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.