Sunday 2 August 2009

first in the ark






I’ve introduced the chicks to their new home today. I thought they would enjoy being out on the grass but once they worked out that there was an ark to go into they all made their way up the ladder… Suzi (Sussex) first followed by Betty (Blue) then Silver (Silver Link) and finally, last but not least and surprisingly not first Cuckoo (Cuckoo Maran). When they first arrived Cuckoo was the boldest and definitely top chick, but she seems to have been usurped by Suzi today. Time will tell.

Friday 31 July 2009

new perspectives



I’m back in my shed and with a different view, that of the 6 week old chicken. Yesterday we collected four pullets from a delightful organic farm in Devon and they are living in my shed for a couple of weeks whilst they grow a little stronger and become ready to live outside in their ark.

Sunday 3 May 2009

collaborative rhythm-making




A whole weekend of sunshine with rain overnight - ideal for watering in the gardening of the day before. Today I’ve finished planting my 5 new beds. Peas and French beans went in yesterday and today marrows, squashes, pumpkins and courgettes have joined them as companions. There’s a rhythm developing between my digging, sowing, manuring, watering and transplanting. It’s a collaboration between the weather, the seeds becoming plants, the creatures inhabiting the air and the ground and me.

I’m planning to have hens and am gradually making space for them. I decided a strip of grass by the side of the path will make an ideal hen run but this has required the re-transplanting of my ex-allotment fruit that I put in last autumn and the garlic that went in with it. I am now left with four long thin beds full of very good soil so I’ve been shifting to my new vegetable beds. I’m re-filling the holes with the turfs I’d removed and stacked inside my cold-frame. It’s physically demanding work but triply rewarding in providing ground for a hen run, well-filled beds and a soon to be usable cold-frame. Digging out the beds has been an oddly uncanny experience as they resemble a series of small graves… a solemn but reassuringly ordinary reminder of the grief I am still processing.