Adventures in the life of an English allotment
This morning, we braced ourselves for feeding the chickens in the freezing temperatures. It was one of those beautiful clear, sunny and crisp winter days. Upon our arrival, we discovered that every water feeder and water butt was completely frozen over! Welding a large screwdriver, my husband set to work smashing the thick layer of... Continue Reading →
Down at the allotment today, occured a small miracle. In the greenhouse Sadie, Leia and Lilja has spent around 24 hours unsupervised. Unsure of what I would find, I cautiously looked through the glass. What I saw amazed me. Sadie was on the top shelf with Leia and Lilja pottering around on the floor. No... Continue Reading →
This morning I ambled down to the allotment to clean out the greenhouse. It's been overdue for a few days and we managed to get hold of some new shavings late last night before the shops closed for Christmas. I arrived on site and stopped to say a quick hello to Geoff. Due to the... Continue Reading →
The main challenge we have over winter is trying to keep the chickens off the mud in their coop. Every autumn, we put in a layer of chippings and hope they last the winter. Unfortunately, this year, despite a thick new layer being added in September, the chickens are back on mud again. However, our... Continue Reading →
This afternoon I ambled down to the allotment ready to clean out the main coop. It's a long job that is made more difficult in winter by the temperature and the water on site being turned off. Happily, the warm temperatures in November have meant that the water is still on which makes this job... Continue Reading →
So today was a day I have been looking forward to for years. For my birthday, my husband had agreed to let me get some silkie hens! I adore these ridiculous looking chickens with their 5 toes and beautifully soft feathers. I have held off getting silkies for years due to concerns over Marek's disease... Continue Reading →
After days of ran, we finally have a glimpse of some winter sunshine. The weather is surprisingly warm considering we are now in mid-November. Down on site, I spotted Alan and Billy and went to say hello. They were both busy doing some winter jobs. On the plot, we still have some digging to do... Continue Reading →
This afternoon I ambled down to the allotment to feed the chickens. The weather has been typically gloomy and wet. In fact, the rain has been pretty much non stop for nearly two weeks! Down in the greenhouse, Lilja and Leia are getting on better although Lilja seems to spend most of her time up... Continue Reading →
Today being Halloween, we decided to try carving a pumpkin. Previous years, we have donated pumpkins to others and for school Harvest festivals. But as we are on the verge of Lockdown Mark 2, I rather doubt we could offload pumpkins to other people. We carted both pumpkins back from the allotment in the car... Continue Reading →
This afternoon I ambled down to the allotment to clean out the greenhouse. Phil and Steve were down and stopped to say hello. It turns out that the new people on Plot 1 were down. I walked across to say welcome to the site. John, his wife and all three children were all busy digging... Continue Reading →
This evening, I introduced Lilja to Leia. Safe to say this did not do entirely according to plan! First, we went to Phil's coop to collect Lilja. Unfortunately she was out and thus would be harder to catch. Between us, we managed to trap her in the nest box without getting attacked by the cockerel.... Continue Reading →
Sad news today from the allotment. After battling a stroke and recovering so brilliantly, I began to think that Pop had nine lives. Unfortunately, she went downhill last week and never picked up. We got a call from Geoff telling us she passed away on Sunday morning while we were away. Pop's recovery from her... Continue Reading →
Over the past two days, Pop has shown some improvement and is now standing independently again. She has just started to take very tentative steps today and I hope this means she will be back to her usual cheeky self in a few days. I am still getting high doses of vitamins into her by... Continue Reading →
This evening when I went down to feed Pop, I spotted something rather unusual on the side of the greenhouse. It appeared to be a large bee! I instantly recognised it as Will's handiwork. He really does have a talent with woodwork. I had a quick chat with Geoff and we both agreed that Pop... Continue Reading →
The past two days the weather has taken a distinct cold turn and whilst the sun has been out, it doesn't seem to have the heat of the past few months. The wind also takes a few degrees off the air temperature. So all in all, autumn has definitely come. Everyone is busy on site,... Continue Reading →
This afternoon I ambled down to the allotment to make a start on autumn jobs. It's always the part of the year I dislike most as harvesting is slowing, the weather changing and the nights draw in. In the greenhouse, Pop and Leia were busy scratching for food they had thrown all over the floor.... Continue Reading →
The last two days have been significantly warmer and with more sunshine, the usual brightness that heralds the start of autumn. It lulls you into a false sense of security before the autumn storms start. The sunshine has meant that the winding down at the allotment has been slightly delayed but there is a feeling... Continue Reading →
This afternoon I ambled down to the allotment to feed the chickens and to check on Pop. Geoff has kindly been closing up the greenhouse in the evening the last two days so I haven't had to go down in the evening. Both of them were out and about enjoying the sunshine. I put the... Continue Reading →
This afternoon I ambled down to the allotment armed with antimite spray ready to do battle with the coop. I had borrowed a pressure spray contraption from Cliff to make the job faster. It's an important job but it always seems to take forever to do. Before I started, I checked on Pop and Leia.... Continue Reading →
Today was quite what I thought it would be. I anticipated an afternoon of pottering around the plot, doing ood jobs and, weather depending, clean the main coop out. As soon as I arrived, I went to see Pop who I had placed into the nest box last night. There she was, by the front... Continue Reading →
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