Stairs, eggs and chickens

I now have the answer to the age old riddle 'Which came first the chicken or the egg?'

For us it was the egg - as our ducks started laying a week last Friday. Here's Sam with his treasured find. They taste really good too.

The chickens weren't far behind actually, we got four ex-battery hens last Tuesday, but more on that later.

That Friday was a busy day indeed, as we got our stairs put in too.

Of course, there has been lots happening in the tunnel and garden, we're now eating mangetout peas, broad beans, potatoes, courgette, lettuce and mizuna and have lots of basil and parsley too. Here's a pic of broad beans (mega tasty) and spuds.

Anyway, I digress, lets backtrack to those stairs. Here is our 'before' picture with the hall crying out for some lovely stairs.

Here the stairs are in, looking great. It really makes the place seem more like a home and less like a building site to have stairs (we had a ladder before). Sally is delighted as she can now come upstairs with us.

Here's some detail of the bottom of the stairs.

Here's Elvie playing on the stairs.

Here's Elvie playing on a haystack in the field!

At last, here are the long awaited chickens (well, 3 of the 4 felt photogenic). You can see some areas where their feathers are missing if you look closely. Mind you, we got the best of the bunch i.e. the most feathered!

Here you can see one with feathers missing on her chest. They're all settling in well although the ducks were a tad miffed at sharing their space at first. They're getting the hang of things, although only one is laying so far - but I'm happy to give them a bit of time to settle in. They have to eat the pellets as 'mash' with water rather than dry (it might be because their beaks are clipped). I'm not sure if I'll be able to wean them onto the dry stuff or not. Typically, the ducks now want mash too!

The tunnel is becoming quite a jungle. The squashes in particular are trying to take over every inch of space. I'm forever training them in circles. The sweetcorn is massive now too.

Outside the tunnel I've been extending the gravel, so it's easier to walk when the ground is wet (a job best done before winter) as the water can puddle along the paths there. The border beside the tunnel is doing ok now, with the peas starting to flower and the beans starting to climb.

The beans are now properly climbing the poles in the planters outside the tunnel too .. everything is having a growing spurt.

Now, we're getting on inside the house insulating the upstairs and getting ready for first fix electrics and plumbing. No rest, thats for sure.

I'm finally realising that this is our HOME in the making and I'm getting for of an urge to get in and make our mark on it and make it 'ours'. Time to start thinking layouts again - for electrical sockets, lights etc .. not to mention furnishing and decorating. Looks like it's only beginning in some ways.

P.S. We were hoping to get on wireless broadband but couldn't get line of sight so we're still on VERY slow speed mobile internet here, hence the infrequent postings. Fingers and toes crossed that Eircom actually bring broadband to Carrigallen and beyond in the not too distant future (there is a rumor that they might).

Nearly mid summer

Time flies and the longest day is nearly upon us. That somehow gets us in gear to get moving on the house more, so we've a chance of being in before those nights get too long and the weather gets too cold.

The strawberries are enjoying being in the tunnel now (even if I never got them out of their supposedly temporary pots that I put them in earlier in the year)

The ducks are still moulting, so there are no eggs yet. They now have lovely new chest plumage and only the big feathers left to moult. You can see they are 'bleaching' out i.e getting pale in the picture

It has been slow going in the house - still finishing off the passive upgrade (insulating the walls inside) and the final stud walls down stairs.

I managed a day or so of oiling the outside wood .. and got rather covered in the oil, so I ended up looking like I had a fine tan before I washed it off.

Very soon we're onto the second phase - first fix electrics and plumbing. Then things will really look different inside.

Outside, the weather has normalised somewhat - with a mix of sun, rain and wind. Means that our grass is coming up well.

Our broad beans have lovely pods (much better than this oldish pic shows)

All in the tunnel is going great guns. Here are the first flowers on my Auvergne peas.

Already there are lessons to learn. Firstly, the south end of the tunnel can be quite draughty. Already it caused a couple of young sweet corn to fail (I've put up a mini windbreak to minimise the damage). Next year there will be hardier plants by the doors. See in the pic how the top row suffered compared to the other two.

Also, I must get my irrigation system sorted. We have water butts now - which help warm the water from the well (it is very cold). Surpisingly, I don't have to water that much. The straw in the mushroom compost holds the moisture well .. even though the top surface dries out.

I was very overoptimistic with my theoretical plant spacings - and I've had to plant some squashes and other things outside. Some intercropping is working e.g. cauliflower and mizuna (see below).

As hoped, the tunnel is a great place for a washing line!

It is always warmer and more sheltered than anywhere else .. and I love nothing better to spend a few minutes sitting inside admiring the growing plants. The squashes are really growing fast.

Outside, the south face of the house is VERY exposed to the wind. I have plans to plant a fedge (fence / hedge made from living willow) 10 m away from the house to shelter the raised beds (will do the beds in September) but I may need additional precautions. Sam made a herb planter for outside the kitchen door and I must admit that some plants (a thyme!! and goji and even chamomile are suffering - from the windy days this week).

I have time over the summer to sort out some more ideas for extra wind breaks.

For now, it's on with the oiling and final studding.

Busy in the polytunnel

Well, the weather has been absolutely glorious and rather HOT, so hot that Sam has been wilting and that I have been having great fun cooling off in the stream after a hard days planting. The water is a tad cold - as this picture shows.

It's been hot, hot, hot in the tunnel but the weather is cooling now so it's rather lovely in there (I'm thinking of moving in full time).

