Monday 19th February 2024: Decent enough weather today even if it is a little colder than the weekend. I was up early as I needed to deliver pedestal flowers to the church for a funeral today, John dropped me off and it was a brisk walk back. The traffic is still awful due to another local road being closed and our village turned into a rat run instead 🙄 I spent the rest of the morning in the flower room mostly washing out jam jars I had been given, also had a fair amount of tidying up to do and while I was there I did do a bit of flower faffing because, well why not 😊 In the afternoon I went to the funeral that I had done the flowers for, it was the funeral of a local lady that was well known, full of character and well respected. The turn out was good and all the cars parked probably added to the chaos in the village, especially after someone made an error of judgement and drove into the Ford 🙄 too deep especially after all that rain we had, needless to say they were stranded and then apparently three fire engines arrived to try and get the vehicle out which further clogged up the through road 🤪 The police have now closed the Ford off so that no one else attempts to go through.
Tuesday: Oscar day 🥰 we did venture out on to the farm for a little walk but for toddlers (who mainly stumble and fall over) it is not ideal with chicken and goose poop all over the place 😂
Wednesday: The weather is vile today, could hear heavy rain again in the night and this morning it has continued along with some windy weather as well.
One of the jobs high on my to do list is to empty out the greenhouse and give it a good clean and wash before putting everything back in. Obviously this needs a dry (and for comfort a fairly mild day) in order to complete it successfully, it looks like I will be waiting a while as rain is forecast forever 🤪
As I am in cleaning mode and as I can’t do the greenhouse I thought I might as well do the bathroom instead so that has had a descale, the walls wiped down everything cleaned. Then a quick hoover and polish around the rest of the rooms.
John informed me that the horses had got out over night, no surprise there as the fences are going over left right and centre. The amount of rain we have had has either rotted the posts or the ground movement has loosened them. We have the new fencing ready but are waiting for someone to come and knock them in with the tractor, it’s too wet for them to do it at the moment so we are in a catch 22 situation 🙄 At the end of this month lambing will begin in earnest all over the country and so farm workers will be busy doing that and we still may not get the fencing done due to the contractor we use having those other commitments. We might have to commit to a weekend and hire a hydraulic rammer and do it ourselves and just pray that the weather holds while we do it.
I did nip out to the greenhouse but it was not very nice out there so I came back inside. I needed to find a job to do, I have many but what do I want to do rather than what I should be doing feels right today 🤪 I had some bits of veg to use up from the fridge and so I made a veg stew in the slow cooker. I make plenty of soups, I had chicken and veg soup yesterday and then mushroom soup today both made from scratch, I wanted a side dish that could be frozen and then used with something like a lamb chop or even a piece of chicken. A veg stew seemed the perfect thing so I chopped up celery, carrot, leek, broccoli stalks, garlic and added spinach, broad beans and courgettes from the freezer some thyme I have hanging in the kitchen, veg stock and black pepper, put it all in the slow cooker and I will thicken it when is has cooked down a little. You could make this with pretty much anything you have and eat it like that or add dumplings or use it as a side dish like I intend to.
Thursday: I was determined to get the greenhouse cleaned this week but the weather this morning was atrocious nevertheless if a girl is on a mission, she is on a mission. I decided first up to wash down the outside because the rain would then rinse of the soap suds so I picked a dry moment dashed out and washed all the glass down. Then it hammered down which is fine because that’s what I wanted. Next I thought I may as well get in there and move everything from one end to the other and clean that end then move it all back and do the other end. Sounds easy but there was a lot of squeezing round or stepping over things to be done before I could put one end back again. I have swept it all down and cleaned all the windows, moved all the plants that are in there and checked for slugs while I was going, I found three big fat ones and slung them outside. I just started moving everything from the other end when the septic tank lorry turned up so I made the driver a coffee, had a little chat and then he was on his way again. He was telling me how his company has a scientist on board and she is making great strides setting up separate stations for them to take the sewage to and it is being processed in such a way that it is able to go back onto fields. It is all being vigorously tested and the fields are monitored and tested but it looks like it is a process that will work well. They are having difficulty taking it to the main sewage works because of the flooding at the minute and because the plants are not up to taking the amount that is produced, hence it has to go into the rivers. It is all very well moaning about it polluting the rivers but unless we all stop pooping then it will continue. The smaller stations dotted around would make much more sense and would be more able to cope by the sounds of things.
