Fuming about seeds.

Like a lot of home gardeners, I grow a lot of traditional, open pollinated varieties, I save my own seed and buy heritage varieties from small seed companies like RealSeeds, MoreVeg and Kokopelli. I am also a member of HSL, Garden Organic's seed saving, membership organisation. I grow lots of different veg and find the diversity of seeds on offer to be very helpful in the changeable weather conditions we often experience, here in the UK. I also find they taste so much better than "ordinary" varieties.

The tomatoes pictured  in my Lammas post are a good example!

But according to leading organic charities Garden Organic and the Soil Association, the choice of what crops are available for gardeners to grow has been dealt yet another restrictive blow,

"In a recent ruling in the European Court of Justice in Brussels(1) a small French seed company, seeking to defend its sales of old unregistered varieties of vegetables, lost its case. The company, Kokopelli, argued that the basis of the EU Marketing Directive was unlawful and curtailed the right to trade seed freely. However the court opposed this and ruled in favour of the current legislation, which restricts what seed can and cannot be marketed and sold."

Read the full article here 

I suspect quite a few of the seeds I buy to grow will no longer be available to me after this ruling.

As Garden Organic and the Soil Association so rightly point out, every variety lost weakens our ability to create an effective food system that can cope with the increasing challenges of climate change and resource scarcity.”

Bob Sherman, Chief Horticultural Officer at Garden Organic said,

“It is disappointing that the EU has neglected to unravel this controversial Directive to give amateur gardeners freedom of choice. Very few people believe that trade in traditional and endangered varieties threatens the commercial seed world. Despite some recent slackening of the regulation of ‘amateur’ and ‘conservation’ varieties, it appears it is still possible for large corporate businesses to control the market with no hesitation in resorting to law against the minnows of the sector. Fortunately Garden Organic’s Heritage Seed Library is not a seed company and we will continue to work at protecting the availability of many ‘at risk’ varieties by allowing our supporters access to seeds.”

I think this is a serious mistake on the part of the EU. I am not quite sure who to complain to about this - but surely there must be something we can do?

What do you all think?

Horrible , horrible start to Sat morning....

I have only just felt able to blog about all this, as it was so very upsetting . A stray dog came into the garden early on Sat morning (before 7 am) - we were woken up at about 7 am by the barking, which came from behind the house...

so went out to see what was going on - the dog ran off before we could see it but it had managed to scrabble open the pet rabbits and guinea pigs hutches and killed the rabbits and guinea pigs...fortunately it had not mangled them but just broken their necks - I guess by throwing them around a bit...  

The hens were also very upset as the dog (not any of the neighbours dogs, they are all locked up at night and definitely not a fox) had been scrabbling and digging around the hen house but could not get in.

Cassi and Tabitha cats were very distressed by the commotion and  Tom Cat was missing as well all morning which was VERY worrying - he turned up about 11 .30, all upset and fluffed up - I guess he went out to look at what was going on and got chased...

Have warned our farming neighbours - they have small pets, hens etc also sheep....
 
Not a nice way to start the day Burying small pets, with a weeping Compostgirl at our side......not nice at all.

Monday - my ear hurts.

We had biblical rain, yesterday. It is sunny here now. The veg patch looks much refreshed. Hurrah!

I have an ear infection - it hurts.

A lot.

I am going back to bed. Maybe later on today I may feel more sociable and feel like posting more!

Just hoping it is not the start of another bout of Labarynthitis!

like Alice, I have tumbled down the slippery, whirling, twirling rabbit hole again.....

Just to let you know I am v poorly, have labyrinthitis, ( vertigo, nausea, photophobia, blinding headache - hence the "Alice/Rabbit hole in the title)

It came on with a vengence on Sunday, after bouts on and off last week and I was so ill I got carted off in an ambulance to A and E Monday night. Fortunately they let me out Tuesday morning, with drugs to take for it.

