On the Smallholding | March
On the Smallholding | March
March has been a funny one.
We had two weeks of proper sunshine, the kind where you can sit outside with your face turned up to it and not worry about burning. Gwilym calls it my cormorant thing. Then this last week arrived with hail and temperatures that dropped right back down to remind us it's still only March.
The daffodils were out for St David's Day, which made me happy. I've had a jug of them on the dining table ever since. The forsythia outside my kitchen window has been blazing yellow for weeks now. I can see it from my desk and it's made thosee grey mornings a lot easier.
Bluebell has moved out into the field with Dodger during the days. She's down to two bottles, loves her lamb pellets, and is doing brilliantly. She still comes in at night though. The fox isn't getting her on my watch.
We've had a good month in the fruit cage. Rhubarb covered, blackcurrants and raspberries cut back, and the blueberry bushes moved back into pots from the ground after I read they do better that way. Potatoes are in. I'm already thinking about what I'm going to make with all this produce.
After the slower Winter for the local hospitality trade, I'm now back up to my 3 days per week at a local cafe. Without this job, I wouldn't be leaving the farm unless I had to!
Both ponds have had some planting done around them. Willow along the bottom one to screen the barn from the Hide, forsythia and hypericum for colour. I'm hoping to use both in the Christmas wreaths this year too. We also made a hazel handrail down to the Hide from twigs Gwilym cut out of an overgrown hedge. Functional and, if I say so myself, rather lovely. It's one of my favourite things on the smallholding now.
The elder tree by the kitchen door came down. I loved having elderflower on the doorstep every summer, but the bluebottles it attracted were unbearable. It had to go.
Two new compost beds built. The birds are chattering constantly. I spotted the blackbirds collecting twigs from the stone wall outside my window this week, which can only mean one thing.
Spring is properly here.
On the business side, our spring fudge flavours went live and have been really well received. The surprise hit so far is the Rosemary and Garlic, made using garlic from Nant Helyg Farm just down the road. We're back at the weekly markets too, Hay on Wye and a handful of local ones across the area. That feels rather good after the quieter months of January and February.
Roll on April.
Annabelle x