Posted by Rosie
Remember those two pesky ducks who wouldn't go to bed - now I know why and I feel really guilty. One of them tried to escape the shed 2 nights ago so I grabbed her which was when I noticed the large and rather nasty wound on her back - a wound I suspect was inflicted by Harold the drake and which explains her desire to escape the duck shed. Sorry duck - I really should have noticed it earlier but seeing as she has a black back and the wound was covered by her wings it was only when I held her that I saw it.
So I have cleaned and sprayed the wound and put her and her sister inside one of the Harold-proof lambing pens. Imagine my surpise yesterday then when I found a duck egg in the pen. This morning Simon found another which is all so ironic because I want a brood of ducklings but I dare not leave this poor duck to the less than friendly advances of Harold. It may be her sister laying but I need to keep the two together for company and away from Harold. So I have removed the eggs (Ben had one for breakfast) and I will just have to hope that either Hilda or Matilda come into lay soon.
However, Hilda thinks she is a chicken and I keep finding her in the chicken run and Matilda is a bit of a mystery. She was the duck who started off being a Harold until we decided she was in fact a Matilda but that said, Harold plays almost no interest in her and I have at times seen her mount Hilda. Whether she will lay (fertile) eggs is anyone's guess or she may just end up as duck stew. Time will tell.
This is my blog, A Green and Rosie Life, which is all about helping you live life that bit greener without having to build an off-grid log cabin in the woods or knit your own nettle fibre undies! It's about helping you make simple changes that together will make a big difference to our beautiful world and make it a better place for our children.
Sunday, 28 March 2010
Friday, 26 March 2010
Fancy Dress
Posted by Rosie
It is enough to fill me with dread at the merest mention of those two words - Fancy Dress. There was note in the boy's Contact Book a couple of weeks ago saying that on Friday 26th March they could come into school wearing fancy dress. I duly noted this fact on the calender and then forgot all about it until I looked at the calender yesterday. AHHHHHHH!!!!!
Being a non-sewing type of person - and some-one who refuses to pay out for tacky bought costumes that put me in a bit of a tight spot. No matter - when the boys got home yesterday we went to the dressing up box to see what could be found. It contains an odd assortment of costumes given as presents and remnants of nativity plays and Hallowe'ens gone-by.
"I want to go as a wolf," Ben announced. That involved sewing - "NO"
"I'll go in the fireman costume," said Tom
"I want to go as the fireman," added Ben
"Why doesn't one of you go as a scarecrow? I could make that" I added.
"NO!!" came the joint reply.
"Could I go in my pyjamas?" Ben suggested (believing, I think, that I would say No.)
"That's an excellent idea - well done you!"
"No - I want to go as a wolf."
"What about the pirate costume?"
"No - every one else is going as a pirate"
AHHHHHHH!!!!
So as this morning dawned I went out to do the animals and let the boys get on sorting things out themselves. We drew up to the bus stop. On the bus there was already a cowboy and Zorro. A Spanish lady, Snow White, a pop star and a pirate soon joined them, followed by Tom the Fireman.
And Ben - well Ben went as ........................................ BEN!!
It is enough to fill me with dread at the merest mention of those two words - Fancy Dress. There was note in the boy's Contact Book a couple of weeks ago saying that on Friday 26th March they could come into school wearing fancy dress. I duly noted this fact on the calender and then forgot all about it until I looked at the calender yesterday. AHHHHHHH!!!!!
Being a non-sewing type of person - and some-one who refuses to pay out for tacky bought costumes that put me in a bit of a tight spot. No matter - when the boys got home yesterday we went to the dressing up box to see what could be found. It contains an odd assortment of costumes given as presents and remnants of nativity plays and Hallowe'ens gone-by.
"I want to go as a wolf," Ben announced. That involved sewing - "NO"
"I'll go in the fireman costume," said Tom
"I want to go as the fireman," added Ben
"Why doesn't one of you go as a scarecrow? I could make that" I added.
