Nearly a day off

Today it was cold again. The rest of the country is getting snow but we are not. I went up to Lincoln to pick up Miss L on Saturday. Again no snow but so cold the engine would not come up to full working temperature. It is nice have her back.

I went to collect some pork, a boned out leg, from Sagely Steve and drop off his air dried ham. I have been working on it all year. It started off at a little over 10kilos. Now it weighs a lot less, is quite solid but moist. It is going to take some eating, there is loads of it.

I had a day off today, well nearly. I went over to the lottie. The soil is frozen solid but I was there to do other jobs. I patched up the netting. It killed my shoulders as all the netting is over head height. Patching the holes should keep the pigeons out.

On Sunday I picked up some food for the birds. The store was selling 1 kilo bags for £5. That was too much. I cast my eyes about the shelves and saw the same bird food in 20 kilo bags for £12. It just look a bit odd walking off with a big of bird food. At the lottie I filled up the feeders. Even as I was filling the feeders the Robin was dodging in and out picking off fallen crumbs. He must be hungry. As soon I put up the peanut filled feeders they were mobbed by the birds. I found another feeder at the lottie so I filled that too and hung it up. All that food should keep them going for a while.

I checked over the plot. The Savoy cabbage looks great, the crinkly dark green leaves are stark against the snow.

I took a spin out to see Angie & Chris and had a chat. I gave them a bottle. a small bottle, of Sloe Gin and one of Limoncello and agreed to meet in the middle of January to resume the poo run.

Time enough for digging.

This morning H and I went to drop off my seed potato order at the Newall Allotment Society shop or the " potato men" as H calls them. We had a chat with the chaps on the usual topics of spud varieties, amount of business they did last year, how their allotments did. I picked up a bag of compost and some more seeds trays whilst I was at the shop. I like to support them.

Next stop, after the potato men, was Taylor's butchers in Measham. I bought a Ham to prepare for Christmas. When we got home I trimmed the skin from the Ham, rubbed in the salt cure mixture and set it aside into a basin in the fridge. In a week or so I will do the next step. Whilst I was about it I checked on the ham that has been air drying all year.

The little birds have found the feeders we set up in the garden. The feeders have been fizzing with long tailed tits amongst the more usual garden birds. They come and go all day in gangs.

H is going to a party with her old buddies up in Macclesfield. I am to drive her up there. I plan to go on to Manchester to see my Mum. I will drop off the Christmas prezzies as well. I can go with a clear conscience. The snow has thawed but with the thaw comes a lot of water. That water makes the soil too wet to dig. I have a few day off between now and Christmas so time enough for digging.

Intersting Website

Here is link to a plant website. the messages in the website are a bit scary but the plant elements are interesting.

Hoar Frost

Nobody in the UK will fail to have noticed it is cold....very cold. There was a short, partial thaw at the weekend. That cleared most of the snow off the roads and dried them which was handy because since then it has been very cold. Monday morning -6C and this morning it was -9C. The good thing about the cold is the hoar frost. Everything is coated in a crispy ice layer. I had to run a errand in the car to another town, the trees and bushes were spectacular in the bright sunshine. The sky was blue, the sun was out but there is no heat in it. Even through the middle of the day the frost was not melting. By the evening it was a balmy -1C.

Racking and Bottling

It is still really cold so no lottie. Instead I tackled the eight demi-johns that sitting at the back of the dining room for the past few months. I had two demi-johns [DJ] of Rhubarb wine. One of the Rhubard DJs is not very nice so I binned it. The other Rhubarb DJ was really nice so I bottled it off. I have been tasting the Limoncello this past few weeks. I have been restrained and there is some left to bottle. The Strawberry, Plum, Pear, Grape wines and Mead need racking. Racking is when wine is transferred into another demi-john from the current one. Racking or racking off achieves a couple tasks:

1. It leaves behind the dead yeast cells and other debris to gather at the bottom of the demi-john.
2. Clears the wine.
3. Ensures the fermentation has finished
4. Removing the old yeast keeping the wine from tainting
5. You get a chance to taste it.
6. This the point where sparkling wine can be made.

The wine made from my lottie grapes has a great colour but is not ready for drinking. The racked wine went backed on the shelf in the dining room. The bottled Limoncello and Rhubarb have been put into the shed.

Who you looking at?

It has been snowing all week. There was nothing that could be done at the lottie but H and I went over to check it out and fill up the bird feeders. Today, Saturday, the snow is thawing so it is wet and slushy. I dug up a couple of Leeks for tea. The soil is not frozen and looks in really good shape. The spouts are looking well as are the Broccoli and Savoy cabbage.

Whilst trundling up the lottie drive H spot a bird of prey sitting on a fence post. It just sat their eyeing us. It is not usual to see a Buzzard or Kestrel sitting on a post but the bird was not either one. I got the bird guide out of my bag and flipped through the falcon section. Even without the guide it was unmistakable a Peregrine falcon. H and I sat there looking at this striking bird, looking at us, until it had enough and zoomed off.

When we got home we set up a few bird feeders in the garden and filled them up. We have been seeing the usual small birds but we also seen lots of Long Tailed Tits. I made a beef stew using veggies from the lottie. I made some suet dumplings to go with the stew. This was the first time I had made dumplings from scratch. I will be having them again.

Up, down and up

I had a look in on the Land Rover people the other day. I have been promised to have Degsy back before Christmas. It has made start thinking about how I am going to fit out the tub. I have been checking out the Land Rover over landing websites for ideas on fitting out.

On the downside the central heating packed up sometime in the early hours. I had to get at the boiler to find out what was wrong with it. After much rummaging I got the front panel. The pump was not running. I rang a few heating engineers. Only one rang me back. He suggested that the condensate pipe might be frozen up which would be backing up the condensate and tripping out the system. It sounded like a reasonable idea. I pulled off the hose inside the boiler. Water poured out. I had a look at the outside pipe and found it frozen solid. I managed to clear the pipe of ice. Guess what? The boiler kicked in after a few minutes. I had a brew whilst to see if the boiler kept running. It did. H was pleased.

Ice cold

It is really cold at the moment. I was a bit weak after the meeting of the Allotment Society AGM on Friday night. So cold in fact we had snow and then frost. I had a look at the lottie but it was frozen solid so nothing to do there which was lucky. Sunday was no better weather wise. Bitterly cold but clear. After bacon buttie; without brown sauce!?!, I am going to have to speak to the quartermaster about comestibles, H and I went for a walk. We walked over to Hicks Lodge to have a look at the new cycle centre. It is still under construction. We had a walk round the lodge. There was a air frost Saturday night so all the trees, bushes and grass were covered in a haw frost. The weak sun did not melt the frost so it was quite pretty. We ended up at Horace's Seat as usual. The clear air meant we could see for miles and its was really quiet as well. It was Sunday morning, the snow was keeping folks at home and the snow was cushioning the cars wheels.

On the way home I decided to do a few outdoor jobs when I got there whilst I was dressed for outside. I tidied up the shed and the greenhouse. I was given a few quality planks a while ago and had put them in the shed. One of the planks was a 10inches wide cill board. I cut it to size to fit the threshold of the shed. I organised the tray of spuds, the baskets of onions and Butternut Squash. Then to the greenhouse. It took a minute to get through the door. A well aimed boot broke the hold of the ice in the runners. I just had to clear out the moldy onions. Red onions just don't keep. I took the stems of the Garlic. Then put the Garlic and shallots into two baskets which, eventually, hung up in the shed. I put a few of the trays I left outside into the greenhouse. It is very slightly warmer in the greenhouse than outside so I hope the plants I have started will make it through the winter.

I came in the from the cold, had a sandwich. Then tested the Lemoncello. It was not cold enough so I put the glass on the decking for half hour. We like ice cold Lemoncello.

Weeding

Following a good breakfast which included some very nice Black Pudding, I loaded up the Landy for a trip to the lottie. This week the weather has been quite cold and we have had a couple of very foggy and damp days. First job at the lottie was to reinforce the bottom of the back panel of the big compost bin. The bins have been in place for six years and are starting to wear. I screwed on a thick plank of wood.

Next I went round Bed4 pulling up the Sweet Corn stems. I also pulled up all the Sunflowers. They had dried back some time ago. I had thought I would collect the seeds to feed to the birds. However the birds have been smart enough to help themselves. I put the Sunflower and Sweet Corn stems in the bottom of the new compo bins. I then skimmed off the top couple of foot of the old compo bin into the new bin. In due course I will dig out the compost from the old bins and put it on the plot in some deserving spot.

The weather was holding up, still cold, damp and a very low flat sky. I went round Bed4 and the path down the side of the bed spot weeding. The weed of the year is Chickweed with Nettle as a close second. It was any easy enough job to spot weed the few Dock and Nettles. I had cleared the Chickweed as I pulled up the Sweet Corn stem at he bottom end of the plot. As time was pressing and the weather was slowly deteriorating I left the rest of the bed under the chickweed. Later in the evening I was watching a progarmme on the TV about foraging and guess what they were harvesting. Yes, Chickweed. I could feed an army on my crop. I think I will have to try Chickweed as a food.

