Happy new year

Edwina

Sad news from the BBC as Edwina died yesterday aged 22. I didn't know her personally but I am sure she was lovely.

Click here for more information and pictures

Chickens in the garden

We have Hythe and Romney to stay with us over the Christmas break so we kept the temporary enclosure so that they could be separated from the ducks but as chickens are much more sociable than Indian Runners we let them out in the garden and they were quick to start exploring. Not content with the lawn they also explored the decking, the way to excape onto the drive, and the patio where the cotton lavender seemed particularly interesting.









They had to be watch as every little escape hole or cat entry was a target for their curiosity. A fair amount of digging was done one I am sure we are a few worms less in the garden. They also found the bird table where they made a good job of clearing up all the seed that the birds had dropped.













They are very prolific in their egg laying with three eggs in three days. Funny eggs thought, they are little and brown not big and blue.


Ducks - take note - eggs are needed.

The chickens and ducks have spent quite a lot of time studying each other so we are hoping for a dry day on Friday so that we can let them get to know each other, bearing in mind that chickens can't swim so we will have to watch that they don't want to explore the pond.

Update to follow.

Butter making

An exciting time was had by all last evening when Rebecca and I found that Tesco had reduced their double cream to 25p per pot. We should have bought it all but we only bought two. This was mainly due to the fact that we had only taken a basket instead of a trolly and it is surprizing how heavy cream is (when carried in a supermarket basket along with six bottles of beer). Matt soon set to work with his butter churn.










It was amazing that it didn't take long for the cream to be too thick for the paddles to turn.











At this point, he reverted to the tried and tested method of a jam jar with a tight fitting lid to separate the butter from the butter milk. A bit of shaking and red faces, the sound of the butter slopping in the jar happened. it was fascinating to watch as it was sloshing around and suddenly the sound changed to a dull thid as the lump of butter was separated from the liquid. You can see here the lump of butter.







.The jar was tipped into a strainer to extract the butter milk and the next lot was shaken until it separated.











Once it was all separated, it was patted well to extract every last but of milk, salted and neatly packed into ramekins. I had some on a crumpet this evening and can highly recommend it. The amount it made was quite a few packs of butter worth so a bargain for 50p and all done in less than an hour. A well earned pat on the back to Matt, and Rebecca as she did her fair share of jam jar shaking.

Happy Christmas

New camera and more sewing

We used the snow as an excuse to open our Christmas present to ourselves early. The camara has been on its last legs for some time so the profits we made from selling our auction purchases were used to buy a new printer and a new camera.

I am really impressed with the close up facility and it has a fantastic zoom. The man in the shop said that you could look up the nose of the man who was standing at the other side of the shop - I don't think this is what we will be using it for though.







I have been doing a bit more sewing and using my time to sort fabrics by colour. Another non thinking activity. Here are the latest from the sewing room. I really need to start tidying up in there as the new carpet is covered in pink, blue and yellow threads.

Snow update

There was no sign of the snow clearing yesterday so we set out and walked to the post office and to get some emergency vegetable supplies in case we can't get to the allotment. It amazed me how expensive they are as it is so long since I bought any.

It was a great relief that the ducks were at home as we wouldn't have been able to get to the allotment to feed them.

It looked like the Russians were moving in on the way back from Tesco. At least we can prove that we used our own bags and claimed our green points.

It was a lovely blue sky in the morning and much warmer than yesterday.






The chicken hotel is looking a bit different now and there isn't going to be the complimentary foraging unless we get out with shovels.












Angel decided to do a meerkat impersonation when she finally plucked up the courage to go outside.

21 December 09 snowfall

I left home at midday yesterday for a hospital appointment, not realising that it would be nearly eight hours before I returned home. The hospital is only about five miles from home but I had to walk to get the bus to town then get another bus to the hospital. The first bus took about 20 minutes and the second about 10 minutes. Allowing 20 minutes for the walk meant that I had about an hour to spare in town to shop and sit down and have a cup of decaf.

