Red & BBs retirement home......

[FGYT]

I have an IBC as a water butt in the garden. I now wish that I had procured a black one rather than the more common white variety. The sunlight gets through to the water and it first goes green then grows great sheets of black slime which clog up the outlet.

Z

yes you need to cover them to keep the light out . Im alos putting mine on the north side of a shed so not in direct light any way. need to keep it clean as im hoping to pump it into the loft to feed the toilet cisterns.

On another note we have applied for our stock number so we can keep ive stock as i keep being offered pigs but you cant get them till you get the number.
Southern electric where alos kind enough to come in and pollard back all the willows and remove a couple for me as the y where growing into the over head cables . they left the branches for me so lots of bonfires to get rid of the twiggy bits and the bigger stuff will season for fire wood and the neighbour hasa retort charchol burner so will hve a go at that with the rest

And we found out when the wind changed that our soakaway fro the septic tank has failed and theres now a brown water spring i nthe field out front so we will be installing an entire new black water systen to a treatment plant in the next couple of weeks ...... so no new kitchen for a couple more years (we did knw the septic tank etc was close to end of life just hoped it would hold out a bit longer)

ATB

Duncan

 

[British Red]

Has the tank failed Dunc or just the soak away?

 

[FGYT]

Has the tank failed Dunc or just the soak away?

soakaway which is in the neighbouring farms field
tank is fine tho needs some of the Ts replacing its a 2 chamber brick job from early 70's. however we did get a video survey done before we moved in and all the pipe runs are jinked and the install is poor ie no traps on the inlets and has gutters running into the system so this wet weather we have had resently has made it noticable
ATB

Duncan

 

[British Red]

Meh,

a few days and a mini digger will put in a complete new soakaway - not a huge job mate

 

[British Red]

This is another entry in my list of "trying simple and old fashioned food preservation techniques". Its basically a variation of the "earth clamp" but one thats useful where there is restricted space.

Our carrots have done well this year - we have grown a few varieties to see what suits our soil best.


1) The carrot patch by British Red, on Flickr

Most have grown beautifully straight and true, but one or two have bifurcated - one seemed "happy to see us"


2) Happy carrot by British Red, on Flickr

Others seemed to love their neighbour and did not want to be separated!


3) Loving carrots by British Red, on Flickr

Most were great though - and very plentiful


4) Lots of carrots by British Red, on Flickr

For this technique I need a scrubbing brush and a five gallon bucket.


5) Brush and pail by British Red, on Flickr

A couple of inches of soft, dry sand go in the bottom of the bucket


6) Layer of sand by British Red, on Flickr

Any loose dirt is removed with a firm scrubbing brush and a layer of carrots (not touching) goes on the sand


7) Layers of carrots by British Red, on Flickr

More sand is poured on till the carrots are covered


8) More Sand by British Red, on Flickr

Then more and more layers of carrots


9) More Layers by British Red, on Flickr


10) And More by British Red, on Flickr

Eventually you will get close to the top of the bucket. Don't get too close.


11) Fill Bucket by British Red, on Flickr

Top off the top couple of inches with sand


12) Top Off by British Red, on Flickr

Slap on a lid and thats it. The sand, being dry, wont freeze and will insulated the carrots from frost. Stick the bucket in an outbuilding and, when you want some carrots, thrust a hand in and pull them out!

You can also use plastic dustbins, oil drums etc.


13) Plastic Dustbin by British Red, on Flickr


14) More Sand by British Red, on Flickr

They are hard to reach to the bottom of though and very, very, heavy when full

Red

Rather like my "canning butter" thread, I thought I owed it to everyone here to publish the results

We are five months on from the day the carrots went into the sand.

I wanted to open the same five gallon bucket I had shown...so here is the top surface


Open bucket in March by British Red, on Flickr

and here are the carrots


Carrots in late March by British Red, on Flickr

firm, crisp and still "snap" not soft and rotting

Our lowest winter temperature was -15C (about 5F). The buckets were stored in a dry, unheated barn

Hope thats interesting

Red

 

[RonW]

It sure is, Red!
I understand the carrots are not supposed to touch one another?
But how do you get to the bottom? Just scoop out the sand?

A book I'd really recommend you is "Root cellaring" by Mike and Nancy Bubel.
It covers just about everything in foodstorage without deepfreezers and such.

