June 2023 – frieslandfarm (flowers)

Fox attacks, summer solstice and our Ruby wedding anniversary.

Posted on June 25, 2023June 25, 2023 by frieslandfarm

Monday 19th June 2023: After the bit of rain last night everything is nice and fresh this morning and it’s not so hot that it all just evaporates. My first garden job was to cut some of the taller stems that I will need later in the week, the reason is that we are expecting much more rain tomorrow and I don’t want them bashed down by any heavy rain. These are flowers that are perfect for cutting now with just a few buds open, the rest will continue to open in time for making up the bouquets. I am cutting flowers daily and not always for orders but because in order to keep them coming they need cutting otherwise if they go to seed they will stop producing and I don’t want that. It is one of the reason that a cutting garden is not filled with flowers as people expect, quite the opposite as they have been cut for using one way or another, fresh or for drying.

At lunchtime I had some customers arrive to talk about wedding flowers for the end of the year, a small wedding which I can easily do 😁 The afternoon was overcast enough to get some cutting back and tidying up done.

The evening was again spent getting watering done, the bit we had the other day was good enough to freshen up but not much else, we need some prolonged rain that will soak right into the ground. I was right last year when I said we need to catch as much as possible going forward, two years running now we have had prolonged, hot weather with no rain. It doesn’t help that our pump burnt out on the water tanks at the weekend and as yet John has not replaced it, I am sure he will if I keep in moaning enough 😜 I cut yet more flowers this evening after watering the beds they were growing in, flowers are coming thick and fast and I keep cutting them. I also walk around thinking, I need to change this or that, there will be plenty to do come autumn. Having done a full year and a bit I can now see what I did right and what I did wrong, I also know which flowers I like and what is not worth growing. The annuals were pretty much a no go this year due to me being ill and I have found I can do without most of them, yes they are lovely but there are other flowers that are just as good and perennial, saving me lots of time and worry.

Tuesday: I can’t function today, I tried but I cannot. Almost 8 weeks since the shingles broke out and I am still getting pain on one side of the wrist, hand and fingers. The skin is healing and the new skin is tender, the stinging feeling never goes away, never dulls even with painkillers, consequently it is very tiring, on the up side my eye seems to have got better by itself 🤷‍♀️ I would just like a day when I wake up in the morning and feel full of beans and ready to get going, not too much to ask is it?

We have had two daytime fox attacks today and lost around 10 birds, I heard the first commotion around lunchtime, went out and there were hens upon the egg shed, up on the fence and all making a racket. I walked round the front paddock to check it over but couldn’t see anything. An hour later another commotion and a similar scenario, we are down to 30 hens, half of those don’t lay anymore either so we will be very short on eggs and resigned to the fact that we are coming to the end of our egg selling days. Yes I know people love our eggs but we do not love the constant battle that it takes to provide them ☹️

No watering tonight as we had a good load this morning and I am glad of the rest.

Wednesday: Solstice. A better day functioning 😁 so I got on with lots of flowery things, I know I should have done cleaning but hey that can wait 😜 I started my online course and did two modules and then John came home at lunchtime. After a cuppa and a quick sit down we went out to try and find something I wanted to do flower things in, couldn’t find what I was looking for but I found a few plants instead 😂

Back home and after another sit down, John did some weeding in the driveway. I keep telling him he is wasting his time as he is doing it by hand, by the time he finishes one bit the last bit will have grown again but it falls on deaf ears 🤷‍♀️ He did stop to make me some wooden boxes to fit jam jars in, I was trying to find plastic wallpaper paste troughs earlier but can’t find any so wood will do, actually they are probably much nicer. Dinner eaten then back out to get some watering in the tunnels done, do the horses water and that basically is the end of the longest day. There was no spectacular sunset, indeed no sunset at all otherwise I would have taken a photo.

Thursday: Mostly I have been doing flowery things 😂 well there is something new 😜 Cutting a bucketful first thing this morning and then to the online course which is soooo good I keep doing module after module. I did take a few break to go and cut some drying material after every three or four modules because I needed to move around a bit.

I spent the evening making up two living vase bouquets for delivery first thing in the morning, plus flowers for Friday.

