A Little Cottage in the Country

I'm a little bit in love with Silkie chickens! They aren't a breed I'd ever kept until earlier this year when I was a bit spontaneous and bought two bantams at auction. Sadly I lost little Cappuccino but still have her sister Latte. Although Latte is gregarious she has spent a lot of time on her own over the summer so I thought it would be nice to get her a couple of friends. Enter Mocha and Milkshake, both a rather fetching chocolate colour with black pom-poms. Thankfully they seem to get on well with Latte, you can never tell, birds are no different to people in that they don't all gel or get on because they're the same species! After a bit of a quarantine period they've been gradually introduced to the rest of the flock and are fitting in nicely.

The little rascal hasn't been on for a while due to one thing and another. I'd like to say he's got better behaved in the interim but sadly that's not the case. He still thinks he's King of everything, and needs to keep the sheep in line. I try to reward him for standing on his platform, where he's out of the way and can't cause mischief, but he seems to have learned to jump up and get a treat, then jump off and butt sheep. The little blighter is always one step ahead of me, don't be fooled by the angelic face!

Blog posts have been a bit thin on the ground due to me having poor or no internet again. This year has been a real battle for us to get internet that's usable. I live in quite a rural location still serviced by copper lines put in when home phones were quite new. Both myself and my nearest neighbours are used to a rolling saga of issues every time it rains even remotely hard with bits of the road having to be dug up because of water in the joints. Our line is pretty shallow and several times that's also been damaged by farmers digging drainage channels into the ditch network. Then there's the ongoing saga of "the hedge"; apparently there is a joint where my neighbours line spurs off from mine under a big hedge. So frightening is the horticultural beast that no Open Reach engineer will tackle the excavation of the thing. In reality a pair of loppers and a spade would probably do the trick but of course it's all health and safety these days - if you can't

Sometimes I feel like I can't bear to open my eyes and look at the world because I'm so deeply ashamed to be a human being and worried about what's going on. Much as I try to believe in the goodness and humanity in people I am finding it hard to hold onto that faith right now. I think most of the scientific community, barring those who've received a nice sum of money from the fossil fuel barons, agree about climate change. I certainly would never call myself any kind of expert, some of my degree was about planetary science, but like a growing number I feel climate change has probably been vastly underestimated and will be quicker than people think. There are an awful lot of people thinking "it won't happen in my lifetime" who are probably going to be surprised, and not pleasantly so. We actually live below sea level here so I'm very aware of our vulnerability. But it's not just about me, I feel very powerless when I read of people in other part

I'm just getting back into making some bits of jewellery for myself as my tools and wire that survived the destruction of my studio had been stored in boxes for some time. Really I left them there as we packaged what we could from the wreckage and it was so painful for me having to throw things out some boxes I just left as I didn't want to face it, and it's been over a year. However I enjoy regular breaks from drawing so did the last boxes and it got my making bug back. These earrings are simple hoops made from copper wire and carnelian stones. Most of my stones come from Jewellery Maker TV, they guarantee authenticity and to be honest on eBay, and even other shops, stones are frequently mis-sold, a lot of carnelian is actually dyed agate for example. They're very transparent about any treatment the stones have had as well. The other thing I like about Jewellery Maker is their ethical sourcing, mining is not only environmentally destructive it also employs poorly

If I were to pick one downside of living where I do it would be the need to own a car and have to drive. I'm around 20 minutes away from the nearest town, and sadly in the time I've lived here the village has lost all it's amenities. We no longer have a shop, post office or pub, so even a hermit like me has to venture out into the wider world. I've been driving for around twenty years and honestly I think the standard on the road now is appalling. I'm not just talking about the cheap, infrequent maintenance either. The way people drive is downright dangerous. Until two years ago when I got injured I used to run 10km on the roads three or four times a week. Being responsible I always wore HiVis and ran towards the traffic as there are no pavements. It was always blatantly obvious when oncoming drivers weren't paying attention and hadn't seen me. Many times I was forced to jump into the bank to avoid being run over, and they looked surprised when they did se

