I’ve been a bit neglectful haven’t I. Since my last post, I haven’t really done all that much. You see, I’ve had a teeny break in my work schedule, and have become quite obsessed with reading Harry Potter. This week I’ve devoured three books and am currently wading my way through the Half Blood Prince. I just LOVE them. I can’t believe I didn’t read them sooner. If someone can find a recipe to match the description of the fictitious ‘butterbeer’ in the Harry Potter books - please drop me a line and let me know. Sounds scrummy. I also kept reading the name Cornelius Fudge, and in the end had to go and buy a box of fudge to eat. Subliminal or what.

I also was explaining to Rich about all the different things you can do with a wand. The thing was, it was whilst we were preparing dinner, and I was standing quite close to him, waving my knife around like it was a wand, saying things like “expecto patronum!”, “lumos!” and “expelliarmus!”. I’m a bit like this, I tend to really get into an idea and take it further than I ought to. Rich seemed a bit non-plussed, and told me to put the knife down. Probably as much for my own safety as his, given how accident prone I am.

Anyway, I digress.

Everyone else in veggie/goodlife/self-sufficiency blogland seems to be mega busy with this and that. At the moment I’m just sort of waiting for things to happen. Perhaps it’s because my choice of vegetables and fruit that I’m growing tend to be ready to harvest around the same time. I’m a bit rubbish with all this continual sustained harvest output of veg. As I’ve said before, it’s something I feel I need to get to grips with next year.

However, onions are still coming on with a treat. I am poised with my knife (not shouting spells, you’ll be pleased to read), reading and willing to gobble them up as soon as they’re ready. In fact, my onions are possibly the *only* thing I’ve managed to plant successively - this year I should have enough fresh onions to last me well into Autumn.

The sweetcorn have been an out and out failure. Of the block that I planted, a measly two plants germinated. And one of those has been almost nibbled into oblivion by the naughty bunbuns. I let them out to ‘free range’ amongst the cats and chickens, and have on occasion caught them sneakily nibbling some carrot tops or suchlike when my back is turned. I even think they may have located, dug up and consumed the sweetcorn ’seeds’ (kernels?) from the ground. Ah well. Rich’s Dad told me about how easily and quickly he started his sweetcorn off, so I think I will give it another bash. It might be late in the season, but at the moment I feel like throwing caution well and truly into the wind and just at least trying. What have I got to lose? A few seeds. Kernels. Whatever they are.

Lastly, I have found myself very much in a baking mood. Specifically sweets and cakes. Not quite sure why. I think I blame all the sweets mentioned in Harry Potter. And I keep seeing recipes everywhere for elderflower drinks, cakes, savoury snacks, champagne etc. Before we sold off a thin strip of the Smallest Smallholding, we had an elderflower tree. Then they cut it down - are they mad?!!?!?

I am knackered. My sleep is going haywire and it’s been taking it’s toll on me.

And this post is a bit of a show and tell!

Yesterday though, I actually *finally* managed to get down to the allotment. Thankfully Mum had been down two or three times since my last visit, and it wasn’t in too bad shape. I weeded around the onions (because as all onion growers know, it’s vital to keep them weed free), hoed between the potatoes and started reeling in the blankets of chickweed that were threatening military dictatorship of my plot.

I was met by another nice surprise - we have a raised asparagus plot on our allotment. We snapped a bit off but it was tough as old boots and some stalks had already gone to seed, but nice to know for future reference. I already have a tonne of asparagus growing here at the Smallest Smallholding in the flower borders, but I let it go to seed because it’s so striking. Speaking of going to seed, the rhubarb had grown about 3ft since I last saw it, and was starting to flower. I pulled out the biggest leaves from the base in the vague hope that I’ll still be able to harvest some of the more tender rhubarb in the coming weeks…

All is going ok here. I’m still horribly behind with my sowing - sweet peas are so late now that they’re going to have to be sowed directly and I’ll hope for the best. I’ve saved some old squash bottles and cut them in half to make mini cloches, to try and protect the growing sweet peas from the clutches of enquiring hen beaks. The broad beans are coming along nicely though, despite also being about three months late. Cabbages - Primo and Kilaxy - are both coming along nice and despite being left outside in their seed modules have evaded the beady eyes of the woodpigeons.

