Update

I've got a bit behind this week, so excuse me for racing through things so unthoroughly!

Last weekend we didn't go to the Smallholder's Show at Builth Wells like we did last year. Instead we stayed local and went to an open day at Sparsholt Agricultural College. It was a totally different experience, but very interesting! Whereas the show at Builth naturally focuses on small-scale producers, at Sparsholt we got to experience mechanised milking, aquaculture, forestry...all sorts. I can't say it's the sort of farming/gardening/self-sufficiency type thing I'm interested in, but it really gave you an insight into how commercial farmers operate - interesting, but also kind of sad when you think about all the stuff they're up against today!

Piglets in the agriculture section of Sparsholt.

The last of our overwintering crops has been harvested now. The carrots, although knobbly, were spectacular. And the tops make good animal fodder!

Recently I've also looked at spinning waste fibres. I took some loose fibres from some fraying fabric scraps in my stash, and tried carding them with some silk waste and merino wool. The resulting rolag was very light, with polyester and lurex threads giving it a lovely shimmer. The lurex didn't stay in the spun yarn so well, but I plied the yarn with black cotton thread to create a wiggly yarn, and this seems to make them more secure.

Friday saw me cooking - quite a rarity! I made Good Food magazine's Moroccan chickpea soup (here's a link: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1499/moroccan-chickpea-soup ) although I added a carrot, half a red pepper, harissa, cayenne pepper and a bit more lemon. Came out brilliantly, definitely one to add to my repertoire!

Pops and I also made some delicious chocolate truffle swirl ice cream - basically the most chocolatey ice cream you've ever eaten with ripples of even chocolatier stuff thrown in! Mixing the cream into the chocolate custard made lovely swirling wood-grain patterns.

On Saturday Dad and I took our neighbour Jayne to an apiary meeting with our association's swarm coordinator, Keith. It was a fantastic day - absolutely baking, with the bees working hard. It was a fantastic day for the newbies, and really nice to see so many people turn up! It was great for us too, though. We've been beekeeping three years now, but the advice on queen rearing from some more experienced beekeepers was very much needed!

As far as the bees are concerned, things seem to be going quite well. The hive we had to artificial swarm at our main apiary is a bit shaky - we've reunited most of the splits back together, but none of them seem to have a queen. We're going to let them try and re-queen themselves. They have a strong population so things aren't desperate. But I'm glad we've got some new queens on order! The split we did at our other apiary has been very successful. The artificial swarm has already filled half a super with honey! We have now have three strong nucs too, made up from splits. We've seen the queen in one, and she looks like she's mated, though she hasn't started to lay yet, and the other two we haven't seen the queen, though it looks as though they're there. All three are very strong colonies however, and so there will be no harm in waiting a while before coming to a conclusion on the state of the queens.

The weekend also saw us take a canoe trip on the canal. We took a bucket to collect elderflowers with, but they were only just coming out - we were just a week early! Oh well, better than going too late! We'll go again next week and hopefully come back with enough for wine, sparkling wine and cordial. One of the recipes we'll be using only requires 1 pint of flowers to make 1 gallon of wine, so hopefully a little will go a long way!

We also let our tortoise, Alfie, romp around the garden for the first time. He's been off his food a bit lately, but with the warmer weather seems to be perking up. The other animals are curious but a bit nervous about the strange "moving rock", except for Willow, who bounded straight up to him, sniffed him a bit, and promptly rubbed him with her chin (or chins) to mark him as hers. Sweet!

Alfie stalks the ducks.

Yesterday we visited my grandparents in Hertfordshire. It was really good fun - my Grandpa and I swapped tomato seedlings, so I now have 6 more tomato plants to find room for! They're a variety called Roma. I haven't looked it up yet,

Sorry, I had to break off there when an enormous hornet flew in through the window and buzzed around my head! She's gone now but unfortunately she lives to fight another day and chomp her way through bee after bee...I got one spray in, but she looked distinctly unfussed about it. Bummer.

