It didn’t rain today but after the 17mm we had yesterday the ground was far to wet to work today. The sky also remained overcast all day so it became a day of bits and pieces mainly indoors.
While letting out the chickens this morning I glanced over to my saffron bed and here it is…my very first home-grown saffron. It looks like I’ll double the quantity tomorrow too! While it might be one of the most expensive items by weight around at the moment, I don’t think I’ll be making my fortune just yet.
Later on in the day I was on my way back to the chickens to give them some grain and found this little chap in the grass.
He was only 15cm, 6 inches long at the most, about the same size as the hedgehog I saw last year. I’m wondering now if the hedgehogs are a smaller variety here than in the UK or if I’ve seen juvenile ones each time. Once he’d noticed me photographing him, he headed off across the flowerbeds towards the pile of weeds for burning. As you can see, Patches was curious but she kept her distance so I suspect she’s had a prickled nose before now.
While I love my bonfires, I never just set light to a heap of stuff I’ve left around. I always start a new heap to burn so I don’t inadvertently roast one of these delightful slug catchers. I headed him off and placed him under the bay tree behind the house, whether he will hibernate in the leaves there or head back to the burning pile, I’ll find out when I have the next bonfire. In the meantime I must dig out my hedgehog book and see if there are any ideas for making somewhere for him to hibernate that doesn’t require me doing any construction work as I just don’t have time at the moment.
The rest of the day was spent doing the little things like putting bolts on doors and trying to re-fit the curtain pole on my bedroom. The walls here are a mixture of rubble, breezeblock, terracotta block and bad plaster and one of the rawlplugs holding up the curtain pole had pulled out of the wall taking a rather large piece of plaster with it. So while the filler was setting I even managed a trip to the tip to empty my trailer of all the rubbish in it. All in all a quiet but satisfying day.
2 comments:
Hello Deborah
I discovered your wonderful blog via our amazing Debs Lehner. And now, thanks to you, I found The Contrary Goddess.
You all inspire me so much. One day I might even find the words myself on my little blog.
Happy autumn and bonfires, hope sick chicky soon becomes super-well chook (as we call all chicks, chickens, hens down here)
Huggles and care, Michelle
Hello, Oh how I envy you your hedgehog, I haven't seen mine again, so just the one sighting. I have to say though, he was really big, it was pitch dark so I didn't measure him, but perhaps a bit bigger than the ones I have seen in the UK. Obviously a daddy! We keep saying we are going to wrap up warm and sit outside until the early hours just waiting to see what arrives in the garden. Yet something else we haven't done yet. One day.......
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