Early this morning, I walked down to the allotment to find Pop and Leia already up and about. I picked up Pop and put her next to the refilled food bowl. To my astonishment, she stood upright, with her toes and legs correctly placed, seemingly balanced and comfortable for several minutes. It was incredible! Who... Continue Reading →
Allotment by Moonlight
This evening I walked down to the allotment to check on Pop. Autumn is definitely on the way as it is getting noticeably darker earlier. When I got to the greenhouse, I closed the front door and ambled around the back to check if Pop had made it into the nest box. Fortunately, she had!... Continue Reading →
End of Summer
Over the last few days, the weather seems to have turned. It definitely feels more like autumn than summer and the torrential rain more like winter. At this time of year, if the weather is still good there is still lots going on, harvesting and weeding as well as putting in the winter crops. The... Continue Reading →
Big steps forward
Today, despite the rain, something very exciting happened. I put Pop out into the tree pot and left her for a few minutes to enjoy the greenery and a fresh chunk of courgette. Leia had laid another egg and assessed my every move as I cleaned out the bedding. When I finished, I checked on... Continue Reading →
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee
This afternoon I pottered down to the allotment determined to make a start on the community garden pond. Over several months, the weed in the pond has started to choke the water plants. When I arrived, Cliff was busy putting the finishing touches to Sarah and Liz's pond so I went to sort out the... Continue Reading →
Beavering Away
I arrived down on site at midday today, determined to do some more weeding and cleaning out the greenhouse. When I arrived, I spent a few minutes sitting in the shed, looking at the plot. I am so pleased with how it has transformed this season. The new sections have made my life much easier... Continue Reading →
Building the Ponderosa
When I arrived on site today, I found Sarah and Cliff hard at work digging an enormous hole for the new pond. Cliff had spotted a perfect container on another plot and the plot holder was happy to donate it. This saved huge amounts of time and effort as we didn't have to buy pond... Continue Reading →
Obliterating Weeds
I walked down late to the allotment this afternoon. I ran into Sarah as I arrived and we had started to have a chat when Cliff joined us. He had managed to find a large container for Sarah and Liz so they could build their own pond. We discussed where was best to put it... Continue Reading →
Wind Damage
The rolling in of the first storm of the season has left the site in disarray. I spent several minutes sheltering from the heavy rain in the main coop. As per the usual way of things with Aggie, she spent several minutes upsidedown as penance for repeatedly attacking my feet. Each time I put her... Continue Reading →
Chicken Hunting in the Dark
This evening I ambled down to close up the greenhouse door. The weather had been quite windy and the door always has a habit of throwing itself off the runners during strong gusts. As I approached the main gate, Pam came dashing out looking rather frantic. She looked around, spotted me and came rushing up... Continue Reading →
Slow and Steady
The rain has set in for the next couple of days so I times my walk to the allotment for a short break in between the showers. Upon arrival, I went to chat to Geoff and spent a while setting the world to rights. I had brought down some kitchen scales and Flubenvet - a... Continue Reading →
Ninja Chicken Strikes Again
So a quick dash to the allotment this morning before a day out and about. Upon arrival, I shouted hello to Geoff who was busy cleaning his coop and checked the greenhouse. Leia was visible, shouting at me for some reason. There could be so many reasons, that I have given up trying to work... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
Coop sterilisation
After a rather sad start to the morning, I walked to the allotment hoping that there wouldn't be anything wrong with any of our other girls. Fortunately, all the others seem to be ok and Pop seems to be going from strength to strength. I joined Cliff and Koko for a chat whilst Pop spent... Continue Reading →
RIP Georgie
Sadly this morning, we lost Georgie. Rescued from a commercial farm where she lived with thousands of other chickens. She never went outside or had the opportunity to eat all different types of food. In her 13 months retirement with us, she has enjoyed spending time outdoors, eating all sorts of different treats and spending... Continue Reading →
Building a Chicken Wheelchair
So after some online research and browsing of an Austrian webpage, I discovered chicken wheelchairs are actually a thing! Unfortunately, the only place I could potentially order one for Pop was in Australia and there weren't posting to the UK currently. Undeterred, I asked on a chicken forum whether anyone else knew about wheelchairs and... Continue Reading →
The Loofas go beserk
Yesterday when I cleaned out Leia and Pop's coop, I had moved Leia into the top section of the nest box and dumped Pop rather unceremoniously in the Plymouth Pear tree pot. I was halfway through clearing away the old bedding when I heard some clucking coming from the pot behind me. There was Pop... Continue Reading →
A quiet few days
Over the last couple of days, there has been no significant events or exciting adventures. I know that now I have written this, there will instantly be several incredibly noteworthy events happening simultaneously. But allotment life has gentler days when all that needs attending to is the chickens and time on site is spent chatting... Continue Reading →
Roses are red, violets are blue, angry bees are all over you!
Today was rather a bitty day. We ambled down to the allotment at lunchtime to feed the chickens. They were all happy to scoff their treats and then ignore us. My husband amused himself in picking up Tommy for a cuddle. Needless to say, he wasn't impressed. I showed my husband all my hard work... Continue Reading →
Mushroom Logs Again
This evening as the heat of the day was beginning to relent, we walked down to the allotment to put Pop back inside. It was still horribly hot. Pop had managed to shuffle herself to the corner of the run. While impressive, it was rather frustrating because it made catching her difficult. I managed to... Continue Reading →
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