Anyway, my Grandpa and I swapped tomato seedlings, and my sister and I picked his strange salad leaves...I think they were chinese veg - definitely some pak choi in there, maybe mizuna, but I'm not much of an expert. My dad and I also got to look around his workshop, where he used to do wood carving. He can't do it any more because the wood dust affects his lungs, but it's an absolute Aladin's cave, with all sorts of tools, papers and blocks of beautiful wood in there. At a few of the shows we've been to this year, there's been people green wood working, which I find very intriguing - just as well I have a Grandpa who knows all about wood!

Green wood work demonstration at Sparsholt.

Our neighbours across the road from us recently noticed a bumblebee nest right by their front door and asked us to remove it for them (I think the husband expected us to spray them with something nasty, but luckily the wife if very fond of wildlife and a lot more understanding!) so on Saturday that's what we did. I stood back and let Dad do the work, but I needn't have worried; even when he had found the nest and was digging them out, the bees were weirdly calm!

This pic is a bit blurry; it shows the queen. Large abdomen full of eggs.

Bumble bee brood; much bigger than honey bee brood and in clumps.

We rehomed them in a large plastic pot, lined with straw, and placed that on the site of where their underground nest had been. One night this week, when all the flyers will be home, we'll remove it to our apiary, which is nice and wild, and where the farmer is very wildlife-conscious.

I leave you with pictures of the garden as it is at the moment.

More Bees

Today we did another inspection, and just as well - a day later and we could have lost half of one hive! They were really swarmy.

The hives in our main apiary are doing well. We didn't look at those that we split from the swarmy hive a while ago. Their new queens should be out and making practice flights by now, so we left them in peace. If all goes to plan by next weekend they should have mated and hopefully our inspection will reveal some eggs!

Apiary site

We did look in the artificial swarm and our chalkbroody hive. Glad to report that both have lots of stores, building populations, very little sign of disease. Looking good. The chalkbroody one is working in 2 SUPERS! And even the artificial swarm is working on its first super. So fingers crossed it's a good year and they keep up the hard work.

When we went to the association apiary however we were in for a surprise. Paul, the new beekeeper that Dad is mentoring, came along, but poor bloke found himself in the middle of a very indepth discussion about the merits of artificial swarms and multiple splits and not having enough nucs.

They were so ready to swarm, there were queen cells close to capping everywhere. It would have been an easy decision to choose to do an artificial swarm - except that we couldn't find the queen. After a few years we've got much quicker at finding queens (it's often one of the things that takes newbies a little longer) but today she was determined not to be found. We didn't know if she'd died, was still there but we were just too blind to see... Eventually however, we breathed a sigh of relief when we found her, and carried out the artificial swarm.

After a visit to the Hampshire Green Fair at the Sustainability Centre this afternoon (really cool event - we got there when it was already winding down, but still really busy, loads to look at (a yurt!), live music, woodland crafts...hope it happens again next year!) we came back and after collecting another nuc split the split again, so that in the association apiary we now have an artificial swarm and 2 nucs.

Unfortunately the mating nuc didn't work - the queen cell died and the bees flew off.

But still, we now have 3 colonies in full sized hives and 4 nucs, which is pretty healthy. Hoping to capture some more swarms though, possibly do another split or two and make more nucs for selling on. The most important thing however is the health and happiness of our bees, and luckily they're looking pretty OK right now ^^.

I leave you with a pic of yesterday's salad harvest: radishes, overwintered carrots, and Lollo Rossa and Little Gem lettuces.

DIY Fashion

At the weekend we went to Wonderwool and the Mid Wales Mouthful at the Royal Welsh Showground at Builth Wells.

Wonderwool consisted of stalls, demostrations and even a fashion show (the "Sheep Walk") all about textiles, particularly wool, although there was also A LOT about alpacas. The Mouthful was brilliant - lots of local producers showing off their products, from birch sap wine to chilli cheese and white chocolate and strawberry tarts that looked like works of art - as well as cookery demonstrations. It was a really good day out with plenty to see.

