the daydream fund challenge thread

Davesnave

rhiwfield wrote: »

Rain, rain and more rain! What a damp squib this July and August has been.

DW is waiting the results of her assessment medical but is busy planning for life after knee ops.

We watched the programme on food waste last night in wonder, do people really throw away all that food after they've bought it? We dont even have leftovers for the hens, we're that mean

Until now, we've had very little rain, so it was quite heartening to see the river running brown yesterday on our return from the week's 'big shop.' I'll have a look later to see if our stream has started running properly again.

There certainly is life after knee ops, if my FIL is anyone to go by. I'll need them too, eventually, (motorcycle accidents many decades ago!) but it felt like I'd be applying for them next week when finishing off the first polytunnel foundation holes. The manual says, nonchalantly, "Dig holes 60cm deep and approx 45cm square at each corner of the site." They don't sound too bad, but that's actually quite a task after the first foot or so, because they're so narrow. My holes are therefore larger, but one is on bed rock, and it's still not quite deep enough. :mad:

After the corner holes, I've another ten more to do, but I'm going to modify the way I do the rest. With luck, I can get the foundations sorted inside a few weeks. The frame should be like building with Meccano.....:) Who am I kidding?

Food waste upsets me. I threw out two pork pies yesterday and felt bad, but they were left over from the party we had, and I'd already eaten four others! ATM I'd really like to be preserving and pickling more, but with the other jobs calling me, it's DW who is having all the fun.

Sorry to hear your coop has that fault, but knowing you, here will be a solution brewing. Maybe a bit of constructive feedback to Green Frog would be welcomed? Worth a try.

rhiwfield

Davesnave wrote: »

Sorry to hear your coop has that fault, but knowing you, here will be a solution brewing. Maybe a bit of constructive feedback to Green Frog would be welcomed? Worth a try.

Yes, have been in touch and they sent me some rubber u-tubing to clip over nestbox lid. We'll see how it goes.

One thing about having hens is that you're out in the garden at dusk every night to lock them away. Until now I never knew we had so many toads and hedgehogs around!

Davesnave

Whoops, we're nearly in Page 3! Time to give this thread a bump...;)

I find I’m finishing work at dusk now, but I’ve still not seen a hedgehog, though the ‘evidence;’ is there. There aren’t enough frogs and toads here, but I’m hoping to change that.

Someone we met finally solved the mystery of our rubbish ‘heaps'. Apparently, he was employed to clean the place up PDQ a few years ago, so the 'best' solution, he decided, was to bulldoze everything: pots, trees, plants, rubbish, building materials etc into piles. These were then covered with soil and sown with grass seed. I explained, tactfully, that we'd had lots of 'fun' this year, sorting them all out! :rotfl:

Coincidentally, this chap warned us that there is a spring in the garden, and I’ve now located it, directly under one corner of the polytunnel, where the foundation is going! The hole's 4” deep in water, while another I've dug nearby is bone dry. It's a nuisance ATM, but I’m pleased to have a free source of water, however small. In time, it might be enough to pipe into a small pond for those frogs and toads.

The 'flat' polytunnel area we created is sloping a bit now, due to settlement, but as the foundation tubes are set level & pretty deep, I can build the frame and we'll do the final tidying later. It’s taken an age to concrete-in the first two corner posts, but barring more bed rock, and springs, things should move a little quicker now.

Where's that nice weather we were promised this weekend?

JayneC

Hi everyone,

Good to hear how everyone's doing, sounds like your having afew 'issues' with your polytunnel Dave, seems you've got it under control though. I've been dodging the showers and have done a bit of 'tidying' in my garden, trimmed all the toms and looks like I should have a reasonable crop though they're taking their time to ripen (got 3 up to now!!) Courgette plant is still producing and am a little overexcited that I've managed to get cucumbers growing - never managed before, but have quite a few growing on my one an only plant!

I've managed to do a bit more clearing a my other garden and have now managed to prune my way to next doors fence, got enpugh blackberries from the brambles to make a couple of jars of jam! The compost heap is now as tall as me!!Only trouble is all the weed seedlings are now happily pushing through the newly cleared ground, think I'm going to have to coverthe ground to smother them and then think about planting in spring...

well have to go now DD wanting the computer..

Back soon. x

rhiwfield

What an awful day yesterday. Spent abortive, frustrating hours with DWP than got home totally drained to find our Colombian Blacktail bleeding badly from her vent.

Seperated her from the other two hens, cleaned her up, bit of vaseline then put her in a hastily converted Little Tykes cottage. Hour or two later shes cannibalising a monster :eek: semi-hard shell egg thats broken on the floor. No visible sign of a prolapse and shes alive today though not at her brightest.

Best guess is thats she's bled a bit from the vent and then been pecked by the other two, though we've seen no prior evidence of bullying other than a few feathers that we'd thought was a moult.

After that and a few other minor mishaps, we broke our routine by getting a fish and chips takeaway, too tired and p****d off to cook!!

Davesnave

Like you, I'm amazed at how easy cucumbers are, Jayne; they'll certainly be on my essentials list next year. Not so good were the aubergines, which tasted bitter, so maybe I left them too long. It looks like our outdoor toms are getting blight now. How long we'll be able to keep the polytunnel ones is anyone's guess, but there's still loads to ripen.

