Week 2 and 3 Summer Session

Some of our many tyres planted up
either side of the path -
very colourful!

Sorry, i'm putting two weeks into one...the slippery slope - it'll be once a month if i'm not strict on myself at this rate!
Well the weather has been playing havoc with our planting outside - those winds - the dahlias we planted this week, look very sorry for themselves.  Most of the other veg are struggling to stay upright - the beans & beetroot that went out last week look ok-ish!
We have two lots of chicks / hens in the poly tunnel with our salads at the moment - the 9 that hatched during the Royal Wedding, are now HUGE, and we are desperately trying to sort some kind of a run/house to put them out in the field, and our two Bantam mums, Henny & Penny, with their four chicks in another coop.  They're not loose in the poly tunnel, as they rather like the salads!  Also, at this time of year we tend to get a plague of RATS! We are transporting them out on a rota to the field, in our guinea pig run instead!

Some our Tomatoes potted up

The tomatoes the students planted from seed, are coming on really well, and they have been potted on again today.  The basil plants, however, seem to be taking ages to grow at all!

Yesterday, we went over to visit a friend, Roz, who is running 'Aunt Addies Farm' Project, near Tetbury.  She has planted thousands and thousands of salads and vegetables, and it was really inspiring to see just how much can be planted from seed.  Roz has boundless energy and we all thought she is doing an amazing job over there!  We came back with Aubergine, Chillies and a Cucumber plant to go in the poly tunnel - thank you Roz for a lovely outing.

A bit of sad news - unfortunately Daisy Duck disappeared on Monday night - i went to call them all in from the field after the lovely rain storm (they were having such a great time!) and Daisy never appeared - we searched all the neighbouring fields, tracks etc., for any sign of feathers/struggle but nothing - so no more duck eggs for the moment...I think we may have to pay a visit to the market to see if we can find another Daisy Duck to keep Jake company - he really misses her!

We had a lovely visit today from a group of prospective students from around Stroud - unfortunately it rained most of the time they were here - but we managed to make them all feel welcome, and hid in the poly tunnel for the worst of the down pour!