The Fenwoman's blog

Tattoo

2012-07-27T07:19:00.001-07:00

it's been a few weeks since I last posted. My health has not been wonderful and I've been battling with depression again. Have managed to get some jobs done. Had a new fusebox put into the house. A proper modern one with switches which flip down when a fuse blows. Resetting a fuse now means flipping the switch up instead of wresting with fuse holders, prising the wire out, and then putting new fuse wire in, all while perched upon 2 chairs stacked atop of each other to reach the fuse box. Tomorrow the electrician is coming back again to wire up the fuse box with the one in the dog portacabin so they will have lighting and the plug sockets will be working so that I can place a fan in there during hot weather, use my clippers , and leave a radio on for them. It'll be great.
Sadly, last month I had to have my beautiful German shepherd bitch put to sleep after she attacked and mauled one of my lhasa apsos. The attack was not an isolated incident. I could never trust her around the smaller dogs or the cats and was very worried if she ever got out and mauled a child. Poor Bronnie was badly injured with deep puncture wounds and broken ribs and she lost an eye too. I ran her to the emergency weekend vet and she was patched up and operated on immediately, and when I returned later to collect her, I took Beulah with me and she was put to sleep. Bronnie then was on strict cage rest for a week. Physically she healed well, but for several days afterwards, when she was allowed outside to toilet, she was very very anxious, and kept looking around for Beulah. All in all the vet bill came to around £500. Then the following week, Kaiser my German shepherd cross started to limp badly. There was nothing obvious making him limp so I had him X-rayed. Nothing really obvious was found but a slight lifting of cartilage on his 'good' shoulder (possible OCD?). This was another £300+, so I have had to tighten my belt dramatically in order to pay off the bill. I decided to sell surplus things on ebay too and this helped.

Last week I decided to get a tattoo. It's been on my 'bucket list' of things to do before I die, along with learning to dance Flamenco and belly dance. Well sadly I'll never manage those now because of my worsening arthritis and spine problem, but getting a tattoo is something I can do. I pondered for ages about what design to have. Lookmed at pictures on the internet and wracked my brains. Then like a light came on in my head, it came to me "remember the RAINBOW WARRIOR, 10th July 1985".
A whole generation doesn't know that the French government committed an act of terrorism on civilians in a foreign country on that date. The French wanted to test nuclear weapons in the south pacific seas, to the detriment of sea creatures, and native people living on nearby islands. The Rainbow warrior was the Greenpeace flagship and it was planned that this brave little ship with brave crew members, were to sail to the place and stop the tests, just by being there and getting in the way right on the blast site. Greenpeace is a peace loving group who put themselves in the way of danger in order to prevent powerful groups from doing bad things to the environment and living creatures for the sake of money. The French secret service placed 2 bombs on this ship one night, as it was docked in port in New Zealand, while the crew were aboard and sleeping. These were civilian men and women sleeping peacefully aboard the little ship. The bombs were timed so as to cause as much damage and kill or injure as many people as possible. After the first one went off killing one person and injuring others, other crew members who were ashore, rushed back to the boat to try to save crew members and vital equipment. This is when the second bomb went off, and the Rainbow warrior sank. After denying this act of terrorism initially, the French government eventually owned up to it and the perpetrators were jailed.
Since it seems many younger people do not know of this act of terrorism, I want a tattoo which not only means something to me, but might inspire people to ask me what it means,. So that's what it will say. And, since I am going to have the tattoo, I figured I might as well use it to try to raise money for Greenpeace.
So, I am planning to be sponsored. The local press will be doing an article about this, local businesses are supporting me, and I have set up an online donation page.
I would like to urge anyone reading this to please sponsor me. Any amount at all, no matter how small, will help Greenpeace to protect our world. Be it putting crew out in a tiny dinghy in a huge ocean to place itself between a family of whales, and a massive whaling ship who wants to fire explosive harpoons into them indiscriminately. It'll kill whales with babies alongside, older calves and whatever gets the harpoon. They don't die fast. Greenpeace will go onto ice flows, to try to prevent innocent and helpless seal cubs being battered and skinned . They get battered in front of their horrified mothers and terrified siblings. Some are skinned while still alive.warning graphic and distressing images
Please help me to support Greenpeace, even if you only have 50p to spare.
Go to this page and sponsor me.
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Pam2tattoo4greenpeace

Brave Greenpeace crew putting themselves in front of the massive harpoon to be fired from the Japanese whaling ship.

