Tidying up for winter, goodbye Cookie

Regarding my previous post, I had a tray of various brassicas from August;  these I just planted out despite mostly being rejected for the first transplant as way too small.  They're not much bigger now!  But I have space at the allotment so I thought I might as well.  I also planted out this year's sowing of wallflowers, which had been waiting patiently in their pots since late spring;  I planted a few in the kitchen garden border and in my tiny front garden, near the newly planted daffodil bulbs.  Was that actually the last planting of 2026?  It better be...

It meant I could finally move the big table off my patio, back on to the lawn, and tidy it up a bit.  That big table has been holding seed trays since March, taking up half my patio.  Now I've swept up, brought the houseplants back indoors from their summer vacation, and even weeded a little around the edges.  The beds themselves need a good tidy, but at least the patio looks much nicer.

Lots of chilis at the front, aubergines at the back, October 2026

Still harvesting too many vegetables!  At the weekend we filled our sacks with more tomatoes, cucumbers, leeks, big black radishes (for cooking), fennel, Brussels sprouts and a cauliflower.  I think the toms and cucs might have had it now;  they both still have some fruits but may not be able to grow/ripen now.  Maybe the toms.  However, there are still a lot of the rest--and more:  still have a bit of cabbage, kohlrabi, pak choi, komatsuna, parsnips, beets, chilis.

Speaking of chilis, the husband took it on himself to make a batch of chili sauce with the toms, chilis, garlic and onions we grew.  I'd already made a recipe called Easy Hot Sauce from another website;  I think maybe I didn't use enough chilis as it isn't very hot.  More like a mild spiced vinegar.  Hopefully the husband's has more of a kick;  his recipe is from Joy of Cooking, substituting chilis for red bell peppers.

Little aubergine:  most didn't get much bigger than this, October 2026

In sad news, our ten year old Pekin bantam Cookie died last week.  She was an excellent broody hen and mother to many chicks, as well as being our favorite chicken all around.  She's been with us so long;  we'll really miss her. 

State of the flock, September 2026

We're down to four chickens, none of them laying eggs.  Only Cookie (age 10), Rock (10), Cheep (8) and Birthday (3) are left.  I don't think we've had a chicken egg since spring;  I don't expect any of these old ladies to start up again either, and I asked the husband to put our names down for the next adoption with our preferred hen charity.  Our three Snowflake ducks (not yet 1) are regularly laying;  Girl Duck (also 10) is not--nor Boy Duck (8) of course.  

Birthday, Cheep and Rock (camera shy Cookie is not shown), September 2026

 I'm on the fence about replacing chickens actually:  it's kind of difficult maintaining two separate flocks.  That pesky Boy Duck--if/when he finally goes (and apparently they can live to 20?) I'll merge the chickens and ducks and decide then if I want to carry on replacing.  Not only is he a jerk to our chickens, drakes should not be mixed with hens because of the possibility of injury during mating attempts.  Cockerels can safely mix with ducks (though we have no cockerel);  it's an anatomy issue with drakes.  

The five ducks have been daily free ranging over the perennials section of the garden (not on the lawn) and chickens have had some free range over the lawn.  Both get locked away in their yards overnight and there is a temporary fence between them during the day.  I'm considering moving the other temporary fence from the kitchen garden to allow free range there--I want to start clearing away as most of my veg has finished and it's very weedy.

Why don't I just let the flock die out naturally without replacement?  I'm thinking of the last lonely hen all by herself.  It would be cruel to keep just one all alone--like ducks they are a flock animal and need friends.   

Duck flock in their summer yard, September 2026

Zucs, replacing peas with fennel, raspberries, losing chickens

In the last week or so--after the heatwave--I've done as much as I can at the allotment:  we're expecting even hotter temps later this week so I've been in a rush to get things done.  This includes planting out:  fennel, beets, the last couple of spring caulis;  also keeping up weed maintenance on my wood chip beds at the allotment, mainly bindweed now but also some couch grass.  I've also topped up a few of the beds where possible (some are very dense with veg growth now) and the pathways between.

It might be shaping up to be a zucchini summer!  It's been three years since I had an overload of zucs aka courgettes.  I have about a dozen or so plants, some in states of excessive growth.  The daughter (age six) said to me, "monsters aren't real, are they?" and I replied, "except monster courgettes!"  Which one of my plants is trying to produce (and I'm desperately trying not to let it).  I prefer to harvest mine at about the length of my hand, though I know some people at the allotments let them grow arm-sized.  Like shoulder to wrist arm-sized--way too big.  One way I like to process them is kimchi;  another is to slice and marinate for an hour or two with salt and pepper, plus a little vinegar and olive oil, plus fresh herbs/diced onion/fermented garlic.  I made it with fresh basil the other day and it was amazing.

