Still on the move

Playing in the sand

Three different locations for my travels this week. As I mentioned last week, I made it to my youngest son's home with a little adventure along the way, but at least I got there. It left a couple of days to enjoy his and his family's company. As neither of us have a huge pot of money, we went out on walks and went to the park, which suits me fine. It was half term and my son's fiancée pointed out that it was obvious that the park was the place to go for grandparents and their grandchildren during the half term holidays. I also took my turn on duty to watch over their little girl while they went to get some drinks and ice-cream (and no I didn't eat any, I have been very good and still not touched any cakes or biscuits since I left Latvia, despite the many temptations of some gorgeous looking home-made cakes in my travels).

A sculpture in the park

My son lives in Coventry and we went into town for a wander round. I visited the bombed out cathedral for the first time and it was quite sobering to see the remains. What was more sobering was the attitude of the people connected with the cathedral after the war. Instead of reacting out of hatred, they reached out in love to their former enemies that had caused so much destruction to the town and formed bonds with German towns. Not easy in the early days, but so necessary to bring healing and reconciliation to the traumatised continent of Europe. An attitude that even today is so sadly needed.

I also got to see more of my son's fiancées family. I had met her mother only once on Skype and never in person, so it was a chance to get to know each other and she treated us all to a meal out. That was partly because we are all pretty useless at deciding what to eat for the evening meal. I ducked out of the decision because I had no idea what the possibilities were - well that was my excuse and I am sticking to it. Still it was a lovely time and the meal was good. I also met another of her older sisters (I met one other on a previous visit), but there are still a few more siblings to meet yet before I have met them all, as she is the youngest of seven.

Autumn leaves

Unfortunately my journey onto my next stop - Cambridge was also eventful due to missing a junction on the motorway and having very little knowledge of the geography of that area of the country. I am fine up north and would be able to work out a rough direction to head in if I missed an exit, but no idea in the southernlands (no that isn't a real word, just in case you are wondering). I found a service station and decided to opt for the old school form of navigating and bought a map book. I had thought about bringing the GPS, but unlike a SatNav it doesn't talk to you, just beeps and my hearing is definitely getting worse. I got to the course about half way through the round of people introducing themselves, but didn't miss any of the actual coursework, so not an issue. It was made easier by finding a Park and Ride that meant I didn't have to drive into Cambridge and risk getting lost again. Unfortunately I didn't have a chance to take pictures of Cambridge, but I am sure there are plenty on the internet.

One of the old houses in the small town of Oundle

After day one of the course, I headed to my Aunt's house. I was a bit paranoid this time about ending up somewhere completely different and so after travelling for what seemed like rather a long time I stopped in a layby to get my bearings and find out how much further to the turn off. It turned out that the exit I wanted was literally around the next bend - typical. I was quite proud of myself that I found her house without any difficulty once I got into the small town, despite it being a very long time since I had last been there i.e. decades ago. Pity that hadn't been the case earlier on in the day.

I love the higgledy-piggeldy way the houses nestle next
to each other

It was a two day course and I felt much more relaxed on the second day, since I didn't have the nightmare of driving into the unknown. I decided to stay at my Aunt's for a few extra days after the course, since we haven't met in rather a long time and it was a time to catch up. It was a good decision, as it felt like being on a retreat plus I have been thoroughly spoilt into the bargain. We have had gorgeous weather and so it meant we had a chance to walk around the very pretty town of Oundle. It is an old historical market town with some wonderful architecture. Since it was half term many people were away and the place very quiet - not normal in a town with a huge public school (for my foreign friends, a public school is actually a private school, but open to anyone who has the money or a scholarship to attend - unlike the schools prior to these that were restricted to the nobility).

This picture looks like a painting, but that was an accident
not by design or any clever after processing

It was a lovely surprise to find that my Aunt attended a thriving Anglican church, I hadn't realised she was a church goer. For the first time in a while I therefore went to a church service. It was a simple enough service with a congregation that spanned the ages and they were a welcoming group of people - which I feel should be the most important character of any church, not how slick the presentation is, good though the morning service was. I feel that God speaks to me in my ordinary life through ordinary things and I do not have to be in a church service with special music to feel close to him and so it amused me that he chose to speak quite clearly through the readings from the bible in the service that morning.

