The Rain Fell, the Ducklings Looked up in Amazement!

It's Never Too Wet for Ducks, it Seems.

We really haven't had anything to complain about, weatherwise, here in Frugaldom, but yesterday's downpour came as a bit of a shock, even to the ducklings.

One minute it was slightly breezy and overcast, the next we were hit by a torrential downpour - it was probaby the first serious rain that we've had since the ducklings went outside.

This was quite a site to behold!

Did the ducklings all run for cover and shelter from the deluge? No! They came running up to the gate, 9 heads tilted sideways, staring skywards and quacking at the falling rain!

QUAIL: One of the projects we are working on here in Frugaldom is that of establishing a small egg production unit with the quail. Have you ever tried to photograph a quail? They are not the easiest birds to get to sit still and smile for the camera! After much to-ing and fro-ing, I managed to get one half-decent shot out of my dozens of failed attempts, so we now have the face of 'Frugal Gourmet'.

She is a 2010, homebred, Italian quail hen. This colour variation of the Japanese coturnix quail is sometimes referred to as a Phoenix Golden quail, a far prettier name, in my opinion. Despite it being very pale, the colour is dominant when breeding in mixed colonies, so I'm expecting to end up with the majority of my homebred hens looking similar to this.

Yesterday, while outdoor work was seriously curtailed by the rain and kitchen work seriously curtailed by the array of tubs scattered across the floor catching the drips from the leaking roof, I finally got around to designing the labels for the quail egg boxes.

Aample labels have now been printed and we are getting ready to begin sales proper. (I've omitted part of the labelling for obvious reasons, but the new web page has been uploaded and we're almost good to go.)

At £1.95 per dozen, I see no problems in selling, trading or even exchanging these eggs for other things that we need. I'll probably make a couple of small improvements to the final labels but, for now, we have the face of 'Frugal Gourmet'.

The latest quail chicks are nearly four weeks old and are about ready for transferring outside to their new quarters. The hens among them should be laying before the end of October!

Last time around, I separated the white males from the females prior to collecting eggs. This will ensure we have sufficient unrelated stock for next year's breeding programme. With luck, we should be able to have at least a dozen hens laying each day to see us through winter, then we'll set to work on improving the set-up to enable a larger flock to be maintained on a self-financing basis from 2012.

We aren't here to make our fortune, we are here to sustain our own lifestyle. If the birds can pay for themselves and supply us with eggs, I'll be delighted. Anything extra is a bonus that will be swept into savings for the next step of our Frugaldom journey.

Quail eggs for breakfast, anyone?

Sunshine, 26C, Harvesting and my Saffron Crocus Project

Another Frugaldom Microholding Update

The weatherman said showery, so we weren't expecting sunshine and the temperature soaring to 26C - but that's what we got! This was a great bonus, as my Saffron Crocus bulbs arrived yesterday.

With nowhere organised for planting the new bulbs, today's sunshine was an open invite to get out into the garden and get some work done.

The first job of the day was clearing a space. We're making this raised bed close to the house so that I can nip out first thing in the morning to collect all the lovely saffron that I'm hoping to grow. This will make a great addition to the 'Frugal Gourmet' range, as it can accompany the quail eggs.

I had 7' of space between the patio peas and the start of the herb garden, so that's where the bed has been built. It's 30" wide and about 12" deep. After clearing the gravel down to soil level, I lined the bed with weed supressant, added some rubble and then a layer of mixed sand and soil to help provide extra drainage.

Meanwhile, H began digging soil from the hill at the foot of the garden, which is gradually being excavated as the future site of a summerhouse. Each barrow load of soil was riddled to ensure all the stones and weeds were removed before it gets tipped into the bed. As you can imagine, this is taking quite some time to do, so the bulbs won't be getting planted tonight; maybe tomorrow, if the dry weather stays with us.

Another job that was desperately needing done was that of harvesting the carrots. These have grown exceptionally well here. I'm sure that it's because I sowed the seeds in a 50:50 soil and sand mix.

We've been eating carrots for several weeks now, plus there are quite a few already blanched, bagged and frozen. Today, I lifted what was left of them and filled a bucket! These now all need to be washed, blanched and frozen for using through autumn and winter.

