Monday 9th August 2021: Itās lunchtime and I have just sat down for a little rest after bombing around this morning trying g to get all kinds of things done. Picked 7 cucumbers š about the same amount of courgettes and some blueberries before going on to tidy a few things up. I did a slug hunt in the greenhouse last night and after cutting back some foliage and watering this morning I have found a few more, serious invasion š Onto weeding the big tunnel which is where I picked the cucumbers, I assessed the tomato plants, at first I thought they had bought but I donāt think it is or if it is itās early stages but I am inclined to think itās not but some other kind of problem or natural die back as Lenny of the foliage is fine and green. Then onto clearing some of the debris in the fruit cage that I had cut back and left on the ground for pick g up another day (thatāll be today then š¤Ŗ) Let the ducks out when I remembered, collect and wash the eggs and put out for sale. Sort some ordering out online, back into the garden to clear/weed and pick a bit more before having a sit down. I have plenty more to get on with today and all the rest of the week.
I put the Turkey eggs out for sale and they went as quick as that so anybody else will have to wait a while now. When I was looking under the squash plant foliage I found and enormous banana squash, I guesstimated around 10lb in weight, it was actually 10 and a half lbs so not a bad guess at all, good job I spotted it as I was t expecting them to be ready just yet and it would have been huge by the time I went looking. Though banana squash can grow to something like 100lb in weight that is not very practical for home growing š 10lb is about as big as I would want to harvest them. There are plenty of recipes online for them and of course they are a squash so can be used just like butternut squash or pumpkin, curry, stews, soup, one that I might try is a squash and tomato bake as a side dish for chicken maybe š¤
My foot is so you can get an idea of the size š and yes donāt judge me, I wear crocs š¤Ŗ
Shelley came over last night for a walk through of the things that need to be done, in what order and who gets fed what, she made three pages of notes and that should just about cover it š I did a bit of hoeing on the weedy front bed and I will try again towards the end of the week so that itās not a j gone when we get back.
Tuesday: So far itās been a mixed bag of weather, warm sunshine, cloud cover, humid the rain š¤·āāļø I have been going round tidying things up so they are not potential hazards for Shelley and the children when they are here. Also things really need a tidy up but I never get round to half of it except when it becomes necessary, like now. I have done all the usual morning things and also contacted the honey people as we have sold all but two jars so hopefully there is more coming soon. I picked a load of tomatoes, watered the big tunnel, tried to sever the bind weed from their roots, half of me thinks left it get on with it but it does strangle everything so not such a good idea. I tried to keep on top of it at the beginning of the season but once the jobs ramp up there is not time and it soon gets a hold, I have tried for years to eradicate it and now I am just learning to live with it and knock it back whenever possible. Charlie called in for a coffee and to get some fresh produce š„° I had just fed the torts any tiny toms when it started to rain so I took that as my cue to come in and have some lunch and a sit down.
Had to walk into the village to return something a customer had dropped and on the way back I spotted some cherry plums so I came in and grabbed a bag and went back to pick some. In the evening I took a bag up the other Lane and picked some yellow cherry plums that in knew were there, love a good forage š
Cherry plum foraging š hood year for them this year.
I spent some of the afternoon sorting clothes for packing but I canāt remember what else lol, did a few bits in the evening outside but mostly tidying.
A squirrel has suddenly appeared over the last few days, nicking my nuts no doubt, it makes a funny noise though, never heard one make a noise like that before I wondered what it was to start with. A cross between chuntering and growling š
Ooosh I have been busy this morning š started out with all the usual feeding, egg shed, washing up, get some washing on etc etc then outside to get cucumbers picked and watered (which reminds me I have left the hose on, deliberately but still) picked some courgettes, get the things I wonāt use out to the shed for sale. Prep some beans for open freezing and the whizz up some cucumber for pouring into ice cube trays, I deal for juices or smoothies or Gin and Tonic ice cubes š next it was onto cleaning the bathroom and the living room, hoovering and polishing. Shelley did say leave it but you canāt can you lol, when someone else is coming to live here itās nice for it to be clean and tidy when they arrive.
I had a few bits of veg that were not much use for anything other than a soup bag, a small white beetroot, a couple of knobbly runner beans and a small courgette, now chopped and frozen.
OMG what an afternoon š¤Ŗ Sam came over to help move all the electric fencing to keep the horses in while we are away, at just about THE ONLY POINT in the afternoon, day even, when it decided to fing lash down. Mia was with Sam and we were all completely soaked through right to the underwear, we had a short window as Mia had to go swimming and wouldnāt you just know it š¤£š¤£ almost when we finished the sun came out, yeah thank you for that Mother Nature, we love you too š As I got wetter and wetter I totally forgot that the lady was coming to drop off more honey as well š„“ dangnabit what a twit. Soaked through we came in and started stripping off to get clothes in the tumble dryer, Mia sat in my dressing gown to get warm again, just at that point John came home from work, at least he made a nice cup of tea for us š„° You couldnāt write a more perfect āsods lawā story than reality sometimes š
Friday: I keep thinking itās Saturday because John is at home lol, he has spent the time creosoting the POL pen because it has red mite, we have moved the hens to the stable for the week while they mite die off and they will go back out when we get back. They had severely gone off lay because of the mite and so might as well bite the bullet and sort it out now, at least they will hopefully then lay well into the winter months. We had to nip to town to do some bits, return and item at the post office, pick up a couple of bits of shopping, pick up my prescription, have a costa š I spent the morning sorting the last bits of putting stuff away before we go away and making sure all is in order. When we got back from town Sam was here with the kiddies and we poo picked the eaten off restricted paddock and then mowed the areas that had got tufty grass (it bloody rained while we were doing some of it š) I found another big banana squash that had escaped from the veg garden and was growing in the walkway down to the paddocks, 9lb in weight this time. I donāt have time to do anything with it today so I will leave it for Shelley to use.
Having a sit down now for an hour before we do the afternoon rounds and zip up the cases ready for the off tomorrow morning.
I picked some more flowers from the garden this morning, so far I have been able to have totally different displays which is lovely.
This will be it for this week as I will hopefully be sipping champagne this time tomorrow š Have a good week š„°
Monday 26th July 2021: It is noticeably cooler today though we still have had no rain and the sun is out which means I have been watering this morning. We have seen only a drizzle of all the rain that was forecast, I was hoping we would get a lot more but as yet nothing so from here until we do I am going to have to start watering the veg beds in order to keep things alive and producing. I donāt want to, the aim of self sufficiency they way I do it is to be able to grow food without too much intervention but needs must. To be honest I have got away much more lightly this year than last so I canāt complain.
I had a jumble of jobs to get sorted in my head this morning, picking, potting on, watering, cutting back. I have achieved some but not all, I have picked tomatoes, cucumber, chillies, runner beans, French beans and young ying yang beans as well as some peas and beetroot. We will have some of the beans and peas with our dinner tonight along with potatoes I dug up the other day and I will pull some carrots later. I potted on a couple of plants that I had out for sale, bought them in potted them on and have left them to soak, I put some others out instead, foxgloves, verbena, geums and rudbeckia. I have a pile of onions to get sorted still, I have done half of them, and I have garlic to peel and chop for the freezer in one form or another, I will also freeze some whole cloves, the reason being I had to pull them early and so they are not going to store as they are. It is 11am and I already feel tired enough that I could have a nap š dilemma, do I keep going half heartedly or do I stop and nap and then get on later š¤·āāļø
Spotted this bumble bee on a sunflower this morning š„° š
Booked a Dmard blood test for later in the week, itās due but I also feel as I am getting quite tired there may be a touch of inflammation going on š
Peeled all the garlic cloves, two thirds I made into paste and froze flat then marked out sections on the bag (like noughts and crosses) so I can just break a bit off when needed, the other third is in the dehydrator and that will become powder. I chopped some onions to go in there too, half will be crispy onion and half will be powered. I still have some onions that I think will keep for a couple of weeks and so they are in a basket in the store cupboard. Did a bit of tidying away and some hoovering also a bit of un bountiful paperwork, ie I didnāt get anywhere with the results I was after š just a lot of chasing around. Time for a sit down before John comes home and I have to get the dinner on. Oh I did pick some more fresh flowers for my kitchen š„° Still got soo much to get sorted but rest first I think.
Tuesday: Today I have accepted that I am struggling, I am so tired it is unreal and my legs feel heavy, my feet hurt and I am incredibly grumpy about everything, all signs that something isnāt quite right š Hopefully itās just a blip, I have taken some ibrufen along with my meds this morning and I will make an anti inflammatory smoothie of orange carrot and turmeric later, also make sure that what I eat is plain and fresh so that my digestive system doesnāt have to work too hard in order to leave the energy for my body to use for healing instead, thatās the plan lol. So unless the ibrufen kicks in I will not be doing much today except resting, luckily I have blood tests on Thursday so should be able to pick anything up quite early on although the lupus is like an iceberg by the time you can see the top, underneath has grown massively.
I went out and did the necessary it proper struggling now š fed the Guineas and torts plus cleaned them all out and got new hay and straw for them and the light Sussex and cleaned Teds pen. Then picked some fat hen for the Sussex who donāt come out until later when Ted goes away otherwise Ted and the cockerel fight š After that I wanted to get some washing on the line. I took the rotary down when it was Johns birthday but the bottom broke and everything since I have been using the airer but when I want to dry bigger things thatās not practical. So I tried getting it back up as best as possible, it took a lot of effort to lump hammer what was left into the ground, then it wouldnāt go up which took me four or five attempts then once I had the washing on there it started to fall over š¤¬ ffs I wedged a piece of wood behind it but that has just about finished me off and I could easily have a sleep. Washing lines have been the bane of my life, anyone else? Just me probably, never had a rotary that actually stayed upright and when we moved to one place it had those nice concreted posts at each end, fabulous I though till John decided they were in the way and dug them up and then it was back to rotary š Although we have plenty of area I canāt actually find a good spot for a retractable one that isnāt under trees!
I did find some energy eventually so I went out and had a go at scything some of the grass in the front drive, came in and had a good look at technique on you tube plus how to peen the blade as well as sharpen it.
We finally had some much needed rain although by the time I realised it was raining my washing had got wet and to add to that the washing line had fallen over with all the washing on it š¤¬ I have mow ordered a new screw in ground spike hopefully that will work š
I spent the afternoon and evening sorting yet more stuff out for the holiday, I have had real trouble with the booking number š not being able to log in, trying umpteen times, finally getting on and u able to print out the tickets, finally managed to do that and we are nearly good to go, so much extra paperwork this year all designed for contactless check in I think. Fed the cats and dogs at 7.30 and finally got something to eat before sitting down, no pressure to water this evening thank goodness because I donāt think I could manage it.
Wednesday: I have Josh and Flo today so whizzed round and did all the necessary things before spending some quality time with them. As we had rain in the day I didnāt need to water anything except the uncover stuff which was a blessing. Had a disaster though as the UV gazebo was flipped by the wind and landed on the pea canes making a hole in the gazebo and ripping up the peas š¤¬ n the positive side John managed to get my washing line up securely in a place that is mor easy for me to get the washing in when itās very hot.
Thursday: Blood tests this morning, good job as I feel totally exhausted at times, I canāt really explain it to anyone who does not have total fatigue but if you do you will understand. Firstly I feel incredibly tired, I can feel my words slurring, my eyes are really heavy and I guess itās like you have been given sleeping tablets (wouldnāt really know as never had them but thatās what I am guessing) and then for I have a nap I have a real job waking up, itās quite surreal to be honest and a little bit scary. I remember when I was having a really bad flare, I couldnāt rouse myself from sleeping just kept falling back to sleep and remember thinking āis this how you die, just drift off to sleep and thatās itā š not that bad this time at the moment but definitely something is not right.
Having said that I did the jobs I needed to get done before going for the tests and then for a birthday treat Shelley, Josh and Flo took me to Buscot tea rooms and then we walked along to the weir and the lock, lovely area and never been there before but really wanted to go, glad we did. When I got back I literally sat down and then went to sleep š“ for over an hour.
Friday: Itās my birthday š„³ itās been raining most of the day and I have been here by myself most of the day but I have done a few things on top of the usual jobs. After feeding my job lot I picked a few things, cucumbers, tomatoes, jalapeƱos, then I met a chap from a local farm museum who has two females turkeys to rehome and hopefully they will be coming here on Sunday š Indoors then to make a super smoothie which was raw beetroot, a pear, some blueberries, some honey and then oat milk, blend and drink, full of goodness š„° I cooked some jalapeƱos and chopped onion in water until soft (but not mushy) then blended them and added avocado oil to make a chilli sauce for sausages later on. Then I still have plenty of stuff in the big freezer to get used up and so a whole load of things went into a pan to make a batch of soup, swede, sweetcorn, baby potatoes, beetroot, onions, leeks and some spinach together with veg stock and black pepper.
Shelley, Josh and Flo came round in the afternoon with a birthday cake for me and stayed until later in the evening, John came home early from work then everyone came round at 6ish, the weather was on off rain, then very windy, but luckily it settled a bit by the time we lit the fire pit, oh yes and the cat stole one of the raw sausages waiting to go in the pan š
I had cooked the soup earlier intending to freeze it but the weather was so shockingly bad in the evening that everyone had soup before their sausages š the jalapeƱo sauce went down really well and so did the sāmores š„° lovely evening round the fire on a cold July evening š¤·āāļø
Saturday: Early start as Charlie and Macca were coming round to pick us up and take us out for breakfast as a birthday present, I had no idea where we were going. We arrived in Oxford just after 8.30 and had breakfast at the Breakfast Club, delish French toast with pecans and and banana for me, traditional English for John, pancakes for Charlie and Macca, the coffee was lovely (I really appreciate a decent tasting coffee) fresh orange was exactly that and also delicious, once we had stuffed our faces we came home š„° When we got back we had a quick cuppa and then cut the front drive grass with the mower, apart from the areas I scythed it was long and difficult that was added to by the weather, one minute the sun was out, next it was a shower and this carried on until we had finished. Needs another tidy once it dries, whenever that might be š
It carried on with some torrential downpours all afternoon so most other jobs apart from the necessary were just abandoned, ridiculous weather š¤Ŗ
Sunday: More showers in and around grey skies and occasional peeks of sunshine. Mostly I spent the first couple of hours picking and then sorting veg out one way or another. John did the morning rounds and then some weeding and I am delighted to tell you that Ted now has some lady friends š„° we have rehomed two female turkeys from Cogges Manor Farm and although itās early days and they are giving each other a wide berth š we hope they will all get on together. Itās lovely for Ted to finally have some of his own kind š
Tedalena and Tedaliscious š
Very tired, grumpy and disillusioned today š and the constant rain showers donāt help because I canāt really get on with anything, never mind maybe a nap will help š¤Ŗ
Have a great week, and if you are reading this on my personal Facebook page please note that from next week it will only be available on the Friesland Farm Facebook page or you can subscribe for free on WordPress which will deliver it to your email inbox š
Monday 28th June 2021: It is overcast but thatās fine for me, just how I prefer it, overcast but still warm š I did a thing as Jeremy Clarkson would say š I thought I would do a voice memo as I was going round this morning, actually I thought initially it would be for note taking but on playback I rather liked it. Then began the next couple of hours trying to get it onto some kind of platform so that I could transfer it to WordPress. You will see below that despite everything I did do exactly that, although I would have like to merge the recordings that seems a bit beyond the basic free apps, maybe I will pay for a good one so that next time it is seamless š¬ But here is a first ever audio of life on the farm, this is me with my local accent (which will sound strange to those readers in far off lands š) My voice is slightly huskier than normal due to this bug I have, normally itās a lot tinnier, I prefer this husky one personally lol
Apart from faffing around for a long time trying to upload, download, offload the files š I have done other bits of picking, chatting to a customer who came especially to get some fresh veg, organising what will be for dinner later, video call with shelley, and probably a few other things that I have completely forgotten about by now. The day has shot past, itās already mid afternoon. At some point today I also whizzed up some strawberries to pour into an ice cube tray and freeze so that I can use them in smoothies. The strawberries are all little ones and so ideal for using up this way, you could always use the small amounts to add to fruit crumbles or defrost and add a bit of sweetness for a couli to have with ice cream or yoghurt, so many other things you can use them for really.
So as is typical of me once I had recorded that snippet for the blog I thought āI wonder if I can do a podcastā š¤£ so guess what? Thatās exactly what I did, yep seriously I found platform called Anchor and I recorded a podcast, well I would probably call it a shamble ramble actually but I was pretty pleased with the end result if I do say so myself. If you like podcasts and want a listen I will see if I can work out how to get the link on here. It is a little different to the blog, to start with it is about how we got to where we are and why. It is also a lot easier to talk about and convey your thoughts and ideas more easily than trying to write it at the end of the day when you are knackered. Basically thatās what I spent the rest of the afternoon doing except for the moment I spotted a fox! I had just finished recording a section and was sorting some interlude music when I looked out the door and thought, is that a fox? I couldnāt quite tell if it was or if it was a clump of dock heads but as I moved closer I could see it was a fox with its eyes firmly fixed on some hens in the paddock. I shouted it looked up at me and then back at the hens, I shouted again and by this time the dog had run round so the fox scarpered back through the hedge. This is the one that has black tinges and obviously the day time raider as it was only 4pm. I grabbed a stick and went out the the hedgeline and made as much noise as possible in the hopes it would bugger off, I then had to wait out in the garden until John came home in case it came back. Once John was back we got some corn and rounded up as many as possible for damage limitation and we house the geese as well. At the minute here are around 10 hens still out so we still have to be a bit vigilant.
There is still no sign of the cat and so I have had to call the vet again to cancel all future appointments š One of the other jobs that need doing fairly urgently is moving the kittens and mum from up on the side in the boot room down to floor level. The reason being that the kittens, who now have their eyes open, began to start gentle exploration today out of the cosy little cat house they have been living in. In fact when one of them saw me it started mewing and coming towards me so it wonāt be long before they are leaping about.
John is watching Andy Murry play at Wimbledon and keeps asking me āoh why is he using that drop shotā or saying āhe needs a double faultā I am just trying to watch it in peace š
We bought in a dog crate and set it up on the floor then moved mum and the kittens along with their cosy little cat house down into the crate. I know what would have happened if we had left it any longer, we would have gone into the room to find one of them had fallen from the worktop š we did a risk assessment and altered the situation for a better outcome š We have left one door on the edge of the cage wedged open, the dogs canāt get past it but the cat can jump up and out so all should be fine for at least a week. They have started playing with each other now so wonāt be long before they explore further.
Tuesday: Still overcast this morning but itās warm enough, again it is rather a perfect day for me in mid summer š¬ I think it rained overnight, bonus because I donāt have to worry about watering š I still have this dammed āthingā itās really not that surprising because being on immune suppressants everything takes ages to clear up but I really wish it would do one so that I can have a clear head for once. In an effort to try and shift it I did do a simple sinus rinse this morning, ewwww, yes it is ewww but it gets rid of a lot of mucus and crap, still donāt feel much better but at least I can breathe through my nose now š I found a pot of eucalyptus oil last night which is more potent thank the jar of vicks and although it clears for a couple of minutes it is back to being blocked before very long.
