Friday 19 November 2010

My Girls!

Meet my girls, I’ve managed to capture all four together, but Hazel (Grey) is hiding behind the others so you don’t see her lovely features. Four eggs to date, so in one week and with only one bird laying so far I’m well on track to keeping myself well stocked up over the winter, when they are all laying I’m going to have ample, then I can start to think about letting friends and family have some.

So back in October I told you about going on a course regarding how the best way to plant the fruit trees were and that this would be followed up with a course on winter care and pruning. Well this weekend is the pruning course, so I’ll be learning how to keep my trees (and those of the community allotment) in tip top condition so that the harvests are bountiful.

Saturday, weather permitting will be some of the winter jobs that need doing.

Tuesday 16 November 2010

Eggtastic!!!

Well you wait all this time for an egg and two come along together just like buses. I went to Edinburgh for the weekend, Samson went to the kennels and I left the girls to their own devices, the hut and run is predator safe so I put enough food and water in to last them the two days and left them too it. I checked the nest box the next morning after my return to find an egg there; I was chuffed to bits but then also disappointed as I’d missed the actual event. When I went home that lunch time to take Samson for his walk and to give the girls their afternoon corn I found another egg which had obviously been laid that morning after I had left for work, so Caleb and I were both able to have Egg and soldiers for our tea last night and truly enjoyable they were too.

I think it is Mrs Pepperpot who has laid the eggs so far, they were brown in colour, which is the colour she lays (although Hazel supposedly lays brown eggs) but Mrs Peppperpot has the reddest wattle and comb so I think she is slightly older than the other three and has now started her egg count. For ‘stocktaking’ purposes I am going to keep a little running tally of who has laid however many number of eggs. That is providing I am able to tell the difference between Hazels and Mrs Pepperpot’s eggs. The other two should be easier as they are different colours.

The weather over the coming weekend seems to be forecast nice and fine so I’m hopefully going to get a few more winter jobs done.

Wednesday 10 November 2010

Quick Update

Well the ‘girls’ have settled in lovely, no eggs yet, I keep threatening them with a boiling pot but so far it hasn’t worked. They all seem to get to themselves to bed ok just as the night is drawing in, all are feeding well and there doesn’t seem to be any bullying, though I think Mrs Pepperpot is the boss, well she seems to be at the moment…

Most of the potatoes have been lifted, the only problem I have now is storing them, my shed at the plot is not solid, i.e. small animals etc can get in to it as there is a gap around the very bottom of it, and the shed at home is not waterproof, the roof is leaking, the floor has rotted and the window is broken so I have some work to do. I’m thinking of building a larder type storage building at the back of my extension, something similar to an out-house. I don’t have a large kitchen so there really isn’t anywhere to store surplus winter produce at the moment. I’ll just have to do my best this winter and hopefully have something in place for the harvests of next season.

Pete, one of the other community plot holders has made a start on digging holes for our trees. My own four trees have arrived and as per normal I’m not anywhere near ready for them to go in the ground, so I’ve had to ‘heal’ them in the small raised beds I have in my back yard until they be planted properly. I hope I’m not doing them too much damage; they are in their dormant stage so hopefully everything will work out ok. But the quicker they are in the ground the better, especially the Plum tree, apparently these need to be planted by the end of November, the Apples and Pears can be planted up till February.

Hope your winter jobs are coming along nicely.
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