Friday: After delivery the flowers this morning we set off for a day out to Stratford on Avon, Shakespeare country. When Sam and Luke got married last year they gave us and Luke’s parents the gift of Afternoon tea and a river cruise which was lovely of them. We booked it a couple of months ago and today was the day that we got to go and enjoy the gift. We met Luke’s parents there and enjoyed a delicious afternoon tea at The Arden Hotel, the service was impeccable, the sandwiches, cakes and scones were delicious and the surroundings had a relaxed elegance. The day was very relaxed as it often is when you are next to or on the river I think, the only downfall was the volume of traffic on the journey home 😜 The weather was perfect for me to be able to wander round, overcast but warm

Saturday: I had an early night last night so that I could get up early and do some watering this morning. Pyjama gardening early in the morning is one of my favourite activities lol. Again it was overcast and so I was able to spend quite a few hours getting some gardening done including weeding, planting and harvesting berries and lavender. I was also able to wear a short sleeved t shirt which is rare for me in the summer.

Juicy redcurrants full of lycopene and so good for you

I had a phone call mid morning and unbelievably I have an order for flowers from Aberdeen 😂 to be delivered locally obviously but how amazing is that.

After bundling up lavender to hang for drying and de stalking red currants it was time for a quick sit down before having a shower and getting ready to go out again. The girls are taking us out for our 40th wedding anniversary which is tomorrow.

Forty years! Where has that gone 🤷‍♀️ we met on a blind date at the Masons Arms in Brize Norton, we got engaged on my 18th birthday party which was at Bradwell Grove (when it was still a hospital) social hall, we had our hen and stag do in the Rose and Crown in Shilton and then we got married in the Holy Rood Church at Shilton. We haven’t traveled far have we 😂 not in terms of miles anyway.

The life road we have navigated has been scenic, lots of hills climbed and plenty of freewheeling downhill, we have hit plenty of pot holes and bumps on the road. The travellers we have met along the road have been many, some travelling with us and some travelling in the opposite direction but all have enriched our life journey in one way or another. At times we barely had enough fuel to keep going or the means of buying the fuel and at other times we have had enough to propel us many more miles than we ever thought we could get. We have taken turns in navigating, when one is tired or just can’t, the other takes over. We are as different as chalk and cheese and you would think that could never work but actually it works very well, I would say we are both different pieces of the same jigsaw 😂 We have accumulated some fantastic passengers on our journey, our three amazing and beautiful daughters, they invited their own passengers along, three fabulous husbands and six adorable children between them so far. Would I do anything differently, of course I would, maybe some of the turns we took were wrong turns, maybe some of the ones we didn’t take, we should have 🤷‍♀️ but I wouldn’t change who I was travelling with, on the whole considering we have travelled all that way without a map I think we are doing ok 🥰

STOP PRESS: We thought we were going out for a meal with the family, turns out they had organised a surprise party 🎉 It really was a surprise I can tell you 😂 Friends and family were waiting to greet us, a table laden with food, old photos, cake, music and a bar, what a lovely afternoon we had (once I got over the shock) We had lots of lovely cards and presents which was very kind of people, just a lovely thing to do and I can’t believe nobody gave the secret away.

Us as fresh faced teenagers 😂 our life map is now recorded in wrinkles 😜

Sunday: Another scorcher of a day ahead, at 8am this morning when I was putting out the eggs it was already very warm, normally at that time of the morning it is a pleasant temperature still but not today.

Today is actually our anniversary day but we dont have anything planned so the usual jobs got done first thing. I then had flowers to cut for a delivery tomorrow and John has been digging out docks from the paddocks. Biscuit broke out of her paddock the other day but as there is not a lot of grass around due to lack of rain we have left her in with Jack. That meant John could then top and drag the small paddock while she is not in there, meanwhile I gave the kitchen a bit of a clean. My hand is just about at the stage where I can manage most things now, though I still can’t make a fist at least the pain has gone and I am just left with an constant uncomfortable tingling which will hopefully go soon. Our plan was to get done in the morning and then nothing for the rest of the afternoon but stay in the cool of the house and hope that some rain comes our way 🙄 We also have cake to eat 😂 so invited anyone who wants some over for a cuppa.

Friesland Farm

Flowers, foxes and a bit more rain.

