Two Fat Pigs

I'm brought back to the blog by the appearance of new stock on the holding. Two kune kune pigs turned up today, passed on by a couple who had thought to raise and eat them but now cannot bring themselves to do so. It is good to be keeping pigs again, even if it will not be for long.
The previous owners had told me that these animals were "nearly full grown". But from out of the trailer this afternoon came two of the biggest, fattest pigs I have ever seen. William Cobbett wrote in his 1821 classic 'Cottage Economy' that if a pig can walk a hundred paces straight it is not yet fat enough for slaughter. Even by his standards these animals are more than ready. They both laid down to rest several times on the short journey between trailer and pen, the boar even needing a nap at one point. But our tastes, and nutritional needs, have changed. In centrally heated comfort the need or desire for fatty pork and bacon is diminished. During the winter our forebears would have eaten all they could to sustain themselves in the cold. Even in my lifetime the fat found on the butcher's bacon has been shrinking to almost nothing, as houses are kept ever warmer through the dark months.
Now there is nothing wrong with a little fat on the meat, and to my taste meat today comes with too little of it. Fat brings the flavour, and it's especially delicious on home-reared meat. But these pigs are a step too far. Looking at them I can only imagine that the meat would be hard to find for the fat. They have been kept in the lap of luxury, a porcine paradise. Tales of the food they have been fed beggar belief.
So far from the 'finishing' (fattening) I had been expecting to do, I am now running a hog's health farm. These swine are on a diet, one month to lean up before, well, you know what's coming don't you?

19 trees

Trees! It's interesting how I see this garden differently as time passes. Areas previously over-looked suddenly resonate, ripe with potential and promise. Thus it was with a wonderful clarity of vision that Isobel, Hannah and I travelled over to our local nursery (http://www.woodburyestate.co.uk/) and filled the trailer with trees. My well thumbed copy of Ken Fern's 'Plants for a future' was invaluable as we worked round the hundreds of species offered. It often surprises me how many feature in the book, though I suppose there is no reason why it should. The more I discover about the plants already living in my garden, those many would call wildflowers, or weeds, the more I realise that they all have a 'use', either directly as food, fuel or suchlike, or as a contributor to the system as a whole. Is it better to clear the ground and plant trusted old vegetables, or simply learn to eat what is already there?
The vision I had last week in the half light of the evening (a great time for garden planning - distracting details give way to a clearer view of the big picture) was of a line of trees between the polytunnel and the dell. This will serve several purposes: firstly, more trees is good, full stop. Secondly it will act as a windbreak on the most exposed side of the garden. Thirdly it will screen the polytunnel from the wild beauty of the dell. Finally it will provide food, construction materials and fuel. Over 40 metres I have planted 6 hazels, half Gunslebert half Corabel, cherry plum, spindle, amelanchier, Siberian pea tree, sea buckthorn, and a service tree.
It is always a good feeling planting trees. Elsewhere this year I've planted several apples that I've grown from seed. They are vigorous and healthy, and I have high hopes for them. I may have to wait a while for the fruit, and how it will be is as yet unknown, but the joy they've already given me is repayment enough for my efforts. The top end of the garden is now home to an oak, some willow and alder, an alder buckthorn (much loved by bees), an Amelanchier RJHilton (hopefully the Amelanchier will fruit better now there are four of them), and a Japanese dogwood. All I need to do now is keep them weeded and watered, and make sure the deer cannot get to them. They seem to be away up in the hills now the spring is here, but you can never be sure...

wwoof wwoof

This week we had a visit from Ana. She is making a film about Wwoofing. Wwoof, if you are unaware of them, are an organisation bringing together volunteer workers with hosts who garden or farm organically. The deal is that the wwoofer is given a place to stay and food to eat while they give their time and energy to help the host. It is a brilliant concept, and a scheme that is gaining popularity across the world. In fact, when I first heard of wwoofing some 20 years ago it stood for 'working weekends on organic farms'. The acronym now stands for 'world wide opportunities on organic farms', neatly bringing it up to date with the current reality of Wwoof. As a host I receive up to 20 emails a week from people wishing to stay and work with us. And everyone's a winner - as a host we get 'free' and generally very willing help around the holding, as well as new energy and fresh perspectives. Volunteers are able to travel all around the world, meeting and staying with people, being involved with their day to day work and lives, at no cost other than their time and labour. Fantastic.
It was a great pleasure to walk around our smallholding with Ana, speaking about the many projects that we have achieved with the help of wwoofers. Many of these would not have happened without the many wonderful people that we've had the good fortune to welcome to our home.
First up we visited the two wood stores. David helped with the first, on the back of the house. It seemed that he had never swung an axe or hammer in his life, being more familiar with a tennis racquet, or a pen. He soon got the hang of things however, and began to deliver uncannily accurate blows to split the larch logs we used to build the frame. So much did he enjoy this process that when Lara came this winter we had most of the wood we needed already split, and the new store was built in two days.
I next took Ana to the geodesic greenhouse. Alfredo and Natalia were here helping with this job. They made a good impression by being outside waiting for me on day one, dressed in overalls, stout boots and work gloves, a good impression that grew daily. During the two weeks that they stayed we built the dome, a bridge, clad the chicken house in hand split and shaved shakes, and mended the roof of the house. There was still time in the evenings for me to enjoy drumming while Natalia played heavy metal guitar and Alfredo held us steady on the bass. We also had Piers staying, who is no stranger to the microphone, and his girlfriend Anya who took a little persuading to join in, despite playing cello for the Munich Philharmonic! Good times.
Further good, though more gruelling times were had building the pond. When I collected Jonathan and Cleo they had been rough camping in the Grampians. In November. And them hailing from the south of France! I knew they would be hard, and they needed to be. Most days ground work could not begin until 10am as all was frozen solid, and by 4 in the afternoon all had again turned to stone. Cleo suffered terribly with chillblains. She bravely and artfully cracked on with Jonathan and I, creating the hole that was to be filled with over-flow from the spring that feeds our house with clear clean water. We had expected to be digging away earth, but what we found where the pond was to be deepest was a huge pile of rocks. So we took each in turn and built them into the pond wall. Big stones, and there were some goodly 'wee chuckies', were placed carefully to form a gently curving dyke, while the shrapnel was packed in behind to shore it up, and to create the slope required in the inside. Of course we still needed to somehow seal the pond. What we did not expect as we begun to dig at the end nearest the spring was clay - a rare commodity round here. This had been brought up and laid down by the spring over lord knows how long, and was naturally the perfect material with which the line the pond. Ultimately just a few barrow loads of earth needed to be taken away (actually just enough the level the path there abouts). As with most projects before and since, our job had been simply to organise the elements already there. Nothing added, and nothing taken away - most satisfactory. Elegant, zero carbon, and so far, looking to be long lasting. Annoyingly we did subsequently have to drain the pond and take apart a section of wall to lay the pipe for our hydro-electric system (thanks to Damien and Ron for invaluable help there). However, the wall is now once again complete, and the pond holds water beautifully. There were many reasons to build a pond there in the middle of the garden - wildlife, micro-climate and as a feature - but the driving force was to be able to grow water cress in clean, fluke free water. Having thought that the ducks (now all eaten, both by us and the fox) had themselves eaten all the cress, I am happy to report that in munching their way through much of it they also succeeded in spreading it all around the pond. From there it is taking advantage of a mild winter and making a strong come-back. I look forward to sweet and spicy salads this summer, when I also hope to watch trout feeding amoung thick, dense, and healthy water cress stems.
I had hoped in this post to cover most of the wwoofer assisted structures - the rest will have to wait, as bed beckons. Until then...