 

[JohnC]

Very interesting indeed, I've read about clamps and the like for preserving, but it's good to see it in action, maybe this year I'll finally be able to grow some... Last years were a very poor result, can't get it right....
thanks for posting the results..

 

[British Red]

It sure is, Red!
I understand the carrots are not supposed to touch one another?
But how do you get to the bottom? Just scoop out the sand?

A book I'd really recommend you is "Root cellaring" by Mike and Nancy Bubel.
It covers just about everything in foodstorage without deepfreezers and such.

Its a great book - I have it!

Basically you just push your hand in and root around - its surprisingly easy - not like digging into a beach. As you get deeper take a few coal shovels of sand off the top and just reach in like a bran tub

 

[British Red]

The greenhouse vents were open today!


Vents open by British Red, on Flickr

The inside temp was 28.8C - pretty good for March


Greenhouse temperature March 24th by British Red, on Flickr

The seeds are loving it too

The first sowing of lettuce is up (just) in a week


Lettuce seedlings by British Red, on Flickr

sunflowers are showing well


Sunflowers sprouting by British Red, on Flickr

The chamomile are up - to fill in bald spots on our chamomile path


Chamomile seedlings by British Red, on Flickr

The marigolds are up for companion planting


Calendula sprouting by British Red, on Flickr

Most excitingly...WE HAVE SUGAR BEET!!!


Sugar beet sprouting by British Red, on Flickr

gives a great feeling with all this new life springing up..... more on other topics in a bit

Red

 

[British Red]

Well now, the early rhubarb is already well away. we have manured it well and not pulled it for a couple of years so its well established now


Early Rhubarb by British Red, on Flickr

The later varieties are coming along


Late Rhubarb by British Red, on Flickr

Here is the chamomile path we are growing a few more plants to fill in


Chamomile by British Red, on Flickr

The ramsoms are growing nicely


Ramsoms by British Red, on Flickr

The salad burnett is back


Salad Burnett by British Red, on Flickr

Angelica is already huge


Angelica by British Red, on Flickr

The oregano is well away


Oregano by British Red, on Flickr

The sorrel is up - which is great - it makes for a zingy salad


Sorel by British Red, on Flickr

The Welsh onion is up too


Welsh onion by British Red, on Flickr

All four cherries are budding nicely


Cherry bud by British Red, on Flickr

The pear is probably the most advance fruit tree


Pear bud by British Red, on Flickr

The apricot is budding well too. I love the idea of fresh apricots off the tree - here's hoping


Apricot Bud by British Red, on Flickr

More on the veg beds proper next.....

 

[British Red]

Really pleased with how the garlic is coming on this year


Garlic by British Red, on Flickr

High hopes for seed savin from last years salad onions too


Salad onions flower bud by British Red, on Flickr

Worked over the sprout beds today


Sprout bed by British Red, on Flickr

Big old roots on em - so dug them out for composting


Sprout roots by British Red, on Flickr

Lots of worms in the soil - which is a good sign


Worms in bed by British Red, on Flickr

The bed looked better dug out


Dug out bed by British Red, on Flickr

and better yet rotovated


Rotovated bed by British Red, on Flickr

Those sprouts were big plants though so a good manuring is in order


Manured bed by British Red, on Flickr

That's the second year in a row I have put that amount on. It seems a lot (eight 120l barrows full on 100sq ft - about a litre of well rotted manure per sq foot). But I figure that, having a limitless supply, delivered free on site, its mad not to make the best use of it.

Looks great now


Rotovated manured by British Red, on Flickr

Decided to attack the daleks today too


Dalek convention by British Red, on Flickr

Lifted off the first dalek and was pleased with the result


Compost pile by British Red, on Flickr

Quite a lot of long fibres in there when heaped on another part cleared bed


Compost on bed by British Red, on Flickr

Looks good worked in though


Compost rotovated by British Red, on Flickr

Thats it for this week - more next week

Red

 

[RonW]

I really wish I had a garden like that.....