Am back at home now but spending the day on virtually total bed rest, looking at a blank wall in a darkened room is the order of the day. Am on drugs to reduce sypmtoms ( but not by much) which give me maybe an hour a couple of times a day where I can eat, see ok to read, type etc.

so am taking advantage of the current "good" spell now, to send a couple of important emails about cancelling work, and to let you all know what has happened.

Thank you for the kindly comments and emails I have already had but I am really not up to answering them at the moment - I hope you can all understand why?

Don't worry, I will live, but its not much fun being me at the moment!

Will come back when I am able.

Yet more sad stuff, just before Christmas...farewell to Kitty Cat

Yet more sad stuff here, I have a catch up post about the Festive Season, but first I want to tell you all about Kitty Cat.

Lovely old Kitty Cat reached the end of the road and took his last journey to the Vets on the Saturday before Christmas.

The poor old lad could hardly walk and had become unable to even get out through the cat flap to have a wee, so had taken to just going on the carpet. And as he has never used a litter tray (never learnt how to ..always went outside) there was not a lot we could do to help him.

He went from a strong, if a bit wobbly on his legs, old cat...to looking terrible in the last few days of his life. CM and I have been having "the conversation" several times that week as to if it was "time" but had decided he was still getting some good quality of life..but the last 2 days changed all that...

poor old lad, he looked so uncomfortable....couldn't even groom himself and fell over when he tried the last couple of days :-(

Holly the vet agreed he looked in a very poor way, she offered us the option of yet more tests etc but he had already been down that route earlier this year, was on lots of medication for Kidney and joint problems and was still going downhill fast...and had also started to be incontinent .....AND it would have meant an overnight (at least) stay in the vets, which distressed him hugely last time....so we declined to do any more prodding or poking of him. At 18, he had had enough....

As it was he had a nice last day lying on a cushion by the Aga being stroked and loved and fed cheese and other titbits, then he went quietly to sleep at the vets with CM stroking his head...

So...Tom and Tabitha have sniffed Kitty Cat's body so know he is gone on ahead...and he has been buried in the wood near the pool, a place where he loved to hunt for rabbits...he was a MIGHTY fine hunter until a year ago! Full grown cock pheasants, rabbits, adult rats, squirrels, moles, bats..you name it he could catch it and he never played with his food, as a serious hunter he killed it and ate it!

and there is much sadness around here as we have lost two beloved cats in less than two weeks.....

Farewell, old friend, there is a very large hole where you used to be....

:-(

Am very sad here..

Am very sad here..

Just after Compostman left to take Compostgirl to Brownies, at 6.15 a knock on the door was followed by a man saying he had found a cat in the road...it further transpired that his car had hit Sidney our lovely cat outside our house.

The man ( all credit for having the guts to tell me what had happened, and not just drive off...)
had brought Sid in to the garden, so I rushed inside to get a solid board, towel and warm blanket, plus phone..we lifted Sid ( who was alive but not moving) onto the board, and I covered him up and went inside to phone the vet...

I got Sid (on the board, wrapped up) into my car and sped to the vets, ..at 6 30 pm he was given oxygen..at 8 pm a phone call told me he was stable, seemed to have a broken pelvis from the initial X ray but his breathing was still worrying them...but they could see no major, other injuries...so we were all happy and I was telling a distraught CG that maybe Sid might be OK, eventually....

but as the vet was talking to me there was a shout for her as he had stopped breathing...and when she called me back 5 min later it was with the news that he had stopped breathing and despite CPR, had died....

CG is over come with grief..we are numb with shock..Sid was the rescue young cat we got last year..after the Monty puss shaped hole had ceased to hurt quite so badly..he was lovely, friendly, a character and so motherly to the 2 kittens Tom and Tabitha...


RIP Sidney Puss, we will ALL miss you so very much.....

I am now a no show at the Compost Awareness event in Hereford

I agravated a long standing back injury lifting tables and trays of plants last weekend..and now I can't drive, or do much at all...so lovely Compostman drove me to school today and helped at Eco Club this afternoon...

because today I was scheduled to be teaching in the organic garden at School, I had Reception class scheduled to be out in the veg garden, planting potatos, carrots, beetroot and shallots.

