This morning I have braved the icy wind and have manured the main vegetable patch. I have still got four more to weed,turn and fertilize but at least I have made the effort and have started the often back breaking ground work before spring.I have unearthed the Jerusalem artichokes I planted last year (above left) and thanks to fellow blogger Kathy at The Cottage Garden Farmer-see (Kathy's blog ) I now know what to do with the little buggers (http://the-cottage-gardener.blogspot.com/2010/01/jerusalem-artichokes.html)
I have set out my potatoes for chiting and now have a ton of strawberry plants from my fellow villager Sandra, to plant out after the frosts in a huge strawberry bed of their own.
As I was humping the manure into place, the ducks, forgetting their usual reserve, jumped into action to sieve out the worms and grubs from the ground. Halleh (the only drake second from left) has been courting the runner females but has not as yet worked out how to mate with them, preferring the more "attractive" hens....hopefully it will be only a matter of time before he works out what exactly should go where. I do hope so, I am tired of chasing him off the hybrids on a daily basis.
The grave digger did a great job clearing the rubbish from the field stream, and although it looks rather muddy now, come spring the banks should be lovely and green. I will dam up part of it to make a proper small pond when I have some time, but the first thing I need to do is to re build the Church wall. Thank goodness the days are getting longer.With Chris still away I am off to Llandudno later with my sister to see AVATAR in 3D.....