Sallygardens Smallholding

Merry Christmas Everyone

Sallygardens on Television

You may wish to tune in, or possibly avoid, watching us on Nationwide this Sunday at 6.30 pm (not 7pm as I thought) on RTE1. You can also watch it on-line http://www.rte.ie/news/nationwide

Gifts

Sometimes as a blogger I receive wonderful emails from the most generous of people. It's heartwarming to be the recipient of such wonderful words and gifts. Take for example an email I received from Randy in the US recently. She wanted to send me something from her locality, and as we are both beekeepers, this is the thoughtful gift I received in the post.

A sample of her local honey sealed with beeswax in the most beautiful hand blown glass vessel made by an artisan in her area... captivating. And a beeswax candle which has been burning for many a delicious family meal.

And another beautifully wrapped box of gifts from Elderfaery who is another blogger with an exclusive site ... more beeswax candles with a delicious aroma, a handcrafted sewing kit with an amazing embroidered tree on the cover made by the lady herself and symbolic to us both (we have both lost parents in recent years), a pair of locally hand knitted fingerless mittens for the winter months and a bar of chocolate.

But it wasn't just the contents and the wrapping that were incredible, the handwritten letter  was a work of art too ...

Many, many thanks for your kind, thoughtful and beautiful gifts, and sincere thanks to all of those who take the time to email me and leave comments on my posts. There are a lot of kind hearted souls out there.

Busy On The Farm

This summer we have had WWOOFERs for the first time. A lot of extra helping hands have helped to make light work of many tasks and each volunteer has brought something worthwhile to our lives, and not just the farming, be it music, laughter, knowledge, friendship ...

The endless lists of jobs are still endless but things get finished far faster than usual, but of course more items get added to the list just as quick as they are crossed off! Most visitors have been individuals but we've had one couple which was challenging to keep both set up with enough jobs. I thought it might be harder for me with two extra people in the house but they were so wonderful at helping at mealtimes and general upkeep of the kitchen that it was in fact a lot easier than normal with them around. Dishes were miraculously loaded and unloaded in and out of the dishwasher and pots and pans were washed, tables set and even some meals cooked.

Another challenge has been to find jobs for WWOOFERs on rainy days, and we've hand plenty! The polytunnel is always a good bet and it's looking magnificent ... not a weed in sight and plenty of successionally sown crops in there to see us through the summer and autumn now. All my beekeeping supplies have been made and are ready to rock and roll as soon as the sun shines again, if ever. During breaks Oliver produced his trombone and so my six year old would play along on her fiddle, teaching him how to play 'the Kerry Polka'. It was a wonderful ensemble, fiddle and trombone!

Then Robin came over from Scotland with an RHS qualification in horticulture under her belt so she could hit the ground running.  Luckily she was also well used to bad weather, so we got a lot done in the polytunnel that week.

Chelsie came from Vermont, USA having traveled and performed in Ireland for a week with a choir. We finished off a permaculture bed that Georgie and Oliver had started. It's in a very sheltered sun trap and so I've put in some cape gooseberry (Physalis), 'paskins' rhubarb grown from seed and a 'brown turkey' fig tree.

At the moment Lina is with us from Switzerland and has been doing trojan work too. We've been making a very large permaculture vegetable bed which involves moving many wheel barrow loads of manure and mulch. I'll post all about permaculture very soon as it's something I'm learning about and it's close to my heart. Lina is also a wonderful bread maker and so she has treated us to some hand made oven baked loaves (I normally use the bread maker).

So far the summer has been very busy and productive on the smallholding, but we have forgotten to block off a few days for our planned trip to Dingle to swim with Fungi the dolphin. I'm still determined to squeeze in a short break somewhere before school starts again.

Sallygardens Smallholding on TV?

Last week Eileen Magnor, a presenter with the programme Nationwide, came and visited us at Sallygardens. They found us via the new Into Leitrim virtual craft trail. We had great fun all morning racing around and filming the various animals and vegetable gardens. Little did our  New Zealand wwoofers realise that they would be making their Irish television debut when they came to volunteer on our farm! I don't know if or when the piece will be used, but if I hear anything I'll be sure to let you know.

Been A while

Its been a while since I've written because we've been in topsy turvey land over the last week. Our little girl had to be admitted to hospital on Thursday and we only just got home today. We are all shattered and I can't begin to tell you how wonderful it feels to be home again, normality restored, and the family all back together ... even if the children did manage to get back to bickering within a couple of hours!

On a lighter note, if you fancy a giggle you can read an article about Dan and I which was published in the Sunday Independent newspaper this week. It's in the 'Living' supplement, in a section on 'Relationships' and its titled 'A different Dan and Becs', which is a title only Irish readers will appreciate! If you haven't a hard copy to rummage through its also online here, but without the photograph of us both perched up in one of our apples trees. I suffer from vertigo, and although I'm smiling in the picture, I was actually petrified!

Merry Christmas from all of us at Sallygardens

I hope you have a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones, and may the New Year treat you well.

