Sunday 27 October 2013

Still alive n kicking!!!




Hello one and all, is anyone there? I had slipped of the blogging planet but have managed to get a few minutes and get my head together to string a coherent, well almost sentence together!

It has been just over 6 months ago that I started on my new venture, and so much has been happening in those 6 months that I don't even know where to begin. However I don't want to bore you all to death either!

So I will try not to ramble on and just tell you the main things that have been going on. The shop has evolved considerably since I first opened, I have about 18 different crafter's that have their handmade items for sale in the shop as well as the furniture I do and my own makes. The tearoom is also up and running and we are also running craft workshops. Every Wednesday we have an open craft coffee morning, where all are welcome to pop along and bring whatever craft they are currently working on and we all craft together. It has been hard work to get the shop to where and how it is but it has been great fun too.

Now what else have I been up to...

Well not a lot really as the business and the family take up most of my time. The garden has been left to it's own devices and is now a sorry state. I did manage to get a couple of hours weeding in about 8 weeks ago but that was it. It is now overgrown once more, but I am determined to get it done and covered over before the end of November! I will probably have to do it by moonlight.

I am sad to say that I no longer have the girls, Bell, Dory and Octavia have gone to live on my Friend Terry's allotment with his girls and boys. I just did not have the time to give to them plus we had a major mice problem and I felt that by sending them to live on Terry's allotment was the best option for all concerned. I do really miss them, even the dogs look forlornly at the empty run, but I am glad that I did have a chance to be a hen keeper and experience the joy that they give. 

Jay is currently recovering from having his appendix removed last week, so it has been even more hectic than usual. I was supposed to be doing some cutting out tonight but thus far have just got that bag beside me with all the stuff in that I need. We are currently awaiting a storm/gale to hit, I put some stuff away earlier in the summerhouse, I just hope the tree doesn't come crashing down!

The photo is of a pretty little fungi that I saw when out walking the dogs early this morning,  a little bit of colour on a drab dark day. 

Well I will bid you a fond farewell, stay safe if the storm is heading your way. I hope you enjoyed reading and I will not leave it so long next time x

To see what the shop is like ect you can view photos on the Wigglywoo facebook page


Monday 29 July 2013

R.I.P my big bird Matilda



Today Matilda took her last egg laying breath and now joins Perdy in the great big coop in the sky. She had become egg bound again but this time was to be her last.

It has been extremely warm these past few days with a little rainfall but not enough to make much difference to the ground. I had my first blueberry yesterday, it was quite nice not as juicy or blue as I thought it would be. The strawberries are coming to an end now, the peas have also done. The onions have bolted so at some point this week I shall be clearing the ground and putting on some compost and covering it for the winter as I will not be growing anything else until next spring.

A couple of weeks ago I had a lovely post written by Karen at Karen Louise Crafts all about Wigglywoo's Craft Emporium. Thanks Karen you are too kind x To read Karen's blog click on the link below
http://karenlouisecrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/wigglywoos-craft-emporium.html?m=1

Well not a lot of news, I hope you are all enjoying the summer so far. Until next time x


Thursday 25 July 2013

Frazzled!

Hello everyone! I do apologise yet again for my long absence. Things have been rather busy and I was trying to keep it all going but unfortunately something had to give and it was the garden that has been pushed to the wayside.

We have had amazing weather these past couple of weeks, my waterbutts are empty. We have harvested some potatoes, peas and strawberries however the onions have gone to seed, the fennel needs thinning out and the swedes are growing well. There are no runner beans, French beans, courgettes or squashes in the garden this year but there is plenty of weeds!  So far this year has been a bit of a blur and has whizzed past at tremendous speed!

The heat seems to have affected the girls as we are down to just one egg a day, they have become very noisy indeed, as soon as I get home and they see me through the door they become very vocal as they know they will be allowed out for their daily stroll shortly. They have been venturing into the kitchen a lot more, even flighty Matilda has taken to a wander around the kitchen.

A few photos of the well erm I suppose growing/disintegrating vegetable garden




Lots have been going on at Wigglywoo's Craft Emporium We now have the tea room up and running as well as the workshops, lots of lovely furniture and locally handmade crafts and gifts. What I love about the shop is that no two weeks have been the same since I opened, there has been changes to the layout and what we have for sale is always changing. 
The first pieces that went on display
adding to the stock

My beautiful girly set that I really enjoyed doing

The emerging tearoom

The tearoom all set and ready to serve

The rear end of the shop as it is now

another section of the shop as it is now

 As you can see from the photos the shop has totally transformed over the last three months. I have met lots of lovely people since I have been in the shop as well as a few strange encounters. It is hard work but I am loving every minute of it. 

