Sorry this is late you will find out why when you get to Saturday 😢
Monday 13th April 2020: I’m losing track of how long we have been in lockdown now 🙄 I think we are going into week 4.
The temperature has dropped by 10 degrees today, hugely noticeable. I am definitely struggling today, the absence of my meds has increased inflammation and I recognise where this road ends so I’m hoping that blood tests on Friday will enable me to go back on the meds. I took anti inflammatories this morning which helps me to be able to get on and do a bit and even though it was cold I still went out to the garden. I did a fair bit of tidying up, I know I always say that but there always seems to be an area that needs sorting out, this time is was the areas around the poly tunnel, stuff that had been stacked or stored for winter, some broken stuff to get rid of, a bit of weeding here and there, and the area where I keep plants for selling on, always something. I planted out the next lot of broad beans and did some pricking out and potting on in the greenhouse, it filled my morning nicely 😀
I put some plants out for sale and was amazed that they sold very quickly, I have some more to go out and also some that I am bringing on in the greenhouse, I guess people can’t use the garden centres and so I am a good alternative.
Tuesday: Oh dear I haven’t felt well for a week or more now, the symptoms slowly getting worse and yesterday they came to a head, constant shivering even under layers of blankets, my joints have been getting worse and I can feel the inflammation in my scalp. So this morning I have phoned the doctor and am waiting for him to call back, I have been down this toad so many times that I recognise the way, if I don’t get it sorted quickly I will end up back on steroids, I might anyway but I might just be able to catch it in the nick of time, go back on the meds and take stronger anti inflammatories. This disease is such a see saw it’s hard to keep a balance.
Wednesday: Slight blip there but I’m feeling better today, I had my blood test bought forward and had it yesterday so just waiting for the results. UPDATE the doctor called and the white cells have dipped even lower so it’s the disease and not the medication, I am back on steroids for two weeks, this is bitter sweet, bitter because it means the disease is not stabilising at all and I lurch from one crisis to another, sweet because I know on steroids I will get loads of jobs done and be full of energy. I will also be starving most of the time which is great for John as I will always be thinking of the next meal instead of the lack lustre attitude I have had lately lol.
This morning I have been outside watering, it’s ridiculous how dry the ground is, I can’t even hoe or pull weeds because it’s rock solid and I am having to water newly planted stuff every day to keep them all going, the overnight moisture is not enough for the heat of the sun in the daytime. As I recall it was exactly the same this time last year, we had a very dry warm spell and despite trying to mulch everything it’s still a task to keep stuff alive. Not the stuff that has been going for a year or more, that’s all fine but I was aiming to get the flower beds up and running and they are struggling with the lack of moisture. I tried weeding the brassica cage but the ground is as hard as rock, seriously, I pulled what I could and will have to wait for some rain before I can get in there and do it all properly.
I am loving that I have the time to take everything in rather than scooting round and getting everything done. The tulips that Mum planted at the end of last year have come up all over the place and they are an absolute joy, some of the colours are vibrant and there is one little flower combo I adore, the photo doesn’t really do it justice but it’s so sweet I would love to replicate it on a bigger scale elsewhere at some point.
Today is a very special day as it’s Charlie’s 30th Birthday 🥳, we should have been at our favourite hotel enjoying the spa and delicious food but instead we are all at home separately, it’s also my sisters 50th birthday another celebration that will have to wait. One thing I have noticed is how creative everyone has got during these times, poetry, paintings, stories, baking, innovative ideas, it’s lovely that people have the time to do these things for each other, it’s one of the good things that have come from all this.
John had literally just cleared the wood pile the day before yesterday (it’s been there for about 4 years) when he had a phone call to say that someone had a van load of tree they had cut down if he wanted it, off he went to collect it and that gave him more cutting to do 🙄😜😂
A busy afternoon started with the delivery of 40 more hens ALL of which have been pre ordered and going straight back out for sale 🙄 unprecedented but great for us as it means we are still earning which is more than a lot of people are, on hindsight we should have bought in hundreds as we certainly could have sold them all.
Thursday: Another lovely day in store and I have already started on the steroids so my symptoms have begun to diminish already which is great as it means I can get on. I put plants out for sale again this morning and lots have been sold already, happy me 😀 The rest of the morning I spent picking rhubarb, asparagus and sowing some more seeds both vegetable and flower seed. We have been busy selling hens again today and by teatime we only had two left.