Once I'd emptid the carrot bed, it was weeded, dug, raked and then resown with an early variety of carrot seed that should grow over the winter. I'll feed this bed with either nettle or comfrey fertiliser, depending on what's available first.

Some weeding gets done almost every day here, it has to, otherwise the place would soon be overrun. Today, I weeded around the snowball turnips and french beans, managing to pick a few for dinner while there. There were also another couple more courgettes and patty pan squash, so it made for an excellent day's harvesting. There were even a couple of the outside tomatoes needing picked, so I'll cut more lettuce for sandwiches at lunchtime tomorrow. I might even splash out and make another quail egg salad.

A few posts back, I mentioned that I had extended the pumpkin bed by doubling it in size. I'm really glad that I took the time to do this, as the plants are growing at a rate that makes me think of Jack and the giant. The pumpkin foliage has already spread out to the edge of the larger bed and there are several melon-sized fruits hiding beneath the leaves and tendrils. There's also the occasional munching crittur!

I read an article that suggested slitting the stalks on the top of the pumpkins to ensure enough water is absorbed, but I have not attempted this. Nor have I cut out any of the extra pumpkins, as recommended, to enable only the best two or three to develop. I'll leave them another couple of weeks to see how they grow, then I'll decide from there. The biggest and best will have tiles sat under them to prevent their sinking into the soil and, hopefully, help prevent them from rotting.

Across from the pumpkin bed I have raised beds with brussel sprouts, leeks, cabbage and broccoli. This is the first year that I have grown the sprouting variety, but it seems to be coming along quite well, despite my continual war against the dreaded cabbage white butterflies. The caterpillars have hatched in several places, but I simply didn't get around to sourcing enough netting to cover them all. I'm trying my best to keep on top of the problem and the hens are helping by enjoying pecking their way through all the leaves I keep removing in a bid to rid the plants of their pests. 

The first lot of quail chicks that hatched out in the incubator are now ust over 3-weeks-old. They are already feathered up, out of their brooder and into a large cage, wher they have fun running in and out of their little wooden 'houses'. It's still very difficult to tell the sexes, as most are colour variations, but the speckles have appeared on one of the normal coloured chicks, so we do know that it's a female. This first lot of hatchlings are due to be sold with the first prospective buyer expected tomorrow.

Moving further down the garden, we arrive at the micro-orchard. This is where all the ducklings are now happily out and about with Phoebe and Joey, the adult pair of white ducks.

We're still not 100% sure how many ducks and how many drakes hatched, but there is definite quacking coming from at least half of them.

These youngsters are now 6-weeks-old, are almost fully feathered and aren't much smaller than the adults. (That's Joey preening himself by the side of the pond.)

To the rear of the ducklings photos you can make out the row of late potatoes that I planted. I can hardly believe how quickly these have grown! H has had to earth them up several times already, yet they've been in the ground for less than a month.

Here's how they are looking as of this afternoon, their stalks and leaves reaching almost a metre high! Hopefully there'll be some potatoes forming beneath all that foliage, otherwise we're going to be really short of potatoes this year.

At the bottom of the micro-orchard is an old Victoria plum tree. This has served us rather well, as I've already had about 5kg of plums from it, most traded out through the local LETS group, plus others eaten or stewed down and made into crumbles. As you can see by the photo, the bulk of the fruit has still to be picked.

Many thanks to Nicky for collecting me an extra 6kg of sugar while she was in Stranraer. This means that the next lot of plums can be picked here and made into jam without worrying about having to pay £1.15 per kilo for sugar. The Tesco offer works out at about 57p per kilo, so it's a huge saving for the likes of us, at less than half the price of the local store!

Jean, if you happen to read this, I got the new blackcurrant bushes planted this afternoon and also managed to make space for the turnips.

Tomorrow, weather permitting, we might be able to get the rest of the crocus bed filled with soil and get the bulbs planted. Can you tell that I'm looking forward to growing these? Let's hope that by planting Crocus Sativas bulbs, they lead to crocus satisfaction here in Frugaldom.  :)

Ducklings' Big Day Out and Getting Excited about Weeds!

