The Decision has been made…..

We’re getting some hens.

This has been a long time coming, and a step I didn’t originally expect to be able to take until we moved out of London, but we have the right amount of space and a secure enough back garden to make the next key step in taking responsibility for the food we eat.

It’s been talked about ever since we moved here, and we have the OK from the landlord, the council and our neighbours both sides. Now we are both working again, we can afford to buy all the things needed for the set-up – decent housing, feeders, drinkers, treatments, grits and so forth.

Once all the kit is in place, we can get the birds. I’ve put a lot of thought into this, and will be getting pure breed birds as opposed to the modern commercial hybrids, which are so often recommended. Part of my decision can be explained by the words that precede hybrid – modern, as in little or no history to them, and commercial, as in produced on a large scale by one company, with volume as opposed to quality as the target.

I’d much rather have birds with years of careful breeding behind them, that lay reasonably well over a few years, rather than pay for a copyrighted cross that lays high volumes for a year or so then keels over and needs replacing.

I’d like to get breeds that each lay a different coloured egg, so I can tell whose laying and how often, and if needs be, which hens appear to have problems. They won’t start laying eggs immediately, as I’ll be buying “Point of Lay” – hens that are just reaching maturity and ready to start laying, plus they will need to be settled in their new surroundings first of all.

Yes, there’s plenty to learn, but I know I can get support if needed and hopefully will be able to pass on the knowledge I gain.

And make exceedingly good cakes.

A Few Days In May - Part One - The Journey West

Better fill you in on what we've been up to over the past few months: -

One of the highlights of our year is a trip the Smallholders and Garden Show at the Royal Welsh Showground near Builth Wells. Due to tight finances, we had to give the show a miss in 2008, so this year we were determined to make the most of it. We had even booked our accommodation in January when rooms were at cheap rates.

Rather than a mad dash down the M4 there and back, we like to take our time and use a more scenic, less traumatic route. As we were setting of on the Friday morning, the first part of the journey was on motorways – the M25 and the M40. Outside of the rush hour, the M40 is quite a pleasant drive. From Beaconsfield onwards, Red Kites can be seen soaring and swooping, and as you leave the last remnants of High Wycombe behind you, the road goes through a deep cutting made in the chalk hills of the Chilterns. Suddenly, before your eyes is a view of the Thames plain towards Newbury and Oxford, and in the distance lie the hills of the Cotswolds. You are through the Gateway to the West and there’s no turning back!

These days, rather than get held up in the Oxford Ring Road, we take the motorway to a junction further and drop down to the A40 on the western edge of the city. A few more miles and we’re in the Cotswolds and really feel like we’re on holiday.

We always make a point of breaking our journey in Burford. It was voted the 6th best place to live in the world by some high end business magazine survey, and it’s easy to see why. Beautiful buildings and surroundings, yet everyday life is still catered for on the High Street – among the antiques, artworks and restaurants, there’s a grocers, chemist and newsagent, plus a well-stocked cook shop, which is more than can be said for the likes of Southgate near us.

Just before we reach the outskirts of the town, there is the garden centre – one of the best anywhere. There is a huge range of plants, always in the best of health, a great selection of seeds, bulbs and all the bits and bobs needed to grow them. Being in a posh area, the other stuff sold in the garden centre is a far cry from the usual tat. The food area is stocked with good local produce, including beer & cheese. The cookshop is great, full of useful and great looking gear. The most downmarket brand in the china department is Emma Bridgewater, and they’ve even added a mid-century modern stand in the antiques department. And very nice, clean, warm and well-appointed loos - an essential on any epic journey.

A very nice place, and yes, you wouldn’t mind living there.

After a wholesome lunch in the restaurant, a sneaky look round the toyshop, and a quick look round the refurbished Shepherd’s Hut, we set off on the rest of the journey, taking in Stow on the Wold, the delightfully named Upper Swell, Tewkesbury and Ledbury before reaching Hereford where we would be staying.

Shortly after leaving Tewkesbury, our route passes by my second favourite building – a derelict barn. Made of bricks, laid out in intricate patterns, which had obviously been the vernacular style as there are similar barns in use nearby, I wish I could find out what it looked like when it was intact and in use. Above all, I’d like to think I wasn’t the only person who wanted to make sure the building could be saved.

Our journey then took us over the lower reaches of the Malverns and finally into Herefordshire. We made a detour just after skirting Ledbury to visit Poultry Park, chicken breeders just outside Newent. I wanted to see a few of the breeds kept there – especially Cream Legbars, famous for their blue eggs, while I was making the decision as to which breeds to keep at home.

The place was well laid out, with each poultry house given over to one breed. Outside the house, there were two large grassy runs, one in use and the other recovering. The birds looked healthy and clearly happy with the space they had.

