Therapy...

So here's the thing, sometimes, for no particular reason at all, I get very 'low'. It' not something I have ever spoken openly about, not even with people very close to me and I struggle to marry up the confident, outgoing and passionate person I am most of the time with the lump of negativity I can become when I go through a spell of this... whatever it is. I get frustrated with myself because I stop putting in the effort I expect of myself which only leads to me spiralling even further down... and that's where I've been at for the last few weeks.

However, there is one remedy, once I've got my head around the fact that it's happening again, that I guarantee works like a dose of something vile tasting that your granny shoved down your throat with a promise of it being the cure. And that thing is growing things! Piece by piece, seed by seed I put myself back together and find my inner sunshine again. That, I promise you, only comes from the absolute simplicity and wonder that comes from the purest action of planting something and watching it become something amazing.

Seedlings are popping up at every turn - just 10 days after sowing some cabbage and cauliflower seeds I had shoots coming through.

And once I got myself back involved and motivated by just this tiny bit of progress, the ball was really rolling!

The herb bed is really starting to take shape. It's been edged properly, dug over and is already home to rosemary and thyme plants.

Something I thought was going to be much further doow the line - my first raised bed box is done! It's also now been painted and filled with manure and compost ready for it's first occupiers - I'm thinking beets and asparagus.

The lovely Veg Trugs that were gifted to me have found their rightful place near the green house, I experimented with what grew well in these last year and have decided that this time round they are going to be filled with perpetual salad leaves. We eat loads of salad and these provide the perfect height to just nip and pick some quickly for lunch.

Frankly, if it hadn't been for the torrential rain we have seen these last couple of weeks, I would have spent every spare minute cracking on. I've loved it - It's made me remember that it only takes a couple of hours here and there to see huge differences in the garden.

While floating on my renewed sense of self I finally got over to my local Animal rescue centre and filled in the appropriate forms to officially become a volunteer. This, as I have said before, has been something I have wanted to do for a long time. I know that with our wedding getting ever closer and me still having to work full time for the minute, my spare hours to do much of anything for them will be limited, but at least I've dipped my toe. I've offered to do anything from cleaning out kennels to organising fundraising events, so stay tuned for dates for your diary!

And I didn't stop there!! Spring is in the air, Easter is on it's way and for people like me that means one thing... CHICKS!!!

I've set the first lot of eggs in the incubator - Hoo - Rah!

!

There it is - if a little blurry  - the first picture of the first set of eggs that The Keep will try and hatch... A real moment for us. They aren't all our own eggs - I'm giving Mr Tanglefoot, our new cockerel, the benefit of the doubt and putting some of our bantam girl eggs in there. I haven't actually witnessed him 'getting the job done' so I'm a little sceptical. We shall see. The rest of the multicolour beauties are from our friends at Paige's Poultry in Barton under Needwood - Again I can't go on about the lovely people there enough. Please check them out if you are over this way or trawling the internet for poultry suppliers - there's nothing they don't have!

I've decided I'm going to erect a great big sign at the entrance to the veggie patch the simply declares 'Therapy'. Because for me that's exactly what it is - the whole thing really. My Backyard Farm. The growing, thriving, living thing that I get to create anytime I feel like it. And in return I get something that words just don't do justice.

With a decidedly brighter outlook, and plenty still to do I find myself looking forward to what the next few weeks and months brings. Hopefully a bit of real sunshine!

Come rain or shine, it'll still be mine.

G

Let it be known, the first seeds have been sown...

It's been a busy couple of weeks here at The Keep with non- stop deliveries of one form or another. Notably would be the much anticipated and much mulled-over arrival of our new cockerel!

Introducing Mr Tanglefoot AKA Steven (because D says the first name is crazy).

He's a bit quiet and shy boy but we think he's a beauty!

We hope that he's going to make some pretty little babies with our bantam girls as he's already settled in with them nicely. With any luck we'll set the incubator at the end of the month and this time next month we'll see the fruits of his labours!

