Harvesting

Despite growing very little veg this year, I managed to harvest two beautiful little squashes (plants courtesy of Liz and Sarah) as well as Ken kindly giving us a small melon. I am always amazed at the variety of fruit and vegetables that can be grown on site. Here in the north of England, the weather is very variable although predominantly wet, overcast and windy. Plants like melons just shouldn’t be able to be grown successfully here but there are many talented and green fingered people on our site.

With the incessant rain, I have moved Leia and Pop back into the greenhouse to keep them dry and off the wet ground. This is especially important for Pop who struggles to move out. Leia, of course, loves the greenhouse having spent all last winter in it. Pop is less keen but it makes it easier to move her into and out of the nest box. When I arrived this morning, I couldn’t find Pop. She had disappeared! How can a chicken who can’t walk vanish?! I stood in the greenhouse for several minutes at a complete loss before I heard some gentle clucking coming from behind one of the loofa plant pots. Sure enough, there she was, looking rather smug. I got her out of the corner and put her in her wheelchair. Today she wasn’t so keen to have her feet flat but enjoyed some fresh greens during her physiotherapy.

Later in the evening, my husband and I popped down to the allotment to put Pop to bed and to collect any eggs from the main coop. We ran into Geoff who was enjoying a pipe in his coop. It’s definitely getting darker earlier and all of the chickens were tucked up in the nest box. All except Rey who for some reason decided to sleep outside.