My spinning and weaving techer Carol had a stall, and I finally remembered to buy some swing knitting needles off her. Apart from hers my favourite stall was Textile Techniques, who sell textiles and equipment from all over the world. I managed to pick up some amazing beads from Burma, Java, Thailand...gorgeous.

Carol's gorgeous handknits.

The main thing I want to write a post about however is the Sheep Walk - it was really good fun, showcasing all sorts of clothing - modern and traditional, sober and just plain weird. My fave outfits though were from two indie fashion labels, Raggedy and Wench. They make clothes from recycled materials and they are AMAZING. You wouldn't believe the stuff they create from cast-offs that you wouldn't normally give a second glance.

Raggedy and Wench's amazing recycled outfits on the Sheep Walk.

See their websites here: http://www.raggedyrags.co.uk/ and here: http://www.wenchwear.co.uk/. Both are based in Aberystwyth.

So I came back totally inspired and have been making some weird and wonderful clothes ever since! I've always hated dress making but somehow this is actually fun - perhaps because I work without a pattern, don't bother with darts etc. and just go along however I feel like it.

It's quite lucky that Mum hooks rag rugs, because it means that she collects all sorts of strange old garments and scraps. Although lots of them have already been shredded, I have access to a fairly healthy rag box full of goodies. There's everything in there from curtain fabrics remnants to vintage evening dresses...love it! It's great, it's proper recycling, and has the same magic about it as it did when I was little and it was my dressing up box.

Unfortunately my wizzy computerised sewing machine is currently undergoing surgery so I had to get the Old Banger out. This is the machine I first learnt to sew on but as I haven't even touched it for nearly five years I managed to bugger it up within the first five minutes. I think I've got it going again but I'm being gentle with it just in case.

So yeah, here are two works in progress, and some other creations-to-be.

Two dresses-in-progress: the one on the left made from an old top and a polycotton apron arrangement. Eventually this will have a big poofy skirt underneath it in lots of different shades of purple and pink. The blue one is made from old curtain fabric - it's just a length of fabric with a head hold cut in the middle and gathered at the waist...I'm thinking some flowing inserts and fraying fabric flowers.

Everything from old lining to brocade and a felted jumper.

I have an idea for an "intergrated system" too: any off cuts from sewing get rag rugged, any loose fibres/teeny tiny bits and pieces get spun into yarn = no waste! Just got to do it for real now!

We finished up our visit to Wales with an evening walk around Crick...I just love it how the mountains are constantly there in the background. It's just so different to our relatively flat corner of the Hampshire/Surrey border!

Beekeeping and the Smallholder and Garden Show 2008

Yesterday we went to check on the bees. We'd left it long enough that the two hives without queens should have hatched out a couple of emergency queens, the queens should have gone on their mating flight, and they should have been starting to lay new bees. However, neither of them had queens. The queen larva in the new hive had died inside the cell (see pic) and the other one...well, there was no brood at all. We gave each hive another frame full of brood and eggs from our one productive hive, and so they have another chance now (this is also good becuase the productive one is the only hive of nice docile bees - if it works we will have three hives of nice docile bees!). If they still don't manage to create new queens, the ones we ordered from a local queen breeder will have arrived by then anyway. So all is not lost.

The good-tempered and productive hive has already filled one super (so heavy that I can't lift it on my own!!) and is onto its second. If the weather perks up again and stays good (touch wood), it may be a 3-super year...it would certainly make up for the problems we have been having with the other two hives!


Smallholder & Garden Festival, Royal Welsh Showground, Builth Wells, Saturday 17 May 2008


On Friday night we drove up to Wales and stayed in the shoebox, and then on Saturday we went to the Smallholder & Garden Festival at the Royal Welsh Showground.