Yesterday I had Gardening Club (juniors) out in the garden over lunch break planting potatos, beans, carrots, peas and beetroot. Then during the afternoon I was showing year 1 children how to plant up their raised veg bed with onions, carrots, turnips, potatos and beetroot, all with the theme of "purple"

I also, today had Eco Club and we did some pond dipping , which was great fun!

But, painful....and I wouldn't have managed it without Compostman's help.

Unfortunately due to my ( very painful) back injury I will also not, now, be at the Compost Awareness Week event in Hereford Fri.

Sorry! especially to Kim, who was going to come and say hello I know..

so...its rest, and recovery, and NO digging for me...

This is a really bad time for me to have an injury, as apart from all the stuff needing to be done here at Compost Mansions, there is a major re vamp of the school garden this weekend as well...moving the fence out to make the plot bigger, a new greenhouse, new raised beds..oooh all sorts of stuff ...and I am meant to be there digging and moving and dismantling compost bins and laying terram sheet and mulch and all sorts...

but I suspect I will be making the tea, instead :-( Grrr, bluddy back injury, I have had this for 40 years now, am Sooooo fed up its not true...mumble mumble mutter curse........)

Sad news about Cathy Hen

Unfortunately my trip to the vet with Cathy did NOT have a good outcome :-(
Cathy had been suffering from Sterile Egg Yolk Peritonitis (EYP) This is something she has had for some time, it is something which is sadly common in ex battery hens due to their egg laying equipment being damaged by the excess number of eggs they are stimulated to lay. It is also what eventually led to the demise of Genghis Hen:-(

Cathy had been on antibiotics for a week, and had been kept near by, but separate from, the other hens for another two weeks. She was allowed back in with the rest of the hens a few days ago and seemed very perky and happy, as I detailed in my post showing her indoors with us.
But on Sunday evening she looked puffy in the abdomen, and hunched up, which is NEVER a good sign in a chicken. She also didn't want to move around or eat much. I had to take Sid down to the Vets on Monday (he has a poorly eye) and I decided to take Cathy also as I was worried about her. On examination she had a swollen abdomen and a temperature again. The prognosis was not good for her, but after establishing she was not in any real pain the Vets and I decided that they would try to draw off the fluid, to ease the discomfort and to get her back on some antibiotics. We all knew this might not work and if it did might not be a very long term help, but we were all wanting to try to save her. I left her at the vets for the procedure and when I went to collect her, was told that 350 ml of nasty fluid had been drawn off! Poor Cathy, no wonder she felt poorly.

I took her home Monday afternoon and started her on the antibiotic again and yesterday she seemed to perk up and came to see us in the house and had a few worms from where Compostman was digging



and seemed much restored



BUT today I was worried, she didn't look bad, exactly,..... but chickens mask how poorly they are (as a protective move) and so I just trusted my instincts that she looked wrong, somehow... Her comb was turning purple whenever she moved and she felt very cold so I took her to the vets this afternoon. On examination it was apparent she wasn't going to recover from all this. So I very sadly held her and stroked her whilst Tamsin the Vet gave her a lethal injection and she went to sleep for good.

I came home with her body and she has been buried on the edge of our woodland, next to Genghis Hen, with some flowers placed on her grave by Compostgirl.

We shall all miss Cathy very much, she really WAS a pet to us, wanted to be with us all the time, was gentle and friendly and sweet natured to all. She followed me around and chatted to me as I dug the garden or hung out the washing or worked in the polytunnel. I shall miss her waiting by the door to get into the kitchen, jumping up on my lap for a cuddle and purring when I stroked her neck. Compostman is also very sad as Cathy was his favourite hen and he chose her name, and she liked to come and see what he was doing in the garden also. She was the only hen to be really friendly to Compostman and Compostgirl as well as to me.

RIP Cathy Hen, you will be missed by all of us, but especially me.

Sad news.

