It's been raining today and very grey - I find it difficult to get going with the weather like this, although it is also the time of year; the urge to hibernate is very strong...

The ducks are happy though, and have been rootling about in the muddy grass finding all sorts of unsuspecting invertebrates - they particularly like the manure I put at the base of the apple trees, (ugh) but also the grass around the greenhouse which is more photogenic:

We've worked out that the chick called Hazel is the cockerel, and the two others are hens. The boy has much bigger wattles and comb compared to his nest-mates. Hazel is now Wilbur, and the three of them have been separated from Henry (as he has rather an unhealthy interest in the pullets and keeps picking on his son). I am waiting to hear from my friend Joss as to whether she can take Henry - if not, the chicks can stay as a trio.

Wilbur and Pippa

 The hens don't enjoy the rain but yesterday they enjoyed a communal groom and snooze on the bench:

I was out in the garden yesterday too - I cleaned up the cobwebs in the outside toilet, although the chickens have a habit of appropriating it. Ida keeps laying eggs on a pile of old papers and Henry finds the dark corners irresistable for a secret trysting spot. He goes in there and makes a very soft, purringly seductive bok-bok noise and the hens fall for it every time, so we call it his Lavatory of Lurve...

I am trying to reorganise my boot room which is the smallest space in the house yet is the most congested, as it is also our main house entrance. I decided a welly rack would free up a bit of space and had seen some lovely ones from Wilderness Wood, but at £39 I thought I could do it myself for free given I had a bit of pallet and some broom handles. Dad gave me some tips and - voila!

It's sturdier than it looks, honest. Home education today has consisted Biology GCSE with Tristan, although it was all about classification and frankly rather out of date as it had birds as a separate group to reptiles which got on my nerves, but did give me a chance to revisit some of my OU Evolution course knowledge! Amber and Rose have been surprisingly harmonious and working together on all sorts of things.

I made some bread, with one third stoneground spelt flour and the rest organic white. It gives a lovely nutty flavour which I find tastier than wholemeal. I also use a mixture of raw organic milk and molasses as the liquid, and Doves Farm yeast, so I'm guessing it's a pretty healthy loaf! The children prefer it to plastic bread which I feel is quite an astounding achievement:

My spider plant (or Chlorophytum comosum as I learnt today) has had lots of babies so I have clipped them off and popped them in to a shallow dish of water:

I can thoroughly recommend the book, which is full of instructions for everything you could ever wish to divide, graft, sow and take cuttings from. I also repotted and planted up the babies of my aloes too:

I love the generosity of plants when it comes to regenerating, although I get a heartsink moment when it says a particular species takes a year to germinate or 7 years to flower, as I am rather forgetful and I have my doubts as to the prospects of such plants in my care: "Oh look a seed tray full of old compost with a faded label...nah, don't need that..."

I went back for an anaemia-related doctor's appointment this morning and I had the usual 40-minute long wait so the sock is coming along well: