After my last, sad post I thought I’d update you on some more cheerful potagère news. The weather has turned very warm here so, rather than contain them for the extra week advised by their seller, I’ve let the ducks go out into the poultry enclosure.
They of course had their friend the gosling to keep them company. The trio are forever together and sometimes it looks like the little goose is their surrogate mum. After the loss of the other gosling this makes me so happy to see the little chap have companionship.
Their first night outside I had shown them the old, plastic dog kennel that I’d filled with grass cuttings. It was like a soft warm bed that I kept catching them up and placing them in. Of course the others would be running around and at first this made whichever member of the foul family I had in there waddle out asap. Eventually I managed to get them all in and they seemed to like it.
The produce in the potagère is growing well. My surplus of lettuce is being shredded and fed to the poultry and I’m going to pot some up and take some to the neighbours tomorrow. The beds are kind of crowded you see and reading my month by month veg grower book I’ve started,to think about planting others things that will come to fruition later in the year.
This week we had our first meal with our own grown veggies; lettuce and peas. I waited until my daughters came home to pick them as I thought they’d be excited to do so. I was right. They chatted away as we selected leaves from still growing lettuce, leaving their stems to continue on their merry way. My youngest, seeing me shred leaves that had been nibbled by insects and throw them in with the chickens thought that was the point and was happily grabbing handfuls to give them, eek!
So we moved on to the peas, squeezing the pods to see if they were firm and plucking some that were from the stems. We had them in a salad and I’ve never seen my eldest eat so much green.
I’m still trying to figure out how and when to harvest them; do I just keep them on the vine until ready to eat, or collect and store them? I do know that to store them I have to leave their little ‘hats’ on.
I’ve already spoken of how carrots can be left in the ground even after a frost, but I thought I’d show you how they are popping up from the ground. Yesterday I could only see one group, but I swear that after today’s intense heat lots more seemed to have shown themselves.
The beets have at least one plant that are the size of a golf or tennis ball and others are growing well.
The spring onions have grown so well that I’ll definitely have to harvest some tomorrow. The bulbs on some of them are just lying outside of the earth on the ground.
The red cabbages aren’t ready, but I’m finding how they grow fascinating. You can gradually see the shape form, with the central leaves closing in on themselves and the outer ones spread out.
As I can make space in the beds I’m thinking of broccoli, leeks, more parsnips maybe and carrots too if I can get them (they can stay in the ground so long so can be used in the autumn and winter), as well as Brussel sprouts -maybe even some pumpkins?
The markets here don’t just sell good food, you can buy veggies and some fruit ready to put in the ground to continue growing. I’m going to go with the girls and choose some more things to go in.
To hear the birds sing as you tend to, select and eat your own grown food. Yes, this is life pre fall in Eden. I don’t know why I’ve been blessed with this, but I’m so grateful. To think this was God’s plan for all of us. It still is when His Kingdom comes.
Last Wednesday I took my little ones to the market. They sell calves, veggies for your potagere and poultry for your backyard and table. There were lots of discussion; would this one just be good for laying or can you eat it as well? For a city dweller’s ears it was a revelation. The girls, of course, thought it was all wonderful and were especially keen to go and look at the various types of chickens and ducks on display.
I was tempted but by the time I came back to give in to the temptation he’d sold out of the ducks that I’d wanted. He told me he’d be at another maket Saturday with more. Perhaps I’d had a lucky escape?
Nah! As Saturday morning rolled around I had the girls in the car and off we went to hunt some ducks down – metaphorically speaking of course. I asked the man for the ducks that were ‘collar vert’ which are Mallard ducks. In they went into a box and we set off for home.
On the way we stopped at my parents place to show them our ducks. They duly ‘oohed’ and ‘ahhed’, the ducks went back in the box and home we went again. Here are our ducks after we’d put them in the enclosure with the chickens. The chickens seemed quite scared of them at first; running away, clucking loudly and simply refusing to come in at night. This was the case even though the little ducks were in a cat box that I’d put them in to make sure they were safe from the larger birds over night.