Thank goodness for steroids!

2012-06-26T01:47:00.000-07:00

My lungs have been playing up recently and the doctor put me back on steroids. One of the side effects I have when I'm on them is bags of energy and enthusiasm. I use this to catch up on chores which got left undone when I was depressed. I think I have managed to catch up and even get ahead of myself.
On the pain front though, things are not so good as the weeks of rainy weather meant I did just the essentials and thereafter sat indoors online. As a result, my muscles are weaker and I put on over a stone in weight which just adds to the strain on my already weak spine. I have temporarily upped the dosage of my painkiller which I take every 4 hours. Hopefully the finer weather means I am able to potter and get back in shape. I have a terrible fear of getting fat, and once I let things slip so that muscles get weak, I will be less able to stay strong and upright. It's all too easy to go and lay in bed on pain filled days to rest my back but if I start that lark, it'll be the slippery slope to a wheelchair.

The weekend was a dreadful time. It started well with fine weather. I went to the summer fete at Wisbech St Mary to see my friend's daughter singing in a talent competition. She is only 13 and has a huge voice and sounds like Amy Winehouse. Amber Castillo-Roman is a name to remember I think. However on the day things didn't go well. To start off, she was listed to appear 2nd after a 'magician' who was supposed to have a 3 minute act. It turned out he was on for nearly an hour just calling people up and doing variations of the same trick over and over and over. Then, the order was changed and instead of Amber, there was an announcement that a dance troupe was to go on before her. Then the compere said that he didn't know if he would be able to play her music so she sat and worried about it. When she got up on stage she was nervous about the music and stood and waited for several minutes while he fiddled about with the equipment to get the music playing. She started well but then hit a bad note and it all went downhill from there. I spoke to her and told her that it was only one day and one set of judges and to review the video her mum had taken and then regard it simply as a practice and a means to correct where she might have gone wrong. I'm planning on looking for a hypnotherapist locally to see if he can help her confidence. She was upset at not winning, but I hope she listened to me and can look at it philosophically. She's usually very good and has won lots of competitions.
I arrived home at around 4pm and let the indoor dogs out into the garden and went to the laptop to look for songs which might suit Amber's voice and suddenly the portacabin dogs started to bark like mad. I got up and went out to see Beulah my German shepherd bitch, mauling Bronnie my tiny lhasa apso bitch. One yell from me and she let go immediately and ran indoors and Bronnie staggered towards me, covered in blood with an eye hanging out. I picked her up and ran into the bathroom and closed the door to check her over and it was bad! I left her there and called the vet and then shot off to meet him at the surgery where I was told the eye had to be removed. Poor Bronnie was in shock. I left her there so that Dave could operate immediately,and went home. When I went to collect her at 6pm I took Beulah back with me and had her put to sleep.
Beulah was a typical nervy working type German shepherd. She was beautiful and adored me but could not be trusted with smaller dogs nor cats or children. There was no way I could keep her after the mauling, and no way I could find another home for her as frankly, it was only a matter of time before she killed a dog or cat or savaged a child. As much as I loved 'Boo', putting her to sleep was the only option. The only alternative was a lonely life in a compound as a 'guard' dog which would have destroyed her mentally. She was such a coward that when the intruders came onto my land a few months ago, she ran away and hid. She'd not have made a good guard. And if children got into her compound, she'd have bitten them. anything smaller than herself was in danger from her.
I buried her on Sunday and miss her every day. Little Bronnie is still traumatised, is covered with deep puncture marks which have been stitched, one of the muscles between her ribs was torn and she is badly bruised as well as having lost an eye and a lot of blood. She is one anti inflammatories and antibiotics and on Tramadol painkillers the same as I am. She spends the day in a hospital cage sleeping and resting. She totters out to toilet several times a day but refuses to eat anything and I have tried just about everything from pilchards in tomato sauce, to tuna, tinned cat food, scrambled eggs, raw eggs, warm milk, liver paste especially for dogs, very expensive cat food @ 75p for a tiny 50 gram tin and rice pudding. This afternoon I'll roast a chicken for her.
By 10pm I was dead on my feet and staggered up to bed only to discovered that when Beulah had gone indoors after the mauling, she'd gone onto my bed and the duvet was covered in poor Bronnie's blood where Beulah had had it all over her face and chest, so I had to change all the bedding before I got in. I was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
A couple of things struck me about the mauling. Firstly is that it was totally silent. No growling or yelping,. Secondly, the bull terrier was nearby but didn't get involved! That in itself was lucky for Bronnie because between them, they'd have killed her.
The vet bill came to just under £500 which was amazing considering the operation, the X-ray, the euthanasia cost for a German shepherd. My wonderful vet had heavily discounted everything for me as he knows my animals are my life. I paid part of the bill, then contacted my bank asking for an extended overdraft, not imagining they'd give me one as I am definately not one of their most profitable customers and don't have a great credit rating. To my surprise, within 24 hours of asking them, I got an email to say it was in my account already. Cahoot is the best bank ever!!!

