An evening of Nettles, Weeds and a Chicken Loss

Tuesday, 8th August

Another day of the paid job followed by a busy evening outside.  Whilst I set about gathering some veg for tea, Steven used a pair of jump leads he has just bought to get the ride on started.  It needs a new battery but this was good enough for what he had planned.  Cheaper too!

 

 

The beetroot (Detroit Dark Red) was absolutely fantastic.  I made a sausage tray bake, one of my favourite meals which can be adapted at any time of the year to what's in season. 

The job for the evening on my plate was weeding another 2 beds, pathways etc to complete the Veg Garden as we call it.  

Here you can see pictures 1 and 2 showing the before and after for the Winter beetroot bed.  At the back of it, there's space for more seeds which will be spinach and radish I think.  However when I went to get my seed packets, I realised I needed more time than I had so I cracked on and weeded bed 3 which you can see here.  This one has the bush tomatoes, leeks, tomatillos and coriander in it that is flowering.  I will sow something else there.  Maybe flowers as no veg grows that well in the shaded corner.

 

Sadly, during the course of the night, we noticed a hen wasn't well.  Grace brought her to the veg garden where she kept her comfortable until she sadly passed away a short time later.

 

Steven worked tirelessly on the nettles that run alongside the car park area, meaning you can actually see through the fence as in this photo, which I took half way through his task.  When I went to see how he was getting on, I noticed the hazelnuts are coming on nicely.

Should you be interested, the night is also documented on  YouTube.

What the weekends are for.

Now that things are getting back to normal after the moving in/birthday party,  holiday and travel with work, I am pleased to report we have had a lovely weekend.
Having already decorated the snug, we have started to decorate our main living room. The house was built around 1850 and is a farmhouse. We would like to try and be as sympathetic to how the house would have been when it was built as we can. We've knocked out (well Ste has) the fire place that has be filled in over the years and yesterday we picked out a multi fuel stove to go in the space that he's created. The space is how the fireplace was originally built as you can make out the natural space and the brick surround. It needs some TLC but once the stove is in place on the new flagstones that we have bought, it will look fabulous.
We haven't decided on carpet or wooden floor but as the house is so cold I am veering towards a nice thick carpet.
The room will be the main more formal room (if this house can have one with 3 dogs, 2 kids and other animals whose bedding sticks to our clothes) as we use the snug during the week and to watch films in etc.
That's what's happening inside. Outside were having to do more fencing sooner than planned as the pony has decided to jump the stock fencing that's in place and now I am worried he will get hung up on it. Eventually we will replace all the fencing here but I was thinking over a few years, not months! Anyway we have some posts left over from the last fence and they are going in soon as there is a priority section as the horses have leant on what's there almost snapping it.
Today we had Sunday lunch and I am mightily impressed with Steven and myself as we pulled off a tasty and mostly homegrown dinner. The chicken, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage were all raised by us. We had strawberries to follow and have gooseberries and rhubarb ready to make more jam with. The rhubarb and ginger jam I made last month went almost immediately despite me saying I was making the first preserve to see us through the winter!! It didn't make it out of spring.
I have all the ingredients to make more, now I need to find the time. Happy Sunday everyone.

Summer is here

Summer is such a happy season it seems. In our previous house I didn't really acknowledge it but now we live here, I am really noticing the seasons changing. The strawberries are turning red and the most delicious tasting, the horses are happily staying out overnight and the hens are almost refusing to go to bed!
My daughter had a lovely ride on her pony tonight and we walked him down the lane to cool off afterwards. It's just so relaxing and enjoyable living here in the summer. Next week we are back to the usual routine until the kids break up.
Has anyone else had horrendous hay fever this year?