Monday 25th May 2020, Bank Holiday Monday: Time and tide wait for no Man as the saying goes, nature keeps doing its thing regardless of any pandemic (and getting on better because of it I suspect) and the natural flow of the year gently rolls on 😀 I, and others I know, have enjoyed the enforced lockdown, initially it was a bit weird but we soon got into a rhythm and the more sedate pace of life we have easily slipped into is as good as meditation and definitely soul healing, of course we have had good weather which helped enormously and we don’t have children at our heels 24/7 😜 I shall be sorry when the human population is busy racing here and there again, hopefully a percentage will have re-evaluated what is really important in life and what they can manage without 😜
We were up early again as the day is set to be hot, early morning cool air is wonderful and I can get on easily. Watering, planting the second lot of sweet corn, hoeing, sowing some seeds, potting on and potting up all done before 8am. John did the feed rounds, Sam came over on her own to do the horses and give them a bath and we popped round to Mums to drop off all the veg plants I have been growing for her so that she had something to plant when she came home, all at a social distance of course 😀 A bit odd seeing your Mum for the first time in 5 months and not being able to give her a hug but hey the time will come. John cleaned out a few of the bird houses, I did give him the option of that or housework, he declined the latter🤪 We popped out to get some take away burger and chips from The White Hart in Minster Lovell, it was very tasty, I can highly recommend that and back home for the afternoon resting period 😀
One of the first jobs I did this morning once the sun had got round was to pick elderflowers heads. They need to be warmed by the Sun to get the best perfume and flavour, they are currently steeping in hot water along with lemons and an orange and the wafting aroma is amazing. If you like elderflower cordial it’s so simple to make you really should have a go, you will feel very proud of yourself once you taste it 😀 I have a sambucus nigra which is the black elder and has pink flowers, it’s only in its second year but next year I can’t wait to make pink elderflower cordial 🥰 If you want the flowers I have plenty here you can pick 😀 Once you have made the cordial it’s pretty versatile, you could add more sugar, boil it a little and make it into syrup for ice cream or add it to whipped cream for a lovely fresh sponge cake or you could freeze it into ice cubes ready to pop into a glass of Prosecco on a summers evening 😀
I use the River Cottage recipe but it’s very simple, pick around 20 heads of sun warmed elderflower, shake out any bugs (kind because you are about to pour boiling water on them otherwise but don’t worry if you miss one or two as you will be straining it) add, three unwaxed lemons and an orange chopped and squeezed a bit to a bowl along with the heads and pour on 1 and a half litres of boiling water, leave to steep for 24 hours. Strain the liquid through muslin or a clean tea towel after the 24 hours into a pan, add 1kg sugar and heat gently until sugar had dissolved then simmer for a couple of minutes then bottle into sterilised bottles. You can use citric acid which will help it keep for a few months but if you don’t have it, keep in the fridge and if you haven’t used it all up within days it will keep for a couple of weeks 😀
A perfect evening this evening, it cooled down to a nice level it was still and quiet, the sunset was pink, just lovely. We did what has to be one of my favourite jobs, moving the geese, they herd nicely and we moved them from the front to the back again. Two reasons, one the grass is nice and green at the back compared with the front which they have kept eaten off and two the goose that was sat on eggs, which were duff (I got in and had a look finally, some half matured embryos but mostly duff) insisted on sitting back on an empty nest. She has lost condition sitting as it is so we decided to move them all up to the back to break her brooding, seems to have worked and she was soon head down grazing away. I often think that I would have liked to have been a drover, for geese anyway, my romantic notion is wandering along leafy lanes taking the geese to market. In reality of course I probably would have been the drovers wife waiting at home for him to return with his wages and anyway I’m sure the weather would be cold and wet at the time geese were taken to be sold but a girl be wistfull now and again 😜
I did a bit of watering in the tunnels and cast an eye over the garden, some things are running to seed because it’s so dry, fine if the seed happens to be a fruit or flower, not so good if it’s a root veg 🙄 Still you can only do so much and the rabbits will eat the tops of the swedes and radish that have done that.
