Living The Dream
This is in blog format with the latest date first
Jam making, Thursday, 22nd July 2010
I have been busy making jam. The first batch was Gooseberry and Elderflower jam followed by blackcurrant jam. I am going to make some Lemon and Honey Marmalade next followed by plain Orange Marmalade. This is sadly not all from produce from our fields. Although it has been sunny it is not quite hot enough to grow our own oranges. We do have a couple of olive trees!! My next project is to make rhubarb chutney. I have also grown a lot of berlotti beans. I am sure Jamie can make us something tasty with them.
Front garden - Sunday, 11th July 2010
The cottagey front garden is looking good.
New neighbours - Friday, 2nd July 2010
The farmer has put 8 cows in the field opposite our house. They are very entertaining as they keep climbing up on the Cornish hedges and one evening they escaped and ate all of one of our neighbour's field of onions and cabbages. As you can see from the photo Gizmo is keeping a close eye on them.
Outhouse - Wednesday, 26th May 2010
We have cleaned and painted inside the outhouse and plumbed in a washing machine. It was quite a step up to it so we have put in some stone steps.
Mawgan's birthday - Monday, 24th May 2010
Mawgan is 1 year old today. He enjoys his walks as much as ever. This is a photo of him with Jamie taken recently in the Luxulyan Valley.
Happy hens - Sunday, 16th May 2010
The chickens are making the most of their freedom and love wandering around the Orchard. Recently they seem to show an aptitude for line dancing!
Seating area - Monday, 3rd May 2010
We have rendered and painted the wall outside the Barn and planted a flower bed. Hopefully, our guests will find it a nice spot to sit out in.
Swallows - Sunday, 25th April 2010
We are really pleased to see the Swallows back here for the summer. It is so lovely to see them swooping around and nesting in our garage.
Decking - Sunday, 11th April 2010
After spending 2 weekends constructing the decking in the back garden it is now complete and stained. We have put some pots on it and it looks like it has always been there!!
The Field - Tuesday, 16th March 2010
We have had a few weeks of dry weather. Rainy weather was forecast so I took the opportunity to give the field it's first mow of the year. It looks lush and green again. I have dug a new bed for the potatoes and I am just waiting for them to chit before I plant them next month. I have also planted some shrubs next to the vegetable patch so that we can have a small garden area. I have had to put a little fence around these too as the chickens wanted to dig in the soil around them.
Mawgan has been enjoying trips to the beach at the weekends and also loves travelling in the car.
Vegetable Patch - Wednesday, 3rd March 2010
The weather has been fine recently and I have been able to do some work on the vegetable patch. I have moved the soft fruit plants out into the field and also added some more. We now have a rhubarb patch in the field too and my next task is to dig a new bed for potatoes. I have sown lots of vegetable seeds and I think the vegetable patch looks much better than last year already.
The chickens were very keen to "help" me so I have had to put a small chicken wire fence around the vegetable patch to keep them out.
New Year 2010 - Sunday, 3rd January 2010
Everyone at Rossland wishes all of our blog readers:
A very Happy New Year!
Chickens - Thursday, 17th December 2009
We have had the chickens a month now and I am very pleased to say we still have 8. They are really lovely and relaxing to watch and are laying 5 eggs a day at the moment. We have had some beautiful sunny days recently and we have been letting them out in the field. I have been on scarecrow duty as there are buzzards about.
Chickens - Monday, 16th November 2009
We finally collected 8 ex-battery hens from the RSPCA today. They have a lot more feathers than we expected. They are in the big barn with their hen house and seem happy to be here.
Bamboo - Wednesday, 11th November 2009
I have planted a Bamboo hedge around part of the vegetable patch to give some protection from the wind. The bamboo in the Church grounds had spread a lot this year and they kindly let me dig up 29 seven foot tall off-shoots. It was worth the struggle!! I have planted fourteen of them and may add some more later on. I will see how the hedge survives over the Winter.
