Operation Downsize has continued today with the last of the lavender bushes being pulled up, and the rehoming of all of the chickens. Beryl was just the start. Her parent flock of Gold Partridge Orpingtons has been found a loving home in a nearby town with a friend of my sister, who has had chickens before but had been down to her last three or four and was happy to take on some new ones. They left this afternoon and then my friend from church came this evening to take the last ones: five black hybrid ladies and five Brown Sussex ladies will tomorrow be enjoying a big grassy field at the other end of the village - they will think that they are in heaven!
We are now chicken-less. I don't think that I will always be chook-free but I think that our chicken keeping is on hold for a while now. I shall miss them in the garden and my cups of tea in the sunshine will be quieter and less entertaining without being able to watch their interactions and antics. I shall definitely look for more GPOs when I resume chicken keeping, even if it is in my dotage!
And the next stage begins - I have a huge strip of land to redevelop now and to make it look like garden again......this may take some time. If the sun is co-operative tomorrow, I shall take some "before" photos which I hope to be able to compare with some "after" shots later in the year, if all goes to plan. The garden has to look the part when we come to put the house on the market, whether that is later this year or next. Next, probably!
The cheapest way to redevelop the land will be for me to do the work. However, I think we are going to need a rotavator and I don't have one, so I may need to get some help in. I need some work doing on the fencing as well, so I have thought about asking several people to quote for the job as one thing. I'm going to start on the tidying work tomorrow anyway and see how I get on.
The EFG was back in her room just after midnight last night - I stayed awake to wait for a text to be sure she was home safely. I just about had my eyes propped open with matchsticks, but I managed it!
Hope you have a great weekend - see you tomorrow xx
2 comments:
Glad EFG got back ok x
Looking forward to the before and after pictures.
Rotavators are really, really heavy and when my grandparents needed one it needed someone quite strong to use them. So you could probably hire one, and they may have come on in the last few years, but it's probably best to 'get a man in'.
hugs x
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