RIP Bennie, the last hen standing

Today, Bennie, this is the the last picture of her - taken just before the snow came - left for brighter pastures.

She was our last remaining rescue chicken.

She started to sulk a while after the snow came, so we brought her indoors and nursed her. She'd been ill in the summer and recovered, but this time she didn't make it, despite all our efforts.

She will be missed, as will the other three ladies that came to us with her back in July 2009 who died earlier this year.

There's always a risk with ex battery hens that they may not live too long - as they had a hard life beforehand. Although they lived a much shorter time than I expected, I trust that they had a happy extension to their time on earth living with us.

So, here's a trip down memory lane to remember our first (but I suspect not our last) hens.

When we got them in 2009 they were in a bit of a mess, with feathers missing, pale combs and beaks and pale faces, yet their colour started to come back within a couple of days, but really it took a month or two for them to make their transformation into healthy looking hens.

Here are Madge and Winkles early on.

Winkles again.

Here the ladies are trying to gain entry to the polytunnel (why are out of bounds areas so favored?)

Here's Frenchie. They also loved to take dust baths in the pile of builders sand (no photos of that though, sorry) and roam around with the ducks trying to find gaps in the hedge !

Here's Madge and her big comb - she was still looking a bit scruffy back then .. in fact, she was always a bit scruffy .. and completely daft .. but she could run fastest when pasta was offered! She was also the most docile .. and the easiest to pick up .. you could even cuddle her .. although she wasn't greatly impressed.

Here's the girls up in Co Down last winter, braving their first snow.

Here's winkles this Spring.

Here's the whole gang, with the ducks, waiting for bread or pasta - ever hopeful.

They also loved to 'help' me with the gardening i.e. to scratch up where I'd just been working in case I'd unearthed anything interesting. The ducks were always the best slug catchers - they even tried snails (by drowning them in their pool .. I jest not) but the chickens would have a go too and try to catch moving insects.

So, I have greatly appreciated the eggs and antics of my feathered friends over the past year and a half, they all had great personalities and made me laugh a lot.

It's really sad to have lost them all too soon (Winkles disappeared, maybe to visit Mr Fox, Frenchie dashed under the wheels of the van, Madge got ill last summer and died and now Bennie). Thank goodness the ducks are young, healthy, amusing and still laying!

I found it a challenge to deal with sick chickens. To us they are pets, but they aren't quite as docile / well handled as really domesticated pets - like our fancy rats, dog and cats. I find myself very short on expertise about their state of health (I can't spot things as easily as I can with my better known pets), handling them easily etc - but it's always a learning curve with 'new' animals.

As I said earlier, we will most likely get some more chickens in the future, but I want to wait until we're settled back in Leitrim before we even think about it.

I hope that the girls did have a good life with us and that they enjoyed their new found freedom. It really was heartwarming to see their first excursions onto grass (they hardly knew how to walk on it at first, but instinct quickly returned), to see them basking in the sunshine, taking a dust bath or chasing butterflies.

So long ladies, it was good knowing you .. and you won't be forgotten.

This is on my mind ... my house

I'm thinking of our half built house in County Leitrim today.

We're still waiting to sort out the planning issue (all spiraling from a wrong location map on the permission we bought with) which means we are still waiting to resume building. Its been over 14 months now since we had to down tools.

I miss my house. We're currently living with relatives nearly a three hour journey away from site, so we don't get down too often to check up on things. It looks very bare in the photo above - I long for it to look loved and lived in.

I'm still dreaming of good times ahead, when we'll be lovingly completing our build and able to properly tend the garden again. I think often of our house and land, waiting patiently for us to return, yet mostly on my mind today is the sustaining thought of us having a home of our own again.

'This is on my mind' is a wonderful Friday photo thread started by Rhonda Jean. Why not join in and share what's on your mind this Friday.

A week of snow

We've had snow for over a week now. The wild birds are getting very hungry, so I've been leaving out food for them (and letting them help themselves to the food for our domestic birds too).

The snow is very beautiful, but the small roads are still quite icy .. and it feels very cold.

This picture is taken on the first snow day, as the sun started to shine through the trees.

Here it is on the same day, by the hen house.

Here's my aunts house. It's an old farmhouse and the insulation is poor, especially in the roof (which is hard to access from the inside), so the heat escapes very quickly and it can easily feel cold inside. To the other side of the picture, the kitchen extension gets VERY cold, especially as the windows are single glazed. I need my hat on before trying to start cooking!

