Can we go OFF GRID? | How GREEN are we NOW?

Today I look at whether we can go off-grid and whether that is a practical option for us, given our slightly cronky bodies and limited time. I also take a look at what we have on site that is helping us to lead a cleaner and greener life.

Harvesting 800 pounds of food in 50 days

What an amazing experience this project has been! 50 days ago I set myself a target of harvesting, processing and storing at least 5lbs of food a day. Whether it was something grown in our garden, meat birds or something foraged. 

My target was to store 250lbs of food in 50 days, but by the end of the first week it became obvious that I would achieve that volume of harvest fairly easily and quickly, so I increased the target to 500lbs.

And, shortly after the midway point I realised that I could increase my target once again. Not in my wildest dreams had I imagined that this plot could yield so much food in such a short space of time.

I have, in fact, harvested more than the list below, because for the purpose of my 50 Days of Harvest project, I didn't include any food that we harvested to consume that day and it didn't include anything harvested prior to the start date. I will, in due course, calculate the total amount that has been harvested from our smallholding this year, but for today, I am celebrating that I have been able to harvest such a fabulous amount in seven weeks and a day.

Here's today's vlog, or if you can't view it on your device, you can watch it on YouTube here

The harvest included

317 lbs apples (cooking apples and eating apples)
85 lbs winter squashes
22 lbs beetroot
30 lbs dwarf beans
44 lbs courgettes
57 lbs tomatoes
3 lbs cucumber
9 lbs plums
48 lbs runner beans
8 lbs savoy cabbage
31 lbs borlotti beans (net weight)
9 lbs blackberries
75 lbs chicken and duck
16 lbs raspberries 
19 lbs sweetcorn
3 lbs Greek gigantes beans
23 lbs pears
1 lb parsnips.

Our cupboards are filled with jars of apple sauce, plum sauce, green tomato chutney and raspberry jam. Demi-Johns are filled with country wines nicely fermenting away, the freezers are filled to bursting with produce and our hearts are filled with joy.

The whole project can be found on YouTube here

The Corn Is Bleeding! | 50 Days of Harvest, Day 28

I harvested some beautiful coloured sweetcorn today and then had a big surprise!





If you can't view the video on your device, you can watch it on YouTube here.

50 Days of Harvest - Day One - An invitation to join a celebration!

Today I start a new project and I invite you to join me in a celebration of an abundant harvest.

If you can not view the video on your device, you can watch it on YouTube here.

Moving ducklings

In today's vlog we move the ducklings from their brooder nursery pen to their new home outside.

If you are unable to view the video on your device, you can watch it on YouTube here.

Homestead Tour July Part 2

If you can't view the video on your device, you can watch it on YouTube here.

July Homestead Tour Part 1

As it's the first day of August, it's time to look at the progress made by the crops and animals during July. To stop this being a very long vlog, I have split it into two, so the second part will be published tomorrow.


If you can't see the video on your device, you can watch it on YouTube here.

Ready, steady, harvest! Abundance in our garden.

It seems that this has been a very good year for growing food in our garden. Hopefully this is a result of us improving the soil in the raised beds and an indication of things to come, that year by year the yield will increase as we enrich and enhance the soil.

 I've been picking blackberries, not only from the hedgerows of the fields surrounding us, but from the brambles that are quietly but steadily invading our garden.The area immediately outside our boundary is not being cut back by the farmer using the fields, this is a nuisance on one level because the weeds are growing very well and are now about four feet high and their seeds are blowing and dropping into our garden and chicken field, on the otherhand, it is supplying us with an amazing crop of blackberries. Now if I could just find a way to eat thistles, we'd be completely sorted!

 The elderberry tree is now starting to look purple, the birds are gorging themselves on ripening berries and I have started to pick as many berries as I can reach. I'm putting them straight into the freezer and, when I have enough, I will make some more elderberry wine. I'm also going to make elderberry syrup as I hear it is soothing for sore throats and the other symptoms of winter colds.

