Hoe Hoe Hoe!

I love these handy single portion packs of Weetabix

Now, Coco and I tend to get up quite early in the mornings, in fact It has been known for it to still be dark when we start our day.  Some days we get up before we go to bed!

As every hard working Gardener will know you can't possibly start the day without a hearty breakfast.

Coco's breakfast of choice varies between Weetabix and Cheerios depending on what I put on the table.

Today I put Cheerios on the table, so we had Weetabix.

So much to do, so little time, come on, keep up!

After our breakfast its time to give the cats and dogs their breakfast, take Nanny Southwellski her morning cup of tea (which incidentally she never drinks and just lets go cold!) before heading out to start the day by letting the chooks out.

We include the chicks as chooks now as they are really not chicks any longer (If that doesn't make sense then you really should have been paying attention earlier on in the blog!).

We've had a few not very productive days of late with work related stuff to sort out, places to go etc etc.  Nanny Southwellski has had a bad chest infection but she'll go to the doctors tomorrow.

Anyone know when tomorrow comes?

We have tried all our remedies, Thyme, Anise and Honey tea for the cough followed by an Onion poultice applied warm to the chest, in a tea towel of course, to clear the chest (the poultice should not be used as an aphrodisiac).

It's taking a while to shift but in the meantime we keep a careful eye on her, well you do when it's someone you love don't you.

The Thyme, Anise and Honey tea really is very lovely as a drink in it's own right but it makes a great cough medicine and because it's very gentle it's great for littlies too.  This is another recipe from Kitchen Medicine the accompanying book to Hedgerow Medicine by Julie Bruton-Seal and Matthew Seal.

Yuk! Chook Poo!

The chooks are grounded temporarily due to landscaping works in the house garden but this means more mess in the veggie garden.

We've had the builders in for a week and a half and they have transformed our garden and at last we can see the makings of a beautiful natural garden.

A blank canvas

The house garden has been levelled, cleared and is now having the hard landscaping works done.

We will soon be able to sit and listen to the stream trickling past Mr B's arbor before it splashes into the pool to start its journey all over again.

Our designer (Richard Wlkinson of Lotus Garden Designs) has listened to everything we said and has included it all in his design.

View from the pond

There will also be a shallow pond with a beach area.  We had Coco in mind when we asked for this as it not only gives an access point into the water, it's also a way out in an emergency for both her and any creatures that wander in.

Muddy mountain high.

Coco has had an absolute ball climbing the heaps of soil that have appeared around the garden and there now no 'hills' unclimbed. She also loves to watch the machines as they dig and dump soil all over the place and she won't go to sleep until we've said goodnight to the dumper and digger which are parked outside her bedroom window at the end of each day.

Tell me the truth, that reindeer's not real is it?

It was a very special evening this evening and Nanny Southwellski, Coco and I went to the church in Feltwell to meet up with Auntie Angela and Uncle Robin to go and see Father Christmas.

Coco was very good, but did look rather questioningly at the reindeer, it wasn't very convincing, but Father Christmas was.

We had a lovely time and Coco had as much fun chasing her balloon around as she did seeing the 'big fella' in red.

All in all it's been another great day.

Fur and feather and sugar. Sugar???

Now when Nanny Southwellski, Coco and I moved to Grandpa Southwellski's Garden we had the notion that being self sufficient was the direction we wanted to take.

It would be a gradual process, growing a few veggies, recycling more, wasting less, trying to produce our own energy and who knows one day killing and processing our own meat.

The meat side of it would have to be a very gradual process as we are both a bit soft around animals.

Well that all changed in 24 hours!

2 x brace = 4

As you know we have the team in doing some landscaping works, and a very lovely team they are too.

Roy charges around on the digger and Mike basically clears up behind him whilst Richard the designer comes and moves the soil around to match the drawings. (He also charges around on the digger but only when Roy isn't here!)

