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.
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 😁
frieslandfarm (flowers) 