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Anna Oakland’s Fenland diary - An extract from the winner of the Keith Tomlinson Writer’s Award 2008
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| Keith Tomlinson |
KEITH TOMLINSON was a keen smallholder with a quirky pen who wrote regularly for "Smallholder".
He tragically died in 2006 and Fenland Goatkeepers' and Smallholders' Association, of which he was a much-loved chairman, decided to remember him by presenting a yearly award for writing. The beautiful trophy of a hand-turned open book was made by Jonathan Hall. This year Anna, whose photographs have often appeared in and on the front cover of "Smallholder", was chosen by his widow, Kim Webb, who said, "The person I have chosen to receive this award has entertained us throughout the year (in the club newsletter) with happenings from her Wisbech smallholding".
"Smallholder" is pleased to bring you a taste of the Fens in summer from Anna Oakford.
June
15th - Made a frame for my Crystal Lemon cucumbers. The rabbit wire arrived - at last we can keep the little beggars out of the paddocks. I am not against rabbits in their place, but we need the grass for the sheep and goats. (Maybe I can rehome them on the roundabout in Wisbech - a local joke!). The male kestrel is bringing in food for the female to feed to her young (we are presuming!). Saw a pair of yellow wagtails fly from the verge on the "top road".
16th - For the first time ever, I saw a ladybird "caterpillar" - it was on the concrete path, so picked it up and put it on the broad beans. The chick hatch has started.
17th - Made tripods out of thick dried willow poles for the squashes - Blue Kuri and Jack Be Little.
18th - Took advantage of the break in the weather and cut back loads of perennials that had finished flowering. 10 chicks have now hatched - only 50 per cent this time - so I think the cockerel must've been "resting"!
19th - Pulled out a load of lettuces etc that had gone to seed. Really must remember to succession sow! Big excitement - two fluffy faces looking out of the kestrel box. Shall have to set the "scope up - well back tho' as they are v. wary - unlike their parents.
22nd - Our Suffolk friends came over with their huge spotting telescope. They managed to get some pretty good pics of the young kestrels.
24th - Open Day here! I hope everyone enjoyed the afternoon as much as we did. It was heartening to see so many young enthusiastic faces - and also to see some of the older faces too! The weather could've been kinder, but it didn't seem to make a lot of difference. I think we made £150-ish for the club which is good news. I would be interested to know how the person who bought the giant echiums gets on with them, as I have planted three here.
25th - Picked a bucketful of broad beans for the freezer and sat in the sunroom and podded them. The crop is not as good this year.
26th - The Grounds brothers arrived with their usual good humour and 80 bales of peastraw that we'd ordered from their farm. (now that there is going to be a shortage of peas, I bet they wished that they'd grown some this year!). Picked some more broad beans for the freezer.
27th - Our road was resurfaced for the first time in at least 15 years! D put the rabbit fencing around the paddocks and lo and behold - not a rabbit in sight. The 2 young kestrels are sitting in the entrance of the box - they have almost lost their baby-fluff.
July
1st - Just as I had arranged for a friend of mine to bring his big scope and digicamera over to photograph the kestrels, they have left the nestbox! Usually the youngsters spend days on top of the box trying out their wings - but not this time. Have spotted one of them floating over the tall trees on the edge of our property. They may come back to roost, but they are up way before I am!
2nd - Almost finished the broad beans and strawberries. Next year we are going to attempt to grow the strawberries up at waist level to avoid the slugs and hopefully to stop them rotting as quickly in this humid weather. It will also make them much easier to pick!
3rd - The men arrived to make a start on the solar panels. We are also having a backboiler fitted to the woodburner to heat our water when the sun isn't as strong in the winter. They are a very organised and tidy firm (M.Lyon, March, Cambs). The panels should've been fitted on the first day, but the heavens opened and the roof became dangerously slippery, so work was abandoned.
4th - The panels were fitted just before the rains started. The water quickly started to heat up. We also lit the fire in the evening as we both felt really cold, and the "overspill" radiator also became nice and hot. I went out for a walk along Morton's Leam with a friend of mine and her dog. We had hoped to spot the odd Marsh Harrier - but we were out of luck. It is a lovely peaceful place though, with loads of sedge and reed warblers singing away.
5th - Round to Tiff to take pics of the male Boer goats. This always takes much longer than I think it will as goats don't pose, so a lot of time was spent in the paddock, just waiting for them to stand in the correct position. Out of about 20 shots - 2 were acceptable - thank goodness for digi photography! Our potatoes have got blight despite the 3 times that we've sprayed with Bordeaux Mixture. D cut the tops off them and when we get a few dry days forecast we will start to harvest them. I dug some for tea and we seem to have a v.good crop there. We had the first of the French beans for tea, with carrots and broad beans.