I think the hot weather did for the mange tout peas as they've stopped flowering, though my newer batch of purple podded peas are still producing (only a small batch though);  I'm going to save seed from both of these, so no more picking.  I pulled up most of one row of the mange tout in order to follow on with fennel seedlings;  the soil underneath was a bit hard and dry.  As the other row of peas next to it grew larger and more productive, I can only assume the soil under them is a bit better.  I tipped on two more barrowfuls of wood chips before putting in the fennel and the husband has been drenching them every night when he goes to water.  Hopefully the soil will improve and the fennel will grow.

The gooseberries are finally finished but we are still in the midst of raspberries.  And I'm experimenting with more no-sugar ice cream (rasp and dark chocolate anyone?).  I have a food mill with a very fine plate which works well for sieving out rasp seeds (gooseberry too, though they aren't quite as seedy).  I get a lot of use out of my food mill as it's handy for both pureeing and straining simultaneously.  Squash puree, applesauce, berries, etc.  No need to peel and core before cooking, as the food mill catches all the fibrous material.

We've lost several chickens in the past couple of months, down to six now.  Our last lost one really is lost:  she disappeared completely.  I'd let the flock free range in the evening and forgot to shut them back in after they went to bed;  when I went to put them back in the morning, one Birthday chicken didn't come running.  We've searched everywhere for a body (we have a lot of undergrowth, not all of it easily accessible by people) even though she was fit and healthy the day before.  Either she's dead in a hard to reach spot or she really flew the coop--also hard to believe as our fencing is pretty impenetrable;  not only that, to even attempt it she would need a very compelling reason to leave all her friends and the amenities of our garden (everything a chicken could want: grass, weeds, bugs, dust baths, a nice safe coop with unlimited food).  If it was a fox surely it would have left at least a pile of feathers or other evidence (we've never had a fox thankfully, not being close enough to the fields).  We're mystified.  

Plants and weeds at the allotment

I feel like I should be at the tipping point now:  moving from the planting phase to the harvesting phase.  But not quite yet.  It feels like summer:  lots of light, lots of heat, and for the last week no school (half term holiday but back at school this week).  However, the summer crops aren't producing yet and I'm not quite finished planting.  

I pulled back the insect mesh to weed cabbages and plant next year's purple sprouting broccoli at the allotment, May 2026

Of the sad little cucumbers I planted out, most seem to be still alive--maybe lost two out of around 20.  So far, that is.  Using different potting soil, I planted a tray each of the two varieties, pickling and salad, in the hopes they might grow more successfully than the first several attempts.  I can see a couple starting to emerge, but only time will tell if they'll fare any better.  

I spent a couple hours at the allotment over the weekend, planting out broccoli and squash and getting weeds out of my wood chip sheet mulch.  Also topping up the wood chips here and there.  We took the chickens back home a week ago as the forecast was for 30 C, much too hot to go without shade;  unlike at the allotment, our chicken yard at home is in full shade most of the day, so they've been keeping as cool as possible there instead.  In just one week of their being away, several squash seedlings have sprouted in their allotment yard.  They grew there last year too.

Zucs and squashes newly planted in plastic rings;  kohlrabi and cabbages under mesh;  me still digging at the allotment, May 2026

It's been fairly easy to loosen weeds out of the wood chips with a garden fork, no real digging required.  I'll need to keep on top of the weeding though:  I can re-sheet mulch on top of a bed of straw mulch, but I don't want to sheet mulch on top of wood chips as they don't break down quickly enough.  I will, however, keep topping up with wood chips, weeds or not--as long as the council keep providing them on site.

Busy: planting, weeding, tidying, top dressing, harvesting

Two thirds of my allotment with purple sprouting broccoli at the centre foreground;  the other third contains the chicken yard, raspberries and artichokes (not shown), April 2026

Photos!  But don't expect this trend to continue.  

A lot going on right now, both in my personal life and in my garden and allotment.  So busy.  I make my food producing engine a top priority though.  Not only is it important to me to have as much homegrown food as possible, I also enjoy the whole process.  It's my beloved hobby.  This time of year I'm in the garden as much as possible, and at the allotment every day.  I'm still planting out my transplants, bed by bed.

Tiny quince tree in the garden, May 2026

I spent the last two weekends with a pair of leather gloves, pulling out all the nettles from the edges of my garden;  I also did as much of the encroaching brambles as I could (these are harder to pull out but cutting them only encourages growth).  The whole garden looks much tidier now.  Most of it is given to perennials and ornamentals, with good habitat for birds and other creatures;  a certain amount of disorder is therefore encouraged, but I want to be able to enjoy the full extent of it too, without getting stung or prickled.