I buried my poor Beulah on Sunday and was glad when the weekend was over.

Yesterday I had a lot to do and one of the chores was do dig, count, and pack nearly a thousand worms to post out that afternoon.
It was nice and sunny and warm so I sat on the huge compost heap digging and counting when along came my bull terrier Archie The Pig. He loves his mummy and follows me about like a fat waddling white shadow. When he saw me digging, he decided that he would dig too and set to with a will. I had compost and worms in my hair, in my face, in my mouth and down my neck before he stopped! Then he lay down in the hole he'd just dug. I playfully covered him with compost and the fool just lay there with a daft grin on his face. I covered and patted down until just his head was exposed, whereupon he went to sleep and I got on and dug and counted worms.

Future projects

2012-06-16T11:11:00.001-07:00

When I'm not well, or when I'm bored, I think up projects and things I'd like to do in the future, money and health permitting. Oh happy coincidence when I have spare cash and I'm not ill at the same time.
For some time now, I have wanted to have a 'green roof' on the extention which covers the dog room and wet room. It's north facing so any insulation would be wonderful. It would also save me a fortune in getting the sloping roof re-felted every few years. It has only a shallow slope and cannot be tiled or slated, unlike the cat room which has a steep slate covered roof which I sowed last year with houseleek (sempervivum). This is starting to spread all over the roof and looks lovely.
But the other roof is another matter. To this end I've been giving it some thought. I think my first course of action will be to cover the whole roof with fibreglass matting and then cover this with polyester resin and wait for it to dry. After this, I need to put something lightweight onto the roof to stop whatever substrate I decide on, from sliding off. I will probably use vermiculite, mixed with something else, to give a lightweight substrate. Then into this, I plan on planting sedums. Lots of different varieties. It should look very nice and insulate both rooms nicely.

The next project is to turn the present aviary block into a cattery. It means knocking 2 flights into one to create spacious pens, adding some sort of box for them to sleep in, get wiring installed properly so that each box can have a heated pad, and insulating the walls as well as I possibly can. It also needs a new roof. If I only had a spare £500 I could do at least one of the projects. I'd better start saving up.