Duckling Fun and Exciting Weeds!

It started out bright this morning - good drying for the washing - then clouded over briefly, so we ended up back inside, coffeeing with the friends who had been visiting. They had been hoping to see the ducklings making their first big splash, but the shower that arrived held up proceedings.

Not half an hour after friends left, the sun was back splitting the trees... DUCKLING PLAYTIME had arrived!

We had to close Joey, our drake, into his night run, as he was less than gentle with the babies on his first encounter, but it didn't deter them from heading straight for the pond.

Within 5 minutes, all nine ducklings were swimming, splashing and diving under the water having a fantastic time.

We allowed them about 15 minutes playtime in the pond then tried to get them back out again. I say 'tried' because they were equally adamant that they were staying in there for longer. It was a bit like having nine screaming kids refusing to come out of the bath!

Eventually, I'd to get the pond net and shepherd them all to the edge and make them get out, otherwise I think they'd have been there all day.

Afterwards, they lay preening and sunning themselves dry, with Phoebe duck looking on as if trying to work out which of the unruly mob was her offspring.

We had no problems getting them back into their own run, as they're such hungry little horaces that they go anywhere for food. Tonight, they had 'grown up' mixed corn with their crumbs, so I hope all this excitement hasn't been too much for them.

After another cuppa on the patio, I potted up some rosemary cuttings, taken from the supermarket 'whoopsie' sprigs I rooted last year. With any luck, all these cuttings will also root successfully and provide me with next year's potted herb garden for the front yard.

I now have a total of 20 assorted cuttings potted, but only one of these is the new grapefruit mint, which I snipped from another friend's plant when we were visiting on Wednesday after the show.

Then it was weeding time! Every day we try to fit in half an hour's weeding to try and catch up with everything, but several years of neglect while the house lay empty has taken its toll. Along the way, I pulled yet more rhubarb, which still seems as good as the first lot, so that's now peeled and chopped, ready for stewing.

Today, weeding became fun! I have been trying to source free cuttings, bulbs, seeds and spare plants by asking everyone I can think of, including our local LETS group. I have an idea for a colourful wild bird garden in the corner behind the old plum tree, which will then be cordoned off to protect it from the  marauding ducks. All that grew there this summer was a giant foxglove. It looked lovely, so it got left in the hope that I can get plenty more like it next year.

Back to weeding being fun; how can it possibly be fun? Well, here's a photo diary of today's weeding that turned into a plant foraging expedition. (I also checked out the elder and it is absolutely laden with berries.)

A PHOTO DIARY OF TODAY'S WEEDING

 Down by the stream, I found quite a few plants growing, most are probably wild varieties.

This area is also where we first discovered the Himalayan honeysuckle and is where I plan on planting some more willow. At the moment, most of the withies cut last winter are still in pots, but they have rooted and are growing.

I'm hoping that a fellow LETS member will soon be able to visit and give me some ideas about how to start implementing permaculture techniques. All of these wild type plants and flowers aren't simply weeds, they are growing where they like to grow for a reason, choosing their own positions in the garden.

The photo on right resembles some sort of mint, but doesn't smell of mint. It seems to like growing anywhere, even within the spate line along the bank of the stream.

This white one started growing in a hanging basket below one of our bird tables, so I have to assume that it's from seed out of the wildbird mix. I transferred it into a pot on its own and it's now about 60cm high, has red stems, red leaf veins and clusters of very pale pink flowers. The leaves slightly resemble those of bindweed - another plant that I love. I used to have an archway covered in it in a previous garden. (Despite it growing like wildfire, it was fairly easy to maintain and much easier to trim than ivy, which ever puts on a brilliant white floral display.)

This next one is growing absolutely everywhere, in the borders, through the lawn, through the gravel, it seems to have no preference to shade or direct sun and it has a very pretty heather-like purple flower. It also resemles some sort of mint, but a quick search suggests it may be Bugle weed of some description. Whatever it is, I have transplanted some into a pot to see how it does. Where this grows, there also seems to be plenty of tiny forget-me-nots, so I have potted up some of those, too.

