21 Days and Counting...

Who knew it would be a mere 17 months between posts...now that has to be some kind of record. I am shocked at how the time has gone by. To tell the tale of the missing months, well that would take a while, and a couple of bottles of good red wine (for starters).

And life finds me here, in this moment. With so many thoughts and ideas. The smallholding - Manor Farm Cottage is still here. We've kept pigs, and now have a well stocked freezer, we've had the experience of keeping sheep and lambing - the highs and the lows. The vegetable garden started it's growing last year, and kept us in a steady supply of gemsquash from July until October ( if nothing much else). This year the plans are a little more ambitious. Starting with a Working Party Weekend next weekend - where willing and coerced friends and family will gather to help us get the patch up and running properly. And then I forgot to mention the chickens, we've gambled on these funny old birds quite recklessly over the past year or so. We've won some, and had the joy of gathering our own eggs daily, the fun of incubating and hatching a couple of broods, and lost bigtime to Mr Fox and his family.

Yes, we're about ankle-deep now in the proverbial smallholding puddle. And I have the feeling that we're just getting started. So, 21 days ...to my next post ( if you're lucky) ...to the Summer really coming...heck maybe - we live in hope here in the UK .... . But, it's really 21 days til the next hatching of a brood of home-grown Manor Farm Cottage chickens ( just in case mr Fox pays us an unexpected visit). Emily, my 10 year old daughter already has the hatching weekend all planned out - at least 2 friends have been invited for a sleepover so that they can play midwife to the hatchlings... I anticipate a weekend of no sleep, and great excitement, and hopefully, many fluffy chooks at the end of it all.