A day in the life

I know I can blog about the opening of an envelope, the habit of "chatting" about the little things that occur in our tiny corner of the globe is now so ingrained totally in my daily routine and existence, I hardly realise that the blog has been "done" along side the washing of the dishes and the collection of the eggs.
Chris has the car today, I forgot that I needed to pick up some medication for Jesus ( who has scaly leg mite) so am stuck at home for the day.
Yesterday the day flew by.......In the morning I baked apple pies, tray bakes and jam tarts for the Open day and quickly hid them in the freezer before Chris could get his hands on them

In between the rain showers I exercised the goslings in the garden, much to amusements of a group of walkers. Jo's floppy wing is clearly seen on the above photo, but again he looks happy enough with it. As I watched over them the red faced Welsh farmer called by and blocked the lane with his trailer as he unloaded huge heavy bags of shavings for my hen houses. He always does this for free and in his seventies he still effortlessly hurls these bags around without any hesitation. I filled his tweed hat with eggs as Ralph the gentleman farmer and another farmer in a pickup beebed their horns in a good natured way as they waited for him to move

I already have 5 people provisionally enrolled onto my next Chicken course. The lady I helped out the other day offered me some hens in lieu of course payment and I collected five healthy young hens last night. The hens are lovely, two cochins with their scruffy feathered feet ; a speckled Plymouth Rock, a gentle Welsummer and what looks like a Rhode Island Red. I sneaked them into the large buff hen house at dusk and will keep them shut in there for the next 24 hours until they imprint on the house itself. (above the Plymouth rock)
Our animal population now numbers around 83.

The wet weather has given the flowers on the allotment and wild flower border a bit of a kick start. The sweet peas, and red poppies look great..I hope they keep going for the open day

Today I will harvest the climbing french beans ( below), which I will blanch and freeze and will do the same with broccoli which has burst into flower overnight.

I talked to a farmer yesterday about the fate of the Ghost hens. He warned me that the broilers may not survive their new "gentle" lifestyle in the field. He said that he had the experience of trying to free range a few before he culled them and he said that all but two died suddenly. The vet informed him that because these birds are intensively reared (literally a few weeks from hatching to being eaten) their organs cannot cope with a slower pace of food and water. So by offering these little birds a "better" way of living, I could almost be viewed as being cruel! Its a weird world eh?

Above the five remaining Ghost hens watching the turkeys walking past their enclosure.