Far Lands

Problem 1 when we got back from holiday was that we were getting no eggs. And our chickens seemed to be hoovering up every last morsel off food. The explanation was crows. During our absence, they seemed to have multiplied and become very bold. Twice I have seen one go into the house, and emerge with an egg in its beak. At times we had a dozen crows wandering in and out of the chicken-house. Our first idea was to reduce the front door size - down to an opening about 7 inches by 5 inches, complete with strings hanging down with bottle tops attached. The chickens found their new door a bit odd, but the crows kept marching in. The solution has been a two-pronged approach - a scarecrow (Louise) (apparently the crows are put off by the round head and its pinkish hue (old tights!)), and by changing the entrance to the RHS through both the run door, so that any thief has to walk through the run, and then into the chicken-house through the side-door. So much for solving problem 1.

Even happy homesteaders need a holiday . . . we are just back from the Alps. A week's wild camping, and then a week in a gite. Pictures show us clambering up to one snowy col, and camping next to a triangular picnic table. In our first week we climbed the equivalent of Everest from sea-level - we spent most of the second week lying down. Coming home was no so great, but that's next week's story . . .