Talking of fruit, I have purchased some fruit canes and bushes online for the first time. This has probably been through desperation of wanting to see something growing in the garden as soon as possible. I would normally have started everything from seed, but couldn't reign in my impatience any longer... So 3 gooseberry bushes, 3 loganberry plants and 3 raspberry canes winged their sweet way over to our little patch this week.

 One thing I may have overlooked during my little buying spree was that the Gooseberry bushes and the raspberry canes were both packed up as 'bare-rooted' plants. For those who don't know (as I didn't) this means the plants come with the roots un-plugged and completely naked of any soil. Not a problem if your schedule and the weather permits some time to get said plants straight into some compost, or at least some water, to save their roots from shrivelling entirely - We, however, had non- stop freezing cold wind, rain and snow all weekend. So, as wrapped up as I could get, I took my newly purchased plants and trudged to the green house, sliding the door closed behind me to keep out some of the cold as I went about setting them in some pots until I get my raised beds sorted.

The Gooseberry plants have found a home in a plant pot that was left here by the previous owners until the weather breaks long enough for me to get the raised beds in order.

Thing is, once I started planting I didn't want to stop... the wind and rain be damned!! I was in my little green house sanctuary away from it all and I was going to get my Sow on! Anything that said I could sow it in February on the packet was indeed sown...

Savoy cabbage, cauliflower and parsnips...

The loganberry plants thankfully came in their own pots and I had some strawberry starter roots lurking about so they got potted up too. The big pot shown here, and another exactly the same, now contains some rhubarb seeds. I later cloched these.

I really hope I see something popping up in these pots soon, though I'm relying on the weather coming good sooner rather than later to make that happen. One thing to never be backed on in this country is the dang weather...

So, as the title of this latest update says, let it be known, the first seeds of The Keep have been sown. No going back only forward to a bright, blooming future and as always I just can't wait!

Come rain (and snow and sleet and flood!!) or shine, it'll sill be mine.

G

When is a chicken not just a chicken?...

If you are a resident of the UK, or of Europe actually, you have no doubt had some form of contact with the current avian influenza outbreak - even if it has just been seeing some tragic images on the news and switching over. Unfortunately, switching channels and not worrying about it isn't an option for anyone who keeps poultry, including us here at The Keep, and measures have had to be put in place to make sure our girls don't go getting poorly.

Initially, like many a backyard chicken keeper I imagine, I was fairly sceptical and thought only large institutions where poultry was kept in the thousands had cause for any concern. However, it soon became clear that even the odd bantam poking around someone's veggie patch seemed to be at risk and we went into full ' oh crap this is really happening!!' mode. Netting, tarpaulin and poultry shield in hand we went about securing our coop as best we could and have kept everything crossed regards the whole horrible matter ever since. My only hope is that being somewhere near the middle of the country, as opposed to being near a coastline, offers us some tiny shred of protection. I wear a single pair of cheapo croc -type shoes to go in and out of the coop - never anywhere else - and our nearest chicken neighbours (again a small flock in a ladies back garden) are about a mile or so away.

Anti-viral bedding should hopefully help.

Am I clutching to every shred of hope out there? Yes, I guess so, but then I do have an ever-present and wholly thriving reason to be. That lovely canal at the end of the garden - remember the one I gushed about all those months ago when we first moved in, the one that I thought would be amazing to sit by in the dusty summer evenings and that had us rubbing our hands together as we signed for our new home? Yeah, that canal - home to tens if not hundreds of wild birds and supporting hundreds more just within the half mile stretch of our street and the dog park. Every single one with the capacity to carry AI and introduce it to my lovely girls...

Frankly, it's terrifying...

Every scratch of the ear or shake of the head is now inspected and worried over like it could be the beginning of a zombie apocalypse. Imagining Defra swooping in and then being the 'bad owners' of the flock that bought AI to the midlands, to potentially ruin the lives of the farmers in the area through some small carelessness... Horrible just isn't even close to describing the very idea of it.

Above all though, I watch my beautiful girls, each one of them, and simply cannot stomach the thought of having no choice but to have them destroyed because of this devastating disease.

Having lots of treats during lock down.

