I'm really tired today. I've been working all day moving books and they are heavy. It will take me several days to move them all and get everything set up just right. My new Library is having a grand opening next week and so everything has got to look good for then. Hopefully the replacement shelves (for the wrong ones delivered) will have arrived. It is difficult to sort all the books properly when you are missing some shelves.
I've lost two hens since I last posted. One hen was looking under the weather one day and was gone the next morning. The other one was the sister of the first one and she has been poorly for some time but seemed happy enough just pottering around. As the others were not picking on her, I just left her to enjoy life as best she could. However, one week to the day after her sister died I went out to check on the hens and she had taken a massive turn for the worse. It is the second time that we have had to "do" for a hen but the first time we have done it ourselves. The first time, we got a farmer friend to come and show us how to do the deed. I feel we have passed another milestone on our journey to urban self-sufficiency. (Not that we will ever be self-sufficient but we might become a bit more self-reliant. ) The funny thing is that the remaining hens have laid more eggs since those two went. Even one of the bantams laid an egg. That makes a grand total of two eggs from the four bantams in 2008.
I'm making hay. My husband thinks it is funny but I feel really proud of my little bit of hay. On dry days, I cut a stripe across the lawn which we haven't mowed so the grass is about 15 inches high. I spread it across the garden bench to dry because air can flow underneath and the grass dries from both sides. After a day, it has shrunk to about half the quantity and after 3-4 days it has shrunk by about another half. Because it is only made in small quantities, I gather the hay up in the evening and put it in an old laundry basket in the shed to keep it dry. When the grass is as dry as it is going to get and is definitely hay, it is stored for the winter in paper sacks that held layers' pellets for the hens. I'll have at least half a dozen sacks full by the time I'm finished. I know it is not a huge quantity but the rabbit will have our hay made in our garden in the winter and that gives me a nice little glow inside.
I'm going to have a really early night tonight or I'll never manage to be up for work in the morning.
I've lost two hens since I last posted. One hen was looking under the weather one day and was gone the next morning. The other one was the sister of the first one and she has been poorly for some time but seemed happy enough just pottering around. As the others were not picking on her, I just left her to enjoy life as best she could. However, one week to the day after her sister died I went out to check on the hens and she had taken a massive turn for the worse. It is the second time that we have had to "do" for a hen but the first time we have done it ourselves. The first time, we got a farmer friend to come and show us how to do the deed. I feel we have passed another milestone on our journey to urban self-sufficiency. (Not that we will ever be self-sufficient but we might become a bit more self-reliant. ) The funny thing is that the remaining hens have laid more eggs since those two went. Even one of the bantams laid an egg. That makes a grand total of two eggs from the four bantams in 2008.
I'm making hay. My husband thinks it is funny but I feel really proud of my little bit of hay. On dry days, I cut a stripe across the lawn which we haven't mowed so the grass is about 15 inches high. I spread it across the garden bench to dry because air can flow underneath and the grass dries from both sides. After a day, it has shrunk to about half the quantity and after 3-4 days it has shrunk by about another half. Because it is only made in small quantities, I gather the hay up in the evening and put it in an old laundry basket in the shed to keep it dry. When the grass is as dry as it is going to get and is definitely hay, it is stored for the winter in paper sacks that held layers' pellets for the hens. I'll have at least half a dozen sacks full by the time I'm finished. I know it is not a huge quantity but the rabbit will have our hay made in our garden in the winter and that gives me a nice little glow inside.
I'm going to have a really early night tonight or I'll never manage to be up for work in the morning.
posted by Jo @ 12:20 PM
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