The breed runs were situated round the outside of the field, and the inner had a seating area, plus gardens laid out to show how hens could be kept in a small area – one had the hens roaming over a lawn, one with them in a moveable ark placed on vegetable beds and the third in a fixed enclosure at the back of a more formal garden. An interesting place to visit, even if we didn’t come away with any birds.

We left Poultry Park at closing time, and, as luck would have it, just as the rain started. So we headed towards Hereford and our hotel, and after a very good meal in the pub next door, we settled down for an early night ahead of an early start.

If you build it, they will come………..Eventually

I've been a little despondent over my attempts to encourage wildlife into our garden, and the incident with the deep frozen frogs made me wonder about keeping the pond near the back door.

Well, on Sunday morning, whilst giving the area a tidy up, I removed some blanket weed, and discovered a newt!

Seems to be a female Smooth Newt, and it's still in there, plus a small frog which flits in and out.

Considering the pond is little bigger than a washing up bowl, in a suburban back garden, I'm pretty pleased.

The Year Turns Another Corner

Last time I posted, we were stuck at home because the roads were too icy to travel. At the time it felt like the cold weather was here to stay, and I feared another year of being held back by the weather. The snowdrops in the garden were a good month late in flowering, and the pond froze so deep that come the thaw we had to dispose of two hibernating frogs that had unwittingly been cryogenically preserved at the bottom.

A few weeks down the line, and the Spring Equinox is upon us. The Canada Geese at the lake have started flying round in honking squadrons at dawn and dusk, the woodpackers have been drumming and the Magpies have been adding another precarious layer to last year's nest. After the cold weather delaying even the snowdrops, it seems that in the past fortnight Spring has not so much sprung as pounced. The main road through the estate has come alive with a primary colour mix of Mimosa blossom, Ceanothus buds and Photinia leaves. Last Sunday was so warm I spotted the first butterflies of the year, a Brimstone, Red Admiral and a Tortoiseshell.

Because I don't have a proper greenhouse, I held off seed sowing until last weekend, but now this have got underway with a vengance. After regular Saturday errands, I plan to spend the afternoon in the potting shed, starting off as many of the hardier crops and flowers.

We had a little shock at the allotment, though we weren't around to see the actual event. As the snow and ice melted, the run off from the woods and the golf course next to the allotment poured into the brook which provides a boundary to the site. The amount of melt water was enough to cause the brook to break its bank for the first time in several years, and part of the allotment site was flooded, including a corner of our plot. By the time we visited, the waters had receded, and we though that vandalism was the cause of the collapse of our woodpile. Although a little alarming, we were relieved to hear the real reason for the disruption. I'm planting more Willow cuttings at the bottom corner of the plot, which bore the brunt of the flooding.

We've spend the past couple of weekends digging and moving the heeled in fruit trees and bushes. The bottom edge is now edged with Gooseberries, punctuated with Apple and Pear trees. This has left me with more space elsewhere to plant fruit, and thus an excuse to get more - including Cider Apple trees. Expensive in the short term, but in the long run they'll pay for themselves and hopefully prove to be our legacy to future growers.

We'll be concentrating in preparing the potato patch this weekend, and hopefully we'll have the first and second earlies in by Easter, with the Maincrops in come May Day. On a more self-indulgent note, we put a small counter top in the shed last week, below the window, which will serve as a cooking, eating, writing and lookout spot.

This weekend, my errand running on Saturday will include a visit to the fancy interior design shop on Winchmore Hill Green to buy paint to do the inside of the shed. Indulgent maybe, but have spent an hour sitting watching a sleet downpour with a ready supply of tea & biccies, it has once again been proven that a comfy shed is not just an optional extra!

Communal Ice-Breaking

Tired & achey, but at least I'm warm.

Stuck at home for the past two days because of the "extreme snow event" in London. Because the estate where we live has narrow roads and is at the top of a hill, the gritters didn't make it in here so the buses didn't run. All well and good yesterday when everyone was stuck at home, but today it was a tad irritating.

Yesterday several families were out in the street once it was obvious no-one was going anywhere. Children were enjoying making snow figures (not just snowmen - though what inspired someone to fashion a toilet with the lid up out of snow is best left unasked), and throwing snowballs. Fathers took the opportunity to show their children how to have a proper snowball fight. Later in the day, the steep slope of the street and the green that leads to the main loop road were used for sled runs. Some had proper sleds, others used tea trays or plastic chopping boards. One very enterprising person found an abandoned "pavement closed" sign left over from last week and bent it to shape.