Here's the field in it's full buttercup and blossom glory.

We've been - well I've been - very busy in the polytunnel since the last post, making the raised beds and planting. Somehow I thought I'd get it all done in a couple of days - ha!

I'm only just about done now .. and I've been working flat out (sending Sam demented as I haven't been able to help with the house).

Here's the progress.

I started by marking out the raised beds.

Then I got planting!

Here's a sample of what I put in ..

Sweetcorn and lettuce (and beans up top)

Lots of squashes - summer and winter varieties

Brussel sprouts and lettuce

Cauliflower and mizuna (we're already grazing the mizuna).

Tomatoes and peppers - peas at far end.

Sam made me some fab planters for outside the tunnel .. to put some extras that didn't quite fit in (more on that next time). There are beans to climb up the poles and some quinoa.

We also made a mound bed out of extra mushroom compost along the edge of the tunnel, with the idea that it will soften the view of the tunnel from the house. There are peas, squashes, oca and will be some flowers too this week. It is actually quite a breezy spot, so my initial idea of sunflowers may not be ideal.

 

Finally, as if all that isn't enough, we got a neighbour to rotivate the  ground out the back. It was really rough and weedy. It's only just dry enough to work. I'm not a great lawn fan and intend to have raised veggie beds there by next year, but it is handy to have some grass there for now - and for paths between the beds in the future. I'd planned on sowing a wildflower mix BUT would have had to rotivate it in after - so to save time and energy we've gone straight to grass.

I'll make the raised beds in September - the no dig way (cut the grass, cover with cardboard, then rotted manure / compost, then straw, then black plastic). I'll leave it over winter and plant in the spring.

At long last - the polytunnel is up.

Yes, at long last - the polytunnel is up and I'm pictured here having a very well earned rest inside it, surrounded by my lovely plants (beans, peas, nasturtiums, marigold, swede, cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes, peppers, onions, spinach, celery, oca, quinoa,  parsley, lettuce, cucumber, melon, squash, peanuts and many others) all waiting patiently for me to make some raised beds for them.

It was a lot of work and it did take a while but it was well worth it. An unstable combination of stubborness and Scorpio determination (yes, we're both Scorpio) meant that just myself and Sam put the whole thing up - including plastic cover. The tunnel is 21ft x 32ft so we reckon it was quite an achievement .. mabye of stupidity winning out over sense.

Don't try it at home with just two people - it is tricky - and would be much easier with four people. We knew this, of course, but spurred on by a calm and sometimes sunny day in the face of grim weather forecasts for this week we decided to just go for it.

We found that finding a calm, sunny day - it must be calm or you'll end up flying a very expensive kite and if it is sunny the plastic stretches, thus allowing for a tighter fit - is a rare thing in Leitrim. A calm sunny day in which two helpers are available is nigh on impossible - hence the decision to be a two man erection crew.

Luckily I've no pictures of us up ladders flinging plastic covers around (as I was too busy to take pictures) but there are some pics of the process.

We started by laying the ridge pole out and using that as  a measure for where the foundation tubes will go.

Then we knocked in the foundation tubes (it sounds SO easy, doesn't it - I just prayed that the sledgehammer wouldn't ruin my future musical mayhem creation abilities as I held the tubes) before getting to the 'interesting' bit where we had to get the hoops up and attached to the ridge pole.

Lots of climbing ladders, running about and shouting occured. Here's Sam in mid flow. By now the front hoops are safely in the foundation tubes and we're setting up the back hoops.

Now the back hoops are in and we're ready to get cracking on the middle ones. We did really well. Sam only fell off the ladder ONCE!

The frame is  up. Here we see it against the mini cloche (which is perfectly sane and safe for just two people to erect).

Now we have the stabilizer bars between the first and second hoops and the ridge poles up.

Here I am after digging trenches .. just a tad muddy.

Now the polythene cover is over and the corners are held down (mainly with mud). Sam has put the doorposts in.

Now, a few days later we have the finished tunnel, complete with doors and all trenches filled in.  Now all I have to do is get all those plants in.

tunnels, compost and insulation

Where does the time go? (Snoozing if you ask Sally and Elvie - caught taking a little nap .... they do a lot of that actually) 

Been a while since I posted - sorry.

So what's been going on?

Well the plants are all growing well - desperate for their polytunnel - which has arrived - but alas the weather (and having to have time off to fix vans and Sam being unwell for a while etc) has meant that it is still in pieces on the ground and not up making me a mini paradise just yet. Here are some of the plants. The blueberry and strawberry honeoye are in flower already.

We have managed to build the compost heap (from spare pallets) which is great - but I need a path down to it is it is now severely muddy after last week's rain.

There is also work going on inside the house. We're putting up the 'passive upgrade' i.e. insulation in the inside off the walls - rockwool bats. Leo the cat approves of rockwool and has taken to sitting on it at every given opportunity ( when not napping elsewhere or torturing local rodents).

Our mushroom compost has arrived and I've been rotivating it into the ground in the polytunnel area (well I was until the rains came and made everything too soggy to even walk on). Hopefully things will dry up a bit again.

Here is the polytunnel area rotivated pre rains.

It has been fiercely windy last week (rocking us gently in the caravan!) Luckily, Elvie seems blissfully unaware of this.

Fingers crossed the tunnel might get up this week. Sam has been great (and is now feeling better) and made me a mini tunnel for now and within two days the seedlings are looking happier and straighter.

I've also been experimenting with mini mounds for growing -  more on this next time along with exciting pictures of insulation going in!