Roy shoots and offered to bring us a couple of brace of pheasants, and true to his word he turned up with them on Friday morning.

Soon have these feathers out!

So with much gusto and bravery we made a cup of tea and watched the shooting times video clip online on how to prepare a pheasant.

We followed the instructions to the letter and eventually had feet and wings strewn all over the worktop.

It was when we got to the removing the skin bit that we finally gave in and I trundled down the garden to ask Roy to show us what to do.

Having very diplomatically congratulated us on 'having a go' he proceeded to prepare the other 3 birds (and finish our attempt) in about 6 minutes, with our blunt knives.

"I don't mean to be rude but my penknife is sharper than this knife" he said.  I should have asked why he didn't use it.

All this done and without the need to gut or behead them and left us with breasts and legs ready for the pot.

Here's the veggies darling!

Nanny Southwellski turned two of the birds into a casserole with a rich gravy enhanced with her cherries in brandy.

Served with mustard mash and spring greens it was amazing!

Auntie Angela was wowed by it and had to be warned about her language in front of young Coco such was her excitement.

Our second encounter with all creatures great and small and deceased began on the Friday when on the field next to us we saw the lights of a truck and heard gunshots.

Being good neighbours we phoned the farmer who told us his brother was shooting rabbits, well not one to miss an opportunity I asked if there was a chance of having a couple.

They duly arrived the next morning and by tea time I had skinned and cleaned them like a pro, a very slow and uncertain pro but a pro none the less, and armed with my newly sharpened knives and a copy of John Seymours 'New complete self suffiency' book I ensconsed myself in the utility room.

Nanny Southwellski turned the first rabbit into rabbit pie and it was delicious, but I have to say it tasted like chicken!

So what next here on the frontier in Hockwold?

From our paddock we can see the sugar beet factory at Wissington and as I stood looking one sunny afternoon as the factory pushed clouds of steam up into the atmosphere I recalled seeing in John Seymours self sufficiency a short piece on making sugar.

One of a bagfull.

A quick phone call and before you could say " Give us a couple of sugar beet and we will feed you a pheasant casserole" Uncle Robin had supplied a bag full of beet.

So Sunday morning Coco and I washed 2 of the beet, peeled it and chopped it into manageable pieces which we juiced.

We weighed the beet and started off with just under 5kg of beet, once peeled and cleaned this went down to 4.2kg.

Beet'le' juice

After juicing we had about 2 litres of juice and so the process began.


John basically says in his book boil it to infinty and beyond, so we did.

Now local people will know the pungent aroma of the beet factory, we reproduced it in our kitchen!.

 Our creamy white beet juice quickly turned to a grey frothing ooze and after reducing the liquid by boiling we have managed to recover about 200g of syrup from the two beet.

Its now crystallising as we speak and so will we become  a threat to the future of Wissington? No, probably not.

Vegetable lasagne al la Kirsty

Our daughter Kirsty 'Parsnip' Southwellski is back home from abroad, Somerset is abroad isn't it?

As part of her having to work for us to pay for her keep she has been doing a bit of culinary creation in the kitchen and this Pumpkin and Greens lasagne is a total hit.

Parsnip has also been staining some timber, always a good idea to redo the stuff that's already been done first I think, right Parsnip?

Mice snacks!

Another culinary hit has been the broccoli seedlings Coco and I sowed a few weeks ago, but not with us.

We have a rogue mouse somewhere in the potting shed and he/she has taken a liking to our seedlings.

We rescued them before they all vanished and moved them to the utility room before we shift them out into the polytunnel.

Blossom the blur!

A few days ago, out in the chicken run Nanny Southwellski spotted a rat searching for some fallen chook food.

Blossom, Monty and Scarlett were sent to sort it out.

Monty dug holes, Scarlett wandered around looking pretty but Blossom got straight onto the job and was still hunting a good hour later.

Rat?  I'll just dig a hole.