I hope you are all having a wonderful summer, until next time and I promise not to leave it so long x

Thursday 4 July 2013

Here comes Summer!

Hello everyone, sorry for the silence. All is well in the Wigglywoo household, I have just been extremely busy. 

The tearoom is now up & running and the craft workshops and other events organised all starting as from next week.

The weather has been quite good of late with the odd rain which is great for the garden. It has been forecast that we will have scorching weather this coming weekend. 

The garden is growing well in spite of the little time I have spent on it. The chickens think they can just wander in and out of the house when they please, Bell is the bravest and comes right in. Max is not too impressed though.

I know I promised these to you a week or so ago but better late than never, here are a few photos of the growing vegetable garden of 2013

Potatoes in the sack almost ready!

The peas of which the pods are now beginning to swell

Leeks

Fennel 
Swede

Hmmmm Strawberries!
We have had a few strawberries and I have another bowl sitting on the side for later. 

I pulled up the garlic and again it was very poor and quite small, I think I shall give up on trying to grow garlic.

I have just cleaned out the girls so they are enjoying a few hours of manic mayhem freedom! 

Thank you all for waiting patiently for me to get my act together. Have a great weekend, until next time x

Monday 24 June 2013

Fitting it all in

Hello again, as usual everything is happening at once and there is not enough time to get everything done that I would like.  

I managed to clean out the girls and weed the vegetable patch and the strawberry bed between the showers we had yesterday. 

I had a quick scout about the garden to see how things had been doing since they had been left pretty much to their own devices. 

I have a few strawberries that are on the turn and a lot of blue berries are on the bushes. The swede is growing well and the fennel has emerged. 

We should get a handful of broad beans, the peas are flowering and flourishing. The leeks are going good, the onions are swelling. 

The only down side is the rhubarb it really did not appreciate the move. Hopefully next year it will be back to good growth. I will not take any from it this year and just let all the goodness go back into the roots. 

There are no photos as I have left the camera at the shop. Speaking of the shop it is all starting to come together. The tearoom will be opening this weekend, I have quite a few local crafter's who have their hand made products for sale in the shop and also the pre-loved furniture. The craft workshops are starting next month  and finally I managed to build a website http://wigglywoocraftemporium.webs.com/

Well that is all my news, I will hopefully get some photos for you in the next couple of days. Until next time x

Monday 10 June 2013

A Flying visit....

Hey ho one and all I am still about albeit just a quick post. What wonderful weather we have been having however it is soon to be over. Come tomorrow the rain is on it's way again, my butts are empty so need a refill.

Nothing went to plan last week so very little gardening got done. I did manage to get out into the front garden yesterday and tackled the weeds that had squatted in the flower beds. There were also lots of new plants that had grown due to the self seeding flowers that I had sown last year. Looking forward to some sort of floral display.

The hens have been up to their usual mischief, I let them out yesterday whilst I tended the front garden and two hours later they had emptied out the soil from the planter by the back door!
Octavia & Bell on the scrounge for some corn



Lots of changes are taking place down at Wigglywoo's Craft Emporium the kitchen is going in this week ready to serve tea and cake!

I hope you are all enjoy spending some time out in your gardens, I have decided to make no plans but rather be more spontaneous! Until next time x

Tuesday 4 June 2013

Running out of time...

I am well and truly behind on the seed sowing and have empty pots standing where full ones should be. The large raised bed remains empty and forlorn but the girls are enjoying having a rummage in the soil where as it usually has canes and netting over to keep them out.

So far what has been sown appears to be doing quite well

The potatoes in their bags

The first strawberries are forming

When I get in from work tomorrow I am hoping to get the front garden weeded (it looks awful!) and sow some seeds. I am not sure what yet but will rummage in the seed box to see what can be sown now.

The girls have been enjoying their freedom today, dust bathing and digging and scrubbing around for grubs. When they have had enough they all come to the back door and Bell and Dory will often come into the kitchen looking for their seed box which is on the shelf just inside the back door and stand there and peck it.

waiting at the door
The sun has been shinning the past few days and the warmth has been most welcome. I just hope it is here to stay for a few more weeks.

