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Sunday 25 September 2016

Autumn.

It is still really quite warm here, but the evenings are shorter, ad there is a slight nip in the air.
The days, while pleasant are fresher, less muggy.

I am enjoying the cooler days, still pleasant to be outside without jumper or coat, but not sweaty (that makes me grouchy).

My nana passed away on the equinox. She had been battling lung disease for  long time, and she fought a most courageous fight. She passed peacefully with her family around her, possibly the most beautiful way she could. I am proud of my aunt and my mother for being there for her, right to the end.

Her passing was a poignant reminder that life, like the seasons, has a beginning and an end and that the passing of time changes for no one.

I look to the days ahead, to saying goodbye and celebrating her life with the rest of my family.


Monday 16 May 2016

Plot update!

It was a beautiful day on Sunday, so i headed out to my sorely neglected allotment plot. I love this place, it is my sanctuary, but i havent had enough time for it as of late.  I took my petrol mower with me and gave it a good mow, so it at least looks neater now. I also planted sweetcorn, green beans, beetroot and shallots ( a bit late i know). The Rhubarb is doing brilliantly!



The Gooseberries are showing great promise too! There were also lots of flowers on our strawberries.



We have a new family of Blue Tits living in Tristans nestbox on the shed too!


I love this time of year, everything is going great guns.


Saturday 9 April 2016

Chickens! Round 2

We had our new batch  hatch out today. Well, all bar one. That little egg is looking pretty lonely in the incubator all by itself.  I will give it another few days, we often have a straggler.

Here are some pics of the hatch!



The bigger babies are in their gangly, awkward teenage phase. But they are still oh so cute and curious!


Wednesday 6 April 2016

Catch up!

We are in the midst of Easter holiday madness here.

All 4 kids are off school, and we have been spending time as a family.

We went and saw the baby lambs at Broadlees Farm in Dover last Tuesday.  The children really enjoyed cuddling the baby lambs, and We even got to see one being born!



The chicks are growing well. They are at that gangly half-feathered stage where they look awkward and mangy, but they are beautiful nonetheless.


And I sneaked some more eggs into the incubator. They should be hatching on Saturday!

I've also been doing some fixing around the garden. Hubby helped me finish off the boarding around the base of chickenopolis and filled it with bark chippings. I didnt get any pictures of it though, because i was busy repairing and painting these planters that my parents gave to me a few years ago. I neglected them and they were really on their last legs, but now after new sills, a few nails and some wood treatment, they will last many more years!





 My friends husband has kindly offered to work with me at my allotment this year, as i am finding it a little overwhelming now i am back at work. He roped in my friends kids as well, who did a fab job of getting the place ship shape. I have these "in progress" pics, i need to get some better ones of how everything is going. They have been a godsend!



So what has everyone been up to over the holidays?


Easter Sunday

I know this is all said and done now, but the school holidays are a little manic here with 4 kids, so i havent had time to get this down on the blog. I thought about just writing one big post, but we have been doing bits and bobs here and there and it would be nice for it all to not get lost in the chaos.



There was a craft market on in Ramsgate, so The girls thought we would come and check it out. There werent that many stalls, so it didnt take us very long. We had paid 90 minutes parking, so what else could we do?


 Ye Olde sweetie shop was open, so we got a bag of sweeties for everyone!


Then we took a walk along the seafront


 To the beach!


 Keira and Imogen were looking for shells, but it was too windy ad they kept getting sand in their eyes.


 "Its too cold!!" Cried Imogen. Her lovely big sis lent her her hoodie. Aww!

I think that walk tired her out!

How was your Easter?


Friday 25 March 2016

Good Friday Fun!


We had a lovely day today. The sun was shining and it was absolutely glorious!
We went out to the RSPCAs fun day at the local animal centre, it was really busy! Manically so! The kids had really good fun and the RSPCA reported raising well over £1000 for the animals today :)

Afterwards we went to the Hurricane and Spitfire museum to see the lanes, and we had a spot of lunch  in the cafeteria.


Cheeky boy!


The weather was beautiful, and the kids had a run around on the grass with their new toy planes.

Then we went across to the RAF museum


Look mummy! Its a tank!


All 3 kiddos sitting on a Wessex RAF search and rescue helicopter. The smell of this thing takes me straight back to my childhood. My daddy used to work on the sea kings. I had an almost overwhelming urge to crawl into the cockpit and curl up in a seat. 

The chicks are doing well, they are a week and a half old now, and are double their original size, and their wings are feathering up nicely. They are starting to get little stubs of tail feathers too They will get more and more awkward and straggly looking over the next few weeks until all of their adolescent feathers are in.



Imi loves her chickies!


And we have sunflowers poking through in the conservatory!

Wednesday 23 March 2016

My Messy Garden

Its been neglected a bit over the winter.




The dividing fence blew down, the rubbish has built up, there are coops in need of repair and everything is a tad overgrown.


Our lawnmower died last autumn, so i need to replace that, and i need a new garden fork.

School holidays are coming up fast, and i have some time off work, so i will spend as much time as i can out in the garden sorting this mess out. The kids can run around out there with me.

I'll post progress pics as we go.

Sunday 20 March 2016

Springy spring!

Ostara activities abounded today!

I know we are a little early, but they are at school tomorrow, so we had a day of spring related crafting and planting.

We planted Echinacea and Sunflowers for summer colour. (I wanted those pots for veggies,but the children wanted flowers, so we did flowers. I'll get more pots in the week.)


They painted Bunny and Chick masks, and once they were done, they carried on painting spring pictures until dinner time.


All supervised by these cuties.

Blessed Ostara everyone!

Wednesday 16 March 2016

Chicken Upgrade!!

Well, their home anyway.

The big chickens got a new run at the weekend.

Its been sat in my shed since October waiting to go up, but we finally got around to putting it up.

Old Set up:





Pros: Moveable
         Compact

Cons: Too low
           Have to dismantle the run every time i need to clean it.
           Narrow. The chickens always pill their water everywhere trying to get past each other, which              waterlogs the floor of the run.
           Pretty broken now to be honest.  The coop is salvageable, but i think the run will end up on the            allotment as seed protection.


New Set up:



Pros:  Walk in! Much easier for cleaning. Birds have the use of the height of the run as well as the                  length and width.  I will be installing chicken furniture soon for them to climb on.
           More space means they are less likely to push past each other and knock their water                              everywhere.
           I can deep litter the floor of this run as it is a permanent structure that wont need dismantling              every couple of weeks. This should make cleaning easier.
           More sturdy.  The old one was getting very rickety and all of the catches that held it together              were either broken, or heading that way rapidly. This new run will be much more secure.



It as a lovely day on Friday, so i just decided to go for it.
                                                                       Nymphadora likes to sit on the top of  the coop. I think                                                                       she likes that she can see everything from up there. Speckles                                              cant quite figure out how she manages it.


Imogen said she would help.


But I think it might have been too much for her.


The frame was finished on Friday, but I had to stop there.

Saturday saw me wrangling with chicken wire. My hands are shredded, but we got the main body of the run done.



Sunday we got the ends on, Pressure washed the courtyard underneath and got the girls settled into their new home.