Monday 16th Sept: Not a bad morning, overcast but warm enough and perfect for me to be getting on doing some jobs I want to get sorted. First the usual rounds, feeding, watering and letting out. Then onto watering some seedlings, winter spinach, radish and french beans, water the poly tunnels and then pick a few bits. The raspberries have picked up no end since we sorted the cage and I managed to pick a good few along with some blackberries. I went in a made a sugar free jelly with the berries added, it’s a favourite of Johns and he will be happy to have that considering he has had to forgo any cakes and chocolate 😜 I cleared 4 wheelbarrows of stuff we have been clearing in the garden and took it to the bonfire area. My compost heap is overflowing and some of this has bindweed in and the leaves from the courgettes have mildew so although burning is not the best option sometimes it has to be done. While going round I noticed that one of the hens has scratched up my freesias 🤬 so I replanted them, watered them then made a temporary cage around them so they can’t do any more damage, I honestly could wring their necks sometimes! I cut the lawn, it’s been getting on my nerves lol but the hot sunny days are no good for me to do it so today was perfect.
I had Josh and Flo for the afternoon while Shelley and Martin went to a wedding. Yesterday Flo walked in front of a swing at the park causing a bloody nose and only 20 mins into my Nana stint while I was washing up it seems Josh tried to pick her up from a sitting position on the floor, Flo resisted and then bang her head hits the floor, we have hard floors 😟 luckily it wasn’t too hard of a bang but it made her cry, then Josh cried because he had made her cry, I picked her up to carry her to the living room not realising that Josh has crouched down on the floor right in front of me, I didn’t trip but caught his arm with my foot, oh my days, we spent the rest of the afternoon safely on the soft sofa watching telly 😬
I love it when I am brilliant 😂 not that it happens very often but just sometimes I am 😜 Our cctv had gone wrong last week, there were no images on the screen from any of the three cameras. John, not understanding how it works at all ( I was the one that installed it all) says ‘just turn it off and on again’ ok I’ll try that 🙄 nope not working (obvs) Three cameras all individually coming back to the box have lost image so turning it off and on again just wasn’t going to achieve much but hey I’m happy to humour him. Next I made sure all the cables were attached and working bearing in mind this system has been fine for at least 2 years, took the box apart and did a hard reset, nope nothing changed, tried taking off input cables one by one and moving them around in case there was a dodgy connection, nope, by this time I am flummoxed. I have established it’s not the box so not the hard drive, not the batteries, not the connections and it’s not the cameras themselves and apparently not the cables coming back. As an off the cuff remark to my sister who I was messaging to get ideas, I said maybe it’s the splitter cable, tried that with independent spare camera and splitter cable nope still the same by this time I am right back down to only one component, the power to splitter cable, changed it and alleluia we have images again, yes I am chuffed I worked that out 😀😀
I need to order autumn planting garlic bulbs, I didn’t have nearly enough this year and don’t want to be short again, garlic is so good for you that you should include it in everything that you can 😀 and roasted garlic is the bomb 😋 Drizzle a whole bulb in olive oil sprinkle a little salt on and roast until soft, one very important tip, don’t eat the whole thing (tempting though it will be once you have tried it) as you WILL get stomach ache, take it from someone who knows 🤪
Tuesday: A Lovely morning and Samantha’s Birthday today 😀 I did the morning rounds and the thought I would ‘potter with purpose’ in the garden as it’s such a lovely morning. I picked tomatoes and cut back foliage in the big tunnel so the sunlight can get in and ripen off the rest of them. I found a few strawberry runners in the tunnel that had started to throw roots even though they were just sitting on the path so I potted those up, not sure where they will go next year but I can always sell the plants on. Next I started tidying up the area where the coldframes are, at the moment they have no tops so the plants are just sat in there but that has been useful as I can now see how I want them to work and I think I will only put tops on half the space and leave the other half open, I may change my mind come spring but we will see. I found the fattest frog in there 🐸 good chap, keep the slugs down, I also found that my lupin plants all have aphid that’s why they are not doing very well so I have squished those and will have to do it every day for a while to get the numbers right down. All the while I am picking up hazels and putting them in my pockets 😀 I had a look at the torts, during that cold weather they went off inside the hut but with the temps climbing again they have reappeared, there are lefty of tomatoes and cucumbers to feed them at this time of year along with weeds of all kinds, I will give them some of the aloe vera plant just to give them some extra nutrients before they think about hibernation.
Whereas I was tired last week and dejected 😔 this week I am not tired and so thinking ahead to Spring next year and what/where to plant things, I need to remember that when I am tired again it will pass lol.
Johns ailments are taking a while to right themselves as he is still very tired, he is doing pretty well though considering he has had to totally change what he eats really, I told him that the sugar withdrawal will be a real thing and he will feel the effects of that but will begin to feel so much better once that has passed. He is still having a bit of sugar but probably reduced it by 90% so that’s a lot for the body to get used to.
The great thing is that we are going away for a long weekend with my sister and brother in law on Friday, we are off to Guernsey to follow the ‘Guernsey literary and potato peel pie society’ trail and delve into all the other treasures that the island has to offer 😀 A lovely little break which we are looking forward to.
Wednesday: Another lovely day, we got the Indian Summer after all, the ground is very dry though as we have not had rain for what seems like weeks. I did the morning rounds and then a bit of hoeing in the garden. The big raised bed that had carrot in it has now finished and I weeded it and covered it with weed suppressant, it will probably stay like that until spring now. It’s not really situated in the best place as the hazel trees cast shade over it for the last part of spring and most of summer so I really need to decide what would do the best in there before next year.
Thursday: Cracking morning again 😀 loving the sunny mornings and the warm days. Mostly today has been about getting things done ready for going away tomorrow, although Shelley will be moving in I like to make things as easy as I possibly can for her.
I started off doing all the morning rounds, then onto washing and ironing clothes we will be taking with us, packing then making sure the veg garden area runs smoothly by putting things away (small children and lump hammers/secateurs don’t mix lol) a bit of cleaning, get the dust bins out, watering the tunnels and greenhouse etc. Then Shelley came over and we walked through the rounds, it changes all the time so a walk through just ensures that she knows where everything is and what they have. She will have help from Sam and Charlie which is great, we are very lucky that they are willing to farm sit for us otherwise we would probably never go away. In the afternoon the feeding and egg collection was done, then watering some of the plants in pots out the front, top up all the water buckets so tomorrow morning is a bit easier for her etc. By the time I have finished with everything I am so ready for a break lol, it takes a fair bit of organising, and even then I am messaging with bits of info I have forgotten to give her when she was here 😜
Shower and early to bed as we have an early start to get down to the ferry.
Friday, Sat, Sunday, Monday: An amazing weekend in Guernsey, we packed a huge amount into our few days there and saw a lot of the island and its treasures and a large slice of Island life. The scenery is incredible and we had the first two days of glorious sunshine which made it even more beautiful, the people are lovely and very friendly. We went on the Potato Peel pie trail, up and down steep hills and cliff tops, we learnt so much about the occupation is was mind blowing. The fortifications are on a massive scale for such a small island and I was struck by how they have just been incorporated into every day life, in gardens, as museums, even a school has been built near one and the gun area changed into a mini amphitheatre with a garden. By chance we were there when a hill climb time trial was going on, on our walk we encountered a local wedding, we happened to be there at exactly the right time for a rare visit inside a gun battery. The weather changed on the Sunday but it still wasn’t too bad but Monday it rained all day lol and that continued through our travels home and it’s still raining here this morning, back to real life for me today and it’s time to go out and get some work done and get a soaking by the looks of it 🤪
frieslandfarm (flowers) 