problems with hens

Gwyneth just will not fit in. I have now gone back to putting her in a seperate run. M is converting a blanket chest into a temporary house so we can do this weekends event. I do not want to leave her at the mercy of my lovely but very viscious hens who have definitely not accepted my poor little darling. Have arranged all with chicken sitters so she will be ok and maybe in a few months Gwyneth will fit in...........

gwyneth

Gwyneth went in with the rest today in an atempt to make her live with them properly. She is refusing to come out of her house. She has been sleeping with them for 10 days now but has been in a seperate run in the day o she is safe and doesnt get pecked to death. She went to the vest a couple of weeks ago now ( didnt get round to blogging) and she had a bad leg which could be why she is not standing up for herself. Having had antibiotics, pain killers and rest she now needs to try to fit in. Trouble is according to several folk including the rescue she cam e from there are a certain proportion who are very timid and farmers would just ring their necks. I can take her back but do not want to so we are going to have to try and get her to live with the rest of the flock. They are ok when free ranging with her but not in the run. She is getting battered today poor little girl.

life is moving so quickly I have little time for blogging

Well this last month has been crazy. I am still making soap etc. I am also now writing freelance for a new magazine which is out in October - in time for halloween. Cant say the name of the magazine but its all about making natural cosmetics. I have always wanted to be a writer and never done anything serious about it. I did Brighton Eco-veggie fayre which was a complete disaster for Brackencraft but someone approached me there and asked if I would be interested in writing for a new magazine. I said I was interested but didnt really expect anything to come of it. Well I submitted 2 aryticles and they want to use both which is wonderful. I am hoping to write some more and they have sent me the deadlines for submission so they must have an interest in me doing this. I have yet to be paid - apparently will happen when the magazine is pulished and have to just take this as it comes I suppose. If it really does work out I will be in heaven! As for the rest of my current ventures: the doggy shampoo has been a huge hit and now is back on the market after a complete sell out of the first batch in record time.A close second is the coconut milk soap which is also now sold out and more in curing time so will be ready in about 2 weeks I would think. I was intending to discontinue some of the older soaps but just as I was allowing stocks to run out I have had a real run on camomile & lemon and if I reember correctly it was the same this time last year and now they are buying it with the camomile shampoo bar - they do match really so I am not going to discontinue that one. Similarly white cinnamon was meant to go but is selling too fast to get rid of. The slowest is the old best seller - cinnamon swirl. Still I suppose it could be a Christmas collection soap which would be better really. I have several new soaps which are safety assessed for this xmas so will be able to have a whole new collection just for Christmas. Including and really I am still unser about this a bath bomb with glitter on. It is not really natural but hell why not. Its for xmas after all and if it doesnt sell then I wil not repeat next year. And I am all for natural everything but I do love a bit of glitter! especially at xmas. I have been very slack blogging this last month but have been back out at markets and too be honest it is not going well. Rugby Crafts is a good one for me and I love it since its so small a town. other than that I am doing wellesbourne - one of the largest markets in the UK, Thorseby which is 72 miles away so a serious sunday treck and in between I have done a steam fair and it was brilliant. I am intending to do lots more steam fairs infact cos I loved the whole this. Steam engines everywhere, vintage cars, bikes, owls - rescued, wolf-dogs, you name it they probably had it. It was just wonderful. And there was a real ale tent as well! Leamington peace festival is next month and next week I am off to bristol eco-veggie fair. Not too sure about this one as it goes. I love to be in a vegan world where I can eat without worry and everyone thinks I am normal rather than awkard, attention seeking or just a freak, but the last 2 of these events have done we have made a serious loss so its very worrying. I habve also bought a caravan - well my parents bought ost of it for my birthday which is absolutely wonderful of them. I would have only been able to afford a complete wreck otherwise. My birthday is months away - July but they offered to do this for me and its great. The caravan we have is still very old- 1988 I think and is an avondale perle. Its possibly got a slightly rotten front window but was still the best of the bunch we looked at for the money it cost. Considering its age I think it is ok. Most of the ones we saw we complete wrecks and only really belonged in a horse field as a tea making room! Some even fell to bits while we looked at them. WE went all the way to mansfield to see one and when we got there M put his hand underneath to see what the chassis was like and a big bit of it fell off! And that was a £400 caravan!!! Anyway we added a bit of cash and bought a better one in the end and it was only a mile away at a local caravan dealers. Mansfield is 72 miles away as well so this was starting to be a real expensive venture in fuel! Other than this I have made some new products including a version of Tiger balm and a massage bar - for M. I think the massage bar is ace and if I can afford it will have to pay for safety assessment at some point but for now I am not intending to sell cos have yet to pay for the current new products assessment. Its due to be paid this saturday. I have yet to rais £100 towards it as well so slightly worrying but I suspect saturaday and sunday shoudl sort that small problem. Talk about living on the edge. Eating is the main problem. If I didnt need to eat and hence to buy food or pay bills the business would be a success but sadly I have to keep taking out money for living! I suppose thats the trouble for everyone tho. I can make enbough to replace stock and keep trading no problem. Mind you the safety assessment bill has nearly killed me. Its around the £600 mark so has been a serious drain on rescources but was much needed since I have "prettied up all the older soaps and added several new products some of which are already seeling really well so if I can hang on here I should be sorted I think. I need to find folk to try out the tiger balm now cos I have loads of possible improvements lined up but since its something I have not really used for years and never very often I need some help with this. Tiger balm recipes are everywhere online but they are all differents and the essential oil proportions stated are not legal in the UK so I need to try and make a legal version that will also be effective. People ask me for tiger balm nearly every week so I could do with having some available but I refuse to sell the petrochemical variety normally available. The logical conclusion finally occurred to me about a week ago in a flash of inspiration ( happens occassionally) that I could just make a natural version. Some tho have ginger, others have cinnamon, others camphor and oil of wintergreen so I need to do some serious experiments before this can be marketed! And will I make a good one that is reall worth selling?

Gwennytoo and Gwyneth

I have 2 new hens. Gwennytoo and Gwyneth. WE did a steam fair and right next to us was a stall rehoming battery hens so we brought 2 of them home. Gwennytoo and Gwyneth are terrible to look at. they have no fearthers just stuppy bits where they should be. Gwennytoo has beaten up all my other birds so should be fine and Gwyneth will not come out of the hen house. Hopefully in a few days this will change