Gratitude Sunday

 Joining Taryn in this heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect and be grateful.


This week I have been grateful for: 

...my feathery ladies laying two eggs a day for me 

...Which allowed me to have pancakes for breakfast...

... Having the time to finish the pair of socks I have been working on

...Finally finding a shampoo that keeps my hair clean and doesn't irritate my dermatitis
... Some quiet time to catch up on rest
...The end of British Summer Time which meant I had an extra hour before work

Quiet time

The past couple of days, since Friday I suppose I have spent with my boyfriend. We watched Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 which I really enjoyed, went out for dinner twice, it has been lovely. We have had some pretty nasty weather too.

Just last night we had a very wild storm, thunder, lightning, winds, rain, the works.

Our veg man also delivered the first pumpkin of the season. Now I just need to work out what to do with it. Any ideas or favourite recipes?

I have also been churning out mini hats for the Big Knit.

Hopefully the weather is supposed to calm down this afternoon so I am hoping to go and pop them in the post.

The last photo is my first fair isle knit. I always thought colour work looked scary, but I have been watching a programme on the BBC iPlayer about the Scottish Islands. I love the history and the culture of them and would one day like to visit at least one of them for myself. 

In the one about Shetland and the surrounding islands, they had a brief section on Fair Isle and it's knitting heritage. There was a clip about it being passed down the generations and made me smile when it showed the grandmother knitting a jumper at a million miles an hour and the grand daughter with the extreme concentration of every stitch. 

They were also discussing they can knit a jumper in about ten hours which blew me away. So far it has taken me two weeks to knit a pair of socks. So I looked into the methods of fair isle knitting and discovered a few tricks along the way to help me knit faster. 

Garden update 16/9/13

What a dreadful few days it has been! Stormy, wet and cold. Barely had the chance to do anything at all.

Today, before it started raining too much I managed to get out and build a support fence for my little peas. 

Tiny little plants which will hopefully make yummy peas in spring.

If you are wondering why I have so many marigolds that is for another post ;).

Also had this surprise this morning:

The first egg! It was probably because I said I wouldn't buy any more eggs, but the other half was moaning for baked goods so I went and bought half a dozen yesterday. And lo and behold, checked the nest box this morning and there was one perfectly shaped brown egg.

Gratitude Sunday

Joining Taryn in this heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect and be grateful.

 This week I have been grateful for:

...Some well earned rest

...Becoming good friends with my chickens

... My parents visiting

... Lots of rain over the past few days, it was pretty welcomed as it hasn't rained properly for ages

... When your mum cookies you dinner

... My boyfriend feeling better

The rabbits hate the rain and being wet. Although they love bring wrapped in a warm towel!

New arrivals

I wanted this post to introduce our new feathery family members and be filled with lots of lovely pictures taken in lovely bright sunlight. But unfortunately, being Britain, the weather is never as we expected. Currently I am having to batten down the hatches as it feels like a storm is blowing in.

So for the time being, let me introduce Doris, Mabel and Unnamed Chicken. 

Unnamed Chicken will eventually have a name! Still trying to work one out for her.

They were delivered on Monday, where the lovely delivery driver sat up the coop for me, clipped the girls wings and gave me some basic care instructions. 

They are settling in nicely. No eggs yet. But the rabbits are still very confused by them.

When I first let the chickens out into the fenced area they were a bit flappy and tried to fly which completed freaked the rabbits out!

Gratitude Sunday (on Monday)

I almost, almost didn't write a gratitude post. The last few days have been tough. My boyfriend has been very poorly with the flu and I have been staying up most of the night to make sure he is ok, and going to work during the day, feeling exhausted, coming home, cleaning up snotty tissues and icky bathrooms. I guess it is good practise for when we have children.

It was 1am when I started writing this post. 1 am being the third time I was awake that night already.

But I am very grateful for him, as he would do the same for me. 

So I decided to carry on. So here goes:

I am also grateful for ...

...the lovely weather we are having today. It meant I could get the emergency 3am bed change clean and dry in case it is needed again.

...My peas are doing so well, it's been a little warmer than normal at this time of year so they are speeding along.

...my parents announcing the will be visiting next weekend to help me catch up with the diy I have been promosing I will do but doesn't seem to happen.

...waking up before the sunrise. Winter is on its way.

... Finding some pretty cool looking mushrooms (I did look these up and they are most definitely not safe to eat) 

Garden update 4/10/13

I haven't posted a garden update in a while, mainly because there hasn't been too many interesting goings on. How is everyone's garden doing? Definitely the air has turned autumn-y and everythong seems to be winding down for the impeeding cold of winter. The leaves have turned their rich-red-orangy colours too.

My brassicas got decimated by caterpillars (apparently it has been a great year for them and their numbers have been dramatically higher this year), so I have replaced them and covered the with milk bottles.

I saved all the bottoms I cut off too, these are to use as drip trays.

I have also transplanted about 100 strawberry seedlings which are all over the conservatory. Going to be a bumper crop next year. My white strawberry plant is still flowering and still producing fruit!

I have also planted some peas in the other raised bed for over wintering and they gave just started to sprout too.