Monday 8th October: It was eventful from the off! Before Johns van even disappeared from view down the drive, we lost power, no electric, so I check the main fuse board, nope not our electric at fault, next find the phone that plugs into the phone line because we have the handsets that are powered by electric as well which don’t work in a power failure. Call the electric board, yep they have a fault on the main line and power should be restored by 11am, 11am! I haven’t had my coffee yet 🤪 so dig out the fire pit, hunt for sticks and something to light it with, couple of bits of flint knocked together should do it 🤪 actually we have a great wood supply, paper and a gas powered lighting stick so they will work just as well 😆 get the old Rayburn kettle out and bobs your uncle, I have coffee, just as the power was restored at 8.41 🤣
Seriously though, it does make you think about what you would actually have to do if we lost power for a lot longer, I keep meaning to organise ‘survival ready’ bits and pieces but never get round to it, for instance the rechargeable torch was flat, not that I needed it but if it was night I would be fumbling around in the dark. My portable recharge pack is also flat! The phone that I connect is old and crackly and has the tiniest bit of lead on it that it the whole thing hangs from the telephone point, small things I need to get sorted to make life a bit easier in the event that we have a more catastrophic loss in the future.
The ducks in the orchard have laid no eggs this morning, that’s unusual normal we get between 3 and 5 so I need to investigate further, something may be pinching them or the ducks are eating them.
The tortoises took them selves off to bed into the straw filled hut inside the greenhouse last night, that’s great, that’s what I need them to be doing, once they stop coming out during the day I know they will be ready for the big sleep, however with Wednesday predicted to be the hottest October day on record I doubt it is going to be this week that they go into a slumber.
Cleaned out the ducks in the main duck pen, the floor is going in there and I doubt it will last out the Winter, we shall see. Then picked up half a bucket of crab apples for the geese to munch on and onto some gardening, hoeing, weeding, fed a trug of weeds to the rabbits and Guinea pigs, then a sit down with a glass of water, a banana and some ibrufen because my hands are giving me jip this morning, probably all the hammering I was doing yesterday to make the tortoise fence.
Had a lovely message from the lady at the electric board, apparently it was wildlife on the line that knocked out the electric, poor thing, whatever is was, is now fried I’m guessing 😏
In the afternoon I thought I would tackle the boot/utility room 😝 a mammoth undertaking and I started out with great determination to chuck everything out, but as always it was a case of, I might need that, or, there is wear left in it, how many hats, coats, pairs of gloves and wet weather gear does one need though? On then to the preserves cupboard, well I have runner bean chutney for every year from 2013 in there 🤪 on the plus side I found some Christmas mincemeat and apricot jam which I had forgotten about, also some sloes still steeping in gin from last year, that should be good 😋 one faux-par though, I poured away what I though was some old vinegar, it was in a vinegar bottle, but realised it was pontack sauce 🙄 pontack sauce is supposed to sit for seven years before it’s at its best, it’s probably been there a couple of years at least, oooops, oh well that will teach me to label stuff in future!
Tuesday: Delightful sunny, misty morning, looks like it’s going to be warm again. Yesterday I washed some of the winter coats so they have gone out on the line to dry today. Did the orchard lot and gave a big sack of hay to the bunnies/Guineas, put some clean bedding in for the ducks, both lots of ducks seem to have gone off lay a bit so maybe nothing is eating them like I thought. I have moved the wildlife camera to the stable block because something is pooing in there on a nightly basis, I would say fox but the dog hasn’t rolled in it so it must be something else. I think the batteries are getting a bit low on the unit but they have lasted a couple of years so I can’t complain at that, not constant use obviously, now and again but even so they lasted longer than I thought they would.
I am having quite a problem with my hands on and off throughout the day, I can’t work out if it’s fluid or inflammation, either way it’s a hindrance 😏
I have had to order a new rechargeable torch, quite a big one, we have had the other one for a few years but the bulb has gone and the unit is a sealed one and I can’t find one anywhere online, typical that nothing is built to be repaired these days ☹️
I made cake finally! An apple, date and walnut cake as I have apples to use up, an easy recipe, chuck it all in the bowl, mix and bake, perfect 😀
When the cakes were cooked I went out and planted a tree, as you do lol, I had a space on the driveway verge and decided a sweet chestnut would go well there, it will of course get huge over the years but not that big while I’m around I don’t think.
There was a big discussion on one of the smallholder pages I’m on, in fact the topic was started by my neighbour, anyway the upshot is that we have now signed up for milk deliveries in glass bottles, who would have thought that years ago when the milkman came every day that things would change so much, plastic is the reason we are doing it but I think it will bring a touch of nostalgia too, hope the bluetits don’t get to the foil tops 🤣 of course the ideal would be to buy from a local dairy farmer but we seem devoid of that service near us so until things change we will hear the clink of empty bottles again soon 😀
Wednesday: Had Mia today instead of yesterday so not much going on outside, we went for a walk along Scrubbs lane for a couple of hours with Shelley, Josh and Flo, it was like a summers day except that the old mans beard is everywhere lol. It’s amazing the difference between boys and girls, I gave a bit to Josh who immediately tore it into bits (a form of dissection I think lol) and a bit to Mia who held it like a bouquet and tested the fluffiness on her face.
