Adventures in growing our own food, raising livestock and beekeeping on less than one acre
The RSPB Big Birdwatch was coming up soon so we registered to take part and looked forward to focusing on the bird table and feeders for an hour to give us a better insight as to who exactly was coming to visit as well as to contribute to the national survey.
I have always loved this little bird with its black and white plumage tinged with a delicate shade of pink, its dainty little features, its round little body with its tail, so long that it makes it look like one of those dongers that are used to beat out the notes on a xylophone and I am hungry to learn more.
It is always an absolute tonic to me when signs of Spring appear and the reassurance of the green shoots of the early flowers reveal to us that they are waiting in the wings and ready to put on their show no matter what.
I have always loved their ostentatious appearance and heady scent at a time of year when a bit of a boost is needed to help you through post-Christmas gloom and set you well on your way to that first glimpse of lengthening days or the first snowdrop checking in to Spring
The table and feeders have a constant stream of hungry beaks belonging to all the usual candidates waiting their turn to tuck into the meal of the day, but it is always a special pleasure when the ‘Brooksiders’ leave their watery haunts and choose to join us.
It is said that you should live as though you are going to die tomorrow but you should farm as though you are going to live forever and because of this you never dispose of last years calendar but every calendar is kept so comparisons can be made from one year to next, to keep an eye on Mother Natures performance and to notice patterns.
Our ancestors lack of proper understanding of the mysteries of life probably led to the supernatural links to magpies as a way of explaining difficult subjects such as death.
Hope…Hope that this will all be over one day very soon and we’ll be eating the courgettes and onions he’s planting over the same dinner table and maybe even sharing the same name as well as county and home.
There was nothing quite like Pancake Day when I was a child waiting patiently in line to see if the next one Mum had finished cooking was for me. No sooner was it tossed and turned out onto the Hornsea … Continued