Let it snow

Just a few photos of the snow in our garden

This was the scene on 26th November

The day we went away for the weekend!

It got deeper and deeper since these photos were taken

I shovelled all the paths

Stopped to admire the trees while I caught my breath

Cleared the snow around the chooks Peckingham Palace

My willow arch with a crew cut looks like a work of art!

As it was the first day of snow - silly me brushed the snow off the chooks 'poly tunnel'

For the past two weeks, I have given up  even trying, and the banties do not mind a bit!

The bantams can fly quite high - so they just flew out of their run onto wherever they wanted to be.

On a flower bed or from one end of the garden to the other to get to the gravel under the hedges.  It has really been an eye opener to see them fly around like pigeons!

In fact they have got so used to flying they just do it all the now!

And guess what - Dolly, the dottie Silkie has started laying an egg every day!

I won't tell her that she's supposed to do that in the summer!

Lazing on a sunny afternoon - I wish!

It was freezing today, and I was going stir crazy indoors so spent a few hours hard labour in the garden.  I decided to clean out the chicken run - I like to do it once a month to keep it clean and fresh

Freckles and Willow ventured into what used to be the chicken run, but is now the fruit cage.

All the others were already in there up this end and behind me, keeping out of my way whilst I was busy sweeping out their home

I left them tucking into strawberry leaves whilst I finished their run.

I leave them to scratch about their bedding, and it doesn't take them long to cover all the slabs

These are tucking in quickly before the 'mob' arrive.

I found an egg under the big flower pot, so I have moved that pot up the top end so whoever laid it can get some peace and privacy if they fancy laying another for me.

At last the turf arrived and was laid on Friday whilst we were out.

It came from a different supplier to doesn't match - but it'll all blend in next year

I spent a backbreaking hour scarifying (some of) the lawn and sweeping up leaves, but had to give up after a while

It'll be covered in leaves again in a day or so.

The wire mesh is to enable me to walk on the grass without doing it any damage, and the black line is where I have filled the gaps with compost.

It looks a lot better than the bare earth.

Autumnal Tidy Up - with my feathered friends

I made the most of a damp day by mowing the lawns

In the back garden

Delighting the bantams - as they had lots of insects to eat

I spent a lot if time taking down the climbing bean poles

We were let down  by the turf company yet again - so still no lawn laid here!

It looks so much better now that I have 'mowed  up' the leaves too - but only for a day or so!

Patio table and umbrella wrapped up for the winter

Raised veggie beds have had the climbing beans and courgette plants removed

And of course my feathery 'groupies' were always under my feet

But they are so entertaining, I don't mind a bit

I doubt there is a worm left in these beds!

They went over every inch - and afterwards had dust baths

Here's Dolly who 'bagged' the area on the raised bed where the climbing beans had been.

She rolled around ecstatically for an hour!

It's hard to see in the photo - but she spent about 10 minutes admiring her reflection in the potting shed window - she is so funny

Sunday photos in the early morning sunshine

The race to get bits of left over porridge

Dolly and Mary out exploring

There are tasty insects amongst the gravel

The new Belgium babes getting their first 'taste' of freeranging - tentively out of the back door

Mary having a good look around - she only ventured out a little bit less than a week ago - and now she is getting so much more adventurous

Just look at Willow on the left posing with the sun behind her!

And next to her Freckles her gorgeous friend

This fabulous girl hasn't wasted any time in exploring

She is perfectly coloured for being camouflaged in fact later in the day I had a hard job to find Freckles (named by Mr Lottie)

Blissful

Perfectly posed -sitting on a duck!

Playing hide and seek when it's time to go in.

At one point she flew right over my head when I tried to get her to go in.  I decided to clip just a few of her flight feathers - I would hate her to fly up into a tree and come down the other side of the fence.

Allotment Diary - Me 100hrs. He 98hrs - and a finished fruit cage at last

This was the broad beans and onions bed this year, but once they had been harvested we used it to put all the vegetation that could not be composted, to dry and ready for a bonfire.

There was a huge amount - in addition to all the fruit bush prunings.

I set to work finishing off the pruning

Whilst Mr Lottie did what all 'boys' (and me too but I never get a look in these days) having a bonfire

The wind was in the 'right' direction - not blowing towards any houses or farm buildings, just towards open ploughed fields - and we were the only people up there too!  So he had a big bonfire!

I spent the time digging up rogue raspberry, and dock weed roots.

And Mr Lottie had a whale of a time.

And I kept digging over the soil, around and under the fruit bushes

Mr Lottie did such a good job, he even searched the whole plot for more oddments of wood to burn

And I kept digging and finding more buried weed roots, until I was so worn out I could hardly move a muscle.

And I made Mr Lottie damp down the fire and cover it up.

Whilst I took one a last look at all my hard work - and almost forgot about my aches and pains.