We decided to take advantage of the unexpected spare time and go for a walk round the lake. This time last year we were spotting snapdrops and early bud burst. No chance od that yesterday - the snow was at least 4 inches deep everywhere. The snow that was falling on the lake was turning into a slushy carpet over the surface, sliced through by the birds as they swam past. We walked round the lake and into the wood, watching the snow continue to fall through gaps in the trees. We took advantage of the natural arbours made by tightly twined ivy for shelter before reluctanly returning home to warm through and dry out.

This morning, the hours of fun had yesterday had taken their toll on the street. The hundreds of sled runs down the hill had compacted the snow into thick ice, and it was impossible to drive out onto the main roads. In fact, a couple of cars from further up the street ended up sliding down to the end whilst trying to leave. The wheelspins as they attempted to escape made the ice even harder to break.

Eventually we decided something had to be done, and along with a neighbour and one of the trapped drivers, we started trying to break the ice. It turned out the best tool for this was a garden hoe, which sliced through the ice as effectively as through soil. It was hard work, painful on the back and shoulders, but after an hour or so we had driven a decent sized clear passage for cars on the road, and a similar gap on the pavement.

When we visited the local garden centres on Saturday to get our seed
potatoes, I noticed bags of rock salt on sale. I wondered about
getting some, but I do think that the joint effort made this lunchtime
was more positive that throwing down a chemical that could have run
down to the brook.

As we finished our task, we could hear the sound a spades scraping away ice from all directions. I don't know if we inspired them, or even guilt tripped them, or if they had planned to get out and clear the ice anyway, but it just proves that there's no point in waiting for someone (especially the council) to take the initiative. If something needs doing, whether it just benefits you or a whole group of people, just get on and make a start!

Been a long time........

Haven't posted a blog since October. Keep meaning to, but time has been short of late.

I started working at a specialist hospital at the end of October. I kind of forgot how a full working week eats into your time. Breaking even is great, but all the little tasks I did when they needed doing now have to be fitted into any spare time I have. Weekends are a mad rush but for the precious respite of the allotment.

And much of the break has been spent there. We're finally putting the old shed back up, and pretty soon I'll be able to brew a pot of tea under cover again. Having the tree canopy has been great, but now all the leaves have fallen (many into my leaf mould bin), there is nowhere to retreat from the rain.

It's been a pretty quiet time at the plot aside of that. We lifted a few Jerusalem Artichokes, but they were so small they could pass as the Chinese version, so I think we'll leave the rest until February.

It has to be said that the instructions in the Wartime Weekend Gardener for the last few weeks are fairly sparse. Just keep digging and clearing the plot, keep checking the crops in storage, order seeds and potatoes for the next year, cover rhubarb for forcing and the traditional Boxing Day task of sowing onions. With the weather we've had over the past few weeks, anyone would be hard pressed to have achieved anything from that list bar browsing the catalogues. The hard frosts this week will have helped anyone who managed to find a dry day to get some digging done, if such a person exists.

Still, on the gardening weather front at least, maybe next year will be better.

My last post was just before the US election, and fortunately sanity won through. Hopefully the Obama 8 years (please?) won't be sabotaged. Though I've always maintained Bill Clinton would never have needed to lie if he could have said fuck on US tv.

December saw the passing of one of my heroes - Oliver Postgate. Most celebrated for Bagpuss and The Clangers, he also co-created The Pogles, featuring my favourite character, Tog. The Pogles may well be a family for our current times - living in a low impact, sustainable house, foraging for wild food in the woods and meadows. Who amongst us wouldn't want to live that way?

This week sees the final branches of Woolworths close all over the UK. I last went in our local store in early November, to get the few things I relied on them to supply - bin bags and washing up sponges. Aside of the kitchenware, it had become a glorified pound shop. It had ceased to be the shop we mourned the passing of many years ago.

Many more shops will go to the wall before the hysteria ceases, and with almost all of these the blame will lie with management and their lack of awareness of the real financial situation. How anyone is supposed to help the country spend its way out of a recession when they expect to lose their job beggars belief.

And if we're all supposed to accept a wage freeze or cut, why can't a freeze or cut be enforced of transport fares?

There may be some good to come out of this. Who's to say we won't see the demise of DFS and their ghastly adverts?

Maybe 2009 will be the year that the difference between want and need finally are learnt.

Cheese, free speech, snowballs and other essentials for a happy life

Well, had a lovely time out west. Didn't mamage more than a fleeting glimpse of the Hairy Bikers - on Saturday the queues to see them went on for miles, and they ran out of books for their signing sessions.

We arrived in Hereford early Friday evening. We were staying in a new hotel just south of town, on the main A49, so everything was clean, if a little barren.

We arrived at the Festival just after opening time, and had a look round all the stalls before buying anything. We then had an early lunch and started stocking up - Pixley Berries blackcurrant cordials, several cheeses, Ralph's Perry, a couple of other beers, and sausages. Also bought a serrated kitchen knife with a cover that will be useful over the allotment, a book on celtic recipes, a sourdough loaf, a few packets of Tyrells crisps (also tried their vodka), a pack of chopped mixed game, assorted tartlets, mini quiches, mini nut roast and fancy Scotch eggs.

