The Homestead month by month

[British Red]

Last year we were asked a lot of "what are you doing at the moment" questions and "when should we prune" type queries.

This year we have decided to do a once a month roundup. Part vlog, part calendar

Here is the January roundup. It covers

Coop maintenance (rain)
Lichen infested greenhouses. (mild weather & rain)
Rotted out posts (relentless rain)
Late pruning (mild weather)
Fertility testing
Planting (hooray!)

Did I mention the rain?

 

[Machiavelli]

Just a quick note to say how much I enjoyed the video. I didn’t know about your channel, so I’m going to watch a few more this evening.

My family and I are trying to live a more self sufficient lifestyle, so I’m sure there will be plenty of inspiration!

 

[British Red]

How very kind of you to say so, thank you! If you have any questions for me or Fiona, do leave a comment on any of the videos and we would be happy to do our best to answer them

Hugh

 

[Woody girl]

I'm gonna like this series. Thanks.

 

[Anzia]

Excellent, thank you! I'm away on hols with restricted data so have added to my watch later. Looking forward to it!

 

[Jeff Edwards]

Thank you this was very interesting. I look forward to the rest of the series.
I did not realise chickens have a breeding season as they lay eggs all year round.

 

[British Red]

Oh yes, they generally only go "broody" (sit on eggs ) in Spring & Summer although first rate broodies may raise a second clutch in Autumn (a trait that we breed for).

In a non hybrid world, hens won't lay when they are broody or for 6-8 weeks after hatch as they tend their chicks. They also don't lay when moulting or when there us less than 12 hours of daylight (this last varies by species, some don't care).

Modern hybrid egg layers have broodiness bred out of them (they are incubator hatched), are artificially lit to keep them in lay and are usually replaced as they moult after their first full year of laying

Our Buff Orpingtons are natural broodies and do all our hatching. Whilst they are off lay we still get eggs from the Cream Legbars (the little grey hens, they lay blue eggs) & Marans (the black hens who lay chocolate brown eggs). We keep only those three species and only Buff Orpington cockerels so we only hatch the pinkish beige Orpington eggs (avoiding hybrids).

 

[British Red]

I'll Guarantee that February's edition will include replacing greenhouse glass after these storms (sigh)

In the meantime, on the odd nice day, if you haven't pruned your apple trees, now's the the time! Its been so mild that we held on for some colder weather, but buds are breaking now (in fact our hawthorn is in leaf!)

 

[RonW]

Good to see you're still going.
I pretty much have to restart, due to being unable to do anything last year.

 

[British Red]

Hi Ron, great to hear from you! What happened last year mate?

 

[RonW]

The wear on some key elements (both shoulders, both elbows and right wrist) of my body turned out to be much more severe than I had thought.... or cared to admit.
Resulting in a one year sick leave (am in the final stages of recovery), forced retirement from the job I had on a dairy farm (loved that job and the cows!), accepting the fact that physically demanding jobs are out of the question permanently (at times I could not even hold a knife), resulting in a pretty bad dent in my self esteem, since I cold no longer care for my family, finding an opening in a adult education institution, going back to school since september to fulfill the requirements to attend university, which I hopefully will coming summer, which will mean a 5-year study to eventually become a history and religion teacher in the upper classes of high school (kids 16 years and older plus adults). With an extra in philosophy when possible.
So absolutely zero physical activity since last year februari.... and the homestead shows that.

 

[British Red]

I'm really sorry to hear that Ron, but love the idea of you passing on your knowledge to a new generation. That too is part of homesteading and was the main reason for our YouTube channel because for sure health issues are getting us too!

 

[British Red]

Well February was....dramatic!

Hail, sleet, snow, winds of 60mph+, broken glass, fallen trees, missing chimney caps, rains of frogs....

Well, not the frogs

 

[bobnewboy]

Hi BR, I’m enjoying this series of videos - keep it up! When our greenhouse had a few panels blown out by the first good storm last year, we were fortunate that none of our panels were broken - they are toughened glass. However this year our greenhouse has been fine, as on repairing it last year we decided to invest in an extra box of the wire glass clips. I then double-, and in some cases triple-clipped the panes into the frame. For some aerodynamic reason it does seem that the lower panels used to pop out more often. Weird, but I was glad not to have to use the ladder in an otherwise fully glazed greenhouse.

I have also made a second load of the caramelised onion chutney recipe that you also posted here and on YT. It has become a firm favourite, despite the house smelling like an onion shed for a few days afterwards each time

Cheers, Bob

 

[British Red]

Hi BR, I’m enjoying this series of videos - keep it up! When our greenhouse had a few panels blown out by the first good storm last year, we were fortunate that none of our panels were broken - they are toughened glass. However this year our greenhouse has been fine, as on repairing it last year we decided to invest in an extra box of the wire glass clips. I then double-, and in some cases triple-clipped the panes into the frame. For some aerodynamic reason it does seem that the lower panels used to pop out more often. Weird, but I was glad not to have to use the ladder in an otherwise fully glazed greenhouse.

I have also made a second load of the caramelised onion chutney recipe that you also posted here and on YT. It has become a firm favourite, despite the house smelling like an onion shed for a few days afterwards each time

Cheers, Bob

Thank you! I've done the same with clips and I've ordered a few acrylic panels to try.

 

[RonW]

Well February was....dramatic!

Hail, sleet, snow, winds of 60mph+, broken glass, fallen trees, missing chimney caps, rains of frogs....

Well, not the frogs

Oh my...
Your English is understandable even for us non-Brits!
Just subscribed to your channel. I so do love English gardens, cottage gardens or old fashioned farmer's gardens in particular. I am trying to create something similar in terms of lushness and colourfulness here on the patches that are not being used for homesteading. Which often means shade or rocks.

 

[British Red]

Glad you liked it Ron. This is a funny area. Its reclaimed from the marshes by sea banks. So its great soil (no rock or stone, occasional shells, brilliant river silt ). Being flat though, we do get very strong winds. The first mountains to the East of us are the Urals!

 

[TeeDee]

So Red , are Chickens currently the only live stock you have?

 

[British Red]

Yep right now. We really want pigs but we need mire land!

 

[TeeDee]

Did you consider Ducks or was it chickens all the way from the start?