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+ A quick hello (04/06/2010 - 07:23:01)
A quick hello
Just a quickie (I'll update properly soon) - the chicks are 16 weeks old and VERY nosey. You can't do anything in the garden without them following you and inspecting what you've done. One of them laid a mini egg yesterday! It's half the size of the older girls' eggs. Will do a test taste later!
Posted @ 07:23:01 on 04 June 2010 back to top
New chicks
Harry started laying again yesterday. All three girls are now earning their keep!
The eggs hatched on 11th February, we picked up the chicks the next day. Here they are at just 1 day old.
The eggs hatched on 11th February, we picked up the chicks the next day. Here they are at just 1 day old.
Posted @ 15:00:07 on 17 February 2010 back to top
Ooooh it's been ages!
Where has the time gone? Seems like no time since Christmas.
Mogs laid her first egg on Boxing Day 2009. She likes to play while she's laying - I opened the house while she was laying and she was rolling Penny's egg around with her beak while laying her own egg. Her eggs are huge, with a tough shell. Very tasty though! She lays most days. Penny is still producing an egg per day, Harry is still having a rest, lol. Her comb has got darker lately, so she'll be laying again soon.
We opened the greenhouses so the girls could shelter during the wet and cold weather. They've made themselves at home - by that I mean they made a complete mess! Won't take long to tidy it though.
We went to the farm for corn and ended up buying five 1 day old chicks! We're waiting for a phone call to say they've hatched. We were hoping to hear today, looks like we'll have to wait til tomorrow.
Daughter split with her boyfriend and moved back home - hooray!!!
The computer finally gave up it's fight for life a couple of months ago. I managed to save all files and photos, but they're in a jumble on this laptop now. When I've sorted them, I'll post the photos on here and get everything up to date.
Mogs laid her first egg on Boxing Day 2009. She likes to play while she's laying - I opened the house while she was laying and she was rolling Penny's egg around with her beak while laying her own egg. Her eggs are huge, with a tough shell. Very tasty though! She lays most days. Penny is still producing an egg per day, Harry is still having a rest, lol. Her comb has got darker lately, so she'll be laying again soon.
We opened the greenhouses so the girls could shelter during the wet and cold weather. They've made themselves at home - by that I mean they made a complete mess! Won't take long to tidy it though.
We went to the farm for corn and ended up buying five 1 day old chicks! We're waiting for a phone call to say they've hatched. We were hoping to hear today, looks like we'll have to wait til tomorrow.
Daughter split with her boyfriend and moved back home - hooray!!!
The computer finally gave up it's fight for life a couple of months ago. I managed to save all files and photos, but they're in a jumble on this laptop now. When I've sorted them, I'll post the photos on here and get everything up to date.
Posted @ 17:23:18 on 11 February 2010 back to top
Busy, busy, busy
Harry has stopped laying, Penny still lays 1 per day, Mogs still hasn't started! I've been reading about Marans - they're slow growing hens so I suppose the laying starts later.
The kitchen looks like a building site. We've stripped the walls back to bare brick and stored the wall units in the shed. We're not putting them back up, I really don't like cupboards on the walls. An electrician friend is going to move sockets for us, then another friend is going to render and plaster. Half of the base units are now free-standing - don't bump into them, they wobble, lol.
As everything keeps getting covered in plaster dust, I've hidden away all my crafting things. Trouble is - out of sight, out of mind. I have loads of Christmas cards ready, so I need to get them down to my friend's shop. Apart from that, I've got nothing to sell. Once the plastering is done, I can drag everything back out and get cracking.
I'm not doing too well with food either - I like to batch cook from scratch then freeze it in portions. But the freezers are full with homegrown fruit and veg. Not that I'm complaining, we've managed to grow and forage 316lb so far this year! Not including the salad leaves, swiss chard, spinach, garlic, celery, peppers and chillis (I don't weigh those). We've still got sprouts growing, I'll add them to the total when they're picked. We've also had 87 eggs.
The kitchen looks like a building site. We've stripped the walls back to bare brick and stored the wall units in the shed. We're not putting them back up, I really don't like cupboards on the walls. An electrician friend is going to move sockets for us, then another friend is going to render and plaster. Half of the base units are now free-standing - don't bump into them, they wobble, lol.
