Rain, Rain, Mud, Rain

Oh dear. More rain and squally winds to welcome in the New Year. The hens hate it, I hate it, the garden (which is on heavy clay at the bottom of a sloping field) hates it. The ducks think it's fantastic:

And the dog isn't bothered, coming as he does from gundog stock. I get absolutely filthy every time I go outside, which is rather a lot as I am feeding the hens little and often to prevent their pellets turning to porridge and to replenish the rabbits' and guineas' hay and give them some company. I mopped the kitchen floor for the first time in ages today and had to change the water 4 times - it's only an area of about 3 square metres!

Still, we had a lovely Christmas despite a lengthy powercut on Christmas Eve and I was the lucky recipient of some wonderful presents. Charles gave me a cute little box of 6 Conte pastels, which happened to be the perfect colours for my mallard calls:

But today he gave me my New Year's present (apparently there is such a thing):

Aren't they absolutely gorgeous? I could sit and look at them instead of out of the window, as the weather is so disgusting, and think about the spring and summer when I will be able to christen the yellows, reds, greens and blues, rather than just the browns, greys and black...

It's nearly half past 4 and dark outside so I'd better go and close up my poor poultry in their coops, then back inside for Christmas cake, tea, and some knitting.

Happy New Year!

Winter's Depths

It's the winter solstice today, and it's not as if we need a reminder that we are in the darkest, dreariest part of the year, but the weather is doing a great job of hammering it home. Rain is lashing against the panes of my rickety windows, and wind and wet are leaking under the back door, soaking the mud-sodden mat. Sigh. Thank goodness for Christmas to bring a bit of light and cheer.

I was lucky enough to be invited to a wreath-making workshop with my friend Nicky and a couple of her other friends, run by Rachel. It was a really pleasant way to spend a morning, with chat and copious cups of tea, mince pies, punctuated with removing poisonous foliage from the dog's jaws. The smell of moss and pine and orange and cinnamon was olfactory heaven so I can thoroughly recommend a wreath workshop rather than simply buying one. We also mooted the point that wreaths need not just be for Christmas and perhaps we should investigate spring, summer and harvest wreaths as possibilities too. Well, once the creative juices get flowing...

Due to the weather, I've hung the wreath over the fireplace rather than have it bashing around on the front door. It's so bloomin' cold in the house I'm not terribly worried about it drying out in the heat (ha!) and it means we get to appreciate it rather than just the postman:

I realise it is a bit lopsided but I'm really pleased with it :-)

Party Time

Today was the day of the CCG Christmas Party! It was a select gathering but all the members of the Guild attended - and as the Country Crafters Guild consists of Me and Nicky, it meant we could have 3 Heston Blumenthal pine-sugar dusted mince pies each :-)

Yum. We also discussed the projects and crafts we'd like to complete/try/attempt. I'd like to have a go at needle felting and Nicky is contemplating knitting an Afghan throw, and of course, there will be the seasonal produce to preserve. We decided to press on with the Sock-a-Month challenge by casting on our January socks!

I am absolutely loving the yarn - it's British blue-faced Leicester wool from the Natural Dye Studio and feels lovely and soft. The colour is gorgeous too; I am really in to my greens at the moment!

Earlier on in the day I wanted to make the most of the mild weather and try and split one of my lupins as I need some space to fit other plants in and also need to do some dividing so I can populate my new border. I took out one of the smaller ones but it was still quite a whopper:

However, I took some tiny plants from the base, a bit like this one:

and potted them up in gritty compost and trimmed the leaves right back. I have no idea if they'll take, but I've put them in the greenhouse and I'll see if they produce some roots.

I love seeing a tray full of cuttings! So full of promise. The greenhouse is also being used for another purpose; I had lost Ida the hen earlier in the day and eventually found her in there having a bathe in the slightly drier earth. Mary also took advantage:

So as you can see they really appreciate my recent purchase of a fancy dustbath and perchery station with oven-baked sand :-/

The bees enjoyed the relative warmth too and I thought I'd give them a feed and use up some old waxy honey cappings that have been sitting in a tupperware on my worktop since the spring. I diluted it with hot water and popped it in a dish with a bit of sponge so they didn't drown, then placed one in the sunshine near the entrance of each hive:

I did also get round to giving the bathroom a thorough clean and Rosie said it looked much better and not so haunted...a reference to the cobwebs!!