The rat did make another appearance just before dusk, running across my fot followed by Blossom who despite getting her teeth on it couldn't hold on.

Shame, it would have been her second 'kill' in a week.

Now, Nanny Southwellski and I are not anti animal in any way shape or form. We would never kill anything for the sake of it.

But anyone who has chooks knows what a pain rats can be if you don't store your food safely or keep your coop/shed secure.

Since Blossom's foray we haven't seen any signs of rats, just the pesky seedling eating mouse, so we are hoping that she will keep them from returning.

 And finally, with the gardening works in full swing we have a few heaps of soil around and well they just have to be climbed!

Whoa Grandad it's very high up here you know.

Sorry, I thought you said you wanted to help, for free!

I'm 24 but have had a hard life!

Now, call me suspicious, but when people want to come and help for free, well apart from some meals and accomodation that is I get a little spooked.

So it was only natural that I felt a similar trepidation as to that of trying pumpkin soup for the first time when Nanny Southwellski sugested the wwoofer/helpx thing.

Wwoofers (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) and Helpx'ers are basically people of all ages/genders/nationalities who want to travel and experience first hand living and visiting different parts of the world.

Ben tilling the soil.

 Our first experience has been great, we had a Helpx'er, Ben, from Australia arrive three weeks ago for a one week stay.

He stayed three weeks and we were sorry to see him go, especially Coco who shared many rounds of toast with him and had lots of stories read to her.

Ben helped us get the new veggie plots turned over, the polytunnel up, dog run finished and the fencing finished and stained.

He fitted into our way of life and joined in with what we were doing when both we and he felt like it and did his own thing when he wanted to. 

Is that a cross word to Monty, Anna?

Anna, our Wwoofer, lives locally and cycles three miles each way on Mondays and Tuesdays to help out.

We did ask the question of why come and help us when there are so many exotic places to choose from on the wwoofer site to go and help.

It turns out that along with a lot of other young people, Anna has finished University and is finding job hunting very difficult and so thought she would try wwoofing locally before venturing further afield.

During a conversation this very morning,  Anna just happened to mention that she had a blog called 'Velvetalphabet'.

'Velvetalphabet' is not a blog, its a masterpiece in how to live well, live cheaply (sometimes for free) and live ethically.

Nanny Southwellski and I are blown away by the huge amount of knowledge this young lady has about the environment in which we live.

However, our opinion of Anna is very different to the one that Ben formed, mind you she did give him a cycling tour of most of West Norfolk in just three hours and he suffered for a few days afterwards because of it.


My thoughts now are, if you have the room and have the work that needs doing give wwoofing or helpx a go.

Great, Great Grandpa Southwellski's medals from WW1

On a slightly more sombre note, we have just had rememberance day, and each year we see fewer of the old veterans turning out, but we do see the younger veterans from later conflicts replacing them.

It surprises me, and saddens me that young people today are not told very much about the history of the two world wars, why they started, what happened and how mankind dealt with the aftermath.

We always observe the two minutes silence at work and at home and it gives me a great feeling inside when the 'troublesome' youngsters we have at ZFL stand perfectly still and silent for the whole two minutes despite their 'alleged'  ADHD, Lack of social skills and anger.

Gives you a bit of hope that despite what society thinks, there is still a lot of good in our young people.

Now, those who have known me for a while will know that as each year goes by I hone my 'Victor Meldrew' skills a little more.

But its not in vain, about three months ago I tripped over a raised paviour at Tesco's in Brandon.  I spoke to the Assistant Manager who promised to sort it.  Six weeks later it wasn't done so I spoke to the manager who said he would get it done that very day.

Four weeks later it still wasn't done, so I spoke to another assistant manager who appeared irritated by my bringing this to his attention, I did tell him he was very rude!

"I will see it's done" he said "thank you for telling us".

"No problem" I replied "every little helps". 