Another job:  digging chicken manure out of the now vacant yard--chickens currently having their summer vacation at the allotment--and spreading it all around.  It's gone at the base of every fruit tree and rose bush, around some of the garden beds, and anywhere else that looks needy.  There's a whole year's worth of manure there:  plenty to share.  The son and I emptied the coop too, then dusted it thoroughly with diatomaceous earth, to protect against mites.  After mowing the lawn, he put the grass clippings in the coop and nest boxes to dry out into straw;  it will be dry and ready for chickens to move back in after their summer break.

It's never flowered before;  will we get our first quince? May 2026

The purple sprouting broccoli at the allotment is just about finished and I'm pulling up the plants one by one, stripping the leaves to eat like kale;  I've frozen a lot too.  I've also begun regularly picking the first new season lettuce (this is in the kitchen garden), as well as new chives, parsley and garlic.  Though the maincrop garlic isn't ready yet, I've found some volunteers that got missed last year and am cooking them whole: very pungent.  I'm still hopeful for some spring cabbages soon, growing bigger;  and one spring cauliflower--the rest already matured, back in autumn and winter.  Oh, and there is still one squash left from last autumn, alone on its mat in my living room:  time to cut it open.

Summer plants, tomatoes, rain, chickens

I managed it;  all my summer seeds have been started now.  Most of them are up and growing, except the very latest:  French beans, cucumber and squash.  Some of them are not as far along as I'd hoped (broad beans and peas) and some are racing away (lettuce and zuc).  But I'm not done with seeds yet, not for a while.  I'll be moving on to my autumn and winter seeds straight away, as soon as I can free up trays.  

In fact, I freed up one tray at the weekend, planting out my tomatoes at the allotment.  The son and I went up and filled the last remaining container (a big one like a raised bed) with well composted manure;  the pile of it next to the stables is sadly diminished now.  I still need some for when I plant my zucs, cucs and squashes in a few weeks' time, but luckily for me, no one else seems to be digging it out any more.  There is also huge pile of fresh manure, which probably has some composted stuff at the very bottom, should I desperately need some.

We then planted out most of the tomatoes:  the cherry tomatoes in the tall, deep containers and the plum toms in individual plastic planters.  We'd filled those ones a few weeks ago and they were very dry, so we kept running a dripping hose on them as we planted.  Then it rained overnight and the plants really perked up by the time I visited the next morning.

We'd had a prolonged dry spell since around Easter.  Maybe that's it for dry weather this year!  (I said that last year and was so wrong.)  My water barrels have filled up again and it's forecast rain and cool temps for at least a week, after about a month of short sleeves weather.  I like to plant for both possibilities:  a hot summer or a cool one.  While not everything will succeed, it also means not everything will fail.  

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I moved my ten chickens up to their coop and yard at the allotment so they can clear out the grass.  Will they stay there all summer?  Will it just be a short vacation?  I haven't decided.  It means a bit more work for me, as I have to visit both morning and evening;  the husband broke his leg in March and can only just hobble around now, and the son is preparing for his GCSEs, very important exams at school.  And the daughter is only six.  It has to be me, and when I get sick of going twice a day every day they'll be coming back home.

Let's start

I'm back in seed sowing mode, a small beginning to a very big job.  Here's where my whole food producing engine starts.  I think I was sowing seeds until around August last year, both in trays/pots and directly in the ground.  Because of all that work, I've had fresh veg for the whole year, even now in February (just picked the last pak choi and white radishes, and no end in sight for the leeks).

This past week I've sown two trays:  chili seeds in one and onion and plum tomato in the other--both wrapped in a plastic bag to act as a little green house, sitting on my kitchen window.  I had to move my spider plants to the north facing living room window with my aloes, as vegetables get priority over houseplants;  facing south, the kitchen gets the maximum of sun of anywhere in the house.

The plum tomatoes came from seed I saved, from a lineage I've been saving for a few years now.  I hope to get about 25 plants.  To save on space they're broadcast into half a tray with the onion seeds.  I sowed some of the same onion seed back in August, which are still growing in containers at the allotment (though I think slugs may have eaten a few).  I may grow the rest of them in the ground in the kitchen garden;  I'm out of containers and when I grew them in the ground at the allotment they didn't amount to much.  I've not had a lot of success growing chili and other hot climate plants from seed but giving it another go.  

