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Down in the deepest darkest South here, I'm trying to convince my rhubarb not to bother coming any further up just yet. It's taking no notice whatsoever & both patches are about 6" high now, frost notwithstanding! I also have a handful of chilli and tomato plants just showing their heads in the propagator; I do know it's very early but I was so late with everything last year I felt very lucky to get any crops at all. I will plant a few more later, and I'll also have "feral" tomatoes at the allotment, but just to see these few pop their heads up has made me beam with delight. At least this year I have somewhere to grow them on in.
I spent the afternoon down at the plot, tidying up & planning this year's planting; where to feed & mulch, where NOT to feed & mulch, what's still there (mainly leeks, the dreaded 🥬 & chard) what's popping up (self-sown baby chardlets, also a few little leeks) and what needs moving - the Jerusalem artichokes, which shaded two of my squash plants to death last year! They were planted as a windbreak, as we're on the open & windward edge of the site, but they've become a bit of a sun-shade as well. We've been given two massive blueberry bushes, ejected from a friend's garden; I have a sack of ericaceous compost and a couple of "rings" (sawn-off ex-water-main pipe) down there to contain the compost & plant them in. They'd do well as windbreaks, though I'd need some kind of cage round them if we ever want to eat the fruit, otherwise the birds will get it all. I don't begrudge them some of my currants & berries, but I don't want to lose them all!Angie - GC April 24 £432.06/£480: 2024 Fashion on the Ration Challenge: 10/68: (Money's just a substitute for time & talent...)17 -
Hello all, been awol for a bit.
I have sort of lost the plot with my teenage boys and OH, absolutely fed up with living with the three little pigs even though we have the farm for them to get out and about with, They seem to think I am here to pick up everything from where they left it. I am officially on strike!! My washing pile is at least halved as I am only washing items put in the basket. I now shut the doors of their bedroom and the den, refusing to remove washing up, cans etc. It has taught me that if we are ever in a total lock down again I will have to lay down the laws prior to it starting, have rotas etc and try not to scream, shout or murder them!! This period from Christmas to now has been the hardest, it seems to have dragged on and all of us are feeling fed up. Boys are really not enjoying sitting at the table logged in to live lessons several hours a day. It is so hard to keep them from escaping out the door. The school has brought in welfare afternoons supposedly for the kids to get out and about. Welfare phone calls from the teachers were quite entertaining, youngest was out with the 12 bore waiting for carrion crows who were attacking a dead sheep. Half way through the phone call he says" hang on a minute sir please", puts down the phone and then shoots the crow. Picks up the phone and said "sorry about that sir where were we!!" Other son 16, was then taking the dead sheep to the kennels, driving a tractor, when his phone call comes through. "Hang on sir I have to pull over", perplexed teacher asks if he was driving, yes obviously, I am in a tractor, and yes I have a licence!
I have started some seeds off in the green house, mainly leeks, onions, summer cabbage and some salad leaves. It is still very cold here so no planting in the soil although the beds are covered. I have toms, chillies and aubergines indoors. I have invested in a grow light but have yet to find a spot for it.
I am really hoping that the teenagers doing GCSE's will be allowed back as that will cover both my boys. I will have some peace at home!! I am still shopping for my shielding friend , who has had her first jab and is in line for her second quite soon. In the nicer weather I managed to persuade her to go to a friends garden and have tea in the garden, first time out for months.
Hope everyone is hanging in there ! Here's hoping to better weather and a bit more freedom in the coming months
"Big Al says dogs can't look up!"23 -
elaine241, I can't comment on not posting for a bit but ye gods are we paying our teachers enough if the pastoral welfare calls include coping with gunfire?! When you have context its all straightforward but just making a call, it could all be magnificently disconcerting. No Parent's Evenings to reassure them either...
As for ground rules, dear gods yes, and also this lockdown is harder likewise yes.
