Wetter Wednesday so time for taking it easy - ish

Eggs - Total to date: 281 - Day 123

KoKKo 93 (86grms) 29.11.2005 Personal best weight
Adelaide 94 (80grms) 26.02.2006 Personal best weight
Ginger 94 (78grms) 22.2.2006 Personal best weight

Back from the hospital and feeling a lot brighter – despite the torrential rain. Lots of lovely comments on the blog for which I thank you. I was beginning to think that this was getting a bit boring.

The usual routine of up and out early for my cheerful chicken hit – what a good way to start off any day. They don’t care about the rain, the sun, the snow, the frost, they are so happy to be alive. Their usual breakfast of layers mash but some leftover pear cores and sweet corn to keep them occupied whilst was out. And a clean warm egg for me.

Pat was out bowling last night, and I was in here typing when there was a bang bang bang on the window. I opened the blinds to see face with glasses and flat cap soaking wet standing in torrential rain out side from front window.

When I went into the porch he was spotlighted with rain streaming off him. I unlocked the door to find one of Pat’s bowling friends with a box of fresh mushrooms for me. Poor man had been ringing the door bell and hammering on the letter box but I had not heard him! I don’t expect anyone to come to the door at that time of night in such bad weather.

So early this morning I was slicing up button mushrooms and putting them into my food dryer.



All five layers are full and I have about a quarter of the box to go yet. The curved side ends I have kept to make something out of them – tomorrow – when I might get a flash of inspiration.



Going into the conservatory just now, the most wonderful smell of mushrooms made me feel rather hungry. The bottom layer was almost done, so I took off the trays and layered them in the opposite way. They have dried quicker than I had expected. Have you ever smelt warm dry cooked mushrooms – they have just the most amazing aroma.

The mushroom farm is in another village not too far from here, so I think that I will be paying them some trips over the next few months. It is nice to have a store of them in the cupboard. So quick and easy to use – I will never have to buy a tin of them again. Buying that machine was money well spent, and it will have paid for itself by the end of the summer if now sooner!

As I have a little while before I need to make lunch, I have taken some photos of the little propagator with the seeds in. Pat says that as it such a rotten day, he will take me to the garden centre – quite a way from here – and stock up on bags of compost for me. They are doing 5 bags for £10, and the cheapest I have seen the same weight and quality for were 3 bags for £10. I think that he is trying to cheer me up a bit – or to ensure that I don’t do too much today!

He does not like garden centres, but once in a while I just like to have a mooch around just to see what is in store this year.

The seedling photos came out a bit blurry so I with have to have a rethink and perhaps photograph them with a background.

Well we went to the garden centre via Attleborough, New Buckenham, Old Buckenham, and lots of other little villages to Pulham. It was a 30 mile round trip but even after the fuel costs we still saved £10. They were 75 ltr bags - enough to keep me supplied all the summer. He suggested that I nipped in there and paid for the compost and he would drive down to the pick up point to collect them. Which is what happened so we were in and out and on our way in 20 minutes.

When we got home I sliced up the rest of the mushrooms and filled up four more trays which are now dried and packed. Definitely will do those again.

I am making some plans, which I hope to put in place at the weekend. But I need the rain to slow down or stop. More of that though if it all works out.





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