John managed to flood the back chicken pen, he left the water on and the poor hens were up to their knees in water, luckily it didn’t quite reach their fluffy backsides 🙄 So we had to spend half an hour or so sweeping water out of the pen lol, on the plus side, clean out was done in a jiffy 😂
Tuesday: I woke at 4.45 but I didn’t get up, I kept falling asleep again and eventually got up at 6.30. I’m struggling a bit today, I feel tired already so today will be a gentle day. First though, after doing the rounds we sorted out the Light Sussex pen, this was originally for rabbits until they got Mitzi and so while we should have concreted the floor all we did was put boards down. The edge is concreted but either rats or rabbits had dug under the boards and there were little holes down into the ground. One hen is sitting tight on eggs and once they hatch I don’t want the little chicks falling down the holes never to be seen again so we took up the boards and made the pen secure enough so chicks can’t get out and dug over the ground. Now the hens can scratch at the dirt they are busy dust bathing in it, bit of a bonus for them.
After that I came inside and finished off making the elderflower cordial, it made just over 1 and a half litres with a bit left to have a lovely drink of it. I will make some bread but nothing too strenuous for me today lol.
We went to the supermarket for only the second time in 10 weeks, whoop whoop let me loose 😜 it was pretty quiet and organised and we were like kids in a sweet shop, shall we, yes might as well 🤣
After dinner I did do a bit of hand weeding for an hour or so and John finished off creosoting the hen hut at the back.
A lot of the weeds I pulled went to the torts, they like fleshy thistles and dandelions. I set their little area up so that that could forage for themselves, clover, dandelion and thistle were all sown deliberately so they could feed themselves with extras given to them on the side. Over the years of being kept though they seem to have forgotten how to do that, until just recently that is, I have noticed that they are now beginning to attack the stalks of the weeds thank goodness 😅 I like to try and feed animals as close to their natural diet as is possible, that’s why the rabbits and guineas get bucketfuls of weeds and various tree branches, more of a balanced diet than dried feed and hay.
Wednesday: Up at 4.45 😀 woke up felt hungry might as well get up and get on 😜 I did some watering and some weeding and by 8am I had also sown 3 more rows of carrots and a row of beetroot, go me 😀 John got up about 7 and did the feed rounds then he set about topping the front paddock and taking the gates off the muck pile as Martin is coming to fit new ones tomorrow, a lit bit more that will look tidy. Mum lost a lot of her herbs while she was away so I dug up some parsley, oregano, mint, mace and chives for her and dropped them round mid morning. I came back with a nice chunk of succulent and some cuttings of a very pretty jasmine that she has growing. Time for the afternoon rest to recover enough for some more work later.
Evening work consisted of weeding, hoeing and watering, the usual lol then an in depth discussion, and by that I mean ‘words’ about the hose connectors to the taps. I have struggled with the watering for a few years and so this year I got soaker hoses to go all round only the connectors keep blowing off the taps, only when I finally loose my shit does John tell me it’s easy enough to sort out 🙄 well why the f…ing hell hasn’t it been sorted by now then, 10 weeks in lockdown, me swearing all the time and complaining that they don’t work and you didn’t think to tell me way back then you could sort it easily 🙄🤷♀️🤷♀️🤷♀️
Thursday: Another Sunny cloudless day ahead with no sign of rain for weeks to come 😏 so I’m up at 4.45, breakfasted, out in the garden in my PJs doing what needs to be done. I had left myself a note last night to sort the polytunnel, cut back the parsley, chard, pull up weeds and tie in the tomatoes etc, otherwise I get distracted and then forget. Onto picking asparagus, carrots, mangetout and strawberries (only a few) Indoors at 7 for a shower and then back out to do a bit of pricking out, potting on, filling up the horses water buckets, sorting out what bits we have already to get these hoses secured and working out what we need to get to make the who,e damn thing work properly and give me a break 😂 Move a load of plants that have been overwintering so they get some good sunshine and hopefully put on good growth, put the washing on, hang it out, put out the recycling and the milk bottles, put out the veg for sale that I’m not going to use and finally finish at 11, that’s nearly a six hour shift already 🤪 I sit down, literally just sit down and Martin arrives to do the gates 😂 quick discussion with him and I sit down again and someone arrives who wants a phone number, I’m pooped I need a lie down 😜 And it’s hot already, blaring down onto the gravel, I can feel it starting to make my skin itch, I like the heat, I really do, I would rather have heat all year than cold but the my body doesn’t like the Sun. Its the enemy as far as my antibodies are concerned, who gave them permission to decide that, not me that’s for sure, I would love to be able to work away in the garden without worrying about UV rays. When I see people running/cycling to flat out sunbathing I do think to myself, do you even know what that is doing to you, never mind the sun damage to the surface there could be something bigger going on inside, it doesn’t look healthy to me but maybe that because for me it’s not!
