Not a good day

Have some kind of virus thingy and have felt poorly since yesterday with dreadful headache and body aches and shivers. Have looked after Lilac Hen but Compostman did the other chickens for me and I have spent most of the day huddled under blankets in front of the woodburner. I don't seem able to get warm at all :(

Compostgirl made a chicken curry from scratch at school today so she and Compostman ate that for dinner while I had some scrambled eggs and a bit of bacon. I did not fancy anything else today except hot tea and water.


Early night for me, after we watch Horizon and then Broadchurch. If I can stay awake long enough!

Lilac Hen is drinking and looks bright but seems not to want to eat the food I give her. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for both of us!

Just another Tuesday ...chickens and crafting; sowing and sewing

Today has been a mixed sort of day, sunshine and showers, good bits and bad bits.

I got up and went outside to let out the hens, as usual despite me shutting the gate to try to persuade them to stay in the wood, they all ignored me and straight away flew over it into the garden. The attraction is the bird feeders, the chickens go and hang around there and eat the dropped seed.

Ho hum.   I collected the eggs (thank you girls!) and had a look in the polytunnel to see what we might have to eat for later. I wanted to know what fresh veg I might need to buy from the shops, also.

 
 We are getting towards the end of the Kales - the outdoor plants got smashed to bits by the heavy rain during the winter but I always have a few inside and they have been giving us a good crop - but are going to seed now.

 

Kale tips can be eaten like purple sprouting broccoli - I also had a few spears of that to cut so we will be eating fresh greens tonight. There are enough pickings left on the plants for a few more days so no need to buy any brassicas from the shops, although we have just finished the last of our stored potatos so now will have to buy some. We usually only have to do this from March to June, so not too bad. We still have fresh onions, squash and apples in store as well as loads of stored fruit and veg (in the freezer or dehydrated)

There are still salads left but again with the warmer weather they are begining to bolt, so I sowed more salad seeds to take their place. I also sowed a load more brassicas in modules. We still have lots of fresh herbs.

 Lots of herbaceous perennials waiting to be planted outside, as soon as the soil warms a little.

As well as some of the scented geraniums which live in pots on the patio ( The new patio! Which we will be able to sit on come the summer!)

After a quick cup of coffee mid morning, I hung out a load of wet washing and put some more on to wash, then we went to Hereford and did some shopping. We had lunch out and also went to a DIY store to look at stuff so we were gone for several hours.

This trip out took it out of me a bit as I have not been well lately and still find I get very tired, very quickly. So the rest of the afternoon involved sitting down with some computer work in the (still tidy) Study :) 

After our evening meal we sat and watched some "Big Bang Theory" which we all love and Compostman and Compostgirl then watched an episode of  "Blandings" I love the books but somehow can't get into the tv series so I went off to the study and did some more work on  my Hillarys Blinds competition entry. This involved experimenting with fabric paints and pens and gold paint on a scrap of the fabric, to see how it would look and how the fabric would behave.

I like the way the test piece is coming along.

I got some inspiration for what I want to do; I also worked out which techniques needed to be done in what order, so as not to ruin the previous work.

All of these paints came originally from the Scrapstore and live in the Cupboard of Doom - it is a good job I hoard stuff! It always comes in useful eventually. I love the idea that this project uses lots of salvaged/recycled materials to embellish and enhance the new fabric.

Later on still Compostman and I watched The Great British Sewing Bee -  I love this programme and think it is really good - better even (dare I say it) than Bake Off ? I had to stay off the computer while in the study,  as we watched it a little later than it aired on tv and I did NOT want to read any spoilers about it in Twitter or Facebook!

I also mused on what I could make with the Hillarys fabic which involved sewing. I have plans ( but not a blouse, coat or anything involving a suit!)

So all in all, a more productive day than I have had in the last few weeks,

Anyone else enjoying watching  The Great British Sewing Bee?

A walk around the wood.

Updated as a result of a couple of emails tonight -  for those who may not realise, this is a walk in our wood and so I was picking our own wood daffodils, growing on our land - picking wild flowers from anywhere , if you don't own the land, is not a good thing.  Picking them even if you do is to be discouraged imo!

............................