A wooden swan sculpture

I have been struggling with the issues I am seeing in the area of my study whilst also trying to hold the complexity of the issues in my head.... well it was causing a bit of a headache. I was trying to process what the key barriers are that rural inhabitants of Latvia and Estonia face and yet fully understanding that it is never going to be a neat and tidy overview that could be presented to planners complete with a method for them to use to solve problems. What was the way forward? Currently there are also issues to do with the refugees and the real resistance to taking them in by the nation that seemed to be unsolvable and harmful for a nation. Hatred and fear are never good for the soul of a nation. The anger, particularly in governments in Europe over the refugee crisis is not healthy and it all seemed like a big black hole whirling around in my head. And how did the reading speak to this? Lazarus was in the grave four days, he stank, he was decomposing and Jesus called him out. It was hopeless and Jesus gave life. The impossible became possible. I like that!

A huge dragonfly sculpture

Blue skies in autumn

The second reading was from Revelations 21:1-6, one of my favourite bible passages and the foundation on which I am basing my work - transformation of the world is on God's heart and I want to partner with him on that in my own small way. Far better than the world is going to burn and to hell with it. More hopeful! It felt like a reaffirmation of what I was trying to do. There was also a video with music and in that there was an image of a man dragging the world with a rope. Hmmm! I felt like that. The world was then tugged off him by a huge hand - the best place for the world, is in the hand of its creator after all. I also began to realise that what I had been looking for was a way to solve issues and that was an impossible task, what is needed is a way of opening doors to opportunity and a way to find those doors. It will be different in different places, as each place is unique and each community is unique. And after all that I went out with my Aunt on a walk and solved the whole puzzle..... well no! I went and enjoyed a lovely time in the warmest November day on record.

Cyclamens growing wild on our walk

I think our cats tolerate each other these days! It is at least
warmer that way.

Surprisingly enough I have actually made it up to my daughter's home without any hitches. It is easier to travel up north as I knew where I was going and even the number for the road I needed to find. The car was safely delivered back to Enterprise, the car rental company. It had been nice to drive the Skoda Superb that I got as a free upgrade, it could certainly pull away very nicely in heavy traffic, but I was pleased to hand in the keys and think that there is no more driving for me now, until ..... no idea when. I don't drive often these days. They even offered me coffee while I waited for my daughter to arrive, and they were in the process of making it when she turned up. It was a nice thought anyway. My daughter picked me up from Chesterfield, a town where I used to shop every weekend and so a very familiar place, but also with many changes. We did a bit of shopping before heading for her home and I managed to actually find some jeans that fit and a nice top, so that is me sorted for another couple of years - I don't do much in the way of clothes shopping.

Ian has been putting the finishing touches to the alpaca
house. Soil has been piled up to the doorway, so there isn't such a huge step

Ian meanwhile has also been having an interesting week. Herkules has another eye infection. He seems particularly prone to those, but at least we know how to tackle them now. I will relate the tale of Ian's other adventures in his own words, albeit with a few amendments for privacy's sake.

Channels have been dug in the floor to help with drainage

"Its 2:30 and I have finally  got out to the land for good. I took some frozen parsnips up to our other apartment this morning (where our large freezer is) and the bath was 3/4 full of water, so I used the washing up bowl and emptied some of it down the sink in the kitchen only to see that outlet was overflowing onto the floor. So I went upstairs to our neighbour, I had to ring a few times, I had got him out of bed (it was about 8:30 at this time), I showed him what the problem was and we then had to empty some of his wood store to get to the down pipe to then get to the access plate. I then came out to the land to let the animals out and pick up tools and any thing else I thought might be useful. When I got back we managed to get the access plate off but snapped one bolt in the process. Of course the pipe was full of water so had to let it drain into a large bucket I had taken. We then tried with various wire etc to try and clear the blockage but they would only go so far and then stop. It was either a break in the pipe or a right angle turn at the bottom. He contacted someone with some drain cleaning rods but they wouldn't arrive till 12:15 which left me with about 45mins. So I thought I would come out to the land and check on the animals and let the chickens out as I didn't earlier. So I asked some of the neighbours if they wanted to come out and see the alpacas, One wasn't up to it but the youngest came, she loved them and took loads of videos. 

