Red & BBs retirement home......

nuggets

Native
Jan 31, 2010
1,070
0
england
how about a `rabbit` farm or chickens /ducks /geese /turkeys in those barns -red ??? Nice meat and maybe generate a few ££ with any excess !!

lovely set up you have there !!;)goodjob
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,887
2,140
Mercia
Thinking of a couple of pigs eventually - just bringing on weaners probably :)

We have plans for a chicken coop in the garden next year (and a fruit cage)...it never ends!

The barn is getting there now :)

The roof is off and the purlins replaced


Old roof off and purlins replaced by British Red, on Flickr

The purlins are attached with metal straps which should be good for a long time


Purlin Straps by British Red, on Flickr

Red

Red
 
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British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,887
2,140
Mercia
Well, our peas did really weel this year


Telegraph Tall Peas by British Red, on Flickr

We enjoyed a load fresh but hung up a lot of vines of bush peas to dry


Peas Drying by British Red, on Flickr

Judging them dry today, we took them down


Dried Pea vines by British Red, on Flickr

We shelled them into a bowl and they were hard as bullets


Shelled Peas by British Red, on Flickr

Add in the coffee jars I collect from friends (nice air tight stoppers) and we have a supply for re-planting next year or using in soups and stews


Dried Peas in Jar by British Red, on Flickr

Red
 
The westfalia Dehydrator you recommended finally arrived last week and sorted the Chilli crop :D

now working out how to do apples and tomatoes as we have a few about now :D
think ive a pot of ascorbic acid (for making bread) about to stop the apples going brown

ciders stopped bubblin tho after a few days so not sure on that one


ATB

Duncan
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,887
2,140
Mercia
Ascorbic acid is vitamin C - easy to come by

Citric acid works well (homeberew shop) or plain old lemon juice if not.

With toms, do them till they are soft and leathery and store in oil (like sun dried toms) - very nice indeed
 
Ascorbic acid is vitamin C - easy to come by

Citric acid works well (homeberew shop) or plain old lemon juice if not.

With toms, do them till they are soft and leathery and store in oil (like sun dried toms) - very nice indeed

yes the Ascorbic acid is needed in some of the bread recipes so have the pot will try that first yes it is Vit C and an e number E300

always wanted to do a test on people ie which would you give your kids

(A) juice with added Ascorbic acid
(B) juice with added Vit C
(C) juice with added E300


the whole house smells of freash tomatoes at the moment ;)

Saturday it was green tomato chutney

ATB

Duncan
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,887
2,140
Mercia
aahhh the envy would have been abated by doing what I was doing today....shovelling sh**!

Manure is weird stuff - when you have a big pile of well rotted stuff it packs down - get really dense like clay.

I have been manuring today - partly because we have cleared some beds, partly for some new hedging.

I find now that the best technique is to pry the heap apart with a garden fork - creating a 6" deep layer of "lumps". I then rotovate the lumps into a coarse tilth (like coarse gravel) and then shovel it into a barrow. A long handled spade is a real back saver for filling the barrow


Manuring Kit by British Red, on Flickr

This lot is bound for the trenches I have dug for the native hedging thats coming next week...


Trench for hedging by British Red, on Flickr

...and also into the emptied veg beds. The beds are rotovated again when the manure has been added


Manured and rotovated bed by British Red, on Flickr

They don't stay empty long. I did this one two weeks ago...


Garlic and Japanese Onions by British Red, on Flickr

The garlic and over wintering onions are already making a brave show!

Made a fair old dent in the manure pile today


Diminshed Manure pile by British Red, on Flickr


Musn't use too much though - there are another 5 beds (each a hundred square feet) going in this Autumn :)

Red
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,887
2,140
Mercia
Got the end of the chillis harvested today since frosts are starting...


Chilli Harvest by British Red, on Flickr

Then cleaned down the inside of the glass and fumigated with sulphur candles.


Sulphur Candle by British Red, on Flickr

Easy enough to make a sulphur candle - its just powdered sulphur and a wick that has to burn enough to liquidise and burn the sulphur. The sulphur fumes are dangerous (that's rather the point). I improvised one with a treacle tin and a bit of praffin soaked rag. Certainly worked okay


Sulphur Fumigated Greenhouse by British Red, on Flickr

Leave those fumes for 12 hours and everything is dead, insects, algae, mould, you name it, its gone. Obviously air well afterwards. Years ago, people would fumigate their own houses this way and kill cockroaches, bedbugs, fleas and the like. You need about a pound of sulphur for an 8x12 greenhouse. Sulphur is also great for acidifying the soil and many other purposes - another "handy household chemical"

Red
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,887
2,140
Mercia
Getting there with the ruined barn makeover now


Cleaned out barn by British Red, on Flickr


Glossed Internal Door to Barn by British Red, on Flickr


Glossed pedestrian barn door by British Red, on Flickr

Quite pleased with the front view


Barn Doors by British Red, on Flickr

If you look on the left you will see an IBC tank as the start of the rainwater harvesting system


IBC Rain Harvesting by British Red, on Flickr

I have converted to output to Hozelock compatible so that I can run my pump to pump the water through hoses for sprinklers or hand watering


IBC Hozelock Adapter by British Red, on Flickr

I need to get hold of some more tanks to "daisy chain" them though...this one is filling up fast!

We still need to gutter the other side to feed another IBC system

Red
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,887
2,140
Mercia
Well, we are up to 10 beds now :)


New veg beds by British Red, on Flickr


New veg beds by British Red, on Flickr

That takes us to 1,000 square feet of high quality beds (plus the rhubarb and gooseberry patches)

We have added another bunch of fruit trees as well (more cherries, plums, apples, a green gage and a weeping crap apple for pollination)


New Fruit Trees by British Red, on Flickr


Crab Apple by British Red, on Flickr

That takes us to about twebty fruit and nut trees.

We have a long way to go. But its more than we had last year!

Red
 

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