I still feel pretty rough  but it was such a lovely day I decided to go for a gentle walk around the wood. I wrapped up warm (my teeth and sinuses are really hurting) and went out side.

As always my faithful companion Cassi Cat came with me on my walk

The wild daffodils are out in some parts of the wood but in other, more shady parts they are only just opening.

 I saw LOTS of mole activity

 

And in the Log Circle I found an Owl pellet on one of the logs - if you click on the photo to enlarge it you can see small bones and fur.

Camouflage Cat!

 Coming up the hill from the wood towards where the pool used to be, you can see the sun shining on the tops of the willow trees, making them glow.

I don't normally pick flowers as I like to see them growing but these woodlands daffodils were knocked over by a fallen branch so into the house they came with me :-) So pretty!

I only spent about 45 minutes wandering around but that, and feeding the hens, left me so worn out that I had to go and sit down for a few hours. I am catching up with lots of crochet and recorded TV programmes, though.

Hopefully I will shake off this virus soon.

Slowly getting back into our routine

Yesterday Compostman and I went to Ledbury - he had a physio appointment and I had stuff to take to the Red Cross charity shop to donate - I came away with two craft books as well for the princely sum of £3.

I also got a 15 mm crochet hook, as I am in the process of turning a lot of old cotton T shirts into yarn to crochet a rug and needed a larger hook to do so. I have spent the last four weeks doing a lot more knitting, crochet and other fabric related crafts and have enjoyed this, although I didn't like the fact that I had *no choice* but to practice them. I have improved a lot, though!

We had an £8 off £80 spend voucher for the Co-Op, which expired today so after a bit of discussion we decided we would spend some extra money to save some. I had done our normal household shop last week in the Co Op - and got 10 % off that time - so really did not need much everyday household stuff - but we decided to spend on stockpile items to get the maximum discount this time. We bought extra stuff - packs of tins of cat meat ( to be stockpiled in the garage)  - some alcohol (to be stored away for Yule and for gifts) and reduced free range pork joints (which when cut up to make lovely chops which went straight into the freezer). This plus some normal household sundries came to £82, so I was pleased to get 10% discount on stuff we would have bought at some point soon.

With the colder weather coming up I like to have at least four weeks worth of food, loo rolls, etc for us, the cats, the guinea pigs and the hens. We have previously been frozen in here for nearly 2 weeks   so I am not taking any chances! And oh how useful it has been recently ( with us being virtually housebound)  to have a good stockpile of provisions!

We then went for a treat - an early (noon)  lunch at a local pub in Much Marcle - they do very good lunches sourced from local ingredients and they do a lunchtime deal which is really good value. We have not been out together for a very long time so we really enjoyed our treat.

We came home and as it was warm and sunny we decided to do some work outside on various gentle tasks - both of us found we were as weak as kittens after less than an hour of very light work - it is amazing how rapidly one can lose fitness from an illness or injury!

But at least we got some wood moved into the log store and some compost moved into a raised bed and I managed to clean out a whole hen house by myself ( for the first time in 5 weeks!)

When Compostgirl came home on the bus from school at 4 pm that was the signal to retire to make tea, light the woodburner, sit down and have a chat and a rest.

Compostgirl and I enjoyed watching "Wizzards vs Aliens" on CBBC - a Dr Who ish programme from Russell T Davies and co. And after food and homework for her we watched "The Simpsons" on C4 plus 1 (as usual) - something our family have enjoyed together for several years.

Compostman and I later ate some homemade soup and bread for supper (as we had eaten a main meal at lunchtime) and watched "Only Connect" on BBC 4 - a quiz show we love and  which I would like to appear on.

Slowly we seem to be getting back into our normal routine of work in the day and family life in the evening. Which feels good. Fingers crossed we can keep up the progress!

Me time

Thank you for the supportive comments - much appreciated!

Today I have made soap, made healing balms, made hand lotion, made pink lip gloss.  Made DD happier (not really sure how, but am grateful for small mercies) . Did the CRB paperwork and document proof stuff, which entailed a drive by me to Hereford to prove that I am, who I say I am. .

Have drunk some wine, posted on a specialist forum for some specialist help.

And coughed. A lot.

February flying by.