And finally I sowed my broad beans at the allotment last week in a sleet shower--I got very wet and muddy.  It didn't matter though:  I had pre-sprouted them at home and needed to get them in the ground before they went bad, whatever the weather.  Luckily I had prepared the rows already, so when I got there it was just a case of placing the seeds, covering them back with soil, and then mulching with some wood chips on top to prevent weeds germinating on top.  I also covered the whole bed with some insect mesh, as a bird/mouse deterrent;  I'll take it off when the plants are a few inches tall.

Gratuitous chicken photo:  Rock's head, Speckly's bottom, Feb 2026

A new path across the lawn

Taking advantage of sunshine, the son and I placed some strategic stepping stones from our patio gate to the chicken and duck yards (they share a wall).  The son is in charge of their daily chores (mainly feeding/watering) and he was slipping on the too short grass;  now we can all safely traverse without any more damage to the lawn.

As a result however, all domestic birds are locked away in their yards until spring.  The grass just can't take any more abuse.  The two ducks have had regular free range until now, though the eleven chickens haven't had much, sadly.  While they have a fairly large yard, it's got no greenery.  I'm trying to keep it topped up with wood chips to soak up the mud/poo (an uphill battle).  The ducks like mud, so I'm not quite as concerned with the state of their yard at present.  If it gets too pooey, they can have some wood chips too.

Our two oldest hens, Rock and Cookie, are still with us at age nine;  if they make it to April, we will be able to celebrate their tenth birthday!  Before these two, the oldest chicken age we've ever experienced was six;  Rock and Cookie are true record breakers.  The son asked me if we would be getting any new rescue hens (of our flock, seven of the eleven are rescues) and I think we will wait till we're back down to around six chickens or so.  Rescue hens in particular are fairly short lived (getting to age four is pretty good and we get them at around 18 months old) so it's not outside the realm of possibility that we will get new ones in the coming year.  It's not been quite a year since we adopted the Birthday chickens.

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I'll be taking my Christmas blog break from now until January;  I'm hoping for as much homegrown food as possible for our festive meals.  I'll be back with my grand total of food for 2025:  have I beaten last year's record?  I'll try to get a last few things harvested and tallied before the deadline and we can find out together.

State of the flock, October 2025

I think we only mowed the lawn twice this summer:  it was too dry to grow most of the time, and we had to keep our flock off of it.  Now it's grown again and we're leaving it a little long--just a couple inches--for the ducks and chickens to free range.  They all like grass and it will probably last them until January if they're lucky.  The two ducks are still getting several days of free range a week, but the eleven chickens only get a couple hours a week (not fair!) because they need supervision.  The chickens are laying us maybe three eggs a day now:  unexpected and very welcome.  

I'm considering sending the chickens back up to their yard at the allotment for a month or so before winter, to scratch it up and eat the weeds;  however, it still has all the achocha, one more squash and a self sown tomato covered in fruit--they can't go just yet.  I don't want them there during winter, but if an early frost kills the plants in their yard--they could go then.  Their yard at home is pretty muddy/pooey though I did get some free wood chips to spread around, hopefully to dry it up a bit.  Some sort of mulch is needed, especially in the wet months of winter.

Our Pekin bantam:  Cookie, aged 9.5 years, Sep 2025

We haven't had any deaths all year, despite having a very aged flock;  the ducks are about six years old, and the chickens range from two years to nine.  Some of the chickens are molting and the ducks had their molt in late summer;  hopefully this means everyone is getting ready for the winter and will see next year healthfully and happily.

Sorting the wood store, making a duck yard, growing squash

Making kindling bundles, July 2025

The husband took this action shot of me, making kindling bundles from the last of the hedge trimmings we cut about a year and a half ago.  At the time we'd piled them up and just left them to dry;  the son and I spent a couple days sawing the larger branches into stove lengths and breaking up the small sticks into kindling.  I don't know how many bundles we made in total--maybe 50?  They're great for starting our wood stove in winter;  since that's our chosen source of heating, collecting as much free fuel as possible is a priority.  True, it's time consuming to make these bundles, but there are times when I just want to sit out in the sunshine and enjoy the garden.  As the son and I were doing this each day, we also supervised the chickens' free ranging:  multitasking!  

Where that pile now isn't, we are constructing a new duck yard.  Recall that the two ducks have a large yard in the Perennials section, which is about four times the size of the chicken yard (for 11 chickens!).  Well, the ducks will share a wall with the chickens;  the two yards will be a similar size, under the shade of our big horse chestnut tree (they need separate yards because Boy Duck is a bit of a jerk to chickens).  As the ducks already get regular unsupervised free range, I hope this move isn't too much of a shock to them.  The husband and son have set in the posts--and an old bathtub--and I've ordered some new wire to enclose it all.  I look forward to having use of the Perennials section again--it'll need a full renovation I think.  

