Broad Beans

My little Almanac also tells me I can sow broad beans under glass so I’ve now done that.

I love broad beans so I was eager to start them early to lengthen the growing season. I know a lot of people don’t like then but grown yourself and picked young, they’re delicious.

I’ve sown two types, one I got from the market sold to me by the 1/2 pint and a dwarf variety I got on Line. I’ve never sown them this early before so we shall see what happens.

I did have company while I was doing it 🙂

A small issue that happened yesterday because of all the rain we’ve had. Fortunately this doesn’t happen often!

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A Beautiful Day

At last, here in Fakenham, the garden is calling. I do love spring and there are many signs that it’s coming. I’ve been outside today starting to tidy up and do some sweeping in anticipation of growing things. It’s been fresh, but sunny and when I was doing jobs around the garden I was warm enough in my jumper.

Here’s a peak, I couldn’t resist posting because I was so enjoying the sunshine!

My first bit of colour.

These two are enjoying the weather too!:-)

Won’t You Come In!

Hello, won’t you come in!

New Chicken House cont.

The chickens have been out in the garden since the avian flew restrictions have been lifted, but now it’s produce growing season they have to stay in doors! That means it’s time to cut the windows out of the new chicken house.

It looked quite drastic to begin with.

But with the help of some very sticky greenhouse tape, some cable ties and a length of chicken wire, we have managed to make some neat and tidy windows for our chickens to get some light and fresh air but not get soggy when it rains!

They do seem quite happy in their lovely new home! 🙂

This poly-tunnel was bought second hand with a view to making a practical chicken enclosure. The aim was to protect them from the worst of the weather in the winter and there being no where for bugs like spider mite to hide away.

New Chicken House

To start off the new year of my Simple Life Blog, I’m excited to show you our new chicken house. Considering a chicken house the size we needed would have cost around £900 without nesting boxes etc, we decided to be creative and find an alternative solution.

This second hand polytunnel we found was the right size and only cost us £80!!!!
All that was needed was to secure the sides with chicken wire so they can’t dig their way out.

We have a shut down for chickens here in the UK at the moment because of bird flu, but as soon as that is past we are going to cut out a large window along the the front and fill with chicken wire.

So here they are, all secure and safe with lots of room. The nesting boxes you can see in the front corners are made from insulated dog beds which are easy to clean and only cost £35 each!

The result, happy chickens and happy Debbie! 🙂

Latest Produce report

Despite the major neglect of the garden it is still producing wonderful things for me!

I think it’s the best year for beetroot in a long time and my carrots haven’t had carrot fly this year 🙂

…and the first proper fruiting of a young apple tree. The apples are still quite sour so have to stay a bit longer, but I must keep an eye out for scavengers!

We’ll soon be building a new chicken house, so watch out for that 🙂 I’m very excited!

Home Grown Chicken for Dinner

Well, this is a huge sense of achievement. We’ve just had one of our own home grown chickens for dinner. These are three more going in the freezer. One small step towards self sufficiency! Girls for laying, boys for eating 🙂
We pot roasted one (which I forgot to photograph to show you) and this is a risotto with some leftovers. I also plan a pie or pasty for tonight and then make some stock for some soup.
This makes me happy! 🙂

Happy Chickens

The sun is out, so here are at least eight happy chickens trying to dust bath in the same place!

Christmas Presents

Isn’t it nice when you get presents that take you into the new year on the right foot!

A new kneeler for those low gardening jobs,
Who doesn’t want to try their hand at making cheese?
Lovely new table mats

and a super little wooden spoon for my collection.
Happy new year everyone! 🙂

Moving Day

The garden is starting to look great but first I wanted to share with you moving day for the chicks.

From the starter home….

…they are transported to the intermediate residence for a touch of the out doors.
Now we have to secure the outside world (the bigger run) so that the peeps can’t escape 🙂