Hay has been added to the floor for bedding

When I got back Mr Smile-a-lot (our nickname for the one of the friendliest of our neighbours, not that he knows we call him that) and our neighbour from upstairs were having another go but no success, we had decided the blockage was somewhere between the bath down pipe and the toilet down pipe somewhere around this 90 degree bend, Smile-a-lot tried with the a hose and water but that didn't work and then tried with drain rods but they seemed to get stuck in the same place. So then I attached the handle to the end so you can rotate the rods and with me turning and him pushing them down into the pipe they got around the bend, we added a few more rods and then you could  hear the rods from the toilet pipe. Tried again with the hose and success the water was flowing away. You should have seen the relief on their and my face, it was high fives and hand shakes all round. Smile-a-lot had some replacement bolts and the the outlets were tested and no leaks. I did offer to help our neighbour from upstairs to put the wood back in the woodstore but he wouldn't let me, I think he was just so relived that they didn't need to dig up his woodstore's floor. So hopefully everything is ok till the next blockage.

Ian has been fixing his Stanley flask. The flask itself is
robust and still working well, but the handle came off and
needed fixing on, so he fixed it in style

Oh yes and the smaller of the two marrows has ruptured and leaked on the front room floor, but I did find one of the squash was going mouldy on the side so I brought it out to the land before it bursts as well. I think Sgt Wilson got his promotion papers through today. Just gone to put them away and he is nowhere to be seen. When I got back I went to let the girls out of the paddock where I had left them all morning as Aggie has a tendency to escape nowadays, the boys were looking towards the forrest and the chickens were hiding in the current bushes and the longer grass clumps. Now I realise the white chicken I saw in the current bushes must have been the one from ark 4 not Sgt Wilson as I thought. I have had a quick look around but can't see any feathers."

So not exactly a quiet restful time for Ian either. 

Home alone

The dahlias have been wonderful this year. I only have red
ones unfortunately, but they are a very nice one to have
survived two years in our cellar

I was going to do wonders this last week while Ian was away, but it was not to be. The cold I had at the beginning of the week hung around for most of it, it wasn't much, but enough to make me feel muddle headed as I mentioned last week. I did manage to get the dratted paper resent after a very kind friend of mine had proofread it for me. So at least that was one thing out of the way. I would have been better to call it quits and go outside into the garden but I tried to get more work done on paper two instead and so didn't accomplish much.

A full basket of green tomatoes, some
 of whichwill go towards green tomato
chutney, as my stocks are low. A small
bowl for the chickens, a tray of
cucamelon tubers which will be
replanted next year. One third
of a basket of nearly ripe or ripe
tomatoes. 

I did have spurts of getting things done and so an asparagus bed was prepped, and some sawdust laid down on a path. Some pathetic parsnips were dug up, I cut down some mustard and cress that had gone to seed, put tomatoes and cucamelons in the freezer and picked the rest of the short beans. Today I pulled up the tomatoes, another of those markers in our year. It means that the greenhouse can be prepared for the chickens to come in and then the caravan moved in too. It is perhaps a good job as I noticed the geese are flying south now, well south-ish and that is usually a sign the weather will turn soon.

Starting to look empty now. The "weeds"
to the left are sheep sorrel and so are
never got rid of totally. They are some
times some of the first green shoots of the
year and are nice and tasty.

Geese heading south

First frost of the season

We also had the first frost of the year. It is a good job I felt it turning cold and covered peppers and autumn raspberries. The forecast was not for frosts, but being a little higher than the nearest large town for which the forecast is given, it is normal for our temperatures to be at least a degree or two lower, so I was prepared. One night in the caravan the temperature was 3C, a tad chilly, but at least the heater can quickly warm the place through, without even having to get out from under the nice warm duvet. Hot flushes also have their uses sometimes.

The spaghetti squash succumbed to the frost. At least we
actually did get some squashes of these two plants, even
though it didn't look like we would have any sometimes
due to our cool nights over summer

A little mouldy heart on a bean pod

I actually stayed out every night in the caravan, as it was easier to nip back to our village and pick up the milk that is delivered twice a week and then do jobs like the washing and picking beans at our allotment plot, before heading back to the land to put animals away. I haven't even been to the shop all week, as I don't get through as much bread as Ian does and I baked a couple of small batches of buns, which was enough for me.

Much of the week it has been lovely
weather and our grapes have been
ripening nicely

The only day it rained, of course, was on the day I was home
and wanted to do the washing. In the end I put some of it up
in the greenhouse

It was a good job I spent much of the time out in the caravan, as our neighbour has a problem with water leaking into his house every time we are there. We know he had a problem earlier this year, but it was decided that actually it was water from the roof. This week he turned up with his son, who spoke very good English and I showed him our pipes. He could see that there is no way the water was actually leaking from our pipes, we would be the first to know, as it would come into our home before leaking through the floor. Even the sewage pipe area is dry. The fact is though, that every time I went home, to have a shower, do the washing and wash up - he got a leak. Finally it was decided that the leak was in the main stack pipe between our place and his and so not our problem exactly. Hope he finds the source of it soon, I feel guilty now if we go and use the water.