Another of my favourites are the giant daisies. Until this one flowered by the side of the pond, I had no idea what it was. Now that I do know, all those weeds being pulled from between the gravel will br transplanted to the wild garden so I can have loads of daisies.

This yellow daisy wasn't growing here, it was given to me by a friend who had pulled it out of her garden. It has taken quite a few weeks to recover but it's now starting to flower.

Hoping to move some of the white daisies before they flower, so they can compliment the yellow one.

Again, I haven't got a clue what this lovely little purple flower is, but it is growing in abundance, mainly in the cooler, damper area near the stream. It seems to be a spreading, ground level plant, as it looks as thought it's creeping through a lot of the undergrowth at the bottom of the garden. There's a lot of ivy down there, plus an elder and some rhododendron, among other things.

Among the ivy, there is a mass of ground cover created by this red stemmed, variagated plant. It's growing in abundance in the shade of the trees, but I have taken a few cuttings and now have them in a jar on the window sill. Each stem nodule has what appears to be a tiny root, so it's definitely some sort of ground level creeper. The leaves resemble those of a geranium crossed with variagated mint. See what I mean? I haven't got a clue about flowers!

As for the weeding, well...

I got as far as potting up my weeds! Some I haven't photographed yet, as they were a bit sad and droopy after I retrieved them from my weed tub, but photos will be forthcoming as soon as these perk up in their pots.

Now I am hoping for good weather tomorrow so I can start transplanting a load of those daisies that are coming up everywhere. This is frugal flower gardening at it's best - why buy wild or cottage garden seeds when I have all of this on my own backdoor step. Plans for my wild garden are looking much, much brighter. In fact, I'm quite excited about the prospect, now that I know it won't cost me a penny.

Once I have taken some cuttings from each of the colours of honeysuckle and collected my lupin, sweet pea and foxglove seeds, these will all go towards making the front yard into a container garden and to planting up the wild garden in bird corner. In addition, a LETS member has just emailed me with a list of plants she has for me to collect on Thursday - it's quite a lengthy list! :)

Don't forget you can join us in the free Frugaldom forums HERE to see how my weed project progresses and please post a comment if you know what any of my weeds are called.

Another Busy Fortnight Gone!

Where does all the time go?

It doesn't seem any time at all since I was on here announcing the arrival of our newest ducklings, so it's hard to believe that was about a fortnight ago! I hope everyone has seen a bit of the sunshine we have had and been able to make the most of it.

I had family visiting for a couple of days and, would you believe it, those couple of days were the ones that the sun chose not to shine! Typical. But it did stay dry enough for us to sit outside, take them a wander around the garden and for my dad to create a circular route via peapods and strawberries, munching merrily as he proceeded. Yes, we now have peas... and plenty of them. :)

All nine of the ducklings survived, all of them fit and healthy, all of them being cheeky, noisy, mucky duckies. We've had to move them into a much larger cage in the outbuilding, as they outgrew their brooder box within a few days and then outgrew their converted rabbit cage brooder the following week. The weather is mild and their run is under cover, so they no longer have their heat bulb. Some are beginning to grow tail feathers and we hear the occasional little broken squeak that could be the tell tale signs of a future quack.

Last week, we set up some breeding cages for the Japanese quail then moved them from their run  to get them sorted out for breeding. They were all running together, so the past week's eggs all went into the incubator in the hope of getting some chicks. If fertile, these eggs will be due to hatch on 5th August. By then, I should have more eggs for a selective breeding programme to produce next year's layers.

In the garden, rubble mountain is disappearing fast and beginning to show a semblance of becoming the site for the summerhouse. H has spent a great deal of time digging and hauling out all sorts of rubbish, concrete blocks and rubble. The concrete has had to be smashed up in order to move it, but the space is gradually clearing.

On the other side of the fance, the ducks are still loving their new pond, which still hasn't got the paving laid around it, despite it having been ordered last week. Builders' merchant hasn't delivered it yet! The joys of rural living - nobody wants to have to make a special trip out here when they offer free delivery - more a case of, 'we'll get it to you when we can'.

The pond drainage system is one thing I am really pleased with, as it saves so much time when topping up or cleaning and it meant absolutely no flooding after the couple of nights heavy rain we had here.

