The chicks are still laying 3/4 eggs a day. We are giving them away! Maybe if we didn't feed them so well it might reduce but we are spoiling them just like our cats.





No this is not Michael's lunch - it is a typical chicken tea.





A friend gave us the three agaves you see in this picture and we brought them all home in the boot at the same time in April 2010. We certainly couldn't do that now! We had completed this area which we call the agave bank then or so we thought, but in the interim it has got away from us and we are doing it again. First we lay the membrane to keep the weeks from growing then cover it this time not with topsoil but with Tout-venant which we have delivered. It translates as quarry-run gravel and is a mixture of coarse sand, small stones and slighter larger stones which when compressed pack down to give a hardish surface.





Work in progress

Although the soil here looks completely inhospitable to plants being heavy stony clay in fact they do very well helped by the membrane which keeps the moisture in and the roots cool.



It is very springlike and birds including red legged grouse have started to appear in pairs. There are already a few butterflies about. There is almond blossom in profusion near the coast and the blossom on our trees is about to burst. We have planted lettuce, radish, rocket, beans and peas and apart from the beans and peas all have appeared after a few days.
The first daffodils have appeared by the roadsides and white heather is
in flower in the hills.