Posted on June 19, 2023 by frieslandfarm

Monday 12th June 2023: After the rain last night it is set to be another hot day again though I think more storms are in the pipeline. Seeing as I didn’t have to water today 😁 I got on with cutting flowers straight away. The flowers need cutting regardless of whether there are any orders or not, you need to keep the blooms coming and so either dead head or cut to achieve that. I do have some orders so that is what they will be used for and any that can be dried successfully will be hung up.

Once it was too hot to do any more (which was pretty early today) I came inside on was on a mission to clean the bathroom. Everything needs a good clean really as six weeks of not being able to do it has left a build up of dust and dirt. The place has has a quick hoover and a whip round with a cloth but not a real clean and I did contemplate getting a cleaner in. I mentioned it to John in the hopes he would say don’t worry I can help you but all I got was ‘it’s fine’ we’ll it’s not fine not to me anyway and so I set about cleaning the bathroom from top to bottom with my left hand and a small amount of use from my right hand. I can’t use hot water so that was out of the question, wipes it is then, not that I like using them but needs must in my current situation. I have one of those dust mops so that went around the walls first, then hoover with the brush attachment to pick up any debris and cobwebs, clean out the cupboards and wipe down all the walls, the units, the towels rails (painfully slowly I might add) use the limescale cleaner and a toothbrush on the China and the shower cubicle, wipe everything over, hoover the floor, wipe the floor over and voila about two and a half hours later I have finished 😂 A quick sit down and decide if I can do the same in the living room now or if I will run out of steam and do a half hearted job 🤔 This is really my spring clean which I was not able to do, probably not the greatest decision to do it on a very hot day but it’s either that or leave it and I don’t think I can as it’s driving me nuts 😜

I did start the sitting room and Shelley came over to visit and gave me a hand which was useful as I can’t move the sofas on my own at the minute, moved, dusted, cleaned and hoovered everything and I even got three loads of washing done. I watched the rain radar very carefully so that I knew when to get the washing in before the rain came, not a huge amount but still enough for me not to have to go out and water this evening.

Tuesday: This morning I got outside early and did some planting up which was actually a bigger job than it sounds. The bed that had been growing tulips and narcissi needed weeding and the bulbs all lifting so that they can be dried. They won’t be used as cut flowers again next year as the flowers are likely to be small but they will still be added to the front bed with shrubs in and over a couple of year will gather strength and maybe even multiply. Once it was cleared I could plant some dahlias, coreopsis and a penstemon I had been growing, then once watered in well it was given a good mulch with the old woodchip (not the new stuff as that needs to break down before using on growing beds) Thinking it must be nearly lunchtime I came in to find it was only 10.30 😂 So the next job was to go and make up a bouquet for an order that John would be delivering at lunchtime. I also needed to get the flower room tided up ready for a workshop this evening, not a flower one this time but an introduction to beekeeping workshop which will be taught by Dave from Bradwell Bees whose honey we sell in the egg shed.

I had a visit from Charlie and Oscar at lunchtime and then my hairdresser came to give me a hair cut. After that I had a sit down for a couple of hours, busy morning, rest in the afternoon, busy evening that’s how it goes on hot days for me.

It feels very close again now, I can’t see any rain on the radar so it will be an uncomfortable muggy night I think 🙄

I spent the evening outside watering, weeding and planting, I also saw a hedgehog, not sure if it was Hilda but lovely to see.

Not sure what happened to Wednesday 😂 much of the same I suspect.

Thursday: Up at 4.45 this morning to get some work done outside before it gets hot again. Watering mostly but some cutting of flowers for tomorrow’s Friday flowers. indoors once it got too hot and I ran out of shade, I did manage to prick out some seedlings in the greenhouse though 😁

After school the twins came but George was not very well and I had to send John out to get some calpol as I didn’t have any left.