All good so far...... except, while I was in the shopping centre it started snowing, on the bus ride out it snowed more so that there was a covering when I arrived at the hospital. The appointment only lasted about 15 minutes but when I got outside again, the snow was really coming down. I got on the bus back but it took two hours to travel about 200 yards.

This is the view from the bus after the snow had been coming down for about four hours.







After three hours of going nowhere, four of us got off the bus and walked to the bus station where it was anounced that there were no scheduled buses and the exit to the car park had been closed so anybody who had parked had to either walk home or stay there the night. After 20 minutes a bus came in that was going my way. It got about a mile and the traffic was gridlocked so it could go no further. Walking again past all the stuck and abondoned cars I got to Tesco which was about a mile from where we left the bus.


I can't belive that this was the first time I had been out on my own for weeks and I only went to the appointment as I had already cancelled it twice and the weather looked OK when I left home. From the time I walked out of the hospital to the time I got home was just over five hours. Good job I had hat, hooded coat, two scarfs and two pairs of gloves.






Better than Nick though, it took him seven hours to get home from work. A journey that is usually about half an hour.

Basingstoke was the headline on the BBC news this morning as it was the worst hit for the snow.

The Guardian said 'Basingstoke like a disaster film'
The BBC said '3000 people stranded'

Emergency shelters opened for motorists
The Telegraph said 'roads turned to ice rinks'

Warning to birds

Beware all birds - white cats are hard to see in the snow!

The first real snow of Winter

Winter has come to Old Basing. I had a late start this morning and got up to a light snowfall. Sadly it has now stopped but looks as though more will be falling. We do have a light covering and I have just been out to smash the ice on the ducks pond. It must be very cold as Nick broke the ice this morning after it being -3 overnight.

You can see where the ducks have been walking and they haven't yet ventured up onto the herb bed.







We had another load of logs delivered last week. Half are still on the drive but I have stacked up under the porch by the front door and we started making a stack by the back door. It looks very Christmassy with snow on them so maybe I will have to get some fairy lights to drape over the stack when it is finished.











Talking about logs. The new pile was wet where it had been rained on in the truck so we brought some in to dry off by the fire. I had, what I thought was, a bright idea of putting them on top of the stove to dry out quicker. I underestimated how hot the stove gets and it actually started burning the wood.

I am definately not going to try that one again and definately not leave my slippers on the top to warm.

Update from the allotment

As we have been disinclined (is that a word?) to visit the allotment recently, we haven't had many vegetables to eat, which is not good for your five a day. We went to collect a blue bin, to take to Kent for Matt and Rebecca to use as a water butt on their allotment, and did some harvesting. There are still loads of carrots and parsnips and it is amazing when there is so little showing above ground that there is a great big root hidden below.

I also went into the brassic cage which is truely neglected but has overgrown with all the rain we have had. There are some lovely cabbages which are hearting up nicely. I picked one that should do us three or four meals and left plenty to see us through the new year.

I have a small patch of spring greens but they need planting out if they are going to get the chance to grow as they are in one big clump at the moment.

We don't seem to have any sprouts but loads of purple sprouting and white sprouting broccoli which should be sprouting soon.




The cabbage that I picked reminded me of the cushion that I have on my chair in the sewing room. This is a tapestry that I did about 25 years ago from Kaffe Fassett's book 'Glorious Needlepoint'.

It is a bit misshapen but I still love it.

Helping hand

I got bored with putting baubles on the tree so I had a cunning plan and put all the leftovers in a basket with a view that everybody who visited would notice, string a bauble and hang it on the tree. This one must have been too subtle as the only person who has offered so far is Angel.

Saying that, if you look closely, I thing the reason she is here is because her favourite mouse is on the tree skirt. I have since found a few more mice burried under the skirt. Now how could they have got there!

NEWS FLASH

NEWS FLASH - Katy has just reported that there are a few flakes snow in Basingstoke. 14:24 Tuesday 15 December 2009.

UPDATE - It has stopped. 15:02 Tuesday 15 December 2009.

