When I found out last week that one of my favourite 'chicken people' had a new book out and I ordered it straight away, I just couldn't wait, it details her move from her home of over 30 years in Troston, Suffolk to her new home near the sea in Whitstable.
I bought this book of hers ....
... and these, when we visited her in her previous home in Troston, Suffolk for a basic Chicken Keeping Course, way back before we owned chickens. They were on our list of first things to acquire when we moved to the country and changed our way of life completely, and we wanted to be sure that if we got them we would be looking after them properly.
So we did a one day course with Francine and then a more medical based one a month or so later with someone else, then we acquired our first flock of 10 birds, all White Stars rescue free rangers.
This is one of the few pictures I managed to get of them all together ...
... but I have quite a few like this.
They were frequent visitors into the house, when chicken keeping was new and novel for us, and they were only evicted for good when they started getting into the habit of taking dust baths outside and then waiting until they got under the farmhouse table to shake free the fine soil trapped in their feathers. My kitchen had to be seen to be believed!!
Well anyway on this wild, wet and chilly Sunday we are now tucked up in the house, with all outdoor chores done, catching up on some reading, music on in the background and the sound of a Pug snoring gently away on the hearth rug, not a bad way to spend such a yucky day.
We did venture out first thing this morning to walk the dogs along a very windy prom in Llandudno and then a quick pit stop for a Costa Coffee to thaw out our lead holding hands, before heading to Conwy Nature Reserve to have a look at the plant sale that was going on there. The poor folk behind their stalls were valiantly holding down anything that the wind would carry away and trying to take money and wrap purchases. We might have accidentally bought a few new plants that we didn't really need ... but you have to support these local ventures don't you ;-)
And if I finish my new book, I have my new magazine to read, another thing I couldn't resist, with a free book and some more Beetroot seeds it seemed a worthwhile buy.
As Oscar Wilde once said .... 'I can resist anything except temptation'.
Sue xx
I have all of Francine's books and even managed to find her DVD.
ReplyDeleteHer new home in Whitstable is beautiful and after a fox killed her chickens last year(?) she is about to start over with some more.
I heard about that, at the very start of the book she mentions she is worried about foxes in the area, sad that her worries came to fruition.
DeleteI am about to go outside for the third time today to pick up all the pots strewn over the garden. I want Spring back!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to have a few ducks in the garden. Foxes are my big worry though.
Such a turn in the weather again, from 18C to 4C in a week! I have some of those books too, purchased when we first got hens of our own. Although the sun is now shining here the wind is very cold, so an indoor day.
ReplyDeleteHer first couple of books were in the Works last week £2.99 if anyone is looking for them, I had a look at them but decided against it.
ReplyDeleteYou are brave going out today. Really turned cold again here so spent most of day pottering about house. Even dogs did not want to stay long in the garden..Sue enjoy a sit down and a lovely read.
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Between our cold winter and the dogs our back lawn is in a terrible state so while we had good weather earlier in the week, we decided to fertilise and reseed it. We've used lengths of fleece to cover it up (the blackbird hopped down to start scoffing the seed as we worked on the garden!) but the fleece keeps lifting in the wind. Golf tees are brilliant for pegging it down.
ReplyDeleteI've been indulging ib a few books lately on seed saving and breeding your own veg so I can't blame you for buying books you're interested in!
ReplyDeleteThose two book covers in the first photos are very pretty. Your white hen looks like she is about to use the remote to watch a favorite tv show, tee hee.
ReplyDeleteHa ha ha I love the one on the table! We had three girls for about 3 weeks, I bought all the gear and they were treated like princesses but I got unbelievably stressed about them, doing the usual patrols throught the night with a torch, socks with hair in, big man having to wee all over the garden. The problem was that we so,sties don't get home from work until midnight so despite them being in a run, I couldn't lock the coop until late so they went to someone else who had other hens. A pity.
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