the daydream fund challenge thread

pinkcandyflossprincess

rhiwfield wrote: »

Always a treat to see a hummingbird hawk moth. It was around the lavender bed 30 mins ago, moving a darn sight faster than me, bit of a miracle I got this photo.

CTC, I guess the cider vinegar they sell at Scats and Countrywide is ok for people.

I didnt know you got them in england! I saw one in greece and was unsure if it was a bird or moth at first- it wasnt till i got back to uk that I was able to identify it by the pics I had taken.
I saw plenty in majorca though- this snotty woman who wouldnt let her children play everyday (because she dressed them in white frills each day)was saying they are hummingbirds children In a i cannot be corrected voice to the poor confused kids, I didnt correct her , hopefully the kids will one day:)

Davesnave

Thanks lir.:) We shall get tests done tomorrow the dead bird to determine exactly what we were dealing with, and if more than mycoplasma was involved.

All the costs we're racking up will possibly be recoverable. I'll have to check our NFU insurance to see if there's any help available to us there. Nothing replaces the time you spend on stuff like this though.

As you say, the breeders have an ostrich-like approach. As far as they're concerned the problems originated here, but of course they aren't here to see how carefully-run this place is. There's still infection from wild birds, of course, but the point is, from their arrival, these birds have shown respiratory symptoms; they just got worse & worse.

lostinrates

Well, we just had a good nosey in our hive. We took advice and bought a gentle bee rather than trake a local swarm (seems silly to pay for something so plentiful and locally adapted though, but this will hopefully prepare for the furture). They are amazingly not at all interested in us (I stood nearby to watch). The only thing is, we cannot find our queen bee. There is one she MIGHT be but she's not marked (a huge part of what we were hoping for in buying was the premarked queen!). And we found two queen cells. Not really sure what any of that means, me not being the bee keeper, but I think he'll be calling bee-club later.

For the first time since moving DH is going to the pub, alone, for a manly pint before supper. And of course to do manly, beer-y socialising.

we're both pooped, yet feel very unsatisfied. Not only have we broken no new ground today but we've bumbled and dragged ourselves through chores. I'm putting off starting supper because its just so darn sticky and heavy, yet its not truely ''hot''.

Its been another one of those weeks, big bills for nothing ''visable'' and I want to order some biggish (i.e. 2 metres is, not 40 cm) ornamental trees for privacy screening. Food is a bit scarce....the marmonde toms and floriferous but that's it ATM, and finally I see fruit on the corgettes, they've stumbled along until now. Apart from that it looks bleak. Peppers and aubergines look small and I'll be amazed if they produce well. And TWO of the summer cabbages are forming hearts and dwarf all the others who look as if planted out a mo nth later. But they all went out together.

The strawbs are feeding us well, a nd the currants are doing well, especially considering the latish move and prune. Raspberries are lacklustre. The greengage (inherited and right where the drawing room is meant to be going) is laden, and its a nice fruit, if a sad looking little tree. I'd like to move it and keep it. And the apples are carrying a lot of fruit too, so we will have those in the freezer for winter, but ouch, I think its going to feel very lean and expensive this year!

rhiwfield

Davesnave/Lir, you're both trying to do so much atm that not everything will succeeed. Hang on in there, peeps, you'll look back at this challenging time with nostalgia when you've got everything just so!

Pinkcandy..., yes, you can track the sightings on line via Butterfly Conservation, Think a few have got up as far as Scotland, Choille, seen any ??

Still hobbling around and feeling pretty bored, second lovely Sunday I wont be able to car boot and the weeds are seeding

lostinrates

rhiwfield wrote: »

Davesnave/Lir, you're both trying to do so much atm that not everything will succeeed. Hang on in there, peeps, you'll look back at this challenging time with nostalgia when you've got everything just so!

well, we have a lot to live up to, eh? in all honesty the lack of progress is frustrating...doesn't feel like we're doing a lot at all really.

Can you relax in the garden at all, have you somewhere suitable to rest there?


re your lorry accident, we used to live on a nasty bend where crashes were so regular we kept a first aid kit by the back door. The funniest ever was a motor cyclist who came through the hedge and lost consciousness, not for long, but when he woke up he was petrified and thought he'd die as he woke to four horses surrounding him....he thought he'd met the four horsemen of the apocolypse. :rotfl:

Its never ''fun'' a crash but it is better when there is a funny story out of it.

Rummer

My goodness I am away for a day and loads has happened!

Dave - sorry to hear the chicken saga is ongoing, fingers crossed it gets sorted to your satisfaction soon.

