There is soup bubbling on the stove for weekend lunches, a pumpkin and chickpea curry ready for tonights dinner and the cottage has had a good freshen up. The front windows are now so sparkly and the sweetpea seedlings even got planted out this afternoon in-between filling up the bird baths and tucking the silkie and pekin hens into bed with their late afternoon meal.

Some days are just more productive than others aren’t they?! It’s a good thing since all week it did feel like I was chasing my tail, but come Friday afternoon I am reflecting on the week and glad that some things actually did get accomplished.

Lil and I both finished a plant based cooking course we were working on separately. I now have some new recipes saved to try. My goal is to try something new each week. My first recipe was a roast cauliflower Aloo Gobi curry, I’ll take it a bit easier on the tumeric next time, one tablespoon is maybe a bit too much.

We also started a creativity and time management course together.

Lil managed to fix some issues I was having with this blog layout. It’s good to get that out of the way, I’ve decided to stay with this layout instead of shifting to another template/service provider. With so much going on in the world I really wanted my little corner of social media to be a constant and familiar.

I accomplished the my gardening goal of working on something for at least half an hour each day. In the garden I weeded around the garlic while Honeybee pottered about at my feet, doing a little each day to keep on top of it. It always surprises me how I gravitate towards and enjoy some gardening tasks. Each year I look forward to planting the garlic, nurturing and weeding it. Weeding the garlic for me is  a garden success a bit like the equivalent of making sure to stake the tomatoes on time. There is always next year to do better I think to myself if the weeds do get out of control or the tomatoes flop to the ground.

Mid week we decided to shift the Pekin ducks to the Back Orchard, Honeybee is much happier. Only used to being a trio, the Pekin’s were becoming very territorial and not letting Honeybee in the duck bath or in certain parts of the garden. It’s a duck thing, working out a new pecking order but we could see that Honeybee wasn’t enjoying her days and was missing out. Far from ideal we decided not to go any further with them all living together. Honeybee seems much happier, she still has duck company and sees the Pekins and the Indian Runner ducks through the fence. She just has her food, bath, sleeping area and foraging space to herself. Happy duck, happy humans!

Foggy starts to the morning are magical (although I do worry about people driving in these conditions), lots of photos tend to look very grainy due to the moisture in the air and I keep my phone in my pocket. I stand quietly, listening to the birds, make plans for the Springtime, mindful to slow down my breathing and enjoy these cold morning, the cool on my cheeks, the smell of woodsmoke in the air.

Wishing you a peaceful weekend.

Sending Light & Love, Jude x

ps. My free ebooks are there if you are looking for a gentle read. https://fairywrencottage.com/my-ebooks