Yes, I know - no posts for three months, then three in one day. But I think I might have caught up with myself after this one, and then we'll see if I can keep a bit of momentum going for the rest of the year. Outside The weather at the start of January wasn't too bad, and I spent a bit of time in the field raking in the piles of grass I'd left before November. It was a lot harder, as of course it was now all soaked and extremely heavy. I did make some progress though. It was even nice enough to peg a load of washing out! Even if I did have to finish drying it inside. While the weather was nice, I made a start on weeding some of the planters by the house, and potting up some small plants I'd bought on sale before Christmas. I want to make something of this area this year, and it needs a good tidy up. Before the weather turned cold again, I finally got round to sowing some yellow rattle seeds in the hay field. This little plant acts as a parasite on grass, and slows the growth to allow a more diverse range of plants to grow. It needs a period of cold in order to germinate, and I'm not sure it will have had long enough, but time will tell. Inside Inside, we had a small incident in the living room, with water coming in through the old chimney and shorting the electrics. All safe now, but yet another DIY project to go onto the (end of the) list. For now, we've pinned a sheet over it, and are looking the other way. We spent our time doing more important things - like spray painting our boots silver for a friend's birthday party. One DIY project I did manage in January though, was putting up the shelves in the study. We took the old ones down when I fitted a carpet, way back in October 2022. My books have been sat in a pile on the floor ever since, so I'm delighted to have this shelf (although clearly it's not going to hold all of them...). I spent quite a lot of January preparing for a job interview, for the job I applied for in November. It was a long shot, and a small miracle that I was shortlisted. Unsurprisingly, I didn't get it, but it was an interesting process putting everything together.
And what will February bring? Another job application, it looks like. More raking of soggy grass. Perhaps a bit more scything before the new grass starts to grow. Will any DIY get done? I have my eye on a small patch of tiling, but at this point there are only eleven days of February left so that may be a little ambitious...
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For me, 2023 has been a funny old year. It was the end of our little chicken flock, of course, and I don't feel like I've got very much done around here, but let's take a look back and see. I started with a review of 2022, in which I declared I wanted to write here more regularly. Oops. I also said I'm hesitant to make any predictions, but I'd like 2023 to be a year of progress, where I feel like a few jobs get ticked off the DIY list. I'd like the kitchen and dining room to be finished, to have properly moved into the new bedroom (the mattress is still just on the floor at the minute), and to have set up my craft room. I'd like the stairs to be finished, and maybe even to have made a start on the bathroom. Well. Hmm. I had a long period off work over Christmas, when I painted the second coat of yellow on the kitchen walls, finished the thermal blinds, and shovelled some compost. The chickens were under an avian flu lockdown order, but we did rehome two new ladies, Skippy and Daisy. It snowed a bit, I started planning the garden, and we finally rebuilt our bed in the new bedroom. January on the homestead was relatively uneventful, aside from the new chickens, and a trip to the vets for Bessie. In February, the weather got a little brighter. I spent quite a bit of time outside, starting the new extension to the chicken run, pruning some bushes which were encroaching over the footpath, and weeding the veg patch with some friends. The rhubarb started growing, and I donated some of our tree guards to a community project. Indoors, we cleaned and restocked the pantry - a large and very satisfying job. March on the homestead was slightly more eventful. The daffodils arrived, but then so did a large snow storm that had me staying at a friend's house for three days because the roads home were all closed. I did a bit of batch cooking and got the dehydrator out of hibernation. I had a trip to stay with a friend, and poor old Sunshine chicken had a trip to the vets. April on the homestead was grim. We lost both Sunshine and Budgie, leaving us with just our elderly Bessie and the new chickens we'd rehomed in January. I did clean out the greenhouse and start making some new staging, and we finally took the Christmas tree down, but on the whole I was glad to see the back of April. May on the homestead was also pretty grim. We lost our beloved Bessie chicken at almost six years old, and we were heartbroken, especially so soon after losing Sunshine and Budgie. We made the difficult decision to rehome Skippy and Daisy - we'd only had them a few weeks, and couldn't face getting any more. A horrible time. We took ourselves off for a couple of much-needed restorative trips to the seaside. I did a lot of exercise, joining in with IronMay for Cancer Research UK. June on the homestead was rather more cheerful, although it felt very quite round here without the chickens. I strimmed the grass, we had a BBQ with friends, and I finished making my greenhouse benches. We also looked after our dog friend for a few days. We didn't get any DIY done, but the house did get struck by lightening, wiping out Peter's computer. July on the homestead was busy! I made a new bird table, we started gathering stones to make windowsills, and I finally planted out some courgette plants. I did a fair bit of batch cooking, started clearing compost from the chicken run, and cleared moss from the terrace by the front door. We had the side of the house rendered, set up the spare bedroom as a craft room, and I started the scything. The garden felt quite overwhelming in August, but I did make some progress. Some friends came to help with the scything, and we got a fair bit done over a weekend. We finally got round to hanging the hammock, and I spent quite a bit of my fortnight off just hanging around in it. Yet more scything in September, and I harvested a load of damsons (but not much else) and made some washing liquid from my own homemade soap. The weather was nice at the start of October, so yet more scything was done. We visited some friends, and I spent quite a lot of time applying for a new job.
November and December kind of got lost along the way. We went to Berlin, it snowed quite a bit, and we got all festive and cosy. Did I do all the things I planned for 2023. No. We moved into the new bedroom, and set up the craft room, painted the kitchen and finished sewing the blinds, but that was it for inside the house. Outside, I did more scything than ever (but still didn't finish the field), barely grew any veg, and spent quite a bit of time cursing the grass for growing so quickly. We've had various bouts of illness between us, and losing the chickens took its toll on our enthusiasm for a good while. So what will 2024 bring? I really do want to get the kitchen and dining room finished, and the stairs too. I'd love to make a start on the bathroom too. Outside - finishing scything the whole field of course (I imagine I'll still be saying that when I'm 60, without once having achieved it). I think 2024 might be the year I take a rest from veg growing. The last few years I've grown, failed to plant out in time, and whatever has grown, I've not harvested. I think I want a break. I'll scatter some flower seeds in the veg beds, but otherwise focus on seating, pruning, tidying up what's there, and a few little garden projects. We'll see. Yes, yes, I know it's the middle of February, and here I am writing about November. I'm not entirely sure what happened. We were sharing a laptop for a while, which made sorting out photos much less convenient, and then it was Christmas, and now here we are. Anyway, I shall attempt to catch up with myself, and then endeavour to post more regularly. We'll see how well that goes. November was an uneventful one on the homestead. I did get some more scything done, and had a bit of a tidy up under the bathroom sink (I do have pictures of that, but you don't need to see them). The most exciting thing was that we went to Berlin! Just for three nights, to stay with friends, but it was our first trip abroad in six years (since we went to Berlin for three nights to stay with the same friends... Clearly we are not very adventurous...). Looking at my photos, December seemed to be full of cakes and snow. We had a few small flurries, and then a bit of a larger dumping. I spent a lot of time sitting in cafes, including one memorable day with my sister when we were supposed to be doing an all-day race, but decided at 5am (with storms forecast) that we really didn't want to. I also met some friends for an evening of crafting under a giant Christmas tree in the foyer of a grand hotel. There was a bit of crafting at home too, as I started making Peter yet another new hat (which I've still not finished). Finally I finished work (it felt late this year), and settled in to do some plotting and scheming for the new year. A bit of a whistlestop tour, but there we are. Not much gardening, nothing in the way of DIY, but a good bit of cosiness and plenty of cafes. Not a bad couple of months.
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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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