A Chicken-ey Sort Of Sunday

The girls and I have been looking at all different sorts of chickens that we'd like to hatch out.

The Meat birds from last year - Ross Cobbs

We've had ex commercial birds for the few years (probably 5 or 6 to be honest!) and they've done brilliantly for a second year of laying for us, so long as you know not to keep them past when they rapidly go unproductive. But it's not given us a self sustaining flock.

Making Simple Cupboards For The Workshop

I know this is more workshop related than homesteading but keeping organised is key to being able to getting stuff done! I'm trying harder and harder to keep things where they should go and know where they are. 

This video shows me building some cupboards to sort an area of my workshop that has been bothering me for some time - all it did before was collect dust! 

As always, please let me know what you think!

Wassailing With Beavers

When we were planning this term for our Beaver Scouts we had the bright idea of having our own little Wassail. The village has a huge one every year so I knew we couldn't top that, but hoped it would be good fun. 

Luckily we had great weather, a cold frosty night so no one was too muddy and no rain!

Sowing Chillies Before Breakfast & Grow Lamp

The urge to grow is just too much after Christmas. I'm sure we've all done it and started too early at times. We sowed our onions a few days after Christmas, as many do but I wanted to get the chillies in as well.

 I'm always frustrated by our chillies and peppers, get a harvest normally but its pretty late in the season. When I go to a garden centre in the spring it drives me mad to see chillies with fruits forming while mine haven't even considered flowering!

New Incubator

The children and I have been talking about hatching eggs this year. The last couple of year we seem to have missed out as we've not had any broody hens at the right time. 

So getting an incubator would solve that problem and allow us to hatch as and when we wanted. I know it's far easier to use broodies when you can. Broody hens are, and I think always will be, the easiest way to hatch out chicks, but they're not without they're problems and egg numbers can be limited.

Children Learning Through Helping

I met the specialist for my jaw today, my wife came with me and mum came over to look after the children. He seems happy that my teeth are meeting up again and he seems hopeful that I might avoid surgery. I have another appointment next week, but it's still looking like two months of no solid food!

When I came home Grandma was with my eldest showing her how to sew on her new sewing machine. They'd picked a pattern for a toy dinosaur and were busy putting it together. It was lovely to listen and watch them working together.

How Did I Do Against My Self-Sufficiency Goals 2019?

Okay, so those of you that have followed my blog for any length of time will know that each year I set myself a list of highly optimistic goals for the year ahead and then review it when the year ends.

So here’s how I did (or how I think I did)–

Community

I said that this year I just wanted to try and maintain what I did for the community and I’ve done that. I’m loving being a Beaver Scout leader and I’ve certainly dedicated more than a few hours to this cause, with some really fun weekends away. My younger daughter has now joined scouts as well so she’s feeling the benefit as well.

I truly believe that kids need less school and more scouts, my eldest daughter was having a bit of a tough time at school in the summer and scouts was the one thing she really looked forward to each week, in fact when we broke up for summer she was just disappointed that there would be no scouts for 6 weeks! 

I’m still running the playgroup in the village, although the countdown clock is on this. It’s been a big part of my life but as my youngest starts school this year it will draw to a natural close for me.