New year & spring slowly sneaking in
Now it is already mid-February and the silence here on the blog should be broken.
The winter was very mild compared to last year. There were also some icy days, but no temperatures of -26 degrees. Relatively quickly, the temperatures even rose to plus degrees. Unfortunately, there was a lack of sunshine.
In fact, the first buds are already developing on trees and some shrubs.
Whether spring with its fresh leaves and first greenery will step in earlier this year remains to be seen. Last year we could only welcome spring with its fresh colours at the beginning/middle of May. That was quite disappointing. We purposely travelled from March to April in (southern) France and Germany with the hope of finding spring when we returned home. But it didn’t happen – it came a month later. Very well. This year may bring something different.
What happened in the new year so far?
New co-inhabitants in the garden
In January, a pair of rabbits moved in with us. Today we had our first litter with 12 bunnies. We very much hope that the further development will go well and that we will have a rich “harvest” in summer.
So far the bunnies have been given a DIY recycled hutch with an outdoor run and Felix has his own project going – a two-compartment hutch on the chicken house. Another extension will follow in the summer. But one thing at a time.
Garden fencing – Part 2
As soon as the ground has thawed again, a fence border will be put up at the back of the garden for the chickens. The posts are ready and the fencing is also in place. The reason for this is so that the chickens don’t destroy the clover by the terrace and also keep their claws off the vegetable beds.
Projects in the house for this year
In the house, the children’s room is now completely finished, including a self-made Montessori floor bed. We have put the bathroom project on the back burner again, as it seems too stressful to change this important room so close to the birth. Maybe it will be something at the end of the year? Let’s see.
An urgency arose in the dining room, where our tiled stove had unfortunately developed a problem since the end of December. When we light the stove, the smoke escapes badly or hardly at all. We suspect that a fireclay brick has become porous and fallen over in one of the “tunnels”, thus obstructing the smoke outlet. Of course we already have contacted our stove builders and are now waiting for the offers. We are considering two options – either to have the tiled stove restored or to have a completely new modern tiled stove installed. The first option is of course cheaper. The second, however, can give us more quality of life. A difficult decision. But first we need to know the exact costs and work out our finances.
Until next time,
- New year & spring slowly sneaking in
Now it is already mid-February and the silence here on the blog should be broken. The winter was very mild compared to last year. There were also some icy days, but no temperatures of -26 degrees. Relatively quickly, the temperatures even rose to plus degrees. Unfortunately, there was a lack of sunshine. In fact, the - Winter wonderland and homely cosiness just in time for Advent
Just recently, in the second week of November, we went cycling in sunny 16°C weather and the following weekend, bang – the first snow! Somewhat unexpectedly, but at the same time quite obviously just in time for Advent, the temperature dropped in Sweden and a decent snowfall swept through the east coast. Then there was