I would really like to reduce the number of single use plastics in the house, as although we have a recycling bin for plastic and card I'm sceptical of whether it actually gets recycled. The bin lorry for that collection looks strikingly similar to the black bin lorry, that crushes all the waste together. Looking for viable alternatives in your local supermarket, with aisles full of plastic bottles, is not easy though. I've made melt and pour soaps for a little while so thought I'd try a melt and pour shampoo. Its made by Stephensons and I bought a 100g to try it. I know purists will argue melt and pour soaps aren't proper soap making, but I do a ton of crafts already without venturing into cold process soap. Since myself and Him Indoors would be using it I fragranced it with lemon essential oil, added after melting the chunks in a microwave. It's then a matter of pouring it into a mould and leaving to set. I wash my hair each day, as apart from smelling lik

I'm currently in the midst of the equine version of Love Island, and it's not much fun! I keep Star on her own as she can be food aggressive, plus I only have funds to give one horse a good life. However my neighbour also keeps horses so Star can see them over the fence. For the past 11 years Star has been having an on/off thing with Ted, a very handsome ex eventer. Star's normal MO when I take her to see Ted is make an almighty fuss snorting, puffing, and generally being a bit difficult with me to get Ted's attention, he comes to the fence and says hello, whereby Star then totally ignores him apart from looking coyly under her eyelashes. To say she's a bit of a madam is an understatement! Last year a stallion got loose from the village and found Star, her idea of flirting was to show him her bum then when her went to sniff her she tried to double barrel him in the chest, taking out the electric fencing. The local police were called to that particular incident

I know it's random, I'm away with migraine then back with a meerkat but bear with me, I haven't lost the plot just yet. This is for my father in law, every year I have to try and surpass last year's card which is getting tricky! He's absolutely mad on the Compare the Meerkats, I think he has all the toys and the book, so I thought I'd do him a card. Obviously meerkat stamps aren't available (to my knowledge) so this is my drawing in pen and ink, coloured in with pencils. All I'm saying is little bits of art take as much work as big ones and I know this card will be kept with the others. One of the reasons I make cards is because in all honesty most of the ones in shops are awful, particularly for men. It's either an outdated watercolour of a cricket bat or something not very funny. This one took several hours so I only get time to do them for people I care about, but at least I know they're getting something much more personal than if I'd

Not very nice is the answer, but that would be a short blog post! I've been very unwell with migraine for quite a few days although I'm thankfully up and about now. Migraines are something I've only suffered with for the past five or so years, they started after a particularly stressful period in my life and unfortunately have never gone. My migraines don't have any form of visual disturbance, the first signs I'm getting one is either nausea or a drilling pain in my right temple. When I first started getting them over the counter medicines did used to help, and if taken early enough could stop one developing but that's no longer the case unfortunately. In fact anything with codeine in it seems to make things worse now. The drilling pain usually increases to the point it's almost unbearable and this is accompanied by retching and vomiting. On Saturday I was retching every half an hour, all day. I couldn't keep down any fluids at all and the result of

I was reading with interest about the environmental benefits of not washing your clothes as often - longevity, less shedding of micro particles into the environment and so on. And I will be honest great as it sounds my first thought was: don't these people sweat? I generally try to get all animal jobs and dog walking out of the way in the mornings as much as I can and I'm not kidding you at this time of year I am soaked in sweat right down to my underwear. I can dream of not washing my bra for five days but I think in reality by day five even I wouldn't want to be near me. It's a massive irritation that nearly all bras for sale now are the hideous moulded cup ones, and most don't withstand more than a few washes before the cup distorts and begins to curl. I have to ask: should we be wasting resources manufacturing this crap that can't withstand use in the first place? Years ago M&S was the premier store you bought your undies, yes they were a bit pricier

Most people think of sheep as docile woolly creatures that hang around in fields. I think the consensus among the general public is sheep eat grass and lay down, and that's all they do. Well sheep are surprisingly characterful and are actually very boisterous things, both amongst themselves and with you. I am frequently covered in various bruises, feeding times I'm basically a human skittle. Get in amongst sheep with a bag of food and you'll know about it. Willow has terrible spatial awareness issues and has frequently hit the back of my legs with the force of a truck trying to get to the food. Put it this way, they won't stand on ceremony. The smaller varieties of sheep will also jump up, it's not been uncommon for me to be wandering about with muddy hoof prints on my bum. And they will quite often ask for attention, or a scratch, in the only way they know how, which is a friendly butt. A friendly butt is uncomfortable and non friendly one bloody hurts. Mit