Thursday: Pleasant day, not cold, Partly sunny. There were a few bits to sort in the garden, a couple of courgettes to pick and the pumpkins to put out for sale. They were not very big this year due to the lack of rain but I had about 12 of them so that’s ok, I grow them for the grandchildren to use and any extras go into the shed. The tomatoes are still ripening off and the butternut squash are still hanging on in there, this is a second flush which are actually bigger than the first lot. I was reading how incredibly good for you they are, a great source of magnesium and potassium, vit A and vit C. Magnesium is great for regulating things like blood sugar, muscle and nerve functions, also blood pressure, potassium helps to prevent things like high blood pressure, stroke, osteoporosis and is a regulator like magnesium, Hmm I need more butternut squash recipes.
One thought on my mind since our power failure is ‘what if’ so what if there was a cyber attack on the National Grid or a solar storm or similar that knocked out the grid, everything comes to a halt that’s what! No electric, no water, no communications, no fuel, so, no deliveries of any kind, no banking, the scenario gets worse from here on in. How prepared are we? Most of us are not, should we be? Well as far as I can see it doesn’t hurt to be a little bit prepared. I grew up in the 70’s with the miners strikes knocking out the electric on a regular basis, to us as kids it was fun, cooking our beans on toast on the parkray and candles and stories from Mum, I am sure for her it was more stressful but she never showed it. Thinking it over I came to the conclusion that you need water first and foremost (I am assuming that you have somewhere to live so shelter is taken care of) it won’t hurt to have a few litre bottles stashed in the garage/outbuildings, matches/gas powered igniter, wood (or know where you can find some) if you have a wood burner then you are already on a winner 😀 Candles or wind up torch/spare batteries for a torch and with what food you have in the cupboards you should be fine for a few days 😜 It’s not much is it? but it is preparing for the ‘what if’ and of course if it went on longer you would need a whole lot more plus the skills to go with it but that is a whole different scenario 🤪
Friday: Filthy morning, wind and rain, not as bad as some other parts of the Kingdom, (and the world) are getting though so I won’t complain! I felt like a kid finding her Christmas stocking this morning when I saw our first milk delivery 😀 After a big discussion on an online Smallholders group I decided to have milk in glass bottles delivered, no more plastic cartons. To be honest as we are out of the way and addresses often get muddled up I rather thought it wouldn’t happen but nope the milkman obviously knows his area and there it was right where I had asked it to be put, along with a free bottle of OJ to go with the one I had ordered. It’s rather nostalgic too as it’s a very long time since I have even seen a glass milk bottle let alone held one, can’t wait to pop that foil with my thumb 🤣 Of course my ideal situation would be to buy direct from the dairy farm but we are devoid of those in our area, the thought, as you know, about a house cow has crossed my mind from time to time, maybe a micro dairy is what I need to be thinking about 😜
Blood tests again this morning, every fortnight at the moment until the disease settles again. I can tell what kind of affect this last flare has had through my hair and nails, the nails are all ridges and my hair is like straw, still falling out though not as much now. I started taking hemp oil at the beginning of the week just to see if it makes a difference, it tastes vile, but my symptoms do seem to be lessened over the last few days, now this could just be the fact that they were going that way anyway albeit slowly or it could be the oil, who knows, I will keep taking it until it’s used up anyway.
John came home at lunchtime in between jobs and he has ‘man flu’ luckily I had made some lamb broth from left over lamb we had on Wednesday, I also made hot pot for dinner tonight so it’s a lamb day today 😋just the weather for it 🌧💨
I’m already thinking about what to grow next year and one thing I want more of are beans for drying, haricot beans and even kidney beans if I can get them to grow. I did butter beans last year and the ying yang beans again this year, what I need to do now is to remember to incorporate them into my cooking instead of leaving them in the jars 😝 It’s because they need soaking for a few hours before use that I always forget them, then I look at them on the shelf and think, I should have used some beans!
Saturday/Sunday: What a change in the weather! Still very warm temps for the time of year but wet and windy urgh, the type of weather where you don’t really want to do anything outside, so we haven’t, except for the essentials of course. John has man flu anyway and of course that requires lots of lying down and sleeping 🤣 moaning about how ill he feels and generally feeling sorry for himself which is fine just don’t think I should be feeling sorry for you and running round after you lol.
I got some bread made this morning before going out to do the orchard lot, not sure what else I will do today.
The immersion heater went this afternoon, we didn’t know it had gone until Charlie and Macca came back from one of these obstacle runs that they had gone too, it was cold and they were wet and Charlie wanted a hot shower when she got in 😝 ooopps the shower was cold ☹️ luckily we know a good plumber 🤪 and we happened to have a new heater ready to install. So John spent a couple of hours draining down and installing the new heater, however we are on a three tariff electric option and so the heater won’t come back on until tonight when the lower rate kicks in so I have had to light the fire to get some hot water.
frieslandfarm (flowers) 