I accidentally left the gate open and the squash escaped!  July 2025

Above is the chicken yard at the allotment, growing squash vines like crazy.  At least five squashes have been spotted, both in this and another bed (not pictured). 

On the menu, June 2025

I'm overflowing with lettuce in my kitchen garden!  Three out of four people in our household like it (and the fourth still eats it) so not a bad situation to be in.  I'm trying to pick a lettuce a day, but as they are getting bigger and bigger (!) I'm having to split some over two days.  Unlike many veg, there's really no way to preserve lettuce:  just keep eating it.  The daughter in particular likes making lettuce wraps at dinner;  the son made us some Mexican style minced beef the other day and after she ate all her lettuce she even pilfered the rest of mine to keep wrapping.

Speaking of bigger, my second cauliflower was just as big as the first;  we're eating the greens as well:  two meals from the head, at least three from the greens, maybe even four.  I may have to put some to freeze, as they are all about ready now (nine huge ones).  Though after a fun trip to the pick-your-own strawberry farm at the weekend, we don't have a lot of freezer space!  I'm sure they'd be good fermented too, the heads at least.

I decided to bring the chickens back home from the allotment;  I wanted to plant their yard with a few more squash plants.  I sowed these seeds back in April and had all but given up on them, but suddenly I have five now emerging in the last week.  I did about two dozen pots at the same time;  when only two or three came up, I sowed some more seed (from a different squash, but of the same lineage) which all came up promptly.  These are the ones already growing at the allotment:  transplanted into what were the broccoli and garlic beds (and I gave another eight away to colleagues).  I'm out of room everywhere else but there is prime growing space in the chicken yard:  let's get it planted.

And it's the start of the broad beans;  these are always a special treat:  they are one of the first veg of substance (aka not a leaf!) and have such a short harvest period.  I used to pick the young pods to eat whole, but these days I'm picking them in the more traditional manner: mature, shelled for the large beans.  

Another one just coming ready are my artichokes;  these will keep producing all summer as long as I keep picking them.  Actually I'm planning on digging them out (in winter) to transplant to the very back of the allotment;  they are near the front, but take up a lot of room;  I want that valuable real estate for other things next year.  The very back of my allotment isn't cultivated, nor has it been since I took in on--it's got a lot of nettles, brambles and some pallets and other detritus.  Not good for annual vegetables, but the artichokes won't mind.  I've mentioned before that we like eating them, they're a reliable constant harvest, they're no maintenance, but: they take up so much room for such a tiny harvest.  Really, they would be the perfect vegetable but for that one drawback.

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A colleague asked me a few weeks ago what I was cooking for dinner (there are four of us in our team, all married women, all looking after husbands/families).  I said we were having lettuce and broccoli with pork chops, which she thought a strange combination.  "I've never hear of lettuce with broccoli!"  But when you grow your own you eat whatever's ready, whether it pairs together or not.  Though I personally like lettuce and broccoli together, I mean don't you?

The flock, using graywater, protecting the harvest

 

Eating some grass at the allotment, May 2025

I sent the son to the allotment on Sunday for the morning chicken check (I've been going up myself both before school and after work), with instructions to take a photo of the chickens for me.  They went up a week ago to a very grassy yard and have done a lot of mowing.  At this point I'm not sure how long they'll stay.  A few weeks?  All summer?  No definite plans at this point.  I wanted them up there to clear away the grass at the very least.  However if we get a heat wave they'll have to come back home to their house and yard in the shade.  Bonus from all that grass I presume:  egg numbers have gone up.

The ducks are still at home, locked in their large yard for the present.  I've been planting out the kitchen garden including the non-fenced portion;  when my new plants are bigger they can have some free range again.  

Once again, it's not rained at all in the previous week.  The husband and son wrangled the washing machine so it pumps out the dryer vent;  I've found some of my collection of pipes and hoses (I can't seem to find all of them), to direct the water onto some of the beds surrounding the patio.  I use homemade soap in this laundry (it's made with tallow, lye and water only, and well aged to make sure all the lye saponifies with the fat).  The pipes empty onto the soil itself at the top of the beds to seep downhill, not splashing directly onto my vegetables.  I'm generally doing one wash every morning.  

The water butts still have a very small amount of water, but I'm also saving some water from the house to take outside:  some bathwater (hard to transport), the water used in cooking and washing vegetables, that sort of thing.  Mainly I water my pots and planters with this saved water, the beds with the washing machine water.

This weekend I netted both my Morello cherry tree and my small strawberry patch at home.  Hopefully both are bird proof, as there's definitely not enough to share!  I also remembered to put my purple sprouting broccoli seedlings under insect mesh--I found one small patch of eggs on one of the leaves.  I really need to plant those out as they're getting too big, but where?  I'm thinking maybe I can plant them in gaps in the beetroot bed at the allotment--it still has insect mesh on it (mainly as a pigeon deterrent). 

