Greetings from the Bryngwyn smallholding and our attempts at self-sufficiency. A couple of people have recently asked me how self-sufficient we really are, and it’s a good question. At this time of year we are able to grow most of our own food, but of course we are never fully self-sufficient. (You’d have to be a pretty exceptional gardener to grow coffee in west Wales!). Realistically we probably produce between half and two thirds of our food over a whole year. We can grow most of our own veg and have a freezer full of pork and duck and we haven’t needed to buy eggs for years. We also have plenty of honey year round. What really lets us down is dairy produce like cheese and milk and buying in flour, rice and pasta . So more realistically our aim is to be as sustainable as practically possible. The two main goals are to keep our carbon footprint low and to leave the land as undamaged and bio-diverse as we can for future generations.
Patch:
Coming to the end of the prolific growth of the summer. We are still harvesting quite a lot of produce (carrots, beans, tomatoes, peppers, chillies, kale etc) but it is noticeably slowing down as we head into autumn and start to rely more on winter crops like parsnips, sprouts, swedes, turnips etc and drawing on stored produce like potatoes and onions. Still some nice surprises though – the recent sunny warm spell has given the raspberries a second wind.
Jane is growing loofahs for the first time and they seem to be doing well, although whether they become useful bath loofahs remains to be seen.
Livestock all thriving. Pigs loving the acorns and apples. Having a few problems with the electric fence surrounding the pig enclosure. The pigs pile up earth against it which drains the battery quickly. There is only really one way of being certain it’s working and that is to summon up the courage to touch it. Not exactly painful, but not much fun unless you’re a masochist.
Spent time this week splitting logs for the winter. For the past ten years wood has been our main source of hot water and heating. Each year we need several tons of logs which have to be felled, moved, cut and split, all at least a year ahead to give it time to season. We mainly use ash, which I think is the best firewood of the lot. It splits easily and burns really well. It can actually be burnt green, but I wouldn’t recommend it as wet wood doesn’t burn at a high temperature and can cause a resin build-up in your chimney. I estimate that it takes me the equivalent of two full weeks work to keep the range burning through the whole winter. The main drawback for anyone thinking of using wood as their primary heat source is that if you go away for a day or two you come back to a house like a fridge and it takes a couple of days to bring it back up to tolerable levels of warmth. This problem will hopefully be solved this year as our newly installed ground source heat pump appears to be working well.
On the Wild Side:
Regular readers will be pleased to know I am gaining on the squirrels and have managed, for once, to beat them to some of the hazel nuts. They must still be getting the lions share though as they are as big as cats and looking disgustingly healthy and sleek.
Went to water the polytunnel and interrupted a scene like something out of Animal Farm. The polytunnel toads were holding a public meeting nattily entitled “Has the Parliamentary Road to Socialism Hit a Dead-end? An Anarcho-syndicalist Perspective”. It was surprisingly well attended and I was slightly hurt not to have been invited, especially when I spotted the cockerel in the audience, who I suspect of having distinctly Stalinist tendencies. The toad chairing the meeting made it pretty clear I was not welcome by pompously announcing “the thing is Guy, green politics that fails to recognise the centrality of the class struggle is nothing more than gardening” Ouch! Speechless and deflated I made a hurried but dignified exit and returned to…..gardening. Oh the certainties of youth.
Saw a fox yesterday crossing our field as bold as brass in full daylight. A bit worrying, poultry-wise, but you have to admit they are beautiful creatures.
Tip of the week:
Remember to record the variety of any veg that have done particularly well this year. Specific varieties tend to do well in different soil, sunlight levels, shade etc, and if you are anything like me you will never remember what variety you planted the year before unless you write it down or save the empty packets.
Have a good week in the garden and enjoy the fruits of your labour. It all helps the planet in a small way regardless of what those young toads might say!