Egg Pinny

I've got an Egg Pinny! I saw a post somewhere ages ago about an apron with lots of little pockets that you can put eggs in when collecting from the hen house. I thought it was a brilliant idea - I can't tell you how many times I've put an egg or two in my pocket and by the time I get back to the house I put my hand in my pocket and find a pocketful of broken eggs, yuk! Even worse, if you forget they're there and leave your coat hanging up for a day or two....

So anyway I thought the idea of this apron was rather clever but sadly my stitchery skills are not up to the job so imagine my delight when I received this in the post

 It's made by my very clever friend Jan, who used to be my neighbour when our children were children, but who I now don't see often enough because we live  in different parts of the country.

Here we are many years ago, dressed up as pirates for some reason or another
Anyway I digress...















 This should save me dozens of broken eggs apart from looking very beautiful as well.


When it comes to gardening I have this romantic image of myself  meandering gently around on a balmy summer's evening in a floaty dress, wicker basket in hand, perhaps to the delicate strains of Mr Wilkinson performing his daily harp practice, sniffing the roses, snipping off the occasional dead head, as opposed to what I know of course is the reality of gardening and entails rather more dirt, sweat, and manure than my romantic imaginings. But one day.....

 Similarly with the chickens rather than stomping about with a shovel and a sack of wheat, I can now see myself floating down the garden to collect the eggs, in the same floaty dress, cue harp music....the eggs of course  will of course be pristine clean or they won't be allowed in the pinny, so watch out you hens with the big muddy feet.....

And then of course it's always useful for accommodating the occasional orphan chick... (see previous post)

Thank you so much Jan you are a star!!
        *****************

Scorchio

It seems barely five minutes since I was plodding in the back door soaking wet yet again, standing wet boots by the aga to dry, and wondering if it was ever going to stop raining - well it has stopped, and as they say, be careful what you wish for, it hasn't rained for weeks, the grass is brown, and this year's hay crop which has barely landed in the barn will be coming out again for feeding in short order by the looks of things. Mr Wilkinson says that farmers are never happy, it's either "flipping raining again" or  there's "no flipping rain again", and that there's always either not enough grass, or too much grass! Well he may be right, but we could really do with a prolonged spell of warm summer showers here.

I've just got back from a week in Harrogate where we go every year. It's normally a pleasant break from farm life for us, - we can get to shops and restaurants on foot and everywhere is easy to get to. I wouldn't want to live in town but it makes a nice break to get away from livestock and garden concerns.


However this year due to some miscalculations I had a single chicken hatch out on the day I was leaving for Harrogate
and so I had no real alternative but to take it with me.

So off we went up the M1, dog on the back seat and chick in a box on the front seat. It lived happily in a box on the kitchen worktop, but because it had no chums it needed constant attention when it was awake, so I ended up taking it with me more or less everywhere I went.





I found a dog friendly coffee shop which also turned out to be chicken in a handbag friendly too as well as serving excellent coffee and cake,

and you do have to be pretty good in Harrogate because there's a lot of competition!

So I highly recommend Hoxton North Coffee if you're in Harrogate and in need of a good coffee and you happen to have a dog and a chicken with you. (Well probably not a massive big chicken, only a tiny two day old chick that fits in your handbag. If you're carrying a full grown chicken around in town with you then you're even more eccentric than I am)

Anyway as I said we're back home now and I have aquired some little chums for my chick and they have settled in happily in a box on the counter top (for now), though as you can see from this pic the chick is very tame and jumps up  for every photo op.

I Can't Stand Sheep

There comes a point every year when I decide I can't stand sheep. Not that you could tell from this picture of the two lovely lambs that arrived last week, when all was well.  But sadly this idyllic scene was fairly swiftly followed by three dead lambs, for which I could find no real reason. One ewe was a first lamber and rejected her lamb even though she had a plentiful supply of milk, and that's really annoying. Well there are still three more to go so let's hope for an easier time with them.

On a jollier note I came across this Australian Permaculture music thing, aimed mostly at kids but great fun for anyone. Not at all the usual let's all plant a seed together type of thing, but much more edgy and fun.

 My favourite is My Dad's Dunny, (you have to explain that Dunny is Australian for toilet) and No Such Thing As Waste, both of which have great videos to go with them. Highly recommended.

Spring has sprung!!

Well according to the Met Office it may have been the start of Meteorological Spring last week, (when we were knee deep in snow) and it may not be the Vernal Equinox until the end of the month, but for me, the first lambs to arrive mean that Spring is finally here in Ashleworth, especially as the snow is all but washed away, and the sun is putting on a halfway decent performance as well.







There's nothing quite like a ewe with her new lambs, in this case twins, one boy and one girl, to make you feel that winter is at last, if not over, then on the way out.

 This ewe is a Wiltshire Horn, a traditional old breed that sheds its fleece  naturally so needs no shearing, which I'm hoping will mean less work for me in the summer.

Being pretty hardy types they can lamb outside with no assistance, which is what this one did as I found when I went out to feed them this morning. I will put her in the barn tonight as the forecast is for frost and maybe some snow, but they seem good strong lambs and I think they will do well.