New chickens, March 2025

First day home, March 2025

It's always an exciting day when we bring home new chickens!  These five new hens came from a rescue charity, as 18 month old ex-farm hens.  They happened to come from a free range farm, and are much more red in the comb and wattle than most rescue hens we've adopted;  obviously they've spent some time outdoors.

As we've just celebrated two family birthdays in the past two weeks, the daughter (turned five last week) decided their cohort would be named the Birthday chickens;  we gave up individual names many years ago and now name our chickens as a group--the previous group (two remaining) are called the Specklies. 

To facilitate a peaceful integration between the home flock and the new flock, we've dragged out the old chicken tractor (aka moveable coop) and set it up next to the stationary coop and run.  We set up some bamboo canes and netting to make a small temporary run between the chicken fence and the garden fence;  the two flocks can see each other through it.  The first day I had to clip Cheep's wing (last remaining hen of the Cheep cohort) who jumped out three times!  Also adjusted the netting and canes;  hopefully she's staying in now--none of the others are at all inclined to escape thankfully.  

We've not had any eggs from the old chickens since last year until this week;  two were/are molting and the rest just old.  In fact our oldest two hens are almost nine years old--the only hens we have left with individual names:  Rock and Cookie.  These two venerable hens have their own birthday on 1st of April: we adopted them as chicks from a breeder.  For convenience sake we count everyone else's birthday on the same day; we'll then have one six year old, one five year old and two three year olds in the old flock.  A bunch of old ladies!  But even six year old Cheep laid her first egg of the year this week, so she's still got it.

Ducks and chickens, February 2025

Recently I read that Wales has imposed an enclosure order for domestic birds because of the spread of avian influenza.  We live within about an hour of the Welsh border as the crow flies, so I am expecting the same for our birds any time now.

Free range, February 2025

Because of this, I'm implementing as much free range for my own birds as I can;  the two ducks are getting it in the morning, including the veg patch.  I've covered over the most delicate plants with netting (including a newly planted row of strawberries) and they can help themselves to the rest;  while omnivorous, they tend more towards the carnivorous/insectivorous side--chickens tend towards herbivorous.  The ducks don't much bother about my plants (though they do dig/dabble a bit and can trample).  I want them in there for slug patrol right now, their favorite treat.

Envious, February 2025

In the afternoons when I get home from work I usher the ducks back into their own yard, shut the gate to the kitchen garden, and invite the chickens out for their turn on the lawn:  they get to free range until dark.  Chickens are not yet allowed into the kitchen garden and the fencing around it is low enough for them to jump/fly over;  I have to be home to supervise their free ranging.  Where the ducks might unintentionally flatten a few things, the chickens would scratch and peck everything down to nothing;  there are plenty of weeds I'd like them to annihilate (and hopefully they will later in the spring) but right now my cauliflowers, cabbages and pak choi are too precious.

The different preferences of chickens and ducks really complement each other in the veg patch:  one cleans up the pests and the other cleans up the weeds.  Both give excellent fertilizer too.  My chickens are laying a few eggs a week, and Girl Duck does keep sneaking off by herself, to Boy Duck's dismay;  but I haven't found any duck eggs yet this year (she doesn't lay in a dedicated nest).  

We are ready to cover our chicken yard completely if we get an enclosure order;  the ducks will have to join the chickens in there (not fun for anybody) but there is enough space in both the house and the yard for all eight birds.  I might even see about putting in a few perches into the yard to give the chickens a place to rest out of the way of Boy Duck:  he is pretty aggressive to them, though luckily he isn't very fast or sharp.

Last bit of work for the end of 2024

This past week I haven't done much outdoors--it's been dark and miserable.  However I did manage to visit the allotment twice for sheet mulch--I'm back to collecting cardboard boxes from my work, a few at a time.  I've got the tomato bed covered and am now moving on to the (large) squash bed.  Little by little.  Over the summer one of my allotment neighbors brought in several stacks of large cardboard pieces from his workplace, I assume a warehouse.  These were wonderful for sheet mulch!  But I haven't seen him for a few months now, so I'm collecting what I can--small pieces are better than nothing.  I've been covering it with used stable bedding from onsite:  horse manure and straw.

At home I'm mainly only going out to give scraps to the chickens and ducks.  We are letting each flock take turns free ranging the lawn for an hour or so in the evenings;  the seven chickens are still laying a couple eggs a week but haven't seen any eggs from Girl Duck for a while.  She may have laid some, I just haven't gone looking--too dark and miserable.

