It's been another mad couple of weeks. April crept up on us while we were doing other things and suddenly we had allot of planting to get done and very little time. It became clear very quickly that the 4 vegetable beds we had prepared were not going to be adequate (we've used 4 of them just to plant onions), so we needed to up our game a bit and decided to enlist the help of a rotivator. First thing Monday morning I rented the beast and spent the next 4 hours pushing and pulling it round the small paddock at the side of the house. It was like wrestling an epileptic goat and when after lunch the horrible thing spluttered to a halt and refused to restart I confess I was a bit relieved.
We got a replacement rotivator late that afternoon (still don't know what happened to the first one), and this one was much better, I was able in an hour to do what had taken me all morning. That said I was only able to do an hour’s work before calling it a day in a state of exhaustion. I'm pretty sure that was the toughest days work I've ever done.
The next day I did another hour or so but wasn't really up for much and I had managed to make a significant impact on the paddock. We've been planting ever since. The rotivator only really churns the top inch or two of soil so there is still allot of digging to do but it has made the job much easier.
I am delighted to say that our hens are finally laying. We got our first two eggs on the 5th and are now getting a steady four eggs a day. We also had to fence in our hens. Free range is one thing but it was getting to the point where you couldn't step outside the front door without being beset by a bunch of over friendly chickens. Also they were in the vegetable patch and leaving dropping everywhere so it had to be done.
The broilers are coming on, getting nice and big, four more weeks should have them really big. Unfortunately one of them developed a limp and had to be dispatched early. Obviously I was dreading this job but in the end it wasn't so bad. I grabbed him by the legs, grabbed him by the neck, thought of Brian Cowan and wrung his neck (the chicken, not Cowen). Plucking also turned out to be no big deal but doing the gutting, well that's just nasty. Still, it didn't stop me eating him, and very tasty he was too.
We got a replacement rotivator late that afternoon (still don't know what happened to the first one), and this one was much better, I was able in an hour to do what had taken me all morning. That said I was only able to do an hour’s work before calling it a day in a state of exhaustion. I'm pretty sure that was the toughest days work I've ever done.
The next day I did another hour or so but wasn't really up for much and I had managed to make a significant impact on the paddock. We've been planting ever since. The rotivator only really churns the top inch or two of soil so there is still allot of digging to do but it has made the job much easier.
I am delighted to say that our hens are finally laying. We got our first two eggs on the 5th and are now getting a steady four eggs a day. We also had to fence in our hens. Free range is one thing but it was getting to the point where you couldn't step outside the front door without being beset by a bunch of over friendly chickens. Also they were in the vegetable patch and leaving dropping everywhere so it had to be done.
The broilers are coming on, getting nice and big, four more weeks should have them really big. Unfortunately one of them developed a limp and had to be dispatched early. Obviously I was dreading this job but in the end it wasn't so bad. I grabbed him by the legs, grabbed him by the neck, thought of Brian Cowan and wrung his neck (the chicken, not Cowen). Plucking also turned out to be no big deal but doing the gutting, well that's just nasty. Still, it didn't stop me eating him, and very tasty he was too.
Our latest arrivals are nine, long awaited, Aylesbury ducks which are the cutest life form on the planet. I'm not quite sure how easy it will be to pull their neck, but I do love a nice roast duck.