I had a chat with J, one of the other plot holders. I think I have only seen him once this year. Whilst we were chatting the little birds were fliting about. A huge Kestral flew across and alighted in one of the tall trees in the hedge. Then, along another hedgerow flew a Jay. You don't see many of them but since the tree have dropped their leaves the birds are more visible. That was the lottie expedition done. When I got home I unloaded the Landy as it has to go back the Steve. H was still out so a had a look at the bike.

Seeds order

Today my seed order turned up today. Thirty odd packets of seeds. I had a brew and perused the packets to work out what order to plant them.

A Big Week

It was a big week at work last week and I am exhausted. H and I went to Derby for the day on Saturday. We went to look at the Silk Mill museum. Click HERE for the website. It was small but quite good. We then had a walk round a bit of Derby we have not seen before.

Sunday was Remembrance Day. H and I went to Ashby to take part in the service at the war memorial. This was the first time H did not take part in the parade. H and Lucy were in the brownies but of course Lucy is not at home this year. After the service we came home. I did a bit of housekeeping. I watched the last Grand Prix of the season whilst I had a spot of lunch. Vettel won the Grand Prix and the championship. After lunch, and the Grand Prix, I packed up the Landy and went the lottie.

The weather was a bit cloudy but it was cold, damp penetrating cold however ten minutes of digging manure out of the bin and wheelbarrowing it to the other end of the lottie soon warmed me up. I also dumped a couple of barrow loads on the newer Rhubarb bed. I figured I would empty the big compost bin into the now empty manure bin. However I did not figure on the bottom planks of the manure bin being rotted through. I left the bin empty in the hope the uprights will dry a little so a can add new planks to replace the rotted ones. I filled up the bird feeders then did a bit of weeding round the paved area. The light was fading but as the sun dropped we were treated to a blazing sunset.

Seasonal work

I was up fairly early Saturday morning. I had relaxed breakfast and made a thermos of Tea to take with me to the lottie. Steve's landy started after a little encouragement. I loaded up the landy with empty crates and set off for the lottie. I had the lottie to myself. The sun was shining brightly in a clear blue sky. The air temperature was not high so despite the sun it was quite cool. I had the usual walk round to inspect the plot. The cold weather had wilted all the tender plants. The Vines had lost all their leaves. It was no surprise to fine the weeds in rude health.

I tidied up the small Rhubarb patch by spreading the semi rotted straw from the forcing tub round the corms. After that a tipped on two barrow loads of manure and spread the manure out. It is only a relatively thin layer but it makes the bed look tidy. After that I bagged up some of stalks that I had left on the paving to dry out, put them in a bag to take home for the green bin. Tuesday is green bin day. Next up I started on the the last of the last three rows of spuds. Despite all the weather we have had lately the soil was still reasonably dry, well at least not sticky. I weeded as it went. I last of the spuds filled the big green tray to the top. That will keep us going for a while.

That done I moved the two big rolls of wire mesh out of the middle path, between beds 3 & 4, out to the paved area. This year I used this wire to support the peas but I did not find it easy to use so I do not think I will use it again. With the wire gone I had access to the path way. I dug out the worst of the weeds from the path. I also weeded the last couple of foot of Bed3. That means I have a quarter the the plot dug and weeded. That is a good start for the winter digging. Time was moving on so I harvested some Broccoli, the last two summer cabbage, the Butternut Squash and some Carrots. I noted that the Brussels Sprouts are coming on as are the Winter Cabbages.

I have been offered some industrial carpet. I am considering it to line the paths. The front of the big compo bins needed straightening up. It just took a few minutes. Digging up the spuds tired back back out. I had a spot of lunch and got showered and shave ready for my course. I had to attend a safeguarding course in Nottingham as final of my coaching assignments. I was home again at seven. After Tea I made up my seed order and made out the cheque in readiness to drop it off on Sunday to the seed secretary.

The clocks went back Sunday night to Greenwich mean Time so I was up early whether I liked it or not. I filtered the Grape must, that I had made from the harvested lottie Grapes, into a demi-john, added and little suger and yeast. I put the air lock on and put the demi-john with the others. H and I went to Tamworth to get a picture frame for the print H bought last week. On the way back we got a couple of bags of seed compost. On getting home we had a sandwich. H spotted that MotoGP was on. It is the penultimate round of the season. In the afternoon we went for a walk round Staunton Harold. The trees were in their full Autumn glory. We could see the Fallow and Red Deer since their cover had died back. The stags were busy rounding up the does and chasing off he opposition. It was all very seasonal.

Holiday

Monday H and her Mum went to a spa near us for the day. I entertained Peter, t'father-in-law. We went over the hertiage railway at Loughbough. It was not open but we had a mooch about for an hour or so. We stopped off at the Gelsmoor Inn for lunch. Back at the house we picked up the landy, six jars of Honey and the cappings for the honey extraction. We drove over the apiary. Peter took the dog for a walk whilst I put the cappings in the hive feeders. The cappings are the wax and honey left over from the processing of the honey. I put it back on the hive for the bees to take back in the hive to build up their stores for the winter. The right hand hive is much stronger than the left hive. I collected Peter and drove over to the Farm office to drop off the year's rent for the apiary, the six jars of honey. I found out that the field that I usual drive down to the apiary is to be down the cereals for the next year two year's and that I cannot drive across the margins as it will disturb the wild life. we had a chat a found I could get without 100 yards of the apiary by another route. Peter, the dog and I took a trip to check out the new route. It has a gate and a field full of sheep to negotiate so that should be easy.

Tuesday, H and I went over to Melton Mowbray to the cattle market. The cattle market is in fact an auction for all sorts of beasts, cattle, sheep, pigs and my favorite fur and feather. There is always different things at auction. Fur and feather had thirty odds lots of ferrets and polecats. There were live and dead rabbits for auction was well as an impressive variety for poultry. H had her eye on a nice lot of Orpington's. They went for a tenner. On the way back we trundled through the hamlets of Leicestershire and ended up at the Gelsmoor again for something to eat.

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, H and I went over the Manchester to do some work on my Mum's house. I fitted a new floor, a new sink unit and a couple of new radiators. I managed to get everything done by 4pm on Friday. The floor looks great, even it say so myself. The new radiators make the house nice a warm.

Saturday, I had a quiet morning, a nice breakfast then set off to the lottie with only one job in mind; to harvest the grapes. The vines were perfect. The frost had turned the leaves red and yellow. I snipped off the bunches of grapes. This was my first grape harvest. The vines yielded two gallons of grapes. When I got them home I stripped the grapes from the stems an crushed them in a barrel. So chateau McDowell vintage 2010 is begun. I also prepared the sugar syrup for the Limoncello and set it aside to cool. Next up was t0 clean the gutters on the garage and cut back the hedge in readiness for the winter. H made a nice tea of Haddock in a white sauce.

Sunday was easy. We just went to Lincoln to see Miss L. She has settled in, is enjoying the course and living the student life. It was good to see Miss L and it put an end to a busy week.

The weekend before my "holiday"

Work has been manic and the allotment has been suffering. I do not normally get to the lottie during the week but now I have to contend with shortening days and wet weather as well as being mentally exhausted. Saturday was wet so I spent a large part of the day finishing off processing the honey and cleaning all the equipment. I ended up needing to finish off a jar of H's Strawberry jam to jar the very last of the honey. Sunday was a drier day. I went to the lottie in Steve's landy. I dug up a row of spuds which were well filled. After the spuds I cleared some more of the weeds in Bed3. A vicious shower put an end to the days activities at the lottie. I have a just about two foot of the bed to clear.

H sent a few ours at the lottie one day last week and cleared weeds from the cabbage bed, which was nice. I must had to put H's weeding in the compo bin.

I had a look at the grapes. They are very nearly ready. The books say I have to wait until the leaves turn colour. We are promised frost next week so that will surely make the leaves turn.

101010 = 42

I was in Manchester all day Friday and most of Saturday. When I got back H and I went out to Yoxall Lodge woods, click HERE for website. They have a autumn walks. We had a stroll round then had tea and cake. It was all very nice. H went out for the evening to get some culture at Sir John Moore. I , on the other hand, had an evening in the garage with the bike. Have a look at the link to my BMW blog for what I did on the bike, when I write it.

I got the loan of the land rover for Sunday. I did the trailer run as usual. I did not have to take the trailer back straight away so I had a little time at the lottie. I dug up another row of spuds. Just one or two spuds were not edible. The worms and slugs had eaten holes in them. The remaineder were perfect. Quite a few were huge. I look forward to having them roasted. The plot is very weedy but the main weed is chickweed. The good thing about chickweed is that is very easy to clear. I ripped up great handfuls. As I went I used the fork to dig up the Dock and Sowthistle. It was an easy job but back breaking. I cleared two thirds of Bed3 before my back had had enough. Here a picture of the blighter.



Mr Google says Chickweed has many medicinal properties and can be used as a salad. It looks a lot like watercress but it does not taste peppery as watercress does.

My "crop" of chickweed went into the compo bin but there is still loads to go at.

I harvested the second crop off the Brocolli. I left the remaining small florets to grow on. I shall be grow lots more of this next year. The Brussel sprouts and Purple sprouting brocolli are growing on well. I also had the last of the Sweet Corn and one of the smaller courgette/marrows.



