January 2024

Full winter mode

January saw the temperatures really drop with several days not climbing above 0 degrees by midday. This brings about a unique set of challenges when living in a caravan. The biggest problem was keeping the water running. On the coldest days it was just about possible to get water from the tap in the yard but the hose running to the caravan, which sits above ground, was impossible to defrost. After 3 days of no water running to the caravan (and most significantly, no shower) affirmative action was needed. I rolled up the frozen hose, put it in a crate, sat the crate in front of the fire and poured on several kettles of boiling water. The result was running water for around an hour, enough to get washed! By the end of the week, the temperatures had started to climb and full-time water was restored.

The hosepipe being defrosted in a crate in front of the fire.

Preparing the growing field

One thing that we’re really keen to get started is growing some produce. The middle field has been designated the growing field, which I’m a little sceptical about as the larger field seems to drain much better but as always it’s going to be trial and error. Given the very active rabbit population, there’s going to need to be a fenced-off area for the vegetables to grow. This is another place the weather is causing some resistance as the land is so wet and soggy, the fence guys aren’t able to start with getting the post knocked into the ground. In the meantime, there’s plastic sheeting down to act as a weed suppressant for where the beds are going to go. They are going to be “no dig” beds with cardboard then compost going on top of the soil without any tilling of the land. Hopefully, the sheets will give us a head start for when the beds are laid.

The black sheeting to start suppressing the weeds and grass ready for the no-dig beds. And a cute dog.

As we live on the top of a hill in seemingly the windiest place in the country, hedges are a good idea to offer some protection. They also create a great habitat for birds and other wildlife. 500 plants have gone in, predominantly Hawthorn with some Field Acer, Bird Cherry, Hazel, Blackthorn and Dog Rose. The rabbits did some damage before being wrapped in the protective sleeves. It’s hard to know how far you need to go and everything costs money, especially at a large scale. But having invested in the hedge plants it seemed most sensible to give them the best chance to grow, so we added the sleeves and canes. Very excited to see how they progress in the spring.

Newly planted hedges with protective sleeves and a weed barrier.

RIP Greenhouse

The final destructive weather acts involved the greenhouse and caravan, with the former being finished off by storm Jocelyn. That was pretty hard to take after all the effort of taking it down from the person who was giving it away, laying concrete foundations to fix it to (cos it’s so windy!), putting it back up, replacing all the glass that was lost when moving it. It didn’t stand a chance against the +60mph winds, RIP Greenhouse. Lesson learnt though. I am thinking of repurposing the driveway wall as a base for a more solid wooden framed structure with clear plastic sheeting, instead of glass. That might be able to hold up through a Hillside winter!

The greenhouse after a battering from storm Jocelyn.

The Caravan was knocked off its stands in the same storm, which was pretty dramatic, especially for Lou who was in the shower at the time. We were due to go away shortly so we escaped to a solid house and managed to find someone to “re-site” the caravan while we were away. It’s now much more secure on sleepers and blocks so fingers crossed will be upright for the foreseeable future!

Thanks for reading, love from Hillside Farm x