They are not my livelihood, it's not the loss of income or any kind of reputation that has got me chewing my fingernails down. It's the thought of losing a single one of them - their personalties, their companionship, their voices on a freezing cold morning, their funny arguments over a shred of cabbage, the constant and comforting responsibility of being their care-giver... I'm scared to lose my friends.

My chickens have long been an unconditional part of my happiness. What ever I spend on them, however wet and cold I get taking care of them, how ever many 'crazy chicken lady' comments or ridicule I get from people who just plain don't get it, it is nothing compared to what I get from simply having them in my life. For an animal that many people see only as food, they have been capable of more than many people I have  known - that is to keep me going when everything else has failed.

So, when is a chicken not just a chicken? The answer is simple and the same for any animal. They are equal to, if not more important than, any one of us if only we recognise it. When we open our hearts and lives to any living creature they become a part of us and that makes them incredibly precious.

Maybe, in fact I hope against all hope, we are over the worst of this current epidemic and that the already devastating loss of animal life is coming to an all too slow end. It's not the best start to what I hope is a really promising first full year here at The Keep and my heart genuinely goes out to anybody personally effected by this awful blight on our feathered friends.

Lets have many more days shared with those that keep us smiling - human and animal alike.

Come rain or shine it'll still be mine.

G

365 opportunities to do something awesome...

So, 2017 is here! It came with a subtle sort of fizz here at The Keep - mainly because my head and my heart have been focused on the months ahead for ages anyway. The turn of the new year was merely a speck on my internal life planner, I did celebrate with a glass or two though of course!

Did we all have a good Christmas? Did santa bring us something nice? Did we get through the big day without setting the new kitchen on fire? The answer to all is yes,yes our first Christmas in our beautiful new home was absolutely as lovely as we intended it to be and here's to many, many more to come.

Now, though, I can barely contain my manic planning and researching and selecting and mass purchasing for all things backyard farm!! My ebay purchases list reads like an ' edible plants guide for dummies' everything from savoy cabbage to phacelia tanacetifolia, if it's a seed that grows into something edible or beautiful it is currently on it's way to my letterbox!! I ache for a vaguely warmer day when I can spend a couple of hours putting together the raised bed boxes that I've had in storage for what seems like a lifetime. The posts for the next chicken coop poke fun at me every time I walk past them and empty seed trays in the greenhouse practically slap me when I glance at the blatant lack of anything taking root in them. I want to scream at 2017 to hurry up! Be done with January where everything is dormant and freezing it's cockles off, let February be unseasonably mild to give me chance to prepare a little and then rock on March when a few of my seed packets say I can begin planting the first miracle-inducing seeds that will become the beginning of the amazing thing that will be our garden! Our wonderful, grow it - pick it - eat it, hard working, clucking, buzzing, organically grown GARDEN.

2016 bought so many things and a whole heap of inspiration - I just want to fill 2017 with everything I learned and yearned for.

Along with the extraordinary list of seeds that are on their way I've also begun eyeing up some new members for our little clan... I collected our hens from their 'Christmas holiday home' (we were away a lot so we boarded them at Paige's Poultry at Barton-under-needwood again - fabulous people with an even more fabulous flock, look them up if you are over this way!) and when I went for a little wander around, as I do when I'm there, I spotted the most dazzling little bantam Orpington cockerel that would suit my little girls a treat. He's one that bounced back to them for rehoming too, so it would even be a 'good deed' to take him on. There were also some really pretty little geese... I know I want some form of waterfowl for The Keep, but have been ummin and arring of exactly what to go for. I adore geese, the big, grumpy guard-dog kind,but realise we can't really offer enough space for those, little ones could be a game changer though... we'll see.

Probably the grandest edition to our creature features this year will be the bees. D chipped in with most of our family to raise the money to buy me a hive for my birthday the year before last, but with all the moving about we were doing we couldn't really get the bees. This year though they will have the perfect spot amongst the many bee-attracting plants I have lined up for them and should, with any luck, produce some lovely honey-a-la-chook-hook.

I know I haven't stuck to the weekly updates I had, at first, promised to do - my only excuse is that for every time I didn't log on and write something it was because I was DOING something instead! So I won't apologise too profusely. This year, however, you're probably going to get sick of me... here's to 365 opportunities to inspire you, to produce and provide, to raise and ripen, to work hard and make something awesome! oh and eeerrm get married at some point!