As some of you may recall, I mentioned in my Feb Chickenailia roundup post that Genghis Hen was poorly. Last Sat I had to treat her for sour crop and her abdomen was very swollen with egg peritonitis. This is something she has had for some time, it is something which is sadly common in ex battery hens due to their egg laying equipment being damaged by the excess number of eggs they are stimulated to lay.

Although she was OK during this last week and yesterday, this morning during my normal morning check of the hens (I let them out and stand there for about 10 mins with a mug of tea watching them while they eat some food and say hello to me...)I became quite concerned about her condition. She didn't look bad, exactly,..... but chickens mask how poorly they are (as a protective move) and so I just trusted my instincts that she wasn't looking as she had been earlier in the week. SOMETHING looked wrong, somehow... even though I knew she wasn't in the best of health anyway...

So I went inside and I called the vet and made an appointment for later today. My instinct was warning me that Cathy, too, wasn't quite right, she just looked a bit "off colour" to me, nothing obvious but.....so I took her down as well. Cathy is my other ex battery hen and is the same age and from the same place as Genghis.

Sadly, when I got in to the vets, Genghis Hen was found to have a high temperature, had obviously lost a lot of weight since Thursday evening (the last time I picked her up and cuddled her)and seemed to have a lump inside her which could be felt by internal examination, although she was not egg bound...Tamsin the lovely vet and I had a chat and decided that Genghis probably had a tumour ( or several) and the peritonitis and sour crop were secondary symptoms due to that. As Genghis was obviously poorly and had been poorly several times recently and then recovered (but each time she had gone down in condition a bit,) that the kindest thing to do would be to put Genghis to sleep there and then, which Tamsin did. Genghis Hen slipped into a permanent sleep while I stroked her feathers and told her what a good hen she had been.

And I was right to be worried about Cathy, she WAS slightly poorly, she was beginning to run a temperature and had a slightly rattly chest, so she is on antibiotics and I am watching HER for egg peritonitis as well....

So I came home and we made up a pen for Cathy and I then scrubbed out the Broody Ark (where Genghis had been living recently) the Eglu, all the feeders and drinkers, and inside Cluckingham Palace. And I MEAN scrubbed and sprayed with sanitiser as well as all the bedding and Aubiose removed and replaced..

I did this to be on the safe side, so as not to transmit any germs to the others. I don't think for a moment that Genghis died of anything contagious but Cathy DOES have a potentially contagious infection and I just felt happier cleaning everything.

Cathy is now in the clean, scrubbed out Broody Ark, inside a separate bit of fencing netting so she is away from the rest of the chickens but can still see them and be near to them. She will have to be dosed orally with antibiotics every day for the next week.

Everybody else has a very clean house (much more so than a normal clean!) and tomorrow I shall clean out all the runs as well. ( I ran out of daylight tonight.)

Genghis has been buried on the edge of our woodland, with some flowers placed on her grave by Compostgirl.

I feel very sad that Genghis is dead, I feel I should have done even more for her and somehow "made her better" even though I KNOW she was ill and I gave her the very best care that I could. I keep reminding myself I gave her a wonderful life for the last year and she was due to be killed a year ago, and got an extra year of life with us. BUT I still feel I failed her somehow.

I admit, took some time to warm to her and on several occasions (as you may remember me posting) I came close to dispatching her myself, especially when she was bullying everybody and eating eggs! and messing up the nest boxes daily with her pecked eggs.... She only laid a few misshapen eggs herself and she pecked her feathers out terribly BUT she was a challenge and I persevered with her and in the end she was a delightful hen, friendly, companionable and a very good "guard hen" to all the rest of the flock.

I know she ate the food I bought but gave me no "return" in egg form ( and I have had my continued toleration of her questioned because of this) , BUT she gave me a huge return in other ways. She taught me a lot, about looking after ex battery hens, about hen behaviour in general AND about patience and about seeing good things even in a bad situation.

I shall miss her following me around and chatting to me as I dig the garden. I shall miss her wanting to get in the Compost bins at any opportunity. I shall miss her invading the kitchen and pooing on the carpet and eating the cat food and terrorising the cats...

