Floored

Well finally we have no gaps in our floor boards in the bedroom however as a downside we can't watch t.v. through the floor anymore!

Other news not so good the Landy went bang in a big style so she is waiting to be fixed which may be a new engine :-(

Tidy stable!

Well after a full day of moving boxes today the floor in the second stable/pig sty room you can actually see the floor space in over a year so andrew can use it as a second work room/rowing machine space...note the word space hopefully it will stay that way!!

Good girl!

I'm not sure which one but one of our ducks laid her first egg today!! Our first duck egg, I wasn't expecting them to start laying until next year as it is getting late in the year for ducks especially as they are very young adults!

Rain!

Rain rain rain...it doesn't want to seem to stop at the moment we are surrounded by lots of mud, we have to keep moving the male chicken run to give them some dry land!!

As a result we have been spending time inside so at least some work is being done...cupboard door has been put on and shelving is going up in the pantry. I also have hung quite a few pieces of artwork so now we have some colour on the walls also!

Penned in

Lovely as the geese are we have now put a gate on the field so they can graze the fields instead of everything they could get hold of in the yard! Andrew has also put windows in the workshops so he can see what he is doing and keep warm at the same time!

At the moment it is very wet so spending a lot of time muddy although at least the ducks are enjoying it!!

Below are photos of some of the windows, Our silkie crosses, new gate and a rare day off at Cilgerran Castle!

Happy Birds!

Sorry for no postings for a while, we have been busy making a pond, new chicken coop oh and going on a NT working holiday near Snowdon building dry stone walls. We are also part way through finshing off a ditch for a pipe for our well water.

Slightly off topic..

A visitor who snuck in without paying at work today..

Away

Yes I know I'm way behind on my blogging but my excuse is that we have been away doing stone pitching on Pen Y Fan on a NT working holiday! A great week was had by all and the pre ordered sunshine came for most of the week for us!

At PYG we have also been busy... topping the paddocks, sorting out extra rain water storage (2 tonnes!), working on the Landy ready for MOT, chopping up wood from around the duck pond, anti splash dry duck feet grid, harvesting and storing our produce to name a few!

We also forgot our water container from the NT holiday so went back to get it and spent the day roaming the Brecon Beacons in all terrain vehicles (one got slightly stuck for a short while!) putting drainage sleeping policemen and putting in a bridge over a river.

So as you can see I haven't had much time to turn on my computer!!

Changing landys eyes, duck grid, topping the paddocks.

Queuing for a bath, sloes, freaky veg!

Peas!, Crybyn, NT group Sept 09

Strimming

Well andrew has finished strimming so we can get about now without fighting our way through a jungle! Busy again with more visits also from another sister...Andrews this time! Who had the pleasure of going with us to watch the village tractor run which saw 32 tractors trundle by which was a bit of fun!

Busy Busy Busy

Busy busy busy! Lots of visitors this week but does give the excuse for us to take a break too. The reason not been on here for a while is due to being busy working, both at work and on the land and doing a bit of volunteer work in the Brecons! We have had visits from the Tyler household and also my sister and Aaron in the last week (thanks to all for a good week!) and help with landrover (Tylers) and trees/pond area (Aaron).

I have also spent quite a while prepping fruit for storage (apples and blackcurrants). Andrew is making a ginger beer plant so we can make ginger beer and I am part way through making marrow and apple chutney!


(Devils bridge on day out) ( Ducklings) (H&A on beach)

Royal Welsh

Braving the weather we took a day off and visited the Royal Welsh show on Tuesday, unfortunately the times we could have taken photos the rain lashed it down..typical!! Despite the rain it was still a good day and it did stop raining occasionally. We also got to see some full grown geese and can now imagine how large ours could get!

Moving!

The new chicks moving into their new home!



Also us moving the refurbed kitchen cabinet into the house which was not easy but we managed it. It is nearly ready for use, just need to hang the doors on which we need some new screws and some handles which I hope we can get done tomorrow as we have to go into Aber tomorrow to pick up my new glasses! The handles should be coming via ebay if we manage to win the bid that is!

Getting bigger!