I managed to haul a huge rock to the edge of the pond and can now have the water trickling down that to top it up. The ducks love that, too.   

Along the edge of the orchard/duck run, all the soil has now been spread out along the south facing wall to form a border. At one end, we've fenced off about 5m of it and I've planted some sprouting potatoes a friend brought me - that was just over a week ago and all the potatoes are now growing, lots of greenery peeking through the carefully riddled soil. There was also a set of cat paw prints the entire length of it within the first day of digging, raking, sifting and planting!

We did manage to get a few raspberries from the canes, quite surprising considering the amount of time they were in buckets between leaving the last garden and getting put in the ground here.

There were nowhere near enough rasps to use as dessert, let alone make jam, so we ate them with strawberries and yoghurt each day we picked them. There are still a few out there, so it's a race between us and the blackbirds. The blackbirds have already beaten us in the cherry stakes!

Peapods in abundance and we've already started picking. Peas are so easy to grow and always seem to grow in abundance! I would recommend them to everyone who has even the tiniest patch of ground, space for a trough or even a balcony. Friends have them growing along the edge of the bridge next to their house... but then again, those might have been sweet peas of the non-edible kind. 

Despite the lateness of planting, my sweet peas look as though they are about to flower, so I'll need to remember to get photographs of those, as I love them. It's just finding the space to allocate to flower garden that's been the problem, but that's all settled for next year. Plans are afoot for that.

 The courgettes are doing really well, with a further 4 on the plant I cut last week's from and several on the other. The yellow one has begun to grow much faster after losing its first fruit to the snails!

This is the first time I have tried the patty pan squash. This was a seedling plant that came from our previous next door neighbours, who have, since, taken over the old house, stove, garden and greenhouse etc. Dreamer's blog should cover progress from over there.

I think I planted too many carrots in one patch! I'm thinning them out every couple of days in an effort to make space for the others to grow, but they aren't being wasted: the larger ones are being eaten by us and the smaller ones fed to the rabbit.

I'll bet if she realised that was what was at the bottom of the 'swishy' greenery, she'd be digging them up for herself. She does tend to help herself to whatever she wants when running about the garden. This is Floppity taking a mouthful of hay (dried grass from the verge trimmings) for a walk. She was in such a hurry to get out that day, she took her half-eaten mouthful of hay with her!

She really is a very funny big rabbit, especially when she decides to chase the cat. Floppity is bigger than our cat, so she usually wins any scraps or carry-on they may have.

We have a great many lizards here, little brown ones that get everywhere, both outdoors and in! This is one sunbathing on the back gate. I'm afraid I didn't hang around long enough to photograph the one that had climbed up the bedroom curtains when I woke the other morning. It's so warm, the windows have been left open constantly since we moved here, so I'll need to be careful of what can gain entry to the house!

Since the lizard incident, Scruffy cat has chosen to thoroughly check out the windowsill every night - I'm sure she'd alert me to anything untoward. Wouldn't she?

I ended up having to pick more rhubarb, as the stuff just keeps on growing. I traded it for potatoes, so that was good, but there's been another flush of it since then. I'll need to get that picked, chopped, stewed and frozen and let the light in at my belated sunflower seeds, which were thrown in the back corner in the hope that a few would grow.

We have so many wild birds about here that some of them are bound to love sunflower seeds. It would be lovely if the flowers grew and put on a wildbird display for us at the same time. The latest arrivals in the garden have been the Linnets and H was lucky enough to see his first Yellowhammer. We've plenty of wagtails, goldfinches, greenfinches, siskins and willow warblers. In fact, I'm amazed at the number of warblers here, despite us having only a tiny stream and the willow not yet established. (Or is willow just part of their name, I wonder?)

All the recent excitement of new ducklings, quail moving, visitors and family visiting seems to have exhausted the cat. She has firmly established her routine - breakfast, out to play all day, indoors before dark, check for lizards, crash out and sleeps soundly all night.

This is her 'DO NOT DISTURB' pose.

Well, since starting this blog post, the sun has disappeared behind a huge rain cloud and the garden is being watered for me - that's one more job ticked off today's 'to do' list.

