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the good life ain't easy

Allotment life @thegoodlifeainteasy and chicken-keeping

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October 24, 2017August 14, 2018

I’m Rachel. I grow vegetables and love chickens.

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Yesterday I had flower show fomo, then I realised I was exactly where I was meant to be. And so we got the sweetcorn in. It took roughly seven times longer than if I’d just done it myself, but where’s the fun in that. Ps hard hats are a necessary plot must have 🤪 #gardeningwithkids #freerangechildren #allotment

Introducing Daisy and Daphne - a beautiful Legbar and Welsummer. I found a man nearby who specialises in pure breeds and it just felt like the right time to tick a couple of hens off my ‘most wanted’ list. And whisper it quietly, integration is going surprisingly well 🤞🏻. We don’t have a natural leader, so there’s been a lot of shouting but not really any fighting and I don’t think the spare coop will even get used! In all honesty I felt guilty writing this post - that if we had space, we should rescue a couple of other ex-commercial hens. But for many reasons a little mixed flock works for us at this time, and I’ve just been so excited today seeing them potter around. Penny and Parsley have had the run of the garden all weekend while we’ve given the newbies a chance to get settled in the run. I just really, really love chickens. And it’s nice to feel excited! So I hope you enjoy their adventures too ☺️

Just another one of those little moments I’d like to hold on to forever please. Hens pottering around in the sunshine. Rowan happily collecting gravel into various containers. Spending all afternoon doing not very much in my favourite place. Sometimes this part of the gardening year feels go go go, however the best part is stopping to just enjoy it. Here’s to May ✨

A little guide to some of the things growing in my greenhouse at the start of May. 🌱 It’s felt a bit of a slow start to the growing season over here because of the cold nights in April. What do you think, are you ahead or behind? 🤔 #growyourownveg #growfood #gardening #grownotes #inmygarden #growingguide #gyo #greenhousegardening #greenhouse #mygarden #gardeners #growwhatyoueat #urbangardening #greenhousegardening

This afternoon we lost our little Saffron. But I don’t want you to be sad. We have long suspected a tumour as she gradually slowed down, snoozing more and more until this afternoon she slipped away in the sunshine on the grass. It was the most peaceful of endings. The sap in me thinks she didn’t much care for old age without Cin - they were normally together. And so we’re celebrating three years and ten months of freedom, after 18 months as a commercial chicken. My two little scrappy hens flying high together. Disappointed we didn’t make four years of freedom, but incredibly proud and happy about the second chance we gave them. I get many messages about rescuing ex batts and I’d be lying if I didn’t say they weren’t sometimes high maintenance (egg yolk peritonitis I’m looking at you 😏) but whether you can give them a few weeks, months or a few years of freedom it is without a doubt always always worth it. The most curious little pets, who will appreciate every dust bath and spot of sunshine you can give them. She was never a naturally affectionate hen unless you a) had sweetcorn b) were sitting in the sunshine or if c) hopping on your leg would get her to higher sunshine. Always first in line for apples and cauliflower. Utterly loyal to the other hens, I’ll always remember how she sat quietly with Matilda to keep her company. And so it’s the end of a little hen-keeping chapter, the feathered friends who have kept us company through starting our human family now back together. And there will be another chapter with Penny and Parsley leading the way. Cin and Saff were an integral part of our first little animal family and I’m so glad we both got to sit with her this afternoon and say goodbye. A couple of splodgey tears on her head, but mainly a reinforced determination to keep reminding people they’re never, ever, just a chicken.

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