In the evening I made up some jam jar flowers and some market bunches. While I was working the dogs started barking, I checked outside and couldn’t see anything. Then I heard Patch yapping in the front paddock so I went through the garden so see where he was and why he was barking. I whistled him and he came back, I told John I thought the fox had been about which is why the dogs were barking. When John went to shut the hens away in the front the bloody fox was in the hen house, somehow it had got in and the gate had shut behind him so he couldn’t get out. We have lost quite a few hens lately and can’t get anymore until September and I am not sure we will even bother. When we first came to live here the hunt was still allowed and the fox population was controlled or if you had a problem you could call them in but now there is no control and it is relentless. Couple that with the rise in feed prices, avian flu lockdowns and you wonder what the point is anymore, it’s pretty soul destroying.

😡 we will not have many hens left soon and we have said before that it will take some serious thinking through to decide if we bother to get any more or not as each year we battle against last years cubs fending for themselves and mother foxes feeding young, they are always out and about during the day which is difficult to protect free range hens from. With little control over the fox population the problem gets worse year on year but I guess what will happen is once the population gets too big they will begin to starve or turn to other food sources 🙄

Friday: Up early again, did a bit of pruning and cutting back and then cut flowers for tomorrow’s orders and workshop. Then Charlie picked me up and we went to Witney for a mooch round and some brunch, a very nice bagel at Coffeesmith and then pistachio ice cream a little bit later on the way back to the car. Shelley messaged and it was Josh’s turn to be poorly and she asked us to pick up a thermometer, we dropped it round on the way back and Josh was running a fever ☹️

John and I went out to get some shopping and called in to see how Josh was on our way home, he had perked up a little since the afternoon which is good.

Back home and straight on with more work, a couple of flower orders to make up for collection tomorrow afternoon and also a memorial heart for Father’s Day also being pick up tomorrow. Tidy up the flower room and sort the flowers for the workshop tomorrow morning, change all the water and snip the stems of all the flowers. With the weather so warm the flowers are struggling a little bit so I need to keep them in top condition. Sweep up and I am done at 9.30pm. John did the animals and also gave the lawn a trim for me, if I am showing people round it’s one thing that can look tidy 😂

Saturday: Plenty to get sorted before this mornings workshop, watering, cutting, weeding etc. Workshop at 10am and it was a lovely couple of hours, I really enjoy teaching (who would have thought) and each time the dynamics are different, the questions are slightly different and peoples experiences are different which makes it interesting. Once the workshop was over I had customers coming to collect orders in the afternoon then a well earned rest 😁

Except I didn’t have a rest, I remembered that I went back out to the workshop to do some practice with a hand held posy. I gave it to my sister in law later that evening as she has had a difficult week 🥰

Sunday: Father’s Day here in the UK so we went out for breakfast with Shelley, Charlie and their families to The Old Shed, fabulous full English for the menfolk and Josh, I opted for pancakes with bacon and maple syrup, Flo had pancakes with berries and maple syrup, Shelley and Charlie went for the scrambled egg and avocado option. The place was seriously busy but the service was quick, the food was hot and delicious and we had a lovely time. We had a meander through the attached woodland afterwards, found the zip line and of course the men and Charlie couldn’t wait to get a have a go at that though they had to wait for the kids to have a go first 😂 Suitably fed and entertained we made our way back home 😁

Waiting and hoping for some more rain to arrive today, temps are still higher than average for the time of year and we really need some precipitation.

I need to call the eye hospital as my eyes have flared up again, actually what I think it that they didn’t quite heal and I should have continued with the steroid drops a little longer 🤷‍♀️

I signed up for an online course with Bex Partridge, a full dried flower course. I have her books and I have watched a workshop with her through one of my flowers groups before but I thought I would like to see her whole process as I can definitely learn more and it’s good to learn.

It rained in the evening, not much but enough to please the garden and me 😁

Friesland Farm

Flowers, ducklings and thunderstorms.

Posted on June 8, 2023June 11, 2023 by frieslandfarm

Monday 5th June 2023: We have had wall,to wall blue sky over the weekend but today it was overcast, great for me because it means I can get on 😁 I had plenty flowers to cut this morning for quite a few orders tomorrow and Wednesday so that was the first job after the usual morning jobs.

Bucketfuls of flowers ready for making up bunches, bouquets and jam jar flowers for orders tomorrow.

Once I had done that I sat with a cuppa to practice making an animated motion post lol, I know, I had no idea what this was either but when I looked it up I thought it looked easy enough so I gave it a go.