I use some of the fleeces from my sheep to spin into yarn, and through a process of trial and error have come up with a preparation process that works for me. I don't like to over complicate things, so try and keep preparation to a minimum. I sort the locks into baskets, making sure I keep all the tips and cut ends aligned, this helps save time later on. I arrange them in layers until the baskets are full. I do three baskets at a time to save on water. I then put two buckets in the bath and fill with hot water, it has to be as hot as you can as that helps the lanolin come out. Have them both the same temperature to avoid felting. One bucket just has a squeeze of ordinary washing up liquid in it. I'm not looking to scour the fleece completely, I just like it clean enough to be able to spin. I try to keep some lanolin in there as I don't see the point of removing it all then having to spray oil back on the help spinning. I submerge a basket in the soapy water for a

Okay this was going to be a Merv on Monday post but I ran out of time yesterday! Merv has been having the world's longest moult - he's been itchy and cross for months as his winter fluff has been shedding out. I guess the variable temperatures really haven't helped matters. He's also been going alarmingly blonde, causing me to ponder the question do goats get like their owners or do owners get like their goats? Well I was blonde way before him. Thankfully a lot of his coat has now shed although he's retained a blonde gruff and also what looks like 70's style shaggy chaps on his back legs. I have told him he looks like he's auditioning for a spot in a Village People tribute act, I half expect him to burst into a rendition of YMCA when I go down there! Quite whether these creations will stay or not only time will tell, we're all just relieved he's not as cross and itchy as he has been. He still enjoys a side helping of my pocket at teatime t

One of the things I'm most grateful about living here is the peace and quiet it affords. Our nearest neighbours are some 400m away and we're mostly surrounded by fields. Being an agricultural area of course we get farm machinery, sometimes early in the morning, but it's not 24/7 and to be honest even a combine harvester isn't really obtrusive. In the evenings at this time of year the air is filled with birdsong - we're lucky enough to be an area where skylarks are just about hanging on. Blackbird song is also one of my favourites too. Plus obviously I have my aforementioned noisy guinea fowl, the odd cock-a-doodle, cluck and quack. So it's not silent, but what it is is peaceful. Being an introvert I need regular quiet space to recharge myself. I find a lot of man made noise too much or over stimulating. One of my biggest bugbears is continual music thudding in supermarkets. Firstly music, like art, is a very personal taste, and secondly I don't actual

A lot of people ask me about my guinea fowl and how hard they are to keep. I started with one female some years ago, who came along with some other birds I took in from a chap with cancer.  I keep guinea fowl in with my Brahmas as lookouts for foxes. Brahmas are very quiet, docile birds and one particularly bad day a fox was able to kill four hens without us hearing anything. The birds are penned if I'm not here, if I am they're allowed free range in the garden. Guineas have a reputation for being eagle eyed, which they are, however they can also be very noisy about something only known to them causing me to rush out periodically. After losing the original female I bought a couple more, both males. They were sold to me as females but guinea keets are hard to sex, and it is better to get them as keets so you have at least some chance of training them to stick around. Even if you have them from very young they always retain a wild spirit, they don't become as domestic

I've started a new cardigan, having just finished one which is blocking at the moment. This is a  Drops pattern  and I'm using Drops Flora to knit it. I tend to buy a years worth of yarns in around November, so I have them ready for projects as I need them. I'm aiming for this to be ready for autumn as it has a nice leaf design. I couldn't get an orange colour in the 4ply so picked this coral one instead, it's not normally the kind of colour I go for but I'm ending up with a succession of cardies in the same hues so thought I'd better have a change!

It often surprises people when I tell them sheep can live to twenty years old. Milady sheep is of undetermined age, I bought her along with another ewe a few years ago as cull ewes. For whatever reason - age, getting worn out, reproductive issues - they couldn't have more lambs and these ewes go to the abattoir. I bought them for abattoir weight so they could live out a retirement with me. Since I only have wethers (male castrates) if there were medical issues meaning they shouldn't get pregnant again it was no issue. Milady is a Herdwick, one of my favourite breeds, and Herdy's go white with age. She's almost snow white, so I can only guess she's probably in her early teens. She came off the fell, and since Herdy's are hefted - bonded to their particular patch - she could never go back as wherever she was put she'd try to make her way back to her bit of the fell. One of the biggest issues with ageing sheep is teeth. Obviously being a grazing animal th

Okay, I know it's a bit late but the first version of this macramé bracelet was slightly on the small side so I re-made it. It's made with sunstone and moonstone, the shimmer and sparkle didn't really show up on the photos but it's really pretty. The cord is 0.4mm S-Lon. It can be an issue with natural stones finding those with a drill hole big enough for cords, usually the 8mm round have a hole that will just fit your two holding cords through if you stiffen the ends with nail polish. It's a very simple design using larks head and square knots. I love these little bracelets, they look nice stacked and are a quick, relaxing make.

