A day with not much rain! So lots done in the garden.

Those of you who live in the UK will understand my title!

It had been raining here a lot lately. Unseasonably so. Torrential downpours and daytime temps of 10 C are NOT the norm for June in the Midlands. Having the woodburner lit at night is also not normal.

But today, finally, after 6 days of non stop rain - it stopped raining at lunchtime  and eventually the sun even came out!

My faithful henny shadow, Titch. she is missing her friend Tiny I think

I got so fed up with not getting on with outdoor stuff that I donned waterproofs and got working even though it WAS raining.

I put Tiny Hen into the Broody Ark so she could get some fresh air, eat some grass and generally chill out - because she followed me out of the house and down to the Ark, bless her! She looked a lot better this morning :-)




Cassi Cat standing guard over Tiny Hen


It rained in the morning, so I didn't take "before" pictures of the stuff I was doing - but after the rain stopped I took some " during" photos

Here is the composting area, in need of a lot of work.

Here is the Eglu and Compostman built run - all needs cleaning out and putting back together

So at first in the rain and then later on in the sunshine I got to work.

 A bit tidier, with Titch helping me !

I emptied and refilled all five of the compost bins in the picture - and spread the finished compost I extracted out on various beds.

 Eglu hooked back up to the run, cleaned out and re furnished. the run is re stocked with clean feeder and drinker, ready for the hens later on.




 


 3 Hen houses and runs all clean, sanitised and with clean feeders and drinkers. I love the smell of a clean hen house!

I ached all over after today's efforts, but I must admit I do feel better  for getting all that work done :-)

And Tiny hen helped put all the other hens to bed, and then followed me back to the barn and hopped into the Cat carrier, again - she obviously likes sleeping inside it in the house :-)

Update on Tiny Hen

She survived the night and was pleased to get breakfast this morning :-) More cat meat, some meal worms and some pellet porrage

She followed me outside and wandered around with me in the garden, and then went into the Broody Ark, so I shut her in there, with food and water,  for safety from the other hens.
 
 

She stayed inside the shelter bit, out of the rain, and came out to sit in the sunshine (when it briefly shone). At the end of the day I let her out to wander around with me, she spotted the cat carrier which she has been sleeping in, inside the house,



so jumped up into it :-)

 

I took the hint! So I took her back inside the house and she settled down to go to sleep.



Such a sweet little hen :-) Want her as a House hen :-)

A poorly Tiny Hen

Tiny Hen in the house as she is poorly :-( Hoping that being in the warm, with no bullying, getting some food, vitamins and drink down her will help matters.

 Tiny Hen is one of the barn caged birds I rescued at the end of April, along with Titch, Babs, Bunty and Ginger (RIP - fox attack )

Tiny and Titch were very bald and Tiny was also the smallest hen I have EVER seen.

Although she was quite ok at first, and laid some eggs, she is now looking a bit " hunched" and is not feathering up or putting on weight.She has laid a few soft shelled monster strange eggs as well.

She is also being chased around by some of the other hens and I suspect is not getting a fair share of the food, despite me putting one feeding station per hen, spread around the hen run so all the girls can eat at the same time.

Yesterday when I went out in the morning to check on all the girls she was just stood in the run, not moving, eyes closed, shivering :-(

So I picked her up and brought her inside the house. She had a box in the kitchen with food and water until bed time, but then went into the downstairs cloakroom for the night.
.

 WHAT a messy eater! can you see how she has spattered cat meat all over the place :-) I am just glad to see that she has perked up and is eating something.

Fingers crossed that Tiny Hen gets better - am hoping rest, quiet, no bullying and lots of feeding will help her get better - oh and love and cuddles from me :-)

Jubilee Sunday at Compost Mansions

Bloomin Heck it is STILL raining here! Has been since yesterday evening!  It MUST be a holiday in the UK lol

Apart from hen, polytunnel, cat and guinea pig duties, we have been having a peaceful day resting, reading and playing on her DSi ( Compostgirl) , fettling JCB's ( Compostman) crochet, sewing and reading (Compostwoman) and all of us eating and watching bits of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Thames Pagent - not particularly monarchist here - indeed some of us* are Republicans-   BUT the ships, barges, boats etc were amazing and I was really impressed by "Gloriana" the lead rowing barge.

After a lovely meal we all then watched the first 2 episodes of last years BBC adaptation of Just William, and Compostman and I watched various Disco themed proggrammes later on, on BBC   ( about Donna Summer and the History of Disco)

Slightly worried ( in a sort of good way lol) that, yet again, I know all the words to all the songs -

Question - why does my brain not explode with all the rock, pop, disco, folk, classical, poetry, plays etc I seeem to be able to spout at a moments notice? Why, when I didn't learn them on purpose?

Especially when I can't remember if I have shut the polytunnel door or not ...!

Isn't the human brain a wonderful thing?

( *that would be me, then!)

Master Composter visit to Bakefield Worms

Earlier this week I went to visit a lot of worms!

As regular readers will know I am a Master Composter, a volunteer community compost advisor with my local council ( Herefordshire) and we do all sorts of interesting stuff to promote home composting of waste rather than dumping it in a hole in the ground to create Methane ( which is what happens to putrecible waste if you throw it "away" into your landfill bin.)

And as well as going to shows and doing assemblies in schools and talks at gardening clubs and practical workshops on compost making and, oh, all sorts  - we occasionally get to go on visits to interesting, compost related places as a treat - well it is a treat if you like composting lol.

Today, we went to a worm grower and vermicomposter, Bakefield Worms. Now I am always keen to go and see anything compost or recycling related so immediately wanted to visit this business, which is in the village where my daughter goes to school.

This also meant that the site we were visiting was only 6 miles away from my house, which is really quite close compared to some of the events I have attended as a Master Composter - Herefordshire is a very large and very rural county and I have to travel around a lot to get anywhere!

Anyway we arrived and were welcomed and  our choice of refreshment ( tea/coffee/cold drink) was asked about, for later on during the break. Names were taken and name stickers handed out ( for those of us who forgot our official name badges and yes I did forget! Bad Compostwoman!)

And then we were shown into the barn which is one of the two main "nerve centres" of the operation. Bakefield Worms produce quality, live, Herefordshire worms and vermicomposting products. All worms and products are hand selected from their own established, healthy production beds.

One of the two Bakefield directors, Kate, showed us how they produce the worms. She described the process from start to finish very clearly - and demonstrated just how wonderful the worms they produce are, by showing us to them...

There are various bags of worms and cocoons for sale, direct and by mail order, and I must say they all looked really good value

Bakefield Worms supply:

• Worms
• Soil Enricher
• Compost Booster Kits
• Compost & Wormery Rejuvenator
• Chicken Scratchlings
• Solid Compost Worm Units

This is a load of composted horse manure with a load of worms wriggling around in it, waiting to be packed up and sent off out to purchasers.

It is a very hands on process , harvesting worms!

A worm and a couple of worm cocoons

 
 

Kate was an excellent imparter of information, with an obvious and infectious passion for vermicomposting. We left with an (unexpected)  sample of worms to take home and memories of a very enjoyable, informative couple of hours talking about composting and wormeries and the power of vermiculture.

Thank you to Bakefield Worms for having us to visit and thank you to Herefordshire and Worcestershire County Council Waste Management departments for arranging the visit for us.