Brencis behaved for me though

Although the alpacas started out being well behaved, it didn't last. Aggie escaped twice and I had to resort to putting the electric on for the fence. Normally they don't need it, but an occasional reminder is necessary. In fact the boys also had to have a reminder too, well Mr. Herk who likes to eat over the fence needed a reminder. The girls have been fairly well behaved about going in, only Veronica, who really does not like me (as I usually mean something nasty is about to happen like injections or treatment of some kind) was a little reluctant one particular night to go away, but she soon made her way into the alpaca house when she realised that I was going to move her out of the field. The boys, however....... they got worse and worse at coming in. The first time they misbehaved, it was just a matter of moving them into the paddock area and then they went in, the next night took two attempts and on the night I had to go and collect Ian, Mr. Tellus was nearly locked out all night. I decided to make one more attempt, because I had heard dogs in the forest earlier on in the day and so I knew he had to go away. The little tinkers though, have been as good as gold for Ian since he got back.

He was very interested in my camera

The one that got away. She can sure fly far when she needs
to. This chicken is a bit of a loner, she always has been. She
is also an intelligent bird, which is not always a good thing,
as that means she can be difficult to catch by us. She is the
last remaining chicken from the ark she lives in,
occasionally she will join the others in the chicken house
but more often than not, she prefers her own space and
walking with the alpaca girls.

Sergeant Wilson, our cockerel had another go at me during the week, but since then I haven't had a problem. It might have been partly down to the fact that I saved the chickens from another fox attack. I heard the commotion and ran down to find out what the matter was. I saw flying chickens and the chicken we call, Big bird, running; behind her was what looked like a youngish fox. Fortunately the fox turned tail and ran off. I counted all the chickens and none were missing so I then put them away or at least tried to. Most of them went away no problem, but the younger brown chicken was not going anywhere near the forest, which is where their accommodation is. I ended up catching her in a fishing net and then hurling her into the chicken house (that actually sounds worse than it was, but I had to be quick so the others did not get out and she flew down to the floor with the others).

Ripe carrot seed

Autumnal blackberry leaves

Granda and Granddaughter enjoying a meal out

Ian had a lovely time in the UK with the grandchildren. They are both happy, smiley children, especially for Granda. He also helped to plasterboard the new house that my son-in-law and daughter are renovating. He did come back with a wish list though of a laser level and an electric, compound mitre saw. He was enthusing about how much easier the jobs are with them. Just hope they come in useful for building our house and not just the new alpaca houses though.

Our youngest grandchild. Such a happy smiley little chap
and looks like Ian when he was a baby apparently

Our little granddaughter in pensive mood

Don't go Granda!

Some of Ian's shopping

Ian also had a trip up to Northumberland to see his brothers and their families. The brothers actually had a chance to have a really good chat together on their own. Not sure when that last happened. They had seen each other when Ian travelled up to see his mother, but rarely did he see them together and even rarer to be on their own. Another day trip was to see some alpacas and the timing couldn't have been better, because they are having an auction of some of their stock in about eight weeks time and so quite happy to sell us some at a lower price than normal. They are converting to a mini-zoo and so need room for other animals. Of course there are details that are needed to be sorted and a new alpaca house to build.

The sheep needed moving when Ian got back, but at least
they stayed inside the fence while he was away. The only
incident we had was when we tried to pen them in before
moving. One of them stuck its head through the poultry
netting and got itself stuck, not just once but twice. 

Ghostly apparitions in the greenhouse. Grapes, peppers,
chillies and basil all wrapped up against the coming cold
night.

The news this week has been far from cheery. It does not fill me with a lot of enthusiasm to hear that Latvia has been declared one of the least welcoming for the Syrian refugees and it is quite worrying if that turned into something more about foreigners in general. It is so easy to feel despondent with it all, but then I read an article about someone who took a bike ride around what used to be the Berlin wall, something that didn't seem possible just 25 years ago.

The paved path sliced through the dense forest with an unseasonably cool summer wind bringing goose bumps to our skin. “Hard to believe this was once one of the most militarised borders in the world, right?” Möllering asked.
He was right. I couldn’t imagine pedalling the Pakistan-India border where they take pride in their militarisation with daily rituals between the two armies; nor could I fathom going for a two-wheeled jaunt through the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. It all seems like a complete impossibility – just as it would have to any Berliner if you suggested cycling the Berlin Wall 25 years ago.

