Category: Forward thinking

Our new front paddock

A year ago, we got some massive privet tree’s and dying pine tree’s cut down and stump ground, which left us with a vast dirt paddock over the summer

When the autumn rains arrived, I was out there sowing grass seed galore, so we now have a sea of green.

The question now is what to do with it…

I didn’t do all that just to mow it every other week, so the question now is what to use it for?

An orchard? -already got one

Vegetables – I can’t eat that many and I’m not a fan of vegetables anyway (ask my mum)

Sheep? they need really good fences, and we couldn’t run them all year round. They do need a fair bit of maintenance and monitoring. It would also mean buying an extra freezer to store because thats where they would eventually end up.

Goats? These are also famous for escaping fences, and eating everything and anything. They are very intelligent and spend all their time thinking about how to ruin your day.

Pigs? -just no -Ok?

Cows? not enough land for that

Chickens? we have three of them all ready for a supply of eggs

Ducks? now that’s a definite maybe.

You have the option having ducks for eggs or meat.

Duck eggs are similar to chicken eggs, but are larger an don’t keep for as long.

Then theres the meat option. Somehow, a duck for Xmas dinner has a certain appeal to it.

Chickens and cats..

Our three chickens are now working well for us and have given us a regular supply of eggs.

They are starting to loose their feathers at the moment (moulting), which also means our egg supply has dried up in the meantime.

I’ve also built a new chicken house for them, which is far better than my first attempt.

Taj Mahal for Chickens?
My first attempt, built from old pallets.

They are pretty happy and our cat has learned / learning not to ‘stalk’ them.

Speaking of cats our new onbe has also settled in, and has the kids wrapped around her finger (paw), and is very good at pretending to be ‘starving’.

Apart from that, she has a rather pleasing preferance for catching and eating rabbits and mice. She’s especially tidy about all this. All we ever find is the remains strung out on the lawn somewhere.