The day brightened up and got better all day. By 1pm the sky was bright blue and the wind had dropped. I took the opportunity to run the wet supers back up to the bees. The bees were flying freely. I took off the ekes and dropped on a crown boards then put the wet supers above the crown boards. The bees had scoffed every crumb of the fondant I had given them a fortnight ago. I hope the weather holds up a little longer so the bees can clean up frames and take the honey down it to the hive proper for the winter.

The bees took no time at all. I then went to Massey's to get a jubilee clip that I needed for the bike. From Massey's I went for some petrol for the landy and some in a fuel can. H was out for the day at Donnington le Heath so when I got home I was able disappear into the garage for more bike fettling.

Apparently the answer to ultimate question of life, the universe and everything is 42. H came across a Douglas Adams related article. It gives a clue to the sort of people The Hitchhiker's guide attracts. Apparently the 10th of October 2010, written as 101010 is binary for 42. Here's another weird Hitchhiker's fan thing, on the anniversary of Douglas Adams death [11th May] devotees carry a towel.

Warm kness

I made the right decision to deal with the bees yesterday. Today started with a bright cold morning but led into the grey cold day. I did the trailer run first thing. Whilst at the lottie I harvested some second crop Broccoli but I H and I had other fish to fry. We went into Ashby for 11am to see the tractor parade. We stood about in the biting wind on Market Street waiting for the tractors to chug by. After about ten minutes the first of the tractors chugged down the street. The Sunday car drivers must have been kicking themselves for being about Ashby this morning. The tractors had been for a spin, at 20mph, round the district, Twenty odd of them. They came down Market Street the castle end then up Kilwardby street. They went out to Blackfordby, Willesley then back to Bath grounds in Ashby.

Amongst the tractors and modern cars were quite a number of vintage cars. The vintage cars turned off for Bath grounds. Once the "parade" was over we walked round to Bath grounds. It was quite a surprise. All the cars we saw on the street plus a number of other were parked up for viewing. There were Alvis, Jensen Interceptor, Austins, Ford Poplar, Jaguars MKII and some marques I did not recognise. There were stalls and kiddies rides. There were just two bikes in the parade. An late 1930s Indian and a Panther of about the same vintage. Both looked very lived in. After 20 or 30 minutes the tractors arrived in triumph and parked up in review order. We, along with everyone else went for a walk round the tractors. I was drawn to a very nice 1940's Austin recovery truck. There were loads of people there to support the parade. We meet the Lord Mayor of Ashby and had a chat. His Missus, the Lady Mayoress, was the leader of Leicestershire County Council and was the person Miss L spent the evening with when she attended the Green footprints award last year. Miss L had designed the award that was presented. There was no brew van and the we had pretty much seen everything there was so we came away.

H had heard there was an open day at the lake at Albert Villages. We drove over to Albert Village treked through the side was rain to find bunch of people in the marquee, on add 18 Newfoundland dogs. These folks turn out each year and take the dogs swimming. we watched one dog swim out to a dingy with four people in it, grab the painter and tow the boat back to shore against the wind. That was the highlight so back to the car. Since we were less than 30 minutes and I was not yet hungry I decide I would like to see the the Castle at Gresley. At the village of Castle Gresley is the remains of a motte and bailey castle. It is a subtle item in the landscape. It was built about 1190. H and I had a good look round and pondered the landscape in 1200AD. It was very interesting. Sir Nigel Gresley, designer of the Mallard an A4 Pacific steam train which holds the land speed record, is descended from the knight who founded the castle. Sir Nigel is buried in the churchyard at Netherseal, just a few miles from the castle. We took a walk down the nearby lane to find a hamlet by the stream. Very ethereal. History done we went home.

I decided to extract the Honey harvest. I got everything ready, brought in the first super and started the de-cap the comb only to find the honey had granulated or solidified. One cannot extract solidified honey but there is a trick. Granulated honey can be returned to a liquid state. Heat is all that is required to change the state. The trouble is that bees wax melts at about 63 degrees Celsius so the heat has to be gentle. A light bulb is the answer. I got my inspection lamp [60 watt] and put it under two empty supers then stacked the supers of granulated honey on top. I put a lid on the top super and sat back. The gentle heat should loosen the honey but it might take a week or more. I had to clear up without extracting a single frame.

I still had a couple of hours before tea. So what to do? I went over to see my neighbour and harvested his Apple trees. He has some very nice eaters but he does not like Apples. What next? I decided to try out my recent cycling clothing purchases. They are a very nice fit. I pumped up the tyres on teh bike and went for a spin. It was very blustery but the soft shell material kept the cold out. The fit was so good and the clothing did restrict movement. For once my knees were nice and warm which is a comfort and bodes well for the winter. By the time I got home I was sweating freely so I was too warm and I did not even have a hat on. I parked the bike up and got changed in time for tea of locally sourced hogget and vegetables from the lottie. We even got a call from Miss L. We arranged to go and see her next Saturday.

Getting back to normal

Today was the first weekend for a couple of months when I had no calls on my time. Time was my own. That is not to say I did not have lots to do. It was very clear last night and I thought we might have a frost. I woke up to a breezy morning and a bright blue sky. You can tell the year is turning. Although the sun was up it lacked the power of a month ago. I decided that I would see the bees today to harvest the honey crop. I have been tussling with how to feed the bees. It is an exchange. The bees make lots of honey, more than enough to see themselves through the winter. I take some of it and in return I feed back sugar. The question is what form is the sugar to take. There essentially two forms to feed bees with, syrup or fondant. Syrup is liquid but it stimulates the bees to start the Queen laying. Not a good thing leading into the winter. The other form is fondant. The trouble is that I have never made fondant. I had a go at making it this morning. One part water to four parts sugar plus a quarter teaspoon of vinegar. Boiled up to 230 degrees and allowed to cool. Whilst it is cooling it has to whisked until it turns white. Boiling hot sugar does not cool down quickly. I put half the mixture in the food processor and set it running. The remainder stayed in the jam pan. That cooled down quicker especially since I had put it outside. I whisked it by hand and as it cooled it turned white. I poured the cooling mixture into greaseproof paper lined trays. Eventually the mixture in the mixer began to cool and solidify. I put the trays outside. When the trays were completely cold the mixture was firm like cheese, in fact it was fondant.

Whilst the fondant was cooling I loaded up the car with my bee fettling gear. I took a run over to Swad to pick up some items from the bike shop. By the time I got back the fondant was ready to go. I had a brew and went to see the bees. The heavy rain of the week had not made the tracks to the apiary impassable. The clearer boards I put in last week had done there job. I snaffled the supers and put them in the car. The then put the ekes [ekes are spacers], I had made during the week, on the hive then placed the fondant on the top bars of the frames, replaced the crown board and tidied up. Before I put the roofs on a I had a peek under the crown boards. The fondant was covered with bees. I put the roofs and came away content.

A had another brew when I came home, took the bee gear out of the car and replaced it with the lottie gear. I had the lottie to myself. It was quite warm. I raked off the bed I had prepared in Bed 2 last week. I planted 50 Radar, white onion sets, and a dozen Shallots [Jermor]. Next I dug up the Caulis that had gone over and weeded the area. I tipped three barrow loads of manure on the area and dug it in. I have some chicken pellets I am trying the use up so I threw a couple handfuls of the pellets about before raking the area flat. The soil is in smashing condition. In to the area I planted 30 Garlic [Marco] cloves. These will form a divider in the bed. The area of the bed below the Garlic will be Onions related crops and above it root crops.

I checked the grapes and they looked great. The weather is due to turn cold this week so I expect I will have to harvest the grapes next week.

I had a little time left so I dug up a row of the main crop spuds, Cara. They are fantastic, large and blight free. The soil dug nicely if a little damp. The row filled one of my storage trays. I got a bucket of water from the trough and washed the spuds before putting them back in the tray and loading the car. I cut the last of Gladioli for H and came home. I pulled a few cobs of Sweet Corn for tea.

H and I went of to Coalville to get the makings for Sloe Gin and Lemoncello. Aldi have cheap spirits. Whilst H made tea [The northern meal] I zested 20 lemons. After tea I finished the first part of lemoncello which involves soaking lemon zest and lemon juice in Vodka. That finished I cleaned up the Sloes Steve had given me. I put the Sloes with equal amount of sugar in a demi-john and topped it up with Gin. That is Christmas sorted.

Aldi has an odd selection of products. It's like going to the super-market on holiday. Kind of the same but different. In the clearance bins was cycling gear. Smart performance long legged, fitted trousers. Merino wool, yes Merino wool jersey and long fingered gloves with gel palms. All these items plus a lights set came to bearly £20. I tried the stuff on when we got home. It fits really well. I hoping to have a spin out to try the stuff out.

Walking

The weekend was the big walk weekend. I had a quick run out to collect the trailer and do a few errands. H and I were to walk 26 miles from Avebury, click HERE for the website, to Stonehenge in aid the Alzheimer's Society. We had a very early start and the B&B owner was not going to get up at 4.30 to make us a breakfast so we had a cold breakfast. We got to the start point with the 300 other walkers, registered, picked up our packed lunch and was given a pep talk. We were then send on our way. The first leg was over the White Horse way which was not designed for lots of people. Too many stiles and narrow paths. The land rose in long undulating hills. Once clear of the farm land the hills were given over to grazing and the paths were wider. We were in good order at he first check point at seven miles. At the half way point we found a spot for lunch. we had been told there was a pub on the route. We walked past it not five minutes after the lunch stop. From pub there was a stiff climb up to one of the many downs we were walk up. Here's a question - why are the hills in the south of England called "downs" when they are definitely up.

