Nice people thread part 6 - thrice by twice as nice :)

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

Its horrible when places we feel safe and fond about are violated.

Like when someone closes a thread you visit, and suddenly there's no one there!

Davesnave

On a thread in a far off corner of cyberspace, sss555s said something about liking it when the hay is cut....

Well, the guys with the big wheels were at it opposite us today. They don't mess with hay, which needs turning several times as it dries, they just charge about, collecting up the cut grass at amazing speed. There are three tractors with silage trailers to one 'picker-upper and although it's not the Red Arrows, I'm still amazed they don't have too many accidents....

misskool

lostinrates wrote: »

I find tha human impact via selective breeding...plants, farm animals, pets, one of the most fascinating things, it explains so much of what is genius, talented snd resourceful about us and what is loathsome.

You might want to read the geek manifesto. I'm going to buy it in a few weeks when I have a bit of spare time.

OH going to scope allotment plot on Fri pm and we decide then. The waiting list is so long, we only get a quarter plot. We grow in more space in our back garden but be nice to be part of a community.

PasturesNew

Davesnave wrote: »

Well, the guys with the big wheels were at it opposite us today.

We had 12 acres directly at the bottom of our garden, with another 8 acres adjoining that - accessible by stepping over our end fence, or going to the rec/swings 4 doors down and climbing over that fence... so, quite a lot of us would go in there. It was a seed trials gruond and they grew wheat. Once it was baled up the bigger boys would turn it into 15' high pyramids and we'd climb up the outside, drop in at the top and the corner bale was positioned so you could push the bale and get out that way.

There was nothing for a solid 3 miles beyond the bottom of our garden except exciting fields and tracks

PasturesNew

misskool wrote: »

The waiting list is so long, ...

If the waiting list were really long you'd still be waiting.... I heard in the past few days that in some areas the waiting list is 40 years long.

misskool

PasturesNew wrote: »

If the waiting list were really long you'd still be waiting.... I heard in the past few days that in some areas the waiting list is 40 years long.

We've been waiting 3 years to be offered a quarter plot. Basically they are only offering quarter plots to anyone new to free up the lists.

CKhalvashi

misskool wrote: »

We've been waiting 3 years to be offered a quarter plot. Basically they are only offering quarter plots to anyone new to free up the lists.

We’ve got a 1,200 long list atm, so priority is going to anyone over 60. We have 894 plots in the town.

2 new sites identified, so hopefully will have this reduced by around 800 in the next year (they’re larger than the existing three).

CK

misskool

CKhalvashi wrote: »

We’ve got a 1,200 long list atm, so priority is going to anyone over 60. We have 894 plots in the town.

2 new sites identified, so hopefully will have this reduced by around 800 in the next year (they’re larger than the existing three).

CK

Why over 60? We would have been excluded on those grounds but we have been growing for over 3 years. That's just age-ist

Start splitting your plots and you can fit more in, most people who grow for the first time can't manage a full plot anyways. We have 5 sites for a small-ish town, so our waiting list is long but different for each site and you can wait at as many sites as you want increasing your chances. We waited for this site as it's the back of our house.

silvercar

Tip for chewy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_v7QrIW0zY&feature=youtu.be

(its on the weekly email from Martin so you may have seen it already).

We’ve got a 1,200 long list atm, so priority is going to anyone over 60.

Let's hope they all get to see the fruits of their labour. Seems a very odd thing to give the older priority on. I would have thought the unemployed with time on their hands, or the cash strapped who may need the fresh veg. I now have this vision of the russian grannies off Eurovision tending their crops as they sing.

vivatifosi

My dad and brother got an allotment in Herts about 5-10 years ago, before the current boom. They got one straight away, spent ages digging it over and making it worth planting up (it had been fallow for a while), planted up for a year, grew stuff, then decided it was too much like hard work and they couldn't manage. They asked for a smaller plot but were told no.

The splitting the plots up idea is a good one IMO. I'm also surprised farmers near big towns don't give over some of their fields as commercial allotments, perhaps with some onsite facilities such as a cafe/garden store. IIRC we've kicked this one around a bit before, perhaps in NPT 4?