What is on the agenda today? Good question, at the minute I am sitting having a decaf coffee, I am pretty tired from being awake half the night coughing so I am going to amble through the day I think š¤ The ducks need clean bedding so that is on the list, I try not to set too much in stone because things change or I might spot something else that needs doing or I fancy doing and if I plan my day too rigidly it can become stressful and who wants stress š¤·āāļø I need to pick strawberries, they are coming in thick and fast now as expected it is Wimbledon fortnight after all. As always one job will lead to another so I wonāt be idle just pacing myself. Oh and of course I will have to keep an eye out for the fox, we managed to get all the birds inside early last night, around 7 they were all safely locked away. We had put the geese in a stable about 5 as they were in that area anyway so we just herded them in. This morning John went out to let everything out for the day and he told me that when he got to the goose pen up in the small paddock he thought āoh shit we forgot to put them to bedā he had totally forgotten that we had locked them somewhere different and had a slight panic for a moment š
So I actually achieved next to nothing today, not on the Smallholding anyway, I did manage to pick a good haul of strawberries and that was about it. Sam came over with the twins and we went out to a local garden centre to see the fish and have tea and cake. The crazy thing is that although the twins are nearly two, this is the first time they have done that š¢ it is very sad really that for the last year and a half they have not been able to do the things that their older sister was able to enjoy doing. So we went out on a socialising the twins mission š I have to say they were really well behaved for a couple of toddlers on reins who suddenly are allowed to go out in the big wide world bless them š„°
When we got back which was around 1.30pm, John was home and Shelley and Flo were visiting as well. Once they left I had to help John get a wire through the wall from the bathroom into the bedroom so that we could get the electric radiator in the bathroom working. We still have another to do in there and one in the living room but we need an electrician for those. A quick chat with a customer at the gate and then a cuppa in the garden as it was about the right time for the fox to make an appearance. John fed the birds, I put some lemon verbena and mushrooms in the dehydrator, then I took out the mushrooms because I donāt want the lemon verbena smelling like fungi š I will dry them separately later, the verbena was almost dry from hanging in the kitchen I just need to crisp it up a bit. Lemon Verbena tea is supposed to be good for joint mobility, acne, soothing the stomach, anxiety and inflammation as well as a few other things, there is science to back some of it up and the rest is what people report back after taking it but there are drawbacks as well, it can have a laxative effect on some people and it is a diuretic so anyone with kidney problem should avoid it. Most if not all articles will say that you should seek advice from a doctor if you have an underlying illness or are on medication before consuming anything in the herbal section. That is great advice but not terribly practical is it š¤·āāļø I mean I am hardly going to give the practice a call for everything I want to try, I would probably try a little bit see if all seems well and go from there, but thatās me š¬
The kick off for the football is about to happen, England v Germany always a big match in whatever tournament they are playing. This is how seriously we take football in our house, the anthems play, John goes out for a smoke, he comes back in, they are about three minutes into the game, the conversation goes something like this: John āhave we won yet?ā Me āyes game is overā, John āwhat colour are we playing in?ā Me āPinkā John shouts are the telly a couple of times before leaving to go out and price up a job š Not really football fans and quite honestly I would prefer to be watching the tennis.
We won! Many chants and posts of āitās coming homeā yeah donāt count your chickens before they hatch š
We weighed up the fox situation and decided to pop to Mums for a cuppa, as John said we canāt just be here the whole time in case he comes, we did put the geese away first but the hens we left out as they are far more troublesome to round up, impossible even. As we drove back towards ours I could see that the verges had been cut and I was horrified to see that ours had been cut too. There are orchids growing out on the verge as well as in the front paddock, ffs what is wrong with the world wanting to cut everything back all the time, not the contractors fault I know but urrrgh humans š¤¬ Luckily we have plenty this year inside our boundaries but still I am dumbfounded really, itās not as if itās on a blind bend, I could understand the need to cut it back but on a perfectly straight road it is not necessarily to do it until the end of the summer š¤·āāļø The hens were fine by the way, no visit from the pesky marauder this evening š
Wednesday: Another good day weather wise for me, sorry about the lack of sun folks but Iām fine with that lol. We did some very brisk trade at the egg shed yesterday in fact we pretty much sold out of everything we had which is fab. It did mean though that I need to be up and about early enough to put out the eggs for today before the customers, who call in on the way to work, get here. John did the animals and went of to work, this semi retired has pretty much gone out of the window as he is now booked up to mid August š I did a bit of picking, not much today, a few peas and thatās it, I need to wait for the braid beans to fatten in the pods before a pick any more of those and everything else is slowly but surely forming. I then went to put some clean bedding in for the ducks and move the electric fence for the horses, I a, going to have to extend the tape again soon and put in more stakes as I am running out of āgiveā with this lot. Onto the guinea pigs, I gave them a clean out, swept the floor, got them some fresh hay š¤ That is one of those terms that is a paradox isnāt it š fresh hay, it hadnāt occurs to me before now but dead grass is fresh hay š¤Ŗ Anyway I sorted that lot out and picked them some fresh mint, lemon balm, dandelions and sow thistle they are very happy with that lot.
Back inside then to check the mushrooms I have had in the dehydrator, a lot of them are ready but some are still a bit soft. I took out the lot that were ready to whizz into powder, put that in a jar and left the rest to continue drying, they will be added later. Whenever you dry anything it starts off as quite a bit of bulk but by the time itās dried it has shrunk to around 1/3rd of it original size and then once powdered the amount is minuscule, but it packs a punch with flavour which is the main thing.
My first ever podcast š¬ has been well received by family members and I didnāt even have to pay them or anything š so I have already drafted up the second one ready to go next Monday. If you are interested or like podcasts you can find it on Spotify titled, Our Smallholding life warts ānā all. I was going to keep it similar to the blog but I changed my mind as it gave me an opportunity to do something slightly different but there are cross overs on both.
In the early afternoon I went up to the back point of lay pen where we are keeping the new hens. For the last couple of days they a have been kept in because of the fox and I will have to be vigilant today now I have let them out. I let them out so I could clean the pen out, the water drinker they have works well unless they stand on the side and then it leaks out onto the mud part of the pen and then it becomes a stinking mess š¤Ŗ
Today has been the first time I have been able to sit for any length of time without coughing, and I mean coughing, the whole canāt stop, eyes streaming coughing fits š· So with my re-found ability I sat and watched the ladies tennis which was well worth a watch even though our girl didnāt win. Then as it went on longer than expected I could be bothered to start making dinner so we had boiled eggs š Once we had finished and had a cuppa I got on with doing something with the fruit I picked earlier, raspberries, recur rants and strawberries are at this minute in the ice cream maker and we will have summer fruits sorbet in about half an hour. The ice cream maker I used to think was a bit of a faff because I used to keep the bowl in the cupboard but now I keep it in the freezer so it is always ready when I need it. I picked this one up second hand at a car boot sale a few years ago and if you have a lot of soft fruit itās well worth looking out for one. It saves all that freezing, getting it out, stirring it round, freezing it again before doing the whole process at least one more time. Summer fruit sorbet, any fruit sorbet is easy really, this was 500g of mixed fruit, 185g caster sugar, 185ml water and the juice of a lemon. Heat the sugar and water together until the sugar dissolves then turn up the heat and boil a little to get a soft syrup, allow it to cool, then blend the fruit, lemon juice and cooled sugar syrup in a liquidiser and put through a fine sieve to get rid of the pips and stalks etc. Get the ice cream maker plugged in and going and pour in the liquid mix, probably takes 30/40 minutes depending on what consistency you want. Eat immediately if you want to or freeze in a suitable container. I think I will get some of those wafer cones and we can use it instead of ice cream, also great for those dairy intolerant of course š
So after saying the the machine will make light work of the sorbet, it failed to freeze it very well š so I had to resort to freezing in a tub and in about an hour or so I will have to remember to go and give it a mix before leaving it over night š¤·āāļø
Thursday: Yet another warm but overcast day, canāt say I havenāt had my fill of workable days this week can I š This morning we were late up, the alarm went off, we fell back asleep and an hour later it āoh shitā. It doesnāt really make much difference to me but obviously John has places to be (even though he is supposed to be semi retired, I am going to mention that a lot š¤Ŗ) So in a good will gesture I offered to go round and do the morning jobs as long as I didnāt have to haul buckets of feed around, he assured me that only two lots needed feed. So off he went to work and I bumbled round letting everything out and feeding the ones that needed it, topping up water containers as I went. Then I sorted out the washing and got that on before doing the eggs and the egg shed and getting on with some watering and picking. Then I confess I recorded a podcast, I now have three in the bag, one published the other two scheduled. The problem is that once a topic starts rattling round in my head I have to get it sorted. Hopefully now I can have a week or two without thinking about it, is that likely, nope š too much say!
John came home early afternoon which I wasnāt expecting but he is not here for the rest of the day as he has to pop back out again apparently. We had lunch and a cuppa together, watched the news and I now have the tennis on. Meanwhile John is bashing something about in the kitchen, I canāt even be bothered to go and find out what at the minute š I can hear it involves a hammer and chisel so I guess itās the rest of the tiles that he is taking off from the wall. I did ask, nicely I have to say, if we could perhaps finish the making good where the Rayburn came out š¬ I want to give the kitchen a good clean but there is no point doing that if the very next day he starts bashing about and plastering, so Iām guessing he has taken the hint and is getting on with it š
Bits of broken tiles all over the floor and John shouts are the grandchildren coming today? I do t think so I said š¤ā¦ā¦shit, itās Thursday and the twins will be arriving any minute now š hastily get the hoover out and all broken tiles down to the skip, cleaned up just in time š It was a lovely day so they had their tea as a picnic outside before helping me feed weeds to the torts. George got a bit carried away and starting pulling off strawberry leaves from my plants to feed them š¤¦āāļø
After dinner my sister and her hubby called in for a cuppa and we sat on the decking in the garden. We spent over an hour watching a pair barn owls systematically going up and down the field next door and occasionally diving down once they found something tasty to eat, they are such graceful birds to watch.
Friday: Yet another overcast but warm enough day so I am having to make the most of it. Itās 10.30 I have just sat down for my first coffee break having been up and about since 6.30 this morning. First on the agenda was to buy a big walk in 6m x 3m metal chicken run. I said to John shall we get one of these be cause we canāt keep not going anywhere because of the fox or worrying when we absolutely have to go out. This one will attach to the front hut and it will mean that if we know we are going out we can let them out into the fresh air but they will be secure. Itās not being enough to do that all the time but it will be great to have the option. After I had orders that I got on with the usual bits, feeding, picking, watering, washing up, putting the eggs out, slug hunting š Something has made a hole in one or two of the little peppers in the greenhouse, picking up the pots and looking underneath them all I found about 10 small slugs in all. I fired them out onto the grass, I tend not to kill them after all they are only doing what slugs do to survive but they can go and do it on something less precious than my peppers š I need to let the ducks into the garden in the autumn so they can hoover up as many as possible mind you we do have hedgehogs, I see the deposits on the grass in the mornings so at least they have something to eat. I still have this bloody silly cough though each day it is getting better but the minute I sit down I start coughing, standing up all day is the only answer š¤Ŗ
The goose died š¢ sadly despite doing what I could it died overnight. In my experience by the time you realise there is something wrong with a goose itās already too late. Geese are extremely good at concealing the fact that they are unwell or injured unless itās a blatantly obvious injury. It occurred to me that she may have received a puncture wound in the fox attack but stupidly I didnāt think to check for that, also in my experience a puncture would from a fox is pretty fatal anyway, the germs from the bite would be enough to cause infection. Then there is the site of any wound, depending on where that is, which would be hard to see under all that down, it is likely to cause maximum damage. But in all honestly I donāt know why she has died except that she was not in top form for some reason.
Once my coffee break and sit down are over I have to go out to the paddock and extend the electric fencing for the horses, I need add more tape and stakes again as I canāt get much more slack out of what is there already so that will be a hour or so to do that, good job itās overcast, actually if it wasnāt I wouldnāt be doing it!
Did that job came back in sorted out peas ready to freeze and strawberries for pudding later. Sam and he twins came over and so did Shelley and Flo, they at school pick up time and I went in to watch the tennis š
I think we may have found the cat š a local animal rehoming charity has put up a picture of a cat that has been at their place, he fits the description and matches the photo so fingers crossed we will get him back, and I will have to call the vet again and book him in once more š
Jack waiting for me to release the food š
Saturday: After emails back and forth the local rescue centre were satisfied that Jack was our cat and we made arrangement to pick him up mid morning. He had turned up a few days ago and being a rescue centre they thought he had been dumped, they managed to trap him and put out on social media which is where we saw him. He has now been chipped by them, I gave them a donation for doing that, and we bought him home. You would think that he had been away for months as at first he seemed very agitated and un settled and I was worried he would take off again. We fed him some very tasty sardines and within a couple of hours he had calmed down and realised he belonged here, even being uber friendly with the dogs much to their disgust as he wandered past them, brushing against them with his tail in the air, I am sure he was purring, itās my family š
Jack safely back with Jill š„°
The rest of the day we spent getting a bit of food shopping and doing things like depositing cheques at the post office, paying a invoice at the wood yard, I paid some online bills and did a bit of paperwork while John made good the site the Rayburn came out ready for plastering tomorrow.
In the afternoon we discovered that the fox had taken two of our new hens š We had left the one in the front locked away because he keeps going there but let the back ones out and he had been to the back and had those š¤¬
One of the reasons we left them in was because we wanted to go out in the evening to watch the football and while we can get the hens at the back in easily, we canāt do them same with the front ones so they stayed in. Once everything was safely shut away around 6 we went off to collect fish and chips, go round to my sisters and we watched England play Ukraine and win! Hoorah, we seem to have a great team at the minute and there are high hopes that they will go far š¤
Sunday: John was up early to watch the qualifying for the F1 as we were too late home to watch it yesterday, if he doesnāt watch it early he is likely to hear the results on the radio and then he gets mad š He then did the animals and got on with plastering the bits of the wall and ceiling he made good yesterday. Meanwhile I did my usual bits and then went out to move the fence for the horses and dig up ragwort. There seems to be a bit more of it this year than previous years and I did a big barrowful but it started to rain quite a bit and so I will either do some more later or tomorrow. I just need to get it up before it goes to seed, itās only just started flowering so we are ok for a few days. We donāt spray our fields as you can imagine and it is teeming with insects and a huge variety of different vegetation is growing. Many people prefer to just have grass for their horses but I like ours to have a good range to graze, clover both red and white, plantain, so many different types of grasses, various types from the dandelion family as well, itās diverse which is great for them and the wildlife. Mind you it absolutely stinks of fox down in the corner of the paddock š
Hopefully once John has finished plastering and it is left to dry we can go and get some paint, I can start to give the kitchen a good clean, spruce up the bits that need doing and give it a new coat or two of paint next week š That will be another job ticked off the never ending list āļø
Johns patching up, got to wait for it to dry and then painting can commence
Podcast number two will be released tomorrow if you are interested, let me know what you think š¤
Just been pottering in the garden, it July and the weather is not July weather lol, it started spitting and then was obvious it was going to hammer down and thatās exactly what it did, itās absolutely pouring down š
In the end we didnāt go and get paint as we have some to do the undercoat and can pick some up one evening in the week when the shop is quieter.
Monday 21st June 2021, Summer Solstice: The birds will all be kept in today and possibly tomorrow and the day after that, actually for as long as needs be, I am hoping the foxes will move on and be a problem for someone else and that they manage to get them dealt with because so far they have evaded all our efforts.
Been keeping myself busy this morning with some picking, strawberries, peas, mange tout, chard, baby beetroot and some carrot thinnings, not a bad little haul, some has gone out for sale some will be for dinner tonight. It takes a lot longer than you realise to pick it all and it will only be ramping up from here on in but itās a lovely job to do, very fulfilling knowing you have grown it from seed to feed š I did a bit of weeding around one of the rows of beetroot and then I have sown another lot of beetroot plug plants, trying to get this succession thing successfully working this year. Then it was onto planting the last of the squash plants, five more courgette plants (lol I have no idea what I will do with that lot as I have nine plants in total š¤Ŗ) Then I planted the rest of the squash plants in the menage, more pumpkins, spaghetti squash, crown Prince, table king and musque de something or other (I really must learn the name) Again if all these growq and produce I am going to have an awful lot of squash š I had a look at what else is coming on, the broad beans have good sized pods but I can feel that the beans have not swelled enough to pick just yet. The tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, melon all have tiny fruits forming in good quantities, the aubergine are flowering, the runner beans, dwarf beans and French beans are all flowering. I am waiting for the onions, garlic and shallots to start dying off so I can pull them and dry them, another couple of weeks before that happens I think. I am picking a good big bowlful of strawberries every day and the yellow raspberries are starting to ripen as is the red currant. The blackcurrant bushes are loaded with berries still green at the minute though. The early potatoes are only just starting to flower, they are way behind š The rhubarb is still producing plenty though it will be time to slow down picking that soon. The sweetcorn are doing well and growing strong, I think that covers most things apart from herbs and salad which are tickling along nicely without much fuss. Next I will be panicking that there is so much I havenāt got time to sort and process it all š
I have started accounting for exactly what is put out on a daily basis and what has sold so that I can see what we should be taking, I say should because takings seem to be down despite selling well š¤·āāļø another depressing realisation that we are probably too slack and the honesty box is great for the honest but not so great for the no so honest š
Despite the fact that we will not be replacing any more birds we still have nearly 80 in various forms so we will be continuing and I still will be growing veg so they will still go out for sale along with any plants I have grown. Who knows what other opportunities will arise or become apparent, today even though I am trying to chivvy myself along I feel as though I am going uphill backwards š¬
I did do a positive step forward job this morning, I booked our male cat, Jack, in for the chop š he is not the father of the kittens but it wouldnāt be very long before he would be and I donāt want that. Besides we donāt want him wandering as they always tend to wander towards the road instead of the acres and acres towards the back š¤·āāļø Once Jillās kittens are weaned I will book her in as well, this little accident was exactly that and we donāt want hundreds of kittens running around, thatās how populations get out of control. There is always a drawback though, we have spent hundreds on getting cats spayed and neutered only for them to either disappear or get hit by a car, another thing we may give up on if it all goes pear shaped again besides with less birds we wonāt get as many mice hopefully. Lol I sound as though I am ready to throw in the towel on the whole lot but this time of year is the time I find I am furiously trying to combat one pest or another and trying desperately to keep my head above water.
After some lunch I managed to get the petrol strimmer working and strimmed the walkway between the menage and the big paddock at the back. One of the problems with the fox is that the grass is long enough for it to hide in, where I strimmed is exactly where John nearly tripped over the fox munching on one of our hens, neither of them saw each other until the last minute! I would have done more but it was making my arm ache from holding it and the vibration in my hand only stopped about half and hour after I did lol.
