14 February 2016, 22:02
It's 6 a.m. and I've just been brought a cup of tea in bed. Seconds later the thunder of paws on the stairs lets me know that the dog is heading for the bed and his morning biscuit. 6.20 a.m. and I'm downstairs starting on breakfast for the humans and any cats that have appeared after a night on the tiles. OH heads off to feed the horses. Breakfast is the time when we lay out the plans for the day; discuss any potential weather problems and sort out our priorities. It's amazing what can be worked out over a cup of coffee.
Breakfast over and kitchen cleared I start on my day. While the dishwasher is purring away I gather ashcan and start to clear out the fireplace. We have an oil-fired boiler for hot water and heating, but it's expensive, so we have an open fire in one room and a woodburner in another. They do get through a fair bit of wood and coal, but it still works out cheaper than firing up the boiler to heat the whole house. Today we are seeing a tree surgeon to discuss plans for dealing with a willow that has got too big for its boots. We are somewhat concerned about the safety aspect should high winds bring down any branches, so we are going to have the height and bulk reduced. I'm quite pleased about this because it means that we get another load of logs. Wood is not cheap around here, and I'm looking to offset the cost of the work to the tree against having to shell out for logs next winter. We should be in a "win" situation on this one.
The poultry are let out of their coops at about 8 a.m. at the moment. They shoot out and down the ramps and throw themselves on the feeders. For a few minutes all is a whirl of feathers while they fight for position and then they wander off to check for bugs and other goodies. We have a Dorking cockerel as our lad at the moment. Luckily he is an "old and bold" chap who doesn't make much noise, but he keeps his ladies in check. I leave them to their bug hunting and head back indoors.
One load of laundry in the machine and I start on my larder. I need to check on the dates of my tins - bring the oldest forward and make sure nothing is out of date. I am planning a visit to Lidl to stock up later this week and I need to rearrange the shelves. I also have a lot of dried goods and I plan on doing a date check to make sure nothing has deteriorated. An hour later and I have pretty much cracked it. Time to head out to the garden.
We are putting in a couple of raised beds this year. I plan on using heavy gravel boards to make the beds and will fill them with mature horse manure and wood chippings topped with soil. Hope it works. I measure out the area I want to use and mark with sticks - OH is going off with the trailer to pick up the wood later today. While I'm out in the back garden I take the opportunity to pull up a couple of beetroot and a celeriac for the kitchen. It's been so wet lately that I'm not spending too much time digging and weeding (although I want to) because it impacts the soil too much. I can bide my time. A few brave seedlings have pushed through in the propagator I notice. Whether they survive the cold and damp remains to be seen.
The tree surgeon arrives and we traipse off to inspect the offending tree. He is confident and reassuring that what we want done is quite possible and we set a date for the work to start in about a month's time. It looks like we will be getting a nice load of logs out of the work planned.
Lunch is a swift sandwich and then OH heads off with the Landrover and trailer to pick up wood. He will also swing past the local feed store and pick up horse feed and poultry pellets. We try to make sure that trips out cover as many things as possible - saves diesel.
Laundry is hung out on the line, and I get on with the next chore. We have a mixed hedge down one side of the field. It is blackthorn and hazel and it needs some attention. I take my shears and a machete and head off to start work. A lot of nettles and large clumps of grass are getting a bit invasive, so I start to hack the excess away. I'll bundle the cut weeds up and throw them into the chicken run. The chickens like to rootle around in it (chicken toys) and they peck away at the grass. Greenery in poultry diets is what make the egg yolks that lovely bright colour (in shop eggs it is made by colourants in the feed - just thought you would like to know that). It's nice to make the hens happy.
Rain stops play so I head off at speed to get the washing in and a cup of tea.
One load of wood and livestock feed unloaded later and we are back indoors watching the rain. It has been such a long, wet winter and I am wondering if we will ever see the sunshine again. I need to get out in my garden - looks like everything is going to be late again this year. I pour a couple of glasses of something and we sit down to make plans for some garden improvements.
6 p.m. and I head out to lock the poultry in their coops. This sounds easy and usually ends in a lot of swearing (Get in the bloody coop!!). For some reason I have a flock of mutinous hens and they run me ragged every evening. They have to be shut in for their own safety so I persevere, but I'll swear the blasted things are plotting something. Back indoors and I prepare supper - corned beef hash and greens this evening. I'm on a mission to save money and properly utilise my food stocks...... it's delicious.
At last, time to sit down, catch up with the news on TV and anything else that can be done from a sofa. I'm always last one up to bed, so I'm on horsewatch. This means that I get to head out into the dark later in the evening to check on the horses. They are stabled in winter so I walk across to the stables, lugging haynets. I'm greeted by snorts and whickers as they spot me and I'm mugged as I let myself into each stable. Nets up and water buckets checked and I'm done. One last look round and that's it for the night.
The rest of the evening is spent watching anything worthwhile on TV or catching up with stuff online. Bed-time - and I get to do it all over again tomorrow!
Breakfast over and kitchen cleared I start on my day. While the dishwasher is purring away I gather ashcan and start to clear out the fireplace. We have an oil-fired boiler for hot water and heating, but it's expensive, so we have an open fire in one room and a woodburner in another. They do get through a fair bit of wood and coal, but it still works out cheaper than firing up the boiler to heat the whole house. Today we are seeing a tree surgeon to discuss plans for dealing with a willow that has got too big for its boots. We are somewhat concerned about the safety aspect should high winds bring down any branches, so we are going to have the height and bulk reduced. I'm quite pleased about this because it means that we get another load of logs. Wood is not cheap around here, and I'm looking to offset the cost of the work to the tree against having to shell out for logs next winter. We should be in a "win" situation on this one.
The poultry are let out of their coops at about 8 a.m. at the moment. They shoot out and down the ramps and throw themselves on the feeders. For a few minutes all is a whirl of feathers while they fight for position and then they wander off to check for bugs and other goodies. We have a Dorking cockerel as our lad at the moment. Luckily he is an "old and bold" chap who doesn't make much noise, but he keeps his ladies in check. I leave them to their bug hunting and head back indoors.
One load of laundry in the machine and I start on my larder. I need to check on the dates of my tins - bring the oldest forward and make sure nothing is out of date. I am planning a visit to Lidl to stock up later this week and I need to rearrange the shelves. I also have a lot of dried goods and I plan on doing a date check to make sure nothing has deteriorated. An hour later and I have pretty much cracked it. Time to head out to the garden.
We are putting in a couple of raised beds this year. I plan on using heavy gravel boards to make the beds and will fill them with mature horse manure and wood chippings topped with soil. Hope it works. I measure out the area I want to use and mark with sticks - OH is going off with the trailer to pick up the wood later today. While I'm out in the back garden I take the opportunity to pull up a couple of beetroot and a celeriac for the kitchen. It's been so wet lately that I'm not spending too much time digging and weeding (although I want to) because it impacts the soil too much. I can bide my time. A few brave seedlings have pushed through in the propagator I notice. Whether they survive the cold and damp remains to be seen.
The tree surgeon arrives and we traipse off to inspect the offending tree. He is confident and reassuring that what we want done is quite possible and we set a date for the work to start in about a month's time. It looks like we will be getting a nice load of logs out of the work planned.
Lunch is a swift sandwich and then OH heads off with the Landrover and trailer to pick up wood. He will also swing past the local feed store and pick up horse feed and poultry pellets. We try to make sure that trips out cover as many things as possible - saves diesel.
Laundry is hung out on the line, and I get on with the next chore. We have a mixed hedge down one side of the field. It is blackthorn and hazel and it needs some attention. I take my shears and a machete and head off to start work. A lot of nettles and large clumps of grass are getting a bit invasive, so I start to hack the excess away. I'll bundle the cut weeds up and throw them into the chicken run. The chickens like to rootle around in it (chicken toys) and they peck away at the grass. Greenery in poultry diets is what make the egg yolks that lovely bright colour (in shop eggs it is made by colourants in the feed - just thought you would like to know that). It's nice to make the hens happy.
Rain stops play so I head off at speed to get the washing in and a cup of tea.
One load of wood and livestock feed unloaded later and we are back indoors watching the rain. It has been such a long, wet winter and I am wondering if we will ever see the sunshine again. I need to get out in my garden - looks like everything is going to be late again this year. I pour a couple of glasses of something and we sit down to make plans for some garden improvements.
6 p.m. and I head out to lock the poultry in their coops. This sounds easy and usually ends in a lot of swearing (Get in the bloody coop!!). For some reason I have a flock of mutinous hens and they run me ragged every evening. They have to be shut in for their own safety so I persevere, but I'll swear the blasted things are plotting something. Back indoors and I prepare supper - corned beef hash and greens this evening. I'm on a mission to save money and properly utilise my food stocks...... it's delicious.
At last, time to sit down, catch up with the news on TV and anything else that can be done from a sofa. I'm always last one up to bed, so I'm on horsewatch. This means that I get to head out into the dark later in the evening to check on the horses. They are stabled in winter so I walk across to the stables, lugging haynets. I'm greeted by snorts and whickers as they spot me and I'm mugged as I let myself into each stable. Nets up and water buckets checked and I'm done. One last look round and that's it for the night.
The rest of the evening is spent watching anything worthwhile on TV or catching up with stuff online. Bed-time - and I get to do it all over again tomorrow!