New Arrivals....

...eight point of lay 17 week old warren pullets arrived yesterday.

They are very shy, never having been outdoors before today.

There has been a bit of squabbling.

Some of the resident matrons are positively sulking...

What was really amazing was watching a couple of the new girls enjoying a dust bath for the first time. They have spent their entire life in a barn but an innate instinct took over. The wonder of creation.

Speaking of which, there has been a positive proliferation of plum blossom in just one week...

I hope it means a bumper crop of plums. The tree is just two years planted in our garden and was a young sapling. There were approx five plums last year. So here's hoping.

Another arrival this weekend is eldest daughter home from uni for five weeks.

Eleven year old daughter made a lovely spring flower table decoration..

Here it is displayed on a recently purchased rather jolly charity shop tablecloth (£2.79.)

And  just the excuse we needed to bake a big cake to welcome her home...

Also managed some seed sowing, a bit of weeding and quite a lot of leaning on the fence enjoying the bird song. All the brood back under one roof, happy days.

Right now....

...we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of our new girls and they have a lovely new house...

...there is a lot of promising blossom on our Lizzie plum tree....

we are enjoying the unseasonal warmth hanging out with cousins...

and brothers...

....sharing a pair of roller skates and enjoying it...

...eating lots of eggs daily for breakfast...

...hence the need for a few more of these...

It's all good.

Harvest

Tonight we enjoyed our first cucumber. It was not too big and a bit spiky but when peeled and sliced it was delish. We each had a piece of a shop bought one followed by a piece of this and God was it good in comparison. I only wish I had a few plants now and not just one.

We also shared a bowl of strawberries, (approx 2 each) Royal Sovereign from DT Browns. They are beautiful, glistening and just the right size. They are sweet with a hint of sharpness. I have never tasted a strawberry like them before.

The peas are coming on too and the french beans scrambling up the poles amongst other things. Growing at home has been much more successful for me than at an allotment. It is easier to keep on top of and whilst I have only a miniscule amount of space in comparison I have far fewer weeds and my plants are much healthier too. I have not been overwhelmed as I often was in the past.

Here is bigger son helping to water the garden

...as well as his little brother.

On a sad note, Reynard has paid us a visit twice in the last week and we have lost four of our hens, Edwina, Bunty, Dorothy and Maud. Maud was my favourite. Nature can be vicious sometimes.


P.S. My nephew (who is wearing the red shorts in my banner above ) has been poorly for several days and finally, after a lot of messing about, had his appendix removed the early hours of this morning. Have a good thought/prayer for him and his mum, my sister, who is expecting and has had several torrid nights with little if any sleep. Plus he has to stay in for several days for IV antibiotics as it was seemingly pretty bad.
Thank you in anticipation.

New Additions

We have two new additions to our little flock.....

Henrietta above and Hermione below...

They are light sussex and quite large hens compared to our regular brown Warrens and, great excitement, Henrietta is broody. Pictured above she is sitting on five hopefully fertile eggs provided by a friend who has a flock running with two cocks. So fingers crossed, in approx 18 days from now we may have some chicklets!

Meanwhile the garden is beginning to flourish. Just look at my little applets above. Aren't they cute?

This is a clematis called Graham something-or-other planted in September and looking lovely at the moment.

Here is our biggest strawberry "Royal Sovereign" just ready to turn hopefully.

Pea pods they are a plenty...can't wait to sample them.

And the boys have had loads of fun chasing bubbles. (Just look at my view, aren't I lucky?)

Hope you all had good weekends too.

Weekend Catch Up

My little flock saw a gap in the fence and made a bid for freedom.....

Oh the lure of a neighbouring dandelion leaf. They love em.

For those who don't keep hens, they very quickly turn a patch of green into bare earth (which they love scratting around in by the way) but they do love a nibble of a bit of greenery. Especially newly planted veg seedlings! We give them greens to eat as well as household scraps and layers pellets of course. But they are in 7th heaven in a patch like this which is my neighbours end of the garden composting/garden rubbish area. I think I may fence a bit of their own patch off and sow a fast growing green manure type plant to give them a bit of a change.

My 9 year old girl cub (much more fun than Brownies) has done her chefs badge. Three of them went to "The Warren" cub/scout HQ and prepared a lovely roast dinner for their families with delicious stuffing cooked from scratch as well as a choice of three sweets. It was great.

Inspired by Alys Fowler's Edible Garden we have planted some salad amongst our flower/shrub beds.

Not a very good photo I'm afraid but you get the idea.


And finally a lovely  lemon cake for tea, reluctantly made by my 12 year old...

but she was glad she made the effort later when she was eating it. Wouldn't have her picture taken though.

Hope your weekend was good too.

Morning Mist

It's a lovely crispy frosty misty morning here with the promise of sun to come. Shame I have to go to work later.

Here are the girls enjoying their breakfast.

Here is my 9 yr old girl also enjoying her breakfast at the foot of my bed.

Yesterday we enjoyed pancakes at my Dad's. We met up with four of my siblings and our fourteen children. It was noisy! I forgot my camera but here is a pic of some of the same clan enjoying a day on the riverbank in Clitheroe last summer.

Our pancakes were sublime. They were from Jane Brockets Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer cookbook. If you are not keen on pancakes I recommend you try this recipe as it is really good and will convert you.
Being the beginning of lent I had decided to forgo alcohol and bread for the season. However, this morning the sight of my newly made marmalade begging for a slice of wholemeal toast has made me relent. Mr. W. Power has deserted me on day 1. I will  have to try to be more resolute regarding the grog!

Did you know that Shrove Tuesday was the day, regardless of the date, that lacemakers blew out their candles for working with until the 3rd of September, Nutting day. This was to reduce cost. During the winter lacemakers would work together to share candlelight with the older more experienced sitting nearest the light and the youngest with better eyesight and lesser skills at the back.

Lacemakers' Rhyme

Be Shrovetide High or Low

Out the candle we will blow

Hope you enjoyed your Pancake Day, however you spent it.

Happy Valentines Day!

Dear Husband forgot! But luckily lovely 9 yr old daughter made me a gorgeous quirky papier mache heart and a scroll with Robbie Burn's "Love is like a red red rose."




It has been a mild day here and we spent some time outside in the garden with our little flock.....

f=

.....Edwina, Bunty, Ruby, Dorothy, Olive and Maud.





We are preparing a bed against a sheltered south facing wall to try and grow some fruit trees. We have today dug in plenty of old bedding muck from Dad's farm. The girls enjoyed having a good scrat amongst it.






This is the lovely stone wall which was covered in ivy when we arrived here in May last year. We are looking forward to hopefully apples and pears.



And here are the willing helpers...




The under gardeners enjoying a cup of tea and home made ginger biscuit afterwards,






and of course the Head Gardener.




I am not that grey, honestly!!


And 5 lovely fresh eggs too..






Poor Dear Hubby has spent the entire day frantically writing 2500 words for his latest assignment, he's doing an M.Ed. So children, hens, garden, tea and homemade biccies have made for a nice Valentine's day for me.