Summer is now officially upon us, so here's what daily life looks like during this season at Chalk House. Want to see how it differs to the winter months? Check out this previous post.
- 5.30am: Walk the dogs and open the houses of the chickens and ducks. As in winter, make sure they all have fresh water and fill up their feed. Check that the sheep are ok, and that their water is filled up.
- 6.30am: General housework and preparation for the day ahead.
- 7am: Breakfast and plans for the day, including what's on the menu and needs eating from the veg plot. Process the eggs and put outside for sale.
- 8am: Work begins a little earlier at this time of year, and Dan will be out in the workshop by this time, or just after. Lee might be in the office or at a meeting, but if not he'll usually be working on the main building project by this point. Currently that includes tasks such as straw bale insulation and lime mortar plastering.
- 10am: Coffee, usually consumed in the back garden, especially when the sun is out!
- 10.15am: More of the same tasks from earlier.
- 12.15pm: Lunch, usually enjoyed outside again. At this time of year, it mostly consists of a huge platter of organic salad, with as much produce picked from the vegetable patch as we can.
- 1.15pm: Go and check to see if there are any more eggs. Fill up the water butts (especially important in the heat!) that supply the water for the poultry, and make sure they all have fresh water too. Feed them some corn. We also give the houses a quick clean, but this is really a much bigger job that takes place at the weekends, and is also when we refresh the straw.
- 1.30pm: More work. Dan's always in the workshop or on the land (if he's not on a fire shout), but the rest of us have other jobs to complete too, so it depends what day it is as to whether you'll catch us outside or in. If it's a particularly sunny day and we're supposed to be office working, we'll still try and get out for an hour or so of weeding.
- 3.30pm: An on-the-go tea-break, if we remember!
- 6.30pm: We eat dinner much later in the summer, and this is usually the earliest we're eating by. If it's still warm enough, we'll be outside again, and take this time to chat about the day and our plans for tomorrow.
- 9pm: At some point between 8 and 9.30pm it's time to put the chickens and ducks to bed. Any eggs we've missed earlier will be collected, and waters will be emptied to discourage rats from the area. If it's light enough and we've still got energy, we might do a little more weeding or pottering in the greenhouse. Evenings are spent outside if at all possible, as is all our time in the summer months!