Daydream thread... without the rose-tinted specs

Davesnave

On the subject of chemicals, Pete told me he was asked if he wanted to go on a course so that he could continue to buy the professional stuff after November 2015, when the law changes.

"It were £400!" he growled.

"But Bill up at ~~~~~~ said ee'd still sell um to me, anyroad. Ee just said if they DEFRA boys come round an' ask what you'm usin', tell um you'm not usin' nuthin' now, and they can't touch ee."

So there you have it. EU law in the spirit of how many in the EU will probably deal with it. :rotfl:We'll all be 'organic' before long....;)

Davesnave

choille wrote: »

One of the reasons I moved here is because there is no massive field pesticide spraying. As there are no crops here as it's too rough.

What do you do about bracken?

I note that this stuff is on and off limits, but I've no clue as to what the EU proposes to do long term:

http://www.progreen.co.uk/Weed-killers/Selectively-Control-Weeds-in-Grass/Weedkillers-For-Bracken-Control/Asulox-20LT/prod_573.html

I'm with you as regards wholesale spraying and my experience here shows it's not necessary on small acreages.

I'm going to attack the bracken on the field edges this year, but it's 3 years since I last did it, which was the only time. A very small amount of Asulox goes a long way here.

choille

Bracken here is a huge problem. It is an indicator of good soil, by the way, & often sits at the lower levels where good soil has washed down.

It is vunerable to crushing. I deer fenced so opened the door to a bracken invasion. I have made a step with ropes that I've used to crush - a bit like the way crop circles were created. I've pulled bracken out - over an 8 year period I have cleared a couple acres. It's back breaking & also you have to wear gloves as it cuts like a knife - I've cut through gloves & received serious cuts, I've pulled it & received bad cuts. When it spores it's a carcenogenic [sp?], you shouldn't walk through it. Bracken kills grass as it covers & crowds out light. It can cause blindness in livestock. You need to cut it - twice a year, or crush it. It needs cattle, I believe that cattle is the answer. I truly think that cattle kill it by crushing it & that is the answer. The ground, soil is excellent beneath it, but it's an indicator of excellent soil, nit part of creating it - it has zero input. Here, the ancients used it as bedding for cattle, sheep. They harvested it for that purpose & that was a control......it is a big problem, but only if you see it that way. We need to apply a different mindset.

choille

I actually thought that asulox had been banned.

I heard that an old treatment was much less nasty but had been banned.

I always wonder if you can change the PH you may be able to deter the invasive 'weed', but I am probably a bit of a hippy :-)

COOLTRIKERCHICK

morning all


rained last night, and it is overcast now, a lot cooler, and with more rain on the way I think.


this bloody cold is really getting me down now, coughing for Britain,


there has been some things being said about the forthcoming weather..


some saying we are in for some turbulent storms etc, others saying we are going to get even hotter weather ...


which ever way, normally by the end of august the nights start getting a nip in the air, and by the second week in September ( this is when the local fair comes to town, and every year we know this is the turning point in the weather ) summer will def be over... so only a few more weeks of hot weather lol

choille

Hope the cold clears soon CTC. I gargled with dilute TCP & that helped, but is a tad disgusting.

Got a wheelie bin £37. But will save the car getting even stinkier.

Had to pay the vet yesterday for his popping in to see sheeps eye, so an expensive week.
Overcast & very midgied today -sort of muggy & exhausting weather. Going for a lie down for half an hour.

Better_Days

Just popping in....

Interesting discussion re chemicals. My consultant told me that there is a higher incidence of ME in East Anglia and a contributory factor maybe the chemical spraying as there is a lot of agriculture in the region. Certainly sheep dip is known to trigger ME in some cases.

Been very tired as lot going on....kitchen still not finished (after 5 weeks), side panels do not match the doors on the wall units, so more side panels have to be ordered in. We have just had the doors replaced, but the supplier omitted to mention that he was unable to match the side panels :mad::mad::mad: as they are made by a different manufacturer.

Mr BD is so fed up he doesn't care what colour the side panels are but it will irritate me every time I see it if I don't get them changed.

In the en-suite both the new shower tray and the hand basin leak - bad plumbing karma atm

Plus brother, SIL and three boys have been here since last Friday :eek:
They are out most days but mornings and evenings are pretty hectic. Oldest (12) is severely autistic which does make things harder, esp when his meds start to wear off.

Spoken to kitchen fitter - going to have a break from it all from next week until second week in September so I can try and build up my energy levels a bit.

Old dog off colour, will up her zantac to see if it helps.

Been very warm, if not hot, good for getting the washing dry

On the plus side I ordered a mirror and some kusmi tea (pricey but lovely)http://www.johnlewis.com/kusmi-tea-green-tea-selection-125g/p231490047?navAction=jump and the Kusmi Wellnes selection from JL - had repeated problems with delivery, so they sent out my order again and I ended up with duplicate items, which they told me I could keep :D:D:D Got enough tea to keep me going for a while now :j:j:j

ukmaggie45

At the caravan, the sun is shining, but we had a heavy shower this morning, and it's forcast to rain from 5am tomorrow for about 2 days. We'll see!

OH is off down the harbour with the boat and some strong Seabirders who came with a landrover and trailer to transport her to the water.

Ruddy Duck by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

Bit knackered from the final packing and the journey yesterday - we left home at 7pm and got here just before 10pm. The roads were nice and quiet.

Today I've deadheaded some plants, and chopped some leaves off the bush tomatoes to aid ventilation as there've been a number of full Smith periods here recently. I guess next dry day it'll be dead head the rose and pull up bracken.

Davesnave

We have all this kitchen and bathroom 'fun' to look forward to next year!:eek: I think a lot of plumbing fittings are made to a price, and that's where many of the problems stem from. False economy.

Pete has removed all 34 big bales, which is quite a feat in itself, but he had the assistance of his son on tractor 2. They arrive with two trailers each, like some kind of wagon train, but only leave laden with one at a time. There's a pretty direct road from their place to here, but I rarely use it because there are no passing places on the lower part. I wonder how many people they met! :rotfl:

As Pete was loading up, this flew over:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Vulcan_XH558

Took me right back to the days when they used to use the valleys here to practice stealth raids under Russian radar.
Used to scare the willies out of me when I was fishing, back in the 1960s. Wouldn't hear it coming! :eek:

This one was en-route from the Culdrose Air Show to Newcastle.

Nice boat maggie, but I'm even more envious of the grass!

I_have_spoken

Yellow warning of rain with blustery winds on Sat night/Sunday across north of Britain with a low pressure area going over.:(