The Chicken Run
Posted: Wed 1 April, 2009 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Getting Organised, Green, Green Garden, Thoughts 2 Comments »It’s coming up for a year now since we enlarged the chicken run (well, we did it at the end of July, so it’s about 8 or 9 months) and I’m debating what to do with the thing.
The problem is, of course, that the three chickens have pretty much pecked the place to death, so there’s not much except dirt and nettles in there at the moment. There’s a couple of bits in there for the amusement of the chickens (hay bales etc.) but I’m still thinking about what we should do with the ground in there.
I suppose there’s three options really…
- Leave it as it is
- Put new turf in the entire area of the run
- Cover the run in bark-chip or similar (wood mulch, whatever)
With the exception of “leave it like it is”, both the other options would also involve setting up a smaller temporary run (possibly on the veg patch, let ’em peck away at the weeds and mare’s tail) for a couple of weeks, while we got the work done.
I know that Blue Witch recently re-turfed her chicken run but I haven’t yet decided between turf and bark-chip/wood mulch. I suspect that over time, the wood mulch would give them something they could keep on pecking into etc., but it’d still have to be replaced/cleared up every so often, due to the quantity of crap that chickens produce.
It’s something that’ll be decided sometime in April, I’m sure.
Yesterday
Posted: Sun 22 March, 2009 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Green Garden, House Work Leave a comment »Well, as it turns out, the problem with the cooker was actually an issue with the gas supply stuff outside the house – the low-pressure thingy had been triggered somehow, and was doing exactly what it was supposed to do.
Luckily, the cooker engineer who came out was lovely, and willing to talk to the guy who had done the original install (who also knew we were more than slightly fucked off by the entire thing) so between them they got it sorted out. Even better, because it was something we didn’t know about – allbeit had looked at, when it looked fine – we didn’t get charged anything for them fixing the problem.
And as well as now having a working cooker again – for which happy, happy day – we’ve also managed to get a number of jobs done round the house.
- Kitchen wall tiles are now all grouted in. (Floor tiles will be done on Monday, most likely)
- Appointment has been made with an accountant to see what’s going to happen.
- I’ve started painting the wooden fence panels. Six down, ninety-one to go.
- We’ve started laying a bundle of weed-proof membrane over bits of the veg patch, for work over the next few weeks
- The fruit trees have had a trim/prune
- We’ve done a bundle of other stuff too. I just can’t remember it right now.
So yes, while we’re not “on holiday” as such, it’s looking like it’ll be fairly productive and get a bundle of outstanding jobs out the way. (Which will, of course, just make room for other jobs instead)
The Girls
Posted: Sat 29 November, 2008 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Green, Green Garden, Photography 3 Comments »When it snowed last weekend, I finally got round to taking photos of our hens. It’s taken a year, but I knew I’d get there in the end…
Gladys
Elsie
Flo
And that’s the girls.
Ride-On
Posted: Sun 24 August, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Green Garden Leave a comment »With the size of our garden, mowing them has always been an issue for us. It’s a good two hours of work to do the lot, and neither of us is a great fan of mowing. In fact, with the size of it we need a petrol mower, and that’s proven too heavy for Herself to use. Over the last couple of months, we’ve had a gardener doing the mowing instead of us.
Over the weekend, though, we took delivery of a ride-on mower. We haven’t spent loads on it, it’s come second-hand from a friend of a friend, but it should do us just fine. It’s a Stiga Park 105, for those of you to who it means anything, and it’s a fantastic bit of kit.
Of course, today has (so far) utterly pissed it down, so I haven’t been able to go out for a proper play on the thing, but it should make the entire mowing effort one hell of a lot quicker and easier. I’ll know more once I’ve tried it out properly.
Clean
Posted: Sat 23 August, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Green Garden 3 Comments »Yay, we now have a clean water supply once more. It’s only taken four months…
And it’s also meant that we’ve been up on the veg patch all day, doing more weeding as well as harvesting all the potatoes and onions, as well as one bucket of blue potatoes, and another bucket-load of apples.
But it’s been a successful day. Of course, we’re both completely knackered now, but it’s all been worthwhile.
Weeding
Posted: Sun 17 August, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Green Garden 4 Comments »The weather over the last few weekends has been bloody horrible (well, unless you’re a duck) which has meant that we couldn’t get out into the garden to do any weeding etc. As a result, at least half the veg patch was looking more like we were cultivating nettles rather than vegetables.
Yesterday was – at last – a dry day, which meant I was out in the garden for about three hours all told, just clearing out one small section of the patch, clearing the earth around the courgettes and pumpkins. Just that one patch has filled up the brown ‘garden waste’ bin – and in a fit of piss-poor timing, that won’t be collected until next Wednesday (the 27th) which is a bit of a pain in the tits. There’s still a lot to do out there – not least bringing in all the potatoes and onions, which all need to be sorted before long – but at least having got one part cleared, it’s beginning to feel more manageable again.
Of course, today started with four hours of heavy rain again, which kind of nulls out the entire weeding and gardening thing for the moment. But at least I’ve made a start on it. And if we get any dry evenings this week, I think I know where I’m going to be…
Herb Garden
Posted: Sun 27 July, 2008 Filed under: Domestic, Green, Green Garden 2 Comments »Another day, another job at the house completed.
Why is it that we always pick the hottest days to do the hardest work? Today it’s been about carrying railway sleepers round to the back of the house, and screwing them together to make a raised bed for a herb garden for Herself. Get me, Mr Domestic.
It’ll be worth it, though – it looks good, and now we just need to plant all the herbs.
We’ve got chives, lemon verbena, thyme, mint, rosemary, catmint (should keep the animals away from the rest of it) and oregano for starters, so we’ll just see how they get on. Should be fine in their new home, I’m sure, and it’ll be good to see them all growing.