CTC - Hope you enjoyed your peace and quiet today.

LIR - were the chickens taken by your new look?

Rhiwfield - glad to hear no one was hurt, bad news about the apples though.


I have had a very productive day, we had glorious sunshine today so I got up ridiculously early and made great inroads into the front garden. Hours later there is still loads to do but I can see a huge difference.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

yep had a lovely day....

also ended up going into town to cash some of our gold in... first of all she wanted to offer me £20:eek: so i took out 2 pieces, and asked for a price of just one... she then offered me £20 for that one piece, basically i ended up with £35, and came home with one piece, so £15 more than she first offered, and came home with the most valueble one..( was offered £70 for it 5 + years ago)

Yesturday i sold one of my vintage quilts for £40 i know i could have had alot more money for it, but it saves me taking it to the cleaners etc before i tried to sell it, so £75 to add to my pot

came across this website which looks really interesting
http://loveforlife.com.au/node/5917

could i live in a straw bale house???? yep i could...( except going to the human compost toilet thing)..but in reality you would still need to have some sort of income to pay for things...

going off to google straw bale houses now....lol...

lostinrates

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

came across this website which looks really interesting
http://loveforlife.com.au/node/5917

could i live in a straw bale house???? yep i could...( except going to the human compost toilet thing)..but in reality you would still need to have some sort of income to pay for things...

going off to google straw bale houses now....lol...

I love straw bale houses. I could definitely live in one. On my old computer I had a whole load of saved links for strawhouse building.


rummer, my chickens never appraciate the effort I make. I did get a door held open for me at the farm shop though Today I've been slumming it in shorts and a vest (probably more terrifying for the neighbours than when I'm mad-womaning it in long dresses in the garden) but still have nice fingernails (I'm getting better at wearing gloves). DH thought I looked amazing (he's a bit odd too, he has a sort of cardinal outfit I made him which he wears in the house all winter, with its matching hat, and also a very very funny sheep costume) when I picked him up at the station on friday. We don't have any medieval stuff for an upcoming medieval fair nearby but we might do in time for next years. DH wants to learn jousting and go hacking dressed as a knight too.

Its probably quite a good thing we don't have kids really.:o:D

Davesnave

rhiwfield wrote: »

Davesnave/Lir, you're both trying to do so much atm that not everything will succeeed. Hang on in there, peeps, you'll look back at this challenging time with nostalgia when you've got everything just so!

Ah, but lir has age on her side! The first day back at digging holes and my knees are jiggered again.:( Still, we got another 3 polytunnel foundation poles concreted in. Four to go.....:)

We've known for some time that we're attempting too much. It's madness trying to do the smallholding stuff, make an ornamental garden, develop a nursery and sort out a plan for the house renovation, not to mention clear up a garden 100 miles away! Something has to give, so we've decided to drop the nursery at the end of the season. It hasn't made big bucks, and it won't until its backed by a proper garden, which we'll never start if we are growing plants for sale.....It's a sort of Catch22.

This was a completely daft place for people like us to buy, as it had no garden, just 3/4 acre of couch and other nasties. We can't really make one close to the house either, because we don't know yet where it will be extended etc. Nevertheless I'm hoping to make a new bed this summer for some of the poor shrubs we've dragged around in pots for years.

Winged_one

Evening all....now I understand why there are so many joints discussion!s!!!! I spent 8 hours on the ;plot today and I can alreadyy hardly move, dread to thinkn what I'll be like in the morning....

Sorry to hear about the chickens DN, hope you get satisfacton with the sellers. Anyone know if they sell that there cider vinegar stuff in Ireland - I think it sounds useful.

Good day though, I have a tub each (both a family-dinner size) of broad beans and peas, a large tub of raspberries, but almost no red or bl;ack currants, a small tub of spinach, 3 lettuces for mid-week lujnches and a bag of potatoes. The spuds are showing some signs of blighton the leaves, I think - a few brown blotches on some [plants - so Iharvested those ones and left the others for next week. I left a bag on my aunt's doorstep to share as she's having all the local family for dinner tomorrow.

Otherwise, I spent so much time there that I got organised for sewing last night (after a few Friday night glasses of white wine) but didn't get any done today. I should get some done in the morning though.

This thread is throwing up some interesting thinking points recently though, as there are discussions going on here about the future (OH is not feeloing secure again at work, which if anything, is likely to mean he and DD getting the "good life" while I continue to be the wage slave). But lots for me to ponder in my (very few) quiet moments.

But I am missing the first visit to MIL's chickens this weekend - I am getting some interesting reports which sounds good!!