I contacted my hubby in America. It’s safe to say he wasn’t too happy about the additional birds in our coop. I swore to him -these would definitely be the last ones.
We set up a paddling pool and put rocks on one side so they could climb in and out themselves. They made a lovely little cheeping sound whenever you were nearby and followed you around like you’re their mum. Adorable.
On Friday a French friend Sophie came around. She told me ‘that’s not a duck it’s a bird’. I told her that I’d specifically asked for a Mallard, collar vert, and that’s what he gave me. She kind of agreed. Kind of.
That night the ducks didn’t want to go in the coop and evaded me for a good twenty minutes as I chased them round the coop. In the end I thought to myself that they’d evidently been accepted by the chickens so they be ok and find somewhere to nest.
On Saturday morning the girls had to go grocery shopping and we were going to let the girls out on our way. I looked inside and saw one of our ducklings next to the other one; the latter was lying with its feet showing behind the dog kennel that I thought would be their duck hose, in between it and the wall. It was lifeless – my heart broke as it’s pair chirped next to it, staying with him as if for company.
I moved my way inside, ushering my daughters to get back and not come in. I hoped it would move as I got closer. Had it been pecked by the chickens? Was I completely wrong about their acceptance? I expected to find a battered and scarred duckling.
As I looked closer there were no markings. Silly of me, but I wondered if I picked it up if it would move like Apple the hen did after Bertie grabbed her. She didn’t of course.
I searched again for signs of beak marks, wondering if she’d just got trapped between the wall and the kennel. But I couldn’t see how that would kill the little thing.
That’s when I noticed the true extent of how horrible it was. Her head was missing.
She’d obviously popped it out of some hole in the coop and it had been bitten of by a predator.
It’s bizarre. When I was younger my first career was as a police officer. I’ve dealt with numerous dead bodies in various states of decay and coped. Yet this little duck really upset me. Later on as I was driving round trying to sort things out I found myself having to pull over to the side of the road to be physically sick! I don’t know what my girls thought.
Panicking and disconcerted by the memory of the solitary duck next to its dead friend I decided that I had to get another one. I went to the same market and found the same stall open and asked the man for another duck, pointing to similar birds I’d bought before. The man said « they’re not ducks, they’re birds » using the same word, oiseau, Sophie had used.
My mind raced. What did he mean they weren’t ducks? I’d asked him for collar vert canards last time and he’d given me ones just like them.
He was looking at me strangely and I said again « collar vert mallards » and he said « oui » and pointed at a completely different set of birds. I started to panic even more and he was looking at me like I was a little insane so I just asked for two. He was still looking at me strangely (unsurprising really) as he told me I’d need to keep them inside for another fortnight and mentioned a heat lamp. I was asking him if I could just keep them inside and he said yes…..but I’m really not so sure. As the encounter went on it was evident that I didn’t understand what was happening as I struggled with the language and shock (it was shortly after this I was sick), but there I had two little duck in a box in the car, with my girls in the back seat and I was driving to pick up provisions for the new little lives I had suddenly acquired.
After a trip to the garden centre I had a wire cage with plastic trays, straw, appropriate feed and new chicken wire.
As I arrived home my mind was still racing. What is the animal I have? What is a bird with webbed feet but isn’t a duck”? I racked my brains, called my mum who hadn’t a clue and was increasingly confused. Eventually an Internet search of « baby bird with webbed feet, not duck » brought up this image….
Yep. I had a goose, or a gosling to be exact. And on the same page….
Yep. I had Mallard ducklings too. That couldn’t be let out. They went in the cage.
I managed to speak with my hubby about it all and I think my still evident distress helped him be sympathetic to the two new little birds under our roof.
So for the rest of the day I hammered chicken wire all around the base of the coop with four layers going on the inside too. I think they’re safe.
I was bringing the gosling in with the ducks with the cage’s metal divider between them, as I didn’t want the little thing to be lonely.
Ducks poop a lot! I have to clean them out about twice a day and they want lots of water. So yesterday I let them out in the chicken coop as it was lovely and warm out. I gave them a little bowl of water which one immediately jumped in and splashed around.