As you can see the geese and ducks are getting bigger! Our next project is making the ducks a new home near the pond so the geese will have the caravan to themselves!

Sad news

Sadly a couple of days ago we lost one of the ducks so now we only have 3. On a positive note the rest are doing well (ducks, geese and chickens!) and we also have another batch of eggs incubating at the moment which will be the last we are hatching this year.

The veg are coming on well and last weekend we harvested our first potatoes which were yummy and also our first tomatoes which I had in my lunch!

We have also moved a large piece of kitchen furniture into the kitchen which has been sitting in the shed for a year! It's nearly usable as the main unit has been painted, just in the process of painting the doors!

Chicken Coop..

Andrew has been doing a lot of work on doing up one of the old chicken coop's left at the property when we bought it. When we found it the floor was missing, bit's of wood rotted and chewed by rats and the roofing felt coming off, just generally in a very sad state...thanks to his hard work it now has a new floor, is on wheels, a shiny new coat of paint and half a roof...only half the roof is finished due to the fact we have run out of cans which we have used to cover the roof...only have to find another 152 aluminium cans to finish the job! I will post a photo soon (I took one today but so sunny couldn't see it due to the reflection fron the roof!)

Chicks!

Well the second batch of chicks have all hatched and are settling in nicely, the first chick that hatched a few weeks back has now come off heat and is also doing ok! Other things we have been upto over the last few days is doing up an old chicken coup and clearing around the green house in which we have planted out more tomatoes and the melons! So busy busy busy! Although most of the day is spent either feeding all the various chicks, chickens, goslings and ducklings and watering plants!

We did also get time to go for a walk in the area which took longer than expected as several footpaths were closed but we did find the site of the roman fort and remains of bath house we had aimed to find!


Chick from batch one Chicks from batch two

More Newbies!

Today our family has grown again with 4 ducklings and 5 goslings more little darlings to keep us busy! Our baby chick is also doing well and we are keeping our fingers crossed our next batch hatch ok!

(The Rabble)


(Untying my laces for me!)

A few pikkies!

Rocky being naughty!


Elan Valley



House Martins building their house on our house!

Chicks!

Well we are the proud foster parents of a baby chick, we incubated 4 eggs, sadly 3 of them did not hatch but the one who did is alert and lively! It hatched yesterday and below is a photo of it at roughly one day old. Talking of chicks also last night we were sitting watching telly when there was a bang on the window outside when we looked there was a chaffinch fledgling on the floor stunned. We took it in overnight and it couldn't stand so thought we would let it rest overnight and see how it was in the morning. Fortunatly it had picked up and when we let it out this morning it flew off and landed in a tree so hopefully we gave it a second chance and it will have learnt not to fly into a window again!

Nearly there!

Well we have laid the last of the tiles today we just need to do the grouting and we will have finished the kitchen floor it will be nice to have a fully functioning kitchen again, though need to get he plumbing for the sink done before we have a complete kitchen and to do up the cupboard which is in one of the stables at the moment!

We also got the garlic, potatoes, carrots, onions, courgettes and parsnips planted in the raised beds although wasn't easy keeping the chickens at bay who either wanted to scrabble around in the earth or eat the leaves of what we were planting!! The willow are also doing OK at the moment! I will add some pikkies but at the moment we have a bit of a busy week so may not be this week!

Kitchen!!

Well we have started to tile the kitchen floor so hopefully soonish we will have a proper kitchen again! The veg is growing well also with the courgettes I planted a week ago several inches tall already and we plan to plant outside next week looking at planting onions, garlic and potato. When the kitchen floor is done I'll post some pikkies which I'm guessing will be next week by the time we have laid all the tiles and grouted it!

New family members!

Our family has expanded! We now have a stunning looking Welsummer cockerel and his hen who have come to us via freecycle with thanks to their previous owners. After the initial getting to know you session with Star and the pecking order sorted between them they are getting on well with each other and spent some of the afternoon helping us (In there own way!) in the paddocks pinning down some of the plastic sheet around the willow. We also now have two hens laying eggs, fortunately the egg colour is different so we can tell who's was who's!

Harvest!