If it's not done when I next come I'll write to the papers I thought, but, true to his word, two weeks later they are all repaired and level and lovely. Go Victor I say!  Oh, and well done Tesco.

Isn't Autumn lovely!

I love Autumn, I love the freshness, I love the cold and I love the changes in colours.

Our fruit trees are as beautiful now as they were when they were laden with fruit, this is our apple tree (left) which earlier was covered in the brightest red apples I have ever seen.

And now it's off to bed as we have the landscapers in tomorrow.

Fortunately they have to go to the yard first to load up so won't be here until 7.45!

.

The Great Outdoors

You have been warned!

When visiting Grandpa Southwellski's Garden you should be aware of the risks posed by our animals.

Please heed the warning signs. (left)

This sign, at Longleat Safari Park is a classic, the look of surprise on the guys face is precious.  'Oh dear here I am outside my car, and oh no the lion is attacking me.'  He never saw that coming!'


The strange thing is that the wardens in the Lion, Wolf and Tiger enclosures still had to tell people to keep their windows closed. Amazing eh?

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

We have a few creatures here and you should be wary when approaching  the Borps, (Buff Orpingtons) as they can be very affectionate!

In fact all of our animals are very happy to be stroked and if they don't like it they'll just wander away.

We have been blessed with a few beautiful autumn days of late and today was one of the best.

Warm sunshine, few clouds and just a light breeze which was warm as well made it just a perfect day to be outdoors.

We spent the afternoon outside sorting out the chicken run and putting the finishing touches to the chicken house.  The chooks and chicks now share a luxury mansion size hen house with all mod cons except water, heating, lighting and furniture.  They do have two roosting poles and four nesting boxes though.

I love you!

Catch!

 As always Coco was in the thick of it, making sure each chick got a cuddle and was shown it's new home.

She also fed them to get them back into the run ready for bedtime in their new accommodation.



Bedtime was an event in itself, have you ever tried to get 18 birds into a new house?

They were going here there and everywhere, the more we pushed in through the hole the more came out,  I counted 27 chickens at on point, and we only have 18!  But we did it.

We have always encouraged Coco to touch and pick up the animals, although this is always supervised, and she has grown in confidence with every encounter.  Now we have to work on the same approach with the veggies.

It has come to something when I come out of the polytunnel and say to Nanny Southwellski the 'P-E-A-S's are flowering', knowing full well that if Coco got wind that we had peas in there she would be climbing out of her bedroom window and making night-time raids!

The first wind turbine!

We have been toying with alternative energy sources, in quite a serious way to be honest.  We looked at wind turbines but apparently we are not in a windy enough location.

Is this not the same location that saw the wind flatten my polytunnel?

Solar was another consideration, but a lot of the schemes only save you £80 to £100 pounds a year so the payback period is very long.

We have a woodburner on its way hopefully it will be here in the next few weeks.  We will keep you posted on how that works out.

We are also looking at John Seymour's books ( The New Self Sufficient Gardener, and The New Complete Book of Self Sufficiency) for inspiration about how we can be more self sufficient than we already are.

We have already reduced our food bills by a at least a third, and only buy the essentials such as dairy products, loo rolls and sugar etc.

We are drinking more and more herbal infusions, Mint and White Dead Nettle is rather nice and is good for all sorts of things such as earache, stomach cramps and is refreshing to boot.

Say 'Layers Pellets!'

We take many photographs of our home, garden, animals and of course Coco, and there are few days that are not recorded.

Nanny Southwellski is getting very good with her camera and it's well worth a visit to her Flickr pages to have a nose, just google 'Southwellski' and it will pop up.

On the garden front we are clearing the plots and preparing them for the coming season.

Preparation under way.

The growbags we used for our tomatoes and cucumbers have been spread over the cultivated areas and the chooks and chicks have done a great job of mixing it all in.

Now we are planning the crops for next year and looking forward to even more fresh veggies than we had this year, chickens permitting of course.