Today has been mild and sunny with a stiff breeze which is perfect weather for me. I love the sound of wind. The warmer temperatures and bit of warmth are balm to my arthritis and I haven't been in so much pain today. This alone means that I'm generally happier and more cheerful. I went over to the feed mill this morning and bought the chicken food and parrot food, and some bulk chew treats for the dogs just in case they ever behave themselves :0)

'Archie The Pig' did his absolute bestest sit ever for his chewy stick. The concentration on his face was a treat to behold as he made sure his bum was firmly down and straight, and he kept absolutely still and didn't try to snatch it. We came a little unstuck however when I decided to train him to do a 'sit up' (which is a beg). His large bull terrier head makes him top heavy so it's hard for him to sit up on his haunches and maintain his balance. He gave it a good go though and got up with front paws in the air, then started to topple back and decided that if he was going, the treat was going with him so he snatched it.
Unluckily, he also snatched my hand. However it wasn't hard and didn't even mark me. When he realised he'd got my flesh in between his teeth, he was horrified ,and spat hand and treat out right away, then came over to apologise to me all ears back, tail wagging low with a dopey bull terrier grin on his face, looking very shamefaced lol.
Needless to say he got the treat anyway and no harm was done.
When I think how well behaved he is. How he lives harmoniously with the other dogs, shares treats, doesn't snatch food from my hand, and is generally so well behaved and obedient, it makes me very happy. When I got him, I spoke to a breeder and judge of bull terriers who'd had the breed for 40 years. I had some real moments of doubt when she told me that she would NEVER have sold me a puppy. The breed apparently is impossible to train, hard to house train. Cannot live with other dogs. Must NEVER be fed in the presence of another dog. And on the Bull terrier club UK web page is states in big letters
"DO NOT KEEP A MALE BULL TERRIER WITH ANOTHER MALE DOG!!!!"

Archie cuddling his little friend Einstein as they sleep.

Boy am I glad that Archie can't read as he lives happily with his best mate Kaiser who is a rottie X GSD male, and Einstein a male chihuaua, and Chalky, a male terrier cross. Of course all of my dogs are neutered, so that makes a difference. But not, apparently, to bull terriers.

Archie and his 'brother' Kaiser.

When I got home from the feed mill, after some fortifying black coffee, I unloaded the car in stages and moved an old pine cupboard to the front of the portacabin to use as a nice raised bed. I put soil and compost in and planted out some tomatoes.It's a nice sunny position so I'm hopeful they will do well there. Then after my efforts, my spine felt as though it was about to snap, I could not feel my left leg and I was filthy and sweaty so I came indoors for painkillers, more coffee and a shower. And showering is something I'm not allowed to do alone as apparently it can be dangerous. Well according to Archie that is, who has to come into the wet room and lay on the floor watching, just in case the plughole monster tries to suck me away, in which case, Archie will leap to the rescue and bite him................hard!
I shall no doubt be in pain for the next 2 days because of today but it was worth it. I'll take 2 tramadol tonight and hope that this keeps me pain free overnight and see what tomorrow brings.
I shall boil some nice fresh local new potatoes later on, and steam some ground elder to have with the goat joint I roasted last night which was marinaded in garlic, honey, ginger and lime juice.

Tesco versus Morrisons, no contest

2012-06-09T01:32:00.002-07:00

The other day I went to visit my friend in Norfolk. On the way home, I first stopped at a little farm shop to buy locally grown new potatoes and asparagus, and locally produced honey from the apiary across the road, where I had once visited and been introduced to the bees. Then, as I had not taken any meat out of the freezer that morning, I decided to stop at the nearest supermarket to buy myself a pork chop. Of course, being an ethical shopper, who is also an animal lover, I have to buy only free range meat.
Morrisons was on the route home so I pulled in. I figured that since they advertise on the telly about just how ethical their food is and how wonderful it is, (and, since they are so much more expensive than Tesco,) that they'd have a great selection of free range meat to choose from.
I wandered up and down the meat aisles and just could not find the free range pork. So I asked a member of staff, who didn't know, but went off to ask someone. He came back and said "we don't sell any free range meat apart from chicken".
I was stunned and stood there with my mouth open in amazement as I stared at him, not quite comprehending what he had just said. So I asked him to repeat himself. I'd heard correctly. In a day when more and more people understand the horrors of factory farming and are choosing to buy only ethically reared meat, Morrisons still offers only factory farmed cruelly reared meat from animals reared in concentration camp conditions.
Not only that, but they charge the same price per KG as Tesco charges for their free range meat!!

