Today is a great day - after weeks of no eggs of our own, indeed having to buy eggs - I found an egg in the hen house. You can see it in the picture below (left), and I am pretty sure that either Salt or Pepper is responsible as it is a bit of an odd shape, as would be the case of a first offering. It takes a few days to get the shape just right and even then, something can happen and affect it. Looking at it (the one on the left) against the market bought egg, I suspect it was actually Salt who produced it, as she is a hybrid Light Sussex like White was and they seem to produce quite light coloured eggs. I thought Pepper was nearly ready to lay, as I was putting her back in the run after one of her escapes on Saturday and instead of running away, she squatted and "assumed the position". Billy next door would have been delighted I'm sure! Anyway, they are both getting near maturity.
The weekend has been spent picking blackcurrants and making jam - 26 pots of it! What I picked is shown below - about 9 pounds in total. John went to admire the stripped clean bushes and came back to enquire as to whether someone had given me them as I didn't seem to have made much impact on the bushes. I must pick more shortly but think I will try making cordial this time - we still have two litres of cassis we made in Worcester, so I don't think I want to go down that route, although it is very easy to do.
The final picture is pretty shonky, but gives you an idea of what I am keeping an eye on each day at least once a day! I love fresh figs and while one of John's clients has a fabulous tree, clients come and go and cannot be relied on to supply our needs in the long term. About 4 years ago I bought a fig tree at the local garden centre and last year in September it thought about having its first fig, and then changed its mind. In March it had another go, and then got fed up of that too. Those little nodules at the base of two of the leaf stalks could be more figs trying to come through. There are loads more of them too. If only the weather would warm up, the tree might start to get a move on and put me out of my misery of not knowing! I'll keep you posted anyway.
Here's hoping that's the first egg of many!! I remember years ago picking blackcurrants from a neighbour's garden (an old lady who didn't want them) then having to top and tail them, so that my Mum could then make jam. Fingers crossed for your figs. Malcolm's olive tree is still alive (just) - hopefully it will recover before the winter!
Posted by: Anne Donald | 21 June 2010 at 06:23 PM