The early part of the evening I spent giving everything a good watering, there is rain on the forecast for tomorrow it you can never be too sure it will get here so better safe than sorry.
I am kind of beginning to forget we are in a very strange situation, until I see the government infomercials or watch the news that is, this life has become normal lol, I wonder how many people are going to be able to cope with going back to real life when the times comes 🙄
The turkey hen is still alive, she is very quiet but moving around and chirping sometimes, I’m beginning to wonder if she is like that because we took her eggs away as there doesn’t seem like much else wrong with her, if she had a blockage I would have expected her to have died by now. The new boy rabbit, sporty scar, has developed one floppy ear, they are lips but I had forgotten that and thought he might have broken it or something 😜 The geese are sitting on eggs, not all of them just two but fingers crossed we may get goslings. Everything else is tickling along nicely.
Who would have thought that our weekly excitement would be 8pm every Thursday evening when we go outside and clap, cheer, ring bells the works to honour the key workers that are keeping our country running, the NHS, the carers, the delivery drivers, the dustbin lorry crews, the post men and women, the shop workers, the farmers, we thank you for keeping going despite the risks. Captain Tom needs a special mention, 99 years young and has raised to date 14 million pounds for the NHS by completing 100 laps of his garden on his Zimmer frame before his 100th birthday tomorrow, true British grit, our hearts swell with pride at his achievement.
Friday: A cooler day today and we had a sprinkling of rain, it enough to fill the water tanks but enough to freshen up anything that has been planted so I am happy with that. I have again spent today pottering around in the greenhouse or sowing seeds, I sowed some spring onion seeds I found, I don’t usually have much luck with the but I can only try. I also found some chickpeas I grew last year, only 4 lol but I have planted those and I found a packet of liquorice seeds so I am giving those a go. I have pricked out leek seedlings into trays and potted up some blackcurrant bushes that have been stood in a bucket all winter, I also planted one of these in the orchard. John has been busy changing one of the taps on the water tank that had snapped and when they are nearly empty is a good time to do that, then he started clearing out his shed which is a kind of open the door and throw it in shed. We have discussed building a new one as this one is really on its last legs, it will have to wait until we can buy materials again.
We sold the last two chickens from the 40 that came in on Wednesday, we are breaking all our previous records here lol.
Like many people, I suspect, we have slipped into an easy routine of a bit of work, a tea break, a bit more work, dinner break, a sit down, a bit more work, a tea break etc etc I imagine this is how things will continue until the lockdown ends.
I just realised it’s Friday again which means Gardeners’ world is on tonight 😀 the one thing I really look forward to watching.
Saturday: Today is a very sad day, we had an early morning phone call to say that my Dad had passed away overnight, as far as we know he didn’t have corvid-19, he had the usual older persons ailments and it seems he passed away quietly in his sleep. I obviously won’t be doing much today except remembering, laughing and crying 💙😘💔 Night, night Dad, you will be missed x x
Monday: Today is a better day after two days of tears and memories. If you have lost someone close you will know how hard it is especially when you weren’t expecting it. What is even harder is the situation we find ourselves in at the moment where you can’t get together with family members and have/give hugs, it’s hard, really hard. The coroner has said it was age related so that’s a blessing, and he went peacefully in his sleep which is just how he would have wanted to go, we are grateful for that. My Dad was a man of simple needs, he loved life, whisky, roll ups, cricket, singing, whistling, good food especially common game, he loved music and he loved to dance, right up to the start of the pandemic they would go to jazz festivals and music events and dance the night away, he loved country ways especially the old ways which was what he was bought up with, he was a countryman through and through. The more you think about things the more you begin to realise about a person, he was way ahead in his thinking about girls and boys, he never treated any of us any differently, if you could lift a shovel, you could mix concrete, boy or girl it didn’t matter 😂 he was a good cook and more often than not cooked his own dinners, he was a great forager and we used to go mushrooming with him when we were younger, there are a million and one things I could tell you about him but most importantly he was my Dad. Goodnight Dad, I love you and I will miss you dearly but you have left behind so many memories and I will cherish those always 😘😘
frieslandfarm (flowers) 