It was such good fun. The place was absolutely heaving, and there were all small producers there selling their produce, and smallholders had brought their animals along to show, and their were demonstrations of sheep shearing, spinning, weaving, blacksmithing, etc. A really interesting day. Below are some pics.


The angora goats were the first thing we visited. Poppy loves goats and wants to get some (not in my garden!) and has even been on a goat keeping course at the local farm, where she learned to worm them, vaccinate them, trim their hooves, etc. But hadn't managed to convince me until Saturday.
The angoras seemed very good natured, and although they had obviously been pampered for the show, I was surprised to find that they were not as smelly as I have always believed goats to be. The memories of the foul-smelling neglected billy goat that used to live down by the canal evaporated. Apparently you shear angoras twice a year, which was a very persuasive factor. Just think how much mohair I would have to knit with! So angoras are in, when we finally get somewhere big enough to keep them.



Next we looked at some llamas and alpacas. I have a very soft spot for alpacas. They make my heart melt into a gooey mess. They are beautiful. And their fibre is exquisite. I finally managed to convince the more sceptical of my family ("so what do you do with them? are they for meat or do you just knit them?") that alpacas are graceful, beautiful, friendly, and that their beautiful fibre is worth the effort of keeping them. I have not told them the price of your average alpaca however. Better drop that bombshell when our plans are underway.

I am not so keen on the llamas though. Whereas alpacas are small and if you needed to you could easily overpower and restrain them, llamas are tall and their ears are frighteningly large (I don't know why their ears frighten me, but they look somehow unnatural). Also the farm used to have two, but they had to get rid of them when they nearly killed someone. So llamas are a no. But alpacas are a yes! Next was more goats. Yes more of them. The kids are very sweet but I am not won over by the Anglo-Nubians that Poppy is so fond of. Again it is the ears. They are just too big to be allowed. However, the Father Being tried some goats cheese and liked it, and liked the Boer goats. I may not manage to get away with only woolly goats. I may have to tolerate dairy and meat goats too. Oh well. The pigs were spectacular!!! They were all just lolling around in their pens fast asleep. Then when judging started we hopped over to the ring and watched two boars running at them and their owners frantically running after them, whacking them with walking sticks and blocking their way with white boards that said Natwest on them. I have never been to this sort of agricultural show. It was most interesting, and at times quite amusing too.


There was also a competition for sows. They were much calmer but seemed to need to relieve themselves more often. They were beautiful pigs of all breeds, including a mangalitza. I wonder if you can knit mangalitza hair?

Above: two Gloucester Old Spots. Below: the Mangalitza
We visited the poultry section too. There was everything from pigeons to bantams to owls there. There were loads of ducklings who, if head did not overrule heart on such occasions, I would have loved to have taken home. All of them. The lot. But common sense prevailed.
The poultry section was the only bit that disappointed me really. Although lots of the birds seemed healthy, there were also lots who looked very ill and uncared for. There were two silver laced partridge wyandotte hens for sale who had the worst case of scaly leg I've ever seen - and scaly leg is very damaging if you let it take hold, as your hens can lose toes. I am no great animal rights activist but I was totally shocked by the state of some of the birds. Chickens, ducks etc are not hard to keep. There is no excuse for letting animals suffer like that. I hope they found good homes

We also walked around shedloads of sheep, who were all so beautiful! My mother fell for some badger faced Welsh Mountain (no pic I'm afraid) although I was upset to see none of my favourite Gotland sheep there. I suppose they are not a native breed though, and so quite rightfully Llandwenogs, Welsh Mountains etc. had pride of place. We watched a shearing demonstration and it was very interesting - almost like a ballet.

After a bit more walking around, a quick visit to the remnants of the green building exhibition we went to a few months ago, a lamb burger and a Crickhowellian apple juice, we went home. The next day consisted of a visit to the art gallery in the Crickhowell info centre (I LOVE it there!) and a walk along the Usk. It is so beautiful, is Wales. The English don't know what they're missing.