Spring is here!!!

What a beautiful day. Doesn't the sun on your back put a spring in your step? It lifts my mood, makes me feel healthy and generally makes everything feel easier. The longer, lighter days make me feel less rushed. Today felt like we had all the time in the world and I have discovered that is a truly wonderful feeling.

We spent the afternoon as a family in the vegetable plot, weeding, sowing, discovering and generally having fun. Our daughter grace who is 9 played mum. She brought us drinks to quench our growing thirst and cookies to plug the hunger gap. Our son, jack, dug holes for England whilst Steven and I weeded and tidied. Everyone was happy and then jack  summed it up perfectly by saying "it's lovely when we are all together isn't it?" Never a truer word spoken.

We planted cauliflower and broccoli outside in the brassica bed and peas and broad beans in the legumes bed (check me out!).

This weekend say us take ownership if another 20 fertilised eggs. 3 weeks today and we will have the next round of chicks. The first lot are thriving and amazing us daily by how quickly they are growing. Their laying days will be here before we know it. Those that are boys will serve us up some good Sunday lunches we hope.

Needless to say the geese still aren't laying!  They do however have a new and exclusive pond! Steven has dug a hole,  lined it with pond liner and made them a little place at the side to get in and out. Their apple shaped plastic pond is now empty and awaiting its next owners ;)

Unfortunately we still have lurgy floating around the household but we are determined to shake it off this week. We're due a week of no rain and maybe even a little sun so what better weather to shift the last of the colds and lurgies.

The horses have spent some lovely time out this weekend and enjoyed every minute. We're sorting their new paddock out with electric fence over the next week so that makes life easier for me as they can all go out together (currently split boys and girls).

Also a lovely lady over on househoarder had finally got the keys to her croft in Scotland. I can't wait to read all about it over the coming months. Congratulations Caroline and hubby.

Plans for this week are make homemade laundry liquid, electric fence the small paddock, prick out latest tomato seeds, plant more seeds, build new home for next arrivals, train puppies off lead....hmm.  Ahh, I love this life :):)

Strange old day

It's been a strange old day today. I haven't been well due to a cold that's leaving my eyes streaming, nose running and making me sneeze what feels like non stop.  I decided to work from home so I could feel sorry for myself in peace and not spread my germs around either. It's been part sick day, part work day. I had one meeting to join and some bits of paper work (online) to see to. As I've not been well I haven't done what I would normally do in the house if I were to be alone at home nor have I done the level of work I would if I was in the office. So I feel a bit, strange! That's the only way I can describe it.
My husband was at work as normal and the kids in school. My lovely mum picked them up for me as the meeting I had was right over school collection time.
Instead of riding the horses they have had a few hours out in the field each meaning I can snuggle up in the house earlier than normal and fight this cold.
I don't suppose anyone has any home grown cold remedies? Natural ones?
In seed news the first planted are still growing strong. The others are making their way in to the world and doing well.  No more chicks have hatched so looks like 9 out of 18 eggs. 50% will do for me for the first time. They have such a loud cheep, it's lovely to listen to.
Tonight or tomorrow I must organise the pantry before the big delivery on Friday. Don't let me forget.

First lot of seeds

Second lot of seeds

First lot of seeds

View from my window seat

We have chicks!

As I type this we have 4 chicks hatched with another couple pipping, meaning they have started to break through their shells. They are gorgeous. The breed that has hatched are cream legbar and can be sexed at birth based on colour and markings. So far we think we have 3 girls and a boy which is just perfect. The boy is Bernard, then we have Marmalade, Angela and Sophie 2nd.

What a lovely day.

Fertilised eggs, day 18

We are still no further forward in knowing if the geese are girls or boys but every day that passes is a day closer to egg laying so time will tell.

Today is day 18 for the eggs so we have taken out the sections that roll the eggs and now they are all sitting pretty ready to hatch in a humidity that's hopefully just right. Hatching is due on Saturday pm. That's our Saturday afternoon sorted! It's due to rain all day anyway so what better way to spend it.

The brooding box and heat lamp are ready for the new arrivals.

Tonight I have made a rapid wholemeal loaf and some chocolate chip cookies. I've some borax substitute on order to make home made laundry liquid and generally feeling quite good about things.

Happy Wednesday xx

New tack / storage room

My gorgeous husband has outdone himself again. He's managed to put a new tack room up over the last 2 days. This means all the stuff I have, my worldly horsey belongings, now have a home.  At the moment they are stacked around the barn in a fashion that means I never know where anything is.  Thank you. It's the best valentine's gift ever.