Fully Fledged Kittens

Where did those six weeks go? For the first four weeks of their life the kittens were confined to the nest, mainly sleeping and suckling ... what a life! Suddenly one of them discovered that he could get over the edge of their container and within five minutes all the kittens had discovered that the world was slightly bigger and more interesting than the inside of a basket! Since then we have had two wonderful weeks with five kittens causing mayhem and laughter throughout the house.

They all have loving homes to go to and now we are left with only one (aptly named 'Tom Kitten') to be collected. We decided to let our cat have kittens because its something that our children will remember fondly for the rest of their lives.  Many life lessons have been learned ... from witnessing the magic of birth, to endless laughter and entertainment right down to letting go of the kittens we love to caring homes.

Shortly the mother will be spayed to avoid her having endless kittens that would become more and more difficult to home. Both of our tom cats are also neutered. I think the small outlay to have a cat doctored is a fair price to pay in return for her comfort, and to negate the need to send endless streams of kittens to animal shelters. Infact, here in Ireland, kittens that make it to animal shelters are only the tip of the iceberg, they are the lucky ones. Many more are killed inhumanely,  and there are too often stories of bags of kittens or puppies being thrown into rivers or from moving cars.

So this week we bid a fond farewell to our adorable kitties of mass destruction and their simultaneous endless entertainment.

Feline Homebirth or Just a Fat Cat

We recently went on a three week holiday camping in France. Before we left, I had a sneeking suspicion that our cat might be somewhat in an expectant state. Her undercarriage was a little heavier than normal.  Before setting off on our holidays I printed out a list of the daily smallholding routine as a guide for our lovely live in homesitter who was to stay until our return, and hopefully mind all the animals, and not have any parties big enough to damage the house! As an afterthought I added in scribbled writing on the end of the printed sheet  'the little white cat may have kittens', only half believing it myself!

Well ..... she didn't. However, seeing her on our return a week ago, there was now no doubt at all that the cat was either housing an alien in her abdomen or was indeed pregnant. There were other signs .... the old newspapers (not that I ever get to read them these days, although I do occasionally buy one!)  which I stack in a kitchen cupboard were finely shredded and fashioned into a 'nest' that no bird would be proud of. The children and I would not be able to endure our excitement much longer. 6am risings to 'check the cat' became a little too frequent! We kept her in the scullery at night, and although we provided a wooden drawer up on a table top, filled with hay and an old fleece dressing gown she still preferred to curl up and sleep with the dog in her basket!

Then thismorning I looked in. No cat curled up with the dog, odd. I looked towards the drawer where the cat lay, purring, and four little kittens all suckling happily!

We all ate breakfast, and then, while Aoife and I watched the kittens again, I recognised a familiar gutteral deep seated primal grunt that occurs spontaneously when that urge to push hits a woman in labour!!! 'Watch Aoife, theres another one coming', 'how do you know that mummy', 'just watch'. Sure enough out squidged what looked like a large black shiny sausage. Seconds later it squirmed like a wet cocoon, a paw became visible through the opaque sack, it scraped against the walls of its tiny world, and the shrink wrapped bag was split by miniscule claws, and out slid another tiny wet kitten.

Aoife was mesmerised. The mother chewed off the umbilical cord, kindly allowed me enough time to explain what the placenta was to my daughter, then promptly ate it before settling with her five new kits!

For now, I will happily indulge in their cuteness and enjoy their time of containment. Yes I know life will be mayhem when all five finally blunder forth and explore rip to shreds the house from top to bottom, leaving stinkpods and puddles willy nilly. There will be time for swearing and losing of tempers later. But for now, lets all wallow blindly in denial at the utter cuteness of it all ....

Making Ends Meet on the Smallholding

Dan is still getting a constant flow of orders for his hand crafted hobby horses. Making financial ends meet on a smallholding is probably the main challenge of the lifestyle change. We discovered that in our case we need to combine a range of ways and approaches ... to both decrease our expenses and also generate an income.

The hobby horses are an important part of generating income. In terms of reducing expenses we now grow most of our own veg and meat. Growing our own carbon neutral biofuel for central heating is another major saving on our pockets. Naturally, all these activities not only save us money, but are also far more gentle on the environment. Of course, we set out with living sustainably in mind when we moved here, and finding a financially viable way of surviving is part of it. Thankfully, most of the ways to reduce financial expenses, are very often also the best approach in terms of sustainability and eco friendly practice.

This summer is the first time we will be in a position to offer our surplus food for sale, thanks to the polytunnel. I plan to put up a chalk board at the farm gate, and bring a cool box of veg to playgroup. Next year, with any luck, honey will join the items for sale. When autumn arrives I get out my felt and sewing machine, and begin making items to sell at the Christmas fairs.

Finances are probably the biggest source of stress on our smallholding. Giving up regular incomes is a big gamble, and we are still striving to find a comfortable ground. Diversification seems to be the key to this (as it is with the enviroment!), but on the other hand one has to find a balance and not spread energies too thin.  Bartering has also become a viable and valuable route in our lives. For example, we recently bought a sausage making machine, which we are 'renting' out to other local people who rear pigs for their freezer, in return for a kilo of their sausages!