Needless to say, I put down my basket full of goods, left the store and drove 4 miles out of my way to go to Tesco where I could be sure of getting ALL my groceries cheaper per item and having a large range of ethically reared free range meat. I ended up spending £70 because I got lots of reduced bakery items, and the butchery counter had fresh free range chickens on sale for a fiver each for a huge bird weighing around 2KG which will do a whole week's worth of meals for me.

Plus, the butcher on the counter is the MOST friendly cheerful man I have ever met in a supermarket. He epitomises what a butcher should look like, being all round, rosy cheeked and jolly. Shame Tesco has supplied him with a while overall instead of a lovely traditional blue and white striped apron. He greets all the customers as though they are friends, and when I pass, he always calls a greeting and draws my attention to something on special offer which he knows I might like, being aware of my ethical tendencies towards meat. In fact, he acts like a village butcher might act, standing in the doorway of his shop, greeting customers as they pass. He is a credit to Tesco.

So there you have it. Morrisons is not only expensive, but isn't interested in stocking meat from free ranging animals.

Tesco offers a wide range (in a smaller store) and their prices are much much lower. I know where I shall stay shopping.

the truth about factory farming

Diamond Jubilee

2012-06-03T03:06:00.002-07:00

Jubilee celebrations demonstrate everything wrong with this country. The country is almost bankrupt, so we party?!!!! The country has some of the poorest people in Europe and some of the most neglected elderly, yet the head of the country is the richest woman in the world who will live to a ripe old age because she and her husband get prompt medical care, have sufficient nutritious meals to eat and are warm in winter. The country is not only financially and morally corrupt and those in power think that some sausage rolls, pretty bunting , street parties and fireworks are enough to make everyone forget the misery of unemployment, old people freezing to death alone in winter, care home abuse of vulnerable people, single parents who are children themselves. Those with money and power drink champagne and plan the next round of benefit and welfare cuts and the lower orders think life is wonderful because they have a belly full of beer and sausage rolls and are watching pretty fireworks to celebrate the life of the wealthy woman THEY are paying to keep. Bloody fools!!!!!!

Oh deep joy.......

2012-05-14T13:04:00.001-07:00

The sun is shining again. That's 2 days now of fine dry weather with a mild breeze which is drying the ground out nicely. I went over to Norwich yesterday to buy a trio of French copper marans. I was lucky to get them at this time of year. They are still young birds not yet come into lay but should do in a few months. They seem to hav integrated into the flock here nicely with no aggression so far.
The chap was a nice enough young man, however I was sorry to see that he kept the ,majority of his fowl, as most people seem to keep them inasmuch, minimum housing and minimum run size. All the runs were on bare earth and with 4 Pekin bantams to a run of only 3 foot square or so, they were walking and pooping and pecking. He also had a really nice trio of Rhode island red bantams in what I can only imagine was a guinea pig ark as it was no more than around 4 foot long and that included 2 small houses at each end with around 2 feet by 3 feet. This is just not acceptable at all and such poor husbandry will doubtless cause sickness,, stress and deaths. He mentioned that he was a bit short of money in which case, he ought to keep less birds and give them all bigger cleaner accommodation. Poultry keepers should aspire to offering the best they can by way of accommodation and not think about what is the least they can get away with.
Today, as a result of the 140 mile round trip in the car, I have been in a lot of pain because of sitting in one position the whole time, and because of this, I have not been able to get out and plant vegetables. What I have managed to do is clip 2 very hairy dogs, clip nails and plan the building of the polytunnel. The frame which I bought in February cannot be erected. It's unlie any other tunne; I have ever seen with hundreds of different sized and shaped parts to it and no plan of how it should be. The person who sold it to me is no help as she doesn't know what fits where. A professional tunnel erector also scratched his head and went away defeated so the best option is for me to use what parts I can, and 'fangle' a polytunnel out of what parts I can use.It's all in the planning stage though and nothing will happen if I don't get out on the first fine day and see what parts I can use and what needs to be put to one side.

