The Fruit and Veg Have Arrived

After long weeks working knee deep in mud and under the torrential rain of the winter, creating a new and improved vegetable patch, it's all starting to come together now that summer is on the way. We've (well my aunt) has planted copious amounts of fruit and veg, a huge strawberry patch and a nursery of plants and young trees. Everything is now blossoming, fruiting and lots of it is ready to eat.

Peas, spinach, lettuce, herbs, garlic, onions and (my favorite) strawberries are coming up by the dozen. I've stopped bothering cooking for breakfast and lunch and taken to just sitting in the vegetable patch and munching on anything that looks remotely edible.

Now I'm looking forward to beef and cherry tomatoes, courgettes, asparagus and a hole host of 'surprise veg' that Dida has forgotten she planted.

Borage the Companion Herb

At the beginning of the year, we have a meeting and I'm told what I am allowed to plant in my veggie patch.

Then I go and  order exactly what takes my fancy!!  and once I "hit" the herb catalogue I am transported from the cold February reality to warm, fuzzy days of summer, when the aromas of basil and coriander make it a pleasure to

to get out the biggest pasta pot and invite everyone over.

As  you can tell, the catalogue is my downfall!  I am now wondering what made me want to plant... Borage for instance. What magic was it that the seed supplier used, for me to tick the "buy" box ?? Well, with the help of good old google now I remember.......Are you sitting comfortably ?  Then I'll begin:

Think of Pimms, Iced Tea, Summer soups or salads topped with tasty dressings. Borage leaves enhance

all these and the perfect blue flower, frozen into the drinks ice cubes give a soft honey flavour.

Of course I need all the help I can get to convince the "Doubting Thomases" here, that the spinach, peas, beans, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, etc etc. were worth planting and the dear little Borage accompanying them as nurse and companion will help. And this is why I've popped them in between everything else and hope they have a good bedside manner.

As a medicinal herb, the benefit list is long and varied, used to help with problems from coughs and colds, to menopause and much more. 

So, money well spent, this little star is a gift from the Gods and now I can sound like a "know it all" if anyone asks me about it... I just won't tell them, that really I simply fell in love with a picture of perfect blue flowers and imagined it's head nodding at me from  my garden. Oh joy !

Didaweeder X

ps. Thank you so much to our volunteers Steve and Marie who went out and bought me the Colin's Book of Herbs whilst I was scratching my head trying to remember what on earth Borage was!

PANSIES HAVE BEEN POTTED, PETUNIAS PLANTED AND BEANS BEDDED !! 
AND NO-ONE HOME BUT US CHICKENS.

I was racing to get the veggies on the go and the bedding plants all ready for the May Bank Holiday visitors, then the forecasters let us down again, predicting heavy rain for the whole weekend, when in fact we had mostly sunshine until Monday afternoon, which was when most people were homeward bound.

This year, along with the flowers and herbs for sale, I have young trees that I'm hoping people will take

home as a memento of Cerenety... I have to admit you'd be hard pushed to find a Christmas fairy small 

enough for these little fella's but they've got "high hopes".

Well, must go, the tomatoes need watering,

hope to see you soon, whilst the blossom is still out.

Dida the Digger. 

New Lambs at Cerenety.

We are currently rushed off our feed with orphan lambs and lambing ewes, so this is going to be a picture heavy blog, as we're bottle feeding in 5 minutes.


Our orphan lambs from 4 years ago have now become fully fledged sheep and are 2 ewes, Mini and Nancy were put to the ram about 5 months ago.

Mini had triplets last week and Nancy had twins 3 days ago. Everything is going very well with the lambs, they are healthy and happy.


We also have 7 orphan lambs, all properly named by friends and campers: Rosy, Dot, Cleo, Heatie, Arthur, Tommy and Lambzilla. Despite some illness due to the fragility of lambs without their mums, they're are currently doing ok.

Wildlife Pond Maintenance

So, what you don’t think about when you’re bright eyed and full of ecological possibilities, planning your grand dreams of a perfect wild life pond with flowers and reeds, is the fact that one day, in the fairly near future, that wild life pond will have to be maintained.
Given the nature of a wild life pond, this involves getting very wet, very dirty and very cold! Reeds must be pulled and excess weeds must be taken out. While everyone else finds it hilarious to watch a wetsuit clad girl floating around in a large pond for 2 hours in March, it’s not quite so fun for the person who can no longer feel their feet.


In all seriousness though, eutrophication can be a big problem for lakes and ponds, especially those on agricultural land. This is when nutrients from the ground, such as fertiliser, leaches into the pond creating a brilliant environment for plants and algae. Unfortunately when this algae decomposes, the bacteria take the oxygen out of the water, eventually killing much of the wildlife in the pond. For this reason, some plants and algae must be regularly removed from a pond like ours which focuses on filtration.


So, like it or not, I will be bobbing around in my wetsuit amongst the newts and frog spawn for months to come. I may not enjoy it, but I’m told the neighbours are building a viewing platform.





For more information on how to manage your wildlife pond, see the RSPB website.

Rescue Battery Chickens

The ban on battery chicken farming was enforced on January 1st 2012. The EU passed the ban in 1999, giving farmers 12 years to change technique and equipment before the legislation was enforced. Since then the Holsworthy farmer's market has been flooded with bald, scabby looking chickens with big hearts and even bigger egg laying abilities.


The staff at Cerenety may have happened upon some of these chickens last Thursday and couldn't resist their wilting crests and sad eyes. We have therefore ended up with 6 ex battery hens at Cerenety, and they're doing great! 


Letting them out into our big enclosure for the first time was amazing, they ran around in the sunshine, rolled around in the dried dirt and didn't back down from the aggressive stares of our existing (and much superior looking) chickens. These are small chickens with big characters and it feels great to have given them a home at Cerenety. We're hoping that within a couple of months their feathers will have grown and they'll be looking just like all the others. 


Bringing these hens home, was not however, merely an act of extreme altruism on the part of Cerenety. These fabulous little creatures frequently and consistently lay some of the largest and tastiest eggs out there and there's nothing like a fresh egg sandwich, eaten outside on a sunny afternoon.


Check out the British Hen Welfare Trust for more information and how you could help the plight of the unwanted chicken.

Upton Beach

It being such an amazingly beautiful day yesterday, I felt the need to finish work early and head to our nearest beach. Upton beach is one of my favourite beaches in the world and is an 8 minute walk down a country lane from Cerenety (according to google maps, I didn't time myself... honest!)

Fairly secret from the masses, you rarely find anyone else there, even in the height of summer. You have to know how to find it, but as soon as you spot the small gap in the cliff,  which marks the path down, you'll love it! 

When the tide is out its a sandy haven with oodles of rock pools and interesting marine life. When the tide is in, its a rocky and dramatic cove where you could imagine anything from smugglers to pirates! Obviously we took Flipper down for a swim in the sea, climbed a few rocks and had a hot toddy while the sun went down.

It really is a fabulous place and we thought we'd share it with our campers, in the hope that you'll find it when you visit (but keep it to yourselves!)