It's a beautiful day...

I'd thought the blog had come to a natural end, but the sheer beauty of Autumn got me out with my camera this morning.  This is the most stunning time of year when the leaves are on the ground.

The little brown seabright chicks from Norfolk are fully grown now - this magnificent cockerel is just getting his crowing voice and likes to roost in the pine tree overnight.

The other one I am glad to say is a hen - beautiful black with a greeny sheen to her feathers.  Hopefully she'll start laying in the spring.  The 5 little chicks we hatched ourselves came to a nasty end with Mr Fox at about 9 weeks old.  We'll try some more next year.

Peggy and Eileen however are NOT at their best.  They are shivering in the cold at the moment as they are having their annual moult.  There is justice in the humiliation though as they have been hen-pecking the others and making their lives a misery.  We moved all the chickens in together and put their house in the goose run to make feeding easier, and these two have been rather put out.

Lucy, Juicey and Jube are still as gorgeous as ever.  Jube has been called 'he' all year (he/she is now 5 months old) but he could be a she.  A quick search of 'how to sex a goose' on the internet has revealed nothing - most people just wait and see if they lay an egg!  Jube is the one at the back in this picture.

We're delighted to have some winter visitors to the field... they'll eat it down in time for the wild flowers to come up again next spring.

 All Ian's careful fencing is paying off at last, and the hedge back is all greened-up thanks to all the wonderful rain this year.

The massive pile of clay has been landscaped into a curved bank and trees will be planted on it when I get around to it this winter...

 The pond is still leaking but the sheer volume of rain keeps it full.....and covered in duckweed.  Need to sort that but no idea how...

 Everything's green - even the track... 

Planting season...

We can't let another winter go by without getting some plants in the ground.

Our massive earth bank is now covered with 800 little hedge plants, all staked and guarded - bought from Wee Tree Nurseries in Somerset. They are so tiny it seems impossible that they will grow into a thick hedge.

For the record this is what we planted - 320 hawthorn, 80 blackthorn, 80 spindle, 80 hazel, 80 guelder rose, 80 field maple and 80 dogwood. The mixture will have some fruit and nuts for the birds, flowers in spring and the dogwood will have bright green and orange tips in winter. Can't wait!

Earth, water, fire....

Today has been a joyful day of freezing sunshine, clearing flower beds, and sorting through the veritable reclamation yard that has taken root in our field. Over two years of building work has generated mountains of stone, logs, soil, roofing sheets, drainage piping, bricks, slabs, pallets........ The neighbours have been patient but the time has come to give them their view back.

The earth bank will soon be planted with 800 little 'whips' - small plants of native species, and I'm back to my favourite occupation of building stone and earth banks. It has to be used as a reward for painting - my least favourite occupation.

The muddy hole we dug in the summer filled promisingly with water when the spring started flowing just before Christmas. I wouldn't call it a 'pond' quite yet but Ian's Christmas pressie of a weeping willow stands proudly on its banks. A lot more planting needs to happen, and the 'stream' needs to be 'naturalised'.

We might need to resort to the borehole to keep things alive through the summer however - unless we are lucky enough to have a wet summer!!

The afore-mentioned borehole now supplies the house...... Much to our relief the test results came back from the lab to say it's perfect for drinking, and we are still very much alive so they must be right. It has 3 filters at the moment, with 1 more to come. First a particle (sand) filter, then a UV filter just in case any bugs get into the system, and finally a charcoal filter on the two kitchen taps (this is supposed to remove any strange taste that sometimes comes from iron or something in the soil). The grey tank in the picture below is the 'pressure vessel' that gets the water up to mains pressure before it goes into the house.

Despite all our filters, I will either be looking like Cleopatra, or like I have a very dark suntan if I have too many more baths like this one........ hence the 4th filter needed to strain out those ever-so-tiny clay particles.

Any finally, fire....the woodburner from the lounge has been cleaned up, repainted, and installed on its new stone hearth. The heat is amazing. Despite the high ceiling, the insulation is doing it's job and we have to open the windows to let some cool air in!!

'before'...'after'...Yes I was sad to lose the brick fireplace too, but it had to come out so we could relay the floor and damp proof the wall.

Keep on digging...

If you shut your eyes and think lily pads, bullrushes, gunnera, dragonflies and sunlight glinting on water, it's possible to feel better about the various muddy holes we have been digging in our beautiful piece of Somerset. We keep looking forward to next year and the year after when the scars in the ground will be healed and greened up again.

Still, this rainwater attenuation pond held water in the solid clay........so we dug this one! It hasn't rained yet so we don't know if it will leak. It will take roof water from the shed and a land drain that flows throughout the winter, and outfalls into another land drain that takes it to the stream.

Harry creating the 'stream' that will flow in winter and when it's raining...

This huge hole had no choice....

But where has all the soil gone to?

A bank around the field 150 metres long, 2m wide and a metre high ready for hedge planting in the Winter.

"Digger at rest". (Pleeease come and take it away Arlow and Hagget before we dig anything else)