This is Merv, he's supposed to be a pygmy goat but I think he's actually a pygmy cross as he's smaller than a standard goat but much bigger than you'd expect a pygmy to be. I have to say his attitude is far bigger than he is! He's currently going through the terrible twos as in goat years he's the equivalent of a stroppy teenager. I think we're all hoping that does calm down because he can be a lot to handle at times. Even though he's castrated he still wants to be boss, much to the annoyance of the sheep. As you can see he has no problem finding trouble, and if he can't find it he'll create it. I'm typing this one handed as he managed to somehow get my wrist caught between his horns this morning as I was putting down a feed bowl. One of the things I love about goats is their playful sense of curiosity but that can be challenging too.  Merv doesn't have to stay in the field if he doesn't want to, he can easily get out, he's

This time of year we're into crop spraying season, I can spend many days trapped indoors, and that's not only to avoid breathing in fumes. My local farmer uses the services of an agronomist employed by a local agricultural supplier. Thus the agronomist turns up at all kinds of times to stalk about the fields, scuffing and looking at leaves, and doing whatever it is agronomists do. One morning I was coming home along the bridleway from my normal constitutional with the dog only to see a truck parked in the middle of it a little way up from my house. I didn't really think a lot of it apart from it's a nuisance people just leaving vehicles. That was until a chap jumped out and hastily started to pull up his trousers and pants. He then turned and waved at me before getting back into the truck! To say I was a bit shocked is probably an understatement. I thought perhaps he had a lady in the car with him and they were up to *whatever* (the lady who trims Star's feet ca

Corvids have been very much centre stage recently, and as with many things views are polarised when life is rarely black and white. We have resident magpies who nest in the hawthorn at the bottom of the garden each year, and also have a few resident crows out in the fields. I fully understand what they're capable of, but I also regard them with respect. The magpies can prove a problem in spring and summer as they've learned where the hens lay, in multiple coops, and will frequently steal the eggs. I've also watched with interest as they teach their offspring to do this too. Thus we have an ever present issue with this each year, however as with other predators I have to admire their intelligence and audacity. I have found a fairly simple way of stopping it and it's not a gun or elaborate trap. Very simply I move my bottom outside at regular intervals and collect the eggs. Certainly it can be a bit of a nuisance at times, but that's all it is. I try to make sure

 I have two North Ronaldsay sheep - Bobble in the photo above, and Mitten in the one below. They're both wethers and were the first sheep I owned, they're 10 years old now. I'd always wanted sheep and saw these at a local RBST farm. One followed me all the way around wanting a fuss, so I was smitten. North Ronaldsay's are the sheep that famously were walled out on the island and survived by eating seaweed. After several generations on the mainland the need for seaweed in the diet ceases though so no need to worry about regular beach forages! They're brilliant, tough, hardy characters and I just love them. Bobble actually had an operation for bladder stones aged two, and recovered amazingly. Obviously I spend a lot of time with my sheep so they're very tame. They are just lovely characters to be with, Ronaldsay's are always amazingly individual, and quite fiercely so. Tends to blow the "people are like sheep" thing out of the water, Ronaldsay&

It's been a while since I've blogged, so much so I think blogging has maybe gone out of fashion a little. But that's okay, I'm always happy to plough my own furrow in life. In fact I think it's important to walk your own path rather than try to piggyback on someone else's. I'm Emma, I live in the English countryside with a veritable assortment of feathery, furry and woolly friends. I'm also addicted to making things. About the only thing I've never tried making is my own shoes, or rather wellies would be more practical! I'm probably what's described as eclectic and I have a varied set of interests which make for a rich life. The little chap in the picture is Mr Flump, my Pekin cockerel, he's head of his band of Flumpets, or at least he thinks he is. They seem to see him as a bit of a fusspot who finds them inedible treasures such as twigs! Aside from my Flumps I keep Call ducks, Brahmas, and Cream Legbars. I've a small flock of