Thank god we paid the mortgage off

ladybird1106

it’s already Thursday. I ended up with the bug at the weekend. Slept😴the majority of Saturday evening and all of Sunday and part of Monday morning. Since then I’ve been super busy at the plot and at home.
The plot. So we’ve netted the late 🍓 , Logan berries and Tay berries. Mr🐞 finished the new raspberry bed, so got those planted to. Set up 🥒 frames and planted those. Set up my homemade fertiliser station and transferred roughly a 100 litres of nettle juice into my containers and then refilled the bin with water to start the next batch. I will do the same tomorrow with the comfrey juice. Started the banana 🍌 liquid feed off to. Water from the hot bin collected and labelled and next week we will harvest the worm sweat from the wormery. Today I trimmed the grapevine as no sunlight could penetrate through all the leaves. Masses of 🍇 🤤. Ended up with grape flowers and bits in my hair, down my top, in my bra and somehow in my pants😆. Tomatoes have started to flower and so has one of the courgettes. Still no Bloomin parsnips other than the original 3🤬. Harvested this week- strawberries (eton mess), lettuce/mint( lettuce, pea and mint soup), broad beans, carrots and spring onions( spring vegetable risotto), oregano and basil ( veggie pasta bake).
At home I am slowly repotting all the house plants. I’d not realised I’d got so many. Spent about £20 on second hand pots (chazzers) and a further £20 on houseplant soil. In the past I’ve used compost and ended up with lots of little flies. Anyway I’ll not need to do it again hopefully for a couple of years. Supported the youngest to sort through their wardrobe, quite a few items need to be listed on V. Trying to keep up on general housework but the list keeps getting longer😫😖.
On a really positive note to end on, the youngest has been accepted as a permanent volunteer at the local charity shop where they have been doing their college placement. They are chuffed to bits. They are so happy as they never thought working was a possibility due to their various disabilities and fatigue issues. They are hoping to spread the 6 hours over a couple of days , so they don’t wear themselves out. Today I am a super proud 🐞.

Cherryfudge

Congratulations to your youngest! They must be very well thought of by their employers.

And as for you - so busy! I'm sorry you were poorly and I think that was around your birthday (did I get that right?) which naturally entitles you to celebrate on a day of your choosing, should you be able to emerge from the plot long enough. Your escapades make my entanglement with an overgrown briar look decidedly second best. 😊 DH wouldn't go near it ('got thorns!') but I waded in and ducked under, then it grabbed me…).

Your fruit and veg and all the home made compost are very impressive.

beanielou

Proud mamma moment for you. Well done to your D youngest.

ladybird1106

Thanks beanielou.
Gosh another week has passed. Been up very early most days and on the plot by 630am to water. I have muscles to rival popeye. Lots of seedlings have come through or planted the last week. Lovely plot neighbour gifted me some lettuces and endive, which needed regular watering to get them established. Tomatoes are flowering so tonight it’s operation feed everything. It should have been yesterday but by 9am I was dripping wet due to the heat and we’d had a brief thunderstorm. Brassica net is up finally and we’ve started planting up. Lots of pit digging to keep the soil moist. Slowly removing the tarps, as plants are going in to maintain the moisture. This week we’ve harvested onions, broad beans, peas, potatoes, basil, lettuce, carrots, rhubarb, baby leeks, spring onions,strawberries , tay berries and beetroot. Sick of podding broad beans already. In laws are coming today and it will be the first meal where all the vegetables are from the plot🥳.
The heat has not been great for sleep, the youngest slept downstairs as it was too hot in their room. Heat has a massive impact on their mental and physical health issues. In fact I’m considering getting an air conditioning unit for their room. If anyone has any advice it would be gratefully appreciated. Opening their window is not an option as they suffer from hayfever.
Did a massive shop over £300 ( including wine, 2 joints ( reduced) and larger) should cover us for about 2 weeks. Was mainly fresh stuff.
Right best get back to it, the kitchen floor should be dry.