Well here we are, nearly the end of February and I have not posted once this month. :-(    Not. One. Word. I have not even drafted any posts!

Life has been very stressful here since before Christmas, for reasons I am not going to blog about but which have made life very difficult and upsetting.  This has made it hard to get on with our normal life, as there have been lots of long talks late into the night, and nights spent not sleeping,  and days where meals have been cooked, only for there to be little appetite for them. None of this is good when there is lots of work to do!

Then to add to this, Compostman's back injury has been making itself felt ( not in a good way) and I got ill with a very severe chest infection, which had me in bed for 5 days and very weak for many more days around that - I am still recovering, Compostman is still struggling with back pain and planting/sowing/tree felling/clearing beds/moving plants etc etc has all come to a stop. Which, at this time of year, is NOT GOOD NEWS.

I HAVE sown the first batch of pepper and tomato seeds so have several hundred seeds of the earlier varieties ( 20 different sorts) in the heated propagators - will need to pot them up and sow another batch soon. These include the plants I grow " to order" for various customers - they tell me what varieties they want, I grow them and hand them over in May, ready to plant out.

I HAVE got the spuds chitting, the earliest ones are planted up in their bags in the polytunnel; the rest are stitting, waiting, for the soil ( and me!) to be ready to put them in the ground.

I DID get some garlic and broad beans into the ground finally, just before I got ill.

I HAVE got every thing ready , clean and tidy in the Polytunnel, all the seed order done, all the supplies ready for the 2012 growing season

Compostman DID manage to prune the apple trees and clear up all the debris from the major shrub pruning we have been doing. Huge bonfires raised a bit of cheer in an otherwise quite gloomy time.

BUT - we have lots of trees to fell NOW before they come into leaf, we NEED to get them down, not just for firewood but for land clearance, so we can then get on with the major earth moving project.

And I am not well enough. And Compostman is not up to it. And time is ticking on.

Sorry this sounds a bit gloomy - but it is how I feel. Hope all of you are having a better time of it!

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!

Hello all,

Not going to be posting for a bit as I am not very well here,  have had a bad reaction to a couple of recent Blandford Fly bites and now have a bad case of CFS related stuff and joint flare up as well, so am feeling pretty poorly. Am only just about able to stagger around and have been in/on bed a fair bit for the last couple of days.

Have been feeling increasingly unwell for weeks and just kept going but now Compostman has ordered me to rest, which I am doing and actually it is about all I am up to doing.

Looking back at my diary, I have done quite a lot of stuff in the last few weeks despite not feeling so great. It was all excellent and really enjoyable but if I do extra activities, outside of the normal day -to -day stuff, I find I rapidly lose energy and become prone to catching infections etc. Which is what has happened to me this time.

Still, I have done several Master Gardener and Master Composter mentoring sessions, went off to Ryton and met up with lots of people, have re accreditied my First Aid at Work and First Aid in theOutdoors qualifications all of which is good.

Hopefully will be feeling better, soon and able to post more about hens, wood and garden stuff.

Today I mostly...................

.....sneezed!

I have a bad cold, runny nose, eyes, sneezing lots - the works..so I  didn't go to see a fellow freecycler to collect some mypex weed sheet from her... I didbn't think she would want my cold in return.!

Instead I had a bit of a rest, read a load of teaching related magazines and books by the woodburner, I tidied up the sitting room, the kitchen, washed out and dried off for storage 20 apple juice bottles for use in the the autumn again, ggenerally had a bit of a sort out of all the "stuff" that a kitchen bench can accumulate...

I sorted out all the seeds so I have the next lot ready for successional sowing and I also did the same for the school garden seeds, so when we get back after Easter break the children and I can get planting!

I put a load of magazines out to either be passed on to friends or recycled.

 I did some ironing.

I transplanted 80 tomato plants into individual pots and put them in the cold frame inside the polytunnel..These will be sold to make money for either me or the school garden fund at an event on May Day BH weekend...

6 of each variety are inside the warmer porch area, as that is a very effective greenhouse and those are for my use....and will be bigger, earlier plants when I come to plant them out in the PT

I will be doing peppers tomorrow and then I can get the cucumbers and melons moved in ...and the courgettes planted up ( the outside ones) the iside courgettes are already growing well.