Vegetables - Tuesday, 3rd November 2009
I spent a lovely morning inside by the fire today browsing through vegetable catalogues and ordering plants and seeds for next year. I also worked out a planting scheme.
The Barn is finished - Saturday, 19th September 2009
The builders finished the Barn today and it looks very good. A nice new roof on the outhouse and a new wall and door for the workshop.
The Builders arrive - Monday, 14th September 2009
Work began today on the Barn. We are having it rendered, which should seal it up and make it weather tight. We are having it painted the same colours as the house, which should look rather smart. The builders are also building a wall at the end of the workshop giving the Barn it's own outside space and also will open up the view from the Barn.
RSPCA visit - Friday, 11th September 2009
We had a visit from the RSPCA today to see if we were suitable to re-home some ex-battery hens. The Hen House Jamie has built passed with flying colours and the Orchard is suitable as their daytime outdoor space. They will not have the hens in until October but it is only a couple of weeks to wait.
Amy arrives in Cornwall - Tuesday, 8th September 2009
Amy has come to live with us in Cornwall. She adores Mawgan, of course and is looking forward to some long walks once he is older.
Mawgan goes to school - Monday, 7th September 2009
We took Mawgan to the first session of a 7 week long Puppy training class at Smarty Paws. He was a bit overwhelmed to be with 9 other puppies but so were the others. We began with learning Sit, Down and Stand and our homework for next week is to practice these. It seems a bit like receiving the instruction manual a couple of months after your purchase! He loved being given tiny bits of cheese and sausage as rewards.
Mawgan and the cats get on fairly well together, especially when Daddy is giving them all treats in the evening. Kissy and Gizmo follow in the mornings when Mawgan is taken for his walk to the church. It is a comical sight.
Vegetable Patch - Sunday, 30th August 2009
The poor vegetable patch has been a bit neglected since Mawgan's arrival. We have Potatoes and Sweetcorn still growing and have grown lots of carrots, some in rather strange shapes!
Mawgan Ronaldo - Wednesday, 5th August 2009
Mawgan is quite a keen footballer as it turns out!
Soft Fruit Patch - Thursday, 23rd July 2009
Everything in the soft fruit patch is ripe at the same time. We had a few more raspberries and some blackcurrants, which we ate with cream. The gooseberries were very succesful and I have just made a batch of gooseberry Jam. I have spent the afternoon tying in the new raspberry canes. It was very therapeutic.
Mawgan arrives at Rossland - Tuesday, 14 July 2009
We collected Mawgan from a breeder today. He was born on 24th May 2009 and is a liver coloured Springer Spaniel. We are looking forward to getting to know him and hope that he gets on well with the cats.
The Rendered and Painted House - Sunday, 12 July 2009
Having read back through the blog, we realised that we had not put up a picture of the outside of the house after it was completed last year, so here goes.....
And here is the front garden:
On the way to self-sufficiency? - Sunday, 5 July 2009
We had a fantastic meal this evening. We ate broad beans, new potatoes and peas from the vegetable patch. The trout we had with it was kindly donated by a friendly neighbour and was caught in a lake about 15 miles away. For dessert we had our home grown raspberries with cornish cream. Bliss! The vegetable patch is really thriving and I have learnt so much from my first year mistakes. I can see a lot more digging in the very near future. The orchard is not exactly bursting with fruit but the trees are all still alive and will, hopefully, produce more fruit next year when they are a bit bigger.
The vegetable plot:
And the orchard:
Progress in the Vegetable Patch - Monday, 1 June 2009
After several weekends of hard work we have put up a 50 metre long "rabbit proof fence". We have planted out the vegetable patch and made "tee pees" for the runner beans out of bamboo canes. We have also built a framework for the peas and broad beans to climb. It looks like a proper vegetable patch and we have harvested our first radishes. We are not exacly self-sufficient yet but it is a start! Touch wood, the fence seems to be keeping out the rabbits so far.
