Fruit and vegetables, Garden, journal, News, The tin hut, Working the land, yarn

So plans for Tyddynbryn!!

Social distancing smallholding style!! We have an absolute load of work to get on with here on the smallholding and with the nice dry weather that has started we have made a start!!

Moving the chickens and ducks to new turf. Wood chipping paths and flower beds and around new raised beds!

Having cleared the Polytunnel a while back, we have started some seeds in there and in the house. Today we have started in the veg garden, turning the beds from an absolute weed ridden state into something we can actually plant into!! So we have seeds ready for starting in successional sowings there!!

We have started a few projects for the boys for play, including a bean teepee…

These times are going to be difficult, but I am certain, no determined that we will come through it and be more organised, sorted, prepared and ready to face the new world head on. We are using this as an opportunity to finish projects started, start new projects, action plans we’ve had on the back burner for an age it seems.

So as for plans….

  • Weeding (there is always weeding)
  • Growing veg and fruit
  • Dyeing all the yarn
  • Clearing and sorting first the house, then the barns (I’ve started this as a wet day job and am part way through upstairs…. slow work with two small helpers though)
  • Finishing the new cottage
  • Building a tree house (if W gets his way it will be two storeys!!)
  • Making a garden or lots more garden areas
  • Gates, trying desperately to keep the errant hound in and the free range children!!
  • Processing the giant log pile into useable stacked logs ready for next winter

And there is likely to be more but I’ll add them to the lists as I go along!!

Building work, Firewood, Fruit and vegetables, Garden, Podcast, The tin hut, Working the land

Weekend waffle

So summation Saturday and Sunday wasn’t working for me as a title for the weekend chat/catch up vlogs…. it didn’t sit right….

So I was up feeding the smallest boy a few nights ago and a Title came to me for these vlogs!! Weekend waffle!!! Hurrah!!!

Any way the next instalment is up on the channel!! Here!!

Building work, Fruit and vegetables, Garden, Life with a toddler, Wanderings, Working the land

Mini digger hired!! Check!!

So James decided to hire a mini digger this week…. and has been out in it all day every day working hard to create better waterways, raised beds, scrape the barns, flatten play areas…. etc etc!! Busy times!!

Someone else rather liked the digger too!!! And very quickly figured out whilst sat on Daddy’s lap that two levers made it go forwards and backwards!! Therefore lurching it about whilst Daddy was digging!!

Building work, Firewood, Fruit and vegetables, Garden, Life with a toddler, Woodland, Woodwork, Working the land

Busy weeks!!

So the past two weeks have been filled with visitors and LOTS of outside work….. not much time for crafting except in between visitors and knitting of an evening!!

We started with a few days with my sister and niece and nephew!!

Someone was very pleased with his visitors!! And we had wall building round the Polytunnel!!

Playdoh….. painting…… forest school trip!

Bird box building and painting….

Phew very busy!!

Then last week my parents came for a few days!

It turned colder…. but we have meshed the fruit cage….. planted and frost fleeced a few plants that had been delivered…. blueberries in pots in some good Ericaceous compost as our soil isn’t right for them but we need them as young sir would eat his body weight in blueberries!! Well fruit in general!!

Then we had lots more Polytunnel progress…. just a shame on the final day the wind picked up so we couldn’t get the plastic on….

We had a wood delivery too…. didn’t get as much in last year as this year has required!! It’s all a learning process and bear in mind this time last year we were only able to collect wood every other weekend!!!

Any way all this done plus toddler wrangling…. plus catering…. keeping the home fires burning…. and growing a baby….. phew

We have had a quieter weekend this weekend sans visitors!

Finishing some jobs in the fruit cage….

Using sawdust to make paths…. cable tying the mesh further and pegging it down….

Then today….

Chipping the brash piles we’ve had lying about from hedgerow sorting!! Finally seem to be making some progress in rejuvenating some of the hedgerows and hope we will be able to lay some of them in a couple of years to thicken them up and really sort them!

Working the land

The before and afters!!!

So….. The path…

It took soooo much work and time and back ache I feel it deserves a before and after shot!!!!

Before…..

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After….

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So that’s two, no wait we dug one out… Three gates, a tonne of brambles and nettles, tyres, rocks, silage bags, mud, more rocks and rubble to give traction for the gator, digging, hedge cutting, strimming, digging, barrowing, gatoring, oh yes and a mound of cow poop!!!

BUT we can’t now get gator into the back field without running the sheep gauntlet!!

Working the land

Path building

For the last few weeks of visits James and I have concentrated our efforts! post failed diggering at sorting, clearing, digging, rubbleing etc the path from the yard into the field behind….. This field is no longer orchard field as James feels we have too little flat land to devote it to orchard….. Orchard and I have been moved to a steeper part of the rough land next to this field….

It has been hard and messy work…..

Mud…

Rain….

Silage bags that come out of the ground like hankies out of a magicians sleeve…..

Tyres….

Rocks……

Old rusty metal work…..

Gates…..

Old bits of fencing…..

Well I’ll let the pictures tell the story….

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Working the land

Digger!!!

As well as the building work last weekend James hired a mini digger (too mini for the job he wanted it for as it turned out)

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As I left to go into cardigan to look at tiles he was a happy husband playing diggers and building a path down into orchard field from the yard!

Upon my return…..

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A digger minus the treads on one side!!

Luckily our neighbour at the top of the hill used to work on diggers so he came up and fixed it…..

James had about another hour or two of digger play before it happened again…

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He gave up! And luckily our neighbour came back just before we left to fix it again before it had to go back to the hire company!