Got Wood?
Posted: Sun 23 September, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Green Garden Leave a comment »Not content with the amount we cut up earlier this week for the woodpile, I’ve been cutting up the remaining bits today. Once that’s done, I’ll be able to use the tarpaulin it’s all laid on (well, one of the two tarps – one’s for ‘big wood’, one’s for ‘kindling wood’) to use as a cover for the front of the woodpile, and protect it all a bit from rain/damp. (There’s plenty of ventilation round the sides and bottom of the woodpile, so it’s not going to get damp inside anyway)
So far it’s taken four hours. And there’s still the stuff for kindling to go. I suspect that lot may wait ’til one evening this week, because it has to be said, I’m right bored with it now.
Still, it’ll be good to have the job completed and done…
Wood Pile
Posted: Thu 20 September, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Green Garden, Photography 1 Comment »So, all the wood from the delivery on Monday is now stored in the wood pile. Twenty wheelbarrow loads, and this is what it looks like. (Apologies for the ropy cameraphone image, but there we go)
I have to say, I’m really quite pleased with it. And yes, I so need to get out more…
Getting the chopper out
Posted: Sun 16 September, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Green Leave a comment »As predicted yesterday, today has been mainly about getting our existing wood chopped up and sorted out for the woodpile before tomorrow’s delivery of yet more logs.
We bought a Bosch electric saw for doing a lot of the work – yes, we could’ve done it with a normal handsaw, but well, there was a huge load of wood to do, so chuff it. Anyway, it’s made life a lot easier – we’ve got through about 80-85% of the wood that needed chopping.
So yes, there’s still some more to do. But we’ve broken the back of it – and stuffed my own back into the bargain – so I can get the rest sorted over the coming week, along with all the logs that’re being delivered tomorrow.
And from now on, well, we’ll just have to be more organised, and chop the stuff as it arrives – or soon after, so that we don’t get in this situation again.
Fuel to the pyre
Posted: Sat 15 September, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Getting Organised, Green Garden 1 Comment »This weekend, it looks like we’re getting prepared for winter.
We’ve made an order for oil through Boiler Juice, which seems to get a decent price for purchases of heating oil, so that’ll arrive next week.
In addition, we’ve also ordered a load of logs from a local supplier, which’ll turn up on Monday. Not bad – £75 for a full load, which can then be stuck onto our wood pile while the stuff we’ve already received (from a number of sources) and chopped, which is slowly seasoning on the pile already. With luck it’ll keep us going through the winter, but if not well, we can always get another load delivered. Happy day.
And before the delivery of logs, we need to chop up the remaining wood to go on the pile first. Joy. That’s most of tomorrow sorted out then…
Plucking Hell
Posted: Mon 10 September, 2007 Filed under: Animals, Domestic, Green 1 Comment »So yes, after yesterday’s visit to the chicken place, it looks almost certain that we’ll be getting some chickens before the end of the year – and quite probably some time in October.
Whether we buy them from the place we visited, or (as Lionel suggests) we try to get some ex-battery hens that’re in need of rehoming (and that would then just have to be called Duracell, Ever Ready, and Energiser) is something that has yet to be decided. Ethically, we’d like to go for the latter, but there’re also the issues about a) finding the ex-battery hens, and b) the fact we’ve never done this before.
Perhaps on that score we’re better off starting off with new birds, rather than ones that’ve already had a crap start, and (in our case) will certainly have “issues”. Mind you, the ones with “issues” would fit in with our other animals… Then again, it’d be nice to have at least one sane creature in the house. (Not literally “in” the house, in the case of chickens, but ohhhh, you get what I mean)
It’s certainly going to be interesting, though.
Fowl Play
Posted: Sun 9 September, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Green Garden 2 Comments »Today, we’re off to look at chickens.
We won’t be buying any (not today, anyway) but it seems like as good a time as any to start doing the research. We found a place that looks promising, they do all the necessary gubbins as well as the birds, so it seems like a good place to get some information.
This could be interesting…
New Seeds
Posted: Sun 2 September, 2007 Filed under: Domestic, Green Garden, House Work 1 Comment »We’re already getting organised for next year when it comes to the veg garden, greenhouse, and the decision about getting chickens.
Last week I went to the Real Seed Company, and ordered (among other things) some chocolate brown sweet peppers and some fluorescent purple chilli peppers. They should both be interesting – this year we’ve had massive success with normal chillis, and did OK on the bell peppers, although they weren’t great, and had a nasty reaction to sporadic watering.
Over the winter, we’re going to be making some additions and alterations to the greenhouse we inherited from the previous owners. It needs new shading put up, the automatic vent openers need replacing, and all that kind of general maintenance guff. Should be fun.
And yes, we’re even thinking of getting some chickens. It won’t be ’til Spring now, but that gives us some time to do some planning, get things in place, and all that kind of thing. We got a couple of books this week, so it should be interesting to see how things go.