The impossible is now possible and that gives me hope. What can seem like an impossible situation of war and mayhem, can seemingly overnight be over. People can rise up and show care and compassion as if from nowhere.  Dictatorships can fall. I very much pray that there will be a revolution, but a peaceful one. I very much hope that people can join hands together against seemingly impossible odds and overcome the oppressor, much like in the Baltic Way 26 years ago.

Reflecting

No not a volcano and mountains, but
a rather large black cloud moving in

A comment by Karen last week on this blog made me think. She said our preparation is like a military exercise, which in some ways it is and in some ways it isn't. We know there is a specific sequence of events that has to happen before we can do a job and that gets refined each year - well sometimes it does, sometimes we forget what we did and have to relearn every year. As far as the alpaca clean out is concerned we work on the principle that we need a clean house at this time of year for several reasons, firstly it is close to the time of the birth of the cria and we need a clean place for them to be born in; secondly we shear the alpacas in their respective sheds, as it is a familiar environment, and there is nothing worse than kneeling down somewhere that is not too clean; thirdly to keep the pest numbers down - over winter heat is generated by the rotting manure, which is supposed to be good for the animals and once it freezes there is no shifting it anyway and neither does it create a problem of smell, this time of the year it is different though; fourthly if the bedding layer got much higher we wouldn't be able to get in there comfortably. So as soon as we get a dry enough day to use the tractor and trailer we move into cleaning mode and get in there and get the job done.

If you look carefully, there is smoke coming from the
greenhouse in the foreground. It was 6C this evening

Seed and potato planting is another of those jobs and is also very weather dependent. We know there are usually dry spells in the spring followed by wet and showery weather, so we have to move fast to get the seeds in while we can and in so doing also taking advantage of the wet weather to water in our seeds. We also know from experience that there can be quite a prolonged dry spell in May or June and so getting the seeds in and growing well before then is quite crucial. A lot of the time it actually feels more instinctive than planned, but when we see our neighbours doing the same thing then we know we have really just attuned ourselves to the natural cycle of things around here. It took a little time to get used to, as the season is longer in the UK where we learnt the craft of growing vegetables. Having to wait until late April, May or even early June seems far too long, but the longer days and warmer summers usually make up for the shorter season.

Yey! Cherry blossom

There was a bit of excitement this week, I heard a commotion one day as I sat in the greenhouse sifting compost. It was severe enough to make me run outside to find out what was causing it. What I saw was our rather elderly and portly big white chicken, we aptly call Big Bird, flying across the pond - no mean feat for a bird of her size and age, especially when she spends most of her time very slowly sauntering along with a distinct limp these days. A fox was also heading in her direction. With nothing I could immediately find to throw at the fox I just ran and hoped it would see me and scarper - which fortunately it did.

A rather ragged looking tail now. He looks a bit bedraggled
here as it has been a miserably wet day

The poor scared chickens were all gathered around one cockerel regardless of which batch it was from, meanwhile the other cockerel was trying to be brave and warn everyone. I couldn't get hold of Ian as he was strimming and couldn't hear his phone and so I spent the next half hour trying to coax the chickens from the chicken house back into their place to shut them in safe and sound. Unfortunately one of the chickens was really freaked out and I didn't dare pick her up as I knew the cockerel would not be happy.  The other batch of chickens went into their ark no problem, but I had to go and get Ian to coax the cockerel in as he wasn't going anywhere near me and my attempt to catch him with the net, whilst successful was not fruitful in the end as he escaped from it, before I could get hold of him. Ian found a few of his tail feathers a couple of days later and so we think the fox must have nearly got him – no wonder he was a bit freaked out.

Asparagus is starting to come through, but only one plant
is showing signs, which is a bit worrying

On our way home we saw that fox again, a fallow deer and a stork in a field and it made us think - how many other places would you see those within a short space of time on our way home from “work”? The variety of small birds is not huge around us, probably due to the harsh winters but we definitely do have swallows, siskins, wagtails, blackbird, chaffinches, bullfinches and I think some type of warbler. What we do see on a regular basis, which is a bit more unusal are ospreys, eagles, storks and cranes. Today we saw some white egrets on our way home from town after a visit to the dentist.