I'm sure that if Ireland had a generally colder climate (like Germany or Sweden - they have GREAT houses) that the standard of insulation in houses would be much better, but because winters are fairly mild, we just seem to put up with the draughts and the cold.

I remember when growing up there was no central heating and in winter it could be cold getting in and out of bed etc. Even as a student I remember icicles on the inside of the windows. People were made of harder stuff in days gone by.

Of course building standards are improving, but people often miss out on insulation (better insulation means less fuel and heating costs). I keep reminding myself that soon we'll be in our own super insulated, warm and cosy home, where all the rooms are an even temperature .. and until then I'll put on extra layers when needed!

If I think we have it bad indoors, I feel for the birds outside!

Here's one of the friendly Robin's (they're all called Bob to me).

A bit of evergreen colour (Laurel?) with a smattering of snow looks very seasonal.

Here's one of the views from the top of the Drumlin.

Here's another.

The trees up top look great against the snow and the sky.

Here the ducks brave the weather.

They even go exploring (Bennie, our last chicken, takes a while longer to be convinced).

More snow falling.

I must admit that the cold and the increasing dark nights have led me to crave greenery, life and flowers. I'm not generally a fan of unseasonal produce, especially in plants, but I just had to have some colour, some growth, some bling ... so I succumbed to a bright and cheery chrysanthemum.

I've also still been sprouting seeds to eat (and putting them in the airing cupboard at night to keep them warm!), they make a welcome bit of freshness.

My need for greenery to look at has been so severe that I've taken a few microgreens and put them on my writing desk .. just so I can see something grow.

Ditto with some alfalfa sprouts.

I've never been one for putting seasonal decorations up early, I think that the pizazz would wear off too quickly, so I usually wait until winter solstice, but, this year I feel I understand the need for brightness and colour in a new way and I understand better how people want to brighten the place up earlier.

I am loving the open fire at night in the sitting room. It's makes the room very cosy (the room has a low celling and holds the heat well.) During 'snow' week, I've enjoyed spending time in the evening just playing tunes on the whistle and watching the flames dance. I imagine I'm not the first .. and I hope I'm not the last to enjoy such simple pleasures.

Sam has been joining in with the tunes when he can (he's had an ear infection and is only just able to play again) and it's a relief to see him starting to feel a bit better .. and to have him playing music again.

I don't know how long the snow will last, but I know we'll have enough tunes to see us through.

This is on my mind .. snow and leaves

Snow and leaves

Snow has come really early this year, while the last of the leaves have just fallen from the trees.

I've spent a lot of time outdoors tending to the birds, our ducks and chicken .. and the wild birds who also appreciate some extra food in the cold weather.

It's rare for us to get much snow, especially snow that lasts, and it's very rare to get it so early in winter.

I like the crispness and sparkles of the snow, but I'm less keen on the icy road conditions.

If I could just find a BIG pile of leaves , I'd be very tempted to hibernate until Spring ;-)

Thanks Rhonda for suggesting this Friday photo thread.

No Dig Gardening, books and Winter Colour

The light at this time of year is really beautiful, the colours have a real vibrancy.

As well as the autumnal colours and foliage, I'm cheered to see a few flowers adding their brightness too.

With the days shortening and nights getting longer I've been catching up on some reading and finally got myself a copy of Charles Dowding's 'Organic Gardening: The Natural No Dig Way'.

I highly recommend it - I haven't quite finished it yet, but I love the idea of leaving the soil structure as intact as possible and minimizing disturbance.

I had already come across the idea of 'no dig' gardening in permaculture literature and I'm enjoying looking into it further and using it, hopefully exclusively, on my plot.

I already learnt this year how silly it is to weed and leave bare soil (and what a waste of resources / nutrients that can be) as nature is very quick to recover it. From now on I'm a complete mulch convert.

I tend to grow my plants in modules anyway and that suits a mulch system, as the plants have germinated and strengthened before being transplanted through the mulch.

I love what Charles says about how healthy plants generally suffer less from pests and diseases.

I also love his ideas for successional sowing - similar to Joy Larkcom - she has great ideas for creative vegetable gardening too.

There are a few things in Charle's book that I've had different experiences with e.g. rocket - luckily nobody told me not to sow it until after midsummer, so last year I had a great crop all summer - with no problems from flea beetle. Maybe the leaves did bolt slightly early - the the flowers are so pretty that I don't mind much.