It was so sweet; the little gosling ran straight over and was so excited when he saw them. The three were inseparable all day. Last night for the first time I took the grill out and they all snuggled up together.
I’ve been out gardening today and I thought I’d share how it and the potagère is coming on.
Firstly I want to post some pictures of our beautiful roses. Their perfume is gorgeous!
I’ve been putting some herbs in pots outside the window where the kitchen will be. The left hand one is a lemon tree and the right hand is a cherry tree, but it shouldn’t grown more than 2ms. I don’t think it will stay in that pot, we’re going to be doing some rearranging in the garden come autumn. I’ll update you later.
By the back door is a wisteria that I planted last year and it’s already growing significantly.
A lot of things, but not everything, is growing well in the potagère too. In the below series of pictures you can see that the potatoes, sugar snap peas and peppers are all growing well. So are the weeds around the pots, ha, but they got scooped up after and fed to the chickens who love them.
PotatoesPotatoes and sugar snap peasPeppers and potatoes
In the following you can see the central bed with spring onions, red cabbage, beetroots and parsnips all growing well. The red cabbage keeps getting eaten by slugs though. There are also sweet potatoes there that are growing more slowly, but I think that’s normal.
Central bed
Spring onions Red cabbagesBeetrootsParsnips and sweet potatoes
The right hand rectangular bed has celery, which is growing well, and red onions that are too.
Celery, that needs to be blanched soon
Red onions, with the bûlbs just beginning to show.
The left hand rectangular bed has the carrots, red lettuce, and more red onions which are all coming along nicely.
This is the bed with beans and cucumber in. The cucumber doesn’t seem to be doing well at all and the beans are struggling. I have cucumber in other places too, so it’s not the bed – though evidently I didn’t clear this one out enough as it’s got lots growing in there. Oh well, I said that this was a trial year.
On this side all the lettuce is growing because of the shade. Most of them are getting a lot bigger, although you can see where the shade from the rhodedendrum bush and shed hit as those are a lot smaller. I learnt something about leaf lettuce this week that’s made me realise that I’ve definitely over planted these – but I can always share them with the neighbours.
This bed has the tomatoes and courgettes in. The latter are certainly doing a lot better than the cucumbers! I chose this wall because of the amount of sun it gets and that seems to be paying off. You can see the courgettes are blooming.
When I took the photos the potagère was full of weeds and the girls and I came and grabbed handfuls the day afterwards to give to the chickens who love them. They all stand at the fence now waiting to see what we’re bringing them.
On average now we get three eggs a day. Apple still is in shock I think from the Bertie attack, although she can definitely see out of one eye and her other one is half open. I believe she can see out of that too, but I can’t be certain.
I’ve just done their coop and the lawns whilst my hubby is away and used up all the grass cuttings on the floor of it. They love it, as well as when I use it to line their nesting box. It’s free too -so another bonus!
Although I regularly find poor little Lady Jane in the nesting box sat on an egg. I think she really wants a baby 😞. I was trying to explain to my 7 year old that unless we have a cockerel than she won’t be able to have one. Hey, you’ve got to start somewhere huh?
As Belle likes to fly over the top of the enclosure, but wisely never goes out of the potagere where Bertie is, I let all the girls out to roam occasionally – which they seem to love.
We’ve just gone to take them back in for the night and my youngest ran to sit on the rock that’s in their area. I’ve had to train her to hold my hand and not run around like a mad thing trying to grab hold of them.
I pick one of them up and give them to her as she sits there and she hugs and kisses them (😦). I try and stop her doing the latter, but at least her holding them is better than the former.
Tonight it was Apple’s turn and Lilly kept pointing out ‘eyes’, ‘’ertie’. She remembers.
We had a good look around and they’re excited by what’s growing. Nevertheless I realised that I didn’t know when to pick the produce. So I’ve done a little research and this is what I’ve found out.
