In the Vegetable Garden - Things to do this Month - February

In the Vegetable Garden - Things to do this Month - February

• Create a planting plan for the year, remembering the first principle of crop rotation: don’t plant the same crop ‘family’ in the same place as last year!
• My favourite way of keeping warm and making a big difference to my veg plot is to dig in all the rotted horse-muck and compost we’ve created during the past year: the large volume of organic matter improves soil texture for both light and heavy soils, it adds valuable organic nutrients, feeds the worms … and it’s great exercise! Pile it up high, as by the time you’re ready for planting it will have rotted down a lot.
• February can bring more frosts and ice, but in a normal year you can start planting a few crops: refer to our Vegetable Planting Diary to see what to sow or plant this month.
• If you haven’t already ordered seeds, now is the time to do so – we like to use some of the old, traditional varieties from www.gardenorganic.org.uk
• Warm up soil with cloches or black plastic to advance the growing season.
• Carry out a soil pH test; you should do this regularly throughout the year, in different parts of the plot – you can buy relatively cheap test kits in any garden store. This will tell you how acid or alkaline your soil is, and then you can add lime (to reduce excess acidity – the brassica family in particular is intolerant of acid soils) or manure (to counteract alkalinity).
• Clean, disinfect and tidy the greenhouse if you haven’t done so already, you’ll have less trouble with ‘damping off’ of seedlings in a clean environment.
• If you do nothing else this month, plant more garlic – friends are always impressed when you present them with a garlicky gift!

Source: http://www.smallholderseries.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=502:in-the-vegetable-garden-things-to-do-this-month-february13&catid=84:things-to-do-this-month&Itemid=184

The Woodland Trust - MOREwoods scheme

The Woodland Trust - MOREwoods scheme

Woodland Trust MOREwoods scheme

MOREwoods is designed to make planting your own wood easy.
A UK-wide scheme, MOREwoods supports people who aren’t receiving government grants to plant woods, shelterbelts and windbreaks. If you have one hectare of land or more for planting, we can guide you from start to finish and beyond, providing:

• onsite advice discussing the design and species appropriate for your site
• financial support to help you plant
• an expert advisory service after you’ve planted to ensure your new wood flourishes.

How does MOREwoods work?

We visit you to make sure we create the right wood design for you and your land – whether that’s a block of woodland, shelterbelts, utilising field corners or planting buffers along a water course. By getting the design right, we’ll help you get the most from your wood – as a source of firewood, a wildlife haven or providing a function such as shelter. 

You can then choose to plant the trees yourself, or we can arrange a contractor to plant for you. The Trust will also source all the necessary materials for you, and subsidise the cost. There are two options:

1. If you plant yourself, you will only need to contribute 40% of the cost of trees and guards.
2. If you choose to use a contractor, we’ll ask you for 70% of the costs of trees, guards and labour.

(only option 1 is available in Scotland)

Interested? Next step:

 MOREwoods – eligibility and criteria

MOREwoods for dormice

People living in Kent, Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire can give an iconic endangered species a helping hand by planting more woods in the counties.
If you already have dormice living on your land, you could receive contributions of up to 80% towards the cost of extending their habitat by planting trees. Download our MOREwoods for dormice leaflet, or contact us for more information.

What have we achieved so far?

Started in 2008, we’ve now helped more than 700 landowners plant over 850 hectares of new native woodland, including farmers and smallholders, local authorities and community groups.

These new woods are becoming important local features of landscapes across the UK – helping wildlife thrive by connecting fragmented habitats together, providing special places for people and giving farmers a multi-purpose resource that adds value to their existing operations through energy, shelter, soil and water management.

If you’ve been thinking about creating your own woodland, don’t delay – get in touch.

With our help planting woodland can be more affordable than you think.  

Pig in a weekend!

We had to make the hard decision to take one of our adult pigs to the abattoir and to put the meat in our freezer. 

Friday morning Gareth and I, started breaking down the massive 139kg carcass. 

The loin was cured for bacon

The legs were cured for hams (each leg weighted 15kg)

Part of the belly was cured to make Pancetta that will be air dried. 

The rest was boned out ready to turn into sausages and more. 

We were all up early Saturday Morning, Dad started skinning the remaining meat and sorting the meat from the fat, to obtain the correct ratio.

Our friends Toni and Georgina were helping with the huge task of converting the remaining meat into sausages.

 

 

 

Mincing the Meat

Mixing the pork with rusk, herbs and spices to create a seasoned mix

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sliding natural hog casings onto the nozzle for stuffing the sausages into

Georgina and the stuffer

Filling the Casings

Linking the Sausages

What a lot of Sausages

We made a variety of flavours of sausages:
A basic breakfast 
Cumberland
Sweet Chilli
Hungarian
British Banger
Apple and Cider
Leek and Chilli 
Lemon and Fennel

We tried and tested as we went along and made larger batches of our favourites.

We then moved onto to make Salami and Chorizo

We use beef middlings to stuff  the Salami and Chorizo

 

One pair of hands just wasn't enough for this whopper

They have to stay in doors for 24 hours in the warm to kick start the fermentation

Blowing in the wind, to start drying.

What a weekend, back to work for a rest!