"NO!!" came the joint reply.
"Could I go in my pyjamas?" Ben suggested (believing, I think, that I would say No.)
"That's an excellent idea - well done you!"
"No - I want to go as a wolf."
"What about the pirate costume?"
"No - every one else is going as a pirate"
AHHHHHHH!!!!
So as this morning dawned I went out to do the animals and let the boys get on sorting things out themselves. We drew up to the bus stop. On the bus there was already a cowboy and Zorro. A Spanish lady, Snow White, a pop star and a pirate soon joined them, followed by Tom the Fireman.
And Ben - well Ben went as ........................................ BEN!!
Thursday, 25 March 2010
And now I'm back!
Posted by Rosie
Yes, it really was a flying visit - a day to get to Mum's, 2 days there and a day to get home again. It was all good fun though and I even managed to catch up with Colour it Green who ventured up from South Devon on the promise of cake! We had a lovely time chatting about sheep, chickens and all the important things in life ..... and then got slightly damp whilst the boys spent an hour playing in the park in the rain and got soaked!!
I have come back with vital supplies - marmite, golden syrup, poppadoms, brown sugar etc etc. Some things you can get here in the English section that almost all supermarkets have, but they are always very expensive. Then there was a bagful of charity shop books for Simon and about a year's worth of newspapers that Mum had saved for us so we can light the fire without having to scrabble round trying to find something suitable - oh and Mum's video player which she never uses. Ours died recently and whilst we don't watch much tv there is the odd thing we'd like to tape, especially nature programmes which Tom enjoys.
I might only have been away 4 days but Spring has well and truly sprung here - everywhere is looking much greener and the sheep actually have a bit of grass to nibble now. The wild flowers are looking wonderful with anemones, cowslips, wild daffodils, primroses and violets in bloom. I've yet to venture into the veg garden but hopefully I will find some germinated seeds there.
Simon has also made great progress in the gite which I am sure he will write about later. All the upstairs walls are ready for finishing (my job I think) and he's galloping on with the downstairs walls. He did this despite having to look after the animals in my absence. All went well there except for 2 exceedingly pesky ducks who point blank refused to go the bed and so spent two nights out. I believe naughty words were said to them. I wonder if I'll have any better luck trying to get them in this evening?
Yes, it really was a flying visit - a day to get to Mum's, 2 days there and a day to get home again. It was all good fun though and I even managed to catch up with Colour it Green who ventured up from South Devon on the promise of cake! We had a lovely time chatting about sheep, chickens and all the important things in life ..... and then got slightly damp whilst the boys spent an hour playing in the park in the rain and got soaked!!
I have come back with vital supplies - marmite, golden syrup, poppadoms, brown sugar etc etc. Some things you can get here in the English section that almost all supermarkets have, but they are always very expensive. Then there was a bagful of charity shop books for Simon and about a year's worth of newspapers that Mum had saved for us so we can light the fire without having to scrabble round trying to find something suitable - oh and Mum's video player which she never uses. Ours died recently and whilst we don't watch much tv there is the odd thing we'd like to tape, especially nature programmes which Tom enjoys.
I might only have been away 4 days but Spring has well and truly sprung here - everywhere is looking much greener and the sheep actually have a bit of grass to nibble now. The wild flowers are looking wonderful with anemones, cowslips, wild daffodils, primroses and violets in bloom. I've yet to venture into the veg garden but hopefully I will find some germinated seeds there.
Simon has also made great progress in the gite which I am sure he will write about later. All the upstairs walls are ready for finishing (my job I think) and he's galloping on with the downstairs walls. He did this despite having to look after the animals in my absence. All went well there except for 2 exceedingly pesky ducks who point blank refused to go the bed and so spent two nights out. I believe naughty words were said to them. I wonder if I'll have any better luck trying to get them in this evening?