A fun day at Bore Place

We have a lovely day out at the weekend at Bore Place Winter Workshop. We got our second choice of events which was Victorian Christmas Cards. Lots of card paper and glue later we have a lovely selection of cards. We were a bit anti-social and had a room and table to ourselves but people kept popping in to join us and see what was going on. It is such an idylic setting that your creative juices keep flowing.










This was followed by a great fun story telling where we all got to join in then yummy organic lunch. We had beef stew (squash stew as a vegetarian alternative) with rice and organic vegetables followed by organic local cheeses and fruit. Nick got quite excited about his orange still having a stalk.









This was followed by country dancing where the youngsters joined in. I am not sure that they quite got the hang of it though as they often seemed to be on the same side or turning the wrong way. The musicians and caller were great though, even I could have followed the dance.


























While they were clearing the barn after lunch, to get ready for the dancing, we had a walk around the farm and the allotment. The cows were in the barn waiting for milking and they were so docile and friendly that I must share a few of them with you.


Click here for details of what is on at Bore Place in 2010.

Update from the sewing room

I have joined the Trigeminal Neuralgia Assn UK and the pack that they sent had some great information to help understand the condition and what can be done to help. One of the key I picked up on is destraction therapy which is where the sewing machine comes in. Although it doesn't lessen the pain it is a good way of pushing it to the back of my mind and not focusing on it whilst not having to use my brain. As long as I have everything laid out ready, I can lose myself, not have to think and not particularly concentrate (other than remembering to turn the iron off) so here is the latest from today as I had a bad night last night and trouble concentrating on work this morning.




I have had a pile of strips of fabric set aside for a while as I wasn't sure what to do with them. They are lovely fabrics in their own right but there wasn't enough of each to make something so I found a few thin strips of contrasting fabric and sewed them together. It still needed something so I added the peacock blue silk to break up the rows and rows which looked a bit boring.

The whole thing took me about three hours in total. I reckon on another hour to add the backing and binding and it should be lovely.

I have another one that I finished yesterday but can't show you that as it is for someone for Christmas and they might be watching.

Best seat in the house

Time for the Christmas tree. The problem was that we seem to have lost all the decorations. I can only think that it was one of the boxes that had to be thrown out after the great flood of December 2008. It is amazing that that was a year ago - I still haven't cleared up properly and one bedroom is still stacked full of stuff as well as a lot of boxes in the office that I salvaged but can't bear to part with.

Anyway, back to the Christmas tree. We went to B&Q to find that all their decorations were half price. Then on to Asda where I found a box of 30 silver and green decorations with two broken so they reduced it to £4.99 for me.

I overestimated so this is about half of them but I will keep packing them on. The tree keeps quite a bit of light out of the room and it is very cosy sitting in the green leather chair next to the fire but it is quite rare that we get the opportunity as Angel hasdecided that it is her chair as well as the best seat in the house.

Oven ready ducks

I thought I would show you what is left of my herb garden. I moved the rosemary and two of the sage bushes but before I had the chance to move any others the ducks had cleared the lot. They are now full of thyme, sage and onion so need to keep a low profile for the next couple of weeks and definately not do any turkey impersonations. All that is left is a talk stalk from the fennel. I suspect it was Fennel who ate the fennel!

Roots and shoots

The allotment has been neglected since we had to bring the ducks home (mainly because our spare time at the weekend is spent putting posts and netting up to make them a secore compound) but we did call to collect vegetables.

Now that is what I call a parsnip. Something is eating the tops of the carrots. I dug some t oeat this week but we really need to go back and dig the rest or they will all be gone.

I got a lovely surprise to see the onions and garlic I planted a few weeks ago are loving all the rain we have been having and are shooting like mad. All in neat rows!

Last day of the mo

As it is the last day of the month (and pinch of the punch day tomorrow) the mo will be going in the morning.

I am trying to persuade Nick to leave it and let a full set grow. I think he looks great impersonating a Mexican bandit but as I love fish fingers, I think he would make a good Captain Birdseye.

Nick also wants to send a massive 'Thank you' to everyone who donated to such an essential cause.