And finally, Nanny Southwellski made some Pumpkin Soup using a Delia Smith recipe.  It was delicious.  If I said there wasn't a little trepidation at the first spoonful I would be a liar.  But we took a deep breath and swallowed hard.

It tasted like a really expensive and creamy chicken soup, in fact I am going to see if there is any left!

Cherry leaves.

This is the mouse that........

There's a Moose loose aboot this hoose!

frightened Monty and made him jump when it hopped towards him.

It is a very lucky mouse. It survived being caught by one of our cats, then went on to evade being stalked by both of our cats and then finally got away from our three terriers into Nanny Southwellski's safe hands.

Having been placed over the fence into the hedgerow, albeit somewhat enthusiastically by Nanny Southwellski, which incidentally it also survived, it then, with all the stupidity it could muster, tried to get back into the garden.

Has it gone yet Dad?

This provided a good deal of entertainment for Scarlett and Blossom, two of the terriers. They vigilantly patrolled the fence for ages, getting more and more excited with every twitch of a blade of grass! Monty guarded the area near the deck some fifteen feet away from the mouse just in case it got through.

For all his grumpiness and bravado he's a bit of a chicken is our 'Strudles' bless him. That said we wouldn't be without him, I mean look at those eyes?

I dot a dold (sniff!)

Coco has been a bit poorly of late with a severe bout of the sniffles and hasn't been her old self.  

However, we are glad to say that she is well on the way to recovery.

You will recall in our last post we were contemplating the demise of our winter greens at the beaks of our chooks and chicks.  Well, they are now safely fenced in, the veggies that is not the chooks and chicks.

However, whilst Coco and I were fencing the veggies in, the Chooks and Chicks had, under the guidance of Brutus gone round to the back of the polytunnel.    Here they crept under the polythene and went on to devour, uproot, shred, disturb and gorge on our winter lettuces, greens and the lower tomatoes and peppers.  

I'm a bit tyred (and full)!

Siesta!

When I opened the door they exited like a rat up a drainpipe!

Bless them, they looked like they simply couldn't face another succulent, tasty, fresh green leaf or juicy red tomato. 

 

All that was left for them to do then was to rest.

We are still reducing our consumption of meat and to be totally honest we have been eating better than ever.  Its almost as if not having meat has made it easier to prepare meals, as there is no more trying to work out which veggies go with say beef or lamb.  

Our autumn plot preparation has started and we are now preparing new beds and turning over the soil in the beds we used for potatoes, brassicas and other bits and pieces.  Wow, I sounded like a gardener then!

The Rotavator has been doing overtime and the chooks have for once been gainfully employed in mixing the used grow-bags into the soil.  I know that a lot of the goodness has gone from the grow-bags but the way I look at it is that they are organic matter and adding that to the soil has to help - doesn't it?

Finally, the weather has been glorious here although I think it's just a precursor to some ropey weather.

The sunset tonight was amazing - again.

Don't you just hate that we live here?

The BIG Apple!

Chantenay carrots

It's all happening again in the garden.
 
You will recall the chicks we were oohing and aahing over a few weeks ago, well now we are OOOOOHHHING!!!! and AARRGGHHING!!!! as they are defoliating our winter veggies, digging up the Chantenay carrots, pecking the remaining tomatoes and generally running amok.

The Chicks

They actually make the chooks seem positively cooperative and obedient.

But having said that the chicks are friendlier than the chooks and they follow Coco around the paddock and they don't run away when you try to touch them.

They have also reached a size where we have safely integrated them with the chooks.

Purple Curly Kale

The purple curly kale has finally gone and I can't help but think we didn't make the most of it.

Maybe we were overwhelmed by the two rows which was producing nearly enough each week to provide sustenance for a small country.

Or maybe, just maybe, it was the twenty + caterpillars Nanny Southwellski removed during different stages of cooking the last time we had it.