I prepped the bits of veg I picked this morning ready for dinner later, John will have fresh garden peas and baby carrots with chicken and potatoes and I am having a garden salad made up of chopped beetroot and the beet leaves, chopped baby carrots, mange tout, white icicle radish sprinkled with a few red currants I picked the other day which I will also have with chicken.
I have decided that his year I will use what I pick while itās fresh, sell anything I wonāt be using and not do massive batch freezing like I have in previous years. The reason being I grow so much we donāt get through it before the next lot is ready š Also having now got just one smallish chest freezer and a back up under counter freezer I am not going to have the room to hoard š so I either use it, sell it, give some of it to the family or I process it to store in a different way by either drying it of jamming, chutneying it etc, I am not keen of fermenting we wonāt eat it and I still havenāt had the courage to try canning, though I really ought to give myself a stern talking to in that department. One of the problems is in the UK they donāt make canning equipment it would have to be bought from the US.
This morning it was overcast but dry, no chance of seeing the sun rise on solstice day today š By mid afternoon it was raining, Iām not too bothered as I got the bit of strimming done and itās watering in the squash I planted BUT itās gone a tad chilly with it š¤Ŗ the radiators are set at 18c and some of them have come on, I am sure I am feeling it because we had got used to nearly 30c and now itās dropped dramatically but still š¤·āāļø There is definitely no relying on a standard weather pattern anymore.
So I did a fair bit of reading up about canning and decided against it lol, still,worries me and when I spoke to John he said āitās a bit like having a bomb sat on the stove topā šš¤Ŗš which put me completely off even though Iām sure they are not that dangerous š¤·āāļø Anyhow I also researched vacuum packing and have bought a home use machine. I know this will use plastic which I didnāt really want to do but it will also preserve the food a lot longer than putting it into freezer bags as it does end up with freezer burn after a while. As I said before there is no easy answer to making the most of storing the harvest, I just have to pick what is going to work best for me. Shelley said āyou canāt save the world everydayā and she is right though I should still be mindful of what I am doing not just do it because thatās the way itās always done. So methods of preservation I will be using are: dehydration, freezing including vacuum packed, it will also include jams and chutneys though for long term storage I will be processing the jars in a water bath to make them safer.
Tuesday: It was raining when I first got up but the sun āļø made a breakthrough before 9am so it should be a nice enough day. I got some indoor morning jobs done, washing, cleaning the countertop in the boot room, putting out rubbish, breakfast etc etc. Then I did a bit of printing out for my Mum who was struggling to get her printer to work, I know how that feels š see previous blogs for that story) I still donāt feel 100%, the cold is still lingering although the throat and the cough have almost gone now, I have a hair appointment this afternoon so anything I want to achieve today needs to be done this morning. We also have someone coming later to see if they can deal with the fox problem so that we can let the birds back out, it wasnāt so bad while the weather was cool and wet but if it gets hot I donāt really want them inside all day for any longer than necessary.
I spent the morning doing various bits including sowing some more seeds, his time I have sown dill, coriander and basil for continuity and also some pak Choi and Chinese cabbage for sale later on. The reason being that the little gem and oak leaf lettuce I have growing will soon be smothered in greenfly, that my past experience anyway, so if I get some replacements on the go now I should have some salad leaves once that happens. Pak Choi will grow in the tunnel even when itās getting colder, I havenāt grown the Chineseās cabbage before so it will be interesting to see how well it does, might become a favourite who knows. I also watered both the tunnels, itās tempting to not do them when nothing growing outside needs water but that can be downfall of the fruit that has already set so best to keep doing it even if itās only a small watering and not a soaking. Then it was round to the paddock to move the electric fencing out a bit for the horses, they soon eat off the strips they are given š the idea though is that they are not able to just gorge on everything and anything, Jack was getting a bit porky and restricting him will slow that down. If, like last year, we just had weeks of sunshine it wasnāt necessary because the grass was dying off due to lack of moisture anyway and so it was more like hay but this year with the rain it is lush and green and full of sugar which is not ideal. He is not happy and tells me when I need to move the fencing š¤Ŗ he sees me out in the garden, starts neighing at me and I think, ah time to move the fence a little, actually I did throw some hay in today as well because the fence is almost as far as I can move it without getting more tape and extending it but I also need to bring them in later when they come to deal with the fox and if I leave them in overnight I can extend it in the morning before I turn them back out again.
Went out for the afternoon to get my hair done. During lockdown, like everybody, my hair didnāt get cut, it got longer and longer, it also got greyer and greyer but I kind of liked it. When I was young my hair was blonde, as a young adult it was golden brown as a much older adult I had resorted to dying it light brown š¤·āāļø So now I had long hair that was grey on the top and light brown on the bottom, the dilemma was do I continue to grow the grey or do I return to the box dye that I had always done. I bought the dye and it sat there and sat there and sat there, it was a rolling decision not to dye each week and eventually I thought I like it like it lighter so I will stay grey. As I said the problem was the bottom of my hair was a washed out light brown that I didnāt want to cut short, so the answer was highlights apparently. I say apparently because I have no clue about these sort of things, seriously, I had my hair coloured once in a salon about 15 years ago and thatās it š So now after being ādoneā I have long hair that is even in light colour all over, fabulous, letās see how long I keep it up for š¤Ŗ
Once back home there is no time to enjoy swishing my new locks around as it was straight out to get the horses in while John fed the birds. Then a job that I imagine a lot of people would refuse to do including John but I am not squeamish, never have been, I am one of those weird people who rather likes getting maggots off a sheepās backside or pus out of a nasty cut, I am quite happy to watch brain surgery or open heart surgery on TV so this job was a breeze. We have dead hens, you know how that happened, and I gathered up bodies in the aftermath of the attack and bought them in overnight. The chaps are coming later to see if they can help sort the problem out but they need bait, cue dead hens, they need bait that isnāt easy to run off with though and so we took out a hammer and tent pegs and yes I hammered the tent pegs through the dead bodies to secure them to the ground. I donāt see this as a problem at all but John flat refused to do it and wouldnāt even look š Letās hope the chaps get here before the fox makes a meal of the skewered hens!
We are pretty diverse here in terms of things going on, personal house things, veg things, flower things, poultry things, pet things, Smallholding things, family things, so sometimes I completely forget to double back and update on things I may have mentioned in the blog. One of those things is a Smallholding thing that we did a round four years ago, might be three, definitely three maybe more š The front paddock we decided would no longer be for grazing the horses, it would be for chickens/poultry only and with that in mind we planted a few more fruit trees, plum, cherry and apple and we used a grass seed which was especially for chickens. The grass is shorter and so matures quickly and sets seed readily, the idea behind this is that it self sows as you leave it long enough. There were also a mixture of herbs and wildflowers in it, herbs in the form of things like plantain not sage or mint š and wildflowers in the form of what most would call weeds not pretty cornflowers etc, we also added red clover separately. The idea was firstly to provide the hens with a good range of more natural forage and secondly to build up the thickness of the sward as it had got rather sparse from constant grazing and the fact that during the war there were buildings on there and the foundations are pretty much still there just buried under the surface and not that far down either š Three (or maybe four) years later it is doing really well, the variety in there is amazing, mostly just looks like grass but if you walk through it you can really see the variety of plants that are growing. It is buzzing with insects which again is great for the hens they love to run and jump and catch flying insects. It has been a successful attempt to get a much healthier paddock than it was previously.
The only problem is that we donāt have the equipment to cut long grass lol, the ride on mower would just give up on grass that long and thick. We discussed cutting it by hand when the time comes and then leaving it to dry before stacking it or making a home made box to bale it, something I will have to look into. John thinks a strimmer will do, it probably would but wouldnāt it be nice to use a scythe š
Wednesday: Itās nearly 12 noon and I am having a little sit down. We were up early this morning, the sun was shining and it looked like it was going to be a warm day so we got on. Cup of tea first mine you š Then John did the feeding rounds while I went out to the paddock and altered the electric fencing to give the horses some more grazing, I had to get extra stakes and electric tape as we had got to the limits of the first lot. 6.30am out in the paddocks it was quite lovely though I could already hear the traffic from the A40, all those commuters buzzing backwards and forwards, glad itās not me. Then it was onto looking for the bodies that we pegged last night, rookie error here as I only found one body, and only 4 out of 8 metal skewers š The chaps never saw a fox at all last night but they are definitely here otherwise the bodies would not be missing. If they stay active only at night then thatās fine but I have a feeling they are chancers and will come anytime we are not around. We havenāt let our new birds out but the older lot are back wandering around, I have no idea where we go from here to be honest, I fully expect more attacks but these foxes are as cunning as they are elusive.
That done it was onto sorting the eggs and the egg shed and then some picking of peas. I woke this morning with the cold I had now pestering my sinuses and if you have ever had inflamed sinus you will know how I was feeling. At this point I came in and laid on the bed for half an hour as I felt truly awful, I had taken some up the nose spray so was waiting for it to work which it did after a short while. Once I felt I could actually breathe again I went out to clean the dustbin, I had noted a while back that it was in a shocking state š so I was determined not to forget to give it a power wash and a scrub out while it was empty. I used some Zoflora and now it smells lovely. The next job was fed the Guineas and give the light Sussex pen a spruce up and a clean out. I raked the floor to get up debris which was still there from the ash tree we cut down, cleaned out the house, sprayed it with some diluted jeyes fluid and put in fresh straw. I also hung a piece of shading on the door to the run, not to shade but to keep the damn magpies and rooks from eating the feed. The top of the door has a metal grid but itās big enough for them to get in, but it seems they are way to stupid to get back out again and then when they land of the floor the chickens attack them. Hopefully that will sort the issue and I no longer have to listen to the racket they make. The rest of the morning I spent watering the greenhouse and potting on some plants that I had grown from seed. I also sorted out a few plants that I have been bringing on for a while and composted anything that hadnāt made it, gave it all a good feed and a drink and then in for my sit down which I think I have earned.
Well I have tried on and off to get a few bits done outside this afternoon but the cloud cover is sparse š I did manage to dig up a few verbena seedlings and pot them but that was about as far as I got. I am hoping it will be a fair bit cooler later and I can get out and do some more then.
We did manage to get out again after dinner, we wanted to get some of the grass around the front chicken hut cut to try and give the hens a bit of a chance to see the fox coming š It is a bit too long for the mower so we only did a small bit, I need to order that scythe š My sister and brother in law popped over and we had a cuppa in the garden, we did a bit of target practice with the air gun, turns out I am better than I thought I would be. We were only shooting at a plastic plant pot but itās good to practise.
My vacuum packing machine arrived and I canāt wait to use it, it should make the space in the freezer a lot more useable plus we wonāt end up with freezer burn.
Oh yeah nearly forgot, had a panic moment when John opened the post to find that we had not paid the electric bill and they were threatening action. I never had a bill in the post, nor a red letter I searched for it everywhere but we just havenāt had one so no wonder I havenāt paid it! Paid it now so all is well.
Thursday: I keep waking up each day expecting to feel better but itās not happening and this morning I feel worse. All over body worse not just my sinuses which makes me think that it could be inflammation throughout. I feel cold too, not the kind of cold that putting on an extra jumper will sort out, it is one of those āif you know, you knowā feelings meaning only anyone who gets chronic inflammation will know exactly what I mean. My muscles ache this morning and bending down getting the oat milk out of the fridge my lower back muscles felt like they were dried out bits of leather someone had just bent š I do hope this is not the beginning of a flare and that it is the immune response to this lingering cold. Only time will tell, in the meantime I will up the anti inflammatory foods and see if that helps. Most of what I eat does come under the anti inflammatory section, plenty of fresh veg and fruit, low fat Greek yoghurt, wholemeal or whole grain foods, olive oil etc etc but there are a few things I could ramp up on specifically such as turmeric and ginger, maybe a orange, carrot, ginger shake with a touch of turmeric or a banana, pear, blueberry & cinnamon or even spinach, pear, red grape, celery, all good choices.
I made an orange, carrot, turmeric, ginger and, because I had it left from breakfast, half a banana smoothie, which was delicious and packed with beta carotene. Often over the years before I was diagnosed with Lupus I had researched my skin condition. It started when I was 21 and pregnant with out eldest daughter, the midday sun began to affect my bared skin, it would erupt in thousands of tiny blister like spots. I would look around and see who else had this problem and there was nobody, I could see heat rash but this was different. Back then there wasnāt really the wealth of information available like there is today on the internet so it was difficult and I ploughed through a lot of reading. I concluded I had polymorphic light eruptions, I didnāt go to the doctor back then as it was definitely seasonal but I tried a plethora of creams and oils including rose hip oil, beta carotene seemed to be a dominant ingredient in many things alleged to help. None of them really helped very much and so I just became used to either avoiding the daytime sun or suffering with the rash. The eruptions are the same as I get now if I am caught out but the Lupus diagnosis comes from the presence of a high level of antibodies which were obviously not there back then or they would have picked that up in blood tests during subsequent pregnancies. There are other symptoms they look for as well most noticeably the butterfly shaped redness across the nose and cheeks, actually it is not where near as pretty as a butterfly š¤£ and not much similar in shape but š¤·āāļø I plan to have a purely plant based day today, we donāt eat that much meat, well I donāt anyway and we had fish yesterday, I hardly ever eat processed food and I rarely drink so I should kick this in to touch pretty quickly fingers crossed š¤ #igotthis š
Literally just sat down with a cuppa and hope to get it finished before the bundles of mischief arrive š
Evening jobs were move the electric fencing for the horses, Jack was telling me it was time š then watering the tunnels and the greenhouse before going back in to wash up do the egg sorting and feed the boot room crew, 9pm sit down, surprised I didnāt fall asleep.
Friday: Up early to get some picking done so I can put it out with the eggs, mange tout, peas and a punnet of strawberries today, not much today but hopefully soon there will be loads of produce available. Then onto a job I have been trying to get at for a few days but failed, cutting back the dying flowers on the lupin, delphiniums, geums etc, if I cut of the flowers that have gone over, they will make more, itās like magic š I also dead headed the roses and cut back the early flowering clematis as well as digging up a few self self verbena and planting them elsewhere. The clematis had quite a bit of foliage that I have taken some cuttings from, not too good at cuttings but nothing ventured nothing gained as they say š Back indoors at 11 for a coffee that I really fancied, absent kindly made myself tea š¤·āāļø Absent minded because I was thinking I must find the cat (Jack) as he has his vaccination this afternoon at 2.30 and I havenāt seen him this morning yet š Need to give myself plenty of time to locate him or the vet plenty of cancellation notice if I canāt find him š¬
I couldnāt find the cat, not a sign of him and yet he is usually always there when I am gardening or pottering about, itās like he knew š I have rebooked the appointment for next week and I will capture him the day before and keep him confined š
The weather turned out to be not as bad as I had heard, it was North winds and cold but it has been fine, great for me really because mostly overcast. When I was feeding the torts I spotted some lovely strawberries growing so I grabbed a pot and picked them. Along with others I had already picked I made some jam, Strawberry jam always smells amazing when itās cooking š§āš³ I just made two jars both of which will never leave our kitchen as John is a strawberry jamaholic šJohn came home just after lunch, with some flowers I might add, it is our 38th wedding anniversary, after a cuppa he started taking up the broken tiles on the kitchen floor where we had taken out the Rayburn and the cupboard next to it. We managed to find some tiles that are almost identical, not an exact match but it will be difficult to tell the difference unless you know, apart from the fact that the new ones will be a lot cleaner š
The new tiles are now down and if you canāt really tell which are the new and which are the old ones so thatās good. The cat still have not a made and appearance at feeding time which is a worry as we have been here before, more than once and nearly always when we have a marauding fox about. They get to an age where they go a bit further around the edge of the paddocks, because they are not big cats, still only a year old and so fairly petite, I am convinced the fox has them, I mean I canāt be sure and I havenāt seen them do it but the cats disappear into thin air when they have been cats that are nearly always around š
Saturday: I have the most ridiculous cough which has kept me awake a lot of the night and consequently I am not Mrs Happy this morning š¬ My sinuses are still playing up thatās the cause and the effect is constant coughing, whenever I sit down or lie down the coughing starts so I just have to be upright most of the day š We started off with all the usual jobs then shot off to get a bit of shopping, stop and Shelleyās for coffee and to sort a couple of bits out then back home to get some work started. Moving the electric fence for the horses was first on the list and then John started digging up docks in the bit they have eaten off. Try the strimmer was my suggestion, it will be quicker, we got it out the line jammed, we took it apart and went back to digging them out because we couldnāt get it back together. I got the antique scythe out, John tells me I am doing it wrong, he has a go and breaks it clean in half, donāt why I bother sometimes, I left him to carry on digging them out with his spade š he is still digging mid afternoon š Meanwhile I found other jobs to do, take down some bits in the kitchen ready for when John plasters the wall, a picture needed to come down and the āSheliaā I donāt know if thatās the right name itās what I have always known it as but it is one of those farmhouse airers that go over a fire and it has pulleys to lower it and higher it, anyway itās down now. Then I went out and had a look at the onions, rather mortifyingly I find they have a āminer bugā ffs, I think itās allium miner, either way I have to pull them to stop any further damage. I will see what they are like when dried out a bit and see what can be salvaged and how. It means I wonāt be able to store them but I will be able to either dehydrate them, freeze them or vacuum and probably a combination. The shallots are also affected though not as much and the garlic is only slightly affected but it has other issues. Where we had so much rain the garlic cloves have begun to grow again before the tops have died off ready for picking š ha you couldnāt make this up, I seriously am considering having a year off veg gardening next year, it is too hit and miss with some things. The good thing is that the red onions I planted in spring seem unaffected, I am not sure if that is because of the colour or because they have not been in long enough to be affected. That is a problem with over wintered veg it has had longer to harbour pests, the struggle is real, oh well there is always next year š¤Ŗ
Sunday: An overcast day that, although rain threatened constantly, stayed dry until during the night. I am typing this up Monday morning so Iām a bit late but I actually couldnāt sit down without constant coughing so I spent most of my day up on my feet so give my ribs a rest (they ache like billio from all the coughing) I keep thinking, today it will move on surely, but nope each day here it still is like the unwelcome wasp buzzing round your head. It is getting a little better each day but I still feel thick in the head and sinus, once that goes I shall be fine š¤
Between us we have grouted some of the floor tiles back in, cut the lawn, dug up docks, picked peas, weeded, hoed and swept the front driveway, investigated a collapsed manhole we found that we had no idea was there, I think it was from the MOD days as it doesnāt appear to be linked to anything current, as well as all the usual jobs that need doing daily.
I have cleared the peas that were growing with the tomatoes in the small tunnel, they worked well as an experiment, I had a good picking of peas shoots initially and then a decent crop of peas after but now they have got leggy and straggly and are blocking light from the tomatoes so itās time to cut them back. One of two things will happen, they will either die off and release nitrogen into the soil or they will start to grow again, I suspect the latter and I will monitor that to see if I need to take them completely out or leave them for another crop it just depends on how well the tomatoes are getting on at the time.
Thatās yesterday in a nutshell really, I still donāt feel well enough to expand on that lol.