As everything keeps getting covered in plaster dust, I've hidden away all my crafting things. Trouble is - out of sight, out of mind. I have loads of Christmas cards ready, so I need to get them down to my friend's shop. Apart from that, I've got nothing to sell. Once the plastering is done, I can drag everything back out and get cracking.
I'm not doing too well with food either - I like to batch cook from scratch then freeze it in portions. But the freezers are full with homegrown fruit and veg. Not that I'm complaining, we've managed to grow and forage 316lb so far this year! Not including the salad leaves, swiss chard, spinach, garlic, celery, peppers and chillis (I don't weigh those). We've still got sprouts growing, I'll add them to the total when they're picked. We've also had 87 eggs.
Posted @ 07:24:55 on 20 November 2009 back to top
Broken links and other annoyances
I'm not sure what's going on with the photo links on my site, some photos/pics aren't showing and the links won't load. I've checked them and they're correct. I'm hoping it's a blip with Imagecave, if they don't start working soon I'll have to shift everything over to Photobucket.
D is off work this week, this means a lot of jobs aren't getting done and the ones that are, are taking me twice as long. You'd think that having 2 people at home all day instead of one would make life easier but it doesn't.
Daughter has moved in with her boyfriend and we aren't happy about it, they have no idea what they're doing. Hopefully they'll just get sick of each other.
D is off work this week, this means a lot of jobs aren't getting done and the ones that are, are taking me twice as long. You'd think that having 2 people at home all day instead of one would make life easier but it doesn't.
Daughter has moved in with her boyfriend and we aren't happy about it, they have no idea what they're doing. Hopefully they'll just get sick of each other.
Posted @ 10:10:47 on 22 October 2009 back to top
Ouch!
On the left is a normal sized Penny egg, on the right is one she laid a couple of days ago.
It's just the shell, D used the egg (double yolker) before I had a chance to take the pic, lol.
It's just the shell, D used the egg (double yolker) before I had a chance to take the pic, lol.
Posted @ 07:16:07 on 13 October 2009 back to top
More eggs and a River Cottage visit
I really did intend to post on here at least once per week, but life has got in the way lately (stroppy teens, mostly). Must try harder!
We visited River Cottage for the Autumn Fair on 13th September. We met Hugh and he signed our River Cottage Everyday book. We also met the authors of the handbooks, they were happy to give advice on bread making, veg growing, etc. They were all lovely and not a hint of ‘I’m a celeb’ about any of them, lol.
There were also bushcraft and survival skills, beekeeping, ferret racing, basking making, birds of prey, and Ray Smith butchered a lamb and gave advice.
Posted @ 09:06:27 on 08 October 2009 back to top
Eggs!
On tuesday (25th August), I went into the garden and found Bubble, Penny and Mogs sat in a line staring at Harry who was sat behind a bush. This is really unusual, if the rabbit isn't chasing the chickens off, then it's the other way round. Harry got up and wandered off, so I had a peek and found these -
Clever girl!
Posted @ 11:02:03 on 28 August 2009 back to top
Treats
The oven was busy yesterday. I made a swiss roll and an iced sponge, D made an apple crumble with apples from his dad's garden - yum! As nice as the crumble is, I couldn't eat it for breakfast at 7am like D did.
Posted @ 08:24:20 on 24 August 2009 back to top
New blog
As I've got a new website, I thought I'd shift my old blog over here. Firstly, it's easier to have everything in one place and secondly, the old one didn't work very well for me.
I'll probably be changing things around on here for a while so I'll update soon.
I'll probably be changing things around on here for a while so I'll update soon.
Posted @ 10:56:24 on 15 August 2009 back to top
Old blog
Friday 31st July 2009
Laundry gloop
There are a few variations of this, but this is what works for me -
Using a large pan, mix 8 pints of water, a mug of grated soap (I use value soap, 13p for 3 bars) and a mug of soda crystals (76p for 1kg). Simmer until the soap has dissolved, mix well and leave to cool. Store in a bucket.
I use 2 tablespoons for a whites wash, 1 tablespoon for colours.
So far this year, we've harvested just over 93lb of fruit and veg, and endless salad leaves, mustard and cress.
The strawberries aren't growing well this year, though the few we've had have been tasty. The birds have stolen all the cherries from the tree, and we've had to move the blackcurrant and blueberry bushes (they're in pots) into the greenhouse to save them from the chickens and blackbirds.
Big thanks to Arkonite_Babe, for One Lovely Blog Award!
So this is what I have to do with the award -
1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.
