Hello and welcome to The Compost Bin. I'm Compostwoman and I live with my family in rural Herefordshire. We have nearly four acres of garden and woodland, all managed organically and to Permaculture principles, which we share with Chickens, Cats and assorted wildlife. We also grow a lot of our own food, run courses in all sorts of things and make a lot of compost!
I am a Master Composter and have spent more than a decade as a volunteer Community Compost adviser with Garden Organic and my local Council.
I'm a self employed Environmental Educator so I run workshops and events where I talk about compost, veg growing, chicken keeping, cooking, preserving and sustainable living. I also run crafts workshops and Forest School/outdoor play sessions in our wood.
We try to live a more self sufficient lifestyle here, as best we can, while still having a comfortable life and lots of fun.
To learn more about us click on the About Compostwoman tab and remember to click on the photos to make them full size!
Thursday, 4 February 2010
A trip to the Orthodontist and other stuff
Hens all shut in runs all day today, have divided them all up so everybody has as much room as possible in the secure runs while I try to decide what to do. And don't worry about me showing fear to the fox..., I have taken to carrying the air gun with me as it may well recognise THAT as dangerous...also I shall kick it if it tries anything...and if all else fails I WILL shoot at it with the air gun ..even if it only stings it, it might make it think twice about yipping at me.....
Got email from lovely teacher at the school I worked at yesterday, apparently the children were running out at home time going "Look, Mum! I made a book!!!! Look I made some paper! " ....which was a lovely thought..
2 of the Yr 6 children gave me the books they had made, having written really nice things inside the covers about my teaching and Eco club ...which made me well up a bit as well...! I gave them some stuff I had made in return, as I didn't want them to leave the craft session empty handed apart from their hand made paper, ...just little cards I had made from bits of stuff..
Fox around again tonight, scared Tom and Tabitha cats witless...they came charging in, fluffed up to the nth degree....very scared..
Feel a bit under siege here, tbh...hens v disgruntled at being shut in, but better in than dead, I think...Must admit, have asked a friend if he fancies a trip up here with his rifle? .
My friend and I were recently discussing about how modern society has evolved to become so integrated with technology. Reading this post makes me think back to that debate we had, and just how inseparable from electronics we have all become.
ReplyDeleteI don't mean this in a bad way, of course! Ethical concerns aside... I just hope that as technology further develops, the possibility of copying our memories onto a digital medium becomes a true reality. It's one of the things I really wish I could encounter in my lifetime.
(Posted on Nintendo DS running [url=http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474978023679]R4 SDHC[/url] DS QDos)
I wanted to share some sunshine with you.
ReplyDeletehttp://frugalisgreenajourney.blogspot.com/2010/02/little-bit-of-sunshine-and-some-snow.html
CW so glad your workshops are proving very successful... you have worked so hard to achieve this and you should be very proud of yourself as I am of you my dear!!!
ReplyDeleteThe home-made card you sent to Mum and I last year was beautiful and much appreciated as Mum loved pansies, bless her. I have kept the card in my memories box and it will be treasured always.
Foxy is becoming quite a problem and sounds worryingly aggressive.... so do think you would be wise for the sake of what is left of your beautiful hens and Tom and Tabitha to take control of the situation and if it means destroying him/her then so be it.
We have a lot of foxes around our area and they are not shy. I know they have the young cubs at the moment so guess its all to do with getting them food. Only the other day Basil and Syd chased off two young fox cubs who were roaming the fields during the day. We have an abundance of rabbits around here and from some of the carnage I discovered in the recent snowy weather of late they most certainly enjoy a regular meal of rabbit.....
The male urine thing is not working then. I have heard that it can be a great deterrent for foxes so your Mr/ Mrs Fox is a very determined character. I do hope you can this sorted as its most certainly ruining daily life for your ladies... What worries me is how much prevention is it going to take in the future to keep the foxes at bay as they are most certainly on the increase and getting cheekier with it.
Do hope you can get this resolved as soon as possible!!
Much Love, Jane xxxx
Hello Jane!
ReplyDeleteCM and I were discussing this over lunch today, and fear yes we will have to have the fox killed...
also we are discussing a more secure "compound" of wire etc, to keep the feathery ladies in...
Glad to see you popping in!
This does sound like some fox. Some years ago our cat was in a stand off with a fox and the fox gave in first. She wasn't an especially large or aggressive cat, either.
ReplyDelete