Arrived down the allotment this morning to find Andrea (the landscape gardener) on site so I grabbed her quickly about our plans for the new chicken shed and base. Fortunately she is able to do it but probably not until February as she is fully booked. We can easily make sure the chickens are sorted... Continue Reading →
Extracting chickens from the quagmire
Today I went down determined to rescue the chickens from the ever rising wall of mud in the coop. I arrived down, complete with a lettuce as a peace offering to find Geoff had put down pallets to keep them off the mud. He has even moved the food bins onto a separate pallet to... Continue Reading →
Hoeing in the autumn sunshine
Glorious autumnal weather has at last arrived with the start of November! The sun was out fully although the nip in the air reminds us that winter is approaching fast. Making full use of the wonderful weather, we walked down to the allotment determined to fully hoe the top plot as well as attending our... Continue Reading →
Concerning chickens
It has been a fairly slow couple of weeks down the allotment - work has been busy and the weather progressively getting worse have combined to minimise clearing and sorting of the allotment for a while. The last couple of days I have dashed to feed the chickens in the rain and have noticed that... Continue Reading →
Weed decimation continued
Today we ambled down late to the allotment to be met by indignant chickens demanding to be fed the second they spied us walking down the path. Honestly, to hear them, you would think they had never been fed! We fed them before checking them for mites and dusting them with mite powder. I have... Continue Reading →
Why won’t these weeds die?!
Pootled down to the allotment this morning dragging the other half with me. I was worried that we may find ourselves with fewer chickens than yesterday - luckily the remaining seven were alive, kicking and extremely hungry. Whilst the other half cleaned out the coop and looked in vain for eggs (they really are a... Continue Reading →
R.I.P Lottie
Today when I went down the allotment I was greeted with sad news. I was a little later than usual (the joys of endless medical appointments) to find Phil on his way back home. He told me that he arrived on site this morning to find Lottie's body in the coop. Fortunately he had already... Continue Reading →
A sunny October day
Both of us went down to the allotment this morning determined to sort out the mite issue for once and for all. We fed the chickens and whilst they were distracted with food, we blocked their entrance to the shed as the chemicals in the anti-mite spray are not ideal for chickens to breathe in.... Continue Reading →
A review
It is almost a year since we took on our second plot and so much has changed! Below are the photos of the plot when we took it over at the end of September 2014 - it wasn't pretty! We have removed masses of rubbish from the plot including a gun case, pigeon carriers and... Continue Reading →
Onward, ever onward…
A lazy start to today meant I arrived down on site at a leisurely 10:30 am, in time to feed the chickens. They are up to their usual tricks, pretending they never get fed, let alone have ever received the many treats I feed them on an almost daily basis (sunflower seeds, split corn, masses... Continue Reading →
A thief in the night…
Up at the crack of dawn this morning to say goodbye to my allotment buddy Fiona. It seems that a week can go past very fast! Upon leaving the house, I stopped outside the door and looked for my allotment shoes - a mud-caked pair of semi-walking boots complete with holes in the soles. They... Continue Reading →
Glass transportation and weeding
Yesterday was a momentous day - we took the final load of glass from Nantwich to the allotment (teeth gritted every time we went over a slight bump in the road). We dumped off the glass before heading home for lunch and planning our afternoon campaign on the unending weeds. After lunch we decided to... Continue Reading →
Greenhouse Deconstruction Day 2
After being rained off yesterday ,we drove back to Nantwich to finish removing the glass, deconstruct the greenhouse frame and transport it all back to the allotment. We have managed to rope in Geoff to help transport the large parts of the frame back as Fiona's car isn't big enough to squeeze the frame in.... Continue Reading →
Greenhouse Deconstruction Day 1
Armed with only a small tool kit, wild amounts of optimism and a complete lack of knowledge about dismantling greenhouses we set off for Nantwich ready to start work. We arrived and sorted out our plan of action - we decided to start with the roof (the top part before working down to the base... Continue Reading →
And then there were four…
Down the allotment this morning to sort of and do battle with the mites who seem to have made a bit of a come back in the last week. We shut the chickens out of the shed in readiness to clear it out, leaving the door open to ventilate it. Fed the chickens to distract... Continue Reading →
A sad day for quail
I arrived down the allotment this morning to feed the chickens and quail, to find the quail who looked a little seedy yesterday face down in the saw dust. Unfortunately she must have died either yesterday or last night. I removed her and buried her in the bottom plot. After this I did very little... Continue Reading →
Plodding onwards
Today I cleared a good section of the bottom plot ready for the planting of the blueberry bushes I bought a couple of weeks ago. Chicks continue to do well, although one is looking increasingly like a cockerel. We have agreed with Cliff who has also got new chicks that if our chick turns out... Continue Reading →
Many hands make light work
Yesterday, with the sky looking like it might go a full hour without raining, I set off to the allotment determined to make inroads into the ever expanding weed collection in the bottom plot. After 2 hours of socialising and drinking fizzy pop with Geoff, Dave and Cliff, I decided I would pop home for... Continue Reading →
General Hard Work, Major Weeding and Captain Exhaustion
This week has marked the first week of freedom from work - and was obviously spent down the allotment (when the rain eventually let off). I have managed to completely weed 2/3 of the top plot, clearing away masses of weeds the like of which you have never seen before! Fortunately, the plants hidden underneath... Continue Reading →
Calming the grumbling
I popped down the allotment briefly on Thursday to check on the chickens to hear that someone on site had been complaining about the state of our plots. Granted they are hardly weed free but you would assume that there would be understanding about the hours that my husband and I work compared to the... Continue Reading →
The Good Life Crewe 
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