New Chickens

To make sure we get plenty of eggs we have to update the chickens every now and again. 

Our breeding flock is for meat really, so when we want some more egg layers we tend to get hybrids. Some we buy in, sometimes we get given ex commercial birds. This lot we had to buy! 

Dehydrating Apples & Damsons

There's so much fruit this year I need to make a start on getting stuff stored away for the winter. 

A great use of early apples (which won't store) is to dehydrate them. 

Custom Wooden Potting Tray With Metal Bottom

A few weeks back I had an email from a potential customer who wanted to have a potting tray made with a metal bottom. I talk to them about how I could change my design slightly to make it fit. 

They also wanted it stained darker. This isn't normally something I offer as storage space is my main issue with these trays and I like to keep a good stock of them and get them shipped next day. They offered to pay for stain so I agreed. 

I think the finished tray looks pretty good, it's 1mm galvanised steel on the bottom (supported by 9mm plywood) and treated with Osmo oil. It was a pair of trays but I had the first already packaged when I saw the message from the customer about a picture! 

 Hopefully I'll get a picture of them in their new home as well!

Carved Dice Tower

Not homestead related, but I did make this as a magazine article which helps me earn my living from home. 

I love playing games, and for a long time have loved things like blood bowl and necromunda, which involve a lot of dice. As my son has got older, he's got into these games as well. A dice tower seemed like the perfect project to make. 

 

I filmed the whole process. It's a dead easy project to make, and an easy one to carve, only using 2 carving chisels really, make sure they're sharp though!

What games do you like to play?

Beehive Inspection At Hartpury College

 Last week we were really fortunate to be invited to have a look at the apiary at Hartpury college. 

It was part of the children's beekeeping course I'd expressing interest in for the girls, but the first time we'd been able to come along, far too late in the season now, but it makes for a good start for the course next year.