Here is your invitation to the Cottage Smallholder Summer Party!
Together with their menagerie of chickens , bees, fish and Min Pins Fiona & Danny invite You To The Cottage Smallholder Summer Party Saturday, July 21st 2012 From 1pm till late in the evening At home in their cottage in Cheveley, Suffolk RSVP via the contact us tab above or leave a comment below We had great fun last year and do hope that you will be able to come. This is a very relaxed and informal event. There will be an all day buffet and a barbecue in the evening. Quite a few people stayed at local B&Bs in the village or...
read moreThe five young Pekin bantams have arrived from Sue!
Pekin bantams are small, have feathery feet and are always big in the character stakes. We have missed our old favourites Mrs Boss and Mrs Squeaky for quite some time now so imagine our delight when Sue offered us five baby Pekins a couple of weeks ago. They were hatched at Easter so are two months old. “I either have two girls and three boys or the other way around. They are grey, buff and black.” “Ohh! Yes please.” Sue emailed us photos of the five youngsters. “I want to name one Prudence.” Said Danny glancing up from the laptop...
read moreGIVEAWAY COMPETITION – Win a Luxury Picnic Hamper for Two
At The Cottage Smallholder this week, www.hampergifts.co.uk is giving away a very generous Picnic Hamper for Two. As usual this will be a grand draw, there are no tricky questions to answer, just make a comment below describing why you would like to win this hamper and you will be automatically entered. This gorgeous, luxury hamper includes absolutely everything that you could need for a luxury picnic – this is the crème de la crème of food hampers. Including a mixture of snacks and treats for the more discerning palate, this hamper...
read moreQueen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee. A personal response.
“I remember watching the Queen’s Coronation at the cinema. I was pregnant with you at the time.” My mum sometimes recalls. How far we’ve moved on since then. TV in every home, computers, mobile phones that can access the Internet. Throughout, Queen Elizabeth has remained at the helm. Steadfast and true to our nation. I like the Queen and enjoy having a monarchy – the idea of a family representing us as a nation. Of course there are politicians too but I wouldn’t feel very happy about being represented by a president of any party as...
read moreFlowers from the garden June 2012
Unless you have been reading this blog for a very long time you wouldn’t know that I used to spend £10 a week on flowers. Flowers have a transient beauty and this somehow makes them even more precious. A home without flowers always seemed rather a bleak place to me. This Chinese proverb explains the need for beauty in our lives. “When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.” Food for the body and food for the soul. Back in January 1997 I decided to give up buying flowers from...
read moreHope has finally gone broody
As you know our little silver laced Wyandotte bantam has been toying with the broody state for a few weeks. Over the past three days she has been holed up in the nesting box in the main chicken house. She is sitting on eggs but leaving the nest when I come into the pen to feed the the flock. Yesterday we were running low on eggs so whilst she was out stretching her legs in the run, I grabbed the clutch that she’d been sitting on and sped away. This morning I decided to make scrambled eggs on toast and discovered to my surprise that Beatyl...
read moreWhy do honey bees swarm? A local swarm of bees moved into one of our empty hives
“Bees will be bees and do what they want to do however hard you try to manipulate them.” Brenda announced this over a leisurely mug of tea years ago and she’s right. Brenda is married to our one time Bee Mentor Mike Hastings. She has that special something – our Min Pins fawned on her rather than yapping and dancing away with their normal ‘don’t touch me’ skip. She is one of the calmest most centred people that I have ever met. Of course Brenda didn’t mean that bees should not be husbanded. They need care and help to...
read moreUpdate on our chickens. Past, present and future.
In spring 2011 we bought some new standard sized chickens from Cambridge Poultry in Botisham – this is the place to buy good hens locally. Ours are healthy, beautiful hens that lay well and are proving to be a good investment. They provide enough eggs for the two of us with more to spare for friends. So why did we want more chickens this spring? These Bottisham hens are a bit like the Stepford Wives. They are sweet natured and don’t display a lot of personality. They are ruled by Queen Zeb – the one remaining chicken from the batch...
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