2005
As usual, at the start of 2005, our plans were still fluid. We planned to get more laying hens and were considering raising table chickens. In fact, we didn't buy any more hens, but lost a few so at the end of 2005, we had five RIR and one Brown Leghorn. We did buy an incubator, brooding lamp and other stuff for hatching eggs but only had one unsuccessful attempt in September. A friend gave us four Maran eggs but only one hatched and the chick died. This might have been because the incubator packed in at the crucial moment. We still planned to get more hens in the spring of 2006 plus a cockerel, then try hatching eggs and raising some birds for the table.
We still had quite a lot of pork in the freezer through 2005, so didn't have pigs that year.
The raised vegetable beds in the first pig pen were completed in time for sowing in spring 2005.
The new part of the fifth raised bed became the new strawberry patch, with varieties Pegasus and Florence, and a redcurrant (Redstart) and a white currant (White Transparent), along with the existing rhubarb and asparagus.
The blackcurrants cropped well as did the raspberries and the gooseberries. Dan finally seemed to have got the better of the gooseberry sawfly. The blackberry didn't crop at all - fortunately, the hedgerows were full of brambles, so Dan went brambling with the dogs every morning for weeks. The rhubarb did well but we still didn't have any asparagus.
We had our first crop of Victoria plums this year - four, in total - but they were lovely. We also had our first crop of apples - Sunset, Irish Peach and Dumelow's Seedling. Again, these were lovely - especially once they were properly ripe! The pear trees looked terrible, although "our book" (Dr Hessayon's Fruit Expert) says they take longer to establish than apples. I know pears can grow here because there is a super pear tree at the farm. We didn't get any cherries at all, but the birds did. It may seem like the orchard wasn't doing awfully well, but it is a long term project and the trees are terribly pretty in the spring.
In the vegetable garden, as usual, crops were somewhat variable. We grew horsehead beans for drying. Beetroot, which usually crops well, was a disaster - one beetroot! Not worth sterilizing a jar for. Shallots (Longour) did well and there were several jars of pickled shallots in the cupboard at the end of the year. The onions cropped quite well but didn't seem to store well. Either we did something wrong or we had unrealistic expectations of wastage levels.
For the first time, we had a good brassica crop. This was because Dan kept them fleeced all the time. Cabbages did well and the calabrese was really lovely. Courgettes cropped well - we gave a lot away and made gallons of soup. The sweetcorn did really well too, with two ears on every plant, due to the great summer weather. Our crop of peas was unbelievably poor - we had weevils or mice; whatever it was, it ate all the peas.
In the greenhouse, we only grew tomatoes. As in previous years, we grew the cherry variety Supersweet 100, plus Shirley. Supersweet 100 was the star yet again. I don't know why we grow anything else.
On the pet front, we sadly lost one of our cats in October. Homer had to be put to sleep after he suffered kidney failure. We were very sad but took comfort from the fact that he had almost two very comfortable years with us. Copper and Cassius continued to thrive. For sixteen years old, Copper was incredibly good value and still loved to play. Cassius' war on the rabbit population continued. In November, Felix joined the herd of cats. At six, he was just a baby and very kittenish.
Tess and Meg continued to harass the cats, who extracted their revenge from time to time. Tess had been on a diet following her annual visit to the vet in July. She lost two kilos and is a different dog - much more active and happy.
Smokey and I continued on our natural horsemanship journey.