Something Got Finished - well nearly

It's not often you get a history for your compost toilet (see previous blog) and now going for a bike ride in this household takes on a whole new meaning! One email we received brought back fond(?) memories.......

"of having to walk right down through the garden to the lavatory, as it was called then, and it was an earth midden which sounds very similar to yours. We used to have squares of torn up news paper tied up with a piece of string and held up on a hook, your toilet looks very posh! Do you take the Sunday paper down there with you?

................and ours is posh - it has toilet paper! Whether the winter usage will be as high - I doubt it, not with temperatures as low as minus 7°C.

Well I managed to finish the pond and now need to get plants for it and the surrounds. It already has a frog residing in it and when I lifted the liner to cut it I found a slow worm, a huge toad and a mouse, unfortunately caught by Saari. So the wildlife area is progressing. Last summer we noticed that the lizards liked to sunbathe on the old sleepers and hide in the holes so we have installed a couple in this area (left of pond). It was fun watching them peep out of the holes to see if it was safe to bask in the sun again. There is also an old fallen tree trunk and log and stone piles to attract insects etc.

We decided to separate the cockerels from the hens as they were getting rather too randy (the cockerels). So I built a new house for them. It was either getting the ladies mind back on the the job or the threat of the roasting dish but one or both of these actions has resulted in an good increase in the egg laying department. One other side affect is Rosie and I getting fitter as we've had to chase the cockerels around the field and catch them to get them into their new quarters at night. Well what did we expect?

The boys tower is on hold at the moment as the area we have decided to put it can, we feel, be utilised better and so some other works (major) need doing before we go ahead. It may mean more work now but will be more beneficial with our long term aims. Anyway it also means I have sorted out an area that was in need of urgent attention.

This week we have yet more visitors so Rosie is planning some days out - but I'm planning that they'll be helping with some of the above major works.

And I now know what to do with my old newspapers, some string and an old hook - saves toilet roll!