - 4 months) and the fact that they will free range on our grass paddocks will mean that they are beautifully succulent, moist and tasty when served on Christmas day.  As we are compassionate farmers, these turkeys will have the best of lives.  I just need to make sure their paddock is fox proof - I am currently investigating different sorts of electric fencing for them.

There is v little profit in producing meat this way, after having done the sums we will just about break even this year (with a few hundred pounds deficit probably, due to the cost of the fencing and housing) and that does not include any sort of payment for my time! However, we need to get some income to the farm this year, and income is good - even if it doesn't result in profit in Year 1. If I love doing turkeys then next year we can grow the business and raise 50 birds.

Pat Taylor from Rutland organics has been  so helpful to me and talked me into slaughtering and producing the birds here, rather than transporting them off to Hare street.  It will be much less stressful for the birds (they hate being transported) and I will be able to oversee the whole process and know that it is done as humanely as possible.  Plus, the plucking, hanging and dressing needs to be professionally done (top notch!) and so again better that I can make sure this is the case.  Pat will show me how to pluck, hang and dress if I go up to her farm in December and work for her for a couple of days.  Seems reasonable to me, to get trained by a professional and get to practise under her supervision before doing my own birds sounds fair for 2 half days work.  I still can't actually kill the birds myself, there is no point in me even pretending or hoping that I might, and so I have enlisted the help of Fred next door - he used to work on a turkey farm nearby and is looking for more work.

I've lost a bit of sleep over this - should I shouldn't I, should I just get 10, should I wait till next year, what if the fox gets them, what if no one buys them, what if I am haunted by their little faces ......... but now I have placed the order with pat (and paid my deposit!) I am (fairly!) sure I have done the right thing.

Off to watch the Apprentice to brush up on my business skills.

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My thoughts

Keeping animals is really good for emotional well being.  Even the chickens can be a real joy, with their funny little ways and their individual personalities.  I appreciate that talking about ones chickens is probably even more boring to others than talking about ones children, but this is my farm blog and so I will (a little).

I have two chickens who constantly jump over the fence from the hen enclosure to roam about in the garden. When the dog goes into the garden, they scuttle around and the yellow one can fly over the fence back into the safety of the hen enclosure, but the slightly fatter one, the grey one, can't.  Jack has had this chicken in his mouth numerous times, he shakes it and the chicken plays dead and goes all floppy. When I see what is happening I rush out into the garden shrieking  "Jack! Put that chicken down!" and he does.  The chicken lies still on the ground for a little while, then gets up, shakes itself off and I open the gate to let it back in the hen enclosure.  I think the chicken must like it.

The cockerel is also amusing, he is still learning all aspects of being a cockerel (if you know what I mean) and is trying to man up to the bossy hens.  He has trouble catching a couple of them and I have seen him once or twice on one of them the wrong way round - i.e. he is facing their tail feathers.  Now I have to admit to not being totally familiar with the whole chicken mating thing, but I'm sure that's not right.  Unless he has read the Kama Sutra.

Not laugh out loud anecdotes I admit, but it brightens my day.  If you have the space in your garden i can really recommend keeping some chickens, they are lovely and it is a real pleasure to see them all happy and scratching away, knowing that you are doing a good job in looking after them.

I caught a news programme the other day, a feature about Spain's struggling economy and it sort of jolted me a little.  There was a time when I thought and also cared about the state of the euro zone, we certainly talked about it a lot when I worked at the Bank of England.  But watching this news programme I realised that for the past few months my horizons have shrunk to the boundary of our land and I have thought and worried about nothing other than (the kids of course), the paddock growing, the cost of fencing, planning permission, riding exams etc etc.  The wide world is still out there, with all its huge problems  and I have been losing sleep over how much weed is growing in the paddock.  Perspective needed :-)

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Riding and Road Safety Test

Well I took my Riding and Road Safety Test at the Colchester Garrison Saddle Club on Monday and I passed!  Yeah! Some last minute revising and getting Russell to test me on the highway code on Sunday night paid off.  In fact, I was a complete swot and got 20 out of 20 on the multiple choice theory section of the test.  Ha.  Mind you, I shouldn't be so cocky, kids as young as 14 can take the test! My neck is still quite sore from so much turning round to look behind me whilst doing the ridden sections of the test.

On to the Stage 2 Horse Management and Riding exam in June. I was pleased to pass the road safety as it is a pre requisite for the Stage 2 exam.

The chickens are now outside.....

And loving it.  You can just catch a glimpse of the infamous "Russell Seddon Quail Enclosure" in the background.  He is constructing the door now so I think it may be ready in the next few months or so :-)

The baby chickens are using the run, so the older chickens' enclosure now looks like this:

The dog has been a constant source of worry and anxiety to me over the past couple of weeks, his tummy hasn't been right (I won't go into details but its been messy) and I was scared in case he'd eaten something horrible or got something struck in his digestive system.  Anyway i took him to the vets today, thankfully he's fine but the vet asked me what i was feeding him.  When i told her it was Bakers, she said that isn't a v good brand and that I need to feed him on more expensive food that is better for his digestion. So he is now on James Well Beloved and he does seem to like it more.  I thought bakers was a really good make, just shows you the powers of advertising :-)

We are STILL waiting to hear back from the Council regarding our application, I do think the council officer has got cold feet, it did all seem too good to be true.  Still, the Highways Agency have get back to us saying our proposals are fine from their point of view.  One down, two to go (the Council and the Environmental Agency).

I'm spending loads of time searching horse and hound and horse quest looking for another suitable lead rein / first ridden pony for Luke.  I've phone a couple, but they sound too forward going off the lead rein - I don't want Luke's pony to be bombing off across the field with him when he gets off the lead rein, it might put him off riding for life.  we can't have that, I have big equestrian plans for these kids!

I am going to the Nationals with the Riding for the Disabled Association on 20 May, I'm leading the ponies for Sarah Barker (the regional chair of the RDA here in herts) so that should be really good. I think its great that children with disabilities can be given something to aim for and to achieve, and going to competitions with ponies is so much more exciting than just having lessons in an indoor school.

More next time x x x x

1 April

I have bought our first pony! He is an 18 year old, 11.2 welsh section c, grey gelding called Thistle.  He currently lives at Whitebarns Farm in Furneux Pelham but will move down to us as soon as we are ready.  I just need to have the grass cut, more fencing put up, get a friend for him and a field shelter. I am far more excited than the kids, a bit over excited to t ell you the truth.  Lets just hope the kids actually like riding :-)

Tomorrow I am off to Colchester Garrison Saddle Club for my Riding and Road Safety training, the test is there on the 16 April.

Other news - the chicks are doing fine and in a week or two will be ready to move out of the "baby" home with the heat lamp.  Russell is still spending every waking moment he is free on the Quail house - I will post a picture of it once it is finished, it is an architectural masterpiece (and is taking as long as one!) but it does look good. The veg (onions, cucumber, sweetcorn and chillies) and coming along in the garage, I need to get on with sorting out some veg patches for them to go in on the field.

One thing that is being neglected is my on line course in Agriculture.  To complete my next assignment I will try to do one question a night after the kids are in bed. It will be a bit slower over the next couple of weeks as it is Easter holidays and so the kids are out and about doing things and keeping me more busy than when they are in school. They are loving the field in the warm weather and just run and run and run out there.

Hope everyone is enjoying the spring and the hope and sunny spirits it brings x x x