Beetroots
You can apparently eat the green tops of beetroots when you’re thinning out the rows. I didn’t plant mine in rows, and I don’t know if I’m meant to be thinning things out 🤷♀️. So, that’s going to need a little extra looking into. However I have found out that the size are really a matter of taste and they’re ready any time after you see the shoulders protruding at the soil line. I think there’s long way to go yet.
Cabbages
I’ve read the cabbage head will feel solid when gently squeezed and need to be harvested when they reach maturity or they’ll continue to grow and split open. It seems other veggies are able to stay in the ground a little longer
Carrots
Carrots are apparently hard to judge – as a novice gardener that’s sending me straight to YouTube. What did people do before?
The tops of the carrots show at the soil line and you’re meant to gauge when the diameter looks right according to your variety. Unfortunately i didn’t know any of this and I don’t think I kept the card to know the variety 🤦♀️.
I think it will be necessary to pull one out when we’re on target. Luckily, unlike cabbages, they can be left in the ground once mature, so I don’t need to worry about spoiling them if I wait to long. Even a light frost is meant to improve and sweeten the carrot’s flavor, so I’m thinking of using them as and when I need rather than harvesting them in one, massive lot.
Cucumbers and Courgettes
My cucumbers are definitely not doing well as they’re described as ‘racing to the harvest’. I can’t even detect the leaves on mine.
However the same is meant to be true of courgettes or zucchini. The advice is to check daily and take then out quickly when they’re firm and smooth.
Lettuce
I got all leaf lettuce, which you treat differently to head lettuce. With these you need to let it grow to about 4 inches in height and then harvest the outer leaves, leaving the younger, inner leaves to grow. They can go on like this for most of the summer. Like I said – it’s obvious now I’ve overdone it!
If you look at the pictures above two seem ready to go. My pops is coming over on the weekend and I’ll ask his advice then.
Onions
With onions I’m looking for the tops to fall over, which looks something like this….
The greenery needs to go a bit yellow too. Then I need to allow them to dry in the sun, before storing them.
Parsnips
Parsnips, like carrots, are said to taste better if left in the ground until after a frost or two. This is great news as I like them and carrots roasted with a Sunday lunch or in wintry stews.
I’ve read if I mulch them I can leave them in the ground over the winter and harvest in spring. I love roasted parsnips though, and unlike the lettuce I only got a couple of plants. They’re not going to l’as The that long!
Next year I’ll be buying more and harvesting throughout the winter.
Peas
Peas are said to be sweeter if harvested before fully plumped and they need to be tasted to determine if they are sweet enough. So that will be a job for the girls then
Potatoes
I ran out of room with my potatoes and I think I only planted new ones. So I’m looking for the tops of the plants starting to flower which is when I can harvest them.
Next year when I have more beds I intend to plant more and store them.
Tomatoes
My daughter is especially looking forward to the tomatoes, which are her favourite. We were out tying them back tonight and smelling our hands afterwards as that lovely, tomato scent remained.
I can’t wait until they’re red, slightly soft and you can pull them easily from the vine.
Bell peppers
I’m so disconnected from the earth that I didn’t know that bell peppers are often from the same plant, just left to ripen longer.
I’m not a fan of green peppers, so I’ll be waiting for them to turn. If the hubby is in disagreement I can tell him that not only are they sweeter they have increased vitamin C content as well. Being a mega cook he probably knows that though.
The advice is to make a clean cut with a knife or secateurs, being careful not to topple or otherwise disturb the plant in order not to knock off any fruits that are still developing.
Celery
I’d read it was important to blanch celery to stop it going bitter, but didn’t know what that was. I found this helpful video online and I’ve embedded it here.
My celery is just starting to show it’s top, so that’s a job for the next few days.
I’m loving it. I can’t tell you how much joy it’s giving me. Walking round our little patch, discussing the growing plants with the girls, their excitement evident. Heaven.
In my last potagère post I spoke about speaking to my pops about where to plant the veg I’d bought – being a newbie I had no idea. I started planting on his advice and then I looked around; evidently I’d bought too much! I looked into extending the growing space but realised that there was no way this would help. Yikes!