The third check point at 20 miles. We were very pleased to see it. The walking between the second and third check points was over Ministry of Defence land. Open rolling countryside, featureless, under a blue sky with the sun beating down. It was tough. Things were starting to hurt. The last six miles were a slog. Our packs were getting heavier even though we had eaten our food. We replenished our water bottles at each check point so the weight of water never really reduced. In the end we came upon the finish banner. The organisers cheered and clapped everyone in. We were given our medals and had a well earned sit down.

We had a celebratory dinner in Salisbury a the New Inn. I recommend it very highly. Then back to the the B&B for a well deserved rest. And that was that. Another epic.

Summer bash

Saturday was the allotment society summer bash. I nipped down to the lottie early in the morning to collect some onions. In the end I harvested all the Onions, Red, White and Shallots. Whilst harvesting the Onions I weeded the patch. It was really nice tilling the soil. It seems ages since I was able to spend even a little time at the lottie. I bagged a couple of Beetroot as well. I dropped the onions off with H. H was to make a quiche for the bash. I then went off to Coalville to Harlow's to get some wood that Miss L needed for Uni. Back at home H finished off the quiche, Miss L got herself ready and I got out of my smegy clothes.

We had a lovely time at the summer bash. A very low key affair with Steve running the BBQ and all the other lottie holders bring along various treats. The weather held for us, both sunny and with a little wind. The kids went off on adventures bring back treasure of Blackberries, mostly smeared across their faces. Us adults ate, drank and chatted. We had tours of each others plots and discussed what went well, what did not and what we might do next year. I dug up one of the Cara main crop potato plants. The soil was perfect and the recent rain had bulked up the spuds. I wrapped two of the biggest in foil and had Steve drop them into the ashes of the BBQ. I found a couple of Sweet Corn ready so they on the BBQ too. The Sweet Corn was fabulous. Twenty minutes from plant to belly. I due course the event wound up. Miss L went off to a birthday party, me and H just sat in.

I had a few things to do on Sunday. H and I went to a car boot sale to try to get a tool box for Miss L. We found just the right thing. It was made from steel with hinged leaf lid. It is a little over a foot long and has an internal tray as well. I might have it myself yet. I went to another car boot because I did not get the golf balls I was after. The second car boot had what I wanted. Next up was the muck trailer run. Not much to say there except I had the lottie to myself. The grape vines are looking great. The bunches of grapes won't make dessert size but they do look good. Whilst we were out the grey skies finally opened up, slow and deliberate rain. We got home before getting too wet. The rain put off the walk we had planned. H went to collect Miss L and set about turning the spare plums into wine. After the plums I made up some Pears into start of some wine. A few of the Bramley apples I had picked were starting to turn so I had a go at making them into apple sauce. It tastes ok so I shall put it in jars.

I put the the onions I had harvested [Red Baron, Sturon and Shallots] into separate trays. The idea is that they dry out a little more before going into store. I took the trays up to the greenhouse only to find a hundred or more honey bees buzzing about the greenhouse. They were after the honey in the super that I had put in the greenhouse earlier in the week. The bees were not unhappy so it was no trouble to shoo them out of the super and stack the supers so they were bee tight. I plonked the onion trays in the greenhouse and that was pretty much it for the day.

Reading

Whilst I was on holiday I finished the last in the twenty book series of the Aubrey/Maturin books by Patrick O'Brian. This is the third time I have read them. The first time was in random order. The second and third time were in series order. I even annotated the reads on the third pass! It is only recently that I have discovered reading for pleasure. Perhaps it is the new glasses. Perhaps I am getting old or tired of shouting at the TV.

H gave me a book to read "The Time Travellers Guide to Medieval England" by Ian Mortimer. It is written like a traveller's guide, as the title suggests. It was an entertaining, informative and quick read. I was watching a programme on TV the other evening only to find great swathes of the presenters narrative being lifted straight out of this book.

I am not reading anything for the moment. I am hoping H will come up with something. I got a copy of "The Condition of the Working Classes in England" by Frederick Engels whilst on holiday. Not your typical holiday bodice ripper novel. I am a bit scared to start it. Engels toured Britain in the 1840's, especially the industrial NorthWest and was appalled by the conditions the populace endured. I am no political animal so I am not sure I will "enjoy" the read but I might be able to read it as a piece a social history since Engels and his mate, Karl Marx, have Manchester connections both spending time in Manchester considering the plight of the proletariat and Marx writing the Communist Party Manifesto, or part of it, in Ryland's Libary. As we know a bunch of people [The Russians to name but several million] took up his manifesto. It has shaped world history. The grubby herberts toiling in the cotton mills of the NorthWest of England had an impact in the world, unfortunately, well after their time on the planet was past.

Ickle fishy

In preparing for my holidays I put my fishing rods in the back of the car on the off chance I might get near some water. My chance came when I went to stay with my cousins in Lackagh. We was looking out the back door of their house, with a brew, at the huge garden. Cuz said their is "a bit of a river" just through the gate the far side of the field backing on to their boundary. Ok, I'm game. I got my gear together and wandered off to the river with mixture of apprehension and excitement. Less than five minutes walk I was looking over the river. A bit of a river! Welcome to the River Clare!

The river was in a deep valley which sheltered the river from worst of the wind. There were a couple of blokes perched on the bank. Just a bit of a nod and a "howya" as I passed by. They were doing the worm and weight thing despite the fact fish were rising up and down the river. I tackled up my fly rod and made my down to a spot on the bank. It took a while to get the fly casting technique going again. Having given the fish a headache practising casting such a confined space I moved upstream. I tried various flys and techiques. Every now and then I would move pegs and try a different stretch of river. The fish seemed always to out of casting reach. As the sun went down the the fish got really busy. Despite my clumsy casting I bagged a couple of fish. The next time I went I bagged another couple. Same again the next evening. No weighty fish altough there were plenty of big fish rising and rolling. So what did I catch or rather what fish gave themselves up? I caught a couple of Perch! What business have they snapping up my fly? I got a couple of Salmon. If only they were bigger. The best fish was a Brown Trout, perhap a quarter pounder....just. The catch is part of the game as is the chase. So whatever you catch is welcome on a new water. I needed floating line, dry flies and better casting technical to get those big uns.



I can now say that I have caught a wild Salmon and a wild Brownie. As long as no one asks how big they were I won't have to tell a fishman's tale.

A modest triumph

I have managed to grow carrots! Not a big deal for some people but it is for me. All the carrots I have grown before now have been riddled with Carrot Fly. Not this year. I interplanted Marigolds between the carrot rows. I got the marigolds going early in the greenhouse and planted the marigolds as seedling when I sowed the carrot seeds. I can hardly see the carrots the bed under the cover of marigolds. I guess the carrot fly could not find them either. It might have been the harsh winter that killed off a lot of the adults. Whatever the case, carrot I have. They are not pretty but they are a good size and carrot fly free.


















It is not so much the fly, as the maggots of the fly, that are the problem. The fly lays the eggs on the ground next to the carrots. The eggs hatch and the maggots feast on the carrots and in doing so drag soil in the burrrows in the body of the carrots. The carrots are ruined.

Onion and Banjo

What is the difference between an Onion and a Banjo?











Nobody crys when you chop up a banjo!

MFFF

MFFF = Moira Furnace Folk Festival, click HERE for their website. At Christmas H and the neighbours got all excited about the MFFF. It was the first one last year and the neighbours hadsuch a nice time they thought they would like to do it again. The time has come round. The weather was wet on and off all week. I did the trailer run on Saturday and found the soil a bit wet for digging. I checked the lottie over, collected produce and whipped the heads off any weeds in flower.

H wanted to go to the MFFF which is held at Moira Furnace, surprise surprise, which is just down road from us. Miss L was at work so I got changed from the smeggy lottie clothes to something a bit smarter. We wandered down and having got there wandered about. It was a bit quiet meaning there were not many people about are was it that there were lots of stalls and refreshment vans. The weather must have been a factor nevertheless the two marquees had people performing with an audience in attendance. There were also events on at the local pubs, the Railway, the Woodman and the Miner's Welfare. Moira was wash with Morris men, clog dancers and folks with instrument cases wandering between venues or camped outside a watering hole.

The weather was showery with bright sunny intervals. This meant that folks went inside the pubs when it tipped down and came out with the sunshine. It was like a bizarre cuckoo clock. I traditional festival lore the grass was cutting up muddy at the furnace with the kids loved. We got ourselves a couple of drinks, had a look round a had a listen to a band or two. It was quite mellow. I had to drop Miss L over to a local village hall for an 18th party and on my return we went over to the neighbours, had a few drinks and got a taxi down to the Furnace. Our neighbours negotiated a price for the wristbands which acted as entrance tickets for the various on site venues. A few more beers and a wall to sit on we listened to the acts. They were all good performers it was just a case of whether their music was to your taste. Some were, some where not to my taste bu they were not offensive ans since the sets were only 45 minutes long so it was easy to listen to for bit and if you did not like them go for a wander over to the beer tent and back by which time they were nearing the end. We had a good night. The festival packed up at 11.30 so as to be good neighbours. I behaved as I had to pick Miss L up. We all went back to the neighbours house to catch up with Clarkie and Clare. C&C had meet us at the Furnace. They had come back to the UK for a wedding following nine months travelling in Asia and down under. It was great to see them happy, safe and well. Lucy was picked up a little after 1am which was quite a nice excuse to get away as the neighbours and their friends were getting comfy and the old whiskey was being brought out.