 

 

Staying on horsey news, sorry for any non horsey people, we managed to get them all in the field for a little while over the weekend. This is a big deal for us and is a huge step forward. I'm really pleased we paid to get the fence done instead of trying to tackle that one ourselves. Great job on the fence too by a firm in Durham.

 

 

This afternoon I spent an hour with my daughter planting the next lot of seeds. We have put in more tomatoes including the beefsteak which I am really hoping make it, aubergine, onion seeds, more cauliflower, mint and chives. I'll then take the advice of notjustgreenfingers and Caroline from thehousehoarder and plant them in pots so they don't become unruly. Thanks guys.

 

We have also candled the eggs that are in the incubator and we think we're on for 15 of the 18. 3 were duds and went the distance. They are due on Saturday and I can't wait for their arrival.

 

The geese have settled in magnificantly and merrily wander around the smallholding all day. They love their water, which at the moment is a kids paddling pool and they happily chat along to each other all day. We are still not sure if they are the boy and 2 girls we asked for but they are lovely all the same.  I love this life :).
 

First 'proper' weekend

Although we were moved in last weekend, it was a non stop work weekend.  So this one is our first "proper" weekend in that we would do normal things that we would do most weekends and enjoy our new home.

The front of the farmhouse, with a cheeky little girl sneaking in after their daily hack out.

The only difference to a normal weekend being that we made it to Durham Hens at Tow Law which I highly recommend.  The guy there was so helpful and the views on the way were simply stunning.  We bought 4 new hens (Rosemary, Laura, Felicity and Lilly) that are around 26 weeks old and are all supposed to be laying well, so much so our first egg of the day was a double yoker! 

We also bought 18 fertilised pure breed eggs.  6 Buff Orpington's, 4 Cream Legbars, 2 Welsummers, 1 Derbyshire redcap, 2 Lakenvelders, 3 Columbian Blacktails.  The 4 layers are hybrids and should lay pretty much all year round.  The pure breeds, if we get any and when they reach point of lay, will generally stop during the winter, according to our experience of our own and what the guy said, but time will tell.

Each one is numbered and the number represents the breed.

We've taken a family guess at how many chicks we think we will get and the guesses are 4, 10, 12 and 18.  If only 1 hatches we will be happy!! We have an automatic turning incubator that I bought online, so fingers and toes crossed for a healthy lot of chicks in 21 days time.

My Nanna came to visit today.  It's the first time she's been since we moved in and she loved the place.  She's in her 90's and is doing amazingly.   I made her some home made bread buns with slow cooked ham, a bought quiche (eventually I plan to have a few homemade ones in the freezer in case I don't have time to make fresh ones) and a nice pot of tea.  She had a lovely time and really enjoyed it.

Proving (as I now know it to be called).

Freshly baked

I have finally got round to making a cake for the farmer who helped us no end when we moved in.  His eyes lit up at the thought of the cake my DH kindly offered on my behalf ;) and so I made a chocolate cake per Mary Berry's instructions.  It was the same as I made for my friend last week, however this time I made a dip in the middle of the cakes before baking so they came out a lot flatter rather than domed (opposed to doomed, which I nearly just typed!).

Back to the grind of work tomorrow.  Menu plan to follow, however tomorrow night will be a one pot, something simple to scoop in to a bowl with home made bread after a first day back in the office. I will keep the memories of this weekend with me to see me through each working day!

I managed to squish in unnoticed.

View en route to Tow Law for the chickens

He wouldn't let me in...

My gorgeous girl. 

Question/s of the week.  What's the purpose of a cold frame?  Do you think we will benefit from one in addition to the greenhouse?  Are they not similar in use?

Counting down to D-Day!

We have 3 weeks and 5 days left before we get to move in to our dream home.  We are literally counting down the sleeps!  The temporary accommodation that we're staying in (my Uncle's empty house) is working out okay, but it's trying.  There's very little space, but we have hot water and cooking utensils with a roof over our head so I shouldn't complain too much.

We are almost done with the Christmas shopping which includes a treat to myself of seeds.  My Dad has kindly offered to start some off for me, specifically the onions.  I bought a couple of different varieties:  Onion 'Kappa', Onion 'Bunton's Showstopper' and Onion 'Rossa di Toscana' - Vita Sementi which are a red variety.  He has planted a few of the today and we will stagger more over the next few months.

I have bought DH an incubator for Christmas :D and we can't wait to use it.  Ideally I would buy fertilised eggs to start asap but we couldn't keep them warm on moving day, so really we should wait until we're in.