Monday 16th April: Had a very busy day today! Mostly in the garden, I made a little strawberry bed inside the fruit cage and planted strawberry’s that had set themselves in various places, then I spent the rest of the time tidying up, pots that had got blown around, plants that didn’t make it through the winter, raking up dead stuff etc etc so that when the nice weather comes I might just get time to sit and appreciate it all 😜 I carried on a bit too long then it was all to do at the end of the day, light the fire for some hot water, clean up, feed the birds, do the eggs.
I ordered a new choke lever for the lawn mower, it got broken last year and it’s hard graft trying to move it with various implements 😜 I need to give the mower a service and sharpen the blades but the parts are extortionate so I will clean the spark plug up, sharpen the blades with an angle grinder, check the oil and put on the new lever when it arrives and maybe hoover the air filter lol, then it should be good to go 🤞
Tuesday: Up had a shower and had a batch of blueberry muffins in the oven before 8am this morning 😀 I had some blueberries to use up and all the grandchildren will be here later so nana made nana cake 😀 It’s windy this morning and a tad cold with it, still waiting for this heat wave 😜 I’m sure when it gets here it will be with a vengeance like all our weather patterns seem to be.
Fed and water all the animals and foraged for the rabbits, this morning they had, lemon balm, apple, sweet potato, plantain, raspberry runners, broccoli, kale, some cherry wood and violets, happy bunnies.
Doing the afternoon feed in the wind,rain and cold I fail to see how tomorrow is supposed to get up to 24c 😝
Wednesday: The Sun shone ☀️ and how 😀 amazing after yesterday evenings weather. Needless to say there is a lot to do although we would have got further on except for the rain last night, I was hoping that some of the paddocks would nearly be ok for dragging but the rain put paid to that so probably be the weekend when it gets done now. John had a day at home today, I’m not going to call it a day off as I think he has to work harder here than in his regular job 😝 he has been busy taking down all the broken fencing in the back paddocks. We are making two large paddocks instead of six smaller ones that we had originally, they will be much easier to drag, roll and seed without fences in the way, there will only be four corners in each paddock instead of 12 in this particular area, which will make turning the tractor a whole lot easier. It looks lovely with the fences down as I said to John it’s good to change things about a little.
Meanwhile I have been in the garden, watering the tunnels and greenhouse, the temperatures are sweltering in there 😜 At last I have sown some runner bean seeds, I don’t know about other veg gardeners but I don’t feel I have got going until the bean seeds are sown and the potatoes but they are still not in yet due to the inclement weather we have had. I made a quick mini garden and filled it with compost ready for Mia to play in when she arrived, she had a wonderful time digging and moving soil from place to place. She had her lunch outside while I sat and sharpened the grass clippers, all four pairs 😜 I ask you, how did we manage to end up with four pairs? Then it was time for her nap and I cleaned off the decking area and put the parasol cover in the washing machine, hope it comes back out in one bit 🤪 John had a bit of lunch then went back out to the fields, I did help him a bit this morning collecting up electric tape and stakes, I will try and do a bit more later on this evening after Mia goes home.
Ate supper out on the decking, how lovely 😊
Thursday: Another hot one predicted so I was up at 5.45, actually I woke up, my back was aching, I needed a wee and I had acid reflux so I figured I might as well get up and stay up and get an early start in the cool! It was actually very pleasant and I got on pretty well up to the point where the postman came and delivered the choke lever for the mower then it went downhill 😝 I fitted the part but the recoil rope would not budge so I go onto you tube to see what the problem might be, I checked the blade wasn’t wedged (eventually when I found the correct tools) I took off the top cover and checked the spool that was working fine, checked the engine spinny bit was moving, it was, next step check with the spark plug removed, finally found a tool to use for that and snapped the spark plug in half 🤪 I was cursing and swearing and nigh on stomping when John came home, found the right tool removed the remainder of the plug, went and got a new one then helped with solving the problem. It seems when I put the choke lever back on I hadn’t quite got it in the right place and now we have done that it’s working fine 😀 it took me roughly three times as long to fix the damn thing than it did to cut the grass, but I now know a lot more about lawn mowers 😜
After some lunch we got started on cleaning out the middle bay of the hay barn, we picked that job as it was in the shade but it was still hot, dusty work. We quite expected to see a rodent or two when we lifted the pallets that the hay had been stood on, and patch was on standby to catch anything but there wasn’t a single movement so I’m guessing the cats are doing a better job than I thought. John went off to do his Mums dinner and I had a shower and box dyed my hair, it was getting rather too grey and I’m not ready for that just yet lol.
