The house that Connor built

Grandson Connor had been feeling a bit sensitive in the lead up to Christmas, so I took him with me to the allotment on Christmas Eve for an hour or so to have a potter around while I tended to the chickens. As usual he built himself a house out of bits and pieces... here's the result (click to enlarge, another view shown below) taken today once I'd added the flag he wanted. It's not really windy... I put a stick in the flag.

Been very mild this week so made good progress on the greenhouse. Only got a few panes to put in now. Will be one short after the wind blew a pane over and it smashed... made the mistake of leaning it against the frame ready to put in. Think I can make it up out of other bits of glass that had broken while being stored over the summer. The chickens are getting the hang of the greenhouse... see photo below.

Things to feel cheerful about number one: we're at last heading towards spring! Today the sun rose at 08:08 and set at 15:53... less than eight hours of proper daylight. But from now on each day is extended by about a minute, and by the end of January this is more than three minutes per day added and an extra fortyfive minutes of light. Can't come soon enough! Click here to access an on line sunrise/sunset calendar.

Things to feel cheerful about number two: I'm still competing for the 2008 squash title with son David. Although I lost last Sunday 2-3, I won on Tuesday 3-2. So current score for December is 4-2 to David with two matches to play... I still have the chance to force a play off this month.

Got some great Christmas presents again this year from all the family. Apart from the rechargeable battery I'd already received for my Pure Evoke 3 DAB radio (fantastic since I can now record radio programmes to SD card from the DAB programme guide any time of the day) I also got a laminator so I can protect the planting guide I'm preparing for 2009 (to make its grand appearance in a posting in a week or two), as well as all the footpath maps I use for walking out and about locally. Daughter Beth gave me the usual hair-related gift... an Instant Grumpy Old Man Nose And Ear Hair Kit. Used it to scare the grandchildren on Christmas Day.

More photos below, click any to enlarge.

	Another view of Connor's castle
	Chickens now know where to go for safety
	Sunset over Houghton Hill Farm Wood

Christmas is coming!

Don’t know if you’re ready for Christmas, but we certainly are. All the traditional things are happening… Linda’s put tinsel on just about every surface of the house downstairs, the lights around the serving hatch in the dining room have fallen down and been cursed twenty-seven times so far, the neighbour opposite has put up his amazing display of lights and we’re all expecting a Jumbo 747 to land in Devon Close sometime soon, and finally I did my annual Santa act at the local playschool and frighten the wits out of the kids there, only the grandchildren to do now on Christmas Eve. Oh, and the weather has suddenly changed to become very mild, with temperatures as high as 13 degrees centigrade, so no chance of any snow on Christmas Eve yet again.

Still no sign of the groundsmen tidying up the surrounding woods and providing lots of free wood chips, but at least the ground has started to dry out this week. Made big progress with the greenhouse, see pictures below. Bolted down the base, bought extra glass to ensure I had enough panes and by this afternoon had almost completed the four sides with glass and made a start on the roof.

Part of that progress was done in the dark using my head torch, which I’d forgotten I had and again realised how effective it is to use. One evening I continued on and potted up half my sweet pea seedlings into kitchen roll tubes. Last year this worked well, although I now understand why I lost a few since I’ve learned sweet peas don’t like to be kept too moist. It’s been some time since I’d used my compost, which explains why there was a mad few minutes of scurrying around by me and the interlopers when I discovered three field mice tucked up to happily in the compost bag.

Started to harvest my bed of leeks and had the first lot on a plate of pasta and carbonara sauce. Also started baking Italian peasant bread again, photo below. This fills the whole house with a wonderful smell of freshly baked bread, rosemary and olive oil. You’ll find the recipe here, although I tend not to put in so much salt or sugar.

The chickens are still producing three eggs a day, and the moulting seems to have stopped with not a sign of bald behinds to be seen. Monday afternoon the girls had a bit of a fright when the local kestrel hovered quite close to the pen, shortly followed by a heron flying overhead. Much alarmed clucking and head stretching followed both events.

Took all the immature fruit off the fig tree after reading these are the second flush of figs which would normally mature before winter in Mediterranean climates. We’re lucky to get one good lot of fruit in our summer… I only got 3 figs this year but the tree is still quite small, see photo below.

Hanging in on the squash front, with the current month’s score 1-3 to David (8-11 in games). I’ve got to win at least three of the remaining four matches to force a play off for the half year… and if I win that a play off for 2008. It’ll take a miracle, but here goes….

Here’s the photos mentioned above, plus a couple more of the wonderful sunsets we get over the allotments. For some reason they haven't re-sized so you can only see part of the right hand ones, but just click to enlarge and see the full image.

Merry Christmas!

Arise, Sir Greenhouse

Well, here’s progress so far on the greenhouse (click to enlarge). Now only the door and ventilation window to fit before the frame is finished. Once I got the hang of it, was remarkably easy to do.

