Every morning before school, I get up and dressed, help the son get ready--he makes his own breakfast and packed lunch but sometimes needs encouragement/reminding--and then we walk or cycle up to the allotment.
We always take a small container of layers pellets to feed the chickens, and we'll change their water. We also move their tractor; it's a job that can technically be done by one person but is much easier and quicker with two. If we have a few minutes extra we'll water any new transplants, and sometimes say hello to other allotmenters' chickens (like our own chickens, they see us and start calling, presumably for treats; the son says "hello darlings" to them).
The son then goes off to school and I go home. It takes him about two minutes to cycle to school, and for me about two minutes to cycle home; if I'm walking (for instance if I brought a tray of seedlings to transplant later), it takes about eight minutes to get back home.
At home I'll sort out the rest of the chickens including feed, water and getting them onto their new patch of lawn/garden. I change the ducks' drink and go around the patio with a watering can, doing all the pots and planters. I'll also do any garden maintenance or harvesting--recently I've put down a couple more cauliflowers and have been gradually clearing away the spent purple broccoli (one a day, so the chickens can peck them over and not be overwhelmed); I also do any dinner prep needed, such as putting a stew in the slow cooker, or chopping up ingredients for a salad.
Once this is done, it's time for me to go to my part-time paid job. In the car, I will bring any tools and equipment I need for the allotment, plus a jar of soaked corn. After work, I stop at the allotment before going home: I give the chickens their corn, collect any eggs and check their water. As a rule I like to put in about 15-30 minutes, whether planting, weeding, watering or just inspecting my progress. I must bring my tools with me because I need them for home too: I only have one set. The only tool that lives there full time is the hoe; I don't find much use for it in the garden as I don't generally plant in straight rows there, unlike the allotment.
When finished, I drive home and then walk back to school to collect the son; very occasionally we'll even go back to the allotment and do a bit more work before going home--last week he helped me clear away all the random boards which had been weighing down the last remains of the sheet mulch so we could plant out some squashes.
That's my weekday allotment routine. On weekends, the husband and son will do the morning visit, and either we'll all go together later to work for an hour, or one of us will do the afternoon chicken check if there's no specific tasks to do.
It's a lot of work--I hope it pays off, as so far the only thing we've got is about four salads' worth of radishes. Still, this is the kind of work I find very satisfying: it's my full-time job, and it even pays.*
*In food, for the most part, and payment is usually deferred for about 2-3 months. But hey, I think we've earned £2 from egg sales this year!
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