6th - Cleaned out the chicken's nest box and put a layer of louse powder in them as a precaution.
7th - Sowed a packet of carrot seeds - hopefully for autumn eating. The water in the new tank is now heating up to about 63c, so the panels are doing their job so far.
9th - Planted a few sorrel plants - they are supposed to be perennial and can be used in salads and soups. Picked the rest of the blackcurrants and some of the gooseberries. Made a good "crumble" for tea using muesli instead of flour for the crumble on the top - it made a lovely change.
10th - Sowed some fr beans in pots The Prince' and Sprite' - they are both good late beans. Planted the rest of the leeks, even the spare pot I had sown thinking that we hadn't enough! Shall have to make lots of soup in the autumn! I fear that the tomatoes in the greenhouse have blight spread from the potatoes. Sprayed with Bordeaux Mix.
11th - Found my big fat frog dead in his usual spot in the pond. Maybe someone can tell me what was wrong with him - for months he looked absolutely bloated and spent all day sitting on the edge with his head out of the water. The other frogs seem to be ok.
12th - I was about to spray the bindweed along the roadside fence (sorry all you organic people, but it is the only way to get rid of it!), and I came across a nest of 9 buff-coloured eggs - a pheasant's nest. What a crazy place to choose right beside the road. So I abandoned my spraying and later checked from a distance and the hen had returned - so I hope passing dogs or foxes won't spot her there. The male just ponces about eating the grain that spills from our wild bird feeders.
13th - Moved the sheep fence back onto some more lush grass. Thought that sheep and goats are not good grazers to mix together, but today I noticed that the goats preferred the tall rye grass while the sheep tucked into the short rich grass at ground level.
14th - Sold most of our young pullets to a couple who come every year to buy them - they sell free-range eggs, so I know that they will have a good home. We are only interested in the cockerels for the freezer.
15th - Transplanted our early purple sprouting brocolli plants to their final growing place in the fruitcage. Shall have to build an inner tent of finer meshed netting to stops the butterflies laying their eggs on them. The whitefly always seem to attack them - so I think I will have to use my organic spray straight away. Managed to collect 8 different veg for tea with our leg of lamb.
16th - Sure enough the pheasant and her eggs have gone - a visit from the fox during the night I expect. No even a piece of shell left.
17th - D and the handyman moved the wagon wheel feature on to the front drive. Moved the e.fence back to give the goats and sheep some more fresh grazing. This is a v.good method of "folding" livestock so they always have fresh grub infront of them.
18th - Sowed spring onions, lots of carrots and spinach. Covered the carrots with fleece to stop the carrotflies striking. Made a gooseberry and elderflower fool with the last of the e'flowers - v. tasty. Picked a big bowl of blueberries for the freezer.
19th - Tried to remove the duckweed from the pond, but found hundreds of tiny watersnails clinging to it. So shall have to abandon the idea I think, until they have all grown and dispersed into the depths.
20th - Pouring with rain so went to B and Q for some paint samples for the room. Shouldn't even be thinking of this sort of thing in the summer - but what summer?
21st - Dug up the first of the Mayan Gold' potatoes. Considering that when I planted them, the tubers had shrunk to nearly nothing and the shoots were about a foot long, we have quite a good crop that hasn't suffered as much with blight. They are a nice flavour, but can't be boiled or they "fall apart". Picked our first full meal of runner beans - Black Magic' from HDRA.
22nd - Moved all the young chickens in together. Opened up a large paddock for them. It was all v. amicable - I had been worried that the big'uns would bully the tinies, but everyone was too keen to get to the grass to bother.
23rd - I noticed that we have honey bees flying in and out of the little round holes in our metal compost bin. Rang the Welbourns and they think that we should leave them and see what happens. Maybe have a look at them later and try to gradually move them into a corner. They seem to be quite calm bees, and we have to pass by them a lot to get to the shed. Shall have to play it by ear I think. I know that a swarm of bees in July "isn't worth a fly"!
24th - D weeded. I heard a rumour that the plans for the Northern Bypass are in town, but I couldn't find any. We are hoping that it goes well north of us or maybe the dream of a cottage by the sea might come true!
Fenland Goatkeepers and Smallholders can be contacted by telephoning 01945 700227 or by logging on to their website at www.fgsc.org.uk.
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