 The mirabelle plums are almost ready, one or two show the deep rich yellow of ripeness and I'm watching daily as the others turn from green to pale yellow to a darker, softer, buttery yellow.These too will be going into the freezer until I am ready to use them. Last year's crop were used to make some mirabelle plum and red grape wine which turned out to be a great success (unlike the elderflower wine that I made last year which is disgusting!).

Today's vlog continues the harvesting theme, if you can't view it on your device from this blog, you can watch it on YouTube here.

Good Weather For Ducks and Ducklings

If the video won't play on your device, you can watch it on YouTube here.

No Dig Potatoes. Did the under cover potatoes grow?

Back in late March I planted my seed potatoes out, under cover. If you didn't see how I did that you can watch my vlog about it here.

The theory is that you don't need to earth them up because the covering excludes the light and the potatoes sit just below the covering, on top of the soil, so you don't need to dig down to find them.

And today I peeled back the covering for the first time to see how my no dig potatoes have grown (or not). 

If you cannot play the video on your device, you can watch it on YouTube here.

So I will definitely be doing this again next year, with the addition of woodchippings as you can see the difference it seemed to make.

All in all I would say that so far it's a success, the final reveal will be in two to four weeks when I harvest the crop for storage.

Food Forest Fruit year one

The Food Forest is starting to take shape and offering an abundance of fruit even in its first year. In this video I have a look at some of the fruit that is growing well at the moment.

It you can't play the video below, you can see it on YouTube here.

Behaving Badly, thoughts on the human condition

Here's a slightly off topic post, but all the same one that I feel very strongly about. The gist of this is 'please be nice to one another'.

It's not so much to ask really, but increasingly I see less and less evidence of folks being nice to each other. It seems to me that in the last year or so things have changed, the mood has changed (and not for the better) there is a level of acceptance that people can be horrid, rude, bullying and downright aggressive towards other people and that it is no longer acceptable to have differing opinions. Nowhere can this be found more, I feel, than online. 

If this video will not play on your phone, tablet etc. you can watch it on YouTube here.

So here's the thing and it is, of course, just my opinion - in a time when even the leaders of nations seem incapable of conducting themselves with dignity, self-control or compassion, I think it is even more important that we keep ourselves in check and behave towards others in a, well, humane way.

As I said, it is just my opinion and if you don't agree with me, well that's okay by me.

Structure and Form on the Homestead

As the wind continues to batter our home, I have managed to do a few tasks, but it's certainly slowing down the growth in the garden.


If you can't see the video below, you can see it on YouTube here

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Did MY channel on YouTube get HIJACKED?

Our new friends Jonah and Trish agreed to an idea I put forward (not my idea, I can't take the credit for it) and today we have taken over each other's YouTube channels, so today you can see the video that Willow Creek Homestead would have put on their channel and to see my June Homestead Tour, you will need to head over to their channel.

Don't worry, there are a couple of easy to click links on this video that will take you to my June Homestead Tour. If you enjoy their video, please subscribe to their channel, they have some super animals and a fabulously positive outlook on life and I have spent hours quietly watching their vlogs and immersing myself in the 'hard on the body, good for the soul' life that they lead.

If you can't see the video (sometimes it doesn't show on a mobile device), you can see today's video here.

I hope you enjoy getting to know Willow Creek Homestead.

Our 10 Reasons for Homesteading

There's a really lovely, thriving and supportive network of folks who are smallholders and homesteaders (the American name for smallholding) that I've bumped into via social media. While I've known this about Twitter and Facebook for a while, I didn't know until recently that a similar network existed via YouTube.

Anyway, one of this network had a fabulous idea for a collaborative challenge whereby vloggers are invited to make a video about a particular subject. This one is about our reasons for choosing to be smallholders.

As usual, if you can't play the video on screen, you can watch it on YouTube here.