My super duper early Tendersnax carrots are actually coming along quite nicely in the pots. I’ve been pricking them out two or three times a week, but I’m still sure I’ll only end up with enough carrots for about 2 meals. My directly sown early Nantes (I think? Still yet to put in labels) carrots are pushing through. They’ll be a bit of an experiment this year as I haven’t put ANYTHING of nutritional value into the soil yet. I might try and feed them as I go along…bit cobbled together but that’s just the way I seem to work at the moment. The tomatoes are going great guns in the conservatory, aubergines are coming along VERY nicely, and my other mystery seed trays are doing ok. The lavender and rosemary cuttings have been a bit of a disaster though, I think I neglected to water them enough and now I only have one surviving specimen of each.

The rabbits - or The BunBuns as they will be know as from hereonin - are getting through a bag of curly kale every day. So I think it’s time that I hunted down a packet of seeds and started to try and opt for the cheaper option of growing my own. Thing is, it probably won’t be ready until late autumn/winter. Oh well. There’s always next year. Trouble is, I am starting to run out of space, so I’m going to have to dig out yet another veg plot here. I haven’t even got around to finishing digging the other one yet. Hence why no parsnips or sweetcorn in the ground. Oh heck - HELLLLLLLLLLLLLP! My uncle has a turf spade which may help my plight, but it’s the digging out of the rubble (I still shake my fists at the builder that thought it was a good idea to bury it) that takes an age.

So on the agenda for next week (and yes, it’s late, I’m working at Lucy speed):

• Finally sow sweet peas direct (wildlife magnets)
• Sow sweetcorn in trays
• Sow butternut squashes (might try grow bags even though I intensely dislike them)
• Think about growing parsnips (and actually sow if have space)
• Get the last of the blasted potatoes in at SS (and enjoy very late crops of early and maincrop potatoes)
• Put in a few remaining onion sets (my version of successive sowing/growing)
• Get down the allotment and Weed for Britain

I think I need a new motto - “Better Late Than Never”

More pissy weather this week then. Hasn’t exactly been conducive to a lot of work. I haven’t been near the allotment for ages and I fear that Mr Mole has wreaked havoc with my onion sets and potatoes. Oh well, I never was really that bothered about planting in straight lines.

Urgh, the chicken saga continues. Sometimes I wonder whether I’m actually spinning around on some level of Dante’s spiral of Hell and damnation when it comes to grappling with sick hens. Oh of course, I’m being melodramatic. They seem ‘ok’ today - Yoko is in better spirits, having had a really good day on Monday, and then a couple of crap days. I think the breakthrough in sunshine today is helping. She has one or two days of baytril left, then we have to assess. She could be going in for a bit of a risky procedure to try and drain off some of the egg yolk in her abdomen.

Pattie laid a tiny ‘wind egg’ (a bit of egg white, aka albumen, no yolk laid in a shell about the size of a large grape) three days ago and hasn’t laid since. Apparently wind eggs (also known as cock eggs, since people once thought cockerels laid them, and fart eggs - can’t answer that one) are fairly common. But the problem is that Pattie hasn’t laid since. I have read that it can be something to do with coming to the end of a ’strain’ of eggs, and that it may take them a few days to get going again. But Pattie refuses to perch at night. Before Yoko comes in, she makes a beeline for the nest box, intending to settle down for the night. Cue the big bad Yoko who, thanks to her sterile EYP, needs the nestbox, Pattie is pushed out. At the moment Pattie is refusing to perch, which is worrying.

More worrying!

I had the rabbits out and about the other day. The hens were not too pleased, as they spied the rabbits charging about. Yoko assumed a rugby-type stance before pecking Smudge on the head for getting too close (I think Smudge was just coming up to investigate), and when Smudge did an about-turn and charged off, she was met by Maureen and Pattie. Pattie flapped her wings and both she and Maureen jumped on the poor wabbit. Chickens are so vicious sometimes. There’s no way I’d leave them out there unsupervised together. Smudge was fine though, I think she was just having fun running around under the hedges. She and Snoopy were doing lots of investigating.