The farmer next door was dragging his field, I knew it was the right time and looking at the forecast we may have missed the opportunity as showers are forecast for Sat and Sun 😝
Friday: Up early again today, rather enjoying the cool early mornings to be honest 😁 John is at home today, well partly, he has to go round and sort his Mum out mid morning but we cracked on and got the animals fed and watered, then John went down to the back paddocks to fill in holes where here has taken out the posts. There is still one more fence to dismantle, then the remaining fences to repair, we had a quick look at the back wall which is a falling down stone field wall. It would be good to put it back up but in all honesty that is a massive job so we may end up taking out the stone and planting a hedge, unless we can find someone who wants to practice their stone walling 😜 While John was out doing that I got on with watering the tunnels and greenhouse, then I finally put the first early potatoes in one of the raised beds along with some beetroot seedlings, carrot seeds and a bulb of garlic, I’m mixing it up this year lol I used the green netting that was too small for the fruit cage to cover the hoops I had already put in, the chickens would be scratching it up before I know it if I don’t cover it as I go. I planted some more beetroot seedlings in the poly tunnel and some melon plants under a cloche. I am trying to decide what is the best thing to tackle slugs, I have some beer traps but unless the slugs feel like a pint they still attack the plants and I don’t want to use slug pellets. So having done a quick bit of reading it seems diatomaceous earth is a good organic method, or at least worth a try, and since I have a sackful I will give it a go, along with damp cardboard, at least I can feed the slugs to the ducks 🦆
Saturday: Up and at it early again though not quite as early as previous days 😜 Main jobs on the agenda was to get the netting on top of the fruit cage and get the brassica cage up, missions accomplished by lunchtime. The brassica cage is a belt and braces job because there is nothing more disheartening than seeing the wonderful, green, bushy plants get decimated by caterpillars 🐛 I’m hoping they won’t get in this, any brassica cage is only as good as it’s weakest point, hopefully we don’t have any and I will be planting a sacrificial crop to lure them away. After that I actually planted the broccoli plants 😀 I also planted some, pak choi and chard directly into the ground and made hoop covers to protect them from chickens, pigeons, anything else that will have a go at them
I was on a roll so I sowed some coriander seeds and some summer savoury, a good day in the garden. John tidied up the rest of the hay barn then went to get some chick crumb as the quail are due to hatch tomorrow and the little silkie bantam has hatched some chicks but I can’t see how many yet I can just hear them. I noticed the asparagus has shot up so I picked a handful of spears, I will probably put those out for sale as I already have dinner sorted and we are out to lunch tomorrow.
Charlie cleaned the boot room floor, it really is grey not muddy coloured 😮 to be honest it is not a ‘priority’ job on my great list of jobs and so I’m grateful that she has done it.
WOW we had the mother of all thunderstorms late evening, lol, I love a good storm.
Sunday: The storms carried on into the night and were so loud it woke most people up in the area from what I have heard, certainly some very loud claps of thunder woke us up at 2am!
Despite the storms and the downpours, the sun was shining brightly this morning and everything felt as fresh as a daisy. We did the morning routine and I watered the polytunnels, then I sowed the wild flower seed where I wanted it, I must say I was taken back by the instruction to weed killer the area first? Needless to say I didn’t which may be an error but I couldn’t see the logic really. Walking back across the paddock I realised it was ripe for dragging, it was only 9am so still cool enough, I convinced John it was a good idea and Macca was eager to have a go on the tractor so that’s what we did. We only got the big corner paddock done as the tractor was playing up a bit and the gateway into the next field is still too wet though John really wanted to go through I put my foot down, the last thing we need is a stuck tractor so that can wait until next week. I finished off the dragging, I love driving the tractor, everyone else gets bored 😑
I can’t remember if I have written that the silkie has hatched at least one chick, hopefully she will have a few others to join it soon, the quail in the incubator show no signs of hatching even though we are on hatch day, I tried candling them but they are difficult to see through so its a waiting game. We made a decision to allow the geese to begin sitting so any eggs they lay from today we will not be picking up for sale, I am hoping for more than one gosling this year, after all they have had two years practice at it now 😜 John has busy busy tidying and moving wood, now we have moved the tractor to the hay barn there is space under cover to get the wood in which will keep it nice and dry for next winter.
I had an hour spare to pot on some tomatoes before we go out for lunch, I have beefsteak and plum this year as well as regular tomatoes, I haven’t done cherry toms this year as I wanted to have a go at different varieties, the other seeds are at last getting going, cucumbers are just breaking the surface, at last we are under way 😀
We went to Upton Firehouse for lunch, if you live locally and have never been put it on your list of places to try you won’t be disappointed, if you have been before you will know why an afternoon nap was next on the agenda 🤪 😴
frieslandfarm (flowers) 