So, it's now time for a podcast and a few more rows of the socks :-)

Frosty Morning and Fancy Dustbath

Well, it was beautiful yesterday morning. Cabbages can be pretty unimpressive but then Jack Frost calls and, well:

I also took a picture of all the plants we rescued from their tumble in the greenhouse and rehoused in the cold frame:

Roll on spring, I can't wait to plant them all out :-)

The other part for the new dustbath arrived and after a lot of bad language and misplaced screwdrivers, ta-dah!

I bought some play sand to put in the dastbath itself but it's sopping wet so I am drying it out at the moment. For anyone else in the same situation, don't cook it, it doesn't work but does create a lot of steam...

The ducks are still enjoying their compost-spiked mudbath:

Ah, I am very fond of my ducks.

A couple of years ago I collected some seeds from the Scots Pine trees in the copse and planted them. They are doing really well:

When they first germinate they are the tiniest little thread of a trunk with a fan of half a dozen needles on top, just adorable. I really recommend growing them for their miniture perfection! Growing tree seeds is so full of promise, I love them.

I have finished the mitts! But they are wrapped up and I forgot to take a photo so you'll have to take my word for it.

I'm now knitting a circular scarf for my friend but with lighter-weight yarn and smaller needles so I've added on another 30 stitches and am hoping for the best.

It's Jamie's Christmas on tv and I'm absolutely starving, it's not the best program to watch as I am drooling...

Pictures of Perch Hill

I wanted to post some pictures of our trip to Perch Hill, so, here they are! :-)

And thanks to Laura and her phone for the pictures!

Having seen the above example of how tasteful and classy certain plants and candles and natural foliage can look, it's probably not the best time to post a picture of my attempt to bring a little Christmas style to my dining table but anyway, I pruned some holly berries and found some pine cones so here is my lovely candle:

Amber brought the bunnies into the lounge this morning which was quite fun - no prizes for guessing where their favourite place was:

I think there are a few needles left on the tree. After washing the tomato pots out in the duck's bath yesterday, it was full of compost and rather disgusting, with lumps of dirty ice floating around in it. My lovely mallards didn't seem to mind in the slightest though:

Christmas is Coming

We try to get our tree during the first week of December, as they are quite expensive and I like to get my money's worth out of it! We went over to Sharnfold Farm and came back with our 7' spruce:

We'll decorate it this evening when the girls get back from the Jacqueline Wilson book signing they have been taken to by their father. Judging by the texts I have had from the girls about their dad's reaction to the change of plans regarding Christmas Day, we will need a pleasantly distracting activity...I don't think baby goats on Countryfile is going to cut the mustard :-/

I have made a mini stocking from the book of 20 Mini Christmas Knits that I borrowed from Nicky:

Doing the picot edging with double strands of that bloomin' gold thread was a bit of a pain but I think it's quite effective. I also got round to stuffing my reindeer bauble, and whilst I was feeling grotty with a cold yesterday, I made a Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran version of Peggy the hen :

I think the resemblance is striking:

I want to make a set of the seven chickens I have, but I was looking at Henry today thinking I will have to use a bit of artistic license to save me ending up with a different colour strand for every stitch.

The white call ducks have been a bit wayward recently, and have a penchant for ending up nextdoor. They were rootling around in the leaves and mud by the front steps today:

You can see the road, plus a lot of people walk their dogs down our lane to get to the Cuckoo Trail so it really isn't a very good idea. I usually have a length of chicken wire across the gateway but I tend to pull it out of the way on Saturday nights so the poor Ocado driver has one less trip hazard to negotiate - I'm sure they draw lots at the depot to see who has the short straw of delivering to me through my unlit, muddy, flowerpot-strewn garden with its unhelpfully narrow concrete path and badly placed paving slabs. They earn their 99p delivery charge when they come to me!

I made cinnamon buns for breakfast and cooked a roast lunch but of course now Tristan is hungry again. I bought him 3 Conn Iggulden books to have for Christmas to follow on from the one he got for his birthday, but he has already finished the 2nd and 3rd ones so I have asked if I can at least wrap up the last one so he can open it and pretend it's a present, albeit rather early.

Right, I'd better go and hide all the decorations that I don't want the girls to put on my nice tree ;-)