I also brought them in last night to meet two of my cats. The other two live upstairs, they’ve sort of paired off and have their own private routes in and out of the house. Tortoise and Tom, the downstairs cats, weren’t too sure about bunnies charging around the living room. Tortoise is a moody mare sometimes, and she got in a right huff and grumbled as she waltzed off to the kitchen. I swear she was pouting. Tom is a lovely scallywag, totally in awe of Tortoise, sometimes nothing else in the world matters. He can be a bit dim and scatty, and didn’t seem bothered by the rabbits. Not even when Snoop worked out a route up onto the back of the sofa. Eventually they all settled down together, and by 11pm everyone was crashed out in the living room.

Right. Enough about animals.

SEEDS.

It’s going well!

My early Snowball Turnips have come up trumps - they’ve germinated really quickly under the fleece tunnel, so I’ll be pricking them out very shortly. Aubergines are going really well, although a couple withered and died in the seed tray. Peppers popped their heads out of the soil a few days ago, and the tomatoes are going great guns.

My rosemary and lavender cuttings are also establishing themselves, although the rosemary seems to be doing much better. I might try and take larger cuttings of the lavender, and give it another try. i sowed trays of Cosmos too. Last year the flowers lasted right into November, when the bees were still out. They are fantastic for colour, height and most importantly, attracting and providing food for bees. The bees and butterflies could not get enough of them last year. I thoroughly recommend them. Try growing them in seed modules, transplanting to large plots (about 2 or 3 per pot). Wait until they’re fairly well established and quite meaty in the stems, and then plant them out. I did this last year and they were poker straight, strong and lasted for months.

The Tendersnax carrots are doing well in the pots, but my seed scattering skills are not exactly desirable. I sowed most of them in a big cluster in the middle. I think by the time I’ve pricked them all out, I’ll have about 5 carrots per pot. Not exactly a veritable success. I’m still undecided about growing carrots in pots. I don’t think I would recommend it, unless the pot is massive, and unlike me, you are actually able to sow thinly.I suppose you could just harvest tender baby carrots instead. I might try that.

Garlic and super early onions are doing ok too, although the super early onion sets were put in late, so should really be described as fashionably late.

Oh, and I have still neglected to label anything I have sown. I’m too lazy to find a pencil or a waterproof pen. So I am relying on my somewhat currently patchy memory to recall what is what and where.

Well it wouldn’t be a typical week at the Smallest Smallholding without a poorly hen and some baytril thrown in.

Yoko has developed a respiratory infection, something she’s prone to because of her egg yolk peritonitis condition. She has a small amount of fluid in her air sacs anyway, but the amount of fluid has increased and she’s sneezing and coughing quite a bit. We noticed this a couple of days ago, but typically it was a weekend. We rang yesterday and got her in to see our vet today - so she’s getting 1.2ml oral baytril once a day, administered in a few juicy grapes that she gobbles up. She’s also having a diuretic to try and get rid of the excess fluid. She seems ok in herself - out and about, doing chickeny things and eating well, so fingers crossed she’ll get over it. She’s actually improved since yesterday, which is a positive sign at the moment. If the antibiotics don’t nail the infection (apparently baytril is one of the fastest acting antibiotics), then they’ll try a paediatric-like nebuliser to ‘mist’ her with.

So yes, more vet bills. I did say ‘cautiously optimistic’ didn’t I?

Today however has been quite productive. Last night we spent the evening burning all the bindweed, sticks pulled out of the old compost heap, and stuff that’s too big to go through the chipper, and today I was fired up for more. After the rain had been and gone, the weather was absolutely gorgeous. After a short stroll around the place, I found myself out there in my pyjamas, working away. I have a tendency to start picking at something and then get really involved. Rich requested that I actually get properly dressed (I was stood at the gate talking to him in the kitchen, neighbour walked past and inwardly marvelled at my rain mac, pink cat pyjama bottoms and wellie-shoe combo), so I did. Sort of. A quick change into trackie bottoms and a vest top - yes, it was that warm. I did a bit of a Charlie Dimmock though. And I wouldn’t recommend it.

Anyhow, I digress.

A few months ago we salvaged some bricks that were going to landfill. They were rescued from our local lower school, where they formed the well-trodden path of many a child, including me. It seemed mad that they were going to the tip - they were in tip top condition. I’d already laid some as a path inside the greenhouse, and as a small paved area just outside it to put pots on. I had quite a few left over, and I’ve been using them to outline the new larger veg plot. Thing is, I’ve got halfway round and realised that I haven’t got enough to do the whole job. POO BUM! I’ll have to subsitute with some of my (different coloured/shaped) freecycle bricks. It’ll look crude (rustic, in my language), but it’ll do it’s job.

