Plans, Plans And More Plans

Saturday

After coming home one day last week with a new innovation (for us at least) for growing veg at lotty, John was up bright and early on Saturday morning and off to get some legs for the shelter to our upcoming aquaponics system. He came home with a car full of metal legs and hundreds of nuts and bolts which had spilt out in the back of the car. Having breakfasted on some of our girls beautiful eggs it was off to lotty for a hard days work. On arrival the car was unloaded and it was down to business. Whilst I cleaned out the chicken coop, John was at the top of lotty clearing up and chopping down part of the hedge. We decided that it would look nicer if all of the wood, glass and bits of metal were around the side and back of the Charlton Heston shed. This may not sound like alot of work but there was plenty that needed to be shifted. Whilst I was getting rid of the broken bits of glass I found several sheets of pvc sheets, which when put together said The Agony Aunt Family. We have no idea why it was there but it kept me amused for a few minutes.

Meanwhile the Blur was up in the pear tree making herself a tree house. She started out with a blanket, a piece of corrugated plastic and a plastic sheet and seemed quite happy up there for a while. I took a sheet of wood from the hut and placed it up there as a more sturdy seat. John thought it would be better if it were nailed down, and so off up the tree he went with hammer and nails in hand. The Blur seemed to like this new house and the next time I passed the tree she was led down in her house reading a comic.

As is normal for a Saturday a fire was lit. John found an old dustbin type water boiler and took it down to the fire and it wasnt long before we have some lovely warm water to dip our hands into.

I finally decided that it was time to take down the runner bean plants. They have given us so much and I was holding out pulling them up in the hope they still had a bit more to give, but I know when enough is enough.

Sunday

On Sunday morning it was off to let the girls out and collect the eggs. With one of the new girls laying were getting three eggs most days now. Having raved about Alisons amazing eggs to anyone who'll listen, we decided to give one to David. In return for the egg he gave us a punnet full of brussels sprouts and five huge carrots, which solved my problem of what veg we were going to have with our Sunday dinner. The sprouts were about the ones I have ever eaten and John kept passing them from his plate to mine as he said he'd never heard me go on so much about one piece of veg. Even the Blur managed to get two down her.

Dinner and washing up done and dusted it was off to lotty to carry on with our plans for the auqaponics. This entailed digging a big trench as our starting block. Im not sure how many trips down to our soil pile this took but my hands were extremely sore by the time we'd finished (John thinks we shifted about a ton of soil.) The Blur during all this was swapping jobs frequently, she did a bit of stone collecting, a bit of digging and lots of raking. Once the hole was finished we thought it would be good to see if we could jump over it. Given that its roughly three metres long me and the Blur didnt stand much chance. Luckily the Blur took the driest side for her attempts, whereas I on the other hand managed to pick a spot that had just had water tipped into it. Needless to say my trainers were a bit muddy by the end of it all. John cleared the ditch on his first attempt, despite him wearing boots.

Monday

Though not much was actually done on Monday I had a big planning session for what and where we are going to grow things next year. I listed everything we wanted to grow, then drew out two plans. This left me with a big patch that would need to be dug over. I also had to go to a place near lotty to find out about a big tank which we'll be needing next year. We have all we need to know about sourcing our aquaponics systems components and it'll be coming together as and when we have the materials.

Having forgotten to check for a few days, I had a look at our sole surviving chili plant which is outside and im happy to say the chilis are finally turning red. Hopefully it'll only be a few more days before it is completely red.

Tuesday

Now having said there was a big patch that would need to be dug over, that was my main task for today. Arriving at lotty it was straight down to the coop to let the girls out and check for eggs. There were two already in there but after the telling off I got from Alison on Sunday for taking eggs I thought it would be for the best if I left egg collecting until after Ali had left the coop, by which time there were three eggs all of which she had sat on herself.

Then to the digging. It seemed like a never ending task, but was manageable with the help of a flask of tea and a packet of biscuits. During one break I sat on the bench surrounded by chickens who all seemed to think that my legs were food. It wasnt long before I was laughing at the situation and being glad that we had them around to keep me company.

Its been a very productive few days and reminiscent of the summer when there was always an abundance of jobs to be done. Thank you John and Blur for giving me a lovely weekend.