How Much Food !!!!!!!!!!!!!

This afternoon I thought I would make some scones, I started trawling through the cupboards looking for ingredients, the cupboards have never really been sorted since moving 

They are an utter mess and complete chaos, we also have one of those silly revolving shelf thingies in a corner cupboard that does not utilise space to the best

And there is another cupboard in the side porch that I keep forgetting about

How much food does one household really need !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So this weeks task is to re-organise the kitchen cupboards and use what is in them, the other week I bought red lentils at the back of the cupboard was 2 bags of red lentils, we have enough rice pasta oats and sugar to see us through a siege. 

I know many people in blog land are do a stop spending in October so I think that I may well be joining in, after going through everything all I need is S.R. flour and caster sugar, which was the two things I needed to make the scones, so tomorrow I will go and do a top up shop then get stuck into organising and using some of this cupboard stuff up. 

Scones didn't get made needless to say, but tonight's dinner is sorted, I found packs of Vesta Beef Curry in one of the cupboards, I don't mind the Vesta curries so I am having one of those. 

I did get a bit of crafting done today, I decided to do a clock for my craft room.

It has machine embroidered sewing notions all around it, I bought a couple of these clocks from Ikea earlier in the year with the idea of doing unique clock faces on them, full details are on my crafting blog.

Quick update on Kiara, she is settling well and is now getting into a routine, she shadows me all day and is happy to settle in the cabin while I am crafting 

 She likes to sleep with her paw on her face 

I am taking time everyday to reinforce her basic training as some had been allowed to slip,  and her previous partner allowed her on the seats, she has not been trained to do that and it is not something I want her to do, I give her free time every afternoon up in the top field were she is told to go free, as that was something that was done with her as part of her working life, she is happy to run in the fields and roll about. Once we get some fencing up she will be allowed to just go out of the door but not at the moment, I am concerned she is not wise enough to pay attention to moving machinery over in the yard, the dogs from there are and steer clear of tractors and diggers I don't think Kiara would, also I would be worried as to her safety with other animals, she has been trained to ignore them and she does, but they would not ignore her and she may well come worse off.

Raising the Roof

Yesterday saw hubby finishing off the shingles on the cabin roof

I now have the roof edging to paint, just when I thought all the painting was finished.

Lambert has been relegated to the small field

He became a bit of an accident waiting to happen, he took to head butting the chicken feeder and the chickens water dispenser, using them like punch bags, I ended up having to fasten boards around them so he couldn't get into them but the chickens could.

He then changed his attention to the greenhouse and poly tunnel, I caught him in the greenhouse, he had got through the barrier so drastic action was needed and he was moved into solitary.

He has plenty of trees to head butt and he still has contact with other animals along the adjoing fence. 

 The other week the neighbours dome barn that adjoined ours was on the move.

This is the barn in question 

The first half was raised up after being cut away from the upright supports

The Bob Cat was moved underneath 

Using a couple of straw bales the arm was extended and the roof was raised 

with everyone holding a guide rope its slowly moved away

They were working in a very tight space 

with a bit of coordinated movements it was taken away to be rebuilt at a later time in another field.

It was great to see how they were going to move it, they were waiting for really still day to carry out the move.

We can now get the back on our barn, I think that is hubby's next task.

Kiara Has All the Attention

Today everything has revolved around Kiara, she was no problem last night not a peep from her, she is use to a strict routine for feeding so it was breakfast at just after 7am, she has to wait until all the other animals were fed, she went out with hubby when he fed the animals, but she waited outside the field, the animals all get very excitable at morning feed not the best time to introduce a new one into the fold, 

We have been advised to keep her on a lead when outside for the first few days, and as of yet we don't have any boundary fences, so most of the day has been spent on the lead.

I took her around to meet all the neighbours and animals she then was happy to settled beside me in the cabin while I set to sewing myself some slippers.