Rhubarb and rainbows

2012-05-11T13:38:00.001-07:00

It's been a brilliant day all round. Fine and warm and sunny with a breeze. Just perfect. I even wore one of my summer tops today and didn't freeze. I wandered down to feed the ducks and saw to my dismay that my rhubarb has been eaten and not by me!! I suspect it was the rabbits which got dumped. They come onto my land at night. Since rhubarb is poisonous, I'm surprised they aren't ex rabbits. It looks like I'll have to rig up some kind of wire fence otherwise they'll end up decimating my veggie plot.
The accursed polytunnel has still not been erected. It's simply too complicated. What a waste of money that frame was. Instead I'm going to see if I can use some of the sections to make a polytunnel using MDPE pipe.Will have to sit down with pencil and paper and work something out. Shouldn't be too difficult.

I was out and about in the car yesterday and this afternoon. Yesterday was a day of bright sunshine and showers which resulted in a beautiful rainbow. I stopped to photograph it and pondered what it is about them that has impressed human beings since the beginning of time.

This afternoon showed another in roughly the same place.

Tomorrow I am off out to go and see some chickens. I am hoping to buy a trio of French copper black marans. Will have a look at them first though because in the past I have found people selling the commercial Marans Noir as French copper black maran and it is not the same thing at all, but a hybrid. Sure it lays brown eggs, but not the very dark chocolate brown of the pure breed ones.
Hopefully I will breed from them and use some of the hens to put with one of my green egg laying hybrid cockerels. The pullets which hatch from these eggs will end up laying very dark khaki eggs.
I don't think I'll have any time this weekend to do anything in the vegetable garden.In any event, I cannot do much until I have made it rabbit proof.

more rain more pain and red wigglers

2012-05-08T08:11:00.001-07:00

It has been a mixed day all told. We've had some pretty heavy downpours, and in between them, some brilliant sunshine. I've been trying to catch up on all the outside things I was planning to do like build a large cloche out of MDPE water pipe and reinforced clear tarp'. I got the pipes cut and bent into hoops and shoved into the ground, but not yet got the tarp' over them. I have to prioritise chores and before the cloche I had other things which needed doing today, like, digging in the compost heap for my red wiggler worms which I sell 100 at a time on ebay.I had to dig, count and package 600 worms in 4 lots of 100 and one lot of 200, and get them posted this afternoon.I don't mind doing it as I enjoy sitting out there in the fresh air listening to birdsong and smelling the various blossoms in the air. What I don't like about it is the utter indescribable agony it causes me. I suffer from osteoarthritis throughout my body which make me stiff and sore mainly in the mornings, and also something called Scheuermann's disease which is causing my spine to crumble and curve and it's that which causes me the most pain. As you can imagine, digging, then bending and counting is not good for backache and I usually end up on all 4's with my upper half supported by a bucket under my chest, while I sift and count.I was glad when I'd finished and had them all packaged and posted. They are going off to start compost heaps of their own, all over the country.

Thanks to the effort of worm counting,I am now in too much pain to get anything else done today. Ahh the spirit is definately willing, but the body is saying "just you do and I'll make you suffer"! So I've taken my opiates early and come indoors. One side effect of bad pain is that I cannot concentrate properly and get careless and sure enough as I stood up with the bag of containers with worms, I was only aware of the pain in my back and I staggered and hit my hand against the upturned wheelbarrow. I didn't actually feel pain when I did it, as apparently, a body can only ever feel one pain at a time and mine was busy feeling my spine pain, so I took no notice. It was only when I looked down to see why the bag felt wet, that I realised that I was bleeding badly from a finger.Since that finger was also caked in old compost, I figured I'd better do something about it so a scrub with the nailbrush, soap and hot water and then drenched the cut in Hydrogen peroxide to ensure any minute bit of compost in the cut got fizzed out,. Marvellous stuff is hydrogen peroxide.When I cut myself I use nothing but that and/or veterinary wound powder and to date have never had anything go bad.
The information about a body only ever being able to feel one lot of pain at a time is useful too. If you ever hit your finger with a hammer and it hurts, hit your thumb immediately and you won't feel any more pain in your finger.

more rain...................