Well that is it from me for now, I hope you have all been enjoying your gardens, until next time x


Monday 27 May 2013

Flexing my green fingers!

What a wonderful weekend of sunshine we have enjoyed but as usual it is short lived back to heavy rainfall across the UK again from tonight.

But today I managed a few hours in the garden. Ben was a great help out in the garden today, he cleaned out the girls for me, cleaned out the guttering on the summerhouse, watered all the potato bags and swept all the paths after the girls rampage so a big thank you Ben x

I weeded the vegetable plot, sowed some fennel and celeriac. I planted out some leeks and I sorted out the stakes for the peas. So that was my gardening of the weekend. 
Onions & swede

Broad beans & peas
The photos are not the best but you can see how much things have grown since last time.

I hope you have all enjoyed the sunshine, until next time x

Friday 24 May 2013

Another 40 days & 40 nights?

A hint of colour, my sweetwilliams that I grew from seed last year

Sorry for my absence it has been a rather busy couple of weeks getting back into the swing of things since our trip which now seems ages ago! I have yet another lovely cold, I have had more colds since I have given up smoking ( 9 months!) than I have in the last 20 years! Jay has one also so it was obviously the change in the weather.

the swamp with an ongoing hole that grows by the day!


It is now raining quite heavily again and we have it for the weekend according to the weather forecast. I have just cleaned out the girls and the run is a... atchoooooooooooo swampy mess. No gardening has been done, I have been too tired and the weather just wasn't cooperating! I just had a wandered about and the weeds are flourishing so are the broad beans and peas. 

Peas, beans & weeds!


The potatoes are also growing very well, I have already filled up the bags with more soil and greenery is poking out the tops of the bags. I do look forward to the first potatoes of the year fresh from the garden, the taste is out of this world.



The onions are growing well too, swede is now showing and so are a few scraggly leeks. The leeks in the greenhouse are doing just fine, there are not many, but what ever I get this year will most certainly be a bonus. 

Leeks in the greenhouse
Rhubarb top left, onions, weeds and bottom left you can just see the swede


The strawberries are flowering as are the blueberries. The girls have ravaged the gooseberry and tayberry bushes so I am not holding my breath of getting anything from either of these.

One of the Blueberry bushes
Forlorn gooseberry bush
bedraggled tayberry bush

Strawberry plants


However I am considering moving the fruit to the front garden. I have mentioned before about the strip of garden down the side that has now overgrown somewhat and looks bloody awful. So plans for later on in the year I will be relocating all the fruit bushes to the front garden and may even add a new fruit. 



Well another busy weekend lies... atchoooooooo ahead, a craft fair tomorrow, Adam will be holding the fort at the shop. Sunday morning will be running around getting jobs done and the rest of the weekend I am going to relax and enjoy!

I hope you all have a grand bank holiday weekend here in the UK 
and for those of you further a field I hope you all have a wonderful time whatever you maybe doing. 

Finally I would like to say a big hello and welcome aboard to my new followers, I hope you have enjoyed it so far. Until next time x

Thursday 16 May 2013

Quick half hour

I am still feeling the cold, going from 40 degrees to just 13 during the day and 3 degrees at night is certainly taking it's toll, a sniffly nose and cold feet!

I popped into the local B & Q store on my way home tonight and grabbed six strawberry plants, paint, wall paper and other bits and bobs and trundled home.

I am pretty knackered and didn't feel much like going out in to the cold again to potter about the garden, but needs must the girls house needed cleaning and as I had bought the plants I had better get them in.

The girls were pleased to be let out, as usual heads down and arse up and the stones and soil were flying everywhere! Another job for me to do but on the upside 3 large eggs were waiting in the nesting box.

Once I had cleaned out the hen house I planted out the strawberry plants




I managed to take this one photo and as usual the battery ran out, I think it is time to look into getting either a new battery or camera. A few hints might be needed it is my birthday soon... nudge nudge wink wink household.

I now have ten plants in this bed and today I found another strawberry plant that I had forgotten about in a pot which I have  left it in the pot. 

I wanted to take a picture of the blueberry's I think I may actually get a crop from them this year as they have lots of new growth and it all looks pretty promising. 

The cut and come again salad leaves that are sitting on the windowsill had grown very well and they girls enjoyed them tonight as they needed to be cut and it is too damn cold for salad!

The herbs look a bit poorly as I think the boys forgot to water them, I have tried to rescue them and they appear to be battling through. I will take photo's later and post them tomorrow.