Anyway got a few canes up, planted out the 4 broadbeans I’ll trialed in the pots (done very well, thanks) and put in enough for a small crop around the rest of the canes. At least this way I’ll have a longer spell of cropping, having staggered their planting. Although, if I was really clever, I’d have put all the remainder beans in at more intervals. Now I’ll have a few followed by a glut. That’s if Mr Mouse,or Miss Hen, or a naughty little kitty cat doesn’t get to them first! It’s my first year growing beans, so we’ll have to wait and see.

Also sowed in two small rows of early turnips by the beans, simply because I couldn’t work out where else to put them. They should really have gone in a lot earlier to make the most of their early-ness. But I like to fly by the seat of my pants (ahem) and live life on the edge. They need to be kept moist to prevent woody flesh, so I hope this year I pull my socks up where the watering is concerned. Would help if I could rig up a couple of extra waterbutts, but unfortunately personal finances don’t allow this. And waterbutts on Freecycle are like gold dust.

Finally, as dusk descended and the light faded tonight, I forked the ground around the growing onions. The soil is so sandy that it develops a sort of ‘crust’ that isn’t particularly permeable for rain. So I gave it a good turn, taking care not to disturb the onions or their roots.

A better day than I had anticipated.

Hurrah!

But I’m not quite sure what they are.

I think I know which ones are the Peppers, but not sure about the others. Aubergines? California Bell Peppers maybe? The labels blew away you see… that’ll teach me for taking shortcuts!

Ah well, makes it all that bit more interesting I suppose!!!! Also, in light of me being a typically moody woman (girl? woman? young lady?), and Rich being a bit lax with his vocabulary, I’ve re-introduced the Swear Jar. You have to pay £1 everytime you swear. Bloody and crap are allowed though. It’s just a way to get us to be more polite and expand our vocab a bit more - e.g. “get out of my way, you pugnacious, truculent puny hedge-born malcontent!”.

But let’s face it, seeing as it’s my invention, Rich is the only one that’s going to end up paying. Last year I think I made about £11, which was probably spent on cat food or chocolate. Or possibly crisps too. Sorry Rich, I’m a rubbish girlfriend sometimes.

I’m sitting here with a big fat headache, and I think I must look like a right old grump.

I had to do a dash outside into the FREEZING COLD (when *will* this winter end properly?!) haily-slushy-rain to grab the washing. I’d completely forgotten about it until I’d gone to put the hens to bed, and ended up having to sprint back out into cold and wet to retrieve it. I think what I have now is a sort of prolonged ice cream headache.

What a moany moaner.

I just wanted to address a few comments from my Compost post - thanks for the advice regarding the pallets. I wanted to prove that I’m not completely useless and post a pic of the compost heap I refashioned from pallets at the allotment. It’s made from everything that was already up there, left by the last tenant. I managed to dig in the pallet sides so they’re solid, wire them together with some spent wire from where the dead raspberries were (managed to save a few though that are looking promising), and line it with chicken wire I found.

However, the reason I’ve not used the three pallets we have here at the Smallest Smallholding, is because of a size issue. Basically, the decomposing heap we had (it’s not worthy of a compost heap label) was just far too massive to be contained into pallet-size bins. So why not just get more pallets, I hear you cry! Well, the simple is answer is because my back is crap.

I come from a family of crappy backed people, and things like digging, whilst being utterly inane and BORING, actually cause havoc. I have disc damage in my lower back, so certain movements when bearing loads (e.g. turning compost) do not do me any good. We designed the new wooden compost bin so that I could easily access it, turn it etc without having to stoop. Pallets are just too low down.

HOWEVER, I will be rigging up a natty little pallet bin for preparing compost. It means that I can deal with small amounts just as they become ready to be used, and keep the bigger pile moving and turning.

I’m sure by now you’re probably sick of hearing about compost. I’m very into it at the moment, thanks in part of a fellow forum user from my Rural Muse forum sending me three books on allotments and compost. Fascinating stuff. Soil is like this big living, breathing entity. It needs feeding, watering and nuturing, just like most plants or organisms. Before my Smallest Smallholding days, I thought of soil as just dirty dust really. Oh how I have been enlightened!