As are beans, peas, and all sorts but they are stacked up inside the PT, waiting for it to dry up enough for me to plant them outside.....which looks unlikely!

All in all a productive day, which is good, as to be honest I didn't think I would manage to do very much today!

Fri

Update

Foot slightly improved but still very painfil and I cannot get my boots, shoes or wellies on.

Nor can I actually walk properly on my foot. So I have not been outside in the 4 inches of snow today at all.

I have sorted out lots of work stuff on the computer and have tidied up the crafting stuff...but I WANT to get on with the garden! I could have been in the polytunnel today!
Bloody foot. Bloody thorn. Bloody hell.

Am pissed off.

Busy busy busy...ouch...

Have been very busy here, despite having a bad back to contend with...

The run up to Christmas was very difficult for me, as I couldn't go to either CG's carol concert OR take her to the school disco...but my lovely CM stepped in and took over, leaving me to rest and recover a little.

I managed to make some Christmas decorations





and also some salt dough figures.



Then we had the sadness of Kitty cat being put to sleep ( see previous post)

However, once the school holiday started we had various friends around to visit, both ours and CG's, so much fun was had by all and we all felt a bit more cheerful. We also had the snowy, icy weather to contend with, with mixed consequences.



On the one hand it made the garden and wood look enormously pretty, the wood especially was like something out of Narnia. And at least the ground lost its swamp like consistency....on the other the hens disliked the cold snowy weather enormously and spent most of the time hiding in the lean to, waiting to mug me for any food on offer.



No 1 Cream Legbar chicklet(must think of a name for her!) contented herself with fluttering up onto my shoulder at every chance...warming her feet I think!



Christmas Day itself was lovely,

Our Beef multi rib was delish, falling apart it was so tender, but rare in the middle and really juicy..mmm...roasties, Yorkshires etc all perfect, and a lovely bottle of wine to go with it..

Dr Who..was..excellent I thought, and then we had fun singing our hearts out ( well CG and I, anyway,) to a Wii Sing disc (from Santa) which she was most surprised to see me belting out Blondie and Meatloaf hits in tune and on time, without looking at the words...

Our lovely cats Tom and Tabitha have decided to become lap cats, which is nice, and with the wood burner going 24/7 at the mo we were all so all cosy!





The decorations and tree were (I think) the best we have ever done and I even managed to tidy up properly beforehand! ( but the Study is a mess...full of stuff I "tidied" into it......!!)

All our presents were lovely, CM got me 40 more hens ! but before you all panic, they were for Save the Children, so he is happy as he doesn't have to deal with them...and I am very pleased by the gift! I have the Sookie Stackhouse novels to read, on which the C4 series "True Blood" is based, so am v happy as we both enjoy watching those programmes.

CM also got me the "Victorian Save All" book which is fascinating and full of good stuff....as was seen on "Victorian Farm" recently.

Boxing Day was quiet but fun, we played/read/used/listened to our respective presents and went for a walk in the wood in the snow. I did the hens etc, and we all settled down to watch Cap't Jack Sparrow on the TV with cats on our laps.

Sunday was going to be more of the same.....but then *I* managed to fall over backwards on the lethal slick ice whilst on the way to feed the hens...landed flat on my back and have made it much much worse....

So...have been laid up in bed for a lot of the last few days...instead of getting on with cleaning out the polytunnel and planting stuff, I am reading my new Sookie Stackhouse books and doing a lot of lying down.

CM has volunteered to do the routine outside stuff, as he says I am not safe to let out....(!)....he has a point....

Oh well..rest and recuperation is the order of the day now, hopefully I can get myself mobile enough to get to the chiropractor again.....

Hope you enjoy the selection of photos from Compost Mansions over the last week or so.

And that you all had a good festive season!

General catch up

Well it has been a bit manic here at Compost Mansions recently, hence the lack of posts since last weekend..(which was actually a post I did a week earlier but hadn't actually hit "post" on it....)

First, at the start of the last week I got ill...very ill....with a nasty flu-ey thing which I am only just recovering from now...I missed 2 days "outside" work ( grrr, but working with children, I couldn't either ethically contemplate dosing myself up and going, nor was I actually well enough to do so anyway...)