Not a masterpiece but not bad for a first effort, hopefully you can play it 🤷‍♀️

Then as it was still overcast I thought I should work in the poly tunnel so I soaked the soil, dug in some blood, fish and bone and then planted up chrysanthemums and zinnia. The zinnia LOVE the heat so provided they get enough water they will be fine, the chrysanthemums not so much but I am trying out different planting places on things to see what happens. I tried delphinium in the tunnel to see if they would flower earlier than the outside ones, initially they started to flower but the cold early on in the year took them even though I tried to keep the flowers out of any draught. The plants were still fine themselves and continued to grow flowering at the same time as the outdoor plants so those will go back outside at the end of the year. No point pampering something that is going to do what it wants when it wants 😂

Inside them for some lunch and then back out to cut some flowers and foliage for something I want to have a go at, something different from my usual style. If it works out see picture below, if not it won’t be there 😜 Once those were cut and conditioning nicely it was time for a sit down for an hour.

Tuesday: It is positively not June weather today 🥶 I give up wondering what our weather is doing it has a mind of its own, flaming June, more like flaming cold. I think I rather over did the weeding and planting the last couple of days as my hand was pinging away last night, it is a little better this morning but I was up later than usual at 7.15! I had plenty to do this morning as well so I more or less got straight on with making up flower orders that were being collected later today, I also have an order for tomorrow which I have already made up. Then I spent a little time doing something for myself, practising different flowers like the picture above. I confess I did it then had to take it apart and redo it before I was happy enough with it but it turned out nicely in the end I think.

We have been losing the odd hen every day to the fox, they will be feeding cubs and so more likely to come out in the daytime to find food. I heard someone not far from us lost around 60 in one go when the fox dug in 😏 At the minute we are unable to get new hens there is an all round shortage of point of lay hens, we have customers waiting and we will need some to replace the ones taken but not until September we are told 🙄 We may end up cutting our egg selling days shorter than we thought if we lose many more, we are at the point where we are not too worried about replacing them and continuing with egg sales anyway, this might force our hand. With the cost of feeding, watering, housing (and egg box costs even though we get returns we still have to buy more) the hens we just about break even, if you add in our time we definitely don’t so basically we (and by that I mean John 😂) is working for free and let’s face it who is really prepared to do that 🤔

Once all flowers had been collected it was time for a sit down but first dig something out of the freezer for dinner tonight. If anyone has a foolproof way of organising a chest freezer please tell me 😂 I know I had some lime and chilli chicken in there somewhere but I cannot find it 🤷‍♀️ The task was even more difficult than usual because my hand is not good with temperature extremes hence why I am still not doing the washing up. There must be a skill to it somewhere, bear in mind that often I have small packets of various bits and pieces that I have saved or picked and frozen for later use so not bags and boxes at all. I did find that using sacks in the bottom worked well, one with frozen fruit one with veg and one with meat but that does not cover a plethora of other oddities like frozen herbs (tiny portions) fruit cubes, passata, hazelnuts, cheese, eggs and even chocolate I think 😂 Knowing what I have in there is not the problem but finding it definitely is 😜

Wednesday: Johns 60th birthday, initially he was going to go to work but I said I don’t know why you don’t have the day off so he did. He did the morning jobs then had a shower and changed into his best clothes, meanwhile I still had work to do and he ended up following me around wondering what to do 😂 I was waiting for a delivery at lunchtime and once that arrived we took flowers down to the pub and had lunch while we were there. Back home just in time for a free delivery of woodchip, love free woodchip 🥰 I am on a database for anyone doing tree work in the area, they get in touch and ask if I want it once it’s chipped, then they deliver it. This was all willow and poplar so great stuff, he asked if I wanted laurel and holly, not chipped I said but if you cut it off whole I will definitely have it especially nearer wreath making time lol. It’s been a good day as Shelley took some flowers to her friend who was working, the manager saw them and asked where they were from, he then contacted me and wants weekly flowers plus extras now and again plus interested in me doing activities with the residents from time to time, brilliant 😁 Various family came and went over the course of the afternoon and evening and John has some rather nice events to look forward to including an F1 hospitality day and Dr Who escape room experience 😂 the second will push him outside of his usual boundaries 😜

I have had to put the sprinkler on the garden this evening, it is so dry the ground is starting to crack up and we have temps of 26c coming at the weekend apparently. It might bring thunderstorms and rain with it but you can bet your bottom dollar if we need it we won’t get it!

