Our current house guest

well he is chased out of our house but allowed in the girls house!

I'd called them to get a picture of him and these two came running after him, i think they'll miss him when he goes....if he goes!

Currently it's quieter having him here than at the neighbours, they have their chickens in their front garden which is in front of our bedroom, I need to have the window open at night so I get woken by crowing every morning at hell o'clock. Our chickens are down the side of our cottage and so far I have no recollection of hearing him, maybe we should keep him so I get a less disturbed sleep!I'm collecting the eggs so they don't get damaged but will start leaving them in a few days in the hope Beep (the all black one above) goes broody which she does regularly so fingers crossed she does with eggs. I might get some fake ones to get her started.

I wonder how long it takes for eggs to become fertilised after being with the cockerel. If an egg takes approx 24 hours to make then I'm guessing 24 hours?!

A visiting cockerel

Next doors cockerel popped over this afternoon as he had a rare afternoon of freedom, obviously our girls have been taunting him with their beautiful fluffy bums and he was round here asap. When I called the girls in for the night he went in as well so Ive said he can stay for a couple of days and we'll see if we can get some fertilised eggs from the girls over the next few days. Beep goes broody at the drop of a hat and I'm sure she'd be a fabulous mum. I'm quite looking forward to having baby chicks again despite having talked us out of doing exactly this a month or so ago. You can't argue with mother nature or a randy cockerel it would seem. Will try and get a photo of him tomorrow.

Courgettes.

Seedlings are racing on and we are in the process of acquiring another greenhouse which is fantastic as I can use it as a mini polytunnel and get more tomatoes/cucumbers and peppers in this year.

Still enjoying the weather

Field is shorn and with 10 feet to go the blade cut through some bodged wire holding the cutting deck up lol so the boys see if they can fix it with string and gaffa tape. The seat is now pretty much entirely gaffa tape. The tyres aren't long for this world and you start it with a special key called a screwdriver which sends sparks out everywhere lol There's a competition in the local paper to win a swish grass cutter, I have duly collected the tokens in desperation and am sending grasscutter vibes to the universe!

Deep Sea Fishes has come for a holiday and I love it.

Seeds are going crazy and once I've deleted some stuff on the card I will take some pictures.

Loving the sun

Seedlings coming along nicely, greenhouse up in the 70's today!

I put the sweet peas out yesterday and there was a FROST this morning! They seem to have survived but I gave them a little duvet of grass cuttings incase we have more frost over the next couple of weeks, not sure if it'll work but they looked cosier.

I've been paying attention to the sunsets waiting for something spectacular but so far just the 'usual' beautiful ones, this is this evenings view from the field

and the moon... I never tire of the moon.

Home Ed group is ticking along.
Looking forward to Beltane.

Glorious days

Spinning
My first load of 2 ply wool. It is awful and wonderful at the same time. The black is merino that I had real trouble getting used to and the purple (it's not as burgandy ish as it looks) I think is Corridale.

The weather here has been fabulous and much has been done. The difference a few days of warmth and sunshine can make is amazing
Thje boys have been outside and exhausted by the end of the day.
The ride on lawn mower is fixed and the field has receeived it's first cut for 2 years! It looks so much bigger shorn. The tree/willow planting has made mowing a bit awkward but it just means we use the strimmer more.
This boy melts my heart.



Cherry tomato seedling. My seedlings aren't quite this big so I bought one to get a head start as I so look forward to getting tomatos out of the greenhouse instead of the shops.

This evenings sunset.

I pulled up a few wild garlic plants from a friends and planted them last year and this year they are doing relaly well. Looking forward to foccacia bread with the leaves in the top. Saw the recipe somewhere must look it out.

More heart melting moments. He is finally tall enough to ride the balance bike.

Finally put together :)

I think she needs a name.

It took ages and now I wish I'd waxed it instead of using Danish oil. Typical! I'll look into waxing over it in the future I guess. So far I've only had a chance have a quick play, love the double treadle, everything is so much more balanced in the body and it all flows. I am spinning too fast though and have too much twist. I guess it'll take some time to get used to. Can't wait to do some 3 ply.

We went up to Men-an-Tol on friday for a ritual of passing dolls through the holed stone. We were late (as usual - why can't they all just get ready in time, too much faffing!) as we arrived we saw the group walking up the hill and an almighty dark cloud swept in off the sea and emptied itself on us so we sat in the car for 5 minutes waiting for it to pass. By the time we got up there there was no one to be seen, I think they went on up to Nine Maidens but the boys had been puddle jumping and were soaked. We can never go anywhere without them gettting soaked. I had changes of clothes in the car but then they whine about being cold on the way to get clothes. Also the wellies were full of water and too wet for them to put on again so there went having a decent walk up on the moors and lunch out somewhere. Drives me nuts. I stomped off with the dog in a grump.

Birthday catch up

So 39 came and went earlier in the week

and my joint mothers day /birthday present that I was dreading turned out to be a .....

she is on her 3rd coat of Danish oil tonight so I should get her built over the weekend! Just waiting for the machine oil to arrive and the bank holiday is going to get in the way! I guess I can put it together without oil and squeeze some in later?

Birthday unicorn and cake. I had to order the number '9' and a couple of other bits and just couldn't resist adding the unicorn :)

A day in the woods

Unfortunately no photos from today as I didn't take the camera.
Home Ed group met up at some local woods 'managed' by the sustainable trust. We had a fire, cooked spuds, baked apples, veggie hot daugs and bread on a stick oh and popcorn! The children had a fantastic time making fairy houses, rescuing worms, climbing fallen tree trunks and just generally being in the woods. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.