Friday, 19 March 2010
I'm off to England - updated
I have no idea why so many people are currently landing on this blog post from over 8 years ago. In case you are real people and not bots maybe I could interest you in some of my more recent writings, rather than a family orientated post from so long ago, when my blog had a somewhat different focus to now.
If you are interested in reducing how much plastic there is in my life so why not take my 100 step plastic reducing challenge.
Or you might like some ideas on how to make Christmas decorations from natural materials?
And for even more green ideas click on here for one green idea per day for a whole year.
I hope you enjoy these posts more than finding out why I went to England back in March 2010!
Tuesday, 16 March 2010
Reasons to visit Lénault in March
Posted by Rosie
Lambs!!
Everywhere you look around here at the moment there seems to be lambs including our 5. So meet Silver, Little Tom, Moonlight (hiding), Little Ben (falling asleep) and Dotty. Here they are enjoying the glorious Spring sunshine which is so much preferable to the freezing cold winds of last week. Moonlight is especially happy as being a slightly weaker lamb she gets cold very quickly and we had to bring her in last week for a bit of TLC.
In truth thought, you really do need to be here to fully appreciate their antics. Something will suddenly get into their brains and off they'll dash, kicking and leaping in the air. Apparently they only do this when they are very happy so it would seem fair to say that we do have happy lambs. Phew!!
Lambs!!
Everywhere you look around here at the moment there seems to be lambs including our 5. So meet Silver, Little Tom, Moonlight (hiding), Little Ben (falling asleep) and Dotty. Here they are enjoying the glorious Spring sunshine which is so much preferable to the freezing cold winds of last week. Moonlight is especially happy as being a slightly weaker lamb she gets cold very quickly and we had to bring her in last week for a bit of TLC.In truth thought, you really do need to be here to fully appreciate their antics. Something will suddenly get into their brains and off they'll dash, kicking and leaping in the air. Apparently they only do this when they are very happy so it would seem fair to say that we do have happy lambs. Phew!!
Saturday, 13 March 2010
Floors and Waste
Posted by Simon
Progress in the gite is going along satisfactorily. The upper and lower ground floors have been laid and what a difference it makes. Also it gives a great boost - another landmark achieved.
Although not quite finished I have
connected all our waste pipes up and at long last all our waste water etc. is going into the septic tanks. I still have the air vents to do and then deal with the piles of soil. We also have to get the old cesspit emptied - I think I'll try to be out that day!
The old water heater decided it did not like being moved and gave up on us. So we had another few days of no hot water but as luck would have it a friend saw, on a Brits website, that somebody had a brand new water heater for sell for €60.00 (retail at €155.00) and I managed to get it. This the plumber got fitted and we soon had hot water again. I think in the long term this may be a blessing as the old one was taking at least 24 hours to fully heat the water and this new one about 2 hours.
And I had a night out - I went to see the film Invictus. This was in English with French subtitles. It is an excellent film, which I really enjoyed and I had a very pleasant evening.
Progress in the gite is going along satisfactorily. The upper and lower ground floors have been laid and what a difference it makes. Also it gives a great boost - another landmark achieved.Although not quite finished I have
connected all our waste pipes up and at long last all our waste water etc. is going into the septic tanks. I still have the air vents to do and then deal with the piles of soil. We also have to get the old cesspit emptied - I think I'll try to be out that day!The old water heater decided it did not like being moved and gave up on us. So we had another few days of no hot water but as luck would have it a friend saw, on a Brits website, that somebody had a brand new water heater for sell for €60.00 (retail at €155.00) and I managed to get it. This the plumber got fitted and we soon had hot water again. I think in the long term this may be a blessing as the old one was taking at least 24 hours to fully heat the water and this new one about 2 hours.
And I had a night out - I went to see the film Invictus. This was in English with French subtitles. It is an excellent film, which I really enjoyed and I had a very pleasant evening.