2. Pass the award to 10 other blogs that you've newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.
Here are my 10 new blogs I've found:
Monday, July 13, 2009
Last week, we visited the River Cottage shop in Axminster. I went in determined to spend £0 and ended up spending £45.96. Oops.
Here's what I bought
We've bought tickets for the River Cottage Autumn Fair on 13th september. YAY! We'll have to take our books to be signed - two are signed already.
Bubble finally had enough of being chased by the chickens, so last week SHE chased THEM off! They leave her in peace now - most of the time.
The chickens have decided that our house is a much better place to shelter from the rain than their own - we walk into the kitchen to find them snuggled together in the corner.
It was Mum and Dad's Ruby Anniversary on 5th July. Mum and Dad, us and the two teens, my brother and his girlfriend all went to St Ives for the weekend. We stayed in The Sloop Inn, the rooms were great, we had a view of the harbour and the breakfast fills you up for the whole day!
We've been to St Ives lots of times but this was the first time we've stayed at The Sloop - well worth a visit.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
I won't need to cook for a while, the freezer has been topped up with homemade soups, pies and bolognese sauce. That won't stop OH from overspending though - tips welcome!
From the veg patch so far - rhubarb, salad leaves, radishes, broad beans, spinach, mint, beetroot and chives. Bubble has munched all the parsley, and the chickens are partial to a nice bit of thyme!
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Free money - yes, really! You won't make a fortune but free is free so grab it anyway. Last year, I made £157.65
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I didn't include the money I made from Money4Banners in the above total because it's not personal money, it's business money.
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Saturday, June 6, 2009
We were going to replace Pink (RIP) with another Wellsummer. But we've decided that four chooks just aren't enough so we'll probably convert one of the sheds to a henhouse and get another six. Actually let's make that seven, that way we'll have ten, a nice round number.
I've been reading a thread called The Daydream Fund Challenge on the MoneySavingExpert forums. It's inspired me to start my own fund. I've got an old Abbey account with £1.20 in it, a Natwest account with about £28 in it, and a jar of 5p, 2p and 1p coins (which I won't count until it's full). The idea is, we buy a place where we can live off the land while we both work very part-time jobs and sell our produce. We'd like 5 acres but to afford it, one of us would have to work full-time while the other one worked the 5 acres by themself. So we'll probably buy a tinyholding rather than a smallholding! An acre will be big enough, 2 acres will be great.
Saturday, 30th May 2009
When the chickens were first let out (just over a week ago) they spent their time in a small area, peeking out of the bushes at the garden but were too nervous to roam about. Now there's no stopping them, they get everywhere! Penny and Harry found themselves trapped in the veg patch yesterday morning. They tried to perch on the surrounding fence, found it wouldn't support them and jumped down. They were running along trying to find a gap to get out so I had to clamber over to rescue them.
Bubble rabbit is feeling most put out. She's used to having the garden to herselfbut she now has to put with being chased by Penny, who thinks she owns everything. I opened the doors to the garden yesterday and Bubble refused to leave the house, I had to carry her out. Once out, she wouldn't come back in and we had to chase her last night to get her to come back in.
We have a new shopping centre, it's within walking distance from me so very handy. Maybe also dangerous for me - I think there's going to be a Cadbury's outlet shop...............
Sunday 24th May 2009
I've had some advice from an online friend about the leeks, so I've moved them - thanks Haribo. I thinned out the beetroot a few days ago and replanted some of them. I thought they'd died but they've perked up now.
The chickens were let out to roam a couple of days ago, for an hour. I was really nervous because we have a pair of mating magpies nearby, they come into our garden and a third one appears to pick a fight with the mating pair. Our Maran is very small and I'm worried (probably unnecessarily!) that she'll be attacked. They jumped at the slightest sound and kept running back to their house. Last night - what a difference. They met Bubble (who was bounding around in the garden) then later on, they wouldn't come in. We must have looked ridiculous, chasing round the garden trying to round them up! Once they were in, they leapt out of the little door into their run and stood staring out at the garden, cheeping loudly to be let back out.
The chickens were let out to roam a couple of days ago, for an hour. I was really nervous because we have a pair of mating magpies nearby, they come into our garden and a third one appears to pick a fight with the mating pair. Our Maran is very small and I'm worried (probably unnecessarily!) that she'll be attacked. They jumped at the slightest sound and kept running back to their house. Last night - what a difference. They met Bubble (who was bounding around in the garden) then later on, they wouldn't come in. We must have looked ridiculous, chasing round the garden trying to round them up! Once they were in, they leapt out of the little door into their run and stood staring out at the garden, cheeping loudly to be let back out.