I came up with a two pronged solution; extending the planting area and looking into complimentary planting. You can do this based to make the most of your space and on enable your plants to grow better. I quickly got confused by it all. However these are some of the sites I found helpful in trying to work out a planting plan.
This has lots of vegetables with a link to each one which takes you to an in-depth page on what to plant with it, and what to avoid. It’s good, but lots of clicking can be time consuming.
This has information and a chart that is basic to look at, and a good size amount of veggies detailed. Good to start getting your head around the subject.
This was one of my favourites; a good sized list of veggie soup in a basic format. I found it really helpful as I’d bought a large selection and this meant I could get quite a bit of information quickly.
We have a seperate, pre existing herb garden, but eventually I want to move them into the main potagère. With its focus on herbs I’ve bookmarked this for future reference.
After the research this is what I came up with.
On the far bed I’m growing red lettuce as it’s a little shadier there. As the lettuce grows mainly above ground I’ve added carrots – which grow predominantly below ground and are good companions – as well as onions, which grown below ground too but seem to grow at different times and at take up a different space below ground. I kept double checking whether onions were ok to grow with these two as they can, apparently, affect what grows around them.
The middle bed was interesting to lay out. I’ve mixed red cabbage in with beetroots – one grows above ground and at a different time than the other. Additionally parsnips and sweet potatoes (towards the front of the picture – I’m hoping I’ve spread them out enough 😟) and spring onions are intermixed throughout.
Planting onions was the most difficult thing in terms of planning. I bought three trays; red, yellow and spring. They don’t look like anything much, but actually the growing distances really spread them out so it takes some thinking through. Particularly when added to the fact that they affect other plants.
This one has celery interspersed with red onions – largely based on the fact that celery can grow with onions. This is an afternoon shot, but it’s actually one of the sunnier beds.
I’ve put these pots all along the wall – eventually I’m going to do another dry stone wall. We have to have a door put in an internal wall which will result in sufficient stone, perhaps towards the end of the summer it will get done. In the meantime there are cucumbers with potatoes (these grow we’ll together) and mange tous. I was originally going to put onions with the mange tous, but they’re not a good match.
Above are some beans and cucumbers too.
All down the side where some bed’s that had had hydrangea that needed digging out, the sides of which weren’t very high. In addition further along was the area where many of these rocks came from (you can see all the befores here) and I so wasn’t looking forward to this as my body was achingly from all the work. Then Pops came up with the genius idea of just laying bags of compost there.
Not the best photo, as my hand is in the way. You can see where I’ve grown plants that need deep roots (tomatoes and courgettes) I’ve used two bags. I cut a hole in the top of one, then in the bottom of another before placing that over the other. Then I cut holes in the top bag and planted.
The other bags, which have lettuce in them, are only one deep.
This saved so much time and if I have enough rocks post doorway I’m just going to build up the sides and use the dirt here rather than digging out again.
I bought waaaaaay too much and ended up giving some veggies to my Pops. In fact I’ve planted hardly any potatoes due to space and so I’m going to put the rest in the cool larder in the garage. Perhaps when I have the bigger beds next year I can plant more, but I’m already thinking of removing some more of the hydraenga to make some more room in the exterior beds.
My cucumber plants seem to have died already ( 😞). I’ll see how they go, but this is just going to be a learning year I think.
What’s exciting is that we are now getting about three eggs a day! We had to stop Lilly going in and picking up Lady Jane Grey as she’d stopped laying. But the only one not laying now is Apple, who I think is suffering from PTSD after the dog attack 😧. She’s doing a lot better though.
Yesterday the girls and I took four eggs each to our neighbours who seemed thrilled and were really excited we have chickens, which is sweet. One of our neighbours was asking about the porch and saying how lovely it was. When she asked where I got it from and I told her leboncoin she was really impressed; apparently they’re very expensive. It’s nice to know we’ve had a bargain!
I’m off to water the tress at the front now, God bless!
