Adventures in the life of an English allotment
This afternoon, I received a very exciting offer from a local chicken breeder - he had a year old porcelain millie fleur pullet he was looking to re-home. Unfortunately, someone else who had promised to take her kept letting him down with a myriad of excuses. When he discovered the coop hadn't arrived he refused... Continue Reading →
Occasionally, in between the rain and frantically busy days at work, I let the silkies roam the garden. It's so lovely to see them explore and enjoy time outside the coop. They continue to get more friendly and will now eat happily from a food bowl right next to me. They never stray far from... Continue Reading →
We had a sad phone call from Geoff today letting us know that one of our Rhode Island Red hens had suddenly died. Neither Aggie or Cassie had shown any signs of illness or discomfort so our best guess is a heart attack. Sometimes chickens do have sudden heart attacks, suddenly dropping down dead where... Continue Reading →
This evening, I walked down to the allotment to check on the chickens. Happily, everyone was busy enjoying the brief respite from the relentless rain of the past week. Roxy and Trixy greeted me with loud shouts and continued to holler at me until I had thrown in enough weeds to satisfy them. It took... Continue Reading →
Today was a plottering day at the allotment. One of those days where you arrive and don't really have much of a plan and spend the day drifting between little jobs. When I arrived, I immediately went to check on the girls in the new coop and say hello to Liz, Sarah and Andy. To... Continue Reading →
I ambled down to the allotment this evening to see how Snap and Sadie were getting on with the others. When I arrived Lilja and Leia were confidently walking around the run with Sadie and Snap hiding behind the perches. Rolling my eyes, I watched as Lilja and Leia took themselves to bed. Leia however,... Continue Reading →
An early start this morning saw me down the allotment and sorting out Roxy and Trixy wondering how on earth the nest box would be moved. To be honest, this is the panicked thought that has haunted me over the past few weeks. Will appeared around the shed door and said he and Cliff were... Continue Reading →
This morning after completing several errands in town, I arrived on site determined that the base of the chicken run would be finished today. Cliff appeared and explained his new idea for the base. Rather than put the concrete blocks running parallel to the base of the run, place them perpendicular. This would mean the... Continue Reading →
This morning the weather was so lovely, I got down to the allotment early. I had found a couple of people who were selling breeze blocks and whilst I waited to see whether I could collect them later, I got busy with the blocks we already had. After a brief chat with Cliff and consulting... Continue Reading →
Yesterday afternoon I checked on the mouse nest. I had hoped the adult mice would have come back to the nest but when I checked inside the plant pot, I discovered that the smaller one had died and the other one was only making weak movements. Call me soft, but I couldn't just let it... Continue Reading →
So today was a day of starting many different jobs and not quite finishing any. When I arrived, I opened up the shed and let Roxy and Trixy out. The weather was perfect - clear skies with some sunshine but not too hot. I went to say hello to Koko who was in her favourite... Continue Reading →
This morning I walked down early to let Roxy and Trixy out of the nest box. I am hoping that tomorrow the screws for the fox-proof skirt will arrive along with a few other oddments for the Omlet. But until it arrives, I will be popping down at night and in the morning to close... Continue Reading →
Today I ran down to the allotment ready to work on getting the new chicken run into place. When I arrived, I said hello to Sarah and Cliff who were busy working away on the new greenhouse. By the time I got there, they had managed to get in one of the front panels and... Continue Reading →
This afternoon we jumped into the car and drove across to Macclesfield to collect our new Omlet Eglu Classic coop and run. It was rather an impulse buy but it was such a bargain that I couldn't let it pass. The lady selling said it needed a few repairs which are simple enough to do.... Continue Reading →
Today I arrived on site at lunchtime armed with a cool bag full of food. After a busy morning at home, I was looking forward to having some time outside. Even the most boring foods taste so much better when eaten outside. Liz and Sarah appeared and we set up the table. With the stove... Continue Reading →
Today was the day that nonessential shops could open for the first time since December. Up early, I dashed into town before it got too busy and popped into my favourite shop. Armed with new sewing fabric, I began to wall home. Partway back, I spotted I had a missed call from Steve. I called... Continue Reading →
This morning I dashed down to take advantage of the clear, if very cold, day. My first job was to tilt the solar panel. It's so heavy that in the end, I gave up. The metal tilt props are too tall to use so whilst I was trying to work out how to shorten them... Continue Reading →
The cold and rain that greeted me this morning was rather depressing. Ever since I put up the solar panel, the weather has been either cold, windy but dry or wet and windy. Neither particularly helpful for growing plants or for working solar panels. I'm beginning to think that by putting up the solar panel,... Continue Reading →
Over the past year I have been thinking about how to get power to the shed. The amount of time I spend down on the plot in the spring and summer would surely warrant the expense of a solar set up? It would mean we could have a light in the shed during the winter,... Continue Reading →
Today I ambled down to the allotment with a few minor jobs in mind. I arrived and fed all the chickens. Every single one of them shouted at me, like I could stop the cold wind or make it warmer! I collected five eggs from the main coop and one from Roxy in the greenhouse.... Continue Reading →
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