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Little Green Space |
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Little Green Space |
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March 2008 March 28, 2008 Barn Owls We know we have tawny owls living on the land, because we have seen and heard them, but we would really like to encourage barn owls to take up residence too. Barn owls are finding it harder and harder to find places to nest, as old barns tend to be pulled down or renovated to provide housing for humans. Their foraging habitat is also being lost through intensive farming methods, while extreme weather conditions caused by climate change are also leading to starvation for many of these birds. We are starting our Barn Owl Project this weekend with the installation of the first barn owl nesting box at Hackney Leys. The large ash trees are ideal for siting barn owl boxes, and the long tussocky grass is the ideal habitat for voles - the barn owl's favourite meal. We bought the barn owl box from Ladygrove Feeds at Two Dales, who stock a good range of nesting boxes, feeders and seed. We are up against the clock a little, as barn owls begin nesting towards the end of March, and obviously they need to know that the box is there. Hopefully we still stand a chance of an owl spotting the box on a fly by - and if not, we will perhaps provide a home for a family of jackdaws! If you are interested in attracting barn owls to a site near you, you can find out more here. March 24, 2008 Pumpkin Pit Yesterday Rich dug a pumpkin pit. Our compost bin is full to overflowing and we needed a quick solution for the mounting kitchen waste. He dug out a pit, 1 metre square, to about a spade's depth. The kitchen waste, including some torn up cardboard and some chicken manure was tipped into the bottom of the hole in a thin layer and covered with soil. This process will be repeated until the pit is full up and topped with a small mound of soil. We will then leave it for a couple of months before planting pumpkin seedlings into it. The pit creates perfect conditions for growing pumpkins, apparently - as the compost breaks down it releases the heat that pumpkins need to grow. I'll let you know if it works! March 23, 2008 Happy Easter! Our Easter present from one of the hens was the most enormous (hen's) egg I have ever seen. When we cracked it into the frying pan we saw this:
Our first double yolker! It tasted really good. As you can see from the egg counter, we're getting a pretty good supply of eggs now. We've had friends to visit over the weekend, and served them Caramelised Red Onion and Feta Quiche, and Lemon Drizzle Cake - made with our eggs, of course! March 19, 2008 Ready to Grow! I've been unwell for a few weeks and have been unable to finish off the digging of the vegetable garden, which has been frustrating, given that I was so tantalisingly close to having it finished. Luckily Rich stepped in and got the last two square metres dug over, fertilised and raked, so we're now ready to grow! We've put in onion sets - Red Baron and Sturon, as well as garlic, which is just starting to poke through. A couple of rows of parsnip seeds (Gladiator) have been sown, and the pea supports are in place. I also have some seedlings growing happily in the mini-greenhouse and on the windowsill: tomato (Red Cherry, Tamina and SubArctic Plenty), cauliflowers (Snowball), Brussels sprouts (Evesham), peas (Feltham First) and leeks (Musselburgh). These will all be hardened off shortly and put into the ground - except for the tomatoes of course, which will have to wait until after the last frosts. Then it's just a question of waiting to see if it works!
Some of the spring cabbages and purple sprouting broccoli got eaten by pigeons, so the rest have been netted to protect them, and should be ready to harvest in a few weeks. March 17, 2008 Yellow
Don't you just love this time of year? March 12, 2008 Night Noises We've had some pretty noisy nights here of late. Aside from the sound of gale force winds and torrential rain whipping around the house, we have heard some chilling shrieks and cries coming from the meadows. These unearthly screams are made by a female fox, and are a common sound during the nights of February and March, as the vixen calls to attract a mate. Fox cubs are born from March to April and the vixen will stay with her young for the first few weeks of their lives, while the dog fox hunts for food to bring his family. The family group stays together, and in summer the adults and young can be seen playing together in the top meadow. The foxes are often joined in their cries by a couple of tawny owls. There is a tawny owl nesting in the large ash tree in the top meadow, and the classic, tremulous "hoo-hoo-hooo" sound, echoed by another owl across the fields, is one of the joys of living here. March 3, 2008 Egg!
Exactly 3 weeks after the hens first joined us, we have collected our first egg. I feel a little like a proud new parent, and have phoned friends and family to spread the news! No idea which hen it's from - it wasn't there when Rich went down to lower the ramp at 7.30am. Now we are trying to decide how to make one small egg feed 4 of us (everybody wants a bit!). I have heard from a reliable source that the first few eggs are quite small, then become a bit bigger. Now we know they can do it - we'll be expecting more tomorrow! March 1, 2008 Chicken Out! Two things I have learned today about chickens: 1) chickens will go wherever they want and 2) chickens will not come when they're called. (Even if offered a handful of tasty sweetcorn). This I discovered when we let the chickens out of their run for the first time today. It was lovely to see them all scratching around in the grass, but they largely ignored the 5 acres of grassland at their disposal, and instead scrambled under the hedge and headed for the garden. This is not really a problem - our garden is not pristine by anyone's standards, and it was very pleasant to sit at the table with a cup of tea while the chooks pecked around us. They were great for entertaining the kids, too - I don't know how long it will take for the novelty to wear off, but the children spent a good couple of hours following and being followed by the chickens. "This has been the best day ever!" they said when it was time to go in. Boy, do those kids need a day out!
At dusk I was expecting a comical chicken chase around the garden, in order to get the birds to bed. What actually happened was that, at the first hint of sunset, the birds pootled off back to the pen, and we closed the door. They are such good hens! |