Saturday, 6 March 2010
On The Bottle
Posted by Simon
The first part of the ground floor was laid this week and we used hundreds of bottles as an insulation layer. The theory is that the air trapped in the bottles helps with the insulation, but apparently it is not the best of methods. I have put another layer of insulation between the ground and the bottles as well.
The original plan for the floor was a hemp/limecrete but due to weather conditions (mainly temperature) and timing we have had to revert to normal concrete - which I am really disappointed about. So using the bottles has meant that less concrete was needed and means they are reused without going through any other process. I'm determined to try the hemp/limecrete and plan to use it other buildings as we develop them.
The plumber has also started work. His first job was to move the hot water heater for our house from the gite to it's new location. The move went well but the re-wiring did not, so we had no hot water for a couple of days. I managed to sort the wiring out and eventually enjoyed a nice hot shower, but unbeknown to us a wire had got pulled out and Rosie did not enjoy the delights of a nice hot shower. I'm pleased to report it is now back working and Rosie has scrubbed up quite well.
And
I have eventually finished filling in the filter beds. It needs some final landscaping but I'll wait until the soil has settled and it has dried out some more. I think it became one of those jobs you put off because you think it is going to be worse than it actually is - in the end it wasn't too bad. I still have some work to do around the septic tanks but should hopefully get that finished by next weekend. It is so nice not to look out on to a 30 metre long soil pile and means we (Rosie) can take a direct route to the vegetable garden now.
Please note we did NOT supply all the bottles ourselves - but were greatly helped by neighbours, friends, school and a couple of restaurants!!!
The first part of the ground floor was laid this week and we used hundreds of bottles as an insulation layer. The theory is that the air trapped in the bottles helps with the insulation, but apparently it is not the best of methods. I have put another layer of insulation between the ground and the bottles as well.The original plan for the floor was a hemp/limecrete but due to weather conditions (mainly temperature) and timing we have had to revert to normal concrete - which I am really disappointed about. So using the bottles has meant that less concrete was needed and means they are reused without going through any other process. I'm determined to try the hemp/limecrete and plan to use it other buildings as we develop them.
The plumber has also started work. His first job was to move the hot water heater for our house from the gite to it's new location. The move went well but the re-wiring did not, so we had no hot water for a couple of days. I managed to sort the wiring out and eventually enjoyed a nice hot shower, but unbeknown to us a wire had got pulled out and Rosie did not enjoy the delights of a nice hot shower. I'm pleased to report it is now back working and Rosie has scrubbed up quite well.
And
I have eventually finished filling in the filter beds. It needs some final landscaping but I'll wait until the soil has settled and it has dried out some more. I think it became one of those jobs you put off because you think it is going to be worse than it actually is - in the end it wasn't too bad. I still have some work to do around the septic tanks but should hopefully get that finished by next weekend. It is so nice not to look out on to a 30 metre long soil pile and means we (Rosie) can take a direct route to the vegetable garden now.Please note we did NOT supply all the bottles ourselves - but were greatly helped by neighbours, friends, school and a couple of restaurants!!!
Tuesday, 2 March 2010
Once Upon A Time........
Posted by Simon
........there were three little pig(lets) and as the weather was lovely and sunny for the first time since their arrival they were able to venture out and take in some sun, instead of wading through trotter deep mud.
Plus Rosie discovered this morning that we have frogs-spawn in the pond. Is this another sign that spring is on the way?
........there were three little pig(lets) and as the weather was lovely and sunny for the first time since their arrival they were able to venture out and take in some sun, instead of wading through trotter deep mud.
Plus Rosie discovered this morning that we have frogs-spawn in the pond. Is this another sign that spring is on the way?
Fruity Cereal Bars
Posted by Rosie
Ahhhhchooooo - Yup - I've got a cold I'm all bunged up and couldn't sleep so decided to while away the small hours with a post.