Peppers, aubergine, melon, ginger are just some of the fruits beginning to swell in the greenhouse.
Have a good week, hopefully next time you read the blog the cough will have gone šš¬
Monday 14th June 2021: Today we find out if any of the restrictions still in place will be lifted or not, not holding out much hope for a full lift š
Another fine day with the temps set to climb up near 30c, you know what that means for me, early morning, so itās 8.30pm I have stopped for a coffee after already doing a three hour stint this morning. Most of that was picking, peas & mangetout today, a bit of weeding while I was going round, sorting out some plants in the cold frame and picking weeds to feed the Guineas and torts. I also did all the usual jobs of feeding various four legged pets, putting eggs out, a bit of watering out the front etc etc.
This is the month where the harvests begin to come in, they start off slowly but soon there will be so much to pick I wonāt know if I am coming or going. And then there is the processing of it all lol, at the minute my plan is to keep back what I want for the day and put the rest out for sale, this morning that only amounted to two bags of mangetout and a tub of strawberries but it will start to come thick and fast especially if we get any rain, doesnāt look very promising at the minute. Of course we have been here before and what will happen next is too much rain that spoils the fruit š¤£ there is no winning this swim only treading water and trying to stay afloat š¤Ŗ I still have some squash to get in the ground but I am waiting until it cools a little first, they will be fine in pots for now. I also have a fair few pepper seedlings and runner beans, I tried selling them but no takers and I hate throwing them away so I am going to have to find a place for them to grow on.
After coffee I did another hour outside which will probably do for today. I have potted on the pepper seedlings, it doesnāt matter if I have 20 pepper plants, I have space for them so may as well grow them, there was a jalapeƱo plant too, the tomato plants that didnāt sell are also potted on, I may put them back out or plant them up outside who knows yet. I planted up sweetcorn that I had left over, I put those in a bucket for the kids to pick if they get big enough, the corn, not the kids and I sowed some more carrot seeds, some in a bed in between the rows that are nearly done and some in pots again for the kids to pick. They are round carrot so ideal for pots, I picked some of those from the bed for dinner tonight and I found a stray potato which had grown so that will be potato, carrots and peas from the garden as well as strawberries for pudding š„° That is what is called the good life and it really is.
I noticed, when I pulled the carrots that the bed was very dry under the initial damp surface so I gave it a good soaking with the rain water hose. It is always worth digging down a bit to see exactly how far the water has penetrated, you will be surprised at dry it really is. A good indicator are ants, if there are a fair few nearby then you can bet there is an ants nest and that will tell you itās way too dry they donāt like damp soil.
Once indoors I decided to get some polishing, cleaning done and change the bed sheets, I found a great podcast to listen to while doing it, Self Sufficient Hub. There are some interesting topics so if self sufficiency is for you then have a listen or have a listen if itās itās not you may get the bug š https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/self-sufficient-hub/id1506405294
Itās 1pm and I am a little tired now so I have had a quick lunch and am now going to have a little rest and maybe listen to another podcast.
In the evening after some dinner we went round to Mum and Kenās for a cuppa and a slice of cake, there is always cake at Mums š„°
Tuesday: Up earlyish to get the morning jobs done as I have blood tests first thing, they are a little over due but not to worry. Back home and I just about go put the washing hung out when Sam arrived with the twins. She had come over to move the electric fencing and make a bigger restriction paddock that will also now house Jack as well as Biscuit. To be fair Biscuit is looking and doing well but Jack on the other hand is getting too fat, too much grass for him to eat all by himself lol. He will also now be restricted probably for the next 2/3 months depending on the weather. If it stays hot and dry the grass will die off and he can go back out but any rain that we have will āflushā the grass and he will have to stay put. He wonāt like it one little bit but he will get Iāll otherwise so itās for his own good. That took up a couple of hours, once we had got the stakes in place and some electric tape plus the water buckets all filled I took the twins back to the house to get some snacks and a drink while Sam finished it all off.
The twins had such a fun time here that they had to have a bath before going home š¤£ George had by that point, played with horse poo, dirty water in the garden & soil in the veg bed which he delighted in putting all over Lucies back. Lucie had stuck her whole foot in the horses water bucket, sock, trainer and all, thrown her bear in there too and de planted some of Nannys pricked out foxglove seedlings š¤Ŗ All good fun and because there are two of them it can be manic when one goes in one direction to create havoc while the other is off in another direction, hilarious at times as well though š¤£
Wednesday: I was up fairly early and got on with a few jobs before having breakfast, John did the animals and then left for work. Next came a first for me, a covid test, a lateral flow test to be precise, the reason being that I have a sore throat, similar to having swallowed sandpaper š which is making me cough. I checked my temperature and oxygen levels all normal, I didnāt think for one minute I had covid but I have to check. Two things struck me as I did the test, first on opening I couldnāt help but notice it was all made in China š if I was a conspiracist I would definitely be jumping up and down saying āI told youā China is probably making a fortune at the minute š¬ Secondly I donāt know if it was just me but I suspect not, I could not help but sneeze, 4/5/6 times while doing the nostril bit. I was thinking good job I am not in a test clinic and positive or else those sneeze spores are going to be all over the place š¤·āāļø I have just checked my test as time is up and itās negative, I kind of knew it would be but you never know. Actually I have a third point to add, all the pieces of the test are plastic, they go into a plastic bag when you have finished and then that goes in the bin š In a time when we are trying to reduce plastic use this is disastrous really, I know there is probably not a way round it when they are needed so quickly and in great quantities but can you image exactly how many billions of pieces of plastic have been added to landfill over the last year and a half š¢
While I was waiting for the test to āripenā I went out to water and feed the plants in the greenhouse and then the small tunnel.
Pottered about a bit picking strawberries and peas, a bit of watering and then Shelley arrived with Flo. They had come over to help get some work done in the veg garden, they weeded around the courgette plants and then watered and put down some cardboard mulch as the relentless sun dries the ground so quickly. The we went onto tidying, weeding and sorting the area right inside the gate, I tend to dump pots and tools and everything else there on my way to and from the front garden and never get round to tidying it, well mow itās all done and feels like a much nicer part of the garden. I have many spaces like that to sort out mind you š Shelley had bought lunch and went inside to make that while I carried on a little more and then we sat down and ate in the garden where there was still some shade. We are forecast thunderstorms and rain over the next couple of days and we could really do it to be honest, everything is flagging a little.
I heard on the radio a report that in this country, and many more around the world I suspect, we are unprepared for the climate chaos that is ahead in the UK. This definitely rings alarms bells for me, I have been saying for a couple of years now that the weather is so much more unpredictable than it was even five years ago. It was never this relentlessly hot for days or even weeks on end, we seem to have our weather in blocks these days and it is nearly always extreme bouts of it too. I seriously need to get a handle on what it is I need to do in order to be able to continue to grow fruit and veg successfully. Trying to stabilise the soil is probably the main thing, the torrential downpours we get now wash the soil downhill. Next would be trying to work out ways to get through drought periods, I may have to use more drought tolerant varieties, I am finding that swede and turnips just keep bolting because of the lack of rain, I either donāt plant them any more or look for better varieties. One thing is certain, a change in thinking and planning is needed to combat whatever the future weather has in store.
I just signed up with a group called Arbtalk where you can register as a tip site for free woodchip if any members are working in your area š
After a quick dinner we went over to babysit Mia, George and Lucy for a few hours while Sam and Luke went out for a drink.
Thursday: Itās 9.15am and I have already showered, breakfasted, put on some washing, fed the dogs, cats and Guineas, sorted the eggs and put them out for sale, have three loaves of bread on a second prove and got a lamb stew going in the slow cooker. It rained a little over night but not as much as was forecast and no thunder storms, my plan was to be indoors today as it was supposed to rain heavily most of the morning but as yet nothingš As I am already committed to timings and will have the oven on I am going to make some more rhubarb and orange jam. A couple of years ago I split my three rhubarb plants into six because I couldnāt keep up with the demand for rhubarb, itās Sodās law that nobody seems to want much of it this year š¤Ŗ Nobody seems to want much of anything actually lol but thatās fine, more for us and less pressure.
I still feel a bit rough but the throat no longer feels like sandpaper so thatās an improvement š
11am and three loaves of bread cooked and cooling as well as five jars of jam and the washing up done. Time for a sit down I think.
Those loaves are bigger than they look in the picture š they are 1lb loaves, I use half white flour and half granary to get a nice loaf, forgot to score the tops of these though š¤·āāļø
I emptied, what was left in the small chest freezer, into the big chest freezer and have now turned the smaller one off to defrost. This will be cleaned out and moved to a new position and I will reload it with only what I want to keep and will use. Both of the freezers were half empty or half full depends on how you view it, and both freezers have things in them that I will probably not get round to using before the next lot of produce starts going in. The plan is to throw out what I donāt want, when I say throw out I donāt mean throw away mind you, there is a fair amount in there that I will feed to the dogs, gravy stock for instance, if I donāt think I will be using it within the next couple of months I will defrost and use it to mix with the dog biscuits. The reason being I am bound to be making more so I need to move it on. There are ice packs in there, a drawer full, they have arrived at various times with meat or fish orders and rather than throw them away I have kept them but I donāt need them, what I do need to do is get rid of them š There are things like frozen buttermillk, pesto, herb portions in there, I need to get good idea of what is available and plan to use it all up. Once the smaller freezer is cleaned and moved I will transfer over and then defrost the bigger one which we will be selling, I have a small under counter front loading freezer which is off most of the time but I will keep it just in case I need extra space š It is always handy to use if you are stocking up for a birthday or bbq anyway.
I went outside and did a bit of weeding in the bed on the side of the driveway, then some picking of peas and watering in the small tunnel. I pulled up the rocket which has now gone over and some early sown baby spinach which has now bolted. These were both in tubs in the small tunnel because they were sown so early, once it gets hot in there they just bolt. I gave the tubs (old recycle bins) a good soaking and then sowed some corn salad in one tub and some celery seeds in the other. The celery will be for snipping like you do with cress, I never was a good enough veg gardener to perfect the art of full grown celery š¤Ŗ but this way is ideal, useful on salads and if I donāt use all of it the leaves will get big enough to pick and dry as celery powder or freeze in packets.
I keep looking at the sky and thinking ācome on, rain pleaseā but as usual the weather forecast has changed somewhat and there is no rain in sight until later tonight, so much for heavy downpours, I may have to do a rain dance at this rate. It is seriously beginning to affect some areas now, not everything, some things are plodding away content with the sprinkling they might get when I hose at night or the spitting we had overnight which hardly wet the ground and certainly didnāt penetrate much further into the soil than a nano of a millimetre š Around the farm I can see the ground beginning to open up with fissures, dry, cracked ground, I think I have been here before š¤ The water tanks are almost empty now and itās very definitely going to become a problem is we donāt get some rain soon.
During the afternoon and then in the evening I watered, the signs of rain were there but I it wasnāt really happening and I know from experience that I may as well do it. If the rain comes then itās a bonus if it doesnāt come then at least the plants get something to drink.
At teatime I looked after the twins while Sam took Mia for her swimming lesson and then in the evening Sue and Shane popped over for a cuppa and to let me know about a small business arrangement that I may be able to take advantage of, more about that later if it happens š
By the time we went to bed, still no rain, we were later to bed than usual as we have been binge watching Clarksons Farm, which is the funniest thing on TV all year, seriously itās hilarious, definitely watch it if you live around the Cotswolds, the very real characters are worth a watch in their own and together with Jeremys humour it is side splitting š¤£š¤£
Friday: Rain š§ actual rain, enough to wet the top layer of the soil š hopefully we will get a fair bit today, it will enliven the plants and fill the water tanks. The problem will be getting it to stop š¤Ŗ The forecast is possibly āa days rain in an hourā š that is definitely climate change, we never had such volumes in such a short time years ago, whatever is causing the change it is undeniably here. Still it means that today I donāt have to water anything outside and as I did the tunnels and greenhouse last night and the sun is nowhere to be seen, it means no watering at all and I can concentrate on other jobs. I still feel a bit rough, still have a sore throat so I am thinking that I will probably have a good rest this afternoon to gather strength for the weekends work ahead.
Itās been steadily raining for a few hours now, nice and steady so far š which is what we want, heavy rain washes away the top of the soil because we are on a slight slope and thatās not good.
After doing the washing up I went out to mop up the defrosted freezer, what I could have done with was a pile of tea towels š¤Ŗ I knew I needed them for something. I have cleaned all the areas I can get to, inside is done and the front and sides, I need to move it so that I can Hoover off the back and the side ventilation, that will have to wait until John is home, unless I am feeling particularly strong. Actually I donāt think they are that heavy once they are empty just cumbersome due to the size.
I was listening to a couple of podcasts while I was working and I need to get some more veg in for successional sowing, things like French beans and beetroot, but I also need to start off some veg for overwintering such as cabbage maybe. If you sow them now and keep them in modules until later then hopefully you miss the cabbage white butterfly which as you probably know will decimate a crop very quickly. Think I will have my first break now and peruse some catalogue to see if there is anything I havenāt got that I could be sowing for winter.
The business thing I was talking about has happened quickly and so I am able to tell you that from later today we will be selling local honey from the egg shed š„° I am delighted to be able to help a small local producer by buying any jars they havenāt sold and then selling them in the shed. Itās a win win situation and I hope it works out well. The bees live in a quiet area on the edge of woodland just 4 miles away at Grove Farm, I am very excited at the opportunity to be able to do this for our customers.
I popped into the greenhouse for half an hour and have sown some swede, turnip, peas, cabbage, cauliflower and French beans as well as some icicle radish. I know I said I wasnāt going to do some of these but I am thinking that later sowings might be better especially for the root veg. By the time they are big enough to go in the ground, then establish and finally begin to put on some growth they wonāt have got so big that they need to bolt due to lack of rain or consistent sunny weather š¤·āāļø I will only know if it try it out, I will have the onion bed available at the beginning of next month and then the broad bean bed will also probably be vacant by then, both of these areas I can use to grow veg well into the Autumn or even winter.
The honey arrived and I got sorted making a little notice for the shed and putting it on the Farm Facebook page. I had some on the bread I made yesterday (toasted) I can confirm it is delicious š
I have been researching mulches, home made mulches to be precise, to see exactly what you can/canāt should/shouldnāt use as a mulch. Pretty much anything as long as it does have a seed head is the answer, I have plenty of raw material round here itās just a case of deciding which to use, probably a mixture of a few things would be ideal. I need to get into the habit of shredding everything I cut back but you can even use a shredder to shred cardboard (as long as the blade is sharp enough and the cardboard is dry) Remember the jute I was trialling? Well here is my conclusion, yes it works well for the first year, it doesnāt exclude all light but it is not a bad alternative to plastic membrane, however as expected it does not last through to the following spring, even if you take it up off the garden, the weather has already started to degrade it. I would say if you can get hold of it easily or cheaply then use it but I wouldnāt buy it off the shelf unless you have plenty of disposable income. Next the biodegradable, compostable plastic membrane, this one had good points and not so good. It was flimsy, quite expensive (but hey we are trying to save the planet š¬) Not permeable which is a bit of a drawback if you are using it to grow crops in, however I would think if you made a ridge and furrow type bed, laid the membrane then planted into the top of the ridge the furrows would collect water run off and so water would get to the roots that way. Laying it on the top of a flat bed does not really work if you are growing through it but it is ideal as a weed suppressant on its own. As for it breaking down, I think you could probably get two years out of it, it showed no signs of disintegrating when it came to plant season again this spring though it didnāt feel quite so robust. It is also a bit like cling film, sticks to itself making for a very good comedy sketch if your sense of humour is present that day š So the good points are, itās good for the environment, not so good, fairly expensive and tricky to use. Cardboard is another one I use, this is pretty good, the thicker the cardboard the better, but slugs do like to have a festival gathering underneath it so make sure you have frogs and hedgehogs to help keep the slugs down. Mostly I am trying whatever I can to suppress weeds and prevent moisture loss, so far the woven weed membrane is ticking all the boxes except the most important one which is the environment.
Went and got some food shopping early evening, when we got back the geese were making a racket so John left the shopping in the front and ran up the back to see what was happening, he couldnāt really see anything and so came back in. When he went to put the birds away the fox has had two full grown geese š¤¬š¤¬ Last night as he was putting away he nearly tripped over the fox who was busy eating one of our new hens š³ Itās a f…ing nightmare, what are you supposed to do, full grown geese canāt be kept in a fox proof pen, they graze grass and cover large areas while they are doing it š¤·āāļø getting close to the āwhatās the pointā point š¢
Saturday: Itās overcast and quite a bit cooler today hence why itās now 5pm and this is the first time I have sat down all day long I even ate my lunch on the move. I spent the first hour or so doing the usual jobs and then picking, peas, mangetout, baby beetroot and rhubarb, while John did the morning rounds. After that I went out to move the horses restricted fencing just a tad so that they have a bit more grass. Then we moved the freezer into its new position and I went to inspect the damage to the geese from the fox last night. He had gone for the goose on the nest and the gander had tried to defend her but he had both of them. The eggs were scattered everywhere last night but this morning they had put them all back in a nest š¢ However we had already decided to get her off the nest as it was now obvious they were not going to hatch, we wait every year but they are nearly always duff. These were the same I threw them in the hedge and most of them exploded eww that stinks. I then said to John we need to get the grass cut in that paddock, one of the reasons they would have not seen the fox was because the grass was long and it could easily sneak up. Once we got the ride on mower going I whizzed round and round until it was done, found the remains of the female goose in the long grass, the fox has been chewing away on it overnight by the looks of things š¤¬ John dug up any ragwort and docks for burning. I then went round to the side by the ducks and cut that grass, itās a walkway really so needed cutting, John meanwhile dug up docks in the side paddock. He then went in for lunch and I made a sandwich while he got the strimmer going, once it was running I finished my lunch quickly and went out to strim. John had a bit of a sit down but not for long, once I had finished that we tided up some rubbish from the back area and sorted out one of the cupboards which had stuff in there I have been keeping ājust in caseā five years later I havenāt ever needed it and so now it is getting binned. It is nothing special just things like nets that bulbs came in or plastic fruit punnets I had collected by the dozens š¤£ I also had some brewing gear in there but that is going to my niece and her partner, I said he could have it in exchange for a bottle of whatever it is he decides to brew. I did do some brewing once upon a time, not much, a batch of beer and some cider but as neither of us drink very much I havenāt really bothered for years so might as well give it to someone who will. Shelley came over with the children, my sister was here doing the caravan and then my Mum turned up, all at the same time lol so we had a cup of tea š« Then it was time to do the afternoon feeding and egg collecting which John did while I cleaned the kitchen up a bit and washed the floor and that lot took us up to 5pm š¤Ŗ At least I can get a good days work in when the weather is like this, hereās hoping it is the same again tomorrow and at this rate everything will be ship shape in no time at all.
Ooo one thing I nearly forgot, I picked some tea š Camellia Sinensis, not much but about 15 leaves, the tips of the plant (hence PG Tips š) will dry them out and then wait for some more to grow and pick them and keep doing that until I have enough for a cup of tea š Actually what I need to do is propagate the plant so I have quite a bit to pick at the same time.