Anyway, enough about compost and soil.

Some good news on the seed germination front - the peppers are slowly but surely unfurling and making their entrance into the big wide world. Tomatoes are repotted, and as ever I went mad and sowed the whole packet, and now am trying to flog all but about 6 of my 25 plants.

Broadbeans are finally making a breakthrough, so I’m going to belatedly put up the supporting canes. Tendersnax carrots are germinating in the pot outside, but thinning them out is going to be a complete pain in the arse. I don’t think I’ll grow carrots in pots again.

And OOOhhhhh - bargain…went to Homebase to get a fixture for our broken loo, and had a quick jaunt around the garden plants section. I, as ever, made a beeline for the reduced section (always a champion of the underdogs, me) and bagged myself a half priced £4.99 ‘Goldtraube’ blueberry bush! So I’ve just got to find another one so they can pollinate each other. GOOD STUFF. Cheaper to buy from nurseries, but I couldn’t resist.

My mother informs me that this year the price of onions is set to increase a fair amount. I think this is in part due to last year’s soggy summer, which proved a blight for onion growers. My Hercules onions that I grew last year were utterly fantastic - bursting with flavour and so sweet when cooked in soups and stews. I use onions almost every day in my cooking, and so it just made sense to grow as many as I could. However, last year I didn’t grow enough to store - only 50 sets or so that were each pulled, peeled, chopped and cooked and eaten within the hour.

Mum visited an onion growing farm last year - they had crates and crates bursting with literally tonnes of onions that had been rejected by Tesco, and were going to be binned. So the farmer threw Mum and her friend a few sacks and they filled them up. Crazy. I had a few of these onions, and they were perfectly fine.

I think I blogged (or possibly posted on my forum) last year on the fact that red onions in particular were going to be hit the hardest by the price increase. So earlier this year - safe in the knowledge that thanks to my allotment and new veg plots at the Smallest Smallholding, I now had ample space - I put some money aside for loads of onion sets. I tried growing onions from seed, but they failed miserably, probably due to the fact that I put them in far too late and didn’t nourish the soil enough beforehand. But from my reading and other people experiences, I have come to the conclusion that the general consensus is that sets mean bigger, faster-growing delicious onions.

I think if you’re going to grow from seed you could generally expect a smaller onion - or possibly have to extend your growing season considerably. If space is an issue - and last year, for me it was - then having sets means that you can pull them earlier and use the space for somethig else over the winter. Smaller onions can still obviously be used in cooking, but as with shallots and pickling onions you can preserve them, or do scrumptious things like roast them whole.

Did you know that your average British pickling onion does a few thousand miles? A typical journey might go something like this - grown here in the UK, picked and sent off to places like Poland, where they are peeled, sent back to Britain to be pickled, sent back to Poland to be bottled up and then finally brought back to be put on our supermarket shelves - and sometimes labelled as British. Food miles? Well, for me, about 40ft.

Anyhow, this year I have the following either growing, or going in the ground very soon:

• Stuttgarter Giant
• Red Baron
• Radar (super early, should be ready around May)
• Hercules (my absolute favourite)

The weather forecast looks more promising, so I will be heading down to my veg plots at the Smallest Smallholding, as well as down to the allotment to get them all in. Still got a packet of Bedfordshire Champion onion seeds from last year that remain unopened. I won’t be growing them and will happily swap them for something else if anyone is interested?

Firstly, I just want to say thank you everybody for your kind comments about Cynthia. I am starting to get used to the fact that she’s not around anymore. I’ve had a few teary moments and blubbed a bit over the past couple of days, but I know that it was the best thing for her. She had a good life here and that’s what is the most important thing for me to remember.

Pattie doesn’t seem to be getting any better, nor does she seem much worse, save for the fact that she’s not drinking so much water and she’s gone off her food a little. She’s quite a bit quieter now and we suspect she has an impacted crop, or there is some sort of blockage further down the track that could be causing problems. So we’re massaging her crop, tried to get her to eat live maggots (the white ones from the fishing shop, foreign territory for me the anti-hunting anti-fishing vegetarian softie that I am), but she ended up squishing most of the ones she did eat in her beak before swallowing them down. The idea is that these particular maggots have an insinct to wriggle and bore downwards, which can help to dislodge and break up any impacted material in the crop.