Yesterday I made number 11 from my 52 in 2010 challenge - Fruity Cereal Bars. With all the physical work he is doing Simon finds he needs a good energy snack to keep him going. Chocolate is all very well but I have been trawling my cookbooks to find something a bit healthier and these Fruity Cereal Bars seem to have hit the mark. That said I didn't quite have all the ingredients so adapted the recipe a bit as you'll see. I also think that a bit less flour and more oats would be nicer. Anyway this is the recipe from the book:
450g eating apples - peeled, cored and finely chopped (I used cooking apples)
50g stoned dated - coarsely chopped (I used raisins)
50g ready to eat dried apricots - chopped
100g mixed nuts chopped (I used flaked almonds and only 50g)
50g sultanas
75g rolled oats
3oz wholemeal SR flour (I used white)
25g desiccated coconut
25g sesame seeds (I didn't have any)
25g pumpkin seeds
90mls (6tbsp) apple juice (I used 1tbsp hedgerow jelly mixed with 5tbsps of water)
24mls (3tbsp) sunflower oil
Cook the apples in 1 tbsp water until very soft, stirring to evaporate any excess water
Mix together all the other ingredients, add the apple and beat well. (I also added 1tbsp of brown sugar as I had used a cooking apple)
Lightly grease an 18cm square tin and add the mixture. Level the surface and bake at 170 degrees C (Mark 3) on the low shelf of the oven for 40-50mins. Move to the top shelf for the last 10mins. When cooked the mixture will be slightly brown around the edges and feel firm to touch.
Mark into 8 bars while warm and leave to cool in the tin.
They are actually very filling and next time I might make them into 12 bars. I am also thinking what variations I could do - date and walnut would be nice and I was wondering if adding some ground almonds instead of some of the flour would work. I might even try stewed rhubarb or mashed pumpkin instead of the apple and crystallized ginger instead of the coconut could be tasty. What do you reckon?
Ahhhhchooooo - Yup - I've got a cold I'm all bunged up and couldn't sleep so decided to while away the small hours with a post.
Yesterday I made number 11 from my 52 in 2010 challenge - Fruity Cereal Bars. With all the physical work he is doing Simon finds he needs a good energy snack to keep him going. Chocolate is all very well but I have been trawling my cookbooks to find something a bit healthier and these Fruity Cereal Bars seem to have hit the mark. That said I didn't quite have all the ingredients so adapted the recipe a bit as you'll see. I also think that a bit less flour and more oats would be nicer. Anyway this is the recipe from the book:
450g eating apples - peeled, cored and finely chopped (I used cooking apples)
50g stoned dated - coarsely chopped (I used raisins)
50g ready to eat dried apricots - chopped
100g mixed nuts chopped (I used flaked almonds and only 50g)
50g sultanas
75g rolled oats
3oz wholemeal SR flour (I used white)
25g desiccated coconut
25g sesame seeds (I didn't have any)
25g pumpkin seeds
90mls (6tbsp) apple juice (I used 1tbsp hedgerow jelly mixed with 5tbsps of water)
24mls (3tbsp) sunflower oil
Cook the apples in 1 tbsp water until very soft, stirring to evaporate any excess water
Mix together all the other ingredients, add the apple and beat well. (I also added 1tbsp of brown sugar as I had used a cooking apple)
Lightly grease an 18cm square tin and add the mixture. Level the surface and bake at 170 degrees C (Mark 3) on the low shelf of the oven for 40-50mins. Move to the top shelf for the last 10mins. When cooked the mixture will be slightly brown around the edges and feel firm to touch.
Mark into 8 bars while warm and leave to cool in the tin.
They are actually very filling and next time I might make them into 12 bars. I am also thinking what variations I could do - date and walnut would be nice and I was wondering if adding some ground almonds instead of some of the flour would work. I might even try stewed rhubarb or mashed pumpkin instead of the apple and crystallized ginger instead of the coconut could be tasty. What do you reckon?
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