Week 8 - The depths of February and going strong.

We have decided to put the area where the pigs were a few years ago back to grass.  They did a great job of eating what was there, weeds and all.  We tried to turn it in to a veg area, unsuccessfully for multiple reasons and then covered it in membrane to suppress the weeds.  So now is the perfect time to buy grass seed to spread, ready for when it warms up.

You may remember that the Aga went off a weekend back.  Ste has tried to fix it a couple of times but it didn't play ball, nor did his back!  So I asked him to hang fire and rest a while before trying again.  In the meantime we realised the flue was sooted and needed cleaning - that leads me on to an email I have sent to the oil company as the oil has been burning poorly it seems.  More on that when they reply.

The reason I am telling you this is because the vacuum cleaner "blew up" when he was taking the soot out (it's a proper work one, not a domestic hoover!) and blew soot everywhere.  The kitchen went black for a few minutes and when we could see again, the black had settled on every work surface, nook and cranny it could find.  One wipe of the wall and I was just moving soot around.  Needless to say, it took a while to clean up but the saving grace is - the Aga is back on and happy!

One evening I snapped this photo, just something that makes me happy. 

I have a new work set up.  It's temporary as we have more plans!  It means I have the open fire to work by, which was lovely.  The temperatures are getting chillier again and we've had our fair share of rain this week.

The above photo isn't a pretty one, but it's practical as I always say.  The ducklings which are in the second brooder in the garage are getting big enough to be moved out so we will pop then in this greenhouse in the barn for a while before venturing outside when it's a little warmer.  These ducks will be for the freezer, we will be incubating more eggs soon.

The plan is to move them on Friday evening so they are quiet, then we will be here to supervise during the day Saturday whilst we work outside.  

A few days later.  The nights are noticeably lighter now.  When I feed the animals after work, it is still a lovely light.

On Saturday we woke up to a bright white frost.  Beautiful!

  

It was really chilly, just below freezing, but perfect working weather.  We had a lot to get on with after all.

The new beds were covered in a dusting of frost.  So pretty.

 

The weekend was taken up with more work in the plot.  We had a good tidy up, including removing the fencing that had previously been made in to a pen.  It looks a lot bigger and much tidier.  We also tried some home grown mushrooms, which were amazing.

 

Steven created some doors for the compost bins to keep everything neat and tidy.

He also laid a new pathway using the rubble stones we have lying around - a genius idea!  I'm thrilled with how it looks.

Whilst he did that, I had a couple of hours sowing seeds.

After finishing my tasks, I harvested a few veggies - come back next week to see what I did with them.  I was thrilled with the parsnips!