I picked a few sprigs of fennel and mint the other day to make some tea (cutting back on caffeine).  I'm also still harvesting a few radishes and beets;  I've had all the big ones now, it's on to the smalls.  Also leeks, cabbage, turnips.  I'm whittling down my squash stash, still hanging out on their own rug in the living room;  and the bags of various frozen summer veg (I can't believe how many tomatoes I froze!).  And of course, eating kimchi, sauerkraut, pickled cucumbers, etc.

I'm ready for my Christmas break, though work and school don't finish till the end of the week (and not till next week for the poor husband).  I will be away from the blog until January, when I will reveal my grand food total of 2024.  I know I haven't been logging it here, but it's all written down on my wall calendar in my kitchen.  Will I beat 2023, my best year yet?  I better get my calculator out:  I can't wait to find out.

Harvesting, cooking and eating; and a goodbye, December 2024

Thanksgiving was a success;  we had a green vegetable medley with fresh cabbage and leek and frozen green beans;  I also made my pumpkin pie recipe with our own eggs and squash, and a cherry tart with the last of the freezer cherries (which were more than a year in the freezer).  Along with our turkey, stuffing, gravy and mashed potatoes and our friends' three delicious side dishes, we even had a glass of home brewed currant wine.  I ate and ate and ate...

On Sunday (the only day I can usually collar the son) we went up to the allotment to pick all the remaining beets, mostly small but a few big ones left:  about three pounds altogether.  Once home I immediately dumped these into my big slow cooker to cook for later pickling.  I also brought home five or six turnips, another big mini daikon (I need a better name for these--mini implies small, but they aren't small! How about just white radish?) and a nice big leek.  I also cooked and seasoned the turnip greens (the chickens got the frostbitten radish leaves);  the roots are for cooking during the week.

At school the daughter learned a song about Five a Day (she's four years old).  I try to serve her and the son five veg a day, and most if not all is homegrown;  she really enjoys counting out our daily veg, and often it's even more than five.  Sometimes she says she doesn't like something, but almost always eats it anyway.

But on a sad note, we lost one of our rescue hens last week;  we adopted her cohort of four in September of 2023, so she was with us for just over a year.  She and the other three we christened the Specklies, as we gave up individually naming hens many years ago;  we were sorry to say goodbye to this Speckly, and hope the rest of her flock mates will stay with us for a good while longer.

Eggs, flowers, frost, squash and kimchi

 

Dahlias blown over the veg patch, September 2024

I'm rather shocked that we're still getting three or even four eggs a day from our faithful hens.  Two of the eight are no longer laying, and two more are four and five years old respectively (but still laying once or twice a week).  At this time of year, as the days are much shorter, I'm actually surprised to get any eggs at all.  All the hens are at their small yard in the allotment;  Girl Duck and Boy Duck are currently at home, free ranging on and off (off when the grass gets too poo-y).  No duck eggs for at least a month;  she doesn't have a dedicated nest so I don't always find them but I don't think she's laying this time of year anyway.

My big sunflower finally blew over, but as it wasn't uprooted, I just went out and tied it up to the tree it was growing next to (a medium-sized pyracanthus).  Hopefully its seeds have enough time to mature for next year's plants.  My beautiful red dahlia also got too top heavy and fell over, but again I was able to prop it up;  it's up to my shoulder:  pretty tall.  Its pink and white neighbor is just as tall but still standing unassisted thankfully.  All three of these are still flowering beautifully in my veg patch at home. 

There was a touch of frost at our local country park at the weekend, though it didn't touch the garden and the allotment looks all right too.  I went out for my run at 7.15 in the morning and while I didn't see any frost on any cars or lawns I passed, I did see it on an open section of grass at the park.  To be on the safe side, when I saw the forecast, the son and I went and picked all the squashes from the allotment the day before.  I took my chances with the remaining beans and tomatoes.

Speaking of squashes, I lent my biggest one to my work (a school) and we're having a "guess the weight" contest.  My squash is famous!  And huge!  Seriously, I won't publish the actual weight until the contest is over (later this week) but I will say that it is at least twice the size of my biggest one last year--and I thought that one was a giant.  In total there are eight squashes this year, plus two small immature ones that might not be worth eating (picked them anyway).  The big one is coming back home with me after the contest, for lots of pumpkin pie.

What else?  More kimchi of course!  Of the twenty or so pak choi from my first sowing, I was able to make a liter of kimchi at the weekend, now fermenting for a few days on my counter.  I still have a 1.8L jar of kohlrabi kkakdugi and half of a 3.3L jar of kohlrabi dongchimi in my fridge.  So not lacking in kimchi just yet--though I do go through it pretty quickly.  I have a small tub of the leftover kimchi paste in my fridge at the moment and am considering giving beet greens/stems the kimchi treatment with it, I mean why not?