I took some pics in the week of all the lovely pink flowers that are coming out š„°
I love the baby pink lupin, the rose is Hermione, the salvia is pink sensation and I had no idea I had this dusky pink delphinium š
And some of the pyramid orchids growing in the long grass in the driveway, thatās why I canāt cut the grass yet š
Pyramid Orchid, there are a few in the driveway and quite a few more in the front paddock, hopefully by not mowing they will increase year on year.
Sunday: Fatherās Day, we got up and did all the early morning jobs as usual and then Charlie, Shelley, Martin, Florence and Josh came over. They bought all the necessary ingredients to cook a Fatherās Day breakfast which we all sat and ate together, lovely. That was a couple of hours of a leisurely breakfast and some Sunday morning chat and then John went off to pick up some tiles we had ordered to repair the floor in the kitchen where the Rayburn had been taken out. A short rest early afternoon and then mid afternoon someone arrived as planned to take the Rayburn and all the fittings. So now Rosie the Rayburn has gone, I am going to have mixed feelings, we were getting to the point where it was bloody hard work, chopping and cutting wood all summer, loading and keep her going all winter but I will miss the cooking facilities and the amazing warm hug that comes from a wood burning stove that you just canāt replicate with any other heat. I have toyed with the idea of having a small wood burner but that is my heart tugging and not my head thinking š
Later we are off to Sam and Lukeās for a roast dinner š and this evening a chap is coming to see if he can dispatch the fox for us. Actually itās two more foxes, he was here last night and saw them but couldnāt get a safe shot as one was in the yard and the other near the goose hut. When we lost the chickens the other week, he got three foxes and now there are two more to deal with, when I say itās relentless, it really is. And as I will always say we donāt just do it for the sake of it, the nighttime prowlers are perfectly entitled to prowl, the birds are locked away safely, but the daylight ones well they are a different kettle of fish, we canāt afford to just allow the fox to continuously take all our birds. Come the day that happens we will be shutting up shop as there is only so much of a bashing you can realistically take. I know there are people who donāt agree and thatās fine they are entitled to their opinions and while it is still lawful we are entitled to ours. Before we go out we will be locking the geese away, the new hens have been locked away for three days now, the ones out the front are still free ranging but I wouldnāt be surprised if we lose a few of those while we are out š people like free range eggs but they come at a cost one way or another š
Well we have arrived back home about 8pm from having dinner with Sam and Luke, to a massacre š¤¬š¤¬ I donāt even know what to say to be honest, you know when you just feel hysterical and itās going to go one way or the other, either laugh or scream. There are bodies and feathers all over the front paddock, side paddock and walkway. This is unsustainable, as I say I canāt see how you can keep a free range flock safe any more unless you invest a lot of money and fence them and then they are not really free range are they š¤·āāļø It is soul destroying and we are getting nearer to the end of keeping hens a lot quicker than we had anticipated, seriously we canāt go on like this much more, we canāt even go out for a few hours. The fox numbers are becoming out of control, they will be in competition with each other for food, I have already heard first hand reports of small dogs being snatched, I suspect at least two of our cats were taken when they were small, where does it end ? š¢ When we no longer have birds it wonāt be our problem but at the minute it is and itās a big problem š”
Monday 31st May 2021: Bank Holiday Monday, Sam and Luke are coming over today, Luke is helping John with a few things round the farm that he canāt do by himself including taking down the ash tree in the garden next to the greenhouse š I was going to do a roast but it was forecast to be quite hot so we scrapped that idea, we do t really do bbq, neither of us like standing there cooking over hot coals when itās hot š„µ so we are having a picnic in style. I cooked a leg of lamb in the slow cooker overnight we will have that cold in rolls along with various salads including an aubergine and chickepea salad which I have prepped this morning. Great use of that aubergine I was given, cut into thick slices, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and grill, then do the same to the other side. Meanwhile rinsed a can of chickpeas, make a dressing from paprika, honey, olive oil and lemon juice, chop up some onion, I used spring onions but any will do, chop some coriander, mix all together and add the quartered aubergine slices, mix again, enjoy.
Before prepping food I went out and picked purple sprouting and a few asparagus spears that were long enough, John did the morning feeding and letting out before creosoting some rails. I am not too happy about creosoting these days but the preservative they use these days is awful and the wood does not last more than a couple of years. When you pay a lot of money for the fencing you really want it to last as long as possible. Some of our boundary fences are original and they would have been put up in the seventies, ore soaked in old oil, bad I know but thatās what they did then and they do last a very, very long time because of it.
This years bank holiday is definitely going to be a āspringā for everyone, last year we were locked down, this year we have a lot more freedom and I am sure people will be taking full advantage of it š„° I just heard that next year we will have a four day spring holiday to celebrate 70 years since the ascension to the throne of our Queen, big parties will be planned all over the country I think.
Well what a fabulous day we have had today, Luke came over and got some welding done and then moved onto cutting down the ash tree. Shelley, Josh and Flo popped in and helped to load the trailer and had a ride in it. They left then Sam arrived with the children, I was getting lunch ready when Charlie and Macca also popped in, together with my sister who was working on the caravan we all sat and had a lovely lunch in the garden. Sue went back to the caravan work, John and Luke carried on cutting the trunk up, Sam filled up a washing bowl with water for the kids to play in and I remembered we had a paddling pool from last year so we got that out, the kids stripped off and played the rest of the afternoon in there š„° Lovely day indeed, we are now knackered š
But it doesnāt end there for us lol, even if we are knackered there is still the afternoon jobs to get done, some tidying up left to do, a quick bite to eat and then out in fox patrol for the evening. Usually I do the watering in the greenhouse and tunnels, plus the newly planted veg. John wanders round checking on everything and then eventually we can get the birds into bed and relax. Tonight I have set up the wildlife camera to see if I can capture and footage of anything š it will be interesting viewing in the morning hopefully.
Oh my feet hurt š¦¶
Tuesday: Another lovely day, I was up with the early alarm even though we didnāt need to be as John is off today, still I find itās easier to get on in the cooler mornings than later in the day. I started off indoors though as I wanted to get the boot room hoovered, the dust and debris on the floor was getting a bit much. Put some washing on and then outside, do the egg shed, water the plants in pots out there then onto some early morning weeding, hang the washing out at one point, prick out some foxglove seedlings etc etc. Once the heat gets up and the sun gets round I generally give up usually around lunchtime and besides I have work to do later in the day so I need some down time as well. Shelley came over with Josh and Flo at lunchtime, they bought lunch with them and then played in the garden for a few hours. We played a board game and then with the bubbles and then onto some drawing, they canāt use the garden at home at the minute as they are having building work done lol. All the while John was busy sorting out scrap ready to take to the scrapyard for weighing in. When he got back he came and sat in the garden with us all.
Itās just gone 9pm, I have just come in to write this and John is still out of fox watch and putting to bed duties.
I have been trying to find an answer to a question I have about the hazel trees, at this time of year the leaves are sticky (if you walk, under a low branch it gets in your hair) I assume it is honeydew, everything I Google tells me itās honeydew. Honeydew is caused by insect infestation of one sort or another and supposedly itās not good for the tree, but and itās quite a but, we have this every year and every year we still get a fantastic haul of Hazelās and the trees are in great condition. Other observations over time include the amount bees that are attracted to the trees presumably because of the honey dew and birds that are attracted to them because of the insects. So my question was, is this a natural secretion? I canāt see any sign of infestations and the whole thing seems to be beneficial rather than detrimental. One year I actually thought there was a swarm there was such a hum but it was a lot of individual bees feeding š Is this natural, I mean, Google doesnāt know everything does it š maybe itās a long forgotten occurrence š¤·āāļø If you know then do tell me.
Wednesday: Oosh itās warm today touching 26c, muggy with it and thunderstorms are forecast later. That will be good as I wonāt have to do any watering. Apart from the basics we have both had the day off today, we got up early got jobs done and then went out before it got too warm. We had breakfast out and I bought a couple of plants, had a wander about before setting off back home. On the way back we called into a local village recreation ground where Shelley, Flo and Josh were having cake at the cafe. When we got home it was lovely and cool indoors, itās like we have air conditioning š nice when itās so hot outside. Early afternoon we went off to another local park where Shelley, Sam and all the kids were meeting up for lunch and a play together, we played for a short while before leaving them to it and coming back home again.
The weather was really oppressive, enough to cause a headache or maybe itās just me š¤Ŗ We had the tiniest rain shower and then it stopped, Iām hoping we get a bit more overnight.
While I was out watering the plants that are out for sale I noticed the apple tree has powdery mildew š there is always something š It is a combination of things that has caused it, firstly the mild winter hasnāt done any good because pests and disease havenāt died off. I know it was a long winter but it wasnāt that cold, secondly we had all that rain, again not the best conditions and thirdly we didnāt prune it back when we should have done which means the growth it a bit thick and the air canāt flow as it should, resulting in powdery mildew this time. I have pruned off the worst of it, the tree is huge and luckily most of it is near the bottom so I have done what I can for now. I need to spray it and I will either use milk which apparently works well or neem oil, I have both so a case of deciding which I think will be better š¤·āāļø I canāt spray the whole tree obviously but I can spray some of it and hope for the best.
John thinks we have lost a few more hens, seriously I am at the point where I wonder, what is the point.
Thursday: John is having a week off this week BUT it was Bank Holiday on the Monday, today he has gone to work for the whole day and tomorrow he is working the whole day and Tuesday he spent sorting out plumbing stuff, great week off!
He did the morning rounds before leaving and then itās me on me tod so I sorted out washing to put on, the eggs to put out and then go some bread on the go.
While I was waiting for the bread to go through the two proves I did a bit of hoeing in the front beds and planted the two new plants I bought. One is a ground cover clematis which should look amazing once it gets going the other is a gorgeous low growing pink flowering shrub that the bees are already feeding on. Back indoors to decide on what will be for dinner this evening.
The bread is now baked and meanwhile I have been making a Moroccan rice salad to go with my lamb chop later, ordering a birthday present for John, his birthday is on Monday and organising a gathering for Sunday. Luckily we have plenty of room here for 30 plus other paddocks which could technically hold 30 more each š We have a big family, if we all get together (which is rare) there are 60 of us š¤Ŗ that is just Mum and Ken, their children (me included) their grandchildren and their great grandchildren, most of us live close by and so we see each other all the time especially birthdays š
I went out to the greenhouse mid morning, itās overcast but warm today with the occasional peek of the sun. I potted on two tomato plants which I will grow on in the greenhouse, I have a bit of everything everywhere this year, I am hoping to find out which is the best place to grown certain things. Normally all the tomatoes go in the tunnels and one or two outside but leaving some in the greenhouse will give me an idea of if that is also any good for them or if it is too hot. The peppers and chilli love it in there, I think tomatoes might struggle a bit but we will see. I also planted out two more courgette plants and then some climbing French beans, nearly finished with the planting now. I do have two more small trays of runner beans though, no idea what I will do with them š I will keep them going just in case any that are planted out fail I think. I just have a few more squash to plant out once they have hardened off, crown Prince which are the lovely blue pumpkins and a couple of spaghetti squash and butternut squash, one table king and the musque de something or other š¤·āāļø thatās it for planting out then, but there will still be work to do. The purple sprouting is coming to an end, John and I had it the other night and the stems are getting a little bit too stringy for eating. The rest of the plant will feed the Guineas so no waste there, one I will leave to go to seed and collect that ready to sow some more for next year. It is such a useful crop to have when there is nothing else around even though it takes forever to mature. The ground it is on I will clear and leave to recover, I will probably put some home made compost on there and then cover it. I have been growing in that ground continuously for three years I think so it needs rest and rejuvenation. I dug up a mini kiwi that has tried twice to come into leaf in the garden but each time the frost has got it, I will pot it up and see if I can rescue it and then overwinter it in the tunnel before putting outside next spring well after the frosts have gone.
I picked some asparagus spears in the afternoon, I had spotted them earlier when I was planting courgettes and thought, I need to pick those. They grow at a great rate of knots and if you miss them they become a fern, we also have asparagus beetle here and so picking the spears is a good way to knock back the numbers. The beetles lay little tiny eggs on the spear stems but they can easily be wiped off with your finger, no harm done, to the asparagus at any rate š I dug up a few leeks earlier, they have been in the ground all year and need to come out before they spoil. I often use leeks in place of onion, no point going to buy onions when I have leeks to use up. On the side in the kitchen I now have leeks, asparagus, rhubarb, lettuce and the acquired butternut squash, I need to figure out what I am going to do with it all. I think the asparagus will be a side dish for dinner later, I may cook it and stir it into my rice dish while John can have it with his chop and potatoes. The lettuce can go into salad which I will have with the rice and a chop, I can also use some more of the peppers I also acquired, that leaves the rhubarb the leeks and the squash to sort out.
I thought I would take a quick look in the small tunnel to see if any peas were ready, yes they were š so John will have asparagus and peas with his dinner tonight. Peas need picking regularly, they will then produce more peas, if you donāt pick them they think their job is done š The pea pod is the seed for next years plants after all and once they have successfully produced some pods they donāt need to do anymore, as a grower (and avid pea eater) we trick the plant into making more by taking the ones they have already produced, damn and blast it they think, I will have to produce more flowers now and ultimately more pea pods š This applies to a lot of veg, take away this years seed and it will do its upmost to produce more, good eh, well for us anyway.
A bit of a sit down after dinner and then I went out to potter around in the garden and do a bit of watering in the tunnels. I also watered the fruit cage, well the fruit in pots anyway. It keeps trying to rain but never really amounts to much. I took a few lavender cuttings while I was out there, I will take a few every now and again and see if they amount to anything. The setting sun was glorious tonight, it bathed the next field in a golden glow, it bathed everything it touched in a warm golden glow it was a sight to behold. How lucky are we to see that on a regular basis š„°
Friday: Not a bad day again, overcast but warm most of the day. I started off doing the usual bits in doors, loading the egg shed for the day, watering the squash plants, making sure the horses had plenty of water and potting up some more lemon grass seedlings. I also watered a few of the things that have been recently planted just to keep them going, not rain forecast for a while yet. Then I had a quick half hour catch up with a friend over from the US before Shelley came to pick me up to go out for lunch. We went to Bourton on the Water, it was packed, Shelley said on the way there, it will be nice to see the place without hundreds of tourists š¤£ I have never seen it so busy, itās one of those places we take for granted, we have always visited there right from when I was a child as my Aunt and cousins lived there, I guess you forget it is a tourist destination. We had a lovely lunch and then a wander round and an ice cream before heading for home again. Luckily for me it was overcast, a nice change to walk round without shade searching for once. When I got back I had to reload the egg shed, it had been busy while I was away and almost empty.
Saturday: Another wall to wall blue sky day š I wanted to get some food shopping done as early as possible this morning so by 8.30 we were off to the shops, I am going to do a cold buffet for any family that want to come over tomorrow afternoon. It will be one of a very few times we have had the opportunity to do this at all in a year, looking forward to it.
Although it didnāt take long to get the shopping I am always aware that the temperature is going up and the sun is getting higher giving me less time to get stuff done outside in the garden. So after putting the shopping away it was straight outside to get on, a bit of watering, some potting on, John cut the lawn and suddenly Iām out of shade and so I have to come inside š I could move the gazebo but itās already to hot for me to be out there moving stuff around, sometimes itās just the moving between shade areas that I can feel the sun prickling my skin, nightmare really, John said I need an indoor job but I like being outside š
We are all waiting to see what is going to happen on June 21st, itās supposed to be the end of all restrictions but I donāt think that will be the case. For us itās fine as it is at the minute, we feel that we have all the freedoms we need, we can go places, see people and do the things we like doing. I feel that at some point we have just got to learn to live with the virus being around, if when the majority of people have been vaccinated we still canāt have total freedom then what is the point of vaccinating š¤·āāļø
I put some lemon grass plants out for sale, not sure if they will sell or not, itās not something people commonly use unless they do a fair bit of Asian cooking. But it is a beautiful grass in its own right and has an amazing smell to boot so whatās not to like. Lemongrass is a powerful antioxidant and anti inflammatory, it would make a great lemon tea, it would also flavour vodka nicely I imagine, refreshing at any rate. I was surprised at how well it grew the first time I tried growing it but it does need to be brought in over the colder months.
It is so peaceful here today totally blissful. I think having spent last summer lockdown and not much interaction the rest of the year I have forgotten how noisy places can get. Yesterday was busy and consequently noisy, today in the shop it was noisy and here all I can really hear is nature, birds mostly. Starting to go out in the world again a bit makes me thankful that we live where we do, not sure why we would ever want to go anywhere else to be honest lol.
We lost more chickens today while we were putting the shopping away this morning I think, the birds were making a noise but I thought it was because we had let the dogs back out but then we found a pile of feathers a bit later on.
Sunday: Overcast today and the threat of rain later in the afternoon, bloody typical, when you want it, itās nowhere to be seen, when you donāt want it, whoosh he it comes š We got the morning jobs done and then I spent a couple of hours, picking, watering, weeding, hoeing and at the same time diving in and out of the kitchen cooking food for later on. Meanwhile John was burning, staining, tidying, and then came round to help me edge the lawn and tidy that up. Then indoors for a rest before I start sorting out food and drink for 3pm, I already got a head start by slow cooking the lamb overnight again, it was delicious last time so may as well do it again.
June is a fabulous month in both the flower garden and the veg garden, the flowers are beginning to bloom so we have nice splashes of colour everywhere this month. The veg will slowly start to come on a s by the end of the month we should be picking a selection of peas and beans plus the onions and garlic will be ready to harvest, dry and store. One of the best things in June is elderflower, the wonderful heady smell on a sunny day is a joy, taking those heads and making cordial is a delightful treat, the taste of summer is around the corner.
I Monday 17th May 2021: New week, new mindset š Starting today we can now eat inside cafes, restaurants and pubs etc, whoop, moreover we can go inside other peopleās houses and we can hug. Yeah I will skip the last part if you donāt mind, apart from direct family I wasnāt a hugger before and I wonāt be changing that outlook now just because we can š The weather is good today, good for me at any rate, not raining, not windy, not too sunny and warm but not too warm, winning combination. I have therefore been busy outside all morning, I started off with the usual things like stocking the egg shed, feeding the Guineas and then I moved onto sorting out cardboard rubbish and burning that. I have pulled up stingers and blackberry saplings and cut down the grass outside the pol pen which we will be using for a permanent flock when they arrive in a couple of weeks time. After that it was into the greenhouse, put some plants out for sale, prick out some seedlings, pot on more peppers and water everything. Then onto the big tunnel where I have now planted the rest of the melons, still have some tomato plants but I may put those outside. Then I planted some spare broad bean plants in an area I have decided to just put anything that is t going somewhere else š and finally onto sorting the ground where the runner beans are going. I have bindweed there, I have spent many years trying to painstaking eradicate it but I am now thinking, just live with it, sure makes life a lot easier thatās for sure. I will regularly pull it but you canāt stop the unstoppable! Then it was time for lunch and a cuppa, I am trying to get back on track I with tracking my food and I have put my Fitbit back on to encourage me to see how many steps a day I can achieve. Mind you scrabbling around on the ground digging and weeding is work as well but that doesnāt register as activity lol. Very typically as I take my break and sit down, well try too, the doorbell goes, a delivery arrives (and itās not always for me) and the dogs start barking so I keep getting up to look out the window. As I went out to collect a delivery that was for me the thunder started so looks like we are in for a storm, shame I didnāt get the beans in beforehand as the āchargeā of a storm would have done them good. It looks like any work outside this afternoon is now off the cards so I will switch to an indoor job.