RIP Genghis Hen, you will be missed by all of us.

RIP Oliver Postgate.

Well.

A little part of my childhood has just passed away. I grew up on the TV programmes of Bagpuss , Pogles Wood, Ivor the Engine , The Clangers and Noggin the Nog. I am saddened to hear that the co-creator of these gems of TV has died.

I still love them, the music, the charm and whimsy and the good AND darker side of story telling they portray.....from a gentler, more kind, less consumer driven children's TV...

I introduced Compostgirl to Bagpuss a few years ago, she loves the DVD and has a Bagpuss soft toy, much cuddled, on her bed right now. He came with a singing Charlie Mouse, my favourite character after Bagpuss himself ( "we will find it , we will bind it, we will stick it with glue , glue , glue...".... was my favourite mouse song, closely followed by the "we will wash it..." song)

If you are not familiar with these gems, listen and enjoy....



Rest in Peace, Oliver, you gave us much joy and laughter and I am SURE someone who produced so much joy in children's hearts has gone to a happy place.

Oh dear......poor old Kitty Cat

Oh dear...

Our oldest puss, the very lovely, gentle giant, Kitty Cat, has been getting a bit thinner recently...he is (at least) 16 ......and he has become totally deaf in the last year, but with no obvious medical cause we have just rather sadly put it all down to him getting older, as happens to us all eventually.

and then Compostman noticed on Sunday that Kitty's wee had blood in it :-((

so Compostman took Kitty to our lovely vet Martin, who took a blood sample and checked him over and...he has a kidney problem..a SERIOUS kidney problem.....

Oh dear...we have to try to get a tablet down Kitty every evening...and that is a REALLY hard thing to do as Kitty is a HUGE cat ( even now, after losing lots of weight) , and although he is VERY gentle, does NOT suffer any "messing with" gladly.... :-(

One of the worst things, apart from Kitty Cat being ill, of course, is that I feel a sense of Deja Vu...I really do hope this is NOT like the stuff we had to cope with last year, with beloved Monty puss.....where we ended up having to give the poor fellow all sorts of stuff, which may well have helped him stay alive BUT which made him ( and us!) utterly miserable in the process.

Kitty is an outdoor puss, not used to being messed around, so the chances of us getting him to take regular medication in his food is zilch...we MIGHT get away with giving him one tablet a day, in a ball of cheese ( his favourite food!) but the idea of sprinkling powder on his food etc is just NOT do-able with Kitty Cat..he HUNTS his meat, not gets it out of a can!!

Oh dear, I DO hope he is just "fixed" with a tablet a day..in a ball of cheese....as anything more would just NOT be possible with Kitty Cat....

:-((

Sorry...it all seems a bit gloomy round here at the moment......what with Tabitha and her continued toilet issues, Compostgirl, and me still being unwell......

:-((

Further musings on cider and chicken poo

Further to my last post and the various kind comments I received ( thank you kind blog friends.....)

I have a confession...we actually made twice the amount of cider shown in the last post.....and have already drunk the first 35 L since May....we actually got through it very quickly...and were a bit alarmed at how fast the levels dropped!

So we left off decanting this one in the vain hope that, IF it was in a 25 L container, ( out in the garage...) we would be less likely to start pouring a glass ( or several ) out from it. As it it bloomin heavy to lift and I don't actually think I could pour a glass out of it....

Or something. Well that was the reasoning. Maybe. Or was it just we didn't get around to it?

Can't really remember.........

;-)


And I really must thank you all for your good wishes, I feel marginally better than earlier in the week but am still very weak and feeble. I have cancelled taking my class for their Forest School session on Thursday AND have said I am not going to do Eco Club after school. Which is a big disappointment for me as I enjoy it so much BUT ....I really don't feel capable at the moment.


I was a bit puzzled at the comment from Thursday about how industrious the kitchen is...then I looked again with someone elses eyes ( well, mine are not much use at the moment!)

at the photo and realised that, with the big container of the old 2007 cider, the new cider bubbling away, the apples and pumpkins, the dehydrator, the jars of chutney etc...it DID look like we have been busy!