Sunday morning was a washout, H and Miss L were a little worse for wear. I made breakfast for them and pottered about. We had arranged to meet the neighbours and their friends at the Furnace when the events opened at 2pm. H just about made it. Miss L was left to slumber. We walked down but did not see our friends straight away. We had a look round all the stalls, bought a drink then went up to a venue, the loft. This is the top on the Furnace building. In there was gathered a bunch a people mostly performer by a few spectators like ourselves. This was a "singaround". Essentially a self ordered open mike session without a mike. This was the sort of folk music I like. Songs of soldiery and sea faring, of the land and played on traditional instruments. We stayed for an hour or more. Folks just came and went. There was some beautiful harp music, a chap singing a soulful tune for lost love and a ribald tune for 69th Foot Regiment to name the highlights.

We found our buddies on the grass outside the main tent. We found a couple of chair and another drink and settled in the listen to the main stage. The bulk of the acts did a sort of folk rock thing but here are there was a traditional tune rendered in, more of less, a traditional way. The rain stayed away and the sun beat down. More than once I woke up to find I had been asleep. I was not the only one snoozing in the sun. The event wrapped up about 5.30. There was the usual thanks to the various folks involved in the weekend. By all accounts the performers and organisers enjoyed themselves. I am not so sure about the traders. We all strolled home. H made tea. I made the must for Strawberry wine, racked off the Rhubarb wine and checked in on the mead. Everything is looking fine.

Back from hols

I came back from holidays last Sunday night. Not too early on Monday I went round to the lottie to see what there was to see. Happily not too many weeds. The french beans have done well. Plenty to harvest and still plenty to come. To my surprise there were some caulis that were just about to go over so I picked them. The calabrese was just right so I picked that too. The seedlings that I planted out just before my holidays have grown on well so we will have green stuff over the winter. As expected the little courgettes from before the holiday are now the size of marrows. The sunflowers are looking good although they look out from the lottie rather than inward. I was chuffed to find the turnips seeds had germinated. I hope they will grow on quickly in this warm weather we are having.

Apparently it rained whilst we were away so the weeds have been encouraged. I have a green fuzz across the lottie so I must get the hoe out. The star performers are the grapes. The grapes have bunches with grapes the size of marbles. They were pea sized before I went away. The vines have not grown uniformally but I think that is due to competition from the trees in the fence line.

I looked in the muck bin because from the outside it looked like the level had dropped. I lifted the lid and sitting there was a young grass snake. So I can add "snake" to the list of produce from the lottie.

There are a few tears in the netting so a repair job is needed. The next job is to dig up the main crop spuds. The rain has wet the soil so it should be fairly loose for digging. It was like concrete before the holidays.

I had a little fishing outing on Friday down the canal. I bagged a few fish but Steve was hauling in loads. I think he was netting them whilst we weren't looking. It is too dark to fish by 8.30 so we packed up and repaired to the Railway. It was a very pleasant end to the day. A couple of pints sat in the cool of the evening, chatting with mates and listening to the hiddly diddly music played by folk musicians in the snug. It is Moira Furness Folk Festival this weekend hence the band.

Fishing or Weeding

I did not get everything done at the lottie that I wanted to at the weekend. I still had a 100+ Leeks in the back of the car. There was no Tour de France to distract so straight after tea I went up the lottie. I had the place to myself. The heat had gone out of the day and there was a gentle breeze wafting across the plots. I set about the Onion bed with fork digging out the weeds. The soil was dust dry so It took no time at all. Since I was on a roll I hand weeded the other onion rows. The lack of water has taken a toll on the onions. There is a crop but it is going to be poor. Half a plot yielded a full wheelbarrow of weeds. That is a measure of the lack of weeds. I am not complaining though. I dug up the three rows of Garlic. They were paper dry and as with all the other oniony type plants the bulbs were not that big. I got the hoe out and gave the area a good fettling. The weeds are trying for another flush. The light sprinkling of rain has woken them up. The dry soil and hoe has cleaned the area.

I got my long plank and dropped it where I was to plant the Leeks. With the plank as a guide I started dibbing the Leeks. The soil was so loose that the dibber went in right up to my knuckles on the tee bar dibber handle. That's about eight inches. However the fine soil fell back into the hole as soon as the dibber was removed. I ended up stuffing the Leeks into the dibbed holes in the a quick stab as the dibber came out. At least the Leeks will be in deep. I planted about a 100 Leeks. These are the ones that will stand for the winter.

I got the Secateurs from the car and set about pruning the Grape vines. I read that when the vines start to set the fruit that a portion of the top growth should be removed so that air and light can get at the grapes but also that the plant would put the effort into growing grapes and not leaves. It sounds right so I had a go. I tied in the best leaders to the guide wires and trimmed off about a quarter of the branches. I obviously left any branch that had a embryonic bunch of grapes. I filled the wheelbarrow with cutting. I was pleased to not that one of the Red grape vines had set fruit. Had I not been going on holiday soon I might had taken the leaves to make that Greek dish of stuffed vine leaves. I had it once and it was lovely.

I had the radio on listening to Huey Morgan from the Fun Loving Criminals. I like him. He is very L.A. and refreshing change to the usual rosta of radio herberts. It was a very still evening with just the Toads shuffling about. There was a very red sunset that lit up the clouds a bright pink. A that was my clue to start watering before the light went completely. A dozen or so trips to the trough was enough to soak the newly planted Leeks, re-soak the brasicass planted on Sunday and a good splash on the climbing French Beans. I had the offer to go fishing on the canal this evening but I was glad I got he Leeks in and trimmed the vines. The new brasicass needed a watering and the weeded onion patch looks good. It will be nearly three weeks before I see the lottie again. I am considering harvesting the Peas before my hols but quite when I am going to fit that in I do not know.

Beehaving

I did not get back to the bees yesterday evening. It was too cold and I did not fancy being stung again. It hot and muggy today so I nipped out for a long lunch and went up to the bees. I got ready and went through the hives again. I put the wet [as in covered in the remains of the extracted honey] framed brood box back on the middle hive. The queen is laying so I hope the bees will clean up the frames and the queen can make use of the extra space. I put an extra super to give the bees plenty to do whilst I on holidays.

The right hand side hive is chockablock with brood and honey. I had a super with drawn comb in stock. I have taken a chance and put that super on the hive under the excluder. I hope the bees will adopt the comb and Queen makes use of it. It is not usual to use supers for the brood chamber but needs must. I put a spare super in the middle of the super stack in the hope the bees will draw it. The hive is heavy with honey so more space can only mean more honey.

The left hand side hive has a new queen. There is a vacant Queen cell and lots of Drones but no sign of eggs so the Queen might still be in the virgin state. The bees seem to be clearing some cells of honey in the middle of the brood chamber and there are bees bring pollen in all of which are good signs. I put another super on this hive as I hope the bees will draw comb and it will give the bees somewhere to move the honey too from the brood chamber.

I have only one super spare and a brood box so I might have to extract a super or two when I get back from holidays, if the suppers are full. The two hives on right hand stillage are getting heavy. The stillage wobbles under their combined weight which must be more than eighty pounds. I figure the bees have settled down from the swarming season and have plenty of room if they wish to use it whilst I am away.

I was reflecting on the problem of swarming and have come to a conclusion. The strains of bees must have an Italian blood line. Italian bees are known for their vigorous habit. I think that a single brood chambered National hive is too small a frame area for the Queen. In the spring build up she quickly fills the available frames of the brood chamber and with no where else to lay it triggers the swarming mechanism. Since the queen reproduction cycle is shorter than the worker cycle by the time she is ready to lay the brood chamber is not sufficiently free of brood to let get on and that triggers the swarming mechanism again. I think if I put the queen on double brood box in the spring then the extra room will prevent the second cast. I have been reading up on swarm control so I have a plan for next year. Bees make honey so for lots of honey you need lots of bees and losing 50% of your bees to swarms is not helpful. The only good thing is that I am populating the countryside with strong clean bees.

Bees.........hum

I found out this week that work has been delayed on Degsy because they cannot get hold of a chassis. Saturday did not go according to plan. I did the trailer run as usual but whilst tripping out the muck I decided to go the Bees since it was so hot. At he bees I found that they pulling in loads of honey a stuffing the hive. For some reason they are not drawing wax so only have the brood chamber to fill. Other wise they are in good order. I resolved to go back on Sunday and take off the filled brood box and extract the honey.

When I got home after that vexing hour I had a spot of lunch. Double fried eggs and brown sauce butty. Greggs do round white buns that are very nearly barm cakes, a staple of any Manchester diet. They fit two eggs just nice and all goes down very nicely with a brew. H want to get some trousers for walking. We went to Measham but the shop their did not have what she wanted. I decided we would nip over to Tamworth to Black's. They had just what she wanted and it was in the sale, ker-ching! When we came back it was too late to got the lottie so I got the car ready for the next day. I had an hour or so to kill so I went out on the bike and ended up doing a ten mile circuit. When will I learn to cycle slowly?