10pm and I’m exhausted, we have been busy putting in more taps and sorting out the soaker hoses, a couple more to do and I will have nine taps in and around the garden that gives you some idea of how big it is I was working with three before 🙄 I made pins, out of wire we have had sat around for years, to pin the hoses down and now I just need to wait for connectors and at last I will be able to turn on the hoses, maybe even more than one at a time, and go and get on with something else. It takes too long to water it all by hand, there are still some areas that I will need to do like that such as the fruit cage and the garden area but it should free me up to weed, hoe, prune, pick, plant the list is endless. When I get tired I get very grouchy and a bit despondent especially tonight as the ground is so dry I despair, not just in the veg garden but all around the paddocks there are fissures opening up. The trees we planted were in the little paddock at the back are only small and I think they will need some water to keep them going as the ground water must be pretty low if there is even any left lol. If it carries on we will be going into drought and who would have thought that after the amount of rain we had late winter 🙄 and 🛏 💤
Friday: Up at 4.45 again and this time John got up with me and we cracked on, he had some taps to finish and I started on watering the beds, this time thought the connected soaker hoses. It works 😀 and by that I mean time saving as well as actually watering. I was able to get on with other jobs and so that’s what I did, I have hand hoed the brassica bed, the asparagus bed and lots of other little spaces in between rows of growing veg. I have managed to cut back things that were in need of cutting back and hoed pathways as well as pot up random things growing and general sorting bits out. By 9.30 I was wandering around looking for jobs to do instead of chasing my tail lol, I still have plenty to reorganise but I feel like that is achievable now and that makes me happy. It also means I will have plenty of time for picking and prepping which will be the next big task.
I feel I should explain about the watering lol, I don’t water just because it’s dry, the small veg plants and seeds that have gone in need molly codling until they establish themselves and then until they put on some good leafage they need watering because the ground is dry, once they bush out a bit they will provide their own cover and the soil will keep more moisture, but until then they are like small babies that need all the help you can give them 😀 As it is mainly planting and sowing season now it seems that all I have been doing is watering (that’s because it is all I have been doing)
Later this morning I have bloods to get done and then this afternoon there is a real treat in store 🥰 Charlie is wedding dress shopping, not shopping as in going out and about but a strictly by appointment only at one shop and I will be going along, we have worked out all the social distance arrangements and I will have a mask if I think I need it, a little bit of excitement in all the madness of the world at the minute.
Hedgerow flowers and grasses can make a bouquet every bit as beautiful (if not more so) than shop bought flowers don’t you think 😀
With my new found spare time 😜 I can now do the things I want to be doing and wasted no time in picking chive flowers. Highly prized by chefs apparently, they can be eaten sprinkled on salads etc, no doubt there are many dishes they can be used in but I wanted to make chive flower vinegar. A simple recipe and I have not made it before but the thought of vinegar and onion flavours together seems perfect. Pick the heads and give them a shake off then dunk in water and shake again to remove any bugs and dust etc, then give the a good dry by shaking them about (not rigorously) pack them into a jar, heat up (don’t boil just hot) enough white wine vinegar to cover them, pour the vinegar over the flowers, submerge and keep somewhere dark and cool for two weeks. Strain the flowers from the vinegar, you will end up with a blush coloured vinegar, then pour into sterilised jars with vinegar proof lids. Stored in a cupboard it will keep for up to six months probably longer.
I took a picture of something that makes me smile everyday, this is a cheeky little Diascia I bought last year, it’s supposed to be on the other side of the fence where the flower border is but it’s decided it rather likes this side better 😂 It’s delicate looking flowers have long been one of my favourites and especially this pinky salmon colour. I’m surprised it went through the winter to be honest but then as it was a mild one quite a few things have survived that normally wouldn’t have.
