Breakfast Time in The Hennery

It's been a while since we heard anything about the girls so I thought a post was a little overdue.

As the temperatures have dropped, the girls are having extra goodies for breakfast in the way of mash and, as was a cold Saturday, porridge!  Naturally, with less light and colder weather, they are now laying less but, having said that, we are still collecting 2 eggs most days.  If we have any to spare, we still put them out in the box at the end of the drive.  Sales out on the lane are good and at a £1 for a box of 4 we could sell far more if we (the girls) had the capacity!

The funny thing is, they have recently taken to laying in the Hennery House and not the Polehouse where they roost and where they have been laying for the past 4 months.  Who knows what goes on in the mind of a hen?  We continue to keep a record and so far we have:

June       77

July        91

Aug        90

Sep        108 Estimated (as Colin & Val forgot to keep records for 2 weeks!)

Oct         78

Nov        60 (Up to 24th)

TOTAL  504 in less than 6 months!  Pretty good by any standards!  They continue to enjoy a very varied and natural diet which includes fallen fruit (apples and pears which they love) and vegetation such as carrot tops, home grown lettuces which were surplus to human requirements, cooked vegetables, boiled rice etc etc etc.  If Chris is working nearby, he will toss over juicy fat worms and once in a while, they are allowed to have a forage around the garden.  This means an immediate reduction in slugs - and also a rake and a tidy up after all the scratching around!

The Henclosure

One thing we have done is to have a large load of wood chip delivered and lugged down to the Henclosure.  We were determined that our girls were not going to spend a winter in a mud bath.  The upside being a clean, dry and sweet smelling area and cleaner eggs.  Totally worth all the hard work!

PS The music is actually called Chicken Music!

Date with an axeman!

One Rowan - one berry!

One Rowan - no berries!

Once upon a time in a garden, there were 3 Rowans.   One in the Woodland Border which reliably bears pretty pink berries; one in the Culvert Border which is always a mass of brilliant red berries. The third one in the Sofa Border rarely did anything ever and this year bore just a single solitary berry (photographed by Chris in disgust!) It never failed to produce masses of suckers beneath the graft and was Chris's most hated tree and, to be fair, was  well overdue for replacement.  I should say at this point that trees are Chris's great love in life!  This Rowan's stay of execution ended today!  A date with a chainsaw was in the diary!

Using the chainsaw was the easy part, digging and chopping out the roots was an entirely different matter but eventually the score was Chris 10 - Rowan 0!  Despite the cold and frosty day, Chris was in short sleeves axing out the numerous roots.  The upshot was a barrowful of logs and the promise of a bonfire for the brash.

Rowan logs

Rowan brash

Having cleared the ground, it was time to move a Magnolia Wanda's Memory which was planted in an entirely unsuitable spot in sheer desperation last spring.  It was a surprise purchase by Al and the weather was so glacial for so long, the poor thing spent weeks in and out of the conservatory - occasionally being forgotten and being blown over in the arctic spring winds and having its young tender leaves scorched by the late frosts.  It is now in a perfect spot and will hopefully thrive.  The finishing touch was to plant some more foxgloves kindly given by the other Chris (Genever.)

Magnolia Wanda's  Memory avec Genever  Foxgloves

Last word on colour - promise!

On a sunny day..........there's THIS much colour!!  What's not to like?

Bringing in the tree fern

Just before the first serious frosts, the Two Chris's very kindly called around and lifted in the tree fern for the winter.  Not only lifted in, but lifted it up and on to its platform.  Because of its spread, it need to be elevated it otherwise it fills the conservatory.  The trouble was, it's put on so much height it was a bit of a struggle getting it under the cross beams.  Needless to say; it's pretty damned heavy!  Might need to consider a couple of alternatives next year!

Kiosk Update

 

Tony has sent these piccies of his progress on our kiosk restoration and I think you'll agree -  it's looking amazing!

The Glory of Acers

Acer palmatum Var. dissectum Seiryu

Acer Palmatum Var. Bloodgood.

I KNOW I keep wittering on and on about colour but just check out these colours and bear in mind that these untouched photos were taken on a dark, dank and dismal day!  It's so cheery having such fiery colours outside the windows when the weather is so miserable.  Imagine how they look when the sun is shining!

The Arrival of Pear Tree Cottage Apple Juice!

Some of the apple juice....

Well, the secret's out!  We had answers which ranged from 47 upwards.  My own guess was 82 - however from these 4 containers of apples, we now have 88 - yes 88 bottles of apple juice and it's deliciously tangy.  As the majority of the apples were Bramleys with some Katy's; it means that luckily, the sugar content is not too high and therefore the juice is not sickly sweet which can be a problem in a good year.  We have managed to find space for the excess numbers of bottles in the garage and the Gardener's Loo where it is dark (most of the time!) and cool.

It's amazing what Tim Nicholls at Hayward Park Farm, Shugborough (http://www.haywoodparkfarm.co.uk/) produced from these few apples and, unlike local 'pressers' he will recycle our bottles next time around.  The juice has been pasteurised and will keep for 2 years. It feels like 'getting one over' on the supermarkets and I bet this apple juice has greater purity!  Now, I need to make some (hopefully) suitably attractive labels for the bottles.

& even more!

Oh....and in case you're left wondering what happened to the residue apple pulp - it was fed to the pigs!!  An all round perfect use for an excessive apple crop!! (Maybe, we should try pear juice next year????)