I did have to sort out a squabble this morning too, itās not just siblings that fight š Ted has taken to picking on the cockerels and I let the light Sussex out this morning so they could mooch in the orchard area. Big mistake as Ted immediately started on the cockerel while I was feeding the Guineas. So much so that I had hold of Ted while Ted had firm hold of the cockerels comb in his beak and would not let go, no amount of persuasion and cajoling, I just had to wait until he decided to let go and then they continued fighting through the wire fence š We do have two surplus to requirement cockerels which we were going to dispatch but havenāt got round to it but this other one is my main man of the flock and I donāt want to have to get rid of him. I am going to have to have a good think about whether we keep Ted, he would be fine I think if we could find him a lady friend but they are rare as hens teeth if not rarer š
The chap came out to look at the ash trees and itās not good news š the one I thought had it does but so do the other three as well, I am gutted itās fair to say. Just at a time when the world needs more trees I am going to have to take four big trees down, one will come down as soon as he can fit the job in and the other three can probably go another two years and then will have to come down. The only consolation I can find is that the trees are not functioning as they would normally do anyway because they are diseased. He said it is spreading rapidly through the ash trees and even some other species of tree, quite a worry, it is an airborne fungus so no chance of stopping it. Trees can either be taken down or they will eventually fall down, as the three at the back pose little risk to anything or anyone they get a short reprieve but I think we will eventually take them down so that there are no āfreak accidentsā. The other āSodās lawā coming into play is the wood lol, ash is the kings wood, the best burning wood you can get and we are taking out the Rayburn, you couldnāt make it up could you š We will keep some of the wood for the fire pit and probably sell the rest on unless we get a small wood burner for heat only.
I pootled around indoors in the afternoon as the thunder rumbled and occasionally the rain showered, cleared out some bits from various drawers. John came home around three and then an old work colleague of his dropped round for a cuppa, which we could have indoors yay.
We had spoken to a local chap a couple of months back about doing some fencing in the paddocks for us and tonight he came round to have a look a chat about what we want doing. John will measure up and order the fencing and then Dan will come and put the fencing up when he has time. Once upon a time we definitely would have just done it ourselves but as we get older and because we donāt have the equipment also John is busy with other work we might as well give someone else the work and keep the economy ticking over. We have done it in the past but manually and the posts all end up falling over so it really needs a hydraulic rammer. We are changing the traditional slip rails to gates, slip rails work ok to a point but the rails are heavy to move and cumbersome when you have a horse in one hand already š
When I got back in a started on fixing some of my broken jewellery, well that was the plan anyway. I suspect plenty of people have broken chains and odd earrings lying around, well I got mine altogether and thought I would try repairing them. Turns out that was not as easy as I thought it would be and the upshot is I will sell the old and broken gold chains/earrings/rings and buy a new chain. There are a couple of rings that were Johns, they had to be cut off at various times, mostly due to him wearing them at work, which he no longer does as it is pretty dangerous and he has come close to losing a finger which is why they were cut off in the first place š
I sat outside having a morning coffee in the sunshine and saw a kestrel hovering over the front paddock, kestrels used to be common place hanging round at the side of the roads but these days they are in decline and p on the amber list so it was a rare sighting indeed. By the time I nipped in to get my camera it had gone š
Once outside I watered the tunnels and then picked rhubarb ready to bundle and put out for sale. I got the runner beans planted which was a job I was determined to get done and the squash plants out into the cold frames, I rather underestimated how many I had lol, I said twenty itās more like thirty š Samantha arrived with the twins, we played a while outside and then inside, then it was lunch time and then we went for a walk in the village. We met Uncle Shane and cousin Joe and then we saw Grampy, haha how many people you know can you see in a tiny village, plenty it seems. We watched minnows swimming, floated a head of cow parsley and watched it go down the stream then we walked up the hill to the church yard where we could see āthe whole worldā well thatās what it must look like to a toddler. By the time we got back it was peeing down with rain but they were asleep, Sam went out to get the horses in ready for the farrier and Charlie called in for a cuppa as well, seems like old times again now. They left and I waited for the fairies but he was running very late, I managed to get the dinner prepped just as he arrived. Horse pedicure complete I turned them back out by which time John had arrived home.
Lovely walk to the churchyard
Dusk, John goes out to put the birds to bed, he comes back in and asks me to give him a hand as one of the geese has decided to sit on the eggs laid today, the only trouble is that they are in the open part of the stable block and so itās not safe. My plan was to open one of the stables and see if we can get her to go in, nope she is not having any of it and even though I am trying to manoeuvre her with the aid of a handy rake she gets flighty and fighty! In the end she decides to leave the nest and go back up to the back paddock and the hut where all the others are. Tomorrow we will leave the stable door open and hopefully she will lay in there and then she can stay there because it is secure.
Wednesday: Although I was up and ready to get started on the day after going out to the dustbin I then spent far too long trying to identify a flock of birds. My conclusion is that they were a flock of juvenile starlings, they had gathered in the hedge then flown to the Apple tree making a racket because there was a Kite flying high above. At first I couldnāt work out what they were, I thought they were starling from a distance because of the number of them but then when I got close I couldnāt see the distinct flecks so then spent ages online trying to work out what they were. I think they are starlings but they are brown at the minute so that leads me to believe they are fledglings š
This mornings activities were mostly in the veg garden š to be honest it was lovely, very relaxed, the sun was shining, the ground is damp but not too bad. I spent the first part in the greenhouse potting on and pricking out, I seem to have an army of dwarf rudbeckia seedlings š Then out onto the the garden where I spent the time on my knees hand weeding the onion bed. Onions donāt like weeds (I donāt know why š) so keeping the ground clear is better for them. They are doing really, really well I am very pleased, the garlic is strong too so that is looking good, the shallots are doing what shallots do. The red onion I planted a few weeks ago have now rooted and thrown up green shoots, all this rain is good for them at the minute though it could do with being a lot drier later for the onion family otherwise they get problems. I had a coffee break mid morning, I actually sat down with it rather than keep picking up while I was doing other things, and now I have come in for some lunch and a short rest. I weeded a little bit of the bed with the beetroot and swede in but decided it was a little too wet and I would achieve more once it was drier. I really enjoyed myself this morning which is rare as I am usually rushing about trying to get things done but today was definitely a slower pace and therefore more enjoyable.
After my rest I went outside to do a bit more but the wind had got up and the sky was looking black š Instead I went into the office and got out my card making stuff and made a few cards, the ones in the shed have nearly all sold š I was tying to think how many I have made so far and I think it must be nearly 200! John came home a short while later and we sat outside and drank tea, then I thought as I was out there I might as well weed. I weeded two of the front beds and got a good start on the third until my back started aching and then I gave up. The ground is pretty wet, not in the raised beds, they are just damp but the one that is actually ground level, the worst one for weeds, is saturated and so I only weeded what I could reach from the hard standing as I donāt want to compact it too much. The cats were out there happily weaving in and out of my legs and arms while I was trying to work, and the birds that have nested in the boxes I propped in the buddliea bushes were sounding the alarm calls, in the end I moved so that the cats would move and the birds could relax a bit lol. We have blue tits and sparrow nesting in those boxes, sparrow nesting in the other boxes and in the gaps in the roof space. I have seen baby sparrow sat on the edge of the roof calling, you can tell they are babies because they have fluff poking out from between the feathers āŗļø
Popped round to Mums for a cuppa after dinner.
John was telling me that a customer of his that also comes to get eggs here saw what she thought was a large cat the other evening, up by us š Bigger than a domestic cat, lynx size, ooo eeeer, I need to get the wildlife camera up and running see if I can catch anything on camera.
Thursday: The weather forecast for tomorrow is horrendous, 40/50mph winds, torrential downpours urgh. With this in mind I have made sure that I have done everything I need to do out there this morning, topped up feed for the Guineas and quail, horses, watered the greenhouse and poly tunnels and picked everything I need to pick today. If it turns out to be not to bad then I am ahead of the game and if it is that bad I will be sat inside making more cards š With all that done this morning I am off to the local market with Shelley for a mooch round and hopefully a nice coffee. I have got tonightās dinner out already and we had some duck breast in the freezer so I am using up that, John wonāt have a clue what he is eating so as long as itās not too way out there all should be well, I am planning on doing them in orange and honey with new potatoes and purple sprouting š„°
The weather turned vile in the afternoon, the wind got up and the rain started, it feels quite a bit colder than it was yesterday, our weather is really seasonally off at the minute š
We have the twins at teatime today again today while Mia goes for her swimming lesson, the minute Sam went out the door George was trying to get the kitchen chair out from under the table saying āunch, unchā š No not yet George you only just got here š
I spent a large part of the evening doing two things, liaising with a chap about a piece of farm equipment that John and Luke are going to look at later this afternoon and taking a look at domestic windmills š In light of the winds we get here John has decided (you note I said John, more about that later) that a windmill might be better to generate power than solar panels. Researching everything to do with them was my job, we figure a 2/3KW is about right and even if it doesnāt provide all our electric it will pay for some of it. I said John because I have never been keen on having one, the one over the back from us is huge and there is no way I want something like that here. Having looked into it a bit more, there are of course much smaller ones and I can see the logic but I am still not that keen to be honest. One point I insist on though are storage batteries, there is no point harnessing power if when there is a power cut you still have no electric š
Friday: had to check the date today, the bins go out and I thought it canāt be the 21st May already but guess what š¤ The weather is shocking for the time of year and it wouldnāt be so bad if we had already had some good weather but it hasnāt been great, so I reckon we have had nearly 7months of Winter weather this year, depressing stuff. Like many people I wake up each day hoping that it will be at least a pleasant day but we have only had a handful and the whole forecast for the weekend ahead is dire. Of course I know exactly what will happen, the minute it changes it will be so hot I will struggle to get any hours in outside š but at least we will feel warmth and it will lift the spirits massively.
I am feeling surprisingly relaxed about things in the veg garden though despite everything, even the weeds, itās too wet on the ground to get on and pull them and just hoeing is a waste of time in this weather as they just regrow quickly. I am resigned to doing it when the time is right and not worrying that I will have so much to do I wonāt cope, this is a big change for me š I am happy that so far I have got everything out that needs going out, that which is already in is doing well and I have not had to water any of it outside. The tunnels are mostly now planted up and because the sun is not appearing the plants are not drying out rapidly so they are getting a good chance to establish, these are all the silver linings from all the clouds we have had. No mow May is working out well as itās been too wet to mow anyhow š The grass is green and lush and so are the weeds but hey who cares anymore, not me š
All the rhubarb and orange jam I made has sold so I need to make some more, apparently itās a real winner though I havenāt actually tried it yet, I will hopefully get time to make some more this weekend.
Not really got an awful lot done today, I did do a bit of baking, some rock cakes and some lemon biscuits. Then I did make a few cards and did a bit of experimenting with various designs. John came home at lunchtime and had to take the entire contents out of his van including the racking in order to go and fetch something later this evening. Then he had to go and have his second jab mid afternoon, he had a good lunch beforehand, mainly because he has to go out this evening. We had a discussion and a look at where my store pantry will be going, that is going to be a good project if the rain carries on for a few more weeks š¤£ That will be dual purpose, it will store root veg, garlic, onions, chillies, squash, apples, pears etc over winter instead of freezing everything, it will also give me room for plenty of dried goods, jam, chutneys, any bottled juice and canned goods and anything else I can think of. It will also be a place I can hang flowers and herbs to dry š„° Researching what I want I found that I am probably a ākitchen witchā fine by me š my Mum is definitely a hedge witch and so I am following in good footsteps, hopefully I will pass the baton on.
This is the picture from Pinterest I will be creating my room ideas on š„°
I bought an āechoā which arrived today, we have Alexa in the main living room but I needed something for the bedroom. We used to have a clock radio which was great but for years now we have been using this small, frankly rubbish, little digital clock with a light that is barely visible š The alarm is set on Alexa for the morning but when it goes off that means the morning starts off with John hollering āAlexa offā more than once if she doesnāt hear the first time, you can imagine that does not make for a gentle start to the day š So I bought the echo, and I have now set the alarm with a gentle wake up that steadily gets louder, much better for the nerves I think. We can also then play sleep music at bedtime, John has difficulty getting to sleep as his mind is always whirring. The other night I played a sleep story just to see if it helped and it did so that is another reason to purchase. When I am not well I will be able to lie and listen to some relaxation music or I can listen to healing meditation whatever takes my fancy, or I could even just lay in bed and listen to the radio or and audio book, the world is my oyster. I could of course do all this with my phone but it often goes off with message notifications so this way it should all be undisturbed listening š
Saturday: A busy day today, first off, the usual stuff then John went off to the wood yard to order fencing for the paddocks. I put in fresh bedding for the geese as I had noticed that all of them were out grazing, good time to nip in and do the job. Fresh bedding for the ducks as well, all this rain is making the hut a right muddy mess š Then the wood delivery turned up, quick eh, yes we knew they were having a delivery today but didnāt expect them to deliver straightaway lol anyway that left John to help unload 70 rails and 50 posts š meanwhile I tidied a few things up in the back area and then went out to the greenhouse and garden where I spent most of the rest of the day. Moving and potting on in the greenhouse, trying to find final positions for the peppers and aubergine, potting on more peppers and some melons, watering and a bit of tidying up. Then in the garden I planted about 36 leeks, the rest I have put at the end of the onion bed and planted them in clumps, I will pull them as baby leeks, waste not want not. I then planted some peas I have left over from the main planting, I have also watered both tunnels and picked purple sprouting at some point today. Inbetween all that there was washing up, loading the washing machine, getting the washing dry, making endless cups of tea, checking the torts, feeding the guinea pigs, stocking up the egg shed, sorting the eggs in the afternoon, looking for random goose eggs and discussing the store room, etc etc etc, pooped.
Sunday: The weather has been ok up to this very point, I had just come in, eaten my lunch and then the heavens opened š This morning we nipped to get a few bits from the the shop, it took less than 20mins from getting out the car to getting back in š When we got back John started creosoting the new posts, the tannilised wood these days is rubbish right throughout the industry (it is widely acknowledged) and so when we are paying a fortune for it we want it to last more than a couple of years before it starts to rot. Meanwhile I have been in the greenhouse sowing some more courgettes as I only had three plants come up, then I planted some echinop plants in the front border and after that I spent my time weeding the front beds, four bucketfuls so far and still a bit more to do. There are some āweedsā I leave such as any poppies that have self set and forget me nots but any deep rooted seedlings need to come out such as dock, nettles, grass etc. There is Bryony growing and I have to keep pulling that up as itās a bit of a thug, I donāt mind once everything is growing but not while it is trying to get established.
I have managed to locate not one but two lady friends for Ted finally š so I have been liaising with their owner as to when we can pick them up or get them delivered here.
This afternoon I am off to Harry Potter World with Shelley, Martin and the kiddies, out of the Shire for the first time in nearly a year š I am leaving John in charge, he declined the invitation to come along lol.
Have a good week, hopefully we will see a bit more sunshine on the horizon, I am looking forward to an early morning cuppa out there without feeling cold š„¶
Monday 10th May 2021: OMFG! I have just typed up todayās page and accidentally discarded it š¤¬ so I have to start again, I was initially distraught then I realised it was only Monday so I hadnāt lost that much š
The weather looked promising this morning, not cold, not too warm, not too sunny and not raining, breezy which rose to pretty windy during the afternoon but all in all an ok day.
I started off this morning cleaning the boot room surfaces, sorting out the dehumidifier, putting out eggs, putting on washing etc etc, then as per my plan I went into the greenhouse.
Sorting out plants was my main objective, moving them to the tunnels, moving them to the cold frames, discarding anything that hadnāt made it and resowing anything that had gaps (mostly dwarf beans) I rang John who was working in Oxford and asked him to get some compost on his way back as I have plenty that need potting on. The rest of the time I have spent in the big tunnel planting cucumbers and tomatoes. They have had plenty of tlc as I donāt want to plant them up half hearted and not get a good return, so each plant has some spent mushroom compost at the base, some pelleted chicken manure, more mushroom compost on top and then I have covered the soil with black fabric weed membrane which will not only keep any weeds under control but keep the roots warm and some moisture in as well. If I donāt get a good haul from that lot then there is no hope. The tomatoes have had the same treatment, firstly I had to put in some pallet collars as raised beds because when I dug down the clay was just under the surface. When we sited the tunnel years ago we didnāt do a test dig (big mistake) and soon realised it was on a wide clay seam š I have tried for a few years to improve the soil but to no avail, so enter pallet collars and raised beds. The collars are great, these are 1200 x 1000 and just the right height to grow in, we also use them stacked to put sieved home made compost in as well, they can then be taken down as we use the compost and they fold so stack neatly away.
I have got some tomato plants left so I will squeeze them in where I can, you can never have too many tomatoes š I have rather lost the plot when sowing tomato seeds though as I have another tray coming on in the greenhouse, I will have to put them out for sale as I really donāt need any more š
There is always a sense of satisfaction when you turn garden trimmings, duck bedding and old plants into useable compost š
I have now put the runner beans and sweetcorn plants out in the cold frame they should be fine, the only plants not out there yet are the squash plants because they are quite fleshy and any frosty nights will not be good for them, they can wait a while longer. That will just leave the pepper, chilli and aubergine plants in the greenhouse which is where they will stay to grow on and produce fruit, they like the incredible heat that the greenhouse gets in the summer months.
Planted up the other box with tomatoes in the afternoon, John came home around 3.30 so I stopped for a cup of tea and a sit down, then someone came to get some plants I had put by, then it was time to get dinner sorted. I have had dinner and am toying with the idea of doing another stint this evening, as yet undecided, I may get too comfy sat here š
May 10th is World Lupus Day, I have Lupus, it does not have me, it is the wolf within, rears itās ugly head sometimes but with fabulous Doctors and Consultants we manage to get it under control. Before I was diagnosed I had never heard of it š¤·āāļø if you havenāt, look it up š š¦
Tuesday: John has gone to work again today but did the feeding and letting out of the birds before he went. Meanwhile I sorted a hotchpotch dinner for later, not really that much of a mash up but various bags of half used veg and a previously cooked chicken leg have now gone into the slow cooker with some frozen chicken stock. Then it was onto getting washing sorted, rubbish out, eggs out, feed cats and dogs, go out and feed the horses and Guineas before starting on watering the tunnels. After that I finally got into the greenhouse and potted on the peppers, some cucumbers that have gone out for sale along with some tiny tomato plants. I sowed some more squash, runner beans and French beans, might as well have too many than not enough. Then onto the front beds and plant up some quick filler plants I bought, snapdragons, pinks and verbena. I also planted some flowers I grew from seed in a different bed, Californian poppies, cornflower and sweet rocket which have all gone in the flowering shrub bed. That bed will look as near to āwoodland/wildā as I can get it to look and it is full of nectar rich plants for the insects. Then it began to rain, up to then it had been a nice day, some sunshine, not windy and not cold, at least the rain will water everything in but I was hoping to get some weeding done, that will now have to wait. I will have a quick lunch break and then probably plant up the melons in the big tunnel.