Love 🐞

ladybird1106

Kitchen and dining room floor dried almost as soon as I finished. Mr 🐞 fixed the sail up with a few alterations as we didn’t want to add posts in due to cost implications. Basically turned it into an out side blind. Worked a treat today keeping the kitchen cooler.
Had a lovely afternoon with the in-laws. Lunch was ok. Pleased with the fact rice, stock, wine and Parmesan were the only costs.
Mr 🐞 and I have just spent the last couple of hours at the plot feeding almost everything up there. We both came home smelling awful from the home made fertiliser. Rewarded ourselves with some cherries, strawberries and Tay berries. Lovely cool shower has helped get rid of the stink. Time for tea.

Love 🐞

Humdinger1

Proud mummy indeed @ladybird1106 ! Fantastic news!! Re Popeye, are you growing spinach too? Allotment sounds fab love Humdinger xx

ladybird1106

I intend to grow spinach humdinger1, but later in the year as it will bolt with all the heat.
Managed to sleep an extra hour this morning 🥳. Still feel incredibly tired and grumpy . Breakfast this morning I used some of Tay berries to decorate my pancake 🥞.
Currently at the plot, hoed the bean area and planted the 6 runner bean plants in. Not my favourite vegetable, but FIL likes them. Watered my herb area as it’s looking abit parched. Really pleased with the garlic chives and Welsh onions I’ve grown from seed. Hacked back the sticky weed and bind weed in the orchard. Mr🐞continues to dig over the leek bed. I think I’ve got about another 100 to get in and then that’s it🤞. Transported the kale and cabbage seedlings up to the plot to harden off. Mr 🐞had a very close encounter with a robin. Constantly flitting about and landing on the back of his chair💜.
We are both a bit down today. So discussed the issues concerning us and how we can mitigate them. It’s a hurdle I suspect many of us need to jump as the dream and reality actually don’t match up. Mr🐞is trying not to worry about his physical health issues and the impact these will have on his ability to work full time in the future .It’s something we’ve always known about but like some many people you concentrate on your kids and getting through each day. We’ve not got any plans in place for when things catch up with him. So, later today I feel we need to sit down together ( he doesn’t like doing anything financial) and look at our current budget, lifestyle and see if we can alter things. We can also look at the paperwork concerning our wills (another big expense, due to having to set up a trust for the youngest). My issue is a bit more morbid ( I think this is due to dad passing and continuing impact on me as a person). I look at my life and my concern is I’m doing very little for me that I actually enjoy and potential I only have x amount of years to live. Told you it was morbid. Yes I do the allotment but I do that as without it financially we would struggle. I’m not sure who I am anymore. Perhaps I’m having a mid life crisis 🤣. I think Mr 🐞hit the nail on the head, the youngest rarely needs me anymore ( although they can’t cook, clean the house or their bedroom, wash clothes etc etc ). This is a good thing as I’m super proud of what they’ve achieved but…………..

Ok time to shed the hippo outfit and climb out of my wallowing pit of mud.
Time to focus on the here and now, I’m off to plant future meals.

Love 🐞

ladybird1106

Wooooooohooooo apricots are ready, well one was🥳.
love 🐞

KajiKita

FWIW, that whole

“I look at my life and my concern is I’m doing very little for me that I actually enjoy and potential I only have x amount of years to live.”

is EXACTLY where I am too. It’s one of the reasons why I’m doing the counselling. One thing I have recently started reviewing is my self talk - the phrases I say most to myself (‘Nil Carborundum Illegitimatus’ and ‘KBO’) are useful, and help me grind on … but there is no joy in them. No light, no hope. I need new ones - not that I have found them yet … 😉

Yesterday’s garden visit with lovely, kind people was such a soul restorative boost that I have done cleaning and various other chores today, easily and without resentment. That is so precious.

What do you enjoy? What can you lose yourself in in complete absorption? Maybe start there?

KK

Watty1

“I look at my life and my concern is I’m doing very little for me that I actually enjoy and potential I only have x amount of years to live.”

That. Absolutely that.

I don't want to be sat in a spare room answering emails any longer. I want to enjoy what life I have left and enjoy my animals whilst they have life left too.