Was quite excited when we first came here to discover that we had a hazel tree. At that time, the back garden had gotten VERY overgrown and the tree wasn't doing too well.
Danny pruned the trees around it extensively to give it more light and air and it's definitely growing more and looking healthier this year -- but still no nuts....
A bit of reading turned up the extremely useful fact that hazel is NOT self-pollinating... So we ordered two more hazel trees and have now planted them -- we are still several years away from a supply of nuts and me not needing to buy them in the shop anymore, but it's progress! :)
This is the original tree:
And these are the two new ones:
Ignore all the garbage around the base of the second tree -- this is just to stop the chickens digging in the newly turned over soil...
Also would like to name check
Chris Bowers & Sons who packaged the trees with exceedingly minimal plastic -- that bag you see is mainly filled with STRAW -- an excellent packing material!
Other random photos that have been awaiting their moment in the spotlight:
Captured this very dreamy rainbow on the boat yesterday morning...
Never mind Elf on the Shelf -- how about Frost on a Sheep...! :) It's been bitterly cold lately -- and the wind has been largely from the North -- which is NOT our prevailing weather....
That said, guess who was in the sea this morning? :) Temperature display on the car dashboard read -1 as I was driving to the beach, and the sand was frozen -- sitting on my towel getting changed post-swim in my wet swimsuit, I could feel my bottom sticking to the sand! But it was sunny and glorious and I feel better for doing it...
And last but not least -- this is not my photo, but was sent to me by a fellow Sanday resident who was trying not to kill our kamikaze geese on his way home the other night! Clearly they didn't get the memo about sleeping when it's dark...