I went back into the greenhouse once he had left and continued with the other end and the areas under the benches. I had thought that I didn’t have any mice in there this year but as soon as I moved some stuff out shot a mouse. It was scared, I was surprised and I am not sure who moved fastest 😂 well actually it was the mouse 🤪 I carried on moving bits and another leapt out and promptly ran out of the door, still one little sod in there somewhere. They had been nesting in some soak mats that are used in the summer and there were holes in them plus they stank of mouse wee and now so do I. Eventually I had worked my way round the whole greenhouse and found some whopping great spiders while I was at it, shame they don’t eat slugs and mice really.
All the plants have had a good move round and the light levels are now better because the glass is clean and apart from the resident mouse everything is good and I can start some more seed sowing.
Friday: Much colder today and more rain overnight 🙄 I wanted to get some of the seedlings pricked out but I was not going to do it in the greenhouse. It was too cold in there and these seedlings have been growing on the windowsill indoors so the shock of temperature difference might have killed them off even if they were just there for a while. So I filled up the trays with compost and bought them into the kitchen to do the job, I just about found enough windowsill space to put them all. I did go out and do some support netting on the front beds but my feet got cold so I only did a small area. The sun came out so I thought I will go into the polytunnel and plant up some plants from the greenhouse, it was pleasant enough in there. I forgot the weed membrane on the floor lets the water through and ended up wet, dirty knees 🤪 Not much else I can do out there today really as the temps are plummeting to freezing tonight so best not to disturb anything too much. I came in and sat down to write the blog before having some lunch and the minute I sat down the doorbell went, It was delivery of canes which I was waiting for so I wasn’t too annoyed lol.
I have tried outside today but it’s too cold and wet so I thought I would be better off in the warm doing a bit more learning instead.
Saturday: A frosty start to the day and one of the first jobs was to get the horses back in their right paddock as they had escaped again 🙄 One of the problems is that we have had to shut them out of the biggest paddock at the back, we have a big problem with the fences this year. Due to the amount of rain and the rubbish fencing that was churned out a few years back they are now rotting and leaning or falling practically everywhere. We spent a chunk of money on new posts and are waiting for the chap to come and bang them in but the ground is so wet he can’t get his tractor on the ground without churning it up massively so we have to wait. Meanwhile the horses (or more specifically Jack) takes any opportunity to push through to other paddocks. The situation is such that we can’t get one lot of fencing up before another lot is going over, the high winds haven’t helped as some of the fence line has had hefty branches come down and take the fence with it.
John went to work first thing while I sorted out some flowers for Monday morning, burnt some rubbish and practiced making a dried flower, flower crown for an upcoming workshop. Then once John came home we went off to our grandnephews 4th birthday party where we caught up with extended family. Once back home we donned work clothes and went up the back to try and sort out (fix) some of the fencing that has gone over in the big paddock. Once we have cobbled it back together we can let the horses back in and they will be happier as they have more area to graze over. We worked out there until it got almost dark and we just have a bit more to do tomorrow.
Sunday: It was another frosty start but it thawed fairy quickly in the early sunshine. I cut some foliage for birthday flowers going out tomorrow then a few household bits while I waited for John to bring in the eggs. When he didn’t appear I went to look for him and he was down in the far corner fixing the fence already. Once that was done we were able to let the horses back in and they now have a new bit to graze on which was a sectioned off walkway. We don’t really need it now and the fence was falling down so we altered it for them to graze, it will save us mowing it.
I was doing some bits in the greenhouse and garden while John was trying to sort out a water butt on the end of the greenhouse. We have one each side but one keeps going over and so out came the sand and cement plus a few slabs and hopefully that will make it more stable.
By mid afternoon the sun had disappeared and it was cold on the fingers and toes so we called it a day, went in and lit the fire then spent the afternoon relaxing.
Early evening, I got the dinner, John did the animals then I had to make up the bouquets of flowers for tomorrow and finally we can sit down and not do anything at all 🤪
frieslandfarm (flowers) 