The One with the Cherry on Top

As promised, here's the picture of our entire crop of Cherry (yes...singular) decorating Lovely Hubby's dessert last night!!

He loved it, and even saved the stone for planting, who knows it could be the start of a Cherry Orchard, I can just picture it now....row upon row of Cherry Trees each bearing one cherry.

Happy thoughts on a sad (for me) day.

*** *** ***

 Dad's ashes are here contained inside a lovely little wooden casket, nestled safely inside a bed built to match our raised beds.   It was an idea from me, lovingly built by LH and with flowers chosen and planted by Mum. When they bloom they will be lovely, a sea of yellow and white with a couple of little lavenders from me to Dad.  The main flower is a Yellow Rose called 'Icecream' Dad would have loved that!!

  It's Fathers Day here in the UK and Dad's everywhere are waking up to a card and a hug from their children.  I used to phone him every year, if I wasn't there with him.  We always chatted briefly about this and that and the love we shared could be felt although we were miles apart.  I could feel his smiles and imagine his twinkly eyes as we spoke.

My Dad is here with me and safe, but I can't give him a hug, I can remember him with love and wish like mad he was here but it hurts at the moment, so much.

I was looking for a jokey gnome for LH at Dad's favourite garden centre after the Memorial service last week, and instead found this.  The only one that was there, Mum and Dad were brilliant dancers, they were nicknamed Derby and Joan, so it had to come home with us.

Derby (Dad/Syd) and Joan (Mum/Joan) dancing in each others arms forever in the guise of gnomes, now that would have brought a smile to my Dad's face.

Happy Fathers Day to all the Dad's out there, give your Dad an extra hug from me.

Sue xx

The Smallest of Crops

One of our Cherry trees in all it's glory.......can you see the crop for this year?

You do have to look close!!

It's going on Lovely Hubby's dessert tonight......I'll show you the finished dish tomorrow!

And yes, it has been nibbled at by something, but he won't mind, after all he is getting to eat the whole of our Cherry crop in one go.

It's on a par with our smallest ever Melon crop in 2009, yes, that's right that is a Melon sitting in the egg cup!!

Sue xx

Highlighting a Very Special Little Blogger

Picture from Veg's Blog - Her lunch on 12th June.

Just a quick little post to highlight a very special little Blogger. 

'Veg' posts every school day with pictures of her school dinners, and her ratings for them.  Her Blog NeverSeconds was rudely interupted when the local 'powers that be' decided to ban her Blog, or rather the photos she puts on.  Normality should soon return, they have had to reverse their opinion due to popular demand. 

What harm was she doing!!  She's raised thousands of pounds for charity.  A clever and inventive little girl, she has my utmost admiration.

Sue xx

Lawn Mowers and Cherries

Here's Mother Goose, the hen and her little Goslings, now happily ensconced in the Eglu, this gives them much more space to move around for the moment.  They are growing very quickly, well I guess they have to if they want to end up looking like this .....

...in just a couple of months.

They eat soooooo much grass and anything else they can find, clover, weeds etc.  Proper little lawn mowers, so much so that I have to move the Eglu around half way through the day so they can be on fresh grass.  We are even thinking of bringing them, in the Eglu closer to the house to keep the grass here in check and leave the grass in Chicken World for the other chickens.

It's raining here, yet again, so after checking the chickens I will be in the greenhouse, planting the next round of veggie seeds.  We are currently eating Lettuce, Mixed Leaves, Radishes and Pea Shoots from the Veggie Patch, not so good, we already had lots more of our homegrown foods on the menu by this time last year.  The Strawberries are still small and green, and the Cherry Tree has the amazing crop of.........ONE CHERRY.  If it's still there I will go and get you a picture of it, every morning though, I go over convinced it will have been eaten by something overnight.  Luckily I don't like Cherries and Lovely Hubby will be able to enjoy it all by himself.

The strange weather (and my lack of poly tunnel) has a lot to answer for.

Sue xx



Rear of the Year Competition

Rear of the Year contestants.

Did I win Mum, did I, did I, quick tell me I see something worth chasing!!

No I won Mum didn't I......

... well I think I should have......

... so tell me did I?

I don't really mind who won......but I do have the cutest face don't I !

I just couldn't resist this little stream of cuteness!

Sue xx

Linking over......

Linking over to my other Blog today, for thoughts on the dietary lifestyle we are following.

The How Low Can You Go Food Diary

Sue xx

Bantams and Pullets

Thanks for all the lovely comments yesterday, the new birds are settling in well although they are all still very bedraggled with all this rain.

I've just been moving Mother Goose (the hen) and her Gosling children to the Eglu, the little broody run was proving too small for them already.  Lovely Hubby is going to make them a Goose House with a roosting bar for Mum when they are a bit bigger but for now the Eglu will do fine.

Campfire, you asked what is the difference between a bantam and a pullet, well a Pullet is officially any chicken that is less than one year old, when they reach one year then they are known as a hen or a cockerel. 

A Bantam is usually a small sized copy of a larger bird, lots of pure breed chickens have a Bantam counterpart, which are around a third to half the size of them.  Although there are now some true Bantams these are mainly bred for showing, and are very fancy birds.

Bantams are brilliant birds for smaller back gardens as they are quieter, make less mess, eat less and won't decimate your flower and veggie beds.  They lay gorgeous little tasty eggs, but you do need to use two for every one hens egg called for in a recipe.  They are friendly, cuddly little birds and usually make great pets for children.  Some cockerels can be aggressive though as they seem to have 'little man syndrome', so stick to girls if they are for children.

So there you have it, I have Bantams, Pullets, Hens, Cockerels and a lovely little trio of Chinese Grey Goslings.  We're all very birdie here in Berkshire at the moment.......Lol.

Sue xx