I was chilled, sweating, aching, sore throat, headache, sick, had the runs and generally felt like I had been hit all over by very angry, big people with very big sticks......( and NO, I have NOT been in contact with any one recently returned from anywhere overseas, or from areas where Mexican Flu had hit in the UK....I DID wonder about volunteering myself as a possible case BUT I didn't meet the NHS criteria , so I didn't...)

I have been ill for 10 days now and I only JUST feel vaguely human today....and have missed the last few days of the term and most of this half term....

Also, we have been so busy with growing and planting and sowing and mowing and scything etc...I dragged my self out of my sick bed at one point to prick out plants and had a lap tray on my knee whilst on the sofa, so I could pot on some tiny brassica seedlings......I have still been tending to the plants in the polytunnel and the hens, despite being ill....Compostman had so much to do.. so who will do it if *I* don't?

COMMENT

One of the downsides of an "idyllic" rural lifestyle is, unless you have pots of money and can afford to pay staff to do stuff for you, you have to keep going regardless of illness. I didn't do any stuff for 4 days when I was really ill, but once I was "sort of " ok, I had to get on with at least some of it...as Compostman has more than enough of his own work to do, without having to do *my work* as well..Compostgirl helped a lot, but at 8, she really can't just step into my jobs and do them like me....she can water stuff and collect eggs but she doesn't know what to do if anything more tricky presents itself...

People often don't consider this aspect of living "the rural dream of downshifting"...they think of a few hens, some pigs, a veg garden, a greenhouse and being more self sufficient in fruit , veg and eggs etc ...BUT its a 24/7 dedication, 365 days a year...regardless of illness, incapacity or inclination...YOU have to keep going....that is the reality if you keep any livestock.....or grow a lot of stuff to eat...if you want to eat it, you have to look after it!

END COMMENT

The hens have all mysteriously gone off lay...I am only getting 2 or 3 eggs from 6 laying hens..I think it is because the 2 cockerels are fighting and generally being a pain..and disturbing the hens...so MEASURES WILL BE TAKEN......(!)( use your imaginations..they have had a reprieve while I have been ill.....)

Various "work stuff" has also been going on for me, I finally got my Forest School Practitioner Certificate through in the post yesterday (hurrah!) AND I am about to start a regular programme of Eco Club sessions somewhere, for a fee...which is great....! (I could do with the money)

I have also been arranging a weekend of Master Composter activity (as in ALL the arranging, of the stand, the booking, the rota, the supplies, the session plans, the risk assessment etc...) at Hereford Earth Watch, which revolves around World Environment Day on the 5th June, and also carries over on the 6th June.

I am also organising (as in ALL the organising, the booking, the rota, the supplies, the session plans, the risk assessment etc...) the Master Composters presence at Hellens Manor, The Garden Festival in the 13th and 14th June.

AND I am doing some "Love Food Hate Waste" training this week.....

(To be honest, I feel tired just contemplating the next 2 weeks, and I haven't even started it yet.....)

BUT its all good stuff and will help to spread the word about living a more sustainable, frugal minded life...

Oh, did I mention the Transition Town Ledbury stuff?...no? ....more in a future post!

Do something on World Environment Day? Please? If only to make me feel my shattered-ness is having an effect?

I shall post some links tommorrow...........promise....but for now it is off to bed for me.....

Thank you...

:-)

Thank you lovely blog friends!

THANK YOU!

To Aromatic for her wonderful e-"get well soon" card, which also solved my big problem of having missed the posting date for a birthday card for another dear friend...I signed up to the wonderful e card site Aromatic used, and sent my friend an e card, well in time for her special day...

and to another friend who made my day with a phone call..she had heard via someone who reads my blog that I was poorly, so she called especially to have a chat....

and another blog friend PM'd me on the INEBG forum, to ask how I was...

I feel very loved, and if it CAN make a difference to my recovery time, I am SURE it will

so THANK YOU lovely blog friends one and all.....

Consider yourselves hugged with a VERY big compost-y hug!

and I wish I could have you ALL round for tea, cakes, chutney, wine and cider!