Itās 2pm, to be honest I thought it was later than that, I didnāt do the weeding, instead I have spent two hours filling up the last raised bed which is by the new fence and gate at the back. We still have the drive to finish but John built the bed a while back, today I put down weed membrane and then filled it with soil. The soil came from various places, leftover mushroom compost, leftover topsoil, pots that had bulbs in them and left over soil (ones I didnāt plant in the other beds) and then a couple of barrowfuls from the compost heap. Then it was onto planting, there is an elderflower and a sumac that grows there and I wanted to leave those in, everything else was just plants I had lying around waiting for something to happen to them. I am going to call this the Bertie Basset bed as it has all sorts in it š There is no plan to this bed it is just what I have lying around, stocks, achillea, crocosmia, viola, Hardy geranium, a couple of things I have no idea what they are yet, some pots of cornflower and poached egg seeds, dill, coriander, a tamarisk, and another shrub that I think is an ornamental currant but time will tell, there are also some sweet peas for good measure. All plants I had potted up to use at some point, I also dug up some forget me not which will readily self seed over time. I then netted it over for a day or two because the cats will think that āthe lady that feedsā them has built a new deluxe toilet area for them š It will be interesting to see how this bed develops, some things are thuggish but they can be dug up or dug out in the autumn if they take over too much. The seeds I have put in pots and then sunk the pots, this is because there will be weeds growing in this soil and so if I know where the seedlings are they wonāt get massacred in the weeding process. Job done it is time for a sit down, my feet are hurting, always a good cue for time out.
I did go back out with a cup of tea and did some hand hoeing on the broad bean and onion bed just before John came home.
Did you know that Oxfordshire is probably the most historically rich county in England, no nor did I until I was reading up about a few things. My brother has made an exciting and potentially important discovery near to where he lives, he was tidying a hedge and trying to get water to run away when he made a find, most people would have thought it was just rubble. The potential is great so much so that geophysics were done and now some trenches are being dug and explored, canāt say much more than that at the minute but the experts are excited and if it turns out to be what they think then my brother will get some of thecredit for the find, how fab is that š„° I got interested when geophysics were mentioned lol, I love the thought of what is under our feet from hundreds if not thousands of years ago, we bumble along with absolutely no idea of what has gone before which I find fascinating. I remember the point I became intrigued when I discovered that although the Romans built extensive settlements here and had all kinds of statues and monuments, by the time the Vikings arrived, a difference of around 3/400 years, nobody really knew who these artefacts belonged to, mind blowing, youād think the knowledge would have been passed on but we seemed to go into regression, again I find that fascinating. I guess it goes hand in hand with my interest in the apocalyptic because of course that is exactly what would happen if civilisation was brought to its knees, we would have to start again and that would take hundreds of years to rebuild current systems by which time a lot of knowledge is lost š
Wednesday: Whoop whoop 2nd vaccination day š I felt quite emotional getting that done which took me a bit by surprise must have had some tension even though I didnāt realise it. We were up early as I had it booked for 8.40, it was busy when we got there but the efficiency was incredible and I went straight in, waited my 15 minutes and then left, job done.
Back home I decided not to do anything strenuous, I had two big glasses of water and some paracetamol just in case š. I have spent the last two days in the garden so today I can take a more relaxed approach to jobs. Yesterday I got some frozen plums and some elderberries out of the freezer so this morning I made some elderberry syrup for Charlie and three small plum crumbles, one for Johns dessert later and two for the freezer and then an extra batch of crumble mix to freeze for later use. I know I am trying to get the freezers emptied but converting produce into easy grab items will work the same way. I intend to harvest a lot of elderberries this season, they are so good for you and can be added to crumbles, smoothies, or made into syrup for a good winter vitamin c shot everyday, very beneficial.
I went out and watered the greenhouse and the tunnels then apart from cooking the dinner I havenāt done anything else really. My arm is a little sore from the injection but so far so good š
I ordered another radiator, for our bedroom this time.
Thursday: Up and about fairly early, John did the animals and then went off to work, I got on with the usual bits indoors and then out to feed the quail and Guineas, top up the egg shed and pick asparagus, rhubarb and lettuce to put out for sale this morning. I have saved some asparagus to have for lunch with a couple of hard boiled eggs and I will pick more lettuce to go with it, a self sufficient lunch š„° I have to pop out this morning to do someone a favour for an hour but as itās raining already I wonāt be missing out on outside jobs , it feels as though the rain is set in for the day. Everywhere is looking very lush and green, the hedges, the trees, the shrubs are all bursting into life and it looks wonderful.
John or rather Patch discovered a hedgehog nest the other night, very happy that they are still around, each year you never know if they have made it through or not and each year it is delightful to discover that they have š The dogs canāt get at it as they have made it under pallets in the hay barn but they know they are there and John has seen them too. We are still doing no mow May though everything is looking a bit untidy I will persevere for as long as I can. The only problem will be that the grass will be long come June which will make it more difficult to cut, might even be hay by then š
I still have no side affects from the vaccine yesterday morning apart from a heavy feeling at the site of the vaccine, fingers crossed it stays that way š
Plenty of rain today š¤Ŗ I lit the Rayburn mid day just to take the chill off and keep the damp at bay.
Some torrential downpours š§
I had the twins at teatime while Sam took Mia for a swimming lesson, great for them to be able to do something a bit normal again, Shelley took Florence swimming the other day and Josh has started martial arts š
Friday: Heavy rain overnight and into the morning again, I thought I might wake up to find we had floated away š The overall temperature is slowly rising though, itās no where near as cold as it was a week or so ago. Everything is looking very lush due to the rain but it would be nice to see a bit of sunshine to really show of the colours, I am not holding my breath, thundery showers are on the forecast again today.
Am feeling a little sluggish this morning, I think thatās the vaccine but it is difficult to tell as it is pretty much the same as an off day with the Lupus.
Apart from checking the tunnels and greenhouse for watering (with no sun appearance they wonāt have dried out at all š) I doubt I will do much outside today, no point cleaning anything out in this weather, it just makes things worse, canāt really do much on the soil as again it would make things worse, so it looks like it might be cleaning the house, oh joy š¤Ŗ
I keep looking at the clock and thinking, has it stopped š, I have had breakfast, put dinner in the slow cooker, topped up the egg shed, washed up, washed the duck eggs, fed the dogs and cats, put the bin out, whizzed round with the hoover and polish and wiped the bathroom round and itās still only 9.30, I honestly thought the clock was wrong š Better find some other jobs to do š
I cleaned out the fridge, always a great job to do lol and then as I had stuff to use up I did some baking. Two loaves of bread are now on the first prove and I have mixed up a date and pecan nut loaf ready to cook at the same time as the bread. I also had a chicken thigh in the fridge to use up and that is now in a mini roasting tin along with some asparagus, spinach, garlic, lemon, veg stock a knob of butter and some black pepper. Makes sense to make full use of the the oven heat once itās switched on, I had better get used to doing this I think, with the Rayburn it didnāt matter as the wood was all free and some the heat was free but once that goes I need to be more energy efficient.
Omg the chicken smelt so delicious that I ate it for lunch and it was amazing, I donāt say that about many things, I cut a slice of freshly baked bread to mop up and I reckon it was a gourmet dish š No pictures because I gobbled it up before thinking about it š
Saturday: Still damp with threats of rain and itās not going to change much over the next few days it seems. This morning John has gone off to get feed while I sort out the usual bits and pieces.
Yesterday while I was getting the dustbin in I noticed how wonderful the lilacs were looking. We have three different colours here, a white (which is not so spectacular) a light lilac and a deep lilac which is my favourite, most of those blooms are double headed. I picked a few of each to bring some colour indoors.
The current rain and warmer temps are making the natural world look fabulous I think, it is like you have put a vivid filter on everything š
Looking out of the kitchen window at the minute is a pleasure š„° No filter needed on this!
John came back mid morning and we got the radiator on the wall and I sorted out āstuffā more stuff that I have no idea why I keep it, half empty tubes of hand cream, body lotion, hair grips that have seen better days š things I have had for years but also not used for years either š I need to be a bit more ruthless about moving stuff along, either to the charity shop or selling on. Then we popped out to get a bit of shopping and round to Mums to see Ken as it is his birthday today.
The rain was off and on, on more than it was off š¤Ŗ
Spent the afternoon trying to get my head around some online media pages š¤Ŗ I am not a technophobe by any means, I come from the generation that started out on a manual typewriter, moved to a word processor and then onto dial up internet. I learnt to programme in the early days though it is way beyond me now, I wonder how many people reading this would even know what a punched card was, we used to have them in IT lessons, not that I could ever work out what we were doing with them mind you š¤£ Despite all this and trying to ākeep upā, some of the more recent social media sites leave me a little bit fluffed š¬ The connectivity of some of them donāt seem to flow well, or maybe itās just me š
Still no significant side affects from the vaccination.
The news around the world makes for depressing viewing at the minute, weāll always but especially at the minute, I despair of the human race, I really do, peace and harmony is what I would like to see.
Sunday: A drier start to the day but still damp underfoot and still the threat of showers.
John did the morning rounds and then unloaded the feed he got yesterday and also cleaned out the ducks. Meanwhile I sorted out indoor stuff before going out and picking purple sprouting and asparagus for dinner this evening. After that I went into the greenhouse and pricked out some dwarf rudbeckia and watered the plants, gave them a check over to make sure all is well. The risk of frost should end mid May (which is now upon us) and looking at the forecast for the next week I think I will put the squash plants out to start hardening off. If I give them just over a week they should be fine but I will need to watch the weather forecast carefully just in case.
Talking about all being well and watching out for things, we have four ash trees here, I donāt know if you have heard but there is a big problem with ash die back in the south of the country. Potentially it will wipe out the ash tree population very much like Elm tree disease did with those trees, it is sad that there are generations of people who will not be able to recognise an Elm š One of my ash trees is looking as though it may have succumbed but I am not entirely sure, I have been in touch with someone who will be able to tell me if it is dieback or natural splitting, my suspicions are itās the first one of the two but I am no expert. This will mean the tree will have to come down which is tragic, I will however plant at least three or four more trees to try and make up for it š
Have pottered about checking over the tomato plants and taking the side shoots off, watering, feeding them. Then planted up an aubergine in the big tunnel along with three sweet pepper plants, might as well spread things around a bit and see which gives the best results. I am surprised to see the tomato plants flowering already, thatās early in my experience usually is ma waiting ages for them to flower. The peas I planted in the small tunnel with the toms are romping along, already flowering and producing pea pods, I imagine these will peak quickly due to the heat but itās an experiment and thatās what experiments are for, to see what happens. Going back to the aubergine, if you are growing them they do a little better if you hand pollinate them with a paintbrush, unless there are plenty of bees going in with them, doing it manually is a sure fire way to make sure they are pollinated. š
Monday 3rd May 2021: Bank Holiday Monday, in a normal year there would be plenty of days out to choose from but this year š¤ add to that the weather forecast and well letās just say we might as well stay at home š Which is of course exactly what we are doing, I have stopped for a coffee break and John is out on the tractor trying to finish off the side driveway, I wonder how long it is before he gets rained off. Meanwhile I have been in the greenhouse, sorting out plants, tidying up, throwing stuff away, recycling spent compost, moving plants outside to harden off. I really need to move some of the plants on and so have taken the risk even though the temps are still down, they canāt stay down forever surely š¤·āāļø It is still only mid morning so I am going to have to find other projects to get my teeth into but planting up is not going to be one of them. I have got some potting on to do maybe that is the direction I will go in today.
I did go back into the greenhouse, might as well as itās not bad in there, I put some of the basil seedlings into a big pot ready to move to the tunnel. I have grown red and green basil this year for a lovely contrast, I also moved the garlic chive seedlings all into one big pot and was just about to do the dill when Shelley arrived with Josh and Flo so we stopped for a cuppa.
Midday and I have lit the Rayburn, it is not very nice out there and itās only going to get worse. It seems like we have had a very long winter and we are not out of it yet, I am starting to feel slightly suffocated by it all. where are the warm mornings and lovely spring days, not on the horizon yet sadly.
One thing I have done indoors is take photos of the Rayburn ready for when we sell it, we had thought we would be finished with it by now but that is not the case. We will move to warmer weather eventually though and thatās when it will go up for sale, part of me will be sorry, the other part will be glad, and we move on to different things, hopefully some solar panels soon as well.
Tuesday: It is still very windy this morning but at least the rain has stopped. The day after a bank holiday is always a funny one I feel, you have relaxed a little too much to really get going like you would on a Monday morning. John has gone off to do some work so I am on my own today, I have two jobs in mind but as yet have not decided which to concentrate on. First is housework, needs a Hoover and a polish all through but I am also contemplating getting the big tunnel sorted and possibly planted up. A look at the weather forecast shows that it is not going to improve that much over the next week and we are now into May, time to stop dallying I think. I have half heartedly got the housework on the list as I am really leaning towards the tunnel just procrastinating š
The cucumbers will go into the tunnel along with some more tomato plants but I will also hedge my bets with peppers though most of those will stay in the greenhouse which gets the best heat over summer. The pots of basil and coriander will also go in there and the lemon grass once that is big enough to transplant, I already have some early strawberries growing and a few rows of little gem lettuce. The orange and lemon tree are looking terrible, I have fed them but I think the prolonged cold is reeking havoc and although I have tried to stabilise them I am not sure if they are going to make it to be honest. I may have to get them out of the pots to make sure there is no other reason for their demise such as vine weevil.
Melons will also be going into the tunnel and again I might have to cover the doors with extra fleece to keep out any draught. This year has certainly thrown up totally different weather patterns and trying to level the growing conditions is a challenge š Everything growing outside is fine on the whole itās just the tender plants that struggle. The squash plants definitely wonāt be going out for quite a while yet, maybe even next month before that happens
Yesterday I bought some mushrooms from my sister, I openly admit to having failed at home grown mushrooms but her partner has worked hard for the last couple of years perfecting the art of growing them. Look at these beautiful clusters, they smell amazing, the colours are beautiful and I am about to have some for breakfast so I will let you know how they taste.
They were delish, I had mine cooked in a little butter and black pepper on some wholemeal toast with a coffee, nice and simple but absolutely delicious š
I went out after breakfast and gave biscuit some hay and stored out their water buckets, generally speaking, these days John does most of the poultry and I do the others, the others are cats, dogs, horses, guinea pigs, torts, quail any other waifs and strays we happen to have at the time. I used to do all of them every day twice a day but on top of housework, cooking, paperwork, gardening, veg growing and prepping it got too much and stressed me out a little so with John easing back on his plumbing he began to take on some of the jobs, and still does them even when he has a days work to do š„°
Jeez that is hard work out there, the winds are so strong, it 10.30am and I am done being buffeted, I look like I have been dragged through a hedge backwards! I did get a bit done, I decided that the cucumber plants are still way too small to go in the ground, we need the sun to come through, it wouldnāt matter about the wind and the rain if we had some warmth to go with it. In the tunnel I did get things ready for planting later in a couple of weeks time I think. I also had a good look at the orange and lemon tree, nothing in the roots that looks ominous but they are damp, considering I only watered them well once in the last couple of weeks this is not a good thing. They like a good long water just once a week but it is not warm enough for the excess to get soaked up and so they are sitting in damp soil, no wonder they donāt look well. To remedy this I have provided them with a duvet experience lol. They look ropey even to an untrained eye but on closer inspection there are lots of tiny new leaves just starting to appear so I am not too worried.
I have trimmed them up and wrapped them in bubble wrap and a fleece hat š hopefully they will appreciate the tlc.
Sam popped in for an hour or so with the twins and when she left I figured I would get some cleaning done after all, then I will sort out dinner for later and get the Rayburn ready to light….againš
After Sam had left I got on with some hoovering, polishing and cleaning the bathroom, not a full clean but a whip round so that I feel it is clean enough for the next few days at least and I sorted out dinner for this evening. I pondered while I was hoovering, as you do, mulling over the last year or so and what if anything it has taught me. There is plenty I was already aware of more so than others I think, I was always aware that life could so easily go wrong on a big scale, a pandemic, a natural catastrophe, some sort of apocalyptic happening and so when covid hit it was no surprise to me, more than that, my previous musings on the subject were no longer a laughing matter for John š It was a reality and all the while I have thought, as bad as it has been, it could have been a whole lot worse š¤ That is something for future generations to remember, I hope they do but the chances are that it will be so far back in their history they wonāt put in to place the lessons we have learned (and Iām not talking about stocking up on toilet paper) maybe they will, who knows. The one thing we have all learnt is that things donāt always go the way we think they will just because that has been the norm all our lives, things change, events occur and we have to adapt. Life in the here and now is important is what I have learnt, and the simpler the life the easier it is to adapt to change. I need to stop hoovering š¤£
As I have mentioned before, the past six/seven months have been the windiest I have ever known it to be, such a curious year weather wise and no chance of planning anything. At the moment we have a draught blowing through the back door, the whole building moves over time and as a consequence the doors end up either not opening or closing properly or a gap appears suddenly which is what has happened lately. I am trying to find the best kind of product to use for now as we are planning on getting a new door at some point.
I went out the the greenhouse with the intention of potting on, when I went in it was 36c the sun came out and within two minutes it had climbed to 40c, too hot to stay in there lol, canāt win at the minute. It did make me think though because I came back indoors and itās cold, we should be using more passive solar on the house somehow, difficult when I canāt tolerate UV rays though š¤
A friend messaged in the early evening to say there was a street food wagon parked up at a local caravan park, normally that is not something that we would go and get but I hadnāt put the dinner in yet and I thought, why the heck not, letās go š It was Sri Lankan and it was lovely and even John tried one or two things, ooosh itās spicy he said š¤£ but he did eat it, there is hope yet.
Wednesday: Itās a promising start to the day, the sun is shining the wind has dropped to a breeze and I can feel that it is not as cold as it has been of late, though still below average. Whoop, the world is my oyster today and the weather is favourable now I just need to decide exactly what to do, or I may just glide through the day picking and choosing as I go.
I went out and began by doing some picking, 5 bundles of rhubarb that went out for sale, a good haul of purple sprouting some of which went out for sale and some I have kept back for dinner tonight along with a bundle of asparagus. The asparagus is slow this year I think I need to give it a good feed and mulch at the end of the season. I then had a job in mind but got waylaid talking to a customer and by the time I got back in the garden I had forgotten all about it and went on to something else š That something else was pottering in the greenhouse again š„° moving things around, potting some things on, watering and feeding the hungry plants with an organic feed. There is still a bit of a chill in the air even though the sun is out but it is pleasant enough and warm enough for me to work which is the main thing.