I tried taking a picture of the baby chicks but they weren't
cooperating. You can see the two black ones can't you?
From left to right, grey, black, mottled white, black, white.
No? I can't see them very well either. Maybe another day

Whilst on the subject of dentists, as you may have gathered we have finally found a dentist that speaks English and works within a reasonable distance. She isn’t the cheapest dentist around (either that or the prices have gone up recently), but at least I can call her myself and make an appointment. The other good news is that it only took one injection and it didn’t hurt whilst she administered it from some weird gadget that counted down to us in English. She laughed and said it was an English-speaking machine and could translate for us. I wish! The bad news is that one tooth will have to be extracted at a later date, one tooth had a hole that was so deep she had to do root canal treatment and I still have one tooth that needs a filling. So that means two more trips to see her and she booked us in for the hygienist the next time.

Mr. Tellus has been enjoying his yearly
outing to see the ladies. Well one in
particular. We are fairly certain the
younger alpaca we tried to mate last
year is not pregnant and so trying
again this year. We will only mate her,
the older ladies can have a rest from
producing. Tellus and Estelle though
only seemed interested for two days, so
 will try again in a few days time.

Ian had a late evening phone call this week with a request to transport a horse for a friend. It is the first time that our horsebox, has actually been used to transport a horse. It has been used to transport a cow, sheep and alpacas in terms of animals; it has also been used to transport furniture, hay, the two wheel tractor, rotavator and wood, so it is quite a novelty to use it for what it has been intended to for. Ian was quite pleased that the horse even left us with a present of some manure, but it did stink the greenhouse out when he put it on one of the beds. It has now been dug in and so doesn’t smell so much.

One we didn't part with

We said goodbye to twenty of our chicks this week, nine of the little ones and eleven of the bigger ones. We kept all the pretty looking ones – so much for selecting for meat birds or good laying birds. We thought it would be interesting though to see how they turn out, as some of them are so black I wasn’t able to take a photo of them in the dim light of home. Oddly enough there weren’t any brown ones, even though we do have about three good brown layers. Another twenty are on to incubate for another request for new stock.

Various salad type leaves in the greenhouse

Bill a regular commenter on here recently listed all the seeds he has sown on his farm on his blog, so I thought I would have a go at my list. I haven't put all the varieties, because some are seed we have kept or been given and I cannot be 100% certain of the variety. Ian is much better at keeping records than I am but he doesn't do much in the way of seed planting - unless it is en masse.

Vegetables
Carrots, Leeks,, Parsnip Kale, Short beans x 4 (red, stripey, spotted, black), Climbing beans x3, Turnip, Broad beans, Swede - 3 (rutabaga for my American friends), Beetroot, Cabbage x3,  Chinese cabbage,  Scorzonera, Carrots x2 (more later), Kohlrabi, Chicory x2, Celtuce, Onions -at least 3 varieties, Rainbow chard, Garlic, Welsh onion, Calabrese, Chenopodium giganteum



For the Greenhouse
Spinach, Peppers x3, Chick peas, Spring onion, Sweetcorn, Cape gooseberry, Rocket, Lettuce (outside too), Radish (outside too), Tokoyo Bekana, Peas, Tomatoes x 20, Mizuna, Sesame


Herbs and Flowers
Sage, Coriander (cilantro), Basil, Marigolds, Dill, Basil x6, Fenugreek, Cress, Mustard, Winter purslane, Spicy shrub, Parsley x2, Bergamot, Peppermint, Lavender, Marshmallow, Nigella

Field types

Wheat - April awned (small bed of these), Oats - hulless (again  a small bed of these), Buckwheat, Clover, Beans (brown and beige), Sunflowers

Estelle, Tellus' lady friend. She badly needs her teeth
cutting, but hopefully the remedy the
tooth-a-matic (what a name!) is on its way.

The twenty varieties of tomatoes does not necessarily mean many of each, honest, it is just people give us the odd one and we add them to the varieties grown. Some are even named by the people who gave us them because we lost the names along the way. I think we will start to drop some of the varieties this next year though. The clover will be in for a few years to improve the soil in a particularly sandy area, so it will be cut to mulch it into the ground. At home I have also started on the squashes and cucumbers – there is no point in starting them too early because of the risk of frosts if they are planted out too early.

Snowdrop has been showing signs of discomfort just lately
and so we hope those are signs of an imminent arrival

On a positive note Ian's mother's house has now had an offer put on it that has been accepted. Not sure how long the process will take now though before it is finally sold. I know it always seems to take an inordinately long time in the UK.