December was a month of two halves here. The first half was hectic, with the final (almost) juggling of tradespeople and work, and the second half was like a very much needed rest cure, as I slowly started the process of piecing my addled head back together. So, first of all, the thing that's been occupying us for most of the year. The building work Eventually, in December, the granite arrived, having been delayed by Storm Arwen. Once that was in (after a few alterations), the appliances and sink were fitted. Finally, we had a fully functional kitchen. That's not quite the end of it, of course. The granite guys filled the joints with flexible silicone sealant, which started to collect water and dust within a few days, and they have yet to return to replace it with epoxy, as agreed. I've chased them again through the kitchen fitters, and fingers crossed I won't end up doing it myself. There are still things we need to do ourselves though. Skirting board, finishing the ceiling, painting... But it's a useable kitchen and dining room, and we had our Christmas dinner there, and it was Very Cheerful Indeed. Upstairs isn't quite finished either, despite our intentions to be properly moved into our new bedroom by Christmas. Still, December brought us a carpet, and more painting, and the hope that things would be finished eventually. All that remains now is to paint the second coat on the second half of the ceiling, another coat of gold on one of the walls, and to oil the skirting boards. Oh, and things like windowsills and curtains and shelves, of course, but we can move in without those for now. Despite what's left, we can finally see the end, and I am delighted. The aftermath of the building work The run up to Christmas was devoted to returning the house to some kind of order. There was detritus everywhere. Every room that wasn't a building site was being used for some kind of storage, and it had become impossible to even run the hoover round. It's no wonder we were feeling quite overwhelmed. The last picture is of the room we've been using as a temporary kitchen for two years. It did us well, but I am very glad to see the back of it. Anyway, after much hard work, and many trips to the tip and the garage, order is restored. Mostly, anyway. We can sit in the dining room, and I can use my study as an office again. The temporary kitchen is not yet reinvented as a music room, but it will be... Chickens There isn't much to report on the chicken front. The new ladies are settling in nicely, and we had no vet trips in December. There is another avian flu housing order in place here, but they seem to be entertained enough, and their new extended run keeps them out of most of the weather. It's not particularly pretty in there, so I find myself taking far fewer photographs, but we do spend plenty of time sitting with them, and they get lots of treats. There's not much else to report from December. I did no work outside - all our attentions were focused on sorting out inside, and on Christmas, although I was the least prepared I've ever been for that, and several people I'd usually send a little something to got nothing at all I'm afraid. I hope to make up for that throughout the year.
We're already half way through January of course, and I can give you advance warning that there will be very little done outside, and not that much inside either... What will 2022 bring on the homestead? Finishing the kitchen and bedroom projects of course, and then I think we'll need a good rest from DIY. I'd like to do something with the bathroom, but we'll see. Outside, more of the same - hay making, veg growing, composting, dry stone wall fixing. Let's see.
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I confess I'm quite glad to see the back of 2021. It's been a year of tiresome upheaval, and I can only hope that 2022 will be better. Still, some fun has been had, and some progress has been made. I started the year by reflecting on 2020, a year of strangeness all round. We were still under covid restrictions, and I was working at home, and did a fair bit of walking in the snow. The weather was pretty grim, the chickens were in their own version of lockdown, and I spent a lot of time indoors, and made a hot water bottle cover and some calendula balm. January on the homestead was a mixed bag. Miraculously, the veg patch was still producing. The locked-down chickens weren't impressed at having their freedom curtailed (but were cosy and safe). I spent a fair bit of time adding battens and insulation to the kitchen ceiling, and a few signs of spring were starting to emerge. February on the homestead was cold, with more snow, but I cleared out the greenhouse and moved the raspberry canes, and started to think about spring. I put some plasterboard up on the kitchen ceiling, and we made the momentous decision to get a builder in to finish the work on the house. In March, we did some spring cleaning, got rid of a lot of stuff, and pondered what our new kitchen should look like. Sadly, we lost Chippy, one of our new chickens, at only a year old. On the homestead in March I planted seeds, and seedlings emerged. Bessie chicken was given a new lease of life with another hormonal implant, and finally, covid restrictions were eased a little, and we were allowed visitors in the sunshine. I had some time off work at the start of April, and, as usual, felt a bit like I was drifting. I tried to give myself a sense of purpose by posting every day, which didn't last very long. I did get have a flurry of productivity though, getting