Going once, going twice…

And sold! I have a dozen Silver Dorkings eggs on they’re way to me.

Mrs Dorking is very unhappy about her move but the incubator is now cleaned and back on as a back up.

broody hen

Mrs Dorking has gone broody, she’s been sitting tight for about four days now, so this evening she has been moved to her own little hutch where she can be left in peace away from the other hens who want to lay eggs (or not as is more the truth.)

It is the first time that she has gone broody so I have no idea if she will stay sitting now that she has been moved but I’m hoping to hatch some unrated Silver Dorkings under her to add to the ‘flock’.

I am bidding on some eggs on ebay, I have just missed out on the first set with five seconds to go, I was sat at the computer counting down, by twenty pence!

Twitter

I have joined Twitter.

I recently heard a programme on Radio 4 about it and it’s many uses but have sadly forgotten which part it was that inspired me to join or how I was going to use it. Still I am now a member, and when I have a) worked out how to and b) found a mobile phone service that has even a small amount of sign covering my house then I will be able to up-date people with what I am up to whilst on the move.

In the mean time it is there in the side bar on the right and I will use it to up-date here when I don’t have time to write a full post.

Severn Bore

Even though I have lived here since I was nine, I still don’t feel like I have seen that many of the ‘tourist-y’ things that the area has, the things that if I was on holiday here I would most likely make an effort to go and see but as I live here and have no plans what-so-ever of leaving the area then they just get pushed back by the day-to-day routine and tasks.

This year I promise myself that I would change some of that and so last Friday night, and then again on Saturday morning we went Severn bore spotting. I’m not really sure what the bore is or why it happens, I’m not even sure that anyone else does, but basically it is a wave that comes backward up the river Severn.

I saw my first one ever on Friday night, it was dark but as we’d been there for an hour or so before, and you have to go that early or you never find a place to park, then our eyes had adjusted to the light so we could still see what was coming up the river. Then we went out again on Saturday morning to see the next one, it was a very bright and clear morning but the bore wasn’t as good. It reached our first spot ten minutes late and didn’t spread across the river as well as it had done the night before. After it had gone past us we jumped in the car and followed it up the river to the next spot.

Night time visitor

The other night Rhys went out and found a Hedgehog stealing the cats food from their bowl. It was gone before a photo could be taken or I could see it but still exciting news and a further sign that the population is on the up in the area.

I hadn’t seen a live Hedgehog since moving when I was nine until a few months ago, when I saw one in the road whilst out driving. I stopped and made Rhys get out of the car to shoe it out of the road but it had already gone.

Ada

Adas coat has started to change colour, it is interesting to see. When she was born she was a sort of dark brown with some chestnut patches and now she seems to be getting patches of white or ‘salt and pepper’ through from her under coat.

It is making her look very messing and untidy. I’ve never had a goat kid who has changed colour so early, a few have got lighter or darker with their summer and winter coats but never like this before.

Devon

I have been away for the weekend, visiting my grandmother in Devon. I have been promising to go for over a year now but there has always been too much to do. There still were lots of things to do but last month I decided there would always be lots to do and booked the train tickets any way.

Even though I don’t often take them I do enjoy train journeys, and bus journeys but train journeys more. There are so many interesting back gardens, allotment sites and smallholdings along railway lines, and it’s always nice to ‘have a nose’ and gather ideas, which is not something I really ever get chance to do being the boring stay at home that I am, but that is where I am happiest.

On the journey down I started to keep count of the interesting things I saw, there was many, of the different types of livestock there was. I always feel uneasy about the thought of keeping any of our animals so near to a  trainline or busy road but people do and it seems to work out fine.

So I have been to the beach. Paignton is a nice sandy beach with lots of beach huts which I loved, I don’t remember them being there last time I went to visit which must have been about four or five years ago now. Beach huts seem to hold a promise, a promise of something interesting behind each door all done up in shiny coat of white paint and a brightly coloured door. Or to me they do. The beach was busy even though it was a dull day weather wise, I guess I should have expected that in the middle of the summer holidays, and the tide was in so there wasn’t much room for people to spread out. I don’t like crowded beaches as much as I could, they don’t seem to be as thoughtful or healing as an empty wind swept beach. And the rubbish… But I still had a nice walk.

We visited Torre Abbey to see the Antony Gormley Field for the British Isles exhibition. It visited Gloucester Cathedral not long ago and I thought about going to see it then but never got round to it. The exhibition was laid out in an old barn on the out skirts of the grounds and the little figures filled most of it. It was interesting standing infront all of the little clay figures, the pencil holds that they have instead of eyes look strangely human and questioning.

The abbey seemed to have mostly been turned into an art gallery, there was a big felt mobile hung on the stair way all the way up through the building which I guess had been made by a school. It was made up of white felted people with natureal black wool felted in for the hair and face and a letter on the front. It was very simple but I would imagion that it was a great community project. The garden was nice, it had a big glass house which I would have filled with vegetables or fruit of some kind.  

And that was all there was time for. Being away did make me realise how picky about food I am but as I’ve been writing this post for a few days now (it is very busy at work this week) I will just post it.

Missing cat

My cat has gone missing.

No one has seem her for a couple of weeks now, I do hope she’s alright…

weekend list

Well, I did very well on the list of weekend jobs for this weekend. With help of course.

brassica netting; ordered and waiting for delivery

plant leeks; not finished but started. 78 out so far

take already bagged manure to allotment; all bags now spread on the allotment and goat pen cleared and more bagged ready to go 

research growing strawberries from seed; I posted a question on the Gravevine Forum and got some helpful replies, I also found the packet and can sow them this autumn, or in the spring if it gets to late 

finish clearing site for new goat houses and start putting them up; site cleared and the first six panels are up! The goats were very happy with all the hawthorn we had to cut down when we cleared the area.

Courgettes

Well, it is the middle of the courgette season and we are getting lots. Last year I froze most of them and we used them slowly through the winter in vegetable sauces but I don’t think we are going to have so many left for freezing this year.

This evening we had some peeled into long ‘slices’ in our salad and it was lovely but we have also been eating a lot with cous-cous.

Slice the courgettes up and simmer in a pan with plenty of garlic and butter, you can either cook them slowly and let them sort of stew in the juices or cook then a little faster and turn them golden brown, both ways are nice. When they are done just serve them with a helping of cous-cous.

Very nice.