We're all going on a...chicken holiday

The chickens had a special treat this Christmas...they got to travel round the M25 in a box! Lucky them! As we were spending 9 days away from home this Christmas and new year we obviously couldn't leave the poor chickens all on their own so we took them to visit their Grandma and Grandad in Hampshire!!

They had a lovely little holiday home, although the neighbours were a bit noisy...lots of quacking! But they loved it, and whenver they were let out they went on a bit of a rampage around the garden...






And they were even naughtier when we left them on their own for a few days...




...while we were enjoying ourselves in Devon in absolute luxury:





Looking at the photos of the girls makes me realise just how much they've grown over the past 9 months.

This is Hythe:



This is Romney:



This will be even more obvious when, next weekend, we get them two more sisters! All being well weather wise we are going to collect two more ex-batts next weekend and i think we'll be shocked at how skinny and featherless they are. I just hope the snow goes by then or we might have to knit them some woolly jumpers!

Butter making

One of Matt's Christmas presents was a lovely jar butter churn with wooden paddles for butter churning. Obviously he was keen to test it straight away so we hot-footed it to Tesco to buy a load of double cream (which was reduced post-Christmas).



We may have been slightly over ambitious with how much we poured in so by the time the cream has got to whipped stage the churn wouldn't move any more...



So we had to decant it into smaller jars for the old tried and tested shake-it-like-you-mean-it method! This worked a charm (even if my arms, which we already aching from excessive Wii-ing, did feel like they were going to fall off by the end!)





...et voila, we got some butter!





It made not only these three ramekins but also a large one (this is about half of the total butter) so very worthwhile indeed.

Egg count

Inspired by Blagger, we have been keeping a monthly egg count since August and we've now had enough months to do a little graph. Everyone loves a little graph!

Deck the halls...

Since my last post we've made some progress on the allotment - we managed to find two more pallets so last weekend went down to the plot to build two more raised beds. Here's Matt making the finishing touches in the failing light.



Christmas has also arrived in Tonbridge. We took a day off in the week to go to the Wealden Timea Midwinter Fair - which was so lovely but a little pricey for our pockets but we did come home with locally grown rapeseed oil and mayonaise, which are absolutely delicious. We also got some local blue brie and some local apple juice! We never say no to local food!

We also got our Christmas tree, which was grown locally (of course!!) in Rolvenden and have adorned it with our homemade decorations from last year. Matt made his paper tinsle and I have to say it looks just lovely.



I also finished off the stockings that I started last year. I didn't manage to get the letters on last year so have just finished, and I'm so pleased with the final product.



I've been at my friend's house today being fitted for a bridesmaid dress and came home to the lovely smell of freshly baked bread. Matt baked two loaves which we've sliced and will freeze for later.



That's all of our news for now.

The inaugural planting

We have, at last, had some free time to work on the allotment and it finally feels like we're making some progress. Last weekend we found (out the back of Homebase) some broken pallets which we liberated to make some raised beds but found that we didn't have nails big enough. So, early yesterday morning we popped to B&Q and to get some and then down to the allotment to put them together and here's the result:



At the very back of the plot we have left a 1 metre strip for the water butt and compost bin then there is a 2m deep bed which we are going to use for soft fruit - initially we'll make a raised bed with the view to building a fruit cage there in the Spring. The raspberries and blackcurrant from the garden will go in there and we will buy some more currant bushes to add.

Then, after a 1/2 metre path are the raised beds that you can see - 1.8m x 1.8m (the size of the boards). There should be room for 12 of these altogether so should be plenty of room to grow a good crop.

As we were making the beds and doing a bit of digging I started to notice that there were random broad beans popping up all over the place. We can only assume that the birds have pinched these from our neighbours who have already sown and buried them in our plot - we have a resident Jay who we think could be to blame. So I moved all of the ones that I could find and put them in the bed:



We then went down just now and added two more rows of seeds and covered the sprouting beans with chicken wire to protect them from pigeons. We can also cover this in fleece once the frost starts.

Back at home, Matt has been hankering for a while to try butter making. We have just subscribed to Home Farmer magazine (which is brilliant!) which included a free gift of The Bread and Butter book which told him how to do it just using a jar or bottle from double cream. We bought some cream from the farm shop and away he went. I was surprised at just how quick it was - he just shook the cream in a bottle for about 10 minutes and the butter and buttermilk seperated to this, which he rinsed and salted:



Then, using the butter pats that he picked up from our local junk/antique shop a while back he shaped the butter:



It really is great and I was surprised at just how much butter came our of 250ml of cream. So, now we have a dish of homemade organic butter (its from the cream from our favourite local farm - Bore Place) and, although the cream cost more than butter would so isn't viable like this, it's incredibly satisfying to see how easy it was!

The final exciting news is that I've been offered a new job, which is a step up and sounds really exciting. They have also agreed that I can work 4 days a week, which means I can managed my PhD better and have more time to do exciting things like this on the weekend. I think I'm going to take it. It would make life so much easier!

Chicken Ritz and Fencing Fun!

About a month ago we started making a new coop and run for the girls so that they would have more space to run around and we wouldn't have to let them out in the garden (so that we can actually grow some flowers!)

The weather and lack of daylight have been conspiring against us so it's taken a lot longer than we had hoped but, at last, we have finished!

The girls were ever so "helpful":



...but they seemed delighted when the they explored their new run and coop for the first time:




We finished late this afternoon and here is the finished product:



As you can see, they have a lovely new sage green coop, a big run with deep bark chippings for them to dig in and a big branch for them to jump and perch on. They were reluctant to go to bed this evening, I think because they were so excited and were jumping and flapping all over the place once we put the branch in there. It's lovely to see them with so much space and, once we finish painting the run (it was too wet today) it will also look nice in the garden and we can reclaim some of our lawn!

The reason that we have been able to find the space for their new super-size run is because we have decided to give up one of the raised beds because we have plenty of space at the allotment, which brings me to my next update...

On Saturday the core group of allotmenteers got together to take the final important step in finalising the Slade Area Community Allotment...we put up a fence! It was a real team effort, which made it all the more satisfying when we finished:




We finally have a permanent home for our sign and, I think you'll agree, it finally looks like an allotment!



We haven't managed to get anything in the ground yet but we're getting there and are hoping to sew some broad beans and garlic next weekend.

One of the trees at the allotment is showing some beautiful autumnal colour. I couldn't believe that one tree could be so many colours at once so I had to share:



Finally, I walked in the back door to find that we'd had a break-in! I couldn't believe it, I'd only turned my back for five minutes. They did leave some evidence, but I just can't think who it could have been...



(a word of warning to any aspiring "backyard" chicken keeper...never leave the back door open!

Groeten van Brugge!

("Greetings from Bruges!" in Dutch)

One of the reasons that I have been quiet for a few months is that we spent last weekend in the beautiful city of Bruges - a special trip to celebrate our fifth anniversary.

We got the Eurostar from St Pancras at 6.30am (thankfully we have friends who live near there so we stayed at their house - otherwise we would have had to get the first train form Tonbridge...at 4.30am!) and were in Bruges my midday.

Our hotel was on a canal in the centre of Bruges:



We didn't do all of the touristy things, preferring to avoid the crowds, but we did go on a boat tour and spent a lot of time wandering around the old city streets and sitting in old bars drinking trappist beer - which is delicious! Here are some of the highlights in pictures:











It really is a beautiful city and 2 nights wasn't really long enough - hopefully we'll be able to go again soon.