Smallholding Diaries Week 24 - Microgreens, Zebrafinches and Winter Crops
In an effort to motivate myself and get something done every day, no matter how small, I started Smallholding Diaries; a video series that gives a little glimpse into life here on my urban homestead. It's a tiny plot - just 45sqm, so there's not enough to make a daily vlog. But the diaries is enough to keep things ticking along until I can move somewhere larger and indulge in my love for cows.
This is Week 24...
Winter Crops
I have to say, I haven't had a huge amount of success with winter crops. And without a polytunnel to offer some protection, I'm rather limited. Last year I grew a lot of Pak Choi but, honestly, who eats Pak Choi?! It's not very nice.
Three things I have got going are:
- Kale (two varieties)
- Spinach
- Winter Lettuces - I've just sown two varieties, Winter Density and Arctic King. Last year they were dismal. This year I'm hoping for something better.
I've also got carrots and beets in the ground that can be harvested as and when they're needed - can't wait for some hot, winter soups!
Microgreens
With the winter limited what I can grow outside, I've finally decided to take the plunge and start my microgreens project. It, hopefully, will serve not only as food for me and my family but also bring in a little income too. I've been writing about it here on Steemit and you can check up on the progress in Microgreens Adventure Day 1 and Microgreens Adventure Day 3.
Meat Birds
Being limited on space, I rely on poultry as my only source of homegrown meat, though I watched @papa-pepper's video on rabbits with excitement and am seriously contemplating trying rabbits in 2018.
My main aim with my chickens is to be able to process 27 birds a year - that's one to eat per fortnight. I haven't the space to hatch them all at once, so I have to stagger the hatches through the year. But it's totally do-able. In addition, I keep quail which are a handy little extra snack. This week was D-day for some of the cockerels; notably 2 Ixworth boys, a bantam mix and 4 Coturnix Quail.
As we head towards winter, much of the jobs here are about clearing up, organising and starting to plan and think about how I can better my efforts in 2018. It's a HUGE learning process, and certainly, creating an urban homestead has just as many challenges to surpass as building a small farm on decent acreage has; they're just different. Meanwhile there are still no eggs in the budgie box but that doesn't stop me hoping!
Until next week!
Love, love, love this idea!!
Since I'm a big journaling person this is right up my alley!
Looking forward to more
Thanks!! I watch a lot of YouTube homestead vlogs, but I simply don't do enough to make a video EVERY day - also, who has the time?! So this is a mini way of keeping myself going. :D
I've never done video yet... going to have to attempt one soon. I think it'll be a good addition to my steem posts
You should! It gets addictive. I started YouTube about 18 months ago and got hooked, and that's how I was led to Steemit too. They're a good fit together.
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Good day @brimwoodfarm I appreciate all the info and hard work thank you :) Followed
Thank you so much :D
Great post and I wish steemit had a sticky or pin option because this is one of those special posts. ??
this post is so amazing, I'm so inspired to keep working hard on steem.
Excellent @brimwoodfarm
Haha! Pak choy! Grows in any condition, but not much fun to eat! I banned hubby from growing it after the first lot.
I sorted out or excess male quails this week too. Not my favourite harvesting activity. Harvesting plants and eggs is much nicer. That's a good idea working out the chickens in batches throughout the year. I'm the only one who preps them in our house, so I also can't do them in large amounts. Would you believe I pluck the quail the same as the roosters! It's time consuming, but less waste and everyone enjoys the skin.
I know, I end up growing loads and then feeding it to the chickens - which, I suppose, has made me wonder whether I should grow a little just to have in the beds for chicken food.
I've managed to get my husband on quail duty...he wanted them after all, so he does the processing of them. Though he does skin them. With the smaller bantam roosters I tend to do that too. I feel bad about the waste, but we're going to start doing a little taxidermy so hopefully the skin will get turned into mounts instead.
Well done on getting hubby enrolled! Mine brought a load of pigeons home from someone who breeds them and was culling numbers. He'd have just killed them and binned them, so hubby said he'd take them. That was his job done then and I spent days trying to prep all, over 20 first time and second time nearly 40! He ended up asking telling the guy we couldn't take any more as I just didn't have the time for it and some were heaving with worms in the second batch. Gross!
Oh my! Eurgh. I wouldn't have been able to face that - AT ALL. And over 20...and then 40? Blimey!! I can see why that would've taken days.
It was winter and the wood burner was going, so the infested ones got cremated. Worms creep me out at the best of times!