February 2024

False Spring

February has seen some signs of the end of winter, interspersed with flurries of snow! Daffodils and snowdrops are sprouting in the hedgerows to cheer up our lunchtime dog walks. There are also signs of the bulbs I planted before Christmas in a chunk of ground lovingly referred to as “the mound”. It’s a spot that was particularly littered with the type of junk that was all across the property before we arrived. The rubbish was largely cleared, with a few trouble spots remaining, like the mound. I spent several hours pulling out everything from wheeled office chairs to broken panes of glass. Once there was enough of a layer of cleared soil to plant, I put in 20kg of daffodils and was delighted to see them start poking through. Hoping for a more cheerful mound in the coming months.

The mound with the first sprouts of Daffodils poking through.

Growing field progress

We made some great progress getting the fencing in for the growing space. The chickens have also moved into the field and we put up their new run. The run was delivered in October in case there was a “flock down” over winter, where there are incidents of Avian flu and birds need to be confined to protected spaces. Luckily we escaped that and have now gotten around to putting the run up, which gives some more shelter for the chickens, hopefully from the sun soon also! The field got a real churning from the tractor knocking in the fence posts and the digger which ensured the wire netting is in the ground deep enough to prevent tunnelling rabbits. It’s very exciting to have the space ready for some crops. The table in the caravan has currently been overtaken by pots of seeds.

The fenced-off growing space and the chickens with their new run.

In other chicken news, the chicks that were born in September have started laying. We’re getting around 2 eggs per day now, so we might be self-sufficient soon! The young hens have slightly smaller eggs at the moment, here’s a first one in comparison. We are still slightly heavy on the Rooster side. We have managed to re-home one but could do with doing the same for 1 or 2 of the remaining 3.

The older hen’s egg on the left and a first egg on the right

Où est l'eau

I’ve been on a month-long Duo Lingo French streak, whilst also trying to find out how the water comes to the property. When we first moved in we enlisted the help of Seven Trent Water to find where the main water tap was. It was eventually located around 200 metres from our drive and we were able to turn on the water supply. When the water was first turned on we found a spot where the water leaked from a pipe in the yard and replaced it with a new section of pipe and a tap, which is our only access to water at the moment. It’s quite important to understand what happens between the mains and the tap, including how the water ends up in the house. The obvious answer seemed to be to dig out the only pipe we are aware of and trace where it goes. The pipe comes out on the other side of this wall but after about a meter of digging, it is yet to be found. There have been 3 false alarms, which just turned out to be other pipe-like objects buried in that spot. So “the hole” has replaced “the mound” as the digging spot of choice. A story to be continued.

Digging for water.

The birds are starting to find nesting spots and mates and the trees are showing early signs of new life emerging. Fingers crossed Spring Proper is around the corner.

Thanks for reading, love from Hillside Farm x