Miss L was out to a party and was staying over so H and I had the place to ourselves. Something we are going to have to get used to from now on. H disappeared. I heard some crackling outside. I went for a nosey and found H had got the chiminea going and had made herself comfy with a glass of fizz and the Harris blanket. I managed to find a glass of something red, chucked a load of small logs on the fire and make myself comfy in the deck chair. We just sat and chatted, "being" as H would say.

Sunday was much more overcast and colder [relatively] so the bee visit of Saturday turned out to be the correct decision. Despite best intentions and the Collared Doves cooing from dawn I did not get to the lottie early. I had ten trays of brasicass and leeks to plant out. The top end of Bed2 was reserved for these plantlets. As usual the bed had to be weeded. I am please to say that some of the weeds had been struggling in the dry condition, other it made no difference to. A wheelbarrow and a half later the weeding was done. I got he plank and set about planting the Savoy Cabbage, Seven Hills Brussels Sprouts, Calbrese and Purple Sprouting Broccoli. It was tedious work. The plants need quite a bit of room but they look lost when planted out. I know I have planted them too close together but it is the best my conscience will allow.

Next I harvested some Caulis and some Greyhound spring cabbage. I dug up the remaining Caulis and cleared the area. I then planted twenty odd Greyhound cabbage. They are quick growers so I am hoping I can get another crop in before the solstice and we loose the light. The bit of rain we have had helped the plants but things are very dry. The onions have not done that well or the Garlic for that matter. Things might have been better if a had watered more. That said the Grapes are doing well as are the cabbage plants. So there is always something that suit the conditions. The gherkins and one of the courgette have got a foot hold so I will have to keep an eye on them. Before I left I gave all the new planting a good soaking and wished them well in their new homes.

I was at the lottie from about ten until three. I was wrecked. It was hot despite the lack of sun. The custard creams had run out as had my water. I wanted to knock off but I still had to retrieve the brood box. I trundled off to the apiary. It was quicker trundle than with Degsy. I got dressed for bee fettling and bagged the box off the hive. The previous day I taken the brood box out of its position in the stack of boxes and placed on top of the same stack but with a crown broad, fitted with Porter bee escape, between the top super and the brood box. I gave the brood box a good rattle and left the bees to it. As I expected when I came to the brood box, on the Sunday, it was empty of bees all but a couple that had not got the message to return to the hive proper. As I checked the frames I wafted the stray bees off the comb and they duly flew back to the hive. H made a nice tea of Irish soul food, Bacon, Cabbage and Spuds with Redcurrant jelly on the side. All but the Bacon was home grown and tasted just great.

After tea we watched of the Tour de France highlights I extracted the honey from the brood box. It is a messy business but I did quite well in getting only a few thing sticky. I extracted about 14 pounds from the one box. This years honey is light, fragrant and a mellow "honey" colour. As I cleaned up I had a brain wave. I tipped a couple of pounds of honey and all the capping, which are also soaked in honey, into a demi-john, filled the DJ with warm water and shook it up. Whilst it was cooling down I mixed up some yeast and let it stand. After a bit of telly and a brew the DJ was just warm and the yeast ready. I tipped in the yeast, gave it another good shake up and put in an air lock. By the time I was off to bed the airlock was bubbling. So that is mead made. I hope it will be ready for Christmas.

A splendid evening

Wednesday a few us from the lottie had a an outing the Barton Marina [Click HERE for the website] to take on some marine adversaries. The chosen weapons were fly rods, a selection flies and a unhealthy helping of optimism.

We got to the pond about 18.30 and set up our rigs. Each one of us sure that the coming minutes would yield a sporting fish. In a very short time we discovered that we had generally lost the knack of casting long and straight or even short and straight. It took a few of us quite some time and a few flies to regain our casting prowess. As the evening progress we disperse around the lake, each one of us sure of our decision making process.

As the night envelope us we met back at the car. Each one of had tales of near misses and leaping Trout. Two of us landed catches. Both were Perch, one tiddler and one of one pound. At another time a one pound Perch would be worth of talking about but it was dismissed as unworthy of the tackle and effort put in that evening to say nothing of the cost.

One of us had the foresight be bring a couple of beers along. We stood in the deep twilight, slurping and a coolish beer discussing what could have been, the tactics that should have been employed, the reason we did not catch and what we would do next time. Thanks to Dave P for driving us out there and back.

Will there be a next time. It is hard to know.

A good soaking

I was up early again because of the Collared Dove that likes to coo-coo from day break. I had a leisurely breakfast then loaded up the car for the lottie. I put some crates and a basket in the car as well. When I got to the lottie I had already decided to dig up the last of the early spuds. I had four row left. I set about them in the usual manner, working methodically from one end of the row to the other. I had thought that the soil would be fairly wet given the amount of rain we have had this week. What I found way that the soil was damp in the upper layers but deeper down, say three inches, the soil was bone dry. I found that a bit surprising. The four row yielded two full trays. In the last week the spuds have bulked up which must be down to the rain.

The cabbage patch is looking good. I had a look over the cauli's to find that two whole rows were ready. I harvested four but it did not make much difference. It is the same old problem, glut or famine. What do you do with thirty cauli's? The Spinach has gone over so I dug them all up. It has left a nice space between the cauli's and Marigolds.

I did a bit of hand weeding. The weeds have loved the rain. I picked some of the Peas. I tried to pick just the pods but kept pulling the vines out too. So I just cleaned the vines away and picked the pods. The compo bins is filled to the brim with potato haulms, pea vines and cauli leaves. I started on the broad beans are was ignoring the rain but it got heavier and heavier and then it belted down. I made a dash for the car but it was too late I was soaked. I went home for a dry out. I had spot of lunch but could not bring myself to go back to the lottie. My excuses was that I figured the surface of the soil would be sticky. Whilst having a brew it threw it down again as if to reinforce my decision.

I decide to have a look at the BMW. I tidied up the garage a bit and made a start. Have a look at the bike blog to find out what I spent the afternoon doing. The Sagely one and his good lady had invited me, H and Miss L to a BBQ. The rain stayed off, we had a nice time and just for once I came away from Steve's jolly instead of legless. I had to behave because I needed to go to the car boot on Sunday morning and collect some more goodies from the lottie.

Mad dogs and English men

It was the trailer run today. I hung onto the trailer so I could move some stone for my paths. I started with the long path near the ditch but after a very few minutes of wrestling with the weed suppressing membrane my patience was all used up. I turned my attention to the short paths that lead to the ditch side path instead. The membrane was easier to handle. Once the muck was in the poo bin I trundled up to the stone pile and filled the trailer. On my return I parked the trailer outside my plot an started to barrow the content of the trailer up to the middle path. It went easy enough. Luckily the trailer load completed the path. It had taken an hour to do this path. I thought I will have a go at the other short path, the one just inside the gate, on the left. I would need another trailer load.

Haz had been wandering about huffing and puffing bored with duties on his own plot. I suggested that he might like to fill the trailer with me. He was off like a shot to get a shovel. Once again at the stone pile withe trailer positioned just so, I watched him wrestle with his shovel. I had to stop him and give me a little lesson in the use of a shovel. Spades are for digging, shovels for.....shovelling, that why they have a cranked handle. Once I stopped him "digging" and he started using the shovel properly he was an instant help. The trailer was loaded and we drove back. Haz was summonsed to tidy up his plot before going home loaded down with spuds and Broad Beans. I emptied the trailer a barrow at a time. However this time a trailer load was not enough. I had to get another trailer load and that turned out to be a little too much. never mind, once the rain was been on it the path will compact and the surface level will drop.

By 12.30pm I had had enough. Only mad dogs and English men go out in the midday sun, as the song goes. I had left the strimmer in the car overnight so I decided, whilst it was to hand, I would run the strimmer round the plot until the strimmer wire wore out. Ten minutes later I was done. I cut a couple of head of cabbage, Greyhound. Sagely Steve arrived at this point in his Landy. I had a pang. I won't have Degsy back for a month or more. One of my neighbours stopped H in town the other day and asked what had happened to Degsy. She thought he had been sold. H allayed her fears. Even Degsy has his fans.

I took the trailer back to the stables and dropped off one of the head of cabbage. I then went on to the apiary. All is well there. One hive is struggling because it is chock full of honey and the bees won't draw new comb. The other hives have drawn comb but they too are filling up and it is not yet mid July. When I got home I had a bit of lunch.

I went to empty the car and give it a wash. The red dust was deep on the car from running across the farm. It was very dry up there. The car has not been cleaned for ages so it took a while to get the muck off. I took pity on H and did her car when mine was done. I got distracted when I was tidying up my push bike. I found the instructions for the handlebar computer so I went through the set up again. I keep pressing the wrong buttons when I am out and un-setting the damn thing. I tightened the cleats on my shoes and reset the releases on the pedals. H called me in, the Tour de France was on so we sat there with a nice cold beers and watched the riders toil up a mountain for our amusement. Then it was tea time, spuds and cabbage for the lottie, Bacon from the nice butcher followed by Strawbs and Rasps from the garden.