The front of our house isn’t finished yet and I’ve had a change of mind about what I’m going to do with it since writing this post here. Since then I’ve bought an old marquise, a French glass porch, and I’ve been spent some time refurbishing it. It needed a professional to put it up outside the front of the house, and the putty now needs to dry prior to another coat of paint. So I’ll post again towards the end of the summer when it’s completely painted, I just couldn’t resist sharing now.
Here is the house when we moved in…..
…..and here is the main entrance now….
Here is a better shot of the lavender colour I painted it……
As you can see it was damaged as it was put up. The colour is unusual, but I think it compliments the grey of the ancient stone really well; it brings out a mauve hue don’t you think?
You can see the Art NouFaux stained glass that I recently finished (how I did that is all here). I’m really pleased how this has turned out and think it’s compliments the marquise really well.
I’ve added this period doorbell….
as well as the brass door handle and iron house number. If you look back in the original photo you can see that the door handle was a plain white and I managed to find this brass one which adds a lot more character. The house number is attached with no more nails. The fleur de lys design goes with the art noufaux and period of the house I think.
The doormat is just a simple rubber one that I settled on instead of the iron one I originally wanted. I saw it in a shop and it did the trick for a fraction of the price without the worry of rust.
Apart from the marquise I’ll be painting the garage doors in the lavender, as well as an external light to hang from the porch.
Outside the main door is this twirling topiary, which I think is so French. In fact these are the second set I’ve bought. My first was a set of topiary with two ball shapes. One of them was snapped in half by last year’s snow, then one of the others were burnt, literallly in parts, when we went away over the summer vacation last year. There was a heatwave here in France and the ball on top died. I ended up cutting that off and it’s now in its own seperate pot; I hope to shape it as it continues grow (perhaps I should take the label from that pot? 😳 😆 ).
Just before we moved in on the 20th December 2017 there was a Christmas fête here in our village and we went as a family. I took a photo of the house and it looked all sad and gloomy; I was already imagining how it would look the next Christmas. Lights in topiary were part of the Christmas decor I wanted to introduce. So when the previous topiary was damaged by the weather I wasn’t happy. When it was damaged again…..I saw it as an opportunity!
To be honest I’d always wanted the twirling ones, but they’re expense had put me off. I’d decided to throw caution to the wind and hope that they would fare better. We’re through another winter and so far they’re doing well.
At the moment the topiary are pared with these standard bushes and roses. My plan is to have some seasonal pots that I change in keeping with the year.
I’ve also been working on the planting outside of the house too, with more or less success. It’s amazing what a difference this makes. Whereas before it was very plain, with just a few hydrangea at the end of the house this is what it looks like now…
Not everything I saw in bloom yet, so you don’t get the full effect, but you can get the idea.
The hydrangea really grows well when it’s in flowering and has an ever increasing patch of daffodils surrounding it in the early spring – unfortunately I didn’t take a photo this year, but I’ll be sure to take a photo of the hydra again when it’s in bloom.
Under the dining room window I’ve planted this Camilia which has a pink flower. This year I hope to prune it so it fills out as it’s a little tall and spindly so far.
Next to them is, I think, a marguerite daisy which is on the verge of coming into it’s own. I chopped a lot back a few days ago and it’s looking a little sad still.
The other thing that I’ve planted were two Virginia Creepers, either side of the house. They’d just started to climb the walls last year, as you can see from the image above). However the second one has been cut off in its prime!
The village is very clean and the gardens well maintained and a few weeks back I noticed that early spring had brought weeds as well as daffodils. I’d deweeded my boxes, but not the edges of the step area or pavement and intended to come back and do them too. However they’d been removed, evidently by our villages groundspeople, and I was delighted. However when I spotted the lopped off Virginia Creeper I realised that that must have been culled too!
The creeper is what determined how I’d paint the marquise. As it will go from green to red I was wary of a colour clash and too much of a colour blend. I’m hoping the lavender will tone in nicely.
I intend to let the creeper grow to the bottom of the first floor or top windows to keep it in order and wait with anticipation when it’s in its glory. I love Autumn and it will be a wonderful sight!
