October garden

 The big tunnel. The pumpkins have come in from the outdoor garden, I only put 2 plants in under the corn. They are small, we had a dry summer and I didn't water them, but I don't mind as we don't eat a lot of pumpkin and I am a fan of  "Small is beautiful!" I have read that cows love pumpkin and that the seeds are excellent as a wormer.

 The Tomatoes are still doing well, I was trying to get a photo of the under planting but it is hard to see.. Back at the end of August near the base of the Tomato row I planted overwintering Winterkiefe pea, lettuce and other greens. I am still working on the best timing for planting winter crops. Life with a toddler  dictates that things get done whenever  they can get done.

 Potatoes in the foreground still have green tops, we will let them die back before harvest. Kale is doing great. Sweetcorn in the background is finished, We had 3 beds of sweetcorn, about 40 plants in each bed and at least 2 cobs from each plant.... That's 240+ cobs, enough for this year, I will be trying to grow more next year to feed animals too.

The Sweetcorn is all picked and the plants are dying back, we will lop the plants at ground level and they will make good mulch. There is good ground cover established for the winter so no need to expose or disturb the soil at all.

Alfie with a fig in the small tunnel.
 There is a good second crop on the fig tree.

View September garden

View November garden

October Harvest

We continue to have a few Tomatoes, Aubergines and courgettes. The potatoes and turnips are not lifted yet, Parsnips will stay in the ground, Sweetcorn is all eaten or in the freezer. Sweet potatoes need to be lifted, Carrots are in the shed.......

Sweet peppers. We had a good crop this year and they have nearly all ripened. I think it has helped that I chopped off all the flowers and small green peppers at the end of August so the plants put all their energy into ripening the bigger fruits they were carrying. Variety? not sure, I have been saving seed from my best plants for a good few years.

Tivon had fun one day picking out the seeds from this Sunflower head.

I like the pattern he inadvertently created.

Some of the Pumpkins and Squash ripening in the big tunnel. The squash all came from one plant!

View garden harvest

Little helpers making bread.

Little capable hands.

 Tivon and Alfie spooning flour into a bowl for bread.

Picking charcoal and nails out of the ash, (wood-fired range).
Helpful???   Happy Yes!

 
Out in the woods.

Bee's wax

My Sister Jacqui gave me Larry's bee's wax cappings and I am delighted!

This wax is from the caps of the cells and is collected when the caps are cut off in preparation for extracting the honey from framed combs in national hives. (With top bar hives usually the whole comb is harvested).

Here it is being melted with water....

 .... and strained.

  8 oz beeswax. I will use it as an ingredient in soap making.

The bees at Honeyoak have spent this season building their homes and building their numbers so I did not harvest honey this year. I intend to use a simple solar wax melter when I hopefully have lots of honey, and thus beeswax, in years to come. Live in hope!

Cheese tasting

Today we cut open the 2nd cheese for this year. Cheese no.1 is gone already! I am happy because I have become very relaxed about the whole process and have a recipe that has very flexible timings, I took a few pictures today before this one disappears too!

Drier and colder ripening conditions this year have contributed to less mould than last year. 

We have found that mouldy cheeses have good flavour.

 After scraping off the lard.

This cheese was just over 3lbs. It is cutting well and tastes good. 

We like a mild cheese.

Link to making the cheese. 

The bees ready themselves for winter.

After an eventful first season with bees it is time to wish them the best as they head into winter.

 

   

 Early morning dappled sun on the hive. It was 8.9C and the bees were busy! The cast swarms have time to make up. There are two hives, each with a colony at each end.  All 4 queens born this year.

 Ivy in flower, the last big nectar flow of the year.

 We are getting ready for winter too.

Garden thoughts.

I love the garden. I cannot think of any task that I do not like to do.

Fig, Brown Turkey.

 The garden gives so much in return for a little action.

Crab Apple.

 Alfie heading down the path to the vegetable garden where Tivon is waiting.

I love to see the soil darken as the years go by. To see what self seeding contributions nature will add to the picture. The garden is this very moment expressed as a union of the weather, the season, the soil with its seeds/plants and the human past actions in this place. It is beyond complete control and ever changing. It is always perfect.

A walk in the woods.

Alfie and I took a walk in the woods this morning and I brought the camera. No photos of Alfie, or Me, I am almost always behind the camera! but we saw autumns signature everywhere.

Fly Agaric. 

 When Zoe and Tivon were little we made a home for fairies in the woods. This is the place where the fly agaric now grows.

I love how toadstools will grow in a circle.
 It appears to be a very friendly arrangement.

 About 10 years ago we planted a small sack full of Cyclamen corms from the garden of Angus's grandmother, Louise. They grew in her garden under a wonderful old oak, if I remember correctly, and so I planted a corm under many trees which we had newly planted at that time. I love how plants remind me of people.

Moths

With the warm weather a few migrants have found their way into the garden.

Palpita Vitrealis a scarce migrant.  

Blairs Mocha, 6th Irish record

Shadow, Spring, Argus & hens.

Shadow asking "please Maam, may I have some more?"

 Actually, perhaps it was " I want more NOW,  squealllll !"

 

Shadow and Spring tucking in.

The hens are moulting now and the Jubilee Orpington on the right is not looking her best.

Argus and the hens expecting a picnic.

This years mother and chick.

Little helper with elderberries.

I get lots of help with all the daily tasks! These are just a few snaps taken this year.

Picking Elderberries off their stalks.

 In the kitchen making bread........

Feeding the hens.

In the garden.

Picking Tomatoes!

More Sedum and Aster!

 The colour has now developed on the Sedum Spectabile . It is impossible to convey in a photo the constant buzzing activity of the honey bees foraging on this plant.

  I am full of plans to plant new drifts of Aster and Sedum all over the garden! Next spring will be divide and multiply time. I must feel like this every year as I have several spreading groups of these plants already from previous divisions.

Oh the photo does not do it justice!

 The Aster  too is alive with constant activity.

The camera focused better on the butterflies but there were hundreds of honey bees on these plants, Really!