A bit later H was pottering in the garden and I got roped in. It was only light pottering with watering the greenhouse. As soon as big bro came on I retired to t'interweb for research on bees, cycling jerseys and carburetors leaving H and Miss L to shout at the TV. Next weekend is the tea party and Steve's summer bash so I don't think much is getting done next weekend.

Wasps

When the work party was over in decided that whilst I had the strimmer with me that I would strim the ditch. It took a fair bit of doing since the strimmer wire kept wearing out. Each time it needed resetting it took about two minutes of faffing about. Since I was already soaked with sweat, aching and itching from the previous striming session I was not a happy chap. I finished the ditch but I really had had enough. I thought that I would chop down the Comfrey since it had just gone over. I waded into the middle of the patch and started chopping away with the shears. I filled a wheelbarrow in no time but then I got a sharp pain in the back of my hands. Odd I thought, since I was wearing my work gloves. I looked down and saw a wasp drilling into my hand. He won't do that gain but the damage was done. I stepped back a saw a dozen or so wasps whizzing about obviously deeply unhappy about having their home disturbed. I that was the final straw. I dumped the harvested Comfrey in my compo bin and left the lottie.

Even now several hours later the sting area is swollen and itching like mad. When I got home I had a nice shower and a sandwich which went someway to restoring my humour. H and I went to Barrett's to see if I could get a pair of lightweight hiking boots/shoes for the walk I have to do in September. I tried to get some Hi-Tecs I had seen on the t'interweb. They had every size but mine. I tried on a few other pairs and found an alternative style. We paid for goodies and left before they called us back to say they had made a mistake with the price. Barrett's is have a "mega-sale" and many items are discounted 50% or more. When we got home my neighbour was clearing his garage out. It was a serious clear out. A skip was sitting on the drive. I went skip diving and came up with a few things for the lottie.

I, well H, found a website where you can can plan routes, walkjogrun.net, it is supposed to be for runners but it works just as well for cyclist. I decided to have a play. I set up an account and set up a couple of routes and investigated a couple more. I was getting bored, it was hot in the house and my hand was itching so I decided to go for a ride. I got sorted and took off on a new route. It was just ten miles but it hurt like hell. I think of this side of the country as flat. It is not flat when you get out of the car and get about under your own steam. Still, it was enjoyable in a peculiar kind of way. Another shower by which time tea was about ready. Just in time to watch the highlights of the Tour de France.

Work Party

Today was the lottie work party. When I turned, up just before 10am, there were already a number of folks busy with jobs. By the time a got my stuff out of the car all the folks that were going to turn up had turned up. Perfect and I went strimming. We went all the way up the long border and round and about the family beds. I was heartily glad to finish strimming. Swinging a heavy strimmer was hard on my back. It is a dirty job too since the strimmer kicks up dust and the bits of the plants that you have just chopped up and being sweaty it all sticks to you. That's not so bad except when the plants you are smashing up are Nettles and Thistles.

The rest of the folks were split up into two parties, One weeding the patio area and one in the big compost bin[s]. It was odd because the the two parties split along gender lines. No one said anything, it just happened. Ladies weeding, bloke sawing, hammering and shovelling.

The Patio area has a lot of grass growing through the flowers. The four ladies toiled in the sun to clear all the grass and other assorted weeds. It looks really good, sort of refreshed. The blokes tackled to big poo corral, that was. It is now the community compost heap. Sagely Steve and Dave P set about creating bins within the bigger corral using the ubiquitous pallet. They built three down the right hand side and tipped in the worst of the cuttings and leavings that were on the left of the big corral into the newly made smaller bins. The ladies provided another five barrow loads of weed for the new bins. As the compo bin was turned over we came down on the old cuttings etc which had rotted down. It had made a fair compost. Sagely decided that it should all be clear out and dumped on the long border. That we did, seeing as it was a good idea. Ash, me and Dave P, helped and hindered in equal measure by Haz [Harry - son of Dave P], shovelled and barrowed twenty odd loads of fresh compost onto the long border to clear the area.

Haz in the assisting mode. Not quite fair but a good picture.

Whist we toiled Perfect and Sagely tidied up and repaired the compo bins on the reverse side of the big corral. When we finished clearing the big bin Ash and Sagely set about the pallets with a blunt saw to prepare them from tying together to make another three smaller compo bins on the left of the corral. The community compo are now has nine compo bins. The area looks good because it is tidy but also because the new pallets are still bright pine. Sagely, despite himself, ended up with a fairly square and regular shaped job and that makes it look good too.


We got finished a little after noon. The sun had been beating down all morning but at least there was a gentle breeze to cool us down. We surveyed our own and the other teams work and pronounced ourselves happy with the jobs we had done. We took a team photo.



The team are stood on the patios and you can see soil around the plants in the foreground. If you look to the left of shot, on the far side of the roadway you can see the border all mown. Many hands do make light work but more to the point, they make a lot of work and that has a visual impact.

I must try harder

It was an early start today, relatively early. I was at the lottie for 9.30. however the birds especially the bl**dy pigeons had us awake indecently early for a Sunday or anyother day for that matter. It was Degsy's last run out for a month. I ended up down on my hands and knees to weed the bean patch. Another wheelbarrow full, mostly Chickweed, Red dead nettle with a little Fat Hen. I also run the hoe through the beans that were lightly weeded. I had another batch of broad beans to plant out which I duly transplanted after I had prepared the bed.

I had ten Butternut squash plantlets. It was a quick job to plant them out. Squashes always look like they have been planted too far apart when they first go in. Give them three months and you will wish you had given them some more room. I had a few Celery plantlets in the green house. They have nearly been killed a few times. I took them with me to the lottie. I dug a trench where the over wintering onions had been and planted the celery. I have gave them a good soaking in the hope them will take off. Ever the optimist.

It was blooming hot and it got hot hotter as I pressed on. I had promised to take Miss L to Leicester to check out the Mac shop. So I only had a little time to do what was needed. The Asparagus bed is looking tatty again. I jumped in. Before long I had another barrow of weed. In chopping back the weeds I found a couple of spears of Asparagus. I cut them and dropped them into the back of Degsy. Whilst hacking out the weeds I had a bit of a moment when I grabbed a hand full of weed and as I dragged it out the corner of my eye caught the skin of a snake. It gave me a start but it turned out to be a sloughed off skin. Time was really up. I threw the few meager tools in the motor and came home. I was wring wet. when I got home I peeled my clothes off and had a cool shower.

We had out trip to Leicester. Miss L saw what she wanted. We had a brew and a cake whilst there. Did a bit of people watching and came away. On getting home I cleared Degsy out and loaded it with the goodies for tomorrow; a windscreen, petrol tank, heater matrix and the exhaust guard.

A buddy of mine gave me a hands free kit for my car. He has changed his car and his new one has hands free factory fitted. I tipped the bag full of boxes and wires on the floor of living room. It was complicated looking so I popped the cap off a bottle of Bud and sat down with the instructions. It must have been complicate if I decided to read the instructions first! I managed to get he radio out of the dash board in one piece, hooked up the connectors and gave it a dry run. I worked first time. It took another 45 minutes to get the radio back in the dash and hide all the wires. Just in case you were wondering, the hands free uses the cars radio for the speakers and it switch off radio/CD when the phones is on. Clever really.

I resolved to water the lottie Monday and Wednesday, at least. I also resolved to sow more seeds, especially cabbage. The Raspberries are kicking in at home which is nice. The roses are in fully bloom and the Sweet Pea are starting to flower which is nice also. The garden is looking really full and verdant. H is making the most of it. I must try harder.

Red moon

Today was very hot, 28 degrees and little breeze. I was at the lottie with the trailer by ten AM. I was wringing wet by the time I had emptied the trailer. I harvested some Spinach, Rhubarb and Asparagus. I did a little hand weeding and had a look round. The Pea bed needs weeding. I dropped the trailer back to the stables and went over to see the bees. All looked well there but it was hotter still, especially working in full sun whilst wearing overalls.

On the way back from the bees I stopped here and there along the hedgerows to collect Elderflower blossoms. I got a least a bushel of them. I am going to make some Elderflower champagne, wine and H some cordial. I went home to drop off the goodies and have some lunch. It would have been folly to go back to the lottie for an afternoon of toil in the hottest part of the day. Instead I stayed at home a prepared Degsy for the doctor, fitted my new bonnet and tidied up the garage. I had a quick run out to the tip to recycle the old bonnet as well other bits are pieces from the clear out.

Miss L came running down stairs later in the evening to tell us to look at the moon. It was just above our horizon, large and deepest red. Apparently Miss L had never seen the moon like that before. Through the evening we kept checking the progress of the moon across the sky and it's changes in colour.

Queen, Queen and Queen

I had the day off work today. I checked the hive to find, hopefully, the new queen at home. The bees were nice and calm, a good sign. The travel case, which I had placed in the hive on Saturday was completely empty, even all the food was gone. Some of the foragering bees are returning pollen which is another sign of a viable queen. I did not find any eggs but the cells on the brood frames, which were full of honey, are being cleared out. I hope this the first step in re-establishing order in the the colony I had taken a spare super with me so I dropped that on when I rebuilt the hive.