The sunshine and visitors have arrived at Rossland. Brilliant.
Out Of Hibernation - Tuesday, 10 March 2009
We are very pleased to say that it is rather "Spring like" here now. There are lots of buds on the fruit trees and the weather is definitely getting milder. We had snow for 2 days in February but it soon melted. It was very funny to see people toboganning down the lane. It seemed like the whole village came to enjoy the snow, some with body boards! We did have a rather windy night on Saturday and one of the 2 big compost bins we bought blew into the field next to us. We had to go and ask if we could have our compost bin back please!
It seems that now is the time to sow most of the vegetables so I will be busy. I am still concerned about rabbits but we will soon be putting up a (hopefully rabbit proof) fence.
Barn Website Launched! - Friday, 23 January 2009
We have now launched our Barn website where you can check availability of the barn and book it for your holiday during the 2009 season. We look forward to seeing you in 2009. You can go to the barn web site by following the following link.
Seasons Greetings
We would like to wish all of our Blog readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We look forward to seeing you in 2009.
Snow - Sunday, 14 December 2008
It is lucky that we did the digging yesterday as we woke up to lots of snow this morning. I thought Cornwall was supposed to have milder weather.
Even More Digging! - Saturday, 13 December 2008
We had 8 more trees delivered today so we spent this afternoon planting them. The Orchard looks pretty impressive now and I can just imagine it in a few years time laden with fruit. Well, you have to be positive!
A Little Bit More Digging - Wednesday, 19 November 2008
Lovely Autumnal day today so I dug another vegetable bed 4ft x 10ft. I think that is enough digging for this year!!
Strange Beast - Tuesday, 18 November 2008
A weird two headed beast has been spotted at Rossland.
The Continued Attack Of The Rabbits - Sunday, 9 November 2008
The Garlic I had planted in the vegetable bed has come up but the Rabbits have been having a nibble. I have used the last of the chicken wire to protect them. We are going to have to put up a fence around the vegetable beds and cover it with mesh.
First Vegetable Planting - Monday, 3 November 2008
I planted my first vegetables today. A row of Peas and a row of Broad Beans.
I have cut lots of branches from the twisted willow we chopped down and layered them over the rows to, hopefully, stop the rabbits and birds from eating them. We shall see!!
Fire! - Thursday, 30 October 2008
After some tuition from Jamie, I have mastered the art of lighting the wood burning stove. It is so lovely and cosy.
Bulbathalon - Tuesday, 28 October 2008
I planted 250 daffodil bulbs today in between the hailstorms. Should have a lovely display in the Spring
The Beast of Bodmin - Friday, 24 October 2008
The kittens sleep in the sun room at night and when I went in there this morning they were both hiding behind the settee and their tails were all bushy!! After a little investigation I noticed big muddy paw marks on the outside of the window. Something had been trying to get the poor little things. Was it the Beast of Bodmin????
The Start Of The Marathon - Wednesday, 22 October 2008
More tree trimming. Just three left to do.
Spot The View - Friday, 17 October 2008
We spent today cutting the 7foot tall leylandi hedge down to 4 foot as they were getting out of control and more importantly blocking our view!! There are 14 trees and we managed to tidy up 5. A couple more days work to go.
The Vegetable Plot - Monday, 13 October 2008
Fantastic! Today I finished digging the vegetable beds. 4 beds measuring (roughly!) 4ft x 8ft. I wanted to dig them now so the soil can break down over the winter. They should then be ready for sowing/planting in the Spring.
The Rabbit House - Monday, 29 September 2008
I am having a mass tidy in the "Rabbit House" barn. We call it the Rabbit House as the previous owners kept their pet rabbits in cages in there. We are using it to keep our gardening tools in. We are also going to grow seeds in there ready for the vegetable beds, which still need to be dug!
Meet The Neighbours - Sunday, 28 September 2008
We met Grant, our next door neighbour for the first time today! We have been here for 6 months. He is doing up his old stone cottage and is not very often there as he lives in Surrey.