Still you know what they say, better to find a caterpillar in your food than half a caterpillar!

Add caption

Our cooking apples are coming to an end as well, fortunately these three held on long enough for me to take a picture of them for this months Scavenger Challenge on Flickr!

We, well I use the term loosely, have been preserving like there is no tomorrow, we have pears, apples, chutneys, jams, jelly's, marmalade and all sorts of wonderful stuff that Nanny Southwellski has made for us.

We invested in a dehydrator recently, and it is amazing to see how much volume is removed from foods such as onions, I filled five trays to the absolute max with thinly sliced onions.  When they had dried they would have fitted easily on one tray with room to spare.  Wonder if it works on socks or utility bills?

Carrots.......

Our carrots, not the Chantenay variety the chicks have been persecuting, have all been harvested and we were left with this small but beautifully vacuum packed portion. (Go on enlarge it. it's worth it!)

In fairness, we have been eating them for about two and a half months.

It's hard to see just how many there are, so I put this apple beside them to give an idea of the quantity.

.....and apple!

The comparison is of no use whatsoever because you have no idea how big the apple is.  Never thought of that.

If it helps, the apple weighed 1lb 3ozs and was big enough for an apple crumble for the three of us for two nights.

A little culinary tip, don't add rolled oats to the crumble topping, IT SUCKS!

We are in the throes of getting the house garden landscaped, and after much ado we decided to let the designer spray the ground to get rid of the weeds which have inundated the areas immediately behind the house.

Morning glory

Bindweed is the worst, the more you pull it up the more it grows.

I have to say it seems a little ironic that we spend so much time and effort, (and now money) in removing bindweed and then go and plant some Morning Glory! (Right)

But don't you find that there is something rewarding about pulling up bindweed especially when the root just keeps coming.

Incidentally, everything was sprayed on Sunday and I have to say I don't know much about sprays but the weeds and grass have never looked more healthy or lovely!

Give me a kiss!

 Coco has been enduring a cold and it has made her grumpy and out of sorts for the past few days.

She does seem happier now we have it too.

Finally, today would have been Great Grandpa Southwellski's 87th birthday.

 I hope I am being as good a parent as he was to me.

Obviously I don't count the time he took me to the dentist to have a tooth out and afterwards gave me a tot of scotch before dropping me off at school.  Made me appreciate single malt though!


Happy Birthday Dad wherever you may be, love you!

The early morning dew

As this blog has developed it seems that Coco and I do very little 'Real' gardening.  Nothing could be further from the truth and Nanny Southwellski has over 40 jars of preserved produce to prove it.

And that doesn't include the 9 pounds of cherries and 6 pounds of gooseberries in the freezer!

We have been eating our own veggies and fruit now for almost 3 months, but then again so have the birds, chooks and caterpillars.

Every jewel placed by hand

You see the thing is that as Coco and I wander around the garden we get a little distracted by the beauty and incredibility of it all.

Nature is a wonderful thing and we are privileged to witness it at such a close viewpoint.

We have a duty to look after our world and environment which is why Coco and I go out some mornings before breakfast and hang tiny jewels on our dandelions.

This morning, as we did our regular inspection and walked around just listening to the birds and Brutus of course welcoming the day, it occurred to me that actually all those jobs that we see every day and that need doing aren't what it's all about.

Dewdrops on our apple tree.

Our garden is a learning space for Coco and I and anyone else who wants to shed off the world for a little while and wander around and marvel at the wonder of it all.

For example, our sunflowers topped 9 feet from tiny seeds that Coco and I planted in pots in the spring.

We are going to dry the flower heads and harvest the seeds to feed the birds, and seeds for ourselves as well as to eat and sow next spring.  And so natures cycle goes on.

Our tomatoes are turning at last and we now have more than we can actually physically eat but we do have some good recipes and of course we have Nanny Southwellski with her vast array of pots and pans and jars to deal with it all.