 Nothing seems to fase her, hubby was up on the roof laying the shingles the constant banging didn't disturb Kiara at all, after a while I found the banging to much and retreated to the house for quiet while I worked on the shop timetable.

This afternoon we took Kiara into the top field for some free time, unclasping the lead and giving her the command to Go Free she bounded off investigating everything.

 She seemed very happy running about the field, lots of new smells and noises.

There was no animals in the top field and it was securely enclosed so we didn't have any concerns about her wandering off.

In fact she stayed close to us and was happy to wander just a few paces away, we had a bit of a training practise while we were out and she responds very well to commands.

Kiara has become a bit of a shadow to me, when I leave the room she follows, I started to feel guilty for moving when she was sleeping. We were told she would be more responsive to a woman as her partner she work for was female and they worked together for 6 years. 

I do find she sits and looks at me waiting for me to ask her to do something. I am sure this will lessen over time. We need to get her a grooming brush as she is going through a moult.

I have now set up a second blog its all about the crafting I do http://mycraftylogcabin.blogspot.co.uk I have posted a full post on making the slippers, if you want to know more then pop over there for full details.

Our Very Important Visitor Arrived Early

I was expecting a visitor to arrive about 10pm this evening, but she arrived at 5pm

I have been on tender hooks all day waiting for her arrival.

MEET KIARA

Kiara is 8 years old today and has just retired from being an assistant dog, she has come from Dogs for the Disabled, we were approved for a dog just after we moved and have been on the waiting list, Monday hubby got a phone call from them saying they had a dog that might suit us, he went to Banbury to meet her the other day and collected her today to bring home.

We have Kiara on a months approval to see if we are suited to each other, then the adoption will be finalised and we will become her forever home.

As you can see she is making herself at home.

We have 4 pages of instructions including all the commands that are used with her, we cant just let her out to go to the toilet she has to be given the command to go, also when she is fed you have to give the command for her to eat. She came with all her belongings, bed, toys, leads, food medical records and medication she has a bit of arthritis.

She hasn't met any of the animals yet, there is plenty of time for that, there is a lot for her to investigate, it will be a big adjustment for her as she learns to enjoy the freedom of retirement.

Planting Out at Last

My delivery of spent mushroom compost arrived yesterday yippee, unfortunately the pallet wouldn't come of the delivery truck with the trolley so once again it was get stuck in and unload it bag at a time 

I got started today with the raised bed 

first I lightly dug in a couple of the bags of compost

 Then I covered the whole bed with a couple of sheets of newspaper and gave it a good soaking

 I then spread another 5 bags of compost over the top and another good soaking

 I could then plant through the paper , in goes the broccoli and cabbage

I am hoping that using the newspaper will act as a barrier against weeds and hold some moisture close to the roots until the plants establish.

I also got stuck into to sorting out the compost heap

once this one is filled I will turn it into a second compartment next to it and I will progress like that until I have 4 bins set up, by autumn next year I should have my own compost ready to use.

I did get a couple of my nut trees planted out today as well

My walnut and almond trees are now in the ground, I have a few more nut trees to get planted out in this area, its a triangle area of ground next to the drive way, I will be able to keep it strimmed down. I will have to have a think what I want to plant along the edge to separate it from the driveway.

I managed to squeeze a bit of time in the cabin, I got these coasters done

 it was a kit that came with the magazine I picked up the other day, why do they put such poor quality fabric in these kits.
I got the next block of the month done for the shop

Its called a magic square its the method you make the block with that's the magic.
I also did another shoe bag

I made one last Sunday as well

The one I did last week end has gone back to the shop as a sample, I like it so much I made another one.
I am getting sorted in the cabin

Its nice to have all my stuff around me again, I still need to sort out storage units but I am in no rush, I need to work there first and then decide what I need.
We have an important visitor arriving tomorrow night I will update you on Saturday :-)

Being Evicted

I have been evicted from the house, well my craft stuff has been has been evicted from the house as the cabin is readyto move into, electrics are in so its all systems go.