As you can see I’ve mainly planted in grey pots, to give uniformity. The large, rectangular ones were my way of avoiding digging out paving slabs to create beds. In the centre is a rectangular box with a white blooming flower and a heather like flower….
I’m really not a gardner and can’t tell you what the name of the white one is, but it’s doing well. The heather flower is doing ok, but I’m aware that at some stage I may have to move it elsewhere as the white expands and takes up a lot of room.
These heather flowers are really popularity in France and people plant them in solid masses in banks. I love lavender (you could probably guess that from my interior colour schemes) and it was my attempt at recreating that look in a shadowy area. Alas for me they didn’t take well, so I’ve moved them out the back. Here’s what’s taking there place….
Just a long shot of my wisteria peeping through – it’s been there since we moved in, but I love it!
I’ve got more to do at the front, so when the marquise is painted and the flowers are in bloom I’ll post again.
These will stand out in your borders – just spray paint with gold and write on them with a permanent marker. When you need to change the name spray paint again.
The potagère project has been a far bigger task than I first thought; that added to some disasters we’ve had along the way has resulted in my lack of blogging.
Let me see, first there was Apple’s injury. In my last post I explained how the concrete post crumbled when I shut les poules inside, leading to a week of desperately fixing things to try and make a safe place for the girls.
Well, I made it fox safe. However, I failed to make it Lilly safe. I didn’t even think of the need for Lilly safe to be honest. So, when I was in the kitchen doing the dishes and the girls where outside playing I wasn’t prepared for what happened next.
The hubby and I had put up a fenced area for the feathered girls to peck around in and we were due to sort out a gate for them. We were alternating between the hens and the dog being outside. We’d just done a changeover and Bertie our Tebitan Spaniel was out having fun.
Suddenly I heard this mad clucking and I knew something was wrong. I raced outside to see Lilly with the chicken shed door open and Bertie excited over something. Embarrassingly I was screaming, using language like a sailor to be quite frank, as I tried to get them both away.
Lilly was saying “Arrête” over and over again to Bertie, but evidently not fully understanding what was happening. On the floor was Apple. I got Lilly out of the way and grabbed Bertie, calling for Toby to come and get him. As I carried him off Apple seemed to be lifeless on the ground.
I went back to pick her up and I was dreading what I’d find. Picking her up she came back to life, but the poor little thing had great globs of blood dripping from her head.
I got her in the kitchen and cleaned her wounds. I didn’t know what to do from there, so I put her back in the chicken shed and made her comfortable, hoping for the best and fearing the worst.
I kept checking on her that night and then the next day I got up early so if it was bad news I could find out before my little ones did. But there was Apple, in a corner and alive at least. She’s now been given antibiotics and can definitely see from one eye, but the other is recovering so we wait and see.
Hubby and I have now put up two fences – one as a barrier to the potagère and one as a pen surrounding the chicken shed so my feathered girls can have some time outside in safety. Both gates have locks so Lilly can’t open them.
I’ve also been planting in the Potagère and I’ll share more about that later. Just one point – who knew growing some veg was this complicated!
One more thing. I think I’m going a bit mad. I’ve bought another chicken. A little grey Bantam who is so pretty I couldn’t resist. I’ve called her Lady Jane Grey, she’s gorgeous. I’m gradually introducing her to Popcorn and Apple; I hope I haven’t made a huge mistake!
In my last post I spoke about my joy at having completed some of the huge stone beds in our potagère and how, in celebration, we’d bought some chickens. Wowee! That opened up a can of worms, if you’ll pardon the pun.
The girls were so excited when we went to Jardiland on our way home to pick them out; I’d spoken of a surprise all day. As we went in the shop Lilly was eager to see the chickens in the enclosure there. She always loves to go and look at them; just a year ago she would scream blue murder whenever I had to eventually haul her away. She’d literally stop the shop! She’s growing up so much as, although she was happy to see them, she wasn’t behaving, well, manically, around them.
