winter vegetables

Its cold and wet and muddy and windy outside.

But its not like that in the polycrub.

I  sowed some brocolli seeds at the end of the summer, and they have been slowly doing their own thing  and we can now start  picking the heads . 

And the curly kale continues to grow and sprout new leaves 

The over-wintered cabbage has been slow to get going and is nowhere near ready to pick

And the purple sprouting brocolli grows well - this is about 5 feet tall. Lots of leaves.
but no pickable heads yet

Strawberries are  doing weel - hopefully some early fruits in a while

And we still have the leeks and carrots that we started  digging up in September are still going strong and will be harvested in due course

Almost year-round self-sufficiency ?

Outdoor Hens

We moved some of the  hens indoors to give them some added light in December.

At the time there wasnt much daylight

But with the increasing  daylight  the hens that were left outside have started to lay again  and so we have moved all 8 inside hens back into the field 

And now we are back to 4-5 eggs per day. So sales should pick up as well

farewell, Carol

And there is a lonely Gander in Shetland (called Robert, For what its worth) . And we think Carol  - the goose that was called Christmas until she decalred her sex -  would make a good 'friend' for Robert. 

So we caught her, and put her in the dog crate ( with some food, of course) and  took her to Hatston

And then to Northlink 

 and for £10.30 she is transported to Lerwick . 

And the crate needs to come back . But now it will be freight - £30 . 

So if someone is comgin back from Shetland to Orkney on the Ferry, and can put a collapsed dog crate in their car we would be very grateful . 

Tree Hay

In the Autumn, we cut some tree hay .
And now was the moment of truth .

And  a couple of hours later

So we had better  plan to harvest a bit more for next ( this) year .