Chicks, veggies and better weather

The weather has moved on, thank goodness, and we have had several dry days in a row. Not only dry but actually sunny and pleasant enough to sit out and talk to the hens and duck on the field or to enjoy a drink on the terrace - I can almost believe that Spring really will be here soon.

This warmth has encouraged the seeds I have sown in the polytunnel and there are lots of green shoots in most of the trays. 

The tiny lettuce plants are growing and my purple sprouting broccoli is continuing to provide me with delicious plates of gorgeousness. Leeks and beetroot planted last year are still going great guns and now the rhubarb is sufficiently long to pick and simmer to luscious tenderness.  I love this time of year.

Martha and Lisa have each given birth to a ram lamb.  Lisa's lamb is an enigma as both she and the Daddy, Ricardo, are large white sheep, yet her lamb is a small black Ouessant type, as Martha's is but then Martha is a small black Ouessant - the indigenous Breton sheep.

The seven chicks born on 11 February are thriving and now enjoying the barn and field. This week I've had more eggs hatching in the kitchen incubator and so far the count is up to twelve with possibly one more egg looking as if a chick may emerge.  

They are so fluffy and round - I just love them!

Two donkeys in the lane whom I saw on the way back from Bowls 

and a very full stream along the side of the road.

A cow and some gorse in my hamlet in the sunshine.

I have a fairly good sized duck pond but for some reason Domy likes to wash and enjoy herself in an old bath which is really for collecting water to irrigate the veggies.

Having aperitifs and a serious conversation with neighbours in St André.

One thing we didn't discuss was the American elections.  I sometimes wonder what the collective IQ of the US might be?  Horrifyinging to think that this ignorant man just could become the most powerful man in the world.

Apart from the seed sowing, lots of planting has been going on in both the garden and veggie patch during the last few weeks. I've planted onions, shallots, garlic, broad beans, thyme, a fig, a plum tree, a cherry tree, a thornless blackberry, raspberry canes and lastly,  these strawberries, in prepared pallets in the garden.

I am used to large eggs, obviously the goose egg at the right back is big - 152g - but I was amazed at the size of one of the hen eggs this week, front centre, which weighed in at exactly 100g!  I presume it will be a double yolker, but will probably blow it to be able to keep the shell.  I have blown ten goose eggs so far this year and have another ten in the rack waiting for some time to spend on doing them.  I have a decoration idea which I found on the internet - watch this space - one day!

My first two hives with bees will, hopefully, arrive during the Easter weekend, via a new friend who lives locally and who is an experienced beekeeper.  I will be going to my first class at a garden centre in Loudeac on Easter Saturday.  Getting excited now!

Three things I like:

1.   The warmer and drier weather.
2.   The sounds of cheeping in the kitchen.
3.   Receiving a pile of English newspapers from English neighbours who have a holiday home in the hamlet.

Another month has managed to rush past - where does the time disappear to so fast?  The weather has not been kind in Brittany during February.  It's a month I am always pleased to see the back of.  We've had rain, rain and more rain and I'm looking forward to the warmth of spring and being dry underfoot.  

My newest Workaway, Robert, arrived on 1 March from the Isle of Skye - long journey to St André.  I should have collected him from the station at Guingamp in the evening but my Land Rover is causing me hassle at the moment.  Last week I had the battery replaced and this week the starter motor has decided that it doesn't want to.  Luckily a friend picked him up for me and brought him home.  We are now awaiting a starter motor to arrive at the garage.  It looks as if I shall be without a vehicle until Tuesday earliest. The first day he was here he barrowed stones to the muddiest parts of the field and the garden hen run to make it safer walking.  He's here for a few weeks so hopefully we'll get loads of jobs knocked off the three page To Do List.  He's just finished building a new log trolley which I bought flat-packed last week.  

I agreed to buy two hives complete with bees from someone returning to England.  They should be available to collect during the beginning of this month so obviously I needed to get some suitable protective clothing and a few other bits and pieces, like a smoker and a hive tool.  I found a lovely supplier in Le Faouet, Gilles, who sold me everything on my list.  Here I am in my very fetching outfit - I hope it will do it's job and stop me being stung.

One of my neighbours, at Lanrivain Gare, keeps twelve hives and he is going to help me collect the hives when the time comes.  He's very knowledgeable and hopefully will be able to give me loads of advice when I'm struggling.

Today, I have friends erecting a bee fence.  No - not a very fine meshed affair - but a stock fence to keep the sheep away from the hives so they don't get knocked over.  they have taken advantage of the one part of the day when it hasn't rained to get out there and work.  This weather makes life very difficult.

I was thrilled last week to walk into the barn and find a small Muscovy duckling had hatched overnight and was running around amongst the geese, hens and other ducks.  Not sure of the gender yet but am referring to it as "he".  Yesterday he was out on the pond without his Mum and also without a care in the world, swimming about with the geese and other ducks.  

The first seven chicks of the year are now in a puppy crate in the kitchen area to give them more room.  This was taken when they were about a week old and confined to a bowl while I cleaned out their brooder.

I have another twenty-two eggs in the incubator which should start hatching in thirteen days time.  I love this time of year with all the animal births happening.

My sheep are also due to deliver soon.  Not sure of the exact dates as the Ricardo, their ram, is always with them.  I can't wait to have lambs again in the field.  Last year the first one was born on 7 March, so it may not be much longer now.

As I was leaving my field one day the week before last, someone who I have seen frequently walking their animals came past my field entrance.  He has with him three ponies, a dog and a goat.

He lives in St Nicolas du Pélem so must have done a minimum of 6 miles walk with them. The goat follows on behind not on any sort of lead - lovely eh?

I have cleared out and cleaned up the polytunnel and started to sow seeds in trays.  The onion sets have gone out in the garden and it's so lovely and warm behind the polythene in the polytunnel, particularly if there's even a little sun outside.  It's a joy to work in there out of the wind and rain.

Egg production is definitely on the rise now that February has passed.  For various reasons I haven't been to Bowls where I usually sell most of my eggs, so I have been having to find egg using recipes to cope with the abundance.  I have blown goose eggs to decorate and used the contents to make quiches and Spanish omelettes.

My Workaway used to be Chef de Partie in a restaurant, in charge of breadmaking and he is now making bread for tomorrow.  I love this website of super helpers!

Three things I like:

1.   Having someone here again helping me with all the tasks I can't do alone.

2.   Enjoying the chicks and my surprise duckling.

3.   The anticipation of being a beekeeper.