Sheep - Things to do this Month - February

Sheep - Things to do this Month - February

SHEEP – for a March/April lambing flock:

• Keep an eye on the calendar –– sounds obvious, but easily forgotten when you’re busy! We’ve created a really handy Breeding Flock Planner that you can set to your own calendar to help you remember key dates throughout the year
• Continue to monitor ewes’ condition – if you’re unsure about how to do this, see, Sheep on Your Smallholding – “Managing Your Flock for Peak Health” for a demonstration, or watch Adam Henson demonstrating how to on our YouTube Channel.
• Scanning: assuming the ram joined the ewe flock in early November and remained with them for two cycles, the ewes will now be coming into their third month of pregnancy (60-90 days), which is the ideal time to scan if you haven’t already done so.
• Once you’ve arranged the date, set up your handling system so that the ewes will file one-by-one into the scanning pen. The more organised you are, the less stress will be caused to the sheep (and the shepherd and scanning operator!).
• Give all ewes a booster vaccination against clostridial diseases and pasturella at between 4-6 weeks before they are due to lamb
• Mid-way through the third month (approximately 8 weeks before lambing), start feeding concentrates at a ‘stepped-up’ rate, adjusted according to the scanning results – we’ve prepared a sample chart and guidance notes to help you calculate the amount of feed you’ll need:Nutritional Management of the Ewe in Late Pregnancy
• Be aware of the main Metabolic Diseases that can affect ewes in the late stages of pregnancy: Twin Lamb Disease (also called ‘Pregnancy Toxaemia’). Hypocalcaemia (also called ‘Milk Fever’), and Hypomagnesaemia (also called ‘Grass Staggers’).
• It’s never too early to check you have all the supplies ready for lambing, you can download our Lambing Equipment List for a comprehensive list of everything you’ll need, as well as a few luxury items!
• Check hay and straw supplies are adequate for the outdoor or housed lambing flock, depending on your system.
• Newborn lambs are very vulnerable to infection, so a few weeks before you are due to bring the flock in, thoroughly disinfect the lambing shed (floor and walls), hurdles, buckets, feeders and hayracks – dilute the disinfectant as indicated, and use a pressure sprayer to get thorough coverage of all surfaces.

Source: www.smallholderseries.co.uk

Lambing Course - With Westpoint Farm Vets

Lambing Course - With Westpoint Farm Vets
Last year a few of us attended a lambing course, run by Westpoint Vets with ADAS. It was an excellent afternoon and really prepared us for lambing.

I was speaking to Jules Dare of Westpoint Farm Vets Yesterday who advised they could run this again, in the next few weeks for East Essex Smallholders Group. We are looking at no more than £25 per person as long as 10 people sign up. (Exact cost to be confirmed after booking)

If we are quick and we can book by Friday, I think it would be good to run this during half term, 18th - 22nd Feb. As I no a few of our sheep keepers are teachers.

Here is a description of the afternoon:

Lambing is a stressful time of year for all involved, no matter what size your flock is, so whether you have 10 or a 1000 sheep this meeting is for you.
The aim of this meeting is to discuss the main pitfalls and problems encountered around lambing. This will include the use of a lambing simulator to demonstrate how to correct commonly occurring problematic presentations and what equipment you will need in your lambing box to see you through the lambing period. We will also discuss what you need to do if you start seeing an abnormally high number of abortions and their common causes.

Please email Danni by Thursday night, if you would like to attend. We will book a venue in the Maldon area.

Danni
Danielle.Perkins@yahoo.co.uk
07854595640

Ascott - February 2013 Newsletter

Special Offers for February 2013

Let’s hope by the time you read this newsletter the snow will have finally melted away and we are all back to normal! With lambing well underway this month we have a special offer on our Deluxe Lambing Kitcontaining all the essentials and its especially useful for everyone lambing for the first time this season. With spring in the air it’s time to start to think about hatching your own eggs and we have an early spring offer with our BEST SELLING Auto Turn Complete Home Hatchery Kit, now available with a fantastic saving of £25.00 off the current price! This superb kit contains an incubator, lamp holder and bulb, thermometer, feeder, drinker and incubation guide. The incubator holds up to 24 hen eggs and has a movable floor so that all the eggs turn at the same time. February Special Offers

Gift Ideas Christmas may have come and gone but Valentines is just around the corner, closelyfollowed by Mothers Day and Easter. Plus, we all have regular birthdays to buy for with friends and family, so take a look at our current gift selection below.

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EAST ESSEX SMALLHOLDERS MARMALADE COMPETITION

EAST ESSEX SMALLHOLDERS MARMALADE COMPETITION

 TUESDAY 19^TH February 2013

The Bell The Street Purleigh
7.30pm for 8.00pm

Tim Came from Thursday Cottage will be attending our February meeting to tell us about Thursday Cottage and what they do in Tiptree. He will then Judge our Marmalade competition.
"It's easy to make jam. It's difficult
to make really good jam”.

The competition is open to all members and visitors to the February East Essex Smallholders meeting.
The Marmalade must have been made since September 1st 2012 by the person entering the competition (family help allowed!)
To be judged on taste, texture, and appearance by our guest speaker

Classes are as follows:-

• Seville Orange
• Other citrus fruit (including a mix of citrus fruits)
• Made from kit and/or concentrate
• Any other marmalade

After judging we will have a hot buttered toast and marmalade tasting session
For more details please contact donna@furzedown398.freeserve.co.uk

We would like to thank Lathcoates Farm Shop In Galleywood for providing a voucher for the winner.
http://www.eapples.co.uk/

Please ensure you have a spare Jar of Marmalade because the winner will be entered into the National Competition.
http://www.dalemainmarmaladeawards.co.uk/

They have agreed to extend the entry date of the 17th February 2013 until the 21st for East Essex Smallholders Group only so we can post our winning entry to be entered.