Why there are fewer blog posts

I love blogging, but I've realised that I prefer moving images a little bit more. so for now I will still blog but on a less regular basis. I will share my thoughts and ideas and day to day life on our smallholding via videos.

I plan to write additional information, more in depth thoughts and expand upon subjects that I've raised in my vlogs, that way I can share what is going on with you on two levels, the lighter on my vlogs and the more informative on my blogs.

Yesterday I started to feel a little ropey and so spent a quiet day inside, I suspect I have inhaled too much dust from the woodshavings when I mucked out the chicken shed. But I did spend a little time watching the chickens and ducks enjoying the very welcome sunshine.

Here's the video of my time with the birds.

Now of course, a time may come when I am unable to vlog on a regular basis and, should that happen, I will continue sharing life on our homestead on my blog. Please feel free to let me know if you prefer the written word or videos, I'm interested to know which you prefer.

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I also post vlogs daily (almost). You can find my YouTube channel here.

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If you'd like to receive my blog posts direct to your inbox just enter your email address in the box below and follow the instructions. You'll probably need to confirm by clicking a link in your email inbox and then you will receive my blog each time a new entry is published. You can, of course, cancel your subscription at any time.

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Sofa day and the vegetable garden

Goodbye Big Red, goodbye Squeaky

I don't usually put up two vlogs in one day, but yesterday's vlog was delayed and I felt it was important to put up today's vlog promptly.

FAST AND EASY making a door for the chicken house

Vegetable cage Chicken run

I am delighted! This morning I spent an hour or so making the first of the chicken runs that I've been planning (read about our planning thoughts here). It was easy to make and relatively cheap too. This one will have a dual purpose. At the start of the year I will put chickens into it so that they can till the soil in a raised bed and fertilise the area, while they are scratching around in the soil and eating the weeds and last of the crops in the bed.

Then, when the chickens have done their thing I can plant the bed with brassicas and put butterfly netting over the chicken run to create a vegetable cage. This should keep our cabbages and other brassicas safe from the voracious appetites of hundred of little green caterpillars.

To make the frame I used 8 x roofing battens 3.9m long and lots of 5cm (2 inch) screws. The total cost of frame was £25.

The uprights are 90cms long and the cross pieces are 105cms long, this was the most economical way of cutting the wood. So, there are 4 full length (390cm) pieces, 8 uprights, 6 cross pieces, 1 long diagonal and two small diagonal pieces. I will probably add two or four more small diagonal braces to add to the strength and stability of the frame, but it started raining and using electrical tools in the rain is a silly idea.

Here's how I put it together (if the video below doesn't work, you can find it on YouTube here)

The next step is to staple chicken wire around three sides (leaving the end without the cross brace uncovered) and to fix windbreak fabric or debris netting to the top. I will then create an end panel that can be held on with either a couple of bungee cords or small hook and eye catches. The end needs to be able to open so that the chickens can be let in to the run in the morning and out again at night. Once I am using it as a vegetable cage I can use cable ties to keep the end panel on it for the season.

I am really rather pleased with my handiwork and even though it has meant that I have been able to do little else today and I hurt all over, it was worth it. I had fun making something that is useful, that allows us to put the chickens to work without them having a free-for-all at their favourite 'all you can eat buffet bar' (our annual vegetable garden).

Projects like this are good for the confidence and spirit. There is something highly satisfying in being creative and when I can make something that is multi-functional, it is even more pleasing. This evening the plan is to have a hot soaky bath to soothe aching limbs, but first of all, it's time for a cuppa!

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I also post vlogs daily (almost). You can find my YouTube channel here.

- - - - -

If you'd like to receive my blog posts direct to your inbox just enter your email address in the box below and follow the instructions. You'll probably need to confirm by clicking a link in your email inbox and then you will receive my blog each time a new entry is published. You can, of course, cancel your subscription at any time.

Enter your email address: