Autumn is here

Autumn has arrived, with 2 big frosts already finishing off lots of the summer veges. The morning & evening chill in the air means outside coats for the chicken run, at the very least. As well as the frosts killing the veges, the choughs & ravens are running rampant, tossing mulch around, digging up new seedlings in the daily quest for worms & grubs. Before planting any more seedlings out, I'll be birdproofing each garden with polypipe, garden stakes & bird netting. The seedlings in the shadehouse are doing well, with frequent watering as there has only been a little rain in the last few weeks - 10.5mm last week & 2mm on Saturday.

We've ordered 40 more fruit trees to add to our food forest - some more apples including cider apples, pears, cherries, plums & hazelnuts. They won't arrive until August, so we'll be digging the holes early for them. 44 more trees (tagasaste & natives) have been planted in the laneways to provide shelter & fodder, & are doing well despite the frosts. We bought some more natives at the markets to add to the windbreak hedge on our west & north west fences, so will be digging holes with the auger on the tractor & planting them tomorrow.

All of the animals are doing well, & the smallest chickens are now out with the other Buff Orpingtons. One young Orpington cross hen has moved in with them to mother them & keep them warm, so the littlest ones think that is pretty good, although they don't listen to her as much as those raised from egg crack do. Their second feathers are growing at the moment so they look a bit scruffy, but at least they will be warmer. Ella, our dog, killed one of the young pullets the other day - at least it was quick, so it ended up in the compost.

We have tried some of our pancetta, which is delicious - a recipe & process I found on the internet, but alas, our hams have not turned out this time. So whilst that is not a total waste (after cooking, they can be fed to the chickens), it is a tough learning experience, so more research will need to be done, & I think that in our climate, it is better to process pork in late Autumn or early Winter.

We are having our annual Farm Open Day in a couple of weeks, which is great & I am looking forward to it, but a walk around the garden still shows a lot to be done before we are ready. Even the area near the shed where the new water tank has been installed has got lots of junk there - bits of leftover corrugated iron, the old stumps from the tank stand, bits of screws etc etc, some of which can be recycled, some for the tip, but all of it has to be moved somewhere else.

We did a 3rd skirt on some more white alpaca fleece last week - yarns have been selling well with some wholesale orders too, & I have totally run out of all white 2ply yarn. It didn't take too long until we got to a cria fleece, which was so lovely & fine & so full of vegetable matter - it took an hour to clean it up enough to send away. And there are 10 more to go! But not in the next fortnight, I think!