It would have been Dads birthday today so later in the evening when it had cooled down I picked some flowers from the garden and we went over to Swinbrook to put them on the grave. We met my sister over there and sat in the graveyard talking about the family history and the cottage we used to live in when we were small, I was only 5 but I can remember quite few things, such a lovely village and hasn’t really changed much in all hose years.
Saturday: Another early start, well an extra half hour lay in this morning 😜 and then on with the jobs of the day. I had thought about what I wanted to do as I was getting off to sleep last night but it never pans out that way as I always spot something else that needs doing. One job was to clear the patch that I can’t get to from about 8am as the Sun is already on it and stays there all day and I to the evening. I have decided to collect seed from things like calendula, borage, poppies, chives and possibly move the artichokes there as well, it can pretty much do its own thing then and I don’t have to worry about it. One thing I will have to move are some asparagus crowns because at the moment they are there but they don’t do very well as it’s so dry and weedy. These are crowns I grew from seed a few years ago, I was very pleased with that accomplishment so need to do them a bit of justice really. I nipped out the tops of the broad beans as we are into blackfly season and I have already seen clusters of them, luckily they seem to be on my sacrificial plants at the moment so that plan is working 😀 I did a quick bit of hoeing, a few bits of potting and I cleaned out the water trays in the greenhouse, checked over the peppers and aubergine which are growing big and strong now with fruits developing, I moved the chilli plants out of water now they have established and all those will stay in the greenhouse and hopefully produce something worthwhile this year. I still have a few things growing on in there, plum tomatoes, they need to get bigger before I move them and some outdoor toms which won’t go out until mid to end of June. All in all I am quite satisfied with progress this year, I just need to make some adjustments to cope with the weather change patterns and my difficulties of working in the Sun but, yep, happy days.
Coffee break time and I thought I would take an hour to sit in the shade and listen to a podcast 😀
Mid afternoon we popped down the road to the local campsite, they are doing ice creams on Saturday, nice little treat 😀 I mostly stay inside on days like these until it cools down much later on. Made fish pie for dinner and we are having the first of our home grown carrots and asparagus, I would do mange tout as well as they have developed now but John doesn’t like them and I couldn’t be bothered to do lots of different veg so we had peas. I have been a bit lazy of late with the whole cooking from scratch thing, I think half of it was a loss of appetite, but that has now returned, and if you don’t feel hungry, you don’t get any inspiration to make anything 🙄
I turned the water on for the squash and sweetcorn about 7pm went about the evening as normal, watched the space rocket go over, went to bed and then had to get up and go and turn the water off as I had forgotten 😂 That bed won’t need a water for a few days now 🙄
Sunday: Another early one for me, I’m quite liking it, it helps that I am not tired due to the steroids and it’s lovely and cool first thing, I get plenty done. This morning I planted the runner beans and the rest of the sweetcorn plus some more cauliflowers and some welsh onion. I have nearly planted everything now I’m just waiting for the plum tomato plants to get a bit bigger before putting the in the poly tunnels and then outdoor tomatoes which will get planted out in a couple of weeks. Then I did a bit of picking, asparagus, rhubarb and mangetout and all the while I had some watering going on 😀
I spotted a hen that had obviously got stuck behind the water system in the back pen, I don’t think she had been there that long (this was mid morning) but another hen had started vent pecking her. It sounds odd behaviour but it’s common for chickens, they see either an egg, poop or the pulsating of the vent and they have a little peck and then they keep going and before long they have broken the skin and then it’s bleeding and despite what some would have you believe, chickens are NOT vegetarian they see blood and meat and they will eat it. We got her out, cleaned her up, purple sprayed her and put her separately in a stable where she should recover quite quickly.
I had an hours sleep at lunchtime, it’s great that I am able to do that as it re energises me for later in the day. No idea how I am going to do if and when the temps cool down again lol, means I will have to do one full day instead of split shifts 😜
Have a great week, stay safe and only do what you are comfortable doing with regards to lockdown easing 😀
frieslandfarm (flowers) 