Steve is definitely a pyromaniac!!

Bonfire night came early here.

Jack-o-lantern and Immie-o-lantern.

Fireworks on the bank ( now called the Cobb )

Sparklers on the Cobb.

Steve and I have started work on the tree house.

Floor joists.

It will have a fine view over the stream.

A stormy day. Wet and windy.

But the chicken run is finished and populated by rabbits. The remaining chicken is still terrified - laying eggs still but keeping to the hedges. When the rabbits have settled in we will move her overnight so she wakes up in her new home.

Steve found these on his four mile run.

I need to look them up to see if they will do for breakfast.

Brave new world.

The rabbits explore the chicken run for the first time.

Immie with the rabbits in the hen house.

Today the rabbits are called Blackberry and Elderberry but we are not ordering engraved name plates yet!

We make them work hard here. Immie making things.

Life's a bitch.

Today we lost the golden chicken to more local wildlife. The sparrowhawk has been hanging around for some time and today chicken was on the menu. The chickens are in the habit of coming across to the backdoor for breakfast and the sparrowhawk ambushed her on the way. Fortunately Kate spotted the hawk and ran into the garden but it was too late. The other one is traumatised but surviving and avoiding wide open spaces!! Even more reasons to get the chicken run finished - get her inside before the sparrowhawk gets her too and get more chickens so she has some company.

Sent from my iPhone

This is the rabbit's home next door to the chickens.

This is Kate's hedge.

The pond froze this morning for the first time.

But instead of flat ice it was rather uneven. No good for skating. Anybody know why?

It looks like this.

Cold but very pretty.

Sunrise was pretty spectacular this morning.

Immie is pleased to announce that the rabbits survived the very cold night.

It is the first time the pond has frozen over.

New livestock!

New additions to our zoo. Two black rabbits from Freecycle who will live in the chicken pen and have their own section of the hen house.

It is so beautiful .....

It makes you want to run round the fields singing "oh what a beautiful morning ..."

Busy doing nothing.

No not really. Doing boring things like finishing the chicken run. Not worth a photo. But this was the morning mist rising out of the valley this morning.

I love it when a plan works.

There has been so much rain in the last twenty four hours that the new top pond has filled up and is running down the new stream bed to the bottom pond. I had assumed it would just drain away until I put in a liner.

Progress on the chicken run.

We could also pop the grandchildren in there.

The outside of the hen house painted

Inside the hen house.

inside 2

Three new vegetable beds.

Just waiting for the next visitor to rotovate them!! Taking the turf off with a jcb is much easier than doing it by hand. Unless you have Bella staying with you!

and four new fruit beds

and grass on the top of the embankment.

The stream from the pool to the old goose pond.

The new pool.

The stream.

We now have an embankment.

Much better than a tump.

Steph learning to drive.

Steph is here and has painted the pigsty black.

This should make it much less of an eyesore.

The tump has gone.

So now there is a level area for the polytunnel and other things.

and this is the start of the bank round the pond.

The tump is going.

And Steph is here now.

Making a molehill out of a mountain.

Leveling the mound to make a level area for the polytunnel and compost bins etc.

The raised beds leveled.

The shrubs removed from the lawn area.

And the start of leveling the old raised beds.

A new flowerbed for the shrubs from the lawn area.

Gardening with a jcb is easy! Dig the bed with it. Dig the planting holes with it. Dig up the shrubs with it. Easy peasy.

Autumn.

The chicken house.

With new front, doors and posts in place for the fencing.

Kate is continuing with the hedge.

We can now see much more of the surrounding fields.

and the digger has been delivered to do a long list of jobs.

Work continues on the chicken run.

and Kate has started cutting the main hedge on the road side.