Thursday: I have a few orders this weekend as well as Friday flowers so I needed to get flowers and other material cut first thing. Once that was done I really needed to tidy up the flower room a little, some flowers I haven’t use or have gone past their best either get composted or the petals removed for drying. Some I had already decided to hang up to dry I just needed to get and do it so those jobs are all done and I am ready for the next lot. I need to be cutting every other day now to keep the flowers producing and if they are not being used fresh they get dried. Charlie came over with instructions and some of Oscars things as he is staying over tonight (not sure how that is going to go 😂) Shelley is having him this afternoon then bringing him after tea and Charlie and Macca are going to a wedding. I have the twins first though so I will quite possibly be knackered by bedtime 😜

It is all very well having an irrigation system set up but we really really need some rain, there is nothing quite like rain to saturate the ground and give things some oomph again. I am at the point where the things that survive stay and the things that don’t do not get replaced as I think this is the way things are going to stay, possibly (probably) even get worse 🙄 We can only do what we can and there is no point fighting against it we have to work round it but watching the news and the pollution in the USA from wildfires in Canada ought to make us take better notice of what is ahead. And just as I type scientist’s have confirmed that ‘el Nino’ has begun 😏

Friday: Oscar was a superb guest and I even got smiles in the morning, he was up at 5ish had pre breakfast, played, pooped and then went back to sleep at 7.30 for another 45 mins. That gave me just enough time to dash out and water the front and put the eggs out. Once he was awake again I put him in the pushchair and we went out to the paddock to do the horses water, take the rubbish down to the bins and feed the torts. A not of playtime and then Charlie and Macca came to collect him, he had been fine but on seeing them he suddenly realised they hadn’t been here and burst into tears 🥰 Sam and the twins came mid morning for an hour or so and then once they had gone I had to get on with making up some flower bunches to put into the flower shed for Friday flowers.

In the evening we went to get a bit of shopping and on our return a wild duck and lots of ducklings were in the driveway. Last year a duck, and I assume it is the same duck, walked all the way along our lane and down the hill to the local pond with her ducklings, it’s over a mile and she was escorted by a local lady for some of the way. This year after she left our drive she decided to go across the fields, I hope she made it. The evening wasn’t over and I had to make up a tribute heart for a customer collecting in the morning, a bit of watering and finally it was bedtime.

Saturday: Up at 5am and outside to get some watering on and cut some flowers for more orders and market bunches. The next job was to make up 20 jam jars for an order to deliver this afternoon and then a flower arrangement for the local church. It was very hot today and I was hoping for a decent thunder storm and some good rain but what we got was plenty of noise and a wetting. Everything is seriously dry, I put in soaker hoses for irrigation but didn’t bank in no rain for weeks and then temps of 30c in early June 🙄 Being on clay the water gets sucked up so quickly even on raised beds that it barely helps the plants when it is so hot and dry. Once the jam jars were delivered we had a couple of hours rest before getting on with other jobs. Back into the flower room to make up bunches of flowers and jam jars to put out for sale and also prep flowers for drying. All the while I have had the sprinkler on and moving it round every hour or so, I can’t rely on waiting for rain or I will have no flowers left.

Tribute flowers, seasonal, local, compostable, Shilton — Heart tribute flowers for a grave

It seems after talking to a few people that we missed the downpour that was happening all around 😂 literally we had a wetting that was it, no downpour that would soak the ground, barely enough to make any difference whatsoever 🙄

Sunday: Up early and gardening in my pjs 😁 watering, some cutting back and some weeding before it gets too hot. I have come to the conclusion we are in totally the wrong location to try growing anything 😂 no wonder it is always a battle 😜 The rain moves round us, the sun beats down on us, the clay and brash soak up all moisture it’s surprising I can grow anything really!

