In the words of the old adage "eat, drink and be merry", we can safely say we have done that during our time off the paid job.  As I write this, today sees Steven return to work after his week off and I start my second week.  It's such a shame that it's harder for him to take 2 weeks off with the way his work is.   After our somewhat indulgent week, this intention for this week is to make a steady start back on to the routines, with healthier meals and more efficient routines. Monday needed to start by doing what had been getting put off, you know, the things that woul ..read more

We have decided to put the area where the pigs were a few years ago back to grass.  They did a great job of eating what was there, weeds and all.  We tried to turn it in to a veg area, unsuccessfully for multiple reasons and then covered it in membrane to suppress the weeds.  So now is the perfect time to buy grass seed to spread, ready for when it warms up. You may remember that the Aga went off a weekend back.  Ste has tried to fix it a couple of times but it didn't play ball, nor did his back!  So I asked him to hang fire and rest a while before trying again.  ..read more

Now it's lighter later, Steven has been able to get on with work outside.  He has continued working on the log pile roof which is looking great.  He said there's just some guttering to be added to it now.  A job for this coming weekend - I'm writing this on Friday. Although lighter for longer, it's still very dark when we rise at 5am.  The days when I go straight in to the barn at that time is quite a shock for those who are still in their midnight slumber. I have also released a tour of the kitchen garden as we call it on YouTube.  Here it is if you are intereste ..read more

"Where's the guard for it?" I heard my Dad enquiring to Steven who was brandishing an electric grinder, minus the guard.  "In  my workshop, it gets in the way" was the response as I silently walked by them and in to the house, half smiling as I knew my Dad was now shaking his head at Steven.  A few minutes later I looked up from the kitchen sink to see Ste walking up from the workshop, smiling at me knowingly, whilst carrying said guard.  They got back to work on the roof for the log pile.  It required a few pieces of steel welding together, which is why Dad was helpin ..read more

The duck eggs that went in to the incubator on New Year's Day came out as planned 28 days later.  Here they are on the 29th fluffed up and looking fantastic.  Our first hatch of the year.   We pretty much spent the week loving over the ducklings but we did have work to do at the weekend.  It started with a broken barrow but ended up with all the new vegs beds full of the rotted horse muck and homemade compost, so it did get better.  It's all on the vlog of the week which you can click here. Steven got the gate on that he has made which is higher for the chic ..read more

The third week of the year saw yet more changes to the weather.  We have had a lot of rain this week and combined with the wind from the 2 storms (Isha and Joycelyn), it's felt pretty damp and grey.  So I took this photo to lift spirits showing the thunderous clouds, sun and blue sky. After saying on Saturday that the peppers hadn't come through, on Sunday 21st the first of them started appearing!  They are making their way through at a rate of knots. After a bit of a disaster with ordering the wrong wood for the veg patch extension, which we mention on last week's vlog, thi ..read more

2024 January ..read more

The week of the 8th of January was a cold one.  Most nights saw temperatures drop between -2 and -5 Celsius.  Despite that, there were a few rays of sunshine to be had and no rain!   It has been a while since the dogs felt the sun on their faces through the window. To stay warm, we had hot milk and hot chocolate heated on the aga in my lovely milk pan from Beamish. The shed is back open for business after a quiet time over Christmas.  It was lovely to be working back in there again.  The day was kind to us too, cold but good working weather.  Steven worked in ..read more

January 1st went out with a bang!  No I don't mean fireworks.  I mean metaphorically.  As I mentioned, we started as we mean to go on and got 32 ducks eggs in the incubator.  The ducks have been laying fantastically during December so we had plenty spare. The chickens have been laying though not as well.  We did find a nest where to 2 or 3 escapees have been laying.   We won't be incubating any chicken eggs until the new ones start laying which will be March (time all being well) January is about getting back to healthy, home cooking after a month of i ..read more

What a wet day January 2nd was.  I was working, all be it from home thankfully.  Steven and the kids were still off and enjoyed doing their thing all day.  The rain didn't stop and even by the night time when Jill came to do her share of the horse jobs, it was still raining so we had to put the rain coats on the horses to turn them out and looking at how wet their rugs were when they came in, I'm glad we did! When I stopped for something to eat around midday, I popped out to the garden as leeks have been on my mind!  With the snow, then the rain, I was worried the leeks ..read more