Come rain or shine it'll still be mine.

G

Sweet, savoury and super stretchy...

Well, winter is most definitely making it's presence known! Cue wellies, bare branches and frozen eggs to collect first thing in the morning...

My wellies are particularly fabulous this year (thanks to D being far too generous for my birthday) - they are honey bee themed Joules wellies and some of the cost went towards the National Bee association.

With the days almost as dark as the nights it's hard to feel the motivation to do anything much and work in and out of The Keep has slowed dramatically now that we only really have the weekend daylight hours to utilise. Can't say it's looking too shabby round here anymore though -  even managed to collar a window cleaner last week, so the old house is looking far more polished than she has in some time.

I've taken to making things during the long evenings. Not just any old things ofcourse, I'm doing a lot of sewing in order to stock pile lots of craft-type-bits with a view to hit the craft fairs next year and sell my wares and, if you follow The Chook Hook on instagram you will know, I have been experimenting with some recipes too.

These are a few of the 'christmas pockets' I've been putting together - they all get strung together to create a bunting that you can put little treats in. Ofcourse ours will probably have dog treats in them rather than the chocolates most people would shove in there!

Vegan Mushroom risotto:

1 cup Arborio rice
1 pint (ish)Vegetable stock
1 table spoon Garlic oil
Woodland mushrooms (yes they are worth the money)
White wine - a good glug
Salt and pepper to taste
Vegan cream if you feel you need it extra creamy (I do!)

Beetroot Hummus:

1 tin chickpeas
2 cooked beetroots
1 clove garlic
a drizzle of oil

Blend it up and you've got hummus for a whole week.

Spiced Pumpkin and Sweet potato soup:

Half a small pumpkin (roasted)

2 decent sizes sweet potatoes (roasted)

1 1/2 pints vegetable stock

1 small onion

chilli powder

Paprika

Black pepper

Salt

(seasonings all to taste)

A short while after making the soup using my new blender, I was gifted a soup maker by my mother-in-law-to-be and, honestly, it cuts out pretty much all of the hard work. Smooth soup in less than half an hour - you just bung all of the ingredients in. When I've racked up a few good recipes I'll list them on here for you to try.

It has been a few weeks of really finding a rhythm to life again. No more just getting by, but rather gaining some ground and having time to invest in the small things that, inevitably, make the world of difference. For example, we've switched from driving several miles out of our way to the nearest farm shop to get our usual supplies to ordering in bulk online. I know, 'what a travesty!' I hear you cry. And to a certain extent I do agree... I am a big believer in keeping things local and supporting local people providing local goods. However, common sense stepped in and the money we now save warrants the move to an online provider. Not only that, but the bedding and food we now get for the chickens is better quality than the more expensive stuff we were running through petrol to go and collect. It comes right to the door - it was a no brainer. 

Another investment, that I think is going to make coop cleaning much, much easier is this bad boy...

200 feet of stretchy hose!! That astroturf is going to wish it spat chicken poo from it's own surface once it gets the 'magic hose' treatment. 

It is what most people would call 'the run up to Christmas' now and it can often be a real burden if, like me, you are the designated gift chooser/buyer/wrapper/sender. This year though I've decided to take a more standoffish approach to the season of tinsel, over spending and turkey-with-everything. For starters I'm vegan now so turkey is well off the menu (I will post about the whole Vegan thing at some point), Presents will be absolutely minimal with as many handmade ones as I can make between now and the big day and I've seen some beautiful tinsel up for grabs in my favourite charity shop... Don't get me wrong I LOVE Christmas. My dad and I spent many a freezing cold, super excited, December weekend putting up lights on the outside of our house when I was growing up and I have only ever had one job (for one miserable year) where I had to work during the Christmas break ( honestly it's just dreadful, they should close all shops/ factories etc for atleast 4 solid days!!) 

