The Fallen Tree and Surprise Rhubarb

Yesterday we had a sharp reminder that we are not out of the bad weather yet. We had hours of steady rain, strong winds and hours of sleet and then snow. The rain butts are full, the ground sodden. This morning, when he released the hens, George found that one of the ash trees in the owl wood had fallen down, luckily it had just missed the fence and the hen house. So, the shape of our day was a little different to that which we had planned. The up side of this is that the tree will provide us with top quality logs and kindling for next winter. Ash doesn't need to be seasoned, it will burn beautifully even when it is green!



The hens soon came along and started pecking and scratching, they don't like worms, but they love insects and grubs. Living in our wood is a lovely retirement for three old battery hens. They are three little characters, we enjoy their company.







Before long we had this pile of wood, the next stage will follow when the weather is better.Billie likes to think she is boss.

We may have lost a tree but Mother Nature balanced things a little because we thought we had lost our rhubarb when the new soakaway had to be dug last year. Imagine our surprise when we found this!We have covered some with the rhubarb forcer and look forward to some lovely fruit before too long.

Not such a bad day after all!