Mothers Day is coming (yet as a nation we celebrate it by denying all mothers an extra hour's kip) and my lads have bought the prompted presents - starter pots, sacks of compost & vermiculite & the promise of assorted windowsills. I realised we could put up with some of the nonsense but when they thought I'd pay for a card & something stupid in pink, we had a brief but vehement chat & now they lug sacks etc without fuss.16 -
Oh Elaine241 that made me chuckle with teachers having to cope with tractors and guns 😀 When I was at school ( a long long long time ago) the farm kids didn’t turn up for a day occasionally if they were needed at home. As long as no exams or work was missed and it didn’t happen often the headmaster was fine with it. Saying that the school only had a few kids that actually lived in the village where the school was and the rest of us were bused and mini bused in cos it was a rural area. When choosing the catchment area they must have drawn a big circle and put the school in the centre.
I too spit the dummy with three men in the house when they were teenagers. I didn’t go in the bedrooms to clean or collect cups or laundry and when I was working too I refused to cook tea 3 days out of 4. We still have the rule of who cooks doesn’t wash up now and two young men who could cook a roast and teach others to cook when they went to uni.🎄December 🎄 NSDs 11/1515 -
Elaine & DfV, having had 3 boys, it's amazing how much more civilised they become once they move out... I honestly thought mine were absolute monsters who would never master the basics of civilised life, only to discover that they did actually know how to cook, wash up, clean up after themselves & could even locate & wield a hoover! They must have absorbed it by osmosis; maybe it's something to do with there being 3 of them, because one would always balk at whatever they were being asked to do, then the others would be, "Well, he hasn't done this before going off to football/band practice/church, therefore I'm not doing that..." Aaaargh! But they seem to have turned out all right in the end.
Just as well, really, as DS3 is returning to the fold shortly, having run out of academic funds. But his sisters will keep him up to the mark...Angie - GC April 24 £432.06/£480: 2024 Fashion on the Ration Challenge: 10/68: (Money's just a substitute for time & talent...)15 -
Just checking in.., thankfully hardly needed to touch my brexit/covid cupboard....filled up just before xmas, though might start if only for rotation purposes....still getting free taxis to and from work...till the end of the month at least. Be so glad when non essential shops open though....had my weekly covid test thursday still not got result.....take care stay safe13
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I've started eating mine daz, don't want it to go out of date and will restart stocking again at the end of the summer.
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Being CEV with heart and lungs affected, I will continue being careful a while yet. I bulk buy boxes of Dettol wipes. I pick up and wipe supermarket deliveries with a wipe in each hand, leave to dry a bit then wipe again. It's easier than soap and water as I don't have a functionning hot tap at the mo and using cold would set off the Raynauds.Covid went right through a neighbour's family. The younger members came through but the 90 year old died.Anyway prepping is not just about the food! I was 'planting' a ceramic toadstool in the faerie garden. I pushed on said toadstool and it shattered (it was a hollowed out mold and not solid - who knew). One of the shards sliced through the back of my thumb. So much blood. Had already gone though part of a tea towel and a pair of knickers by the time a neighbour arrived with bandages.Ended up at an urgent care centre that night having it cleaned and dressed (loads of steristrips). Plus on precautionary antibiotics due to low immune system.Anyhow the motto of the story is, have plenty of first aid kit at hand. Have now ordered a bumper load!16
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Ouch that sounds painful. Hope it gets better soon.I cut a finger a few weeks back whilst washing out a tin for the recycling, not serious but I went through a fair few plasters. I did wonder whether it was worth it, the planet did benefit from having one less tin going into landfill, but sadly about a dozen pieces of plastic went in instead of it...“All shall be well, and all shall be well and all manner of thing shall be well.”14
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I had to throw some plasters away couple of weeks ago...thankfully only a minor cut revealed my lack of stock did have a few newer plasters left...but have yet to restock. .this as reminded me....sure I have a first aid kit somewhere though....need to double check12
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