Easter weekend
Posted: Monday 24 March, 2008
Despite, or maybe because of, the variable weather, we've had quite a busy few days.
Dan spent a morning in the orchard, weeding, fertilising and mulching the fruit trees. This had been on the list for a couple of weeks but for some reason, it's not our favourite job. He also headed out to plant a horse chestnut and a holly in the beech hedge. The holly will fill a gap at this end and the horse chestnut, which was a gift from Claire, is at the far end. When it grows, it will shade our little pet cemetery.
We tidied the garage, so we could put the Bennington under cover and still accommodate cheeps. Which is just as well as I've ordered 12 French Copper Black Maran hatching eggs. I ordered off Ebay, which I've never done before. I thought I had ordered Lavender Arucana - but maybe I've just got lavender on the brain! Next time.
I have lavender on the brain because I've just finished planting a new lavender hedge, about 30 feet long on each side of the new path. I've used English lavender this time, rather than Hidcote.
Dan started preparing for the pigs, which we should get next weekend. He picked up feed on Friday and is now pretty ready to go. Entirely coincidentally, he also started his beer making - 36 pints of finest bitter. If it works, we might try growing hops - not sure if they will grow this far north - but we won't be growing and malting our own barley!
Meg was bathed this morning in her special shampoo for scaly dogs. She's so good. She seems to be doing well on the treatment for her underactive thyroid. On the subject of scaly (Do you like the links?), we did the hens with louse powder this morning. Some were carrying a pretty heavy burden, so we'll do them weekly until it's better. The RIR are the worst, whether that's the breed or because they are oldest, we don't know. They definitely have fluffy feathers that are fluffy right to the skin, where the Black Rocks and the Light Sussex have much "cleaner" plumage. Our old Brown Leghorn never got lice at all - it was probably too scary a ride for them!
Now, what's next...
