Welcome back to Bryngwyn. It’s been a difficult week.
Patch:
Having initially settled in well one of our new pigs somehow injured itself and sustained a puncture wound in her front right thigh. Clearly in some distress we called out the vet (first time we’ve ever had to do this) who examined her and concluded nothing was broken. However she remained unable to weight-bear so we have been giving her pain-killers and daily injecting anti-biotics. Thanks to my nursing days I am experienced in injecting human patients. Fortunately the injections are intra-muscular and not intra-venous. God only knows how you find a vein on a pig! The main difference of course is that you can’t explain to a pig what you are doing and why, so she understandably flinches whenever I go near her. She has still not recovered and we’ll keep you updated.
We have no idea how she hurt herself, but the vet thinks she might have impaled herself on a broken branch. Predictably the poly-tunnel toads have their own take and swear it was a result of a knife-fight at an illegal rave which the pigs themselves had organised. Seems unlikely to me as the pigs had only recently arrived and would not yet have had the social contacts to organise such an event. Plus, despite the knife-crime moral panic in the right-wing press, pig stabbings are extremely rare in this part of Wales. No doubt Priti Patel will allude to it in her next key-note speech - never one to miss the opportunity to seek political advantage from a tragedy.
Gales continue to batter west Wales causing significant damage to veg with winds gusting to 50 or 60 miles an hour. The runner beans have not recovered and even the peas were blown over. Luckily they were coming to the end and they were mostly already eaten or in the freezer. Also lost about half our walnuts and pears. I know I bang on about it, but climate breakdown is seriously starting to make growing much more difficult, and this is no doubt just the tip of the (melting) iceberg, and a fore-taste of what is to come.
On a more positive note, had a good crop of potatoes and red onions. Bit worried about the onions as I like to harvest them dry for better storage, however they seem ok. Chard, spinach, kale, peppers and chillies cropping well. Ducklings and turkeys thriving and growing fast. The cheeky cockerel had the temerity to have a go at me as one of the hens complained as I collected the eggs. Can’t blame him – just doing his job.
Dare I say it, but I am not suffering as much slug damage as usual this year. Strange as warm and wet are their favourite conditions. I wonder if the incredibly hot and dry April and May slowed their usual breeding cycle. Of course, nature abhors a vacuum, and the pesky caterpillars are filling the gap nicely and attacking the sprouts big-time.
Having trouble sourcing organic food for pigs and turkeys. The company that used to supply us has been taken over and have stopped their organic range. Having spent ages on the world wide web, we eventually found a supplier, unfortunately they would only deliver by the ton. The turkeys are good eaters but would struggle to eat a ton! The local farmers co-op think they have managed to find some, so hopefully we will soon be ok. We appear to be the only smallholding round here looking for organic turkey and pig feed. If you know of any, please let us know.
Talking of organic, a couple of friends recently asked why we did not grow biodynamically. A good question. Jane and I attended a talk last year extolling the virtues of biodynamics. I admit to expressing some scepticism but the speaker insisted it significantly increased their food production. They suggested we try it and kindly provided us with a small quantity of cow shit which had been buried in a cows horn. I thought why not, nothing to lose – keep an open mind and all that. So I followed instructions to the letter, including planting during the right phase of the moon. Attempting to be as scientific as possible I planted two adjacent beds of leeks. One bed was my normal organic method and the other biodynamic. At a crude attempt at a blind study I then asked visitors to the patch which bed they thought was growing better, obviously without telling them why. Sadly my trial was inconclusive as some would point to one bed and some the other, so I was unable to prove that the biodynamic method made any appreciable difference. If you have different experience please let us know.
On the Wild Side:
Went down to the estuary to harvest some more samphire (which we have pickled) and saw an adder having a kip. Didn’t disturb it, and luckily nor did the dog!
The wild geese are starting to gather in larger numbers and flying over-head making one hell of a din. A large flight of geese is a beautiful sight at this time of year.
Tip of the week:
When you harvest your spuds try and get them all, even the tiny ones if you can, as any left pop up as a weed next year in whatever crop you have rotated to.
Have a good week, and keep your fingers crossed for the pig.