Mud wallowing

It has rained, rained and more rained for most of the weekend. Before it started we got out and put in two posts for the duck compound at home. I also started removing the soil from the raised bed having already taken out the top layer of blocks. The problem was that every time I dug up a plant, I came back from replanting it to find that Daisy had moved in a de-wormed the area.

As there has now been so much rain, all the ducks spend most of their time on the bed foraging in the mud. After three years the soil must be full of delicious treats and we have certainly noticed that they are eating less of their food so they must be filling up with bugs and grubs. Yummy!

The plant in this picture is a perenial wallflower which was in a three inch pot when I bought it last year. It is now huge and flowered throughout most of the year. I have taken it out and put in a huge pot. I will try taking some cuttings as it is a lovely addition to the garden with reasonable foliage and a splash of bright yellow flowers.

Wood delivery

We were down to our last few logs most of which were too big to fit in the stove so I arranged a delivery which arrived today. It is lovely seasoned hardwood so should burn hot and slow.

As we lost our logstore I decided that the area behind the pillar near the front door (where no plants will grow) would be ideal for a log store. It also means that we can go out in all weathers to get wood as it is under cover of the porch andthe overhang on the bay window so it will keep nice and dry there.

I did have a bit of a landslide at one point when the pile was getting a bit too high for me to reach the top but at least it doesn't block the door. One slight problem is that I have burried the bag of kindling so we may have to get another until we use up the pile.



The spookiest thing happened when I published this post. A google ad appeared for logs. Much more expensive than my local tree surgeon though so I will stick with G A Butler & Sons for the time being.

More from the sewing room

In my misery on Tuesday evening I took to the sewing room and decided to try to recreate summer. I think I will find some sort of wipeable backing for this one so that it can be used as a picnic rug.












I had also collected a random selection of fabrics in pink and duck egg blue so decided to just sew them together randomly and see what happened. It is amazing how quickly a pile of little squares and strips grows into a useful size.

One our of one cats surveyed said they prefer this one. It is now a screwed up messas as Angel decided to hide her pet mice under the edge and then roll around on it and wrap her and the mouse in it.

The ducks new home

This is the state of the wire on the front of the duck compound at the allotment. There is an equally large hole in the back where they must have decided to go out via Frank's allotment.

It is going to need a visit from Matt and a days work to get it usable again. The decision may be to make this into another fruit cage as we would like more current bushes. We will see how we feel in the Spring.














We have an area of the garden that doesn't get much sun so it is used for storage as well as the raised bed that is becoming my herb bed. We did have a small greenhouse in the corner but this was before we had two at the allotment so it became derelict. That went and this was destined to be our log store corner but it is the ideal spot for the duck house.

Although it didn't get much sun, we grew lovely tomatoes there. They were much later than the others and I was still picking them last week. We still have a dahlia in flower even through the ones at the allotment have been blackened by frost so it should be a nice warm sheltered spot for the ducks

The compost bin was Nick's cunning idea to keep logs dry. We have three spare plastic ones since we built the bank of wooden bins at the allotment so it was good to put it to some use. This will be moved to the otherside of the garden next to the green shed.



It was a good job that Nick made the trailer as we wouldn't have got the house in the back of the car. We managed to stand it in the trainer and get it into the garden via the gate into the lane. It fits perfectly with room to get round to clean it out and collect eggs.


We also brought home the hippo pond which is a bit lop sided at the moment but will do until we can dig out the raised bed and make them a bigger pond.









The ducks are very confused by what is going on and where they are so immediately went into the house for safety. They must have been a bit confused as to where their bedroom has gone as we had to take the two huts apart and only bring half of it. Now that we have only 8 there is plenty of room for them in this half.

I don't want to hear anybody say that white ducks are cowards. They were the first to come out and explore leaving the 4 non white ducks inside.

Angel and I have been keeping an eye on them throughout the day but they haven't strayed much and Angel can't understand what they are expecially as some are the same colour as her but are tall and thin and have funny noses.

As the weather was bad yesterday she spent most of the day sitting by the French doors watching them wondering why they didn't come in and get the warmth of the woodburning stove. Strange creatures!