Feel free to join us in the free, Frugaldom forums anytime, don't forget to introduce yourself.

The good life may cost lest than you think, especially if you don't mind frugal living and working from home.

The Frugaldom Duck Population is Growing.

THE DUCKLINGS ARE HATCHING NOW!

After setting a dozen duck eggs in the incubator on Saturday 11th June, we were hoping to see ducklings hatch around Friday 8th July. However, on Wednesday 6th July, when I stopped the auto-turner in the incubator, this is what appeared!

Along with the 10 eggs I got from a friend who has Campbells & Runner Ducks, I put 2 of the eggs from Phoebe & Joey into the incubator. One of these had hatched already.

Overnight on the 6th, early hours of the 7th, we had an almighty storm of rain, hail, thubder and lightning. At one point, the power went out completely but came back on again almost immediately. I got up to check the incubator was alright - could see the light on the thermostat and could hear the duckling squeaking away, so I had a peek inside. A couple more of the eggs had pipped!

By the time I got up this morning, a second chick was hatching, this time a dark coloured one. By mid-morning, number 4 was ust starting to emerge from its shell. You can just see the dark down emerging from the egg on the left of the photogrpah. You can also see that the egg right next to that has also pipped, so we're hoping for another duckling today despite these all being a day or so early.

I'm not sure why the eggs are hatching early, as I have the thermostat set at 37.5 degrees and a second thermometer is reading lower than that at the base of the incubator, so too high a temperature cannot be the problem. Humidity seems fine, water trough was topped up at the start of this week. Ducklings seem bright and healthy, so no apparent adverse effects.

 In the garden, the pond drainage project has been completed. The drainage system has been joined to the back, right hand corner of the pond, with all the pipes having been sunk below ground level, joined and tested to ensure the gradient is enough to draw away any overflow.


The ducks have had a great time following H up and down the garden as he dug the trench and any sound of running water brought them waddling, quacking and whistling along to see what was happening.

As soon as we started topping up the pond with the garden hose, they were straight back in, swimming around and very curious about the new drain.

Several attempts at flooding the pond were made, all to no avail, so the homemade frugal drainage system works just fine. Any flood water runs swiftly away and trickles out the overflow pipe and into the burn at the bottom of the garden.

Total cost of duck pond project so far is just under £25, which is what it cost to buy the 4m x 4m pondliner and have it delivered. All we need to do now is level the ground around the pond and invest in some paving. I'd like this to go all the way around the pond to form a path that can easily be swept clean but will also protect the edge of the pondliner. I have already planted a row of small willows between the pond and the wall in the hope that I can train them over to create a shaded area for the ducks and leave enough space in the corner of the orchard for a small seating area.

At the bottom of the garden, 'rubble mountain' is slowly disappearing and beginning to take on a semblance of a 'building spot' for the summer house. We no longer have a huge pile of rocks, boulders, rubble and concrete. Still loads to do and plenty of rubbish to be removed, but it's edging towards becoming a useable space.

Still getting strawberries aplenty, along with blackcurrants. I really can't think of anything that I could complain about it not growing, as everything is.

I managed to get one of the grape vines that Aldi had on offer and then I received a lovely chilli pepper plant in a gift from friends. I traded my surplus leek and brussel sprout seedlings for purple sprouting broccoli and more lettuces, I've one of the Himalayan Honeysuckles dug up (it had to be moved to allow the drainage pipes to be laid) and that's going to the friend who gave me the duck eggs.

Since starting this post, the fourth duckling has now fully emerged. I've quickly removed the empty shells to allow more space, just in case more hatch soon. :)

I can now see that there will be 1 white duck, 2 black ducks and a grey/blue/lavender duck that I thought was going to be a brown one.

I hatched out my first chicks from eggs in an incubator in 1986 and, despite that, it is as exciting today as it was back then. I think ducklings must be my favourites, though.

Create your own microholding, become a part of frugaldom and join us in the free forums, discussing moneysaving, household budgets and how to create a semblance of self-sufficiency. It's free to join HERE

Edited in - we now have 7 ducklings hatched, 3 of them are going to be white. :)