However, when the woman came over to get them and Lilly realised something different was happening she became so ecstatic. She was literally jumping up and down on the spot. She couldn’t get any more words out except for ‘This, this, this’.
As I took the trolly to the cash register everyone in the vicinity was laughing, delighted at her delight. She was climbing on the bars of the trolly to take a look in the boxes, in little girl heaven.
We managed to get them home and I had to sort out the food, water, nesting box etc before putting the cluck clucks in the coop. Here’s a video of their introduction….
Then as I shut the door to the coop disaster struck. The uprights holding the gate and wire fencing are made of concrete, but they were evidently too old as when I closed it one broke. I couldn’t believe it. Two chickens in a broken coop!
I managed to temporarily fix it and we all went in, but I’m not exaggerating when I say that I didn’t sleep at all that night. Fear of the cluck clucks being taken by some fox in the middle of the night gripped me. How would I explain that to the kids? Ruby’s set of Role Dahl books with their fantastic Mister Fox took on a whole new, sinister meaning.
I’d been praying all night for an idea to mend the coop when I found myself wandering into the spare room. There was an unused iron bed base and I realised it was the size of the door space.
For the next three days I lugged that bed base between the coop and the shed, trying to work out how to use it as a secure gate. There were many trips to the bricomarché I can tell you.
Each night, desperate to keep the chickens safe and for some sleep, I had to move the chickens from the weakened coop to the bathroom in the studio apartment we have next to our house.
During our first such transportation Ruby watched me pick up the chickens to take them inside. She was fascinated by my holding them and after some time she plucked up the courage – maybe she would try holding them too? Just as I handed her to her Lilly let out one of her excited squeals and the chicken, frightened, flapped her wings.
The opportunity was gone. Ruby had decided, no, holding a chicken was not for her. “Maybe, Mummy, when I’m your age I’ll hold a chicken.”
Closing the door on the chickens in the bathroom I couldn’t help but remember the stories of my grandfather’s set of chickens, given to him by an old lady on his milk round. They lived in the bathroom too, and their feet had grown deformed from clinging onto the side of the bath.
Was history repeating itself? Would I too psychologically damage my children for life serving up their favourite chicken for Sunday lunch one week?
“I want a leg Dad.”
“I want a leg too Dad.”
“There’s only one leg.”
Silence. Wailing.
“Hoppy! Noooooo!”
Ours are layers, not cookers.
As the days wore on and I dragged the bed base around the garden some more, my body becoming more and more tired, along with the same process each night. Pick the kids up from school. Walk them home. Get them dinner. Go into the garden to get the chickens in. Chasing round the garden to grab the dog, to keep him away from the chickens. Being surprised by the reappearance of the dog, let out by Lilly, as I held a chicken in my arms. Trying to get the dog back away from the other chicken with my feet, original chicken still in my arms.
I won’t tell you how chickens express fear. You can guess.
Then, on another half hour drive away to Bricomarché, I came across another dog. A Yorkshire terrier was in the road, obviously lost and tired. I’m English, I couldn’t leave her there. So I had to chase her down and as the Maire was closed she joined the circus that had become my life.
Finally the dog was given to the Maire, the coop was completed, the chickens were permanently placed inside and I managed to sleep.
Ruby’s talking about a black chicken now. And some ducks. I need a drink.
You may have noticed that I haven’t been posting as frequently; the hubby and I have been hard at work in the garden. It’s been delightful! We’ve never had a secluded garden- ours have all been tiny to small and overlooked. So working in the peace and beauty, birds singing has been wonderful.
Hubby has been severely pruning trees and I’ve been the one to break down the trimmings and move them. We have a covered I moved them to, but now I’m stripping the branches and organising them (which you can see above). Our big plan for this year is to replace the current fireplace and insert a woodburner. So these will hopefully come in useful come the winter.
I thought I’d share some of my favourite spots with you here.
You may have noticed that I haven’t been posting as frequently; the hubby and I have been hard at work in the garden. It’s been delightful! We’ve never had a secluded garden- ours have all been tiny to small and overlooked. So working in the peace and beauty, birds singing has been wonderful.
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