May has been an interesting month. I experimented with giving up various online activities - so no social media, no forums, and no online news, for a whole month. I didn't give up everything, but it shift the balance somewhat. Nothing dramatic happened - I didn't suddenly have hours extra every day - but I did find myself doing more pottering around the house, spending a little more time in the garden, going for a walk each evening. So, what's happened around here in May? Tidying up I've never been much of a housekeeper, but in May I did actually stick to a regular routine, with just a little pottering in a different room each evening, and it's made such a difference. I spent a week doing a little pottering around in the bathroom each evening, and, as well as clearing out a few drawers, I also managed to scrape some of the ludicrous flaking paintwork from round the edge of the bath. The bathroom is tiled, and the tiles have been painted with emulsion. It's hideous, but it won't get anywhere near the top of the priority list until the kitchen and bedroom are finished. Around the bath though, the paint has been flaking off for a while, and each time I have a shower more is dislodged. Finally I just got the scraper and scraped it all off, and while it looks ridiculous, at least no more paint is flaking into the bath, and it's a lot easier to clean the walls. I also spent fifteen minutes each evening decluttering and sorting out the study, the room that I work in when I work at home. This houses most of my books, which were piled higgledy piggledy onto the shelves, sometimes two or three deep, as well as my sewing paraphernalia, and all manner of other things. I sifted and sorted, and prioritised, and gave things away, and finally the bookshelves are just one book deep, and I can easily see and get at everything. I even got rid of most of the stuff that was piled up on my desk. My desk is an extendable table, and I cleared so much space I was able to take out the extension to make it smaller, which means I can now get at the window. Everything has been cleaned and dusted and hoovered, and I am thrilled. It seems I didn't take a picture though, and now I've got the sofa bed up in there for a few days, so I'll take one once order is restored. In the meadow (and the windbreak) I finished raking up the dry cut grass after April's mechanical scythe experiments, and spread it all on the windbreak to keep down the weeds. The cuckoo flower is in bloom out there, and I finally found the yellow rattle seeds I collected last autumn, and sowed them into the meadow. In all probability this was a useless endeavour - they really need a period of frost to germinate, and spring-sown seeds often don't take, but they don't last more than one season, so since I had them, there was no point not sowing them. I put them in the freezer for a couple of weeks first - again, probably pointless. Time will tell I suppose. I also finally got round to cutting some willow, and planting it in a soggy bit of the windbreak area. It's too late in the season really, but again, there was no real point in not trying. Some of the cuttings have taken, some haven't - I'll try some more in the autumn to give them a better chance. Sowing seeds I finally got round to sowing my seeds in May. I was much earlier last year, and spent quite a lot of April mollycoddling them with fleece overnight until the frost risk passed. This lot have germinated quickly, and I think they're pretty much caught up with last year. In the garden Outside, the veg garden isn't quite ready, but I've been pottering out there and some of the weeds have been cleared, and it won't be too long now. We've had a lovely show of blossom this year so I have high hopes for more than one apple in the autumn. I've done some more strimming, and I've very much enjoyed pottering around in the evening and seeing evidence of where the chickens have been in the daytime. The chickens The chickens are all well (touch wood), and there is nothing much to report on that front, thank goodness. Long may it stay that way. Poppy Chicken did have a brief period of malaise, but made a miraculous recovery on the day of her vet trip. We did keep the appointment just in case, but the vet confirmed our suspicions that there was, in fact, nothing wrong with her. Cheeky monkey. The Avian Flu lockdown ended on 1st May, so the chickens have been roaming free, which both they and we are delighted about. We've had some lovely weather, and the girls have made excellent use of the sunbathing opportunities. They've been producing plenty of eggs, so we've been making pancakes galore and taking eggs with us every time we visit someone. Overall, May has been pretty cheerful. I've still not finished the kitchen ceiling, and we're still not installed in the new bedroom, but both of those things are inching closer.
And June, what will June bring? We have a temporary visiting dog for a few days, so the first part of the month will be spent on duty making sure the dog never comes face to face with the chickens (neither are well-trained, and none of them can be trusted). Some seedlings will make it out into the garden, and I have high hopes for the kitchen ceiling, although I'm making no promises. The big job for the summer is another extension to the chicken run. Will we make a start on that in June? That might depend if I can squeeze in a few more days off. We'll see.
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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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