Well it is that time again, the glass of sherry has hit the spot time to do some crochet in front of the TV. Until next time x

Monday 13 May 2013

Feeling the chill...

A big hello to you all, I am presently sitting here with a big cardigan on and a pair of socks as well as other clothes of course but I am feeling rather chilly even though the weather has warmed up considerably but unfortunately not the soaring heat that we experienced the past two weeks in Egypt.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that things had started to grow in the garden. The broad beans are starting to flower, though they are not very tall, unlike next doors who's beans are twice the size but they did sow them in November so they had a head start on me. 


The peas are coming along nicely as are the red onion sets. The swede has also made an appearance as have some leeks and an abundance of weeds! The potatoes have also shown their green leaves and I managed to add some more soil to the potato bags yesterday. 

I managed a couple of hours in the garden yesterday and as well as filling up the potato grow bags I also weeded the strawberry bed with the very sparse four strawberry plants! I will be calling at the garden centre at some point this week to get some more.


The girls survived without  me looking after them, and the boys between them done a splendid job of looking after the hens, dogs and the house. I scrubbed out the hen house yesterday whilst the girls enjoyed their freedom and continue to make the usual mess about the garden, it took me a good half an hour to sweep all the paths and patio up once they had gone back in the run.

The gardens at the hotel we stayed in were fantastic and so well kept. They have the lushest green grass, it is like walking on air. They make good use of the grey water and it is used to water all the gardens. There were an army of gardeners who looked after and tended to the gardens and a superb job they done too. Below you can see some of the wonderful work that the gardeners do. 


It really made me smile seeing these

Walking on air

An oddity amongst the flower borders, A tomato plant!








The garden is looking a bit forlorn and could really do with some TLC hopefully the weather will be good on Sunday and with all hands on deck we should get the job done. I am hoping to get some seeds sown later this week and also get the strawberry bed filled up.  I hope you are all well and enjoying your time in the garden. Until next time x

Friday 10 May 2013

A quick hello...

Hello everyone, apologies for my absence I have been enjoying some lovely warm weather in Egypt. I have lots of photos to share and some gardening news too.

I hear the weather has been quite good whilst I have been away. I have still to check on the garden and I will do a more detailed post over the coming weekend. I hope all is well in blogging land and look forward to catching up with you all soon.

Until next time x

Saturday 27 April 2013

Green things are coming!

I hope your all having a splendid weekend even though the weather here has been somewhat topsy turvy this week. Early on we had beautiful sunshine, yesterday hail stones and today it has been quite chilly, and wet. Hopefully it will settle down to wall to wall sunshine, I can dream at least...

Right on to something green, I had a peek in the greenhouse this morning before cleaning out the girls and low and behold there was little green sprigs just peeking over the top of the toilet rolls, yes some of the leeks have germinated and so has the carrots I sowed in the little trough. A jig was danced to thank mother nature for being so kind.

On the vegetable patch the rhubarb is bounding along, looks like we may have another bountiful harvest and at least the girls will not be able to attack it this year. Also the peas are poking through, the little bit of heat we had sure has helped just need some more of it now please.
(Sorry there are no photos I left the camera at the shop.)

Until next time x

Sunday 21 April 2013

Mr Sun sun sun!

It has been the most glorious sunny weekend, everyone is walking round with the sun glasses on and short sleeved tops, a real feeling that summer is on it's way.




It has been yet another busy week and the weekend has flown by too. We were up and out and about early this morning, we had lots of jobs to get through before starting on things at home.

Jay is currently in the kitchen baking one of his manly pies, a steak and ale pie today and he is also making a chicken madras curry, a Chinese chicken & vegetable curry and a chilli all for the freezer. I think he was in the mood for a cooking fest!

The girls are meandering about the gardening casing their usual mayhem. As it is lovely and sunny I have taken out all removable parts and scrubbed them in diluted smite and they are now drying in the sun. 

Dory & Bell having their weekly dirt bath

The first of the rhubarb
Matilda taking some time out

A good weeks growth on the broad beans































I hope you have all had a wonderful sunny weekend and you have been able to get out and enjoy your gardens. 

One last thing before I end this post, over the next few weeks my posts may be few and far between, very short or even absent. Hopefully things will soon settle down again and we can both enjoy a weekly fix of Wigglywoo & Chickens too. Thanks all for being along on my journey and may you stay for more in the future. Until next time x
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