It's a time of year I really feel should be valued, a time to consider the people and places and 'things' that make you truly happy and grateful to be on this planet. When you really think about it those things very rarely come wrapped up, or cost money or need a honey glaze... I for one will be celebrating Christmas with an incedibly thankful heart after the support we have received this year and safe in the knowledge of my plans to pay it all forward over and over again in the years to come. I've got lots of volunteering lined up and plenty of plans to live and promote a much more economical, ecological way of life. Just like a good Christmas dinner, it's all in the prep!

Come rain or shine, it'll still be mine.

G

28 years old and weirder by the day.

So, it was my birthday this week. Of course my birthday is in October - you didn't expect any different surely? And spoilt I have most certainly been with an amazing pair of honeybee themed Joules wellies that will get plenty of wear over the coming months, some beautiful designer chicken cups and money that I have spent most of buying a blender. Odd maybe, but I can't stop thinking about making home-made (and eventually home-grown) hummus, so there we go.

Twenty eight... too young to be taken overly seriously in many of the circles I'm trying to edge myself into and yet too old to not take what I want to do with my life as seriously as possible in order to get somewhere close to achieving my urban farming dreams. Therefore, I guess I will just carry on doing things the only way I know how - my crazy, make do and mend, lets get more animals right now, yes of course we have room for a cow, eating raw veg straight out of the ground, I'll just help myself to this thing you chucked out 'way'!

The girls have been treated to some seasonal treats this week - if i get to indulge on pumpkin flavoured everything then so do they.

I always think birthdays are a time to reflect on the year that's passed and think about the year to come. In my case that has generally meant analysing what grew well where on the veggie patch and what didn't so that I can change it up next time where it might be of benefit. This coming year is a little different though as, amongst all of my plans for my backyard farm, I'll also be preparing for our wedding... We finally decided to tie the knot! In October Of course!

I tracked down a fabulous lady based in Derbyshire that creates the most stunning vintage hairstyles and knew from the moment I saw her work that I wanted her to do my hair for our special day. I was lucky enough to have a trial run on my birthday.

When I did sit and think about the last year, all I could think was that it's the hardest and fastest I've ever moved forward in my life. Always one for clinging to the past, old ways and habits, ideals and a love for all things 'back in the day', I've never been one to want to move on all that much... but in 12 months I've moved counties, moved jobs twice, bought and renovated a house, I've got more thoughts and plans for the future now than ever before. I look back and see it all as humble beginnings to my now overwhelming ideas for the months and years to come - it was a rocky but good start, now lets be serious and do something worthwhile, let's make an impression, create something awesome and healthy and good. That my friends is why we are here surely?

With my new blender waiting to be used for the first time I hope I will get chance to post a little recipe this week - even if it is just hummus. I'm toying with the idea of hurrying up getting the second chicken pen up before winter gets here - Smallholder magazine reports this is the best time of year to add to your flock  (not that I really needed another excuse!) so i may be posting about some new recruits before too long.

I'm entertaining family this week, so will finally get to showcase how far The Keep has come since it was floor-less wreck. I wonder if they'd like hummus with their tea... have i mentioned hummus?...

Come rain or shine it'll still be mine.

G

The settling in period...

It would be wholly stating the obvious to say it has been a very long time since I managed to post anything,. So, let it be known that there shall never be such a long break between posts going forward - the internet is now live, I have atleast one room in which I can sit comfortably and I'm starting to gather some 'free time' amongst all the sorting out going on, so there it is, no excuses!!

Given that it has been a while since I last bought everyone up to speed, I'll try to make this one as juicy as possible and then keep it as regular as an old lady on the old prune syrup from now on!

The Keep itself has shaped up like quite the homely little home. The living room, or snug as I like to call it when I have my snob head on, is pretty cosy. OK, the log burner is yet to materialise in the fireplace and we still have newspaper for curtains, but now that Autumn has arrived I've managed to enjoy some evenings wrapped up on the sofa with a candle or two burning and a complete lack of moving boxes in the way of my peaceful moment. Amazing what a bit of leg room can do for the soul...

One of the things that has made life feel a bit more 'real' again is finally having a functioning oven. Five weeks, yes really, 5 weeks we were without an oven or even a hob so the first time I got to turn one of the knobs and watch the gas ignite I was mesmerised. All hail the burning, oil spitting, alarm sounding, terrible, fantastic thing that is fire!!