State of the flock, June 2024

And now for something completely different.  I've been so focused on the allotment this past month I've not been paying much attention to my own garden or my poultry.  The son is the main caretaker for both chickens and ducks;  he's 14 now and is fairly responsible when it comes to their care.  I sometimes have to remind him to collect eggs still, but he remembers to feed and water them every day thankfully.  The chickens are laying around four eggs a day, from eight hens.

The chickens and ducks are both locked up in their respective yards at home for the present.  Some of the chickens got to make a pass of the lawn in their tractor for about two weeks but it's growing too quickly for them to efficiently graze now.  So we're mowing and giving them the clippings.  The ducks have had periodic free range (usually for a day or two at a time) but I'm still putting in new plantings and I don't want the ducks dabbing them out--I lost a few small marigold transplants this week, so back into the yard went the ducks.  And I can't let the chickens free range at all while my veg patch is in growth.

Boy Duck is maybe calming down a bit after the spring breeding season.  He gets very protective of Girl Duck (who doesn't seem to notice) but if he tries it on me, he better watch out--I've been known to send him flying.  Thankfully he can't jump and is not sharp anywhere so his attacks are pretty ineffectual.  He's been spotted chasing pigeons out of the garden (hilarious) and won't share his patch with chickens either.  He's a big duck and stands fairly upright with a long neck and short legs, surprisingly (and comically) fast.  Once he starts to molt in summer I think his hormones ease up a bit.  Girl Duck is smaller and has the more usual duck silhouette--also short legs--but doesn't do a lot of running.  She just sort of waddles around, with Boy Duck in her wake like her security detail.  Girl Duck does lay the occasional egg, but not in a dedicated place:  I don't always find it in time.

Chickens and eggs

A bit of free range, March 2024

In the days leading up to the weekend, I let the chickens and ducks have regular free range but that has now stopped as I've begun sowing seeds in the kitchen garden.  The ducks have been locked back in their large yard and the chickens have been taken to the allotment until further notice.

However, I do plan on planting up their yard at the allotment with vegetables later this spring so they probably won't be there too long.  But we'll see;  plans are still a bit fluid.  The yard at the allotment is full of grass and weeds and bugs, so the chickens have had an upgrade from their yard at home at least.

The kitchen garden has gone through periods of being fenced with temporary fencing over the years;  fencing plus supervised free range is my preference for our feathery friends.  I may try to rig something up later on;  the two ducks in particular are pretty easily foiled by fencing (unlike chickens who can jump).  Or I may fire up the chicken tractor once more, focusing on the lawn rather than the veg beds.

Action shot! March 2024

It's definitely spring if the chickens are laying this much--even two of the oldtimers are making an effort.  Not the other two though;  however those two venerable hens celebrated their seventh birthdays yesterday.  For the sake of mathematical ease, we mark all our hens' birthdays on the first of April, but for Rock and Cookie, it's their actual birthday/hatchday--I can hardly believe they actually made it to seven years old!

Feathered friends working (and photos!)

 

The daughter (age almost-4) and the back door

I can go out my back door!  This has been possible since the start of December actually.  And I can take pictures too!  This has always been possible...

The laundry line had to be relocated when the old umbrella-style one broke last year.  Now my laundry sometimes blocks my view of the garden, although this time of year the view is a bit dismal.  Have a look.

The not so beautiful view

On the bright side, the micro-climate of the patio does make the laundry dry faster than when I used to hang it out in the middle of the lawn.  

The chickens tractored the veg beds for me over a week or two (chicken tractor on the right, reflecting light) except the far edge at the left, still growing a couple pak choy, fennel, and strawberry plants. 

Feathery fennel in front, pak choy fortress at back

I've sent those four hard working chickens back into the yard with the rest of the flock;  we started the tractor with the four non-laying oldies, but their work ethic was pathetic so we swapped to the younger still-laying hens who completed the job admirably.  I may let them have another pass before I start planting--it's a little cold for most seeds still, and there are still a few weeds here and there.

Three of the four oldies in their yard

The two ducks have had a good amount of free range, slurping up all the slugs and snails.  I like to have them out on patrol, but they poo so much!  So I lock them back in their large yard for a week out of every three, to give the rain/worms/etc time to clean up.  Incidentally, Boy Duck is obsessed with the new back door:  he comes charging up to it several times a day and pecks it with his muddy beak (Girl Duck has absolutely no interest in it whatsoever).  I should have chosen a brown door instead.

Thank you, Girl Duck!