2012-05-08T04:12:00.002-07:00

well it started fine this morning, with brilliant sunshine and blue skies all overhead. However, here we are at 11am and the rain is pouring down again. It's still very mild though so that's a bonus.It means I can have all the doors and windows of the cottage open wide to let the air in as the place stinks!! Not nasty stink as I keep the place clean, but Archie The Pig, my English bull terrier got hold of the fabric spray I use to spray the dog bedding between washing, and crunched the bottle until the top popped off, then wandered through the house with it, spilling it as he went. Luckily it wasn't an aerosol! I don't have any aerosols in the house at all because even the CFC free ones damage the environment, plus they are very expensive because 90% of the can is gas with only 10% product. So, instead of a delicate and subtle smell of lavender wafting through the house, it's eye wateringly strong.I think Archie The Pig has heard me complaining about his terrible wind (Piper the African grey parrot calls out "Arty Farty pig")and attempted to redeem himself.
I have to go out to the compost heap later and dig for worms. I have started to sell my 'red wiggler' worms on ebay and am having to hustle to keep up with the sales.I have 700 to pick and sort this afternoon so I hope the rain stops at some point. I do have a brilliant waterproof boiler suit I can wear to stay dry but if the weather is mild, I find myself feeling like I'm in a sauna. It may well keep the rain off but I am just as wet inside the thing when I start getting hot and perspiring.

If I manage to get a spare couple of hours, I hope it stays dry enough for me to get some more of the polytunnel frame erected. I am very keen to have it erected in order to be able to garden under cover,(it is a massive 32feet by 24 feet!) and as a plus, it protects my plants from the feral rabbits someone dumped in the field next to me which come and scavenge my guinea pig food, and also the little wild bantams which live down the bottom in the old goat paddock which is now my veggie patch. Neither rabbits nor bantams can be caught so I just have to live with their presence and protect the plants as much as I can by fencing, polytunnel and perhaps an electric net of some sort. I have seen some which are solar powered and this would be ideal for me.

I was in the large storage/potting shed portacabin yesterday watering the seedlings and noticed that even with the few bright mild hours we have had between torrential rain, the plants have responded and are eagerly growing.If I get a few minutes I'll take some of them down to the small greenhouse to give everything more space.

green, white and blue eggs from my chickens

Regardless of the weather, the chickens are laying very well. They have a large run with hedges surrounding and trees overhanging which is ideal for chickens, however, they and the guinea fowl have eaten all the vegetation. In winter I buy cabbages and apples in bulk for them and just tip them into the run for them to peck at as I feel they need fresh food as well as their pellets.In spring and summer I pick the dandelions and ground elder which grows in the tortoise garden and they get those. Dandelions are full of calcium which laying hens need.
I don't have a super tidy garden and prefer it to have a few weedy areas, not only for the tortoise but for insects and wildlife too.
I don't panic about greenfly and blackfly either. Nature designed them to emerge just as baby birds hatch in the hedgerows. All baby birds need a diet of soft, moist, protein rich insects to grow up big and strong, and I have watched parent blue tits clinging to a rose stem and cramming their beaks full of aphids and fly off to feed the hungry youngsters in the nest, then return again within minutes to cram yet more into their beaks. Back and forth they went all afternoon. Now imagine if I'd sprayed those greenfly with chemicals to kill them, and the parent birds had stuffed their nestlings full of toxic aphids. More wild birds are killed by chemical sprays than are killed by pet cats which can catch only one at a time, whereas nestlings being fed beaks full of poisoned aphids means that the whole nest of babies ends up dying. Your garden won't suffer too much if you have aphids. Leave them be. It won't take long for the wild birds to learn where there is a plentiful food source and they will sort out the aphids for you and not only will it not cost you a penny, but you can watch them doing all the work while you sit indoors with a cup of coffee.