The middle hive is building up but I don't think we will have much of a honey surplus from this hive. The end hive is charging on. The upper brood box is having wax drawn at a great rate and there are eggs and larvae everywhere. That means I will have 70,000+ bees and that means honey. Here's hoping.

A big day for Miss L

It was the biggest day of the year so far on Saturday. Miss L is eighteen years old. We had a birthday bash in a marque at Moira Furnace. We had a DJ and a bar. By Miss L's request it was a fancy dress affair, the theme, Las Vegas. But before the fun begins I had a few things to do. My new queen bee arrived in the post on Friday morning. I did not want to keep her in her traveling case too long so I decided to introduce into the hive on Saturday morning. The weather has been poor all week but got better during Friday. Miss L had to go to work early so I was up early. I decided to do a few jobs in the garden and greenhouse. I planted out Sunflowers, Marigolds and did a bit of weeding. I tidied up the sweet pea back to the trellis. Since the seed trays in the greenhouse are much reduced I took down the staging and positioned the canes to support the tomatoes. Just for good measure I tidied in Toms to the canes.

By 10.30 it was approaching 18 degrees. I trundled over to the apiary, dismantled the hive in readiness for the introduction. I trimmed back the mesh covering the food part of the travelling case. I placed the travelling case, mesh down, over the space between the frame top rails. Then put the hive back together and resolved to check the hive out as soon as possible. I was not going to be able to do that Sunday. I had a quick look through other two hives and found all was well. That done I came away.

I had nothing else to do but stay in an wait for our guests to arrive and make Tea. In the fullness of time folks arrived. Eventually they were sent off to the various places they were to stay and we got ready to go out. We had a very good evening, lots of people came from far and wide. As far as I know everyone had as good a night as we did.

Wild life

I thought I would say something about the wild life round the lottie. Well there is a lot of it. When we first started on the site slugs and snails were the main incumbents. There might have been other things there but they could not be seen. I regularly see Kestrels and Buzzards. When I was growing up seeing a Kestrel was a big deal. Recently seeing Buzzards was a big deal but now they are almost common place. It is still surprising when you see a Buzzard sitting on a fence post. They are surprisingly large. We get Red leg Partridge wandering about and the fattest Wood Pigeons you have ever seen. No wonder really with all the greens they have scoffed.

Recently the "gold medal" wild life is the Grass Snakes. We have seen the odd one dead about the plots or the sloughed off skins of the snakes. Over the passed two weeks a couple of Grass Snakes have take up residence in my muck bin. I lift the lid and found them staring, unblinkingly, back at me before making a break for their holes. I will leave the bin for the summer just in case they are incubating eggs. The Toad population seems to be building up. I have dug up a few and found them in cool corners of the plot. My neighbour more or less tripped over a few of them the size of tennis balls, that is big for a common Toad. There are the usual furry critters, mice mainly but the odd shrew. They come in different shapes and colours. This year there are fewer slugs about especially on my plot. I have few places for them to hide.

I have lots of birds popping in; the ubiquitous Robin and Wren, tits of all description, Blue, Coal, Long tailed, then what I think are more exotic, Bullfinch, Yellowhammer and Goldfinches. Then there are the residents, Blackbird and Dunnock. The wider area supports Magpies, Jackdaw and Cuckoo. The Cuckoo song, whilst the harbinger of the summer, becomes a bit wearing. It is nice at first but it unchanging. I have heard many but never seen one. In the winter we see Redwings in the fields and in the spring and summer Lapwings. All year round we have the song of Green Woodpecker and I regularly see them in the rolling flight. In the evenings Small and Tawny Owls float about on the hunt. There are bats too but I have not idea what sort.

When I trundling round the wider country park I saw a pair of ears sticking up from the blanket of grass and white clover. These were not the ears of the local Rabbit population. The white spots gave him away. I did not have to waiting long for a large Hare to break cover a lope off down the meadow. I see quite few Hares but more often on the farmland near the apiary. I got within a dozen feet of this one before he decided enough was enough. This weekend I was following the River Mease near the apiary. I was surveying the scene when a small bird flew across the field essentially cutting out he meander of the river. As the sun hit the bird it's feathers shone iridescent. It was a Kingfisher. I watched it zoom across the field like a blue dart until it disappeared in to the trees by the river.

There is lots to see if only you keep your eyes open.

Happy birthday Alex

I was up early on Sunday because I had an appointment late afternoon in Newton Burgoland. H and I had to go to Alex's 18th birthday party. Alex is Miss L's beau. I made myself a bumper breakfast to keep me going. I was feeling a bit tender after yesterday's exertions. The greenhouse is a little less full now but there still is space at the lottie. Since I had been so good with the weeding I decided to risk sowing seeds directly on the plot. I had a tray of Jolent leeks to plant out. Easy enough and there is room in the bottom end of Bed1. Then a couple of rows of Beetroot. But have run out of the fancy stripy type so I had use the seed for the Pronto variety. Pronto is quite small and almost black the red is so deep. I did a bit more hand weeding and the other seedling really stand out.

I had a tray full of legging Astor seedling. After separating them I discovered I had rather a lot of them. In Bed4 I planted some by the French beans and another block by the end of the Pea rows. I still had loads left over so I went to the top end of Bed2 and planted the remainder, three deep across the end of the bed. It will look nice if they survive. I hoed off bed2 in preparation for more sowing. The Spinach I put in is grow very well. I think Spinach is one of those plants that does not like being started in pots and transplanted out. When I have done this in the past the plants just bolted. This year the direct sowing is giving big lush plants. With that in mind I sowed another two rows of Spinach. I dropped in a row of lettuce. All the sowing and transplants get a good dowsing with water. It had rained overnight which helped the previous day's plantings to establish.

I had a another bash at hand weeding on the path and pulled out the few leggy weeds that had made it the sun in the spud bed. I had decided that I had finished but just as I was about to leave the plot I decide than I should weed the Onion bed. It was quite easy the pull out the chickweed from around the Onions. Last Autumn I tried Japanese over wintering onions. I am happy to say that they are ready. I only lost a couple through the winter. I bent over the tops and used the fork to release them from the soil in the time honoured fashion. I hope they will be ready by next weekend. That done I finally went home and it was not evening midday.

I had a brew then showered and shaved to make myself presentable for the do. Since we had loads of time on our hands, H and I went to Whatton Gardens. H has adopted it. We saw it last in March in the freezing cold and biting gale. This time the weather was much more benign. The fields round the gardens had sleek bay horses dozing by the water tough. Later fit looking Short Horn cows and Belted Galloway cows sauntered across the field into the shade of the massive Oak and Cypress trees. The gardens were in full early summer bloom. The long border was magnificent, a hundred yards long ten feet deep and plants anywhere from a foot to ten feet high and arranged tallest at the back shortest a the front. Te Rose garden was heady with scent tea roses. Some of them smelt like sweet lemons. The lawns wee mowed to perfection and the woodland rides had been strimmed back. It had not been done long as there was a heady aroma of wild Garlic that had been chopped down with the strimmer. We sat on the benches careful provided for the view. H had to check out the ice house. No toads in there this time.

The only shame about the gardens is that the perfect walled kitchen garden is not worked properly. The gardens has all the attribute of the great walled garden, good position, thick walls. It even has chimney within the walls to heat the soft fruits. There are potting sheds and modest glass houses. Last time we were there the kitchen garden had a couple of WBC hive. I would dearly like to get my hands on it. It could easily become a life's work. We had plenty of time to stroll about and dream then back to reality, we left to get over to the party.

Queen, Queen, no Queen

The weather was glorious for my afternoon trip to the bees. I have sussed out how to keep my smoker going but I only really need it for clearing the bees from the edges of the boxes when I put the hive back together. The Nuc Queen has settled in and her bees are busy gathering stores but not so busy drawing out the foundation into comb. No comb, no where for the Queen to lay eggs. I open another hives and pinched a couple of frames of drawn foundation in the hope the Queen will adopt it giving her the space she needs.

The hive that I transplanted a Queen cell into is off and running the Queen is laying and the bees are flying freely. You can tell all is well with these hives since the bees fly freely to and from the hive, that is before I disrupted them. You can also see the bees coming back with pollen on their legs. They only gather pollen when the Queen is laying as it forms the basis of the high protein food the developing larvae need.

The last hive is a double edged sword. There are lots of bees gathering lots of honey. However the Queen is gone so there are no new eggs being laid. No eggs means no new bees. In a couple of months the bees will have died off. I sent off for a mail order Queen. I hope to get her in a week or so. In the meantime the hives fills with honey.

The new strategy of open mesh floors and small hive entrances seem the be paying off. There a very few wasps about. This time last year one hive in particular seemed to have more wasps than bees. This year the hives are stronger colonies so I expect what wasps had tried to get in were repulsed and thought to go somewhere else for an easy meal.

A word on the honey. This year the honey is a rich golden colour and looks very liquid as apposed to last year's honey which was very pale colour and quick to granulate. I put this down to the flush of hedgerow flowers from the late spring and the lack of oilseed Rape in the fields near the apiary. The farmer's crop rotation has cereals in fields that were Oilseed Rape last year. There is Oilseed Rape within the forage radius but I think it is diluted by the hedgerow blossom. The Elderflower have come out so both me and the bees will be foraging on them soon.