Shadrach's Ex Battery and Rescued chickens thread.

[Shadrach]

My thought is similar: no matter why a person didn't tend their plot isn't good enough to deny someone else the opportunity.

Why didn't she ask someone else to do enough to maintain her plot so she didn't lose it?

At the field the members sign an agreement to not just maintain their plots to an acceptable standard but also to help maintain the field. Everyone has to sign this ageement if they wish to become members of the field group. When I drew up the agreement I was aware that life, including increasing inability to manage a plot due to ill health, increasing age, or just not enough time can make plot management difficult. Recently two people have found that the time commitment required is no longer realistic for their circumstances and have given up their plots. However, where the field differs from council allotments is these people can remain members of the group and come to the field and help out with the community growing plots should they be able and enjoy the benefits of the field. It is a lovely place to spend a few hours without the pressure of having to maintain a plot. These two people have taken this option. The small fee they pay, twenty four pounds a year, ( a council plot can be as much as one hundred and twenty pounds a year) goes towards the upkeep of the field and they are offered produce from the community plots, the orchard and eggs at about half the price they would pay for the supermarket equivelant.
The one person who has been denied membership had one sqaure metre of their ten square metre plot cultivated and came to the field four times last year and point blank refused to put in the work to bring their plot up to an acceptable standard. I will take a picture.

This arrangement seems more than fair to me. The simple fact is the field lease requires us to maintain a certain standard. For the plots the standard is 70% cultivated at peak growing season. For those memebers who for example have suffered temporary ill health the option to take another plot once they regain their fitness is there.
But, as I am finding out, increasing age and health problems can make maintaining a plot an unrealistic proposition and I may give up my plot this year so what energy I have can be put towards maintaining the chicken extended run.
No council allotments that I know of has these options.
If people can't or wont maintain their plots they put the entire field at risk. We are inspected by the council from time to time and if the field isn't maintained n agreement with the lease there is a risk the council will revoke the tenancy and we would all be evicted.

 

[Shadrach]

sorry about your partners mother's illness



If one is sick, common sense things may not even be thought of.

When I was sick with covid I didn't think of using paper plates...which I had for such an issue...I just noticed these paper plates after over 4 years lol they are sitting on top of the refrigerator in plain site. I used everything and then started putting them in the refrigerator and used the same for a couple of months.
I realized my toe was hurting and I had not taken my socks off or bathed for over a month. I had been brushing my teeth once a day and had to rest after that. I just feed and watered the poultry and went back to bed for months.

I am finding I have similar problems but less severe with long covid and shingles. I just don't have the energy or the clarity of thought to function as I should. It's 3am in the morning as I type this. Most nights my sleep pattern is so broken that I struggle to get three hours sleep without getting woken up by the pain in my left eye. Many things that were easy are now exhausting. I have been to my eldests birthday celebrations earlier this evening and when my youngest had driven me home I fell on the bed and didn't get up to wash and clean my teeth etc until two hours had passed by. It will pass and/or I will find a routine that allows me to cope better/
At the moment I am rather short on patience and energy to deal with the hysterical reactions from a couple of the plot holders after they've been told they must improve their plots or lose their membership and deal with the family issues the hospitalization of my stepmother who is not going to get better have brought about.

 

[Shadrach]

Haven't seen any of your lamps or sculptures in quite a while.

If possible, could we see some of the completed items?

I haven't made much since I returned to the UK.

 

[Shadrach]

As Molpet (covid must have been an awful experience for you) is saying: To think that someone who is terribly sick, is thinking about plot commitments, is a bit too much to ask.
Tending a garden or chickens can be very healing after this person is getting better.

ManueB (hope you mil’s health is improving) is right that there is no point in arguing. But imho its harsh to take away a plot from someone who was hospitalised or very sick for a long time, and wants to keep it to use it as she should again. Asking for a backup and phone number in case there is next time with neglect, would be a nicer solution.


Tax, chickens listening to chickens at the other side of the ivy fence. The fence with 10 cm maze, where the ivy grows against, is not bantam trespassers proof. View attachment 3948293

The solution for Manue's MIL would seem to be to offer/arrange help rather than rail at what is a very common arrangement that in my experience is common at allotments.