 

[British Red]

Its still very much a work in progress Ron. Honestly, there are times when it all seems a lot of work and as though we aren't getting anywhere

The photographs and the history of it all helps me then to llok back and think that this was less than three years ago


Can he fix it? by British Red, on Flickr

there is so much more that we want to do. Skills to learn, old ways to recapture, self reliance to obtain

Still - we had our first bee keeping lesson today....and our sugar beet is sprouting so we can perhaps consider properly "home made" jam this year. I'll have to scrump apples for the pectin though - our apple trees will need a couple more years to attain full cropping size....although the new weeping crab apple may help.

Its funny, we talk about the importance of not losing skills on here a lot. But I worry most about the skills that were lost in the last four generations - the basic home and farming skills.

How to grow a crop without buying in seed

How to preserve our food without freezers

How to make the basic necessities - soap, sugar, vinegar, oil, salt

150 years ago, it would have been unthinkable not to be able to make most of what a family needed.

The time will come again when we need to know these things.

Red

 

[sandbender]

"...But I worry most about the skills that were lost in the last four generations - the basic home and farming skills. How to grow a crop without buying in seed..."

I was listening to a documentary on Radio 4 earlier, Save our Seeds, it touched on how short a time it has taken for us to lose our seed saving skills and how damaging that will be for all our futures.

"...How to preserve our food without freezers

How to make the basic necessities - soap, sugar, vinegar, oil, salt

150 years ago, it would have been unthinkable not to be able to make most of what a family needed.

The time will come again when we need to know these things..."

I think that time is already with us, some folks are just slow to notice.

 

[British Red]

I fear you are right and hope you are wrong sandbender. I have been studying this stuff for twenty years or so now - ten years really hard.

I still cannot pass the test that I set myself at the beginning of the study.

 

[RonW]

I'm going down that road myself, Red, but you are way ahead of me. I can also relate to your way of thinking.

I only recently left the overcrowded western world and settled for a rural Swedish area. I have to relearn most of the things I knew about gardening and start all over with the rest....

 

[Totumpole]

THis is the first time I have perused this thread properly (OK, looked at all the pictures!). YOu have a lovely home and a beutiful bit of land - its a grewat thread showing the progression over the years. THanks for sharing and keep it up!

Colin

 

[sandbender]

I fear you are right and hope you are wrong sandbender. I have been studying this stuff for twenty years or so now - ten years really hard.

I still cannot pass the test that I set myself at the beginning of the study.

I think there will always be more to learn. I have relatives who have been doing this for much of their lives and they are still keen to pick up on new ways (or old ways) of doing things. However a common complaint is that the young, even sons and daughters have no real interest in learning or preserving that hard won knowledge and skill.

 

[British Red]

I think very few do. I supect I didn't have the time and pateince either in my twenties, I simply wan't "raised to it".

I understand why we lost it. My grandfather was hugely proud of getting a gas fire - it was much easier for my grandmother and didn't cover the house with dust. He kept chickens and pigs, drove a steam train. Went to work at 14 and worked to 65 without a single sick day. Saved hard and put my father through university so he wouldn't have to work with hands. My dad was amazed with all the possibilites of a new and changin world and embraced them.

No-one set out to lose the simple skills, they were simply not needed any more. Making soap stinks and is dangerous. The new supermarkets sold it cheaply meaning my mum didn't have to make it. The world turned with people trying to ensure the people they loved had to do less of the hard, boring, smelly jobs that held no romance in their minds.

As a result I never learned these skills whilst growing up and have only in later life had a chance to re-dicover a few of them through trial and error. I do these weird rambling posts and pictures in the hope that they may assist a few others in learning them - if they want to. Its certainly not a "simple life" or an "easy life". For me though it is a "good life"

Red

 

[RonW]

You quite nailed it there, Red.
Back in the days people looked up to those having officejobs, to those who did not have to do "real" jobs and did not have to use their hands and backs to earn a living.
But I do get worried when I see kids, and adults for that matter too, unable to tie their shoelaces, prepare food or look after themselves or one another and who's lives are not just dominated by, but in many cases even traded in for a screen, totally dependant on others to fulfill their needs.

As for me, I'm trying to figure out what skills I want to learn or even can learn and make choices. I can not know or do it all, so I need to know what I can know and do.
Growing plants/food is one, working with wood is another. Metalworking is not. Constructing is one, as is finding practical solutions. Enginering is not. Hunting and/or butchering makes me a little apprehensive, but I need to learn, same as growing lifestock... etc etc...