After a busy morning at home, I arrived at the allotment armed with a bag full of equipment and supplies for lunch. Liz wanted to give her new stove a try and I offered to bring hot chocolate to wash down her homemade minestrone soup. Knowing I would get entirely distracted by lunch, I made... Continue Reading →
Victory for The Persuader
While I was attending a committee meeting this morning, I left my husband in charge of clearing out our garden shed and, if he had time, dismantle it. How the shed has survived eight years considering it had a rather drunken tilt to it when we moved in, is utterly beyond me. It has survived... Continue Reading →
The Three Amigos
The weather was amazing today - bright, clear and with glorious winter sunshine. When I arrived on site, I found Cliff and Michael had moved their chairs to sit in the sunshine as they enjoyed a cuppa. We had arranged yesterday that we would do a tip run with Cliffs trailer to remove some rubbish... Continue Reading →
The Great Chicken Escape
Whilst you read this, please have the tune of the Great Escape playing in your head... The sun was out, the sky was blue and cheerfully I headed out to the allotment. When I arrived, I discovered Geoff, Cliff and Michael busy putting the world to rights. I joined them for a quick chat before... Continue Reading →
Autumn Sunshine
Early this morning I pottered down to the allotment to check on the chickens. It was a beautiful warm autumn day. Almost no clouds and the sun shining bright was enough to entice most of the plot holders down to the site. Opening up the shed, I greeted the Weed Destroyers and headed off to... Continue Reading →
Escaping to the Outdoors
As things get more and more stressful at work, the escape outdoors becomes essential. After spending hours wrestling with a mountain of paperwork, I snuck out for an hour to the allotment. It's amazing what an hour surrounded by green space can do to your mood. I left feeding the chickens until later in the... Continue Reading →
Drowning in Weeds
Up and out early this morning after making a few phone calls. The sun was out again although the temperature was distinctly cooler than yesterday morning. On site I found Derek busy clearing Plot 8. It's in a dreadful mess after a couple of years of flooding and minimal cultivation. I joined him but didn't... Continue Reading →
Clucking Along Nicely
The oppressive heat continues, more like mid July than early September. With the week looking increasingly busy, I bribed my long suffering husband to come down and help out. An offer of sausages for lunch, cooked outside the shed definitely helped! As the door of the shed opened, we were hit by a wave of... Continue Reading →
Sudden Reappearance of Summer
Waking up to sunshine pouring through the window, I grabbed my keys and ran down to the allotment. Upon my arrival, I found Cliff, Geoff and Cliff chatting by the sheds. I shouted hello and disappeared off to the shed. I put up the sail sunshade and threw in some kale for the little Weed... Continue Reading →
Sausage Sandwiches
Today was an important day - the AGM was finally here. There has been quite tense build up and everyone was a little on edge as we gathered near The Don's shed. The turnout was brilliant with a good representation from across the site, something that has been lacking in previous years. Once the new... Continue Reading →
RIP Snap
I ambled down late morning to the allotment armed with supplies for lunch. Before I started any jobs, I sat with Geoff, Darren, The Plod and Cliff about the AGM tomorrow morning. It could be quite an interesting meeting as we haven't had a committee meeting in over two years. Hopefully it will be a... Continue Reading →
Diamond Hunting
Up and out early, I got to the allotment ready to help Cliff take some builder's bags of rubbish to the tip. I opened up the shed and fed some kale to the Weed Destroyers. Between us, we lugged the horrendously heavy red builder's bag from the Community Garden up to the back path. Cliff... Continue Reading →
Chickens and Foraging
I rolled up to the allotment this afternoon to find Cliff sitting on the main path enjoying the sunshine. Grabbing a drink, I joined him as we discussed what has been happening on site over the last few days. It's always fun to sit and chat with the guys at the allotment as we put... Continue Reading →
Digging and Weeding
This morning was a total wash out. Really heavy showers and high winds which saw me curl up on the sofa and watch the Olympics until it stopped. After lunch there were signs of a break in the rain so I grabbed my keys and ran down to the plot. Releasing the Weed Destroyers, I... Continue Reading →
Epic Coop Cleaning
Today was a manic day at the allotment. With no broody hens, I could finally clean out the new coop and whilst I was at it I thought I might as well do the other two. The first nest box was so much easier to clean now that Will has added hinges to the roof.... Continue Reading →
Sunshine and Flowers
Another busy morning today saw me arrive mid-afternoon at the allotment. Upon my arrival, I walked down to the main coop to check on Millie. She seemed alright although she is clearly at the bottom of the pecking order. What was wonderful to see was that all of the girls were on the perches including... Continue Reading →
Broody or Not Broody – that is the question!
Today we walked down to the allotment in the glorious sunshine. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. All three bantams were out enjoying scratching and dust bathing. It was interesting to see Trixy outside after her attempt at being broody yesterday. Yesterday, I had to extract the eggs she was determinedly sitting on. The... Continue Reading →
A Quiet Evening
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 →
Odds and Ends
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 →
Collecting Freebies
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 →
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