The Front Garden Takes Shape - Monday, 22 September 2008
Lovely weather this week so I managed to dig over the front garden and start the beginnings of a cottage garden. We visited our local friendly plant nursery at Lanjeth. The owner was very helpful with advice and virtually told us to wait until Spring before we start stocking the garden with plants. Not a very good Salesman! We did, however, buy a few plants.
Freedom (Almost) - Sunday, 17 August 2008
The kittens can go outside (under supervision!). A rather stressful hour as we both watched them to see if there were any gaps for them to squeeze through in the fence. A few strategically placed granite rocks later and the garden is kitten proof. Kissy and Gizmo ran around like crazy and loved it.
The Attack Of the Killer Rabbits - Sunday, 17 August 2008
We had to give the trees a bit of extra cover with some chicken wire as the rabbits were having a nibble.
The Orchard Takes Shape - Sunday, 10 August 2008
Today Jamie and I planted the first 10 trees for our orchard. We really feel that we are making the field our own. We planted 2 cherry trees, 2 plum trees, 2 cooking apple trees and 4 eating apple trees. Now the trees are in the field they seem quite small but I am sure they will soon grow! We put in sturdy stakes and rabbit-proof plastic around the trunks.
Revenge Of The Kitten - Saturday, 9 August 2008
9 am appointment at the vets today, for Kissy and Gizmo to have their injections. They were intrigued with the short journey there and were very well behaved at the vets. We have realised that there must be a knack to giving cats worming tablets, as Jamie was bitten by Kissy. (Does that mean Jamie needs an injection now?)
The Orchard By Post - Wednesday, 6 August 2008
TNT delivered the fruit trees we ordered today. We bought them with our Birthday money and Pearl Wedding Anniversary money. Jamie is planning to make some slate labels for the trees to show who bought us each tree. For some unknown reason Simon has requested that his and Sarah's names are on the cherry trees! The weather was very wet, windy and misty today so we put the trees in one of the barns. They seem very big.
The First Guests At The Barn - Saturday, 26 July 2008
Our first guests are staying at The Barn this week. The sun is shining, which is a good start!
The Menagerie - Thursday 24 July 2008
We collected our first animals for the Rossland menagerie today. We adopted 10 week old black and white kittens, Gizmo and Kissy, from the RSPCA. They are tiny and inquisitive and have frantic chasing sessions. They also love snuggling up together for a sleep.
The New Vane - Wednesday, 16 July 2008
A number of the directions had fallen off the weathervane on one of the barns, so this was replaced by one bought by Amy.
The Mower - Wednesday, 16 July 2008
John from Cornwall Farmers delivered our sit-on mower today. I was a bit reluctant to try using it at first but once I did I was away cutting the field.
The Meadow - Friday, 11 July 2008
A friendly local farmer mowed our field today. It had grown from a lovely field of grass when we moved in to a hay meadow. He cut 11 bales of hay, which he was pleased to take home for his herd of Bullocks. Now we can get the mower!
"It Has Run Away With You!" - Thursday, 12 June 2008
We had an attempt to deliver the sit-on mower today, but the grass was just too long for it to cope with it. We need some help on this one.......
The Builders - Wednesday, 18 May 2008
The first job was to make the whole main property weather tight as the original rendering left a lot to be desired. Up went the scaffolding; we will say goodbye to pebbledash and quoins!
The Move #2 - Wednesday, 2 April 2008
After numerous trips up and down the lane, decanting the contents of the removal lorry, all of our belongings are scattered somewhere around Rossland - it will take a good few months to sort out and find everything!
The Move - Tuesday, 1 April 2008
We tried to move in to Rossland today after a long trip from Hertfordshire, however, the removal van got stuck in the lane, being too long to negotiate the narrow bend. We spent a night in a hotel in St Austell after hiring a transit van for the morning