Sorry to hear about your frustrating time with DWP, rhiwfield. We have found both them and HMRC very much a curate's egg, with service being a lottery, according to who one sees, or finds on the other end of a 'phone. Local planning departments are the same.

Sounds as if your Blacktail will survive her ordeal. We found the slightest bit of blood would start the pecking, but that phase seems to be behind us. All our hens are now in the same run, but they return to their own houses at night. If we can get the new chicken shed erected at the weekend, they will be truly integrated ....hopefully.

ATM I'm just putting off the evil moment when I go out to dig another hole or two for the polytunnel foundations. I read the instructions properly yesterday & found I'd 16 holes to do, not 14 as previously thought! The corners are all there now, so I'm working on the side where the bed rock starts around 0.4m down, and praying that it stops somewhere along the length. On that side, two holes a day is good going. Still, must'nt grumble; grovelling in holes is far less appealing in the cold & wet, so the lovely weather is making this 'easy.'

JayneC

rhiwfield sorry to hear you've been having a bit of bad time of it, I have to say I find DWP less than helpful too. I have a few dealings with them through work (as well as personal dealings in the past!)and they seem to have the assumption that everybody who is involved with them is a good for nothing scrounger!!! (Maybe that's a bit of a sweeping statement, but that's certainly the impression I get!)

Keep going Dave you'll get there

I'm definately going to try more cucumbers next year, I've got tons of Toms and we don't eat anywhere near the amount of toms as cucumbers, so bit of a miscalculation there methinks.

Didn't get to my other garden yesterday - weather was lovely so took the kids to the beach instead (may be the last chance this year) Must go today though, think I may go in a sec and get a couple of hours in before lunch. Maybe see you all later x

rhiwfield

Pouring down atm, just moved the girls and glad to say the blacktail seems none the worse except for a bare bottom!

JayneC, I've come to the conclusion that cucumbers are not that difficult IF you grow them right and get the right variety . We've done okish for a couple of years with burpless tasty green but got botrytis in the greenhouse and slugs on the outdoor beds. This year trained them up decking palisade and theyve produced cucumbers all summer long

Davesnave, at least the rain will soften the ground for your posthole digging

Had to give away courgettes and runner beans yesterday as freezer is bursting at the seams. Onto the lower cobs of sweetcorn, smaller but just as tasty. Started harvesting a new bed of carrots, first out was a 320g monster.

Spending a fair bit of time helping DW set up her craft business and bought a domain name yesterday. So for the next week or two its out of the comfort zone while I attempt to get the website up and running :eek:

JayneC

I've at last uploaded some photos onto photobucket so if you're interested here's some snaps of my back garden and also of the permaculture garden at the Off Grid Festival that I went to. They're my inspiration for my Other garden - not got any pics of that at mo, but will do soon (promise)

Here goes hope it works

http://s1185.photobucket.com/albums/z356/jayne_coyne/Garden/?albumview=slideshow

Davesnave

Great photos Jayne. I like the look of Gladys & Nelly, and that cucumber frame is a classic! To be honest, most of my cukes have just trailed along the ground, but the Wautoma and Tamra varieties from Real Seeds were so undemanding, I neglected them.:o

The aubergines weren't good. They looked lovely, but tasted bitter, suggesting they were too old by the time I picked them. I'm interested in permaculture, but with some reservations, because that was what my predecessor was attempting, before he was overrun with nettles, couch and docks. I'm still reaping his legacy! In the end, I think you have to go with what appeals to you, and if you believe in it, then it'll work.

Glad your Colombian Blacktail came through relatively unscathed, rhiwfield. It was pelting here at 8am too. Then, we'd just set off for a trip to our old nursery garden to collect more building materials, and the rain followed us up the M5, stopping conveniently when we arrived.:)
We piled in as many bricks, concrete blocks , paving slabs and posts as we dared, then headed off to where DD1 had dumped things to equip DD2 for uni. She's just moved into a house with BF and they have two of everything. The kitchen equipment, computer gear and stereo didn't go well with the builder's gear and two wheelbarrows, but we managed to separate it with a chest of drawers, before adding a tin bath and some huge pots full of perennials for good measure. Someone is building a shed on a former flower bed, so we benefit. Returning, poor Bluebell, our van, was wheezing a bit on the hills. :eek:

Speaking of sheds, I tired myself out this week, digging the polytunnel foundation holes, so on Friday we put the shed/chicken house together. It all fitted like a dream. I'll write to the carpenter who built it, as he deserves praise for his craftsmanship and for using really decent materials - so rare these days!

Saturday, was the Village Show, and we were far from ready for it, so had a couple of disqualifications.:o In view of our rush job, four Seconds was encouraging. The standard was high, but not intimidating, and it's great that so many people have a go.

Finally, our pig payment for the hay arrived this week, so the freezer is loaded with pork. Poor Pete the farmer looked totally exhausted, but he has all his hay, harvesting and silage done.....and he still had the enthusiasm to discuss fencing 'soon!'

Till then, it's back to the holes in the ground...:( Only another four to go!

Where's CTC?