Ho hum. Autumn est arrivee!

Well, Rosie, that was the Summer!? We've had a nice few days since the beginning of September - and a couple of downpours - but it would appear that the chill in the air does not mean the end of Global Warming, only the end of the rather disappointing British Summer. Still, we might get a proper one next year, so it's out with the old ones and in with the new seed catalogues and a whole new plan for the Veggie Patch for the next growing season.

Until we get that underway, the "biggest" thing in our lives at the moment is the New Septic Digester Malarkey. After the previous "Investigation Stage" came the beginning of the "Installation Stage" with the coming of the really, really big digging machine.

Big. Very Big - wasn't it Rosie?

A truly enormous spoil heap was created - despite shed-loads of stuff being carted away during the digging process. I'm hoping to have a naming ceremony for Suffolk's Only Mountain - I was thinking of calling it Doris!

Soon, our doughty Landlord arrived and began his toil with a transporter carrying mixer and shovel, creating a cushion of concrete for the lovely lady Digester to sit her sit-upon on. And so it was.

He even brought his own water with him - we're metered! - to help with the filling that was to come slightly later when "She" arrived:

And what a beauty she is! This picture was taken after the ready mix concrete was poured up to her waist soon after she was filled to her middle with water to hold her down. I am calling her "Mary" after Queen Mary, who had the same demeanor! Not long now and we will no longer have to check that All Was Flushed Away after every - ahem - "operation". Oh, what joy unbounded!

On more interesting note, the turkeys are growing nicely. Well, they should be, too! The amount of food a dozen turkeys can put away is astounding. Still, we do want them to grow and they are looking a lot better than last year's - mostly due to the new, improved, bigger run, and living in a Horsebox! Well, yes. I know, but they seem to be ok and (touch wood!) we haven't lost any to the vixen that lives in the wood beyond the field next to us!

They seem mostly unperturbed by the upheaval and the arrival of Mary in their line of sight.

We did have a little bother immediately before they were moved from their "poult" (baby turkey) run, with one of the white ones getting "boredom" pecked in the wing. Since the move, about three weeks ago she is now fine again and is growing nice, new, clean feathers. Another disaster in the move was that The Bloke broke a turkey and it had to be euthanized. We ate it and it was lovely - small, but lovely. And then there were 12!

On a lighter note, I was talking to Trojan The Grey, who is a 17-year-old, 17.2hh gentleman who lives on the land to the East of ours and he posed for a picture or two that I thought I would share with you. Isn't he lovely? And such a kind, gentle soul!

I love him!

Chow, Amici!

News!

In the absence of any significant activity in the food producing parts of the household, I have had some time on my hands. This has resulted in the birth of a new forum called East Of England Slow Food. It's a Yahoo! group and is dedicated to the proposition that there are always gluts of foodstuffs such as courgettes and pumpkins (my current concern) and it would be nice to hear if anyone has some good ideas as to how to cope.

So, if you have a great recipe, would like one, know a good food/seed/knowledge source or would like to have a chat about anything to do with this stuff, click on the button on the top left of this screen and you will be welcomed into the fold!

Oh, and, just in passing, Rosie, The Smallest Dog In The Area, found and bit a huge rat on the field yesterday. It didn't go much on that and bit her back, on the nose. A subsequent visit to the Vet set me back £40.68! Just for a course of anti-biotics! Out-bloomin'-rageous, innit?!!

What ho!

Summer Is Slipping Away

In a "fruitless" (geddit?) attempt to preserve the Summer for a little longer, I have been making jam, chutneys, jellies and relishes like a mad thing. I am getting quite good at it, so it seems that my objective of giving pretty jars of home-made stuff for Christmas prezzies may possibly be achieved.

Who'd have thought that the most difficult thing I have had to make has been strawberry jam - everything else has been very straightforward.

Even the Banana and Pineapple jam is tasty, so is the Curried Banana Chutney, despite the strangeness and its ability to make you screw up your nose with its very name! Don't deny it, I saw you!

We have transferred the 13 remaining turkeys to the large enclosure, ready for the huge digger that is going to solve all our septic tank problems by digging a huge hole for the new "digester" tank on Monday. The only problem we have had, so far, is that one of the turkeys broke her wing in the move and is to be lunch tomorrow. I don't think I have ever been so sorry for anything, despite the fact that she did it herself against the side of the run. Daft bird!

The tiniest of the sheep has had fly-strike, where blow-fly larvae eat away at the flesh of sheep and, I'm told, rabbits with long fur. The adults lay their eggs in the wool and they hatch to a ready food supply. It is the most horrible thing imaginable. I won't publish a picture. Eugh! It must ITCH like crazy, poor little girl. But she has been treated, wormed and released back into the fold, so should improve by leaps and bounds.

We only have the five Welsummer babies and Silkie hen, Fluffy, left in the chicken department. The cockerell is poaching nicely as we speak and the other hens have gone to the great coop in the sky - we are getting new ones once the digging is over with. I was really sad about this, but the mite-treated polecats were delighted! It's an ill wind .......!

Mabel the Caravan, The Bloke and I went to The Oyster at Butley for a weekend with friends over the bank-holiday weekend and found it a delightful experience. The Bloke had a moment, but The Camel enjoyed a nice few days in the Suffolk countryside. He likes to come with us on caravanning trips and days out and is becoming quite well-travelled. Quiet, tho.

As you can see, the weather was most kind and we rushed home on the Monday so that we could go away again to North Walsham by ourselves. Camel was busy that week, so couldn't come, which was a shame because we were introduced to a beautiful lady camel, Camelia, who came home with us and is looking forward to meeting him.

Since returning from the break, we haven't stopped working! There was a fence to put up between where the pigs used to be and the rest of that half of the field, which took all day yesterday and burnt my shoulders in the sunshine and there is much stuff that The Bloke had to move out of the way for the Digger on Monday. He's had to mow the lawns twice, they were so long! Still the Dahlias are still blooming beautifully and we now have ornamental fruit on the Passion Flower plant.

We have had another freezer delivered today which we shall need when the Soay ewes go to slaughter soon. We will have the highest electricity bill on the planet with all five freezers going! Self-sufficiency, My Eye!

Our lovely Brother and Sister-in-Law are coming to visit for the weekend - unfortunately not bringing any of their gorgeous offspring - so The Bloke wants the Laminated Flooring Complete and Tidy Before They Arrive. No chance! NO chance at all!! They'll be lucky if I remember to make up the bed in their room! Can't wait to see them, tho', haven't seen them since Anne-Marie's Wedding!

Pip! Pip!