A huge success, in my opinion is Nanny Southwellski's apple and cucumber chutney.  A couple of nights ago we polished off half a jar with cheese and crackers and it was AMAZING!!!!!

Another equally huge success is the pumpkin stuffed with leeks and cheese that we had for supper last night it was delicious!  Sadly we only have 14 more pumpkins left!

Snack attack!

Now, of late I have become fascinated by spiders.  I know nothing about them except the turn up when you least expect them, they run very fast and scare people.

But regardless of what you think about them you have to admire their ability and tenacity when it comes to web building.

Take this chappie/chappess on the left for example how long did it take to build the web that caught this bug?

Wrapped

Or this web (right) on a young Hazel nut tree.

These are just some of the things Coco and I see every day in the garden, I wonder how much we miss?

Makes you think doesn't

I have a favourite poem, it's quite short but it comes to mind frequently when we are in the garden.

LEISURE

William Henry Davies 1871 - 1940

'What is this life if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

No time to stand beneath the boughs

And stare as long as sheep or cows.

No time to see, when woods we pass,

Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass.

No time to see, in broad daylight,

Streams full of stars, like skies at night.

No time to turn at beauty's glance,

And watch her feet how they can dance.

No time to wait till her mouth can,

Enrich the smile her eyes began.

A poor life this if, full of care,

We have no time to stand and stare.

Daybreak to Sunset

Sunrise

It seems to me that the more tired Coco gets during the day the earlier she wakes up the next day.  We've tried an 8 o'clock bedtime a 7 o'clock bedtime and half past 6 as well.  The result?


We are still up at about 6.15 in the morning.  Even a trip to Banham Zoo with Auntie's Angela and Sarah didn't make a difference, up bright and early this morning.

Never mind, if I'm honest I do lay there waiting some mornings for her to rouse so its really no hardship at all.

Levelling the compost!

That, in it's own way was an explanation of how we came to start this post with a sunrise picture instead of a sunset.

Anyway, we have been adding to the structural stability of our poly tunnels ; and in doing so have started to incorporate some raised beds.

It didn't take us very long at all, we screwed 4 planks of left over decking together filled it with compost and dug it into the soil below.

Firming the compost!

Coco took on the levelling job with gusto and initiative.  Having started with her rake it quickly transpired that this was neither fast enough or hands on enough for my little assistant.

The only answer really is to launch yourself onto the bed and push the compost around with your hands and then walk up and down to firm it all.

It worked a treat!

Teamwork

As you are aware we always like to bring glimpses of some of the creatures we get visiting the garden and here on the caravan wheel are a couple spiders who seem quite happy sharing a web for their evenings hunting.

We also get numerous bats flying around  the property at dusk and we could sit and watch them for hours, (except it gets dark and we can't see them) as they remove countless mozzies for us.

Now I was told/read/or heard somewhere that if you stand very still and then clap your hands slowly and rhythmically above your head the bats will fly much closer to you and you will attract more of them.

So, having checked it was September not April, I found myself a quiet little spot in the corner of the paddock which was under their main flight path and not in view of the house (or Nanny Southwellski!) and away from prying eyes.

I stood very still then slowly raised my hands up and started to clap rhythmically (Nanny Southwellski will tell you my sense of rhythm is not great and in fact seldom has any rhythm of its own, its more a random selection of steps/claps/toe taps etc.)

I tried for about 5 minutes and only succeeded in attracting Blossom, who looked at me with pity in her eyes and then wandered off.

Did it work? Did it Charlie, I doubt they will ever return.

Yellow Winged Darter

Never mind, this little chap on the left is a Yellow Winged Darter, a member of the Dragonfly family who landed on the deck fence at lunchtime.

We have quite a few of these and other Dragonflies floating around and I do mean floating around, they are incredible exponents of flight!

Sunset

And finally, tonight's sunset.  It seems only right that as we started with sunrise we should finish with sunset.