Saturday 16th May 2009
I named the girls (left to right) Mogs, Pink, Penny and Harry. Unfortunately, Pink has died. She and Penny both wanted to be top chook but Pink couldn't cope with it all and had a heart attack (most likely, according to a couple of experienced hen-keepers). The other three are doing great though. We want to introduce two more hens, but have been advised to leave it until mid-september, when they'll be laying.
The veg is doing well, so are the weeds! I don't remember this many weeds last year...........
The fruit bushes have loads of flowers, so we'll be having a very healthy summer for free
The veg is doing well, so are the weeds! I don't remember this many weeds last year...........
The fruit bushes have loads of flowers, so we'll be having a very healthy summer for free
Monday 11th May 2009
Here's our girls! We have a Light Sussex (white), a Wellsummer (dark brown), a Cotswold Legbar (light brown) and a Maran (black).
I've just noticed the paint dribbles on the wall, very untidy lol.
They're almost 5 weeks old. There's a lot of cheeping going on with the occasional feeble cluck from the dark brown one.
I've just noticed the paint dribbles on the wall, very untidy lol.
They're almost 5 weeks old. There's a lot of cheeping going on with the occasional feeble cluck from the dark brown one.
We've only had them for 3 days but they've got a bit of a routine already. When it starts to get dark, they spend a few minutes having a dust bath then snuggle up together for sleep. They spend all day going up and down the ladder, then forget to use it at bedtime. They pick a spot under the house where we can't easily reach them (the house is a couple of feet off the floor above one end of the run). D has to crawl right in and pass them to me to put to bed.
Friday 1st May 2009
D (husband) has planted the leeks. Trouble is, he's planted them four inches away from the broad beans - I think he's forgotten how bushy they get. The leeks will disappear under the leaves in a couple of weeks. I want to move the leeks to a new row, but not sure if they'll die if I do this? I might try it, they won't get a chance to grow where they are..........The celery isn't doing too well, only two are growing and they're a bit straggly. Everything else is doing well, and I might sow more carrots over the weekend.
We need a bit more plywood for the chicken coop, hopefully that'll be finished by sunday night.
We need a bit more plywood for the chicken coop, hopefully that'll be finished by sunday night.
Since doing most of the shopping on my own, our grocery spending has gone down (D likes to bung things in the trolley til it's full). I have a budget of £250 per month - this is for food for four adults, toiletries, cleaning stuff, pet food and bedding. I spent £250.29 in april, if D is with me then the monthly total is around £400.
Sunday 26th April 2009
The fence is managing to keep Bubble off the veg patch so far. I made some temporary runs out of the remaining chicken wire for the guinea pigs. The proper runs are a bit old and tatty now, we're taking them apart today and we'll salvage what we can. The good bits are being saved to make a chicken shed - if everything goes to plan, we'll have 4 chickens in about a month's time.
We knocked a new doorway through from the hall to the little cupboard where the computer lives (I like to call it an office but it's so small it's a cupboard really). This means we can block the doorway from the kitchen. We've already found a hidden floor-to-ceiling cupboard in the kitchen and knocked the wall out to make use of it. The rubble has been shoveled into rubble bags and put outside but the dust is driving me mad - I damp-dust everything and a couple of hours later a fine layer of dust settles again. It'll clear eventually and I'll get my dream kitchen in the end!
Wednesday 22nd April 2009
We grew and foraged 186lb 3oz of fruit and veg last year, this year we're aiming for 220lb.
The broad beans are shooting up really quickly, I've had to tie them to canes already. I've sown too many tomatoes and have 46 plants, there's only room for 30 so I'll give the others away.
Bubble (our rabbit) has free run of the garden all day. She was FAR too interested in the veg patch last year, so I've bought some chicken wire and weaved bamboo canes through it vertically to make a fence. She hasn't managed to get through it - yet!
Bubble (our rabbit) has free run of the garden all day. She was FAR too interested in the veg patch last year, so I've bought some chicken wire and weaved bamboo canes through it vertically to make a fence. She hasn't managed to get through it - yet!
Posted @ 10:50:28 on 15 August 2009 back to top
