Ready For Winter

Spreadsheets And Google Maps

I pretty much spent the beginning of the week sorting through all the packets of seeds we have, putting them into envelopes and writing the sowing instructions on them. Once that was done I made myself a spreadsheet and had a few hours ticking off what could be sown in each month saving us the hassle of having to go through all the packets every month. Now we can just look at the sheet and pull out the seeds we need. That being my part in the organisation of next years plantings, it was Johns turn to have a little go at planning. He found a satellite picture of lotty on the internet, cropped it and then made boxes around all of our planting areas so that I could edit it to show the exact planting positions of all our crops next year.

Having talked recently about planting potatoes over winter I found a bag of spuds in the cupboard which looked in a condition ready to be planted. Having not yet completed the growing plan I am still thinking of a good position for them where the weather wont affect them too much during the cold weather.

The other task I had to under take was the cleaning of greenhouse two. Like every job at lotty I was joined by the girls who stayed and kept me company and tried not to complain too much every time I turned around and nearly fell over one of them.

Bonding With Betty

Its been a lovely week with the girls so far. On Tuesday I took in some bread for them and sat on the steps of the hut to hand feed them. As the jostling for the best position came to a head they realised the prime seats were on my lap. Its not something they ever really do so any extra moments like that are welcome as it shows they trust us (especially the new girls who still arnt quite as comfortable with us as Rita and Alison are,)

Yesterday after letting the girls out I was slightly worried that Betty was still in the coop as she is usually the first out. I put my head in to see where she'd got to and was surprised to see her sitting in the nest. To begin with I assumed Id got it wrong and it was Betty not Marge laying, until I went back to lotty later in the day to find Betty out of the coop but looking under the weather. Usually the girls will run off if you try and touch them without food being in your hand, but as I bent down to stroke Betty she didnt move a muscle. Hoping that she wouldnt mind I picked her up and spent ten minutes stroking her back which she seemed to appreciate. Still slightly worried about her she was the first girl I looked for the next time we got to lotty. By bedtime she was already in the coop and looking even more under the weather. I was worrying most of the night as to how she would be this morning. I tentatively opened the coop door today and Betty came running out like yesterday had never happened. It was a relief to see her back to her normal self, fighting the others to get the best food. She also seems to be more comfortable with me today, standing still to let me stroke her back rather than running off like the others do.

Whilst Betty was not so well yesterday, the others made up for it by escaping into the wide world of lotty lanes as I was informed by three separate people this morning. So today I have had to scour the fence and hedge for signs of an escape route. I put metal mesh against the bottom of the hedges and repaired any parts of fence I deemed big enough for the chickens to squeeze through, and am hoping it'll be enough to keep them in.