Glendevon on the map

Gosh, I really wish I had something to tell you this month.
I’m pretty sure you don’t want me to start blethering about how many slates we’ve lost in the recent storms (2), or how many days of snow we’ve had (1 on Boxing Day) or how I managed to get our tiny village Glendevon on the BBC Scotland weather map (I just asked them via Twitter. The weather presenters are really nice folk actually!).

So, instead of boring you with all that, I’ll tell you about how our hens are being kept locked in because of the recent outbreak of bird flu.
Some weeks ago the government urged all poultry keepers, big or small, to keep their birds locked in and away from wild birds because of a new strain of bird flu currently gripping Europe. Last week I read that it had now spread to Scotland. Thankfully we’ve kept our hens ‘in quarantine’ for some time. They don’t seem to mind, though; the weather hasn’t been that great and they don’t wander about much anyway. But to keep them occupied and happy, I’ve thrown in the left over straw from my threshing experience (imagine what The Hooligan, our late foul-mouthed hen, would have said were she still alive!)

Talking of which; I’ve finally got round to trying to remove the grains from their husks. Since I’m not the owner of a threshing machine I came up with another very useful implement (well two really): a rolling pin and an old sheet. I have to say it was quite fun bashing the stalks and picking out the grains from the sheet, although it did make a bit of a mess of the living room... All I need to do now is the winnowing (from one bucket to the other in windy weather) and milling (grinding two stones together, popular in prehistoric times) to make flour.

And then I can make my own home grown, home-milled bread or porridge!