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!


Monday 6 July 2015

Sweetie at the Vets

9 am

Sweetiepie  is now at the vets, as she needs medical care beyond that which I can give. Hoping she survives the op and dressing - will find out later today.

12 noon

Well Sweetie has survived the op and is in hentensive care with lovely Tom the Vet and all the other lovely staff at Leadon Vale,

5 pm

Sweetie home and eating, pooing (lol !) and drinking Tylan laced water after having a dose of Tylan antib orally. Tylan, although not the best anti b for her condition, at least does not condemn her to a life separated from the others as her eggs would be permanently suspect to eat or sell . Baytril does that to hens and is why I had to kill Amber poppet my most loved hen, last year . I really hated doing that to her and vowed never to repeat it...

Also seriously impressed that Tom the Vet dressed her wound with honey. Will add tea tree to her dressing when I have to change it tomorrow .Also adding Arnica, Oregano and Nutri drops to her armoury of help :)Thank you, all of you for suggestions

Thank you also for all for the healing vibes - I am sure it will help and between us all will help Sweetiepie to get the very best healing she can have
 
Fingers Crossed xxx

Sunday 5 July 2015

Needle felting workshop at blue ginger gallery with Celestine and the Hare

Fab day today at blue ginger gallery with Celestine and the Hare.  I made the white chicken to honour dearly departed Pearl Hen, sadly taken by the fox yesterday :)

 

Saturday 4 July 2015

Another fox attack but Sweetiepie survives, again!

Rather sad as another fox attack took place today at 5 pm while I was just in the garden nearby. Ran to chase off fox but found Pearl, Aggie and Sweetiepie missing and their feathers lying everywhere

 Locked all chickens away - went out to do last check at 9.30 pm and found a badly injured Sweetiepie waiting to be let into the hen house.

 Have given her medical care and am hoping she survives tonight, inside in a cat carrier with a dressing on the extensive wounding

Sweetiepie is now 8 1/2 and is an ex battery hen who has been with us since 2008 - she has now survived 7 fox attacks. She is the top hen and the heart of the flock and I do hope she pulls through!

Friday 3 July 2015

Tiny Robin update

Remember Tiny Robin? Who we took to be helped by Vale Wildlife Centre?

Not only did s/he survive,  but fledged and is now in the wild :)  So pleased!

Thursday 2 July 2015

Plants in the post



I was excited to receive some plants to review in the post today - Unwins sent me three Salvia Katy Glen plants  which arrived in a small cardboard box


Salvia ‘Kate Glen’ is exclusive to Unwins and the  pink flowers are held on tall, dense spikes that will bloom all summer long, gradually deepening to a glowing violet, providing an ever changing display of colour. 

It’s drought tolerant and frost hardy so is perfect for a garden in full sun with free draining soil. As well as the colour changing flowers it also has deliciously scented , so an added bonus!
 
 
I am looking forward to seeing how these grow in my newly planted up south facing summer perennial bed by the patio. The scented leaves should add to the overall perfumed effect I hope!

You can find out more information about these plants, along with ordering details on the Unwins website   here

The small but healthy looking plants have been potted on into individual posts and I will plant them out in a few weeks when they have grown a little larger.

UA-40361266-1