Actually, with the chutneys, its just I am too lazy to put the jars away and then have to get them out of the Chutney and Jam store ( yes we DO have such a thing....) to label them and I haven't labelled them yet and am leaving it there in the hope I will remember to get around to making some labels before it gets to be 2009.......


I DID manage to clean out all the chickens runs yesterday, they were all in a bit of a state and I shovelled an AMAZING pile of composted down chicken poo and bark chippings from the runs....it was WONDERFUL stuff and I can't wait to get using it next year! So all the hens now have clean houses and freshly clean runs full of nice composted wood chips from our wood.














BUT I think it was a bit too much for me, as after an hour of doing that I came over a bit wobbly and had to go and lie down for 3 hours and sleep......................


I like the symmetry of cutting down our trees for wood, chipping the twiggy bits and storing them to use as mulches or in the hen runs and then returning them to my compost bins ( with added Factor P for POO) to turn into lovely compost, to use to grow my veg, to eat.....

The Wheel of Life...I feel a "Lion King " moment coming on.....

( sorry....but I AM ill, remember....so am excused normality for a few more days...)

I also have been most amused by the antics of all the hens, they are very funny!





THIS is one of the chicks! She is the no 1 pullet and is VERY brave.....




SO...I am slowly improving ( although am tired , very easily, and have been falling asleep at all odd hours of the day...if I sit down I nod off.)...and life continues on....

Good news/ Sad news...

Well, as I promised earlier at 6 pm we went out to look at the new chicks and feed them and Sweetiepie..and the egg was still there, but she and the chicks were out in the run.




Compostgirl stroked one of the chicks ...she was amazed at how soft and tiny it was!




I think I have 4 pullets and 2 cocks (hurrah!).. ..so fingers crossed! I am working on Compostman so I can keep one of the males and the other(S) ( if a good specimen) will be sold at Hereford Market as Silver Dorkings are apparently quite desirable.







So........... the unhatched egg. I had to make a decision..do I leave it ( it might have hatched BUT if it was a dud it could have exploded showering the chicks with rotten, bacteria laden stuff..NOT GOOD!)

So I tapped it, cheeped at it and got no reply, nor had it got any sign of cracking or pipping. At that point I made a decision and removed the egg,

I thought I had seen pipping on all of them , but I mistook a lump on this egg for a pip. :-(


So.....Compostman took it off and gently cracked it open...( just in case it WAS viable) and inside was a fully formed, but sadly dead, chick. :-( Ah well, there must have been a good reason for it not to even start to break out of the egg..so we will just sigh sadly and move on...





Sorry little chick that you didn't make it. :-((




But we *DO* have six chicks and I am SO happy!

Thursday thoughts

Thursday today and I feel quite unwell..so have had a quiet day...well I only have today and tomorrow before Compostgirl is off school for the Summer hols...so I had better make the most of the oppertunity to rest!

Didn't get much chance though as Sid the kitten decided to wee and poo on Compostgirl's sofa in her bedroom....so all the covers, cushions and foam matress had to come off and be washed!

Then he did a wee AGAIN later on, in the same spot on the sofa base!

Grr.........

The hens are being tricky as well, the new girls are pecking Henny to bits and it is all very stressful for her...

And to cap a carp day, half the spuds have badly blighted foliage so Compostman cut the haulms off tonight. So not much of a crop AGAIN !


Am a bit fed up today!

abnormal growth of vegetable crops caused by contamination of compost.

I am more and more concerned at the possible implications of this issue...

Community compost systems take in ANY greenstuff and compost it and then distribute it, council run sites take in stuff and compost it,
IF any of the green waste has been contaminated by this herbicide, what will happen ?

I also have had a muse about small scale composting of hay.....I don't have any stock eating hay but I DO have a Guinea Pig and he lives on hay from a local (not certified organic) farmer..so potentially this hay may be affected.... (although I have now just checked and the hay is supposed to be chemical free....)

