Back to the term time routine

April 27, 2009 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)42 Comments

Well, the children are back at school and all is quiet here. The school break was definitely helped by some decent spring weather. Much of our time was spent in the garden sowing seeds, planting out and enlarging the run for the chickens who were feeling a bit cooped up! It feels like the garden is coming together now with the raised linkaboard beds. They seem a great way to grow veggies and are made from recycled plastic.

The chicken run needs some plants to soften it off but the chickens now have tons of space. If anyone has any tips for chicken friendly plants I'd love to hear them. Now I've just got to cross my not-so-green-fingers that I can coax a few decent veggies from the seeds!

garden stuff

growth

March 24, 2009 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)26 Comments

Many, many thanks to everyone who has popped over to etsy and bought a copy of my cosy pattern. It's been lovely to see some finished ones already appearing on ravelry and a nice thought that lots of them will be hopping onto breakfast tables around the world on Easter morning!

This week has been a busy one so far. I've been giving the beds a last digging over and preparing for our little veg garden this year. With the sun and warmth over the last week the first of my seeds have sprouted

my potatoes are chitting nicely

and my onion sets are ready to go in

The plum tree is in full blossom and all feels positive and full of promise for the summer ahead!

chicken stuff · garden stuff

surprise!

January 28, 2009 Julie (little Cotton Rabbits)60 Comments

This morning I truly thought Butterscotch was on her last legs. She's always first out of the coop but when I opened up the hatch there was no sign of her. Whilst the other two tucked into breakfast she was still hunched inside in classic 'sick chicken' pose. A quick check over revealed nothing obvious apart from runny poos (sorry, too much information I know!) but thinking the worst I dashed to the shops for pro-biotic yogurt (in case it was sour crop) and we managed to get some into her beak. An hour later she wasn't interested in food or water and so we gave her some olive oil in a pipette (in case she had a blockage somewhere). Still no improvement.

At 11ish I went out (on a wool gathering expedition to Jolie with fine company in the form of Gina and Val) and when I returned there was this…

on the floor of the house and a bit bashed from the drop (she'd laid it from her perch)! I'd like to say I don't know who was more surprised, but judging by her expression I think it was Butterscotch!