The main marquee was crowded and the easiest way to move round was to shuffle round sideways, once facing inwards, then outwards. By 2pm, some of the stands had run out of stock. The woman from the Elan Valley Mutton stand looked stunned. She wasn't sure if she had enough back at the farm to stock the stall for Sunday.

Finished our visit with some lovely ice cream, and decided to see what else we could fit in. We headed off to Hay, via the toll bridge. As we only had a small amount of cash left, and we needed fuel for Sunday, we avoided most of the bookshops, but bought something I'd planned on getting for some time - an enamel teapot and a couple of cups for the allotment shed. Had a quick look in the yarn shop, and greatly admired the Rowan angora kid and silk range. Just don't think the time is quite right for me to start to try and learn to knit again. My childhood efforts didn't extend far beyond scarves for teddy bears, and my sights these days would be set far higher than my current ability.

Had a picnic back in the hotel room with some of our purchases, then had another early night. The weather when we woke on Sunday was as forecasted - foul, but had cleared slightly by the time we set off. However, I didn't think the conditions underfoot at the Wernlas Collection would be good, so our original plan for the day was scrapped. Being on a north facing slope, I suspected it would be boggy at best, and I did wonder if the hens may have been moved to drier ground and out of view.

Instead we went on a mystery drive home, taking as many country tracks as possible. We saw classic car graveyards, white Rheas, new born alpacas, buzzards, and lots of wonderful views. We had a lunch of the last of the Scotch eggs in a car park near the peak of the Malverns, drove over the top of the Cotswolds on a road that could have been mistaken for a farm track and managed to put in a flying visit to Burford Garden Centre just before sunset. We were already heading toward the Oxford Ring Road when the "earthquake" hit the western side of the Malverns, so I can't tell you how it felt.

As we'd made allowances for a late arrival home, Monday was another day off, and with the weather being dry and sunny (if chilly), where better to spend it than the allotment.

We dug up the courgette plant as the frost had finally taken its toll. That part of the bed could now be dug over with the rest and put to bed for the Winter. Having moved last year's haul from the leaf mould bin to store for the Spring, we were ready for a new batch. We'd managed to gather a few bags of leaves locally, and our bin is now full of fresh leaves. If they rot down as well as last year's haul, we will have some great mulch for the spring after next.

Tuesday was by comparison quiet and uneventful, until around 9 in the evening, when it suddenly started snowing, and much to everyone's surprise, settled overnight. This of course gave the local train company a perfect excuse not to run trains long after the snow had melted.

My usual reaction when it snows is to head out to the allotment and look for animal tracks. Unfortunately, Wednesday morning was when I was due to start a new job, so I had to struggle into town and missed out on this treat. I'm working at hospital, doing clerical admin for at least the next few weeks. Nye Bevan created the National Health Service to provide universal health care free at the point of delivery. It may have its problems, but I'm happy to be able to defend the principles of the NHS from within.

The Wartime Weekend Gardener has one entry which covers the next three weeks - digging the plot. Which is all well and good unless you have to deal with the amount of rain that fell on Saturday. By Sunday afternoon we still had a few patches of standing water on our plot, which is why we're working on making raised beds.

The proper news this week was overshadowed by a minor story exploited by a right wing newspaper and elevated by disgruntled work colleagues. Whatever you think of what was said by Ross & Brand and how cone it was broadcast, take into account how much any tabloid would have relished breaking the story that "Manuel's" grand-daughter is a sex worker, and how they would have claimed the moral high ground in doing so. Notwithstanding the manner in which it may have precipitated the credit panic, BBC news should be ashamed at the way it has exploited this story due to reputed jealousy felt by journalists towards Ross in particular. Does this spell the end for adventurous comedy? Will we be left with Saga TV - The Vicar of Dibley and Antiques Roadshow and little else?

The reality is that free speech has been sacrificed to appease one of the most damaging forces in the media. It may not have been in my lifetime, but keep in mind that the Daily Mail supported Oswald Mosley.

Which kind of neatly brings me on to the great news the Lewis Hamilton has won the World Motor Racing championship. He's had to put up with being made to feel an outsider, not the least by Mosley's grandson, who may have tried to explain and back track on comments, but the first interpretation sticks. Much as we may complain about them, the long anonymous expanses of the A1M and the confusing M25/M1 intersections have given Hertfordshire another sporting hero.

So some bright news to end with. Let's hope Wednesday brings more good news. Bring on Obama and let's put an end to the Evangelical Inquisition and right wing suffocation.