Journal
Follow along as we work towards becoming more self-sufficient.
What We Are Growing This Year. Part 2: Greenhouse & Salad Vegetables
From the veg patch last year we enjoyed a plentiful harvest with more than enough to share with family and friends. The kids even set up a small business selling fresh produce to our builders and had a stall a few times outside their grandparents house.
What We Are Growing This Year. Part 1: Fruit
As we are now fully into spring and the growing season in well under way we wanted to document what we are growing this year. 2019 was a great first year in terms of produce. Especially given the time constraints we had due to not living on site.
End Of April
A lot has happened over the past month, and it feels like the growing season is well under way now. We’re certainly planting more than we need, and if it all works out, we’ll have plenty of produce.
Foraging For Dandelions & Mint
This year we are making more of an effort to utilise all that the garden can provide. With the UK lockdown currently in place meaning more time at home and the beautiful weather we are experiencing it has been a great opportunity to collect some spring edibles.
Foraging Flowering Currant Cordial
A few metres from the front of the house we are lucky enough to have a beautiful flowering currant bush. It is one of the first thing to flower in the garden and the scent is incredible as you walk past. The bees also love it and the whole bush seems to buzz. A real sign of springs arrival.
Foraging For Stinging Nettles
Over the last few months we've been reading up more on foraging in general, and trying to use more of what we have around us. The obvious next thing to pick and use was stinging nettles.
Spring Update
It feels like spring is finally here, however the joyous feeling it usually brings is somewhat overshadowed by the recent global events. As many of you will know the UK has now moved into a temporary lockdown so we are incredibly grateful for the space and freedom that our land offers us.
The Good Life
When we tell people we've moved to the country and we're growing our own veg, they often comment and say "oh you're living the good life". I'm too young to have watched the "The Good Life" the first time around as it originally aired in 1975.
Transitioning To A Vegan Diet, A Family Approach
It's coming up to three years now since we made the shift as a family to a fully vegan diet. It seemed like a good time to reflect on the whole experience and what things have gone smoothly and what challenges we have faced.
Cooking And Eating With The Seasons
As the days start to lengthen and the promise of spring is not too far away, I wanted to share some of my thoughts on trying to eat in tune with the season.
Compost delivery, Hügelkultur, and a new Axe
As the temperature drops and the days become shorter our attention is turning to preparing the garden for the winter. Having had a really successful first growing season we are lucky to still have quite a few crops doing well and remaining in the ground.
Fallen Trees
It's been very windy lately and overnight two of the Ash trees in the small woodland area were blown down. The roots were out of the ground, and both trees were leaning over only being held up by the others around it.
Plum Tree Problems
There’s been plenty going on at Mill House in the last few months, the garden is truly in bloom, and the house renovations are still in full swing. It’s a lot to manage and it’s why we’ve been posting less frequently.
A Quick Update
Summer is finally here, and things have been pretty crazy of late. The house is undergoing major renovations, and everything in the garden and veg patch is growing at an alarming rate — especially the weeds and the grass.
Greenhouse Progress, Fencing, And A New Trailer!
There always seems to be such a lot going on here. What with the house renovation, finishing off the Bakehouse and getting the garden and grounds ready for spring/summer, it’s hard finding the time to write.
Bakehouse Renovation Update
This post is a little overdue, but the Bakehouse renovation is pretty much complete. All the interior work has now been done and we had a deep clean at the weekend.
Cutting The Grass And Hedges
We knew that moving into a property with 2 acres of land was going to require some up-keep, but it was hard to know exactly how much until we’d lived there for a while.
Foraging For Wild Garlic
This is the first of what we hope will become a series of ongoing posts about wild food. We are really interested in learning more about foraging and using all the local resources that nature offers us.
Problems With Germinating
As mentioned in the previous post I haven’t had much experience with bringing things on from seed. In the past I have always sown directly into the ground or bought seedlings to plant out.
What we plan to grow this year
Back when we lived in Hove and grew veg firstly in our garden then later in our allotment we always had a somewhat haphazard approach to which things to grow.