 

[Shadrach]

Two hours today. Despite the dramatic severe weather warnings it remained dry at the field after some heavy rain earlier in the day.
At one point this afternoon I had both Tull and Sylph on my lap but as is often the case, my camera was reasting on top of my rucksack out of reach.
It's getting to the point where I will have to tackle the unpleasant task of removing the two cockerels from the group and I don't relish the prospect.
Anyway, a couple of reasonable pictures of Tull who is also an attractive pullet but not as striking as her sister in my view.

 

[RoyalChick]

I love your lamps. If I were local I would definitely purchase at least one.

He ships

 

[ManueB]

The solution for Manue's MIL would seem to be to offer/arrange help rather than rail at what is a very common arrangement that in my experience is common at allotments.

Thank you first for taking the time to write those detailed explanations especially under circumstances that make it a stressful subject. I understand better your policy, and the choice to not remember that person's membership.

I don't want to argue about a subject that has nothing to do with chickens, but I also don't want to leave everyone reading this thread thinking my mother in law is some kind of hysterical, ill, south of France woman railing to keep her plot . So I will explain more even though I said I would shut up, and maybe you will agree with me that if one looks at the whole picture the two situations are more different than bare facts would imply.

First, this was last year, in spring 2023 : her health issues are under control now. Her allotment was in it's first year of existence and they had trouble actually finding people willing to join. It is the second allotment created in a big rural village where many people have their own garden. So she was not taking anyone's place.
When she was hospitalised, she stayed mostly unconscious for a week, and in intensive care for two others, and they were not sure at all at first she would make it. So yes, the allotment plot was the least of her concern then. As soon as she began to get better, she asked a neighbour to come water the vegetables daily, and harvest what they could. That was where she went against her allotment's rules, as the members commit to being present themselves at the plot and not letting it to someone else. It is not required of them that they should produce or even cultivate a certain amount, but I suppose that if a plot was left to abandon without any explanation it would be an issue.
My partner's mother is not the kind to rail, and she also hates asking for help. After a while she realised she would be in hospital and then reeducation well over until the gardening season would be ended. The neighbour wasn't interested by the plot, just doing it to help her. So my mother in law got in touch with the people running the allotment explaining the situation and that she was giving up her plot if they had someone willing to take over. They didn't, and they decided she could keep the same plot for the following year (this one). They accepted that she had someone else tending the plot for weeks, and had not being present herself for most of the allotment season. It was kind but it was also reasonable in that allotment's context.


Actions have consequences, human. Don't you think of trying to come near, and especially not to kindly pet me. Though I will fall asleep on your lap while you change my bumblefoot wrapping.

 

[ManueB]

Post Scriptum : I deeply regret raising the issue and will now really keep my mouth shut about subjects that do not directly ensue to chicken.

 

[Molpet]

I am finding I have similar problems but less severe with long covid and shingles. I just don't have the energy or the clarity of thought to function as I should. It's 3am in the morning as I type this. Most nights my sleep pattern is so broken that I struggle to get three hours sleep without getting woken up by the pain in my left eye. Many things that were easy are now exhausting. I have been to my eldests birthday celebrations earlier this evening and when my youngest had driven me home I fell on the bed and didn't get up to wash and clean my teeth etc until two hours had passed by. It will pass and/or I will find a routine that allows me to cope better/
At the moment I am rather short on patience and energy to deal with the hysterical reactions from a couple of the plot holders after they've been told they must improve their plots or lose their membership and deal with the family issues the hospitalization of my stepmother who is not going to get better have brought about.

Being adaptable when illness hits can be difficult , but necessary. Once you start feeling somewhat better be careful to not overdo. Relapse happens . Its 2 steps forward and three steps back for me when I have done too much.
Sorry about your step mother.



MIL does pertain to the conversations

Post Scriptum : I deeply regret raising the issue and will now really keep my mouth shut about subjects that do not directly ensue to chicken.

 

[no fly zone]

@Shadrach hope your overall health starts trending back up soon