TAS Diary Archives
May 18, 2006
Tamworth Breeders Club
The Tamworth Breeders Club, established in 2004, now has a website. If you're interested in the breed, or are a breeder it's well worth checking out. It's a new site so there isn't an awful lot there yet, but there's a stock for sale section which should prove to be very useful in time.
It can be found at: http://www.tamworthbreedersclub.co.uk/
May 15, 2006
The grass is always greener
Despite what you might have heard, sometimes the grass really is greener on the other side. At the weekend we moved the pigs into the second pen, which was full of lush grass and succulent docks.
They had a brief mad moment, overcome with excitement, but soon settled down to some serious eating. We'll probably keep them in this pen until they go to slaughter, giving me time to sow something in the vacant pen which is now almost devoid of foliage and well-manured. That way it should be ready for next spring's weaners.
May 8, 2006
Incubator in full swing
Last autumn we bought an incubator, in anticipation of getting a cockerel, or failing that buying fertlised eggs and hatching chicks from then. In the end of course we got Henry, and now that we're confident he's doing his best to fertilise some eggs we've fired up the incubator and stuck half a dozen of our Rhode Island Red eggs in there. We've also put half a dozen eggs in there for some friends whose Marin cockerel pegged it last week, but hopefully his line will continue if the incubator does its job.
This is day 1, so on or around Monday 29th May we might have a few more dependents, and we can start looking forward to our first home-reared table birds. For the next 18 days all we need to do is keep the humidity at the right level, and make sure the motorised egg-turner is doing its job.
May 7, 2006
Run, rabbit, run
On Friday, Dan became the proud owner of a new air rifle, with which he intends to curb the local rabbit population. When he gets time, no doubt he will post something technical. As usual, the web was a great source of information.
Dan never does things by halves, which is one of the things I love about him. Killing things isn't something he relishes but he is determined to ensure that he at least ensures a swift death. So he had sheets of paper with a drawing of a rabbit to use as a target and spent Saturday morning setting up the sights on the rifle and practising. After an hour or so, he was scoring head shots the vast majority of the time. I suggested that we could pin the tattered paper target to our boundary fence with a warning to rabbits "This could be you!". Actually, the rabbits round here are so brazen that he coudl probably club them with the rifle butt and save pellets! (Joke)
Anyway, when I came back from the stables, we were two rabbits less, despatched by one head shot each. Dan said he was worried that he hadn't made a clean kill when the victim twitched a lot, but an investigation on the web confirmed that this was quite normal because of the high level of energy in the muscles.
We didn't keep these two, but I now need to learn how to clean them. Either we'll eat them or the dogs and cats will. Either way, the bunnies will not die in vain.
The Courtyard Garden
When we first moved here, there was a pretty scruffy area on the west side of the cottage. It had been a vehicle entrance for one of the cottages and it ran betwen a hawthorn hedge and the house. In due course, we had a wooden ranch fence built at the north end and the area slabbed in grey York stone.
A couple of years ago, I decided to do something with it and make it into a courtyard garden. We put a trellis fence at the south end and lifted some slabs to create a small bed with a pebble pond. We planted climbers on the trellis and the ranch fence, planted up the small bed and lots of pots. All the planting was green and white. I never got round to buying any furniture for it.
We decided to do a bit of work on it over the last couple of weekends. We cleaned out the pond and lifted more slabs to create another two beds. It's been planted up over the last week and we're rather pleased with it. I have left three pots in it, all planted with white lilies, which are beautifully fragrant. I was worried that if I moved them, they might at best not flower and at worst, die. Although I bought some new plants, mainly hardy perennials, I did plant out a number of the plants that were in the pots. I'm sure they are grateful - I'm not very good at pots and don't water them regularly enough.
Some of the plants we have included are: Digitalis Albino, Aquilegia Spring Magic White, Spiraea Bridal Wreath (we have one of these in the courtyard already and it is so beautiful just now), Chrysathemum Silver Princess, Anemone Honorine Joubert, Centranthus albus, Solomon's Seal, Lupin Noble Maiden, Geranium clarkei Kashmir White, white drumstick primula. There is lso a white fuchsia called "Hawkshead", which I had in a pot last year, Hebe Baby Marie, a couple of hostas, and Dicentra alba.
We've excluded the hens, who can destroy an area in a jiffy. They do like a hosta!! I've also seen a table and chairs that look just right, so they will be arriving soon.
We'll just have to see how it goes now, but I'm hopeful that it will be rather lovely in the summer, so we can relax there, with the scent of lilies, a G&T and the soothing sound of trickling water.