AND many people get bales of hay for mulching allotments as well as putting under small animals or stock for bedding and food and then ...where does it all go? Why, on the compost heap!

All the bedding and poo from my Guinea pig goes in the compost bins...now I make SUCH a lot of compost that any ( possible) residues would be very well diluted...BUT suppose one only has a couple of bins and a small garden.. an input , possibly contaminated like that, even from a few domestic pets could be potentially a fair proportion of what goes in the bin...

and then if its used on the garden next year... one may get affected potatoes or tomatoes? EEK!!

I think this has the potential to be a real issue for those who grow in allotments or back gardens...even if they are not buying in manure

APART from the whole, other, BIG issue of commercial growing.......

I have also found that my Organic peat free compost is partly produced from composted green waste.... So... I am going to email the manufacturers and ask if they test for residues of this wretched herbicide......

I think this stuff should be banned ASAP..the implications are quite alarming......

Killing animals

This year we have had horrendous problems with both Rats and Squirrels eating our food crops.

Remember...we grow stuff to live on, this is our food for the next year, so this is a fairly major issue for us to deal with.

The squirrels have eaten all the pears off of our 2 pear trees and stripped two of the eight apple trees in the orchard of ALL the apples.

Added to this, the squirrels have got into the polytunnel and started eating the crops in there as well...and as well as feeding us for the summer, I sell stuff made from them as well as preserving the surplus for use over the winter.

Last year we lost ALL our sweetcorn and most of the pumpkins to squirrel damage....and the rats are eating our eggs, upsetting the hens and destroying crops before they are harvestable in the PT.....

So...the rats and squirrels HAVE to go...after a few years of "live and let live"(when they DIDN'T eat our crops) they are now a major problem.

And we HAVE to do something...

So...we have now got a live trap for the squirrels, Eradibait bait boxes for the rats everywhere and an air gun to dispatch either anything caught in the traps or which we can shoot on the fly...

and since yesterday tea time Compostman has killed 8 squirrels...thats 8 in less that 24 hours...:-0

Today at tea time we caught another squirrel. We have talked about the trapping of these vermin before, and Compostmiss wanted to go and see the newly trapped squirrel and watch it being shot. Compostman was not sure about this as he was concerned about her being distressed to see what was involved...but she DID watch..and was fine. She was sad about the need to do it, but understood WHY we needed to do it...we have had lots of talks about stuff like this...and we were proud of her that she understands the distinctions involved here.

But oh I really wish the rats and squirrels would just bugger off! ...and then we WOULDN'T have to kill them like this......we have 3 acres of wildlife woodland which we actively manage for wildlife for Gods sake..why can they not just GO AWAY and live in it......

I hate doing all this I really do.....but it HAS to be done...

:-(

Well its very sad here without Monty..........

we have buried him in one of his favourite places, under the weeping pear tree in the garden..he used to snoooze here in the long grass and pounce out on us occasionally..........

so an end of an era for us...

all very sad here at Compost Mansions.

Sad news

Well I have some sad news from Compost Mansions.



Our number 1 puss, Monty has died aged 17.


Monty was born on 13 September 1989 and we took him home with us aged 10 weeks old.

He was the most delightful cat, always a bit reticent about jumping up on to our laps, he had very definate ideas about how he liked to be held and he didn't go to anyone but family, but he always came to see what was going on, watch and comment with his beautiful puss voice and come for a purr and a nose rub. He came out for walks with us, comforted us when we were ill or unhappy and gave love and affection freely. He was also a mighty mouser (when he could be bothered) and a champion fly catcher in his youth.

Our vet has been marvelous with him since he became ill with Hyperthyroidism in March 2007, but sadly last Thursday he also began to show signs of congestive heart failure. We tried some new medication but it became apparent yesterday evening that the end was probably in sight.

Monty died peacefully last night, slipping quietly away with a purr whilst Mr CW and I stroked him and talked to him and told him we loved him.

R.I.P. old friend, you will be much missed by all of us here....