I have spent two days moving everything that was still in barn into the cabin

And all the stuff that I had moved into the house for safe keeping

It feels like moving house all over again, there is still a few more things to bring from the house included the book shelves and all the books, and there are a couple of units still in the barn, but I have to clear some space and sort things out before there is room for them.

I feel shattered but happy its nice to have everything in one place again. Tomorrow will be spent unpacking and re acquainting myself with things, there is still some in storage in Milton Keynes and hubby can start bringing stuff down from there on his trips home, its been in store for 2 years it will be great to see it all again. 

On the subject of craft, I have been going to the Craft Cafe run at the family centre on Mondays, they are a lovely bunch of enthusiastic crafters, they were so excited when they found out I had a craft shop, I have been phoning shopping lists through to the shop that are passed on to hubby to bring home with him, I can then take there shopping along on Monday's.

Tomorrow I should be getting a delivery, a pallet of spent mushroom compost, I plan to incorporate it into some of the vegetable beds, I am also waiting for my garlic and onion order to arrive.

At last we have some much needed rain, drizzly rain I hope it lasts most of the night as everything is so desperate for rain.

Time for dinner and a sit down have a good evening everyone.

Logs to Books

The day started with a friend dropping off a pile of logs, all seasoned and split ready to use

At the moment all stacked by the back door until will get a log store built, they will keep us going for a while. we have a another stack of seasoned unsplit logs being built in the barn, our neighbour young C has been collecting them with the quad bike and trailer with her little boy, we wont be short this winter, it has taken a bit of pressure of hubby now he doesn't have to spend time at the week end logging and can concentrate on other jobs he wants to get done.

Today he has been working inside the cabin putting on the trim, window catches and door locks

Tomorrow the electrics go in then I can make a start moving in my stuff. Hubby is going to help me move a couple of the big units in tomorrow evening before he goes back.

Thanks to Kev from an English Homestead he mentioned a book a few days 

I found it on Amazon what a brilliant read, I had kept it until bedtime to read, very witty and down to earth, Maynard writes in the same manner he talks, having made it through to adult hood unable to read and write as dyslexia was not recognised in his day, he became a master at his craft, throughout the book he gives various recipes for different cures, I am delighted to find there is a sequel to the book and now waiting for it to arrive.

I am finishing off today with this rose

 The bush is outside the living room window it was fairly neglected and just a straggly twig when we moved in, it is in the little flower bed that was the first bit I tackled in the garden, it was all weeded and manured with Alpaca poo, the little twig blossomed and now has about 12 part open buds and three fully open and it smells divine.

Bargain Fruit Trees

I popped into the local Wyvale garden centre today to pick up some young Leeks and Broccoli  and use my reward vouchers, I popped into there fruit tree section to have a browse and spotted some bargain trees

I came away with 3 new apple trees and 2 pear trees usually priced at £39.99

they are lovely big trees and they were on sale for 

I haven't made a note of variety's yet, I may pop back there tomorrow with hubby and pick up some more.

I have also got the first of my raised vegetable beds done today

It measures 12ft by 6ft I hope to get another one done over the week end

I have my Garlic and Onions on order so one bed will be for them, I hope they will be here next week, I also have on order a pallet of spent mushroom compost, the ground seems pretty poor it has been used only ever for grazing so needs a good conditioning treatment, it will take a couple of years to get it into good shape.

Week end plans include lots of digging.

A quick update on Lambert he is going through a naughty stage

Chasing the chickens 

Tormenting the Alpacas

But unfortunately this morning he bit off more than he could chew, he has been trying out his head butting, butting anything and everything and yes he decided to head but one of the bee hives, he was soon legging it across the field, with the help of a neighbour the bees are now safe from Lambert we reinforced the fencing to keep him out of there. He only suffered a couple of stings but hopefully enough for him to learn from.