Well today we harvested our first produce grown from seed...a radish, ok might not sound much but it was a first! Even I liked the taste and I don't normally like radish!! The tomato plants are also doing well just waiting for the posibility for frost and we can start planting outside!

Also Andrew cleared out one of the sheds which was quite a task as lined with carpet in the roof covered in dust..yuck! He also painted the outside so now looks much better and cleaner as well!

A few days off!

Well I'm taking it a bit easy on my days off, Andrew is dry stone walling near Snowdon on a working holiday so I have been pottering potting plants! I'm expecting a delivery of wood today so that will keep me busy tomorrow! Also I spotted a red kite land in the field behind the house today, I was too slow to get a photo but it may be back as there was a dead bird in the field which it was feeding on which is still there


Tomatoes and one of the Radish

Llyn Brianne

Click on the image to see it better!

Reservoir Llyn Brianne in the Cambrians a short drive from where we live in the most stunning location! Photo's don't quite to it justice! Looking forward to us spending time exploring the Cambrians.

Willows!

As promised pictures of the willows being planted with thanks to Jasper!

Work and Willow!

Apologies for the delay in posting my first week at work has kept me occupied (In a good way!). Andrew has been busy whilst I have been at work. He took a trip to the other side of the Cambrians over a stunning road (It looks a great road to drive along!) to buy some willow which we will be planting over Easter with the help of Jasper providing the weather behaves! The willow hopefully will help dry out the wet part of our land and be a product for us to use also! He also was busy getting the area ready which meant covering the area with plastic to kill off the grass to give the willow a chance to grow! He has also being sorting out the guttering at the back of the house and sorting out my house ready for rental so as you can see we have both been very busy over the last week!
I will add pikkies soon (they are on Andrews camera at the moment!)

Tiling!

Well the last three days mainly have been filled with tiling the Pantry which although only a smallish area, it was awkward and quite amusing watching Andrew trying to tile himself into small corners! We also had a load of wood delivered on Friday so that took us a morning to stack, I can now see why it took Andrew a whole day to do on his own! With an also essensial trip to the shops it took us three days to finish. We just have to do the grouting today which shouldn't take to long hopefully!

Under attack!

It's been a few quiet days but there was some excitement when we had an invasion of darleks in the back paddock! We are hoping to start laying the tiles in the pantry tomorrow now the paint on the walls has finally dried!
We also managed to get a coat of paint on the stables before the rain came back again after a weekof sunshine!

Aching and bruised!

The last few days have been hard work and tiring as we cleaned out the ditch alongside the track which had years of mud and debris in it...lots of plastic bags and quite a few broken bottles and pottery nothing we could date the last time it was cleaned out but we are guessing quite a few years leaving us after 3 days of moving mud aching and bruised although the sun shone on us so at least it was pleasant in some respects!

Today we painted the stables, well the wooden bits which there were quite a few!

Mountain Climbing

As usual last few days have been busy! Saturday morning was spent putting muck in the third veg plot then a nice surprise a text from my sister and her boyfriend to say they could come and see us for sat evening and Sunday. We had already decided we was going to take a day out from working on Sunday and go for a walk so now we had an excuse to do so as well!

Sunday we went for a walk to Tifi Pools, well one of them anyway, and the sun also decided to come out so good day had by all, even though some were distracted by frog sporn..don't ask!

Today Andrew had to go to London so I spent the day clearing more mud from the yard so a little bit sore and aching now!

Finally this morning I had to take this photo of this aspiring mountain climber!

Plants and paint!

The last few days we have been busy inside and out, the water butts we ordered arrived and Andrew has set up 3 of them yesterday and today, just one more to do tomorrow (although we expect them to fill very quickly!) I spent some of the day clearing more mud off the yard and entrance but still have a fair bit to clear.

This morning we had a few of our radiators shrunk as had to much water in the system and whilst Andrew was helping out with the rads I planted a few more seed trays, tomatoes, parsnips, cabbages, carrots, onions, peppers and radishes! This afternoon we put the first coat of paint in the hall and stairwell..soon all the painting in the house will be finished.

Finally still waiting for daffs to flower outside, as we have so many outside in bud I cut a few and put some in a vase so now at least we have some flowering!