I'm all for not making more work for myself if I can.I'm also all for not spending more money than I need to. To this end, I am planning things for the dog portacabin. I bought and had sited, a beautiful 22 foot by 9 foot portacabin, with lights and plug sockets for my grooming equipment, it's all insulated and has 2 rooms and lots of windows which open for fresh air. I have lots of chihuahuas which are hard to housetrain and I was constantly washing bedding and floors and getting stressed. So, having them out in the portacabin with a large dog run attached was a godsend for me. I bought a job lot of plastic barrels some years ago and when I'd got all the water butts I needed, I just stored them behind a shed. They are perfect dog beds. Laid on their side inside the portacabin, and filled with shredded paper, the dogs love them. However, shredded paper is quite expensive to buy in the quantities I use. A local person in the village collects newspapers for me and brings me bundles of them which I sit when I have a spare hour, and tear into strips and put into feed sacks ready to put into their beds. However, I was talking about gerbils to someone the other day and remembered a Gerbil I used to have named 'Silvia'. Whatever I placed into her tank was neatly shredded within hours. Since gerbils do not pee much, it was clean and dry. So a chain of thoughts started in my brain. Instead of shredding the paper all by hand, which is often very painful indeed due to the arthritis ,why not get a production line of gerbils shredding it for me? Today's newsprint is non toxic, being soya based so it won't harm them, and the gerbils will enjoy what they like doing best which is chewing things up, and I clean the tanks daily and get a supply of clean small paper shreddings. So I'm going to look in the shed where I store used cages and sort out some nice big ones to house a colony of gerbils. Free cage, free paper, free shredded paper and if I'm lucky I'll even find some gerbils which someone wants rid of due to lack of interest also for free.
I also want to put a dog flap into the portacabin door but refuse to pay £30 or more for one. That sort of money can buy me lots of seeds. So I am working on a design to make one myself. I have all the timber I need to make a frame and am just trying to source a thick piece of heavy rubber which I'll sandwich between 2 frames, attached only at the top. The rubber will stop rain from driving in and will be heavy enough to stop draughts too. Then, once I have installed the little wood burning stove I have bought off ebay, they will be all lovely and snug no matter what the weather and I will be warm and comfy when I go out to brush and groom the dogs. The portacabin was also off ebay and only cost me £45.

Archie The Pig aka Arty Farty

What a washout!!

2012-05-07T04:52:00.003-07:00

I planted hundreds of seeds in the potting shed/greenhouse this Spring. During the mild sunny weather we had earlier, they all germinated and I tended to them proudly. 8 varieties of tomatoes I have and not one of them round and red. Sadly, thanks to the near arctic April which was also dull, overcast and wet they failed to thrive and I'm seriously doubting anything will come of most of them.
Add to that the problems I've been having erecting the large polytunnel and I think I shall have to write off the growing season for this year and start again next year.
I'm already making plans. I have managed to buy a little cast iron wood burning stove on ebay for less than £40. This is going to be installed into the portacabin which is used as a greenhouse/potting shed (it has windows all around in one end which is perfect). I already heat my home using nothing but scrap wood so it'll be no effort to light the stove in the afternoons. I'll stack it with wood and leave it to burn. It'll heat the space all night long and because the portacabin is well insulated, it'll stay warm until the next afternoon. The wood ash will of course, end up on the compost heap.
I was so looking forward to today because of the weather forecast last night which said wet and cloudy in the morning and mild and sunny all afternoon. That's perfect for me with my health issues. I tend to do nothing in the mornings other than take painkillers, wait for them to work, and do the housework so that my joints can become less stiff. However, it seems the forecasters got a little confused as it was dry and sunny this morning, and as we reach midday, big black clouds are rolling in. So I guess I will spend another day looking out of the windows and wishing I could get on with building the polytunnel frame.Life is passing me by as my arthritis and the foul weather are conspiring against me.
Still, next year I shall buy more seeds and start again . I am very lucky that I've found a company which can supply me with the unusual tomatoes I like to grow at www.seedparade.co.uk They also have a useful forum for gardeners and poultry keeping and the like.

a nectarine I found growing on one of my trees last year