out on my bike, and processing a load of kale from the garden, and we went on a few small adventures. In April on the homestead, the sun came out. We were awash with daffodils, the seedlings were coming on nicely, and I started preparing the garden for spring. The chickens were finally released from avian flu lockdown and spent many happy hours hanging out in the sunshine. Inside the house, I put up some more plasterboard on the kitchen ceiling. In May on the homestead, I was busy with work, and not much happened. I did clear some of the deep litter from the chicken run to mulch the veg beds. It was still snowing, but the seedlings were cosy in the greenhouse. I made a bit of hay, and we made a start on a permanent extension for the chicken run. In June on the homestead, the weather was glorious, and everything else was chaos. We bought a new car, both had a tooth removed, and had three trips to the vets. We spent a lot of time liaising with kitchen designers, which is a thing I never thought I'd say. The meadows were looking glorious though, and we did make good progress on the chicken run extension. At the end of June, we lost Beaky, the first of our second batch of rescue chickens to leave us for the great dust bath in the sky. In July, I got very enthusiastic about cafes (as usual), spent a productive afternoon in the garden, and spent a day pottering around other people's gardens with a friend. July on the homestead was busy. I was off for a fortnight, and the weather was uncharacteristically hot. We finished the bulk of the work on the chicken run extension with the help of some friends, tidied the garden, and painted the outside of the house. The veg patch was in fine form, and we spent quite a bit of time just hanging around. In August on the homestead, we spent a lot of time preparing for the arrival of the builders, and neglected the garden. We had some harvesting successes, but lost most of our potatoes to blight. I made some hay, had some visitors, and had a grand opening of the chicken run extension. The builders arrived at the end of the month, and made a good start on reshaping the kitchen and bedroom. In September on the homestead, the builders were still here, and I was back in the office (occasionally) for the first time in months, but I dropped to working five days, regaining my beloved Fridays off after six years of working full time. The plaster was stripped off the walls, new boarding was added upstairs, lintels replaced, and the plaster started going on. Downstairs, the drain for the sink was moved, and plasterboards started going on. Much progress. There was chaos in the veg patch, but we spent many evenings sitting outside, cooking over a fire. October on the homestead wasn't much fun. Lots of progress was made on the building work - plastering both upstairs and downstairs, and I even started painting. We had two poorly chickens, so several vets trips. Work was busy, and the garden was, again, sorely neglected, although I did get a bit more scything done. In early November, we lost Rusty - companion to Beaky who died earlier in the year, and leaving Bessie as our remaining elder rescue chicken from that batch. Too sad. November on the homestead brought much progress, and also some chaos. The builders were replaced by the kitchen fitters, we chose carpet for upstairs, and family came to help me paint. Shortly after the loss of Rusty, we adopted three new chickens, Poppy, Budgi,e and Sunshine, who had a couple of weeks to settle in before the avian flu housing order hit and they were all confined to the run. Storm Arwen knocked a powerline down in our field, and we were without electricity for four days, and without heating for six days. Not to be recommended. In December, the granite worktops arrived, and the builders and kitchen fitters finally left (aside from one tiny, annoying bit of snagging that still needs sorting). I finished work for a fortnight, and finally felt able to start preparing for Christmas. Christmas itself was quiet, with a small amount of pottering, and a lot of planning and scheming for the new year. So there we are. A year of upheaval and chaos, and not even half of it has made it onto the blog. But we cooked Christmas dinner in our new kitchen, and ate it at the dining table, and while there is still much DIY to do, we are mostly free of tradespeople traipsing in and out. We made the right decision to get them in, and on the whole they've done a great job, but goodness me it's been a stressful ride.
We lost three beloved chicken, and rescued three new ladies. We finally have a kitchen, and a bedroom, and an extension to the chicken run. I've dropped a day at work, and I can't tell you how much I love having Fridays off again. What will 2022 bring? I'm not making any grand plans. I'm tired, and so my main aim at the minute is to get enough rest, and to keep the level of tidiness in the house always at a high enough level to maintain sanity. Other than that, the usual plans to exercise more, grow lovely things in the garden, finally scythe the entire hay field, keep up with the dry stone walls. But really, who knows. The last two years have shown us that the best laid plans can go awry in the face of circumstances, so we'll see. |
Hello!Sit down and make yourself comfortable. I'm Jenni, and I write here about our new foray into country living, which includes growing food, knitting, baking, wandering around the fields, and seeing which local cafe serves the best cake. Categories
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