Was aiming to bolt the base to the metal poles I’d concreted into the ground, but couldn’t find the bolts I’d bought a week ago. Turned out I’d put them in the kitchen drawer when I decided to tidy out my allotment rucksack… it had been getting increasingly heavy as various things I’d thought would be useful to have to hand had been put in the rucksack and found their way to the bottom unused. So I took all the old grouting off the frame instead.

Next big job is to fit the glass. Cue strong winds this weekend (every time I’m at this stage with putting something up the wind blows… click here to read the posting for May 2006 when I put my first shed roof up!). So if I get much time at all on the allotment this weekend (with rain forecast as well it’ll be real fun) it won’t be to put the glass in. I know I’m missing a few panes so maybe I’ll get what I have organised and get some replacement glass so I’m ready to go. Could also level out the floor and put up the potting tables for inside.

No sign of any more garlic other than the two brave souls that popped their heads up a few weeks ago. Hope I'm not going to regret using my own cloves from this Summer. And no sign of any broadbeans yet either, other than the orphan I transplanted from another bed is going great guns. Started harvesting the leeks this week... wonderful! Might do twice a much next year to supply the extended family for six months.

Great news last weekend that the groundsmen should be leaving large piles of woodchips this week when they do some tidying up, and everyone can help themselves. Not so good news that by today there’s no sign of them. Although there’s not been much rain everything is permanently damp and muddy, particularly inside the chicken pen. So I’m going to put a large amount of chippings inside the pen to dry it out. The girls will love scratching about in that.

Was top favourite with the chickens today when they had a feast of spaghetti. As soon as they hear the crinkle of the plastic bag I put it in they come hurtling from all four corners of the plot, even jumping up to try and get a mouthful. Here they are scoffing a second helping.

Couple more photos below of Izzy Chicken, the most user friendly of the girls. She will insist in getting into the feeding tray with both feet, which causes havoc when the other three are trying to get their beaks filled. But not too keen on the bits of digestive biscuit I offered her. You can see from this photo how dark it is by the time I cycle home… when Summer at last arrives I find it hard to believe daylight’s gone just after 4pm at this time of year.

Ready for Spring

In January I'll have had my allotment for three years. Think I'm far better prepared for Spring than I've every been, having saved construction jobs this time for after I've prepared the raised beds. So here's how the front plot looks at present (click to enlarge).

Note the slight elevation of the shot... I wobbled up my stepladder to take this one. Was also rushing it a bit since I'd put the barrier against the shed so there was a view through to the back plot... as soon as the chickens realised that they'd be like marauding invaders, descending on anything green in the raised beds.

Of course there has been construction, putting up the greenhouse. More photos below, including one of the back plot with greenhouse progress shown. I've got all four sides put together now, hopefully the frame will be up this weekend.

Another photo below of a stray broadbean I transplanted from a bed to be with its brothers... the ones I planted a couple of weeks ago have yet to come up. The garlic is still as it was a week ago... a couple of heads showing but nothing more.

Inside the shed it's a riot of colour. All the tender garden plants I put in the shed to overwinter love it in there.

Sunday was the day for switching on the St Ives Christmas lights, and the Dickensian market that's held at the same time. And the weather was the same as it has been in the last three years... windy, wet and freezing. They didn't call it off this year, but Linda and I stayed wrapped up warm at home.

Unbelievably I also won the deciding squash match against son David on Sunday to win November and bring the half year score to 2-3 to him. If I can win December that'll be 3-3 and we'll have to play a half year decider. If I win that it'll be 1-1 in half years and we'll have to play a year decider. That's a lot of ifs, and hides the fact that even if I do all of that David will actually have won eight months to my four. Anything to keep me in the competition!

Granddaughter Paige's birthday on Thursday, she's four. She spent the whole day dressed up as Wall-E, see photo below. Beth and Chris laid on a good spread at their house. Connor has been kept in some playtimes this week... apparently on one occasion, the teacher having put his name on a list, when she wasn't looking he sneaked a rubber and erased his name from the list. Unfortunately he couldn't erase her memory!

Dispatched a rat Thursday afternoon. As I was cleaning the chicken run in one corner I heard a loud screeching. The rat had been going though one of the holes in the chicken wire and had got stuck. Gave it a couple of taps on the head and threw it out onto the waste ground nearby.

Chatting to one of my allotment colleagues, who has 35 chickens on his plot. He says he's only getting about five eggs a day out of them at the moment because of the cold weather! I'm getting three or four a day out of my four girls, and they're taking turns at moulting into the bargain at present. When I read about moulting I imagined the poor chicken pink and bald... a bit worrying since mine will moult at the coldest time of the year. Should I knit them a jumper each in readiness, or take them home to my central heating? They actually lose a few feathers at a time so it's hard to tell they are moulting other than the feathers lying around.

Here's the photos referred to above... just click to enlarge.