Not sure what happened to the storms that were forecast for today, but instead we got bright sunshine, heat and little wind. So in between forum duties I took to the orchard to weed the trees. each of the trees is in a little cage to avoid the geese eating them, with the result that the cages fill up with long grass. So today I took advantage of the several inches of water in the wheelbarrow to soak some sheets of cardboard, derived from packing cases and went down to get stuck in. First weed, then add soggy cardboard, then add straw (also soggy) on top - and the trees on one side of the orchard are all done.

I think it is time for the chicken to be separated from its mother, so will be doing that tonight. Will leave the chicken in the shed and the mother will have her wings clipped and she will be added to the perch tonight once it is well on the way to being dark (difficult at this time of year in these latitudes as full dark does not normally arrive till around 10ish by which time i am usually in bed). She is doing all in her limited power to escape from the attentions of the chicken and he is almost fully feathered (just a little bit of down either side of his head) so, in this weather, should be just fine by himself. Will move him into the rabbit hutch if the weather gets bleak again, so he has less space to warm up with his body heat.

Also took advantage of the moist soil to have another go at weeding the hedge, after which I also added soggy cardboard and more straw. At this rate there will be a foot of straw on either side of the hedge - I do like having vast quantities of mulch available to me!

Now the wind has got up and there are dark clouds looming. So I guess those storms may yet arrive.