Once we had dropped off the flowers to the church we went to a nursery to look for some specific plants. I found a few but there were still some eluding me so we set off for a garden centre. We got a bit lost in the country lanes but it was a nice morning and eventually ended up where we wanted to be. As we pulled up I spotted my brothers truck and found him his wife and my mum having breakfast lol. We ordered coffee and cake as we were five mins too late for the breakfast menu. I still couldn’t find the plants I was looking for, salvia amistad seems to have dropped off the face of the garden centres this year 🤷‍♀️ I lost mine in the winter wet and cold, I had some on order but the order was cancelled and despite looking I have not been able to locate any as yet. I also wanted some white astrantia which is proving to be difficult to find in stock anywhere. Nevertheless I did come back with a few plants so I satisfied my wants for now 😜

It was hot in the afternoon so we stayed inside and relaxed, it is Sunday after all. I spent my time watching the live rain radar and was thrilled when I realised we were actually going to getting some rain, we also got thunder and lightning galore, love a good storm and the smell is fabulous. A strange thing happened when it started thundering though, John started sneezing, loads, I mean 20/30 sneezes so I looked it up and it is a thing, who knew 🤷‍♀️ it is called thunderstorm asthma, you learn something new every day. I am hoping we get a fair bit more rain as I need those tanks to fill up but I will take what we have had so far, it will energise the plants at least. I think we are a very long way short of restoring ground water levels though but I am happy for now.

I am still having a little trouble with my hand but no where near as much as I have had. I still don’t have full grip and I still can’t tolerate temperature extremes and using it for any length of time starts it jangling but hopefully day by day it gets back to normal.

Have a lovely week x

Friesland Farm

Hot, cold, windy but still no rain & 60th birthday celebrations.

Posted on June 4, 2023 by frieslandfarm

Monday 30th May 2023: Yesterday was overcast for most of the day so I was able to get some work done outside. Today it’s sunny again so I have scorted about doing as much as possible before it gets too hot to work in. Our weather is nuts sometimes, we got from cold and wet to mild and wet to full on blue skies with not much transition in-between. My walnut tree is not yet in full leaf and usually shades the greenhouse a little is the summer but the heat we have had for the past couple of weeks is on a par with early/mid summer and as a result the plants in the greenhouse are suffering. I have removed all but those that love the heat, zinnia for instance, everything else has been moved out for now.

I am at the stage where I will be cutting flowers daily, mostly to keep more flowers coming but I do have a good few orders to do as well and of course Friday flowers which may soon become daily flowers.

I have had to put covers in place on a couple of the beds as the cats think they are deluxe toilet facilities 🙄 they damage the roots keep scratching the soil up. Other jobs included labelling and putting more plants out for sale, planting up some pots for the front area, feeding and watering anything that looks in need and anything else that looks like it needed doing, staking in this string breeze we have at the minute is a must.

Indoors at 1ish to have some lunch and sort the contents of the fridge, take some of it to the torts, sit down for a while a recoup. There are not enough hours in the day at the minute and I really need a clone or two 😂 or as I said to a friend, at least a cook and a cleaner. I already primed John that his job tonight is too mow a strip down the driveway, not all of it but just enough to make it look tidy. I can’t start the mower still because of my hand, I don’t have full grip yet otherwise I would do it myself. We have open gardens in the village soon so I thought I’d better make it look a bit presentable. Not that we are even in the village or that I am opening mine, I’m not, I used to open mine at our old place and it’s a lot of work. I have also gardened for those who then open their gardens and and take all the credit 😜

Yet again this year I will be lacking in veg that is mostly due to not being able to get things sown and planted when I needed to. I have dwarf beans, broad beans, courgettes and onions in but that’s it, if I remember I will get some sprouting broccoli sown ready for early next year that is always a welcome bit of greens to have. I have tomato and cucumbers in but no carrots, beetroot or any root veg but I can always sow some late carrots. The peas all shrivelled up in the greenhouse heat, what with that and my incapacitation it’s been a bit of a disaster year for the veg. At least the fruit is all coming along nicely though 😁

Tuesday: I spent the morning cutting some flowers and general pottering in the garden, mostly weeding but some sowing of annuals and a bit of watering as everything is very dry again already. The water butt by the greenhouse is empty, it’s all or nothing with the rain.

