I walked down to the allotment this morning, never dreaming of how much would happen. There are weeks when nothing much happens then everything seems to happen on a particular day. Today was that day! After saying hello to everyone, I began to clean out the chicks. Steve dropped by and said they looked a... Continue Reading →
The Return of the Fox
Upon arrival on site this morning, we discovered that there had been a fox attack. The fox had managed to get into one of the broody coops, got the broody hen and made off with all the eggs. It's been several years since we had a fox attack because everyone has strengthened their coop designs.... Continue Reading →
Friday Bank Holiday
Today marks the 75th VE Day celebrations. As I walked to the allotment this morning, I saw several houses decked out in Union Jack's. It's so important to mark these dates especially as there are so few WW2 veterans left. At the allotment, everyone was busy being productive, making good use of today's glorious weather.... Continue Reading →
Unsettling events
Over the past few days, my husband has been busy caring for the chickens and digging over the plot while I have been at work. When I arrived down today I was astonished to see how much bigger our chicks have grown in just a few days. They are massive! It looks like we might... Continue Reading →
RIP Dolly
This morning I dashed down to the allotment before my husband. Abi was dropping by to pick up another three chicks for a friend's family in Sandbach. She arrived as I was unlocking the gate which was impressive timing. We walked down to the patio, picked out three chicks and she disappeared off to drop... Continue Reading →
A day in the sunshine
This morning we walked down to the allotment complete with a picnic lunch. Today was coop cleaning day and the sunshine is vital to make sure all the boards are dry before going back into the coop. When we arrived, we opened up the greenhouse door and checked on the chicks. They are so big... Continue Reading →
The Queen arrives
The sunshine continues! We walked down to the allotment today with a list of jobs to do. The most important was to add more wire to the greenhouse door to stop any curious cats getting at the chicks. As we walked up to the greenhouse, they were all hiding in the bottom of the nest... Continue Reading →
Coop cleaning
Today I walked down to the allotment in the sunshine! The British weather is notoriously fickle and after many days of overcast weather, we finally had a warm spring day. Until it started to pour with rain. On and off giving the perfect example of April showers! I checked Dolly first and she seemed reasonably... Continue Reading →
A brief pause between deluges
With some hope of a dry few hours, I popped to the allotment this morning to try and clean out the chickens. It's been a job that I have intended to do for the last 4 weeks however, the weather has had other ideas. I arrived on site to find the usual selection of faces... Continue Reading →
Calm before the storm
We arrived down on site today armed with two enormous bags of chicken food (layers pellets and mixed corn) and a gigantic bag of sawdust. My initial plan was to clean out the chickens today but with a storm looming, I put it off. All the girls were happy to see us and we're clearly... Continue Reading →
Digging out the Coop
Today I dashed down to the allotment in my oldest clothes, ready to tackle the mammoth task of digging out the main coop. Over the last few days, Cliff has been busy spraying the coop with diluted jeyes fluid to kill off any bugs or disease in the coop. This was a temporary fix before... Continue Reading →
Seed Sale
And just like that, it begins again! The Allotment Federation's annual seed sale always marks the beginning of the new season - a time to plan in earnest, finish off digging the plot (assuming it isn't flooded) and clear out the shed/greenhouse/coop (delete as appropriate). I love the sale because it's one of the few... Continue Reading →
A humdrum update
Work has been crazy the last few weeks and I have barely made it down to the allotment, let alone had time to post an update. Now however, this shall be rectified! Over the past few weeks the weather has been horrendous, repeated deluges, high winds and cold snaps so it has been difficult to... Continue Reading →
The rain, it raineth every day
Over the last couple of weeks the deluge has continued. I have given up hoping the plot will be dry enough to dig over before Christmas. I suspect I will now have to wait until the spring as the next torrent of water is due to arrive shortly. Today we bought six bags of landscaping... Continue Reading →
Winter draws in
The weather has definitely taken a wintery turn over the last few weeks. The leaves have turned yellow and orange and begun to fall. The temperature has dropped significantly and the dark nights have drawn in. Today I went down the allotment with Fiona. We spent several hours cleaning out the coops which were long... Continue Reading →
Of chickens, weaving and weeding
This morning, free from the shackles of work, I walked happily down to the allotment. There were several people down at the clubhouse already so I joined Cliff, Coco, Steve, Chris and Mick the Greek for a while. I topped up Leia and Rey's food and water before hitting on a temporary solution to the... Continue Reading →
A day of chickens and bees
This morning I strolled down to the allotment to see if the ground had dried out. It hadn't. I give up - the weather either bakes the soil to a crisp or it's 6 inches under water! I went to the greenhouse and watched the chicks. When I arrived they were roosting in the nest... Continue Reading →
Ovecast but dry!
This morning, we walked down to the allotment determined to get through the massive list of jobs that I have been ignoring due to the inclement weather. We made a start by feeding Leia who seemed quite perky this morning. I put her out and left her happily exploring while we went down to the... Continue Reading →
Harvesting potatoes
This afternoon I went down to the allotment determined to make good use the dry weather to tackle the mass of weeds the plot has turned into. Upon my arrival, I discovered all the usual suspects in the clubhouse. I joined them briefly before heading off to the main coop. All the girls were there... Continue Reading →
Between the monsoon showers
This morning I decided to take advantage of the temporary pause in the rain and walked down to the allotment earlier than normal. I arrived to find several people already down including Steve who was busy with a saw, hacking apart the huge milk container by his greenhouse.As I walked down the plot to see... Continue Reading →
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