Little Green Space
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Little Green Space |
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September 2009 September 12, 2009 The Greenhouse I've had a greenhouse boxed up in the shed since I bought it back in April. It's only a little fella - 4' by 4' - but we've just not had time to get it out of the box and get it built. Rich's dad and brother came round in the week to help build it - and came back again today to finish it off. It took 13 hours, between the three of them, to get the job done. Unfortunately, I was at work, so couldn't help much. I did, however, make the staging by myself this afternoon. It took me ten minutes. I now have a place for my chilli plants, which have produced not a bean - or even a chilli - between them all summer. Lots of flowers, no fruits. I thought I'd pop them in the greenhouse, where they stood a slight chance of producing something before winter. They don't stand a chance on the patio - it's far too cold at night now. As I watered them this evening I noticed, with delight, that a couple of tiny chillis were beginning to form. September 12, 2009 The Hens The new birds are settling in well. We have had to "teach" them to roost, though - a problem we did not have with our first lot of hens. At dusk the new birds didn't go up the ladder to roost, but just clucked around the pen in a slightly panicky way. So we lifted them up into the roosting area - they were a bit drowsy, and easy to pick up. We figured they'd find their way down in the morning, to get to the food and water, and would therefore be able to work out where to go the next night. They did find their way down the next day, although not until after lunchtime. But at bedtime, although the white and grey birds had worked out where to go to roost, the brown and black birds hadn't. So we showed them again. By the fourth night all four birds had finally got the hang of roosting, and we've had no problems since! September 12, 2009 New Kids on the Flock
This morning we took a trip over to Little Morton Farm. We had decided to get three new hens, but by the time we arrived at the farm this number had grown unanimously to four. It was just as well, as there was an array of different coloured hybrids to choose from, and in the end we settled for one of each: black, brown, white, and grey/speckled. The white bird laid an egg on the way home, which was a pretty impressive start! The newbies need to stay in their house for a couple of weeks. This is partly so they know where to go to roost and to get food and water, and also to give Rosie, Bramble and Holly a chance to get used to the invasion of new birds. The old birds did seem to be a little alarmed at first - there was a lot of disapproving clucking going on - but they soon settled down. Given the current Harry Potter obsession in our house we were expecting the kids to name the hens something along the lines of Harriet, Veronica, Hermione and Hedwig; I threw out my usual suggestion of Pie, Curry, Casserole and Nugget, which (not surprisingly) didn't even raise a smile - just a lot of eye-rolling. In the end the kids selected Sooty, Henrietta (Hetty for short), Daisy and Misty: fine names for a fine flock. September 10, 2009 Hen House We ordered another hen house yesterday - we plan to get some more hens at the weekend - and today it arrived. We spent about an hour putting it together, and it is now all ready to receive its new occupants! September 2, 2009 Plums Last year, (and the year before, and the year before that, come to think of it) our plum tree didn't give us any fruit at all. Well, it did produce fruits, but they were tiny, hard little things that rotted on the branch before becoming ripe enough to eat. This year the tree is dripping with plums. So our friend Alison came round to help pick them. We picked 36lb between us, and that afternoon I made jam. Lots and lots of jam. I also peeled, halved and stoned a load of plums for the freezer. I made a plum crumble for tea, and sorted out some almost perfect specimens for the fruit bowl. Just as I had finished as much fruit preparation as I could stand, and was washing my hands (several times, in fact, unsuccessfully - plums stain something rotten) Rich came through the kitchen door with two big bowls of crab apples. "Can you do anything with these?" he asked So, taking a deep breath, we set to again and made up a big batch of crab apple vodka. Should be ready just in time for Christmas. September 1, 2009 Harvest It's so nice to come home from a holiday to discover that one's crops have not rotted/died of thirst/been eaten by slugs. Trouble is though, it takes time to harvest all that veg. So all our unpacking, washing and ironing has been put on hold as we frantically pick, pull and dig up.
This is just a small selection of the harvest. Want to know what they all are? Of course you do: Onions, red and white, broad beans, French beans, runner beans, courgettes (some of which are almost marrows), "Sunshine" squash, beetroot, radish, salad leaves, potatoes ("Sarpo Mira"), "Autumn Bliss" raspberries and Victoria plums.
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