Wednesday: Overcast again this morning though we have had a smattering of rain overnight by the looks of things. It won’t take much at this time of year to perk the plants up no end and even if it doesn’t soak the ground it rehydrates the leaves at least which will give them a boost. It feels very much cooler today as well, the sun is supposed to appear later this has been the routine for the last three days I think.

Cut a bucket full of flowers today to make up into bunches, there is so much growing now that I will probably be able to put out flowers during the week as well as Fridays. I will make those up later and put them out into the flower shed.

Friday: Forgot to blog yesterday but I cut some jam jars flowers then went out for coffee and cake in the morning with the girls and the children then to the park for an hour so they could let off some half term steam. Onto the shop to get some shopping for the bbq on Saturday and then in the afternoon I felt a little unwell and actually nodded off for a while. John came home, he got the dinner and cut the grass and while he was cutting it I nodded off again! Definitely something going on. I made up the jam jars late evening once I was feeling better again.

Today we were up early as I needed to get a bucketful of flowers cut for an order later today then off to get some blood tests done. I haven’t had any for a while because I either was away or I haven’t been well enough to go. John then went off to the Osteopath, his shoulder/neck is still not right and it might be that he needs to have it looked at medically yet if it’s not resolved by other means. I find that these days you have to do a lot of looking out for yourself when it comes to medical issues due to the NHS being overloaded. I have only physically seen my consultant once since the pandemic and so now I test my own urine as they used to routinely do it when I went. I want to be able to pick up any problems as early as possible, I don’t mind doing it but I do feel that there are going to be so many problems ahead for people at this rate. I know we are lucky to have the service and they are fabulous once it’s identified that there is a problem but sadly many fall through the net I think. I was thinking about when I had that really bad cough, there wasn’t a doctor in the land that wanted to see anyone with a cough 😂 so I borrowed an inhaler from a family member which helped enormously but not the way it should be. The other thing I am thinking about is not having my next covid jab that they keep reminding me I am due for. I missed my flu jab simply because since last October I have rarely had any time that I have been 100%. I had infections that were difficult to clear up, then a cough worse than I have ever had in my entire life, a week or so when I was well at Christmas, another cough after which lasted forever, then the eye problem and finally the shingles 🤔 I am wondering (and I know I am not the only one) what the jabs have done to my already compromised immune system. On the other hand I wonder what would happen if I don’t have the jab, difficult choice to make 🤷‍♀️

The rest of today I will be sorting stuff out for the bbq tomorrow I hope it warms up a tad, it has been cold most of the week with overcast skies. When the sun does occasionally come out it’s hot mind you so maybe a bit of cloud and a bit of sun would be the perfect solution.

I have had to relent and put my fleece hoodie back on today rather than just a long sleeve top and Gillet, 2nd June and it’s flipping cold, ridiculous 🙄

The girls all came over in the afternoon and we sorted out the garden ready for the bbq, garden chairs needed washing etc. Sam then went and gave the horses a bath and Jack especially is looking very shiny now lol.

In the evening John and I went shopping for the bbq, it cost a fair amount but you are only 60 once I guess and you can’t take it with you so may as well enjoy it.

Watered the garden until it got dark, we have not have rain for around three weeks, we are not forecast any for at least another two weeks and when the sun comes out it is hot! Every year is different so it’s difficult to get a handle on what is best to do.

Saturday: 9am and I am already pooped 😂 did the morning jobs then get stuff out of the freezer to defrost, out to water the pots in the front, get out tablecloths and set up all the condiments and cutlery etc. Quick breakfast before everyone arrives to help out.

It was a long day 😂 but a really lovely afternoon and evening even if I did buy way too much meat for the bbq 🙄 luckily it was all fresh and so it is now in the freezer.

Sunday: Bit of a lay in after yesterdays busy day but once we were up we got on with the day. Once the usual jobs were done I cut a couple of bucketfuls of flowers for upcoming orders and Johns job of the day was to get the sink in the flower hut connected up to the water. I also got some hooks put up in the ceiling for drying flowers and the drying net for drying petals. Mum came up around 9 and spent a good few hours doing some weeding for me in the fruit cage which had got out of control. I had the hose connected to my watering system to water one of the front beds and I will need to do plenty of watering this evening. The lack of rain during May is ridiculous and none in sight for the next couple of weeks at least, everything is getting crispy.