Far Lands

. . . until the eggs will hatch. We've bought an incubator. Following the sad death of our broody bantam chicken and the White Sussex breed being as broody as garden spades and our chicken coop dwindling to an occupancy of 6, we decided we'd have a go with technology. The incubator has a temperature setting (currently at 38.2C) and an auto turner. The eggs need to be turned 5 x a day. Humidity is also important, 50% for the first 18 days and then 70-80% for the last three. The instructions advise adding water at the bottom of the bator (chicken blog slang) and checking daily. But there is no hygrometer - we have just ordered one. We have 9 eggs and we will see. I've been waiting 4 days now. How anybody can wait 9 months, I don't know.

Been away for a week of cold, wet walking in Scotland. Back to hot hot sun, and weeds which suggest we have been away for a month. Doom and gloom in the garden but I've tried to find a positive photo. It shows our broad beans, potatoes and runner beans, all of which look OK. Otherwise, slugs have ravaged our brassicas, the bees in the 2nd hive have not 'made' a new queen, the mower packed up in the jungle-long grass, the early promise of copious blossom on the fruit trees has mainly dried-up and disappeared and a chicken died. So it goes , Kurt Vonnegut would write in Slaughterhouse 5 . And he was writing about the 130 000 deaths in the bombing of Dresden. So, everything's relative.

I'm suffering. Twin complaints of Scyther's Shoulder and Leak Leg . Over the weekend I scythed the entire orchard and planted 150 leeks. The shoulder condition is maybe obvious but I will add that it's only my right shoulder. Not because I am cack-handed with my left hand (I am) but because scythes are uni-directional. My second complaint arose because of stretching my legs wide apart over the prepared bed to drill the holes for the leeks with a dibber, and then again as I teased the bunch of leeks apart and eased them into their holes. Better than a yoga session. Sarah, meanwhile, was on a gardening course learning how to do things properly. Top tip for leeks (if you want long stems) is to put a toilet roll in the hole. (The cardboard bit, she told me later.)