Long grass and vegetation can sometimes curl into a ball, simply because it’s long and tangled or because there’s a problem in the crop, such as canker or mycosis. Then again it could be a digestive tract problem. We’re still waiting on Pattie’s fecal results (she was squitting water and little bits of poo earlier on this week when she was drinking like a fish) to see if there’s anything going on there. She may have to have x-rays to see if there’s a blockage, or bloods taken if it’s a kidney problem. She doesn’t seem to be drinking so much anymore, but her crop is impacted - like hard dough - in the mornings, so not everything is getting through. This can affect the amount of nutrition she’s getting, obviously the less she’s getting through, the weaker and more lethargic she feels. So I can’t see the vet bills stopping any time soon unfortunately.

Big sigh.

Rich has been steadily working on the new wooden compost bins. Hens shouldn’t have access to compost really, and ours regularly infiltrate the barriers and merrily spend half an afternoon scrabbling all over it before they’re discovered. So Rich has designed some very nice large wooden compost bins with lots of breathing space. There are basically two types of organism that thrive in compost heaps - those that thrive in aerobic (access to air, water etc) conditions and those that are perfectly happy in anaerobic (no air) conditions. We’ve decided to leave the compost bins with gaps inbetween the wood planks. Not because aerobic organisms are any better at breaking down compost, purely because it’s cheaper to use less wood. Rich has also designed a sloping lid with hinges to keep the hens off the top, as well as a gated front so empyting, turning and generally getting to the compost is much easier. They’ll also smarten that corner of the Smallest Smallholding up no end.

I’ve also got some seeds that suddenly germinated in the conservatory, but I have no idea what they are. I stupidly stuck the torn packet labels in as makeshift temporary plant labels, but in all the wind they blew away. What an idiot. So now I’m not exactly sure what is what. I only know what’s in the pots and which tray has aubergines in, and which tray is full of tabasco chilli seeds. The others are anybody’s guess. I think some of the cabbages might be coming through. I’ll try and post a picture of the seeds to see if anyone can help me identify them. It’s nothing to do with the picture attached to this post, that’s merely for aesthetic purposes.

One last request - I am cleaning and disinfecting my greenhouse (and henhouse) with special disinfectant from the farm shop (it’s fine for use alongside the hens). I was clearing up the greenhouse a bit today and noticed that my chives that have been growing in there all winter are infested with greenfly. I don’t like those sticky pad things, and again being a softie vegetarian I’m more into preventative actio or deterrents rather than chemicals that KILL!KILL!KILL!!!! Anybody know how I can discourage the greenfly from coming back? I was hoping to grow my tomatoes in there this year…

Urgh, well - the kitchen is almost done thank goodness. For the past three days I have been able to actually see what I’m cooking, the dust is all but gone, I’m not hopping and skirting around containers and pots, and all in all, it looks pretty good. I have my kitchen back. YESsss!

I have a little bit of work to finish, and then I’ve got a very long list of things to do at the allotment and Smallest Smallholding, some of which include:

1. Putting the Early Potatoes in the ground

2. Putting in more of my Hercules, Stuttgarter Giant and Red Baron onion sets

3. Putting my tent cloche up and sowing my Gladiator parsnip seeds

4. Getting the rest of the Aquadulce Broadbeans in (better late than never)

5. Sowing my Mussleburgh and Porvite Leeks and Snowball Turnips

6. Collecting up some more loo rolls (last lot got put in the recycling by accident) to sow my Heirloom sweet pea seeds that I collected from the plants last year

7. Sow my Nantes Carrots and Golden Bell Peppers

8. Buy some wood and get Rich to build my greenhouse staging (I’ve done a very scientific diagram for him to follow)

9. Buy some wood and get the compost compartments built

10. Do a big ‘poo run’ and stick on compost.

11. More digging (and back pain, and general boredom)

12. Getting the borders sorted on one side for the flower bed.

13. Buy another passion flower to trail up the trellis to disguise the chicken wire.

14. Some general landscaping in the ‘eating area’.

15. Find pots and sow my millions of herb seeds!

I could go on but I imagine you’re starting to get bored now.

