Before I start my babbling I just wanted to say thanks so much for all your lovely comments on my blog post about hand-made gifts. I am glad you all loved them and your comments really do make me smile :-) Ever since I have been reading blogs I have been so inspired and it has really helped the creative side of me come out again which in turn makes me feel very happy so thank you all very much. x
'We don't live on a farm' is a phrase I often have to use in our house. You see, my husband seems to think we do. Not only do we have the gorgeous chickens ......
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| This is Petal our rather scruffy looking chicken. |
Who are really cute pets, in fact too lovely as I would never dream of eating one (wouldn't make a good farmer's wife would I!). We even have a little disabled chicken who was found limping (think of the ministry of funny walks from Monty Python) down a street in another village.
Here she is after a bath. She had to live outside the main coup as the other chickens bullied her :-(
Little Sweetpea loves looking after her and after months of tender loving care she laid her first egg - she must be happy :-)
Sorry I digress ... but then Mr Sweetpea started talking about honey bees. So look what he has now down the bottom of the garden !
I must confess I am rather fascinated and taken with them even after being stung by one. Mind you if I had been trodden on I would sting too!
They have a little motorway over into the field next door and zoom in and out of their hive. Here they are having a drink after a busy flight. I have been amazed how placid they are, they are quite happy to zoom round me to get into their house, and also by how horrid wasps are trying to get in and kill their grubs and eating them if they get a chance!
And this is the field the bees zoom over. As you can see the kiddies love it a lot too :-) We are so lucky to live next to a lovely large field, I do hope it never gets built on, I would be heartbroken!
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| the kiddies watching the combine at work |
It creates hours of entertainment for the kiddies .......
and the dogs :-) Well I am now hoping Mr Sweetpea will be happy with the 2 dogs, parrot, chickens, snake and bees! He has mentioned pigs and goats but I have reminded him again that WE DO NOT LIVE ON A FARM! I am hoping he reads this :-)
I love having lots of animals but it does have its drawbacks. Not only do they take time to feed and care for but you also get surprises like the above sock. Little Sweetpea and I went to 'Music Mayhem' recently and she had forgotten her sockaroo. She popped her shoe off and I went to put her sock on her hand to make a sockaroo only to see the above little footprint on her sock! She had had that sock on for about 1 hour. After a bit of questioning she told me that she had been to see to chickens in the morning, obviously with no wellies on :-) Sockaroo got no kiss that day from the Music Mayhem leader :-)
Talking about chickens and farms, I recently got contacted by Al from All the Tea Towels to ask I could review some tea towels for her.
So I went to her site, wow what a choice! There are so many lovely designs it was hard to pick.
I chose these designs as they were on Linen towels which I believe is a more eco-friendly material than cotton at the moment. One is a garden scene and the other had to have birdies on of course :-) Ali sent some great instructions with them on how to get the best out of my towels so I steeped them for a couple of hours and washed them with no conditioner to help absorbency. They were such a joy to hang on the line and use. Thanks Ali :-)
I love those tea towels, especially the birdie one! Haha, yes you do seem to be creating quite a collection of animals :) good for you! Must be lovely to have them all around! Glad your bullied chicken has been nursed back to health and is happily laying eggs now, that first one must have been amazing! Have a great weekend xxx
ReplyDeleteHmmmm, I frequently mutter the words 'we don't live on a flamin' farm'! (you should allow some ducks though - they have been great fun to watch and get on with the chicken ladies just fine)
ReplyDeleteCleggy had a pig and goat (along with chickens) when he was Head of the local school - and is always saying we 'need' a pig at home. We don't!!!
Happy days
fee x
(he would, of course, LOVE some honey bees - I recently found a book about keeping bees next to his bed!)
Another lovely insight into your life. We live next to a big field as well and get so much enjoyment from watching the crops grow and the seasons changing.
ReplyDeleteIt almost looks as if you DO live on a farm, what with the huge field and the combine harvester next door, and all your lovely animals! It must be wonderful for the children growing up there in such a lovely place and having the animals to care for. I'm glad the bullied hen is being so kindly looked after. The linen tea towels look lovely, especially the bird design..I do love linen tea towels, they get nicer and nicer the more you use them.
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend. Helen x
I used to live right next to a field just like the one you live next to when I was growing up. It eventually had a motorway running right through the middle of it, and in recent years has has office blocks built on it, so sad. What a collection of animals you've got. I would love chickens but it just isn't the right time for us at the moment.
ReplyDeleteAhhh the memories :) My grandfather always kept honey bees...and chickens as well! My husband and I both grew up on farms, and are just a little sad that our children don't know the joys of farm life :( So glad that your kids are having some experiences of farming...even if you DON'T live on one hee hee!
ReplyDeletewow a big post today, you have been rather busy, great to see that your bees have settled in well x x
ReplyDeleteI can recommend a duck too. We had one in our city garden and s/he was gorgeous. Or how about a little piggy wig? Or a sheep? It wouldn't be a farm, more of a small-holding... And you have to have some sort of diversion to the monotony of 2011 life!!! Ax
ReplyDeleteI'm really interested to see how you get on with your bees!! Did your DH go on a beekeeping course? I would like to go on a course, but a) I can't find one near to me and b) now baby is due any day, it's probably bad timing, so I'm still at the reading stage!
ReplyDeleteYour home looks a lovely place for children to grow up in. I love watching combine harvesters too and got to ride in one once which was quite hypnotic, looking down from the huge window and seeing the corn being combed gently into the cutters.
I will have to have a look at that tea towel site. I'm always coming back from holidays with a new tea towel. It's much more fun doing the washing up with a pretty cloth to dry up with! xxxx
My cousin-in-law :0) has bees. It seem's to 'bee' (see what I did there?)a hugely popular hobby now.
ReplyDeleteI love that last teatowel with the birds x
Oh man - bees are next on our list when there's some spare cash and time to get started! (Ha ha!) Enjoy them and their honey! Feel like we really should get some though as my eldest suffers with hayfever and local honey is supposed to help. Our chicks too are growing fast, still waiting to see which is which! Look forward to hearing how you get on with the bees!
ReplyDeleteI always wanted to keep bees, it isn't as easy as I originally thought though :(. I read a great book which I can thoroughly reccommend, it had me in stitches it really is sooooo funny. It is called the Bad Beekeeper by Bill Turnball a great read xxxx
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