Thursday: Late afternoon and I have just sat down after a busy day of bit and pieces. I started off by sorting out my jam jar stash ready for jam season. Sorting out what lids fit and what jars I have got, the upshot was that I needed to order more jars so that is in hand and they are arriving tomorrow. Then onto picking some rhubarb and some purple sprouting, the rhubarb I picked today were the thin stalks that I canāt really put out for sale but they are ideal for jam. On then to jam making, rhubarb and orange again as that has gone down well with people and especially Josh who said it was delicious. Mum came over to grab some material and then Shelley came over to get the purple sprouting, both of them went away with a bag full of stuff from my freezers, mainly fruit but also some pasta sauces I froze last year and a few other bits and pieces that I wonāt get round to using for various reasons. Most years I can run one freezer down, give it a clean out and then turn it on again when the season gets underway. Last year however I could not feed the family for Sunday lunches etc and so the stock pile stayed piled up. We have used most of the veg but there was a lot of fruit and going through the freezer I can see I need to have a big cook up and use some of the contents up. Once that was done I made a quick rhubarb crumble for pudding later, sat down and John came home. What is funny about that is that when he comes in and I am sat down he says ājust sat down thenā to which I always reply yes I have actually, this time I had literally just written the first line of this paragraph when he appeared š
I sweetened the rhubarb with honey instead of sugar, although there was still sugar in the crumble topping, it was lovely just the right balance, not sweet but not tart either, winner š
One of our hens is laying a whopper egg every day, 100g + š we had them for dinner tonight and of course they were double yolkers. For comparison a medium size egg would weigh between 57 & 67g anything over 66g goes in a large box and on avaerage they are around 72g so you can see what a huge difference the 100g ones are, xxl I think.
Friday 7th May 2021: I make a special note of the date today because it should have been Charlie and Maccaās wedding day, I should have been the Mother of the the Bride and we should have been celebrating. Covid has taken a lot of lives around the world which is tragic in itself but it has also taken lots of hopes and dreams which I know can all be postponed for another time but it still impacts on those that had their plans and dreams in place. The wedding will still go ahead it will just be towards the later end of the year and we keep our fingers crossed that things continue to move in a forward direction.
The sun has made an appearance this morning and it is warm enough to wander outside with my morning cuppa and have a look over the front flower beds which I duly did. Today is one of only two or three mornings where it has been nice enough to do that and this is a short interlude. Tomorrowās forecast is horrendous, high winds and heavy rain, you gotta laugh or you would just cry. I am glad it is nice today as we are going out for a family lunch with Charlie and Macca as a way of marking the day, we couldnāt really ignore it like it was never booked.
I whipped out and gave the guinea pigs a quick clean out, fed them, gave them hay and fresh water, picked up the quail eggs on the way back through. Went to the hay barn to get hay for biscuit and found a goose egg under the hay, John said one had started laying there, first it was in the stable black now the hay barn but I have shut that off so she will have to go back to the stable. Three other geese are now sitting tight, one other is laying the other two, well if they are laying I have no idea where š
A chap came to collect something I had up for sale and was saying what a lovely place and that he and his girlfriend would like to do something similar. As I always say to people, go for it, you get one life so do what makes you happy. Then I thought about our journey over the years, itās never straight forward, you learn at lot, your emotions get battered at times but itās hugely rewarding and itās a great lifestyle choice, well I think so anyway. The only thing is you have to learn to move the goalposts if necessary, that does not come easily for me especially once I get into āideologyā mode. Self sufficient to me was exactly that, nothing that you canāt produce yourself or swap/barter, self reliance is also a major factor, making sure you can do everything you need to. These ideals are of course ridiculous especially if itās just one person doing it (which until the last year it has been, just me for 80% of the time) Still I busted a gut trying to do it until eventually you canāt and you take a step back and think āah what the hellā and suddenly life becomes more enjoyable. You stop busying yourself for 18hrs a day making sure you, plant, grow, harvest, process, make, bake, store, dry, as much as you possibly can and you do what you can when you can, it is a lot more harmonious and thatās how it should be otherwise you are still on that hamster wheel of life just one with different objectives. These days life is a lot more relaxed, I settle for self sufficientish and I think the pandemic and the lockdowns have had a lot to do with our attitude shift, what doesnāt get done today, will wait until tomorrow (obviously that does not include feeding animals š) I suppose what I am saying is, if you are starting out on this journey, here speaks the voice of experience, at times be prepared to take a different road to the one you had mapped out. If this last year has taught us anything at all it is that things donāt always go the way you think they will š„°
Saturday: Urgh what a truly horrid day today, I heard the rain all through the night, itās just gone midday and it hasnāt really eased up for longer than half an hour. At the minute rain is driving from south to north so at least itās not as cold as it would be the other way round š At the moment we donāt have the strong winds I thought we were getting I may have been wrong about those or they may come later. We made a decision not to bother doing too much today, canāt really do a lot outside, except John has cut some more wood. We went and got some food shopping first thing, not much just mostly stuff that John eats. I want to start using up a lot of the freezer contents so I have warned him there may be some strange meals coming his way š and probably plenty of soup which is ideal at the minute.
I lit the Rayburn at lunchtime to keep the damp at bay and just take any chill off, probably wonāt have it going all day as it will get too warm. I need to order the next electric radiator and John is going to convert the ladder rails int the bathroom by filling them with oil and then they will be connected to the electric. The ladder rails will be so much better on electric because we canāt dry the towels over summer normally so it will be a great improvement on that score.
Sunday: Not too bad a day today, it was a little windy overnight but that has settled to a stiff breeze š and no rain, mostly cloudy which is fine by me, feels a lot warmer than previous days. We or rather I, had already decided we were going out today to do something different, I am fed up of not doing anything away from here. So we went to an antiques centre for a shuffty round, had an ice cream from the van in the car park and then John sat in the car while I mooched a little round the garden centre. I found a craft area and bought a couple of bits for doing something with but I did resist any plants today, go me š
Back home and time to get the leg of lamb prepped, pick some fresh greens from the garden, purple sprouting, asparagus and some mangetout from the tunnel. Really they are undeveloped pea pods but they will taste great and there were only about five of them, I pinched out the tops of the pea plants to get more shoots from the bottom and waste not want not they will go in with the greens as well. By eck, people pay a fortune for straight to the table from the garden dinning and here we are doing it on a daily basis š„° With a flourless chocolate cake made for dessert we are living the dream here š
Have a great week, I am hoping the weather will be a little more seasonal than it has been of late but I donāt want it to go straight into wall to wall sunshine as I wonāt get on very well in that either š
Monday 26th April 2021: Still on the chilly side for April and no sign of it warming for the next two weeks. Best to dress for the cold and take layers off I think š¤ This week John has a full week of āproperā work so I will mainly be here on my own bimbling away. This morning I set to making the dandelion honey from the flowers I picked yesterday, if you are going to try then pick them from a place you know has t been sprayed with anything and preferably where animals have not been š Mine have come from the garden where no animals are allowed and definitely no spraying, pick them in the sunshine so they are fully open and warmed by the sun. You can either take your time and pull off all the petals or you can keep them whole with the green bits attached (not the stalks) because you are going to strain it so it wonāt make much difference in the end. Just give the flowers a good shake so any insects have time to escape before you boil them š Simmer for 15 mins with a slice of lemon and then leave overnight to steep. Strain and squeeze out all the juice you can, measure the liquid, you want a pound of sugar for every pint of liquid. Then simmer (a good simmer not gentle) for 15 mins before putting into hot, sterilised jars. Thatās it, liquid gold, sunshine in a pot, it is not as thick as honey more of a sauce but still very delicious and worth having a go just so you can say you have done it. Back in the day dandelions were a very important flower/crop and far from removing them from lawns they were actually planted up. They are a great source of nectar for bees and other insects, a great food source for many small mammals and you can even make a reasonable coffee from the dried roots (I have read this but never tried) Part of what is wrong with todayās thinking is we want perfect lawns and grass areas, what is perfect, thatās the question š¤·āāļø To me a perfect lawn is full of wild flowers, they are not weeds, they serve a purpose just not to humans, unless you make use of them that is.
It is mid morning and one of my plans today is to get my tomato plants in the polytunnel. I have looked at the long range forecast and even though the temps are below average it looks like the overnight temperature will remain above freezing for most of the time. I may have to put an extra fleece over the plants if I think itās going to go below 0c but itās looking hopeful.
I spent the rest of the morning in the small tunnel planting the tomato plants, 14 in total a mix of sweet million, tigerella and cherry indigo. I have to confess I donāt know which plant is which because though I labeled the rows when they were growing I muddled them up once they were potted up, I didnāt think carefully enough and whoops error made. Still have more plants, some will go into the big tunnel and I always try some outside to see how they do. I have staked them all and tied them in and the run string from the stake to the crop bar in the roof of the tunnel. These measures will hold them upright and hopefully take the weight when they are loaded with tomatoes. Because the temperatures are not up to seasonal average at the minute I have taken the precaution of fleecing the inside of the door ways to provide extra protection from the night temperatures, I have also cut extra fleece to put over them at night. Itās nice and warm in there at the minute, around 25c but you can feel the difference once you step outside so best to Molly coddle them as much as possible at the moment, I donāt want to lose them after spending so long getting them growing from seed.
I came indoors then for a bite to eat, I am not sure if it was the heat in the tunnel or what but I didnāt feel too well, a bit sick. I have had it before and wonder if it is my blood sugars dipping too low for some reason. Usually if I come in and have something to eat and a sit down it passes after a while š¤·āāļø I have regular blood test so if it was a permanent problem I think they would have seen it in the results before now. It tends to be when I am busy but it doesnāt happen often, I always have a good breakfast of oats and banana so itās not that I have skipped breakfast or anything like that.
It is very quiet here today, not much noise outside at all and we have probably had one egg customer all day š We worked out that we need to sell Ā£7 worth of eggs a day just to cover the feed costs that doesnāt even include bedding or our time and the egg boxes we buy and it certainly doesnāt cover times when we have to worm the hens (which we only do if necessary). If business gets much slower I think we will have to have a serious discussion about wether to carry on with it or not š We might have to come up with a different idea altogether. I think it is because we are used to not being able to keep up with egg demand lol and it has certainly dropped for some reason. Not that I am too worried, the intention was always to be self sufficient and the egg thing just started as a sideline to move extra eggs but itās nice to have people come and have a chat and put the world to rights sometimes.
Cup of tea and a sit down mid afternoon, I have just finished making some rhubarb and orange jam. Hoping it will set, there is not much mystery to jam making except the set lol and a lot depends on how much moisture is in the fruit you use. Really once you get it to a rolling boil and a temperature of 105c it theoretically should set but there is always the unknown. I never do the freezer test because quite frankly I canāt be arsed, our freezers are right out the back so by the time I got the plate in it would have warmed up a bit and so no good anyway. I prefer to get it to temp and hopeš¤ generally itās fine but sometimes if we have had a lot of rain and the fruit has taken up a lot of water it can be more tricky but nothing a re-boil couldnāt sort out. I went with orange in the end as that is what I fancied doing, the vanilla option can work out a tad expensive as you are supposed to put half a bean in and they cost a fair bit plus to me thatās a bit of a waste of a vanilla bean š
The dandelion honey is a little runny so more of a pouring sauce, it will still be great with ice cream or even pancakes/yoghurt etc but no so good to spread. The one I made last time was a better, thicker consistency and was so yummy that finger dipping was a must.
The jam was a good set, I can tell after only 10 mins because even though in the hot jars itās still runny, in the bottom of the pan itās nicely cooled and thick and sticky. I used to wash the pan straight away but it is good way of finding out how the set has gone so I leave it to cool and then wash it.
I sometimes think it would be good to do it for a living but I am a bit of a perfectionist, there is no way I would sell anything that wasnāt exactly right. I can imagine if it was yays to the left and nays to the right (or which ever way round it goes) that I would have a bigger reject pile than a sellable pile š That goes for anything I do really. I think another reason I would like to do something is because I love to look for new recipes for things I grow but half of it John wouldnāt eat so there is not much point making it just for me, I would look like a roly poly pudding (even more than I do now) maybe I will just start making it and hope that he likes the look, but no, I donāt think that will work, we have such totally different tastes in food itās ridiculous š¬
Oo John saw a shooting star last night, there is meteor activity at the minute, the eta aquariids, so thatās most likely what he saw.
Tuesday: I feel like I have been on the go fours and itās only 9.30am. Mostly I have been doing household bits, the mundane stuff that has to be done also sort the egg shed, feed the dogs, put out the rubbish etc. Time for a quick coffee and contemplate what jobs I will do today, itās still cold only about 5c at the minute, getting up to 14c at some point but at least the cold wind has dropped today which is a bonus. I havenāt checked the poly tunnel yet but I think the plants will have been ok, I have some out for sale in a little greenhouse and they are fine this morning so the Molly coddled ones should be cosy. The pepper plants and cucumbers are not big enough to transplant yet, they will go into the big tunnel, I had considered doing that today but they need to wait a while yet.
I decided as it was pretty cool outside I would sit and make some cards which is what I did for a couple of hours.
John came home as he had left his phone somewhere and had to phone around to find out where it was, eventually located it and will pick it up later.
I then went onto doing paperwork as I have got a bit behind and needed to catch up. Doing the household stuff and the farm receipts was the easy bit, doing Johns plumbing was painful. āAbandon all hope ye who enter hereā springs to mind. I took a lunch break and went back to it but I honestly canāt make head nor tail of some of it. It appears we donāt have all the statements, some of the invoices and I canāt for the life of me match up payments for one supplier š It drives me to despair the amount of times I have tried to get John to organise supplier and payment records might as well bash my head against a brick wall. I am sure we will get there eventually as itās usually all filed in Johns head but thatās not much use to me when he isnāt here. He tells me he has a book that he writes it down in now, I canāt wait to see that! Probably wonāt be able to make head or tail of that either, it will be in special āJohnā code š
I lit the Rayburn around 3pm, we havenāt had it lit for the last few days and relied on the electric blow heater in the living room but itās just too cold overnight and so today I have decided to light it. Chances are we will be roasting by mid evening but we can always let it go out again.
I have been saddened to read online that the whole shop local frenzy of last year seems to have died. Plenty of egg sellers wondering where the customers have gone š¤
I just need to have a small moan and get something off my chest here: I have just seen a social media post regarding garden waste and the fact that you have to pay to get your waste taken away. A garden tax, was someoneās description, excuse me š but itās your garden and your garden waste and yet you think you shouldnāt have to pay to get it removed kerbside, here is an idea COMPOST IT YOURSELF THEN! Thanks for listening š
Seriously though there is a mind set that is pretty ugly when you look at it, everything is someone elseās fault or responsibility, the wider picture is never looked at or considered š
Itās 8.45, John has gone out to put the birds to bed and if I had any nuts I would be sweating them off by now š bloody roasting in here even though we didnāt put any more wood on the fire after 7pm as it was already getting a bit warm, all or nothing!
Wednesday: It started raining persistently last night with a few heavy bursts overnight and itās still raining this morning. This is about one of the only times I will put a smiley face for rain š we havenāt had any for weeks and the ground was really, really dry. The beds we planted up were holding up just about, I had been giving the plants a quick pick me up sprinkling with the hose but they really needed a soaking and now they have had one. Of course, not only will the plants put on some lush growth but so will the weeds š ah well you canāt win them all and at least they might be easier to pull than they have been lately.
I have been delighted with the tulips this year, we donāt have many but they have been bright and cheery and really lift the spirits more so than the daffodils I think. So I had a mad idea lol and thought it would be nice to plant up pots of tulip bulbs and perhaps sell them, they would make great Easter and Motherās Day presents ours birthday or general have a nice day gifts. Of course one thing led to another and my enthusiasm spread to, wouldnāt it be nice to have the bed in front of the window filled with tulips so I bought 500 bulbs, yep 500 lol, itās the daffodil episode all over again. Obviously I have missed the boat this year but next year they are going to look fantastic and there will be enough bulbs to pot some up for sale. The 1000 daffodil bulbs I bought and planted along with Mum and Ken are doing well, they come up each year in a block of beautiful yellow but they always seem to be a bit late pr than most. They are up in the back paddock too which means they canāt really be seen, on hindsight I should have planted them in the driveway grass, never mind I can always start dividing them, this is the third year of flowering so I could start lifting some later in the year.
BOO! I just want to conduct a little experiment lol to see how many people read the blog all the way through. So if you could add Boo to the comments I would very much appreciate it š
Donāt forget to Boo š»š
Went out mid morning to do the horses and the guinea pigs, I watered the greenhouse and checked on the polytunnel. Where my hands got wet I could really feel the cold itās not much warmer out there and there is not much I can be doing at the minute so I came back in to organise dinner tonight. I did get chased by the gander and at one point I thought I was cornered but found a hazel stick on the floor, a wave of that and he went off haughtily with his women, š
I have avintage flower press that I picked up at a boot sale years ago just because I loved it. I have never used it, until now, this morning I have picked some tiny flower heads and pressed them, no idea what I will do with the yet but it will be fun to think of something.
Saturday May 1st 2021: May Day, Beltane, a time to celebrate the arrival of summer š (thats a bit iffy here in the UK š) Still it is the time to enjoy nature at its finest, the blossom on the trees, the flowers, the hedgerows, the lush green grass. Birds, insects and animals everywhere are busy reproducing. These days we barely give May Day a second thought which is really sad, there was a time when a maypole was a permanent features in towns and villages and May Day was a day of celebration.
I had a very productive morning and part of the afternoon. I have been weeding, digging out deep rooted weeds, raking, having a bonfire and putting down membrane on the difficult for me to get too bed. Itās a good job I had been busy as you will notice nothing written for Thursday and Friday, thatās because apart from basic jobs I did bigger all really š
Sunday: Productive again, I know, two days in a row š On the job list this morning apart from the usual was to get a spot of shopping, we were there at 9.30 and gone by 9.55 š Luckily the supermarket we use allows self service before 10, as we drove past another supermarket they were still queuing to get in. Back home unload and put away and then off to the DIY store for some fencing. We have an area just outside the back door that the old drive way cuts through, across the drive is the gate to the garden. I wanted to fence the drive off part way down, firstly this will mean that the area is secure for the toddlers and children to move between the house and the garden. Second but no less important it means the dogs canāt get into that area, they knock the kids over half the time and the other half of the time they dig holes. The holes then become ankle twisting areas that you donāt always see, usually because I am carrying something. The dogs can come in when we allow them but it means we can also shut them behind the fence if we donāt want them there. The other reason is the free range mobster geese, they have no manners, crap everywhere and nibble on everything plus they are pretty scary to children being much bigger than them. In fact they are pretty scary to me at the minute so the last thing I want is to open the back door to find them there š
Have a great week, hopefully the weather will warm up just a tad and everyone will be happy š
frieslandfarm (flowers) 