Another great book that I got to read recently was Masanobu Fukuoka's 'The One-Straw Revolution' which looks at one mans journey of discovering natural farming techniques in Japan. It has a great feel to it - feels very wholesome to me.

So, thats my inspiration sorted for a while. Now all I need is my garden. It is challenging being over two hours away from 'my' garden, although I am lucky to have my aunts garden here, which is very natural and lush, and a few pots of things to keep my green fingers happy.

I must admit to getting itchy fingers and also longing to have my garden properly up and running. I want to see the seasons go by on my own plot, watching the successions of planting and harvests etc Patience must be a virtue I'm still cultivating!

Anyway, there is distraction here, for example a few experimental winter salads in pots in my aunts barn. They won't feed an army, but I like to see things grow .. and to see how much they WILL grow over winter.

Here are some late sown lettuces (sown end Sept / early Oct) which are coming along just fine.

My calendula was still blooming earlier this week (although now sulking after a couple of nights of hard frost).

I love these violas, which have self seeded in cracks at the edge of the bed near the front door.

Surprisingly, the tall shrubby Escallonia is still happily flowering away and has been for months now.

Of course, there are still a few roses too. They don't have much scent when picked, but when I dry the petals on the radiator the room is filled with a delicious lingering scent.

My aunt's ornamental pyracantha also gives great colour this time of year.

I love how it has crept over the wall, so we can see it from the house now.

The girls are doing fine also - and add bucket loads to winter cheer.

Here's Benny, patrolling the drive.

Here Anna and Esmie are having a great time rummaging through the leaves and undergrowth.

Here they are again, setting off from the doorstep out into a hard frosty morning.

Wonder if the frost will turn to snow soon?

It's trying to snow as I type.

Until next time ...

Mulch, oca and cows

I haven't been posting much recently - as there just hasn't been much going on.

We're in the process of meeting the new planning regulations - so have to sort an Environmental Screening Report for the planners and further adapt our reedbed plan to meet new specifications. Once they're in the planners should be able to make their decision.

With the weather turning colder and the days shortening, we haven't been down to site as much lately. However, at the end of last month and early this month I decided to cover some of the vegetable beds for winter.

I had weeded them earlier .. and left the earth bare. Silly move. They just got weedy again. So, this time, partly with the help of a friend, we covered the beds with the weeds (pulled them and laid them on top) and then covered the bed with an old tarpaulin and some cardboard.

This way, the nutrients stay in the soil. It doesn't look pretty - but then again, I'm not there much to see it right now. Next year, if I have any 'bare' patches, I'll try using a green manure over winter instead.

In the foreground of the above picture, I've used some spare weed suppressing membrane to cover a long bed. Rain will get through, but it should warm the soil .. and loosen the grip of the unwanted grasses etc.

I've also covered the other long bed (to the left in the picture below) which is really overgrown (no picture yet - sorry) and I'll be interested to see if it suppresses the weeds and grass at all.

Nature was kind enough to provide me with some oca from the plot this year - guess I left a few tubers in the ground last year. I picked them on our last visit, when the foliage had completely been frosted. The tubers aren't very big - but they are tasty - even raw.

Funny thing with the oca is, I'd planted pink and white tubers in 2009 but only got white ones this year.

I also got a nice surprise crop of mizuna - where I'd weeded the month before, which has been sheltered from the frost by brassica seedlings that have also sprung up.

Back up at my aunts I started off a few salads in late Sept / early October. The most sluggish of these is the rocket, pictured below.

The peppers and tomatoes did really well this year (in the glass roofed barn) and we're only coming to the end of them now.

The red curly kale is still looking .. and tasting .. great. It really brightens up the garden at this time of year .. and looks great with dew drops on the leaves.

I also have some baby leaf salads on the go. These are outside in one of those 4 tier 'plastic' greenhouses.

Here are some that lettuce and orientals that I'm raising in modules. Not sure how fast they'll grow at this time of year, but I'm curious to find out.

I even have a couple of cabbages too...

.. and we've just got through the last of the container potatoes.

Back down in Leitrim we've had a mini disaster. Cows got in and have been over the lawns and the veg beds etc. We'd never got round to putting up a fence before we had to stop building and we hadn't had a problem before. They've made quite a mess really, poaching up the ground, so we'll have to go back down and put up some temporary fencing for security.

In the meantime, we're down to our last two long red sweet peppers .. might have to try stuffing them. They're delicious. Will have to grow more of them next year.