A Fire, An Explosion and a right Battering by The Storm With No Name

Monday 15th January 2018
A full scale drama and we didn't even know about it
The chimney sweep came today. After Christmas there was a strange boom in the woodburner. The next day we found the back flu cover on the floor.
Well it turns out we must have had a chimney fire which caused the small explosion (without wanting to sound too dramatic), shearing the metal lugs clean off.

Tuesday 16th January 2018
Wintery weather for lots of the UK today, but here we had a gorgeous winter day. The polytunnel clearance continued with my team of fowl helpers. I was intending to disinfect everything too but have decided to give the chickens a week to scratch around. They will clear the soil and it is good for them to be able to find somewhere to dust bathe at this time of year.

The water butt now acts as

a water reservoir to feed the

rainwater from the stable roof

to the wildlife pond and bog

I am giving up having a water butt in there as I have concluded that it probably makes very little difference to night time winter temperatures. Instead I will insulate the young seedlings using propagators within mini greenhouses within the tunnel. For extremes, bubble wrap and fleece should do the job.
I think too that a big water container in the middle of the polytunnel didn't help with air circulation in the height of summer.


Seeing the chickens enjoying the polytunnel has given me an idea. I have an old polytunnel frame sitting outside, probably not good enough for a second growing tunnel, but hopefully plenty good enough to build a covered area in the chicken pen. I may even be able to have one in the turkey pen too.

Blue eggs have started appearing in the stables again.

For the moment we know where they are being laid.

(Brown one made of wood as a decoy)

The afternoon was dedicated to my resolution to cook more this year. A lamb casserole, pulled pork and lentil dahl with five-spice soda bread, using the buttermilk left over from Sue's recent butter making. There was also parsnip, ginger and orange soup.
The lentil dahl scored 20/10 from Sue. I was more conservative at 6 stars (out of a possible 5).

Wednesday 17th January 2018
A Storm with No Name
A dash back from work today to take the dogs for a walk along the river. All was still, but little did we know what was in store.

A forecast of high winds on Wednesday night was somewhat understated. I was awoken just before 4am by a creaking roof, buffeted windows and wind outside which sounded like a high speed train. It's fair to say we experience our fair share of windy weather here on the open fens, but tonight was something else. I was genuinely worried for the structure of the house and feared what I would find on the smallholding in the morning.
At about 5am I ventured downstairs and peered through the windows into the moonlit darkness. It was just like a hurricane, with trees and bushes getting an absolute battering.

I managed to retrieve the wind chart information. Pure numbers hide the drama, but a 45mph wind with gust upon gust at close to 70mph was actually quite scary.
Next up... what I found in the morning.