In other news - we took Yoko and Cyn to the vets. Yoko had a check up and it was decided that she’s doing fine as she is, so no need to drain her thus far. I really hope she can make it through the summer, because when she stopped laying over the Winter she shrunk back down to a ‘normal’ size.

Cynthia on the other hand, is still unwell. She tends to go in cycles of being ok for about 3 weeks, then gets a problem with her crop, as well as the lack of egg laying and swelling underneath. So we took her in, and it turns out she has a ‘mass’ inside her, just where the eggs pass down. She did a funny egg a few months ago, and we think it may be another one that’s lodged itself there and it may be ‘walled off’ like an abscess. The vet thought that she was a bit young to have a tumour, but didn’t discount it. She said that problems elsewhere can cause problems with the crop too, which is perhaps why Cyn keeps having this reoccuring sour crop problem. It always seems to clear up with the Nystatin though. So at the moment, she’s having 1ml oral baytril a day (baytril works on contact, so getting it to pass through her system is the best way to attack this ‘mass), and we’re waiting a month to see whether the mass has grown or shrunk. If it’s grown, then there’s the option of an exploratory op, and depending on what that finds, surgery. All of which carry risks of course. But we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.

In the meantime, I’m trying to keep her well fed and comfortable. She’s not lethargic as such, just a little bit withdrawn and not gobbling her food. I think the sour crop is returning, so today I’m zipping up to the vet (10 miles away) to get some Avipro and see whether we should start another course of Nystatin or not. Apparently if a hen has a fungal infection, baytril can actually compound the problem so we really need to keep a close eye on her. She’s up and about, she seems happy enough outside so I’m hoping and praying that in a month we’ll not be facing a really difficult decision.

Aside from our hen troubles, we got through Easter fine, had a lovely visit from Rich’s parents, and we’re both now on a healthy eating kick. We have a wedding and my school reunion that I’m organising (am I mad?) in May, and I don’t want to look like a spotty beached whale for either event. Plus, there’s the summer, and being plump during the hot summer is not fun. I’ve got loads of gardening, smallest smallholding and allotmenteering to do, as well as swimming, so hopefully that should get me back in shape. And of course, with my kitchen back (not that it went away as such), I am looking forward to a heck of a lot of baking and cooking, especially with my own home-grown produce.

I woke up just an hour or so ago to a fine dusting of snow. It’s still coming down in a steady flurry, tiny criss crossing flakes that are settling everywhere. I’m sitting here on top of the world (or so it feels) on the second floor looking out across the Smallest Smallholding. My cat Mindu is curled up with me, headbutting me at every opportunity and quietly purring. The other cats are all dotted about the house curled up fast asleep. Rich is tucked up in bed quietly snoozing away. Now that I’ve come in, the birds are coming in to land in the fruit frees where the bird seed is. Like a squadron of spitfires, they circle and dive down with sweeping yet precise movements. I topped the feeders up this morning, well aware that after such a cold night and with the prospect of snow they’d need extras today. I must have counted at least 50 finches (greenfinches, chaffinches, goldfinches and some bramblings), as well as a collection of collared doves and woodpigeons. Our resident blackbirds tend to skirt around the edges in the hedges and trees, darting in and out of the pyracantha or coming down onto the lawned area to hoover up the sunflower hearts.

The hens are totally non-plussed with the snow. I let their ladder down this morning, only for them to come down, one by one and gather underneath the house, not wanting to venture out. With some coaxing, they formed an orderly line and marched quickly into the relative warmth and dry of the greenhouse where I’d put down extra straw yesterday evening. There are currently two summer chairs acting as makeshift covers, and they huddle underneath in the straw bedding and settle down. The greenhouse door is only just open enough so that they can get in and out, to try and keep as much warmth in as possible. They’ve got their drinking water and food in there too, so they’ll only come out to get to the nestbox in the henhouse to lay.

I left what little seeds I’ve sown outside - my Kilaxy cabbages, tendersnax carrots in pots, some broadbeans and a mystery seed tray (can’t remember what I sowed - could be tomatoes? In which case, they’re probably going to be buggered now) under the henhouse extension run, away from the mice, birds and Cynthia who likes to tip everything up in order to get a good look. My new plot is still just a third dug so far, I have not been tempted to venture outside for at least a week, as I’m rubbish with cold weather and I don’t like getting cold and damp (who does?!). The allotment has been neglected for about 2 weeks, owing in part to strong winds - it’s like a wind tunnel down there - Nannie’s return from the rehabilitation unit at the hospital, work, and redecorating the kitchen. Mum and I are resolute in our pledge to get down there ASAP and start getting things ready for planting.