Still no working extractor though I hasten to add...

It shouldn't be too long before I start posting some of my favourite recipes with any luck.

While we have been busy working on the inside of The Keep, my girls have been busy making the outside their home and getting the job done while they have been at it. I got an egg the very first day they came home from their stint at the chicken hotel - can't complain at that.

One of the Orpington cross's got in first with this little beauty.

A lovely gift from some good friends - a worthy egg basket if I ever did see one.

I've made some changes already to their new home and I'm sure I will keep making them as they let me know what isn't working for them and I work out what will make my morning routine a little easier.

Inside the house I've put high and low perches in - as my girls are a mixed bunch I found that some of the less flighty ones were sat on the floor at night as they didn't want to flap up to the higher perches. I've got some buckets that cost me just £1 as nest boxes at the minute but I hope to trade them in for a proper nest box eventually.

A big old plant pot on it's side is playing the role of a dust bath currently - again it will no doubt get traded in for a better model.

I invested in a new feeder and drinker - both save me time, are more hygienic and save any waste should it rain.

I put some logs from the old tree in as day time perches for preening - just to add a bit of something to the coop really. I hang cabbage etc off these as treats - seems to be going down a storm with my little flock.

The one thing that is not living up to expectation is the astro-turf we laid in the chicken coop. Yes it is keeping things far more dry than ever before, but cleaning it is becoming a real chore. We initially intended to 'blast' it off every other day with a hose, which I still think will work well and allow me to keep things clean. However, our current hose is no where near long enough to reach the coop and, on calculating, we need one that's around 120 feet long... It's left me no choice but to brush it off as regularly and as best I can until our budget allows for a new hose. The jury is out on this one - I'll update as we go.

I have big plans for the coop - adding atleast one more and really showcasing them as 'urban farm' prototypes. Hopefully we'll make it work and get it set up in a more workable fashion.

I'm still like a magpie - constantly picking up things that nobody wants anymore and making them work for me. Just this week one of my neighbours left out an old ottoman, so ofcourse I couldn't help myself, I bought it home, re-upholstered it and it is now our bedding store!

I must be getting a name amongst our neighbours - one of them knocked on our door the other night saying they had noticed me admiring a vase outside their front door if I wanted to help myself to it... I guess there's worse things than a thrifty mind and artistic eye to be known for.

One thing I really wish I had posted about when it actually arrived  is Autumn. My very favourite time of year. A time of harvest and chilly air and fires in the back garden and beautiful scenery... it's just magical - on par with a snowy Christmas (if they even exist anymore!). Our new home has not failed to provide all of the above and I find some of my most cleansing moments are simply walking the dogs on the park or by the canal and taking in all the lovely sights and sounds. They seem to enjoy it too.

With plenty still left to do inside the house before my own personal deadline of Christmas, I'm sad to say the garden has taken a sorry second place in the priority stakes.With the nights drawing in, I don't get many daylight hours in which to really crack on with it. I've taken to mentally mapping the vegetable patch, working out where each raised bed will sit, what will go in it and what it's neighbouring bed should have in it to compliment it. I know I want to pack as much into that little plot as humanly possible and this time next year I want mental mapping to be long forgotten and carrying my edible garden, still producing, through the winter to be the reality. Having unearthed a lot of my most inspirational books - the likes of 'The Thrifty Forrager' by Alice Fowler or ' The River Cottage Cook Book' by our Hugh, or Even an old little book called 'First Buy A Field' that my mum knew I would love when she gifted it to me - I am brimming with ideas and motivation, I just need a new year with which to nurture every single one of them.

So, while all at The Keep continue to settle in, I do hope some of you get to enjoy everything this stunning time of year has to offer. It is the years' last hurrah before what is often a very miserable and soggy winter. I for one adore these days every year and fill them with chilly morning dashes out to open the chicken shed door, evenings in with a good book and as many pumpkin spiced anythings as possible!

With a promise to post far, far more regularly now that we are achieving some sort of normal again, I bid you a delightful start to the beginning of the end of the year.

Come rain or shine, it'll still be mine.

G