I did manage to get some Hercules onion sets in - goodness knows how they’re doing to fare with this snow as I took the fleece tunnels down during the windy weather. I have 150 more sets so if they turn out to be a disappointment, it’s not a complete disaster if they don’t ‘work’ properly. My super early Radar onions are slowly making progress though, which is encouraging. I’m going to get the rest of my broadbeans in, now it seems the windy weather has all but passed I’ll get some canes up and put them straight in the ground.

I think the wee wee chitting potatoes are actually ok - which is really surprising. It seems the tubers are tougher than I first anticipated. Whether or not they’ll grow mutant potatoes as a result of their exposure to the near-radioactive quality of cat wee remains to be seen. I’m regarding it as an accidental yet quite interesting little Smallest Smallholding experiment. I’ve also got a plethora of herbs to sow - probably about 8 or 10 different types, but not sure where they’re going to go yet. I think I might have to buy some pots and then grab some of the pot holding trays from the garden centre. They pile them up at the exit and you can take as many as you need - really handy for keeping everything together and makes moving things around much easier. And of course, a great recycling initiative.

Intermission: - the snow flakes are gathering pace, and getting larger. A squadron of starlings has just arrived too. There are a few slightly resigned-looking doves and pigeons sitting in the tall tree. Hens are not venturing outside, they’re staying snuggled in the straw in the greenhouse. Bramblings are going potty around the feeders.

End of Intermission.

Yup, still got loads of sowing to do. The thing is, from my very limited experience I’ve decided that it’s best not to rush these things. On the one hand, you have the opportunity to sow, and as with my onion sets, if they fail, you can sow again. However, I think if you try and push things too early then you end up with leggy, weak seedlings that don’t do as well. I don’t use propagators, but then I can pop to the shops if I need something to eat at the mo, so I can afford to take my time. The plan is to not rely on shops (especially supermarkets), to master the art of storing veg, achieve successive planting for continuous crops etc, but at the moment I’m just concentrating on growing good sized quality vegetables. I think propagators are an exact science and I’m a) not tempted and not impressed by other family member’s attempts to use them and b) can’t afford one anyway.

Rich’s parents came to visit yesterday, and they said they’re trying to grow vegetables from the plug trays this year. Apparently Suttons are doing a special offer whereby for around £25 you receive about 175 plugs, with 20 of a different vegetable. I may have got the particulars completely wrong, but the figures I’m giving are being served up by my memory which believes itself to be accurate at this present time. I think plugs are a great way to get growing if you have limited space, facilities or have difficulty raising seeds, either because your soil is poor (Rich’s parents’ soil is chalky and stony, although they’re trying raised beds too to try and improve it) or you don’t have enough window space or a greenhouse to start everything off in. I think anything that gets and keeps people growing veggies is good, I think the more people that learn about the way things grow and the nurturing of their plants and veg will have a greater appreciation for food, its taste and where it comes from. I would love to see Primary Schools (or if you’re Bedfordshire folk, Lower and Middle Schools) investing more time in teaching children these skills, and perhaps starting them off with plug vegetables would be great. Then they could progress to growing from seed. I remember as a child at school we would have egg shells with drawn on faces, stuffed with damp tissue paper and cress seeds. That was my first experience of growing something.

Speaking of eggs, I’m not sure how all the Easter Egg hunts are going to go down today in the snow. I expect there will be a lot of excited children waking up to the snow. I’m not sure there’s going to be enough to sledge on here, but it’ll still be nice for them to wake up to it. Even better is that a lot of adults will be able to enjoy it too, being a Sunday and a bank holiday weekend. And then of course there’ll be those that will have a nice walk to Church for the Easter service. Mum is coming around a little later to deliver a little Easter present for us - she says it’s not an egg but it’s baked, so can’t wait for that. I have a lot of work to catch up on, but I’ll be snuggled up on the sofa with my cats and duvet. And next week when the snow has melted, I’m going to do another sowing session.

Happy Easter all x

Pics coming soon!