Friday 17 July 2015

A tangle untangled......

I can get in a bit of tangle sometimes.
Most times I get it sorted out,
although it can take time to do so.
 
But this tangle was quickly sorted:
 
 
....a skein of wool which had got into a right mess,

mostly because I had spun it in too tight a twist in the first place,
making it ever so willing  for the strands to keep on curling up on themselves,
not helped my lack of attention in putting it in a place
where it would not keep getting knocked about.
.....the back of the chair is what I am talking about.
 
So I left that skein to get more and more tangled,
and then a plan for it hatched itself in my head.
Et voila!
 
 
Untangled and rolled into a neat round ball,
the wool is now 'decorating' the pole bean supports,
woven artistically by myself.  

 
Along the long line of poles which Lester strapped to the fence posts,
a good idea indeed,
no need to make a separate support for the beans,
just use the fence posts,
then string some wire between the posts,
and then let me string something in between these wires,
which I have now done
using the tangle of recently made wool,
and upwards then the beans will go,
probably with a lot more energy if we had a drop or two of rain,
as it is,
they are meandering up the supports rather than romping up them.
 
It has not been a good year for growing things.
Most of the fruit on the trees is now dropping off,
so one of the daily tasks is to pick up this fallen fruit and give it to the pigs.
At least it isn't wasted.
A drop of rain might still get us a fruit harvest,
but each day that it does not rain is one day with more fruit on the ground. 
 
 
What a dried up desert of a place the veg garden is looking this year.
 
 
 
 
...... and what is happening to these bush beans...
 
 
..........lots of flowers but no beans.
 
So we do have flowers on things, it is just that that is it,
there is not enough oomph this year  to help the plants to go beyond the flower stage,
despite being regularly watered,
and occasionally fertilized.
 
 
But the courgettes are doing well, so they must love this hot weather.
....... these are going into the dehydrator,
and there is another lot needing to be harvested.



 


 So to keep my spirits up in regards to growing our own food,
I have planted some lettuce seeds,
but put them indoors to get started,
because they would get fried to death before they even got started if I put them outside..
 

They are in the half barn, which has velux windows in,
so an idea came to me that perhaps I could use this spot as a bringer on of seeds,
until we get a polytunnel.
I know it is only the top of a piece of  furniture,
and not very big,
but at least it is a start.
You might ask why we didn't plant lettuce in the veg garden,
.....well we started off late this year with growing things,
and lettuce has a tendency to bolt when it gets hot,
but I am fed up with paying nearly one euro for a lettuce
and by the time these seeds get ready to go out,
the weather might have got cooler so they won't bolt and go to seed.
 
And this is how far we have got in the back kitchen....
 


..... the sink and worktops are now in.
And here is Lester, armed with his usual fly swot,
and Blue keeping an eye on things.....
and the sink is so big I could sit in one side, put my feet in the other,
and half a bath.
Ummmm.....perhaps not, but I could if I was a little child again,
which I am still in my head sometimes,
although I have a grown up body.
 
And....sssshhhhh! I think I hear the pitter patter of rain on the velux windows above my head...
so perhaps we might be having a watering from the heavens,
which would be good.
 
Vx
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 





10 comments:

Ohiofarmgirl said...

what a terrific idea to get untangled! so glad to hear you got a bit of rain - i hope it perks up the beans. the drought is worse than all this mud but we are both in a pickle. love to see the dogs - yay!
:-)

Dawn said...

I hope you get rain soon, my in-laws who live in Charente told me how hot and dry it is, they are recycing grey water from the house for watering. A great use of your yarn love it :-)

Kirsty said...

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for rain for you. Kitchen's getting there now too, looking good.
How do you cook with dehydrated courgettes?

Vera said...

OFG, and we have had a nice drop of rain water over the weekend, so that should keep everything going. Hope you had a nice drop of sunshine to keep you going as well.

DAWN, fortunately our well is still giving us enough water for the veg garden!

KIRSTY, for dehydrated courgettes.....I usually put them into soups and stews at the moment, but when I get round to doing so I shall grind some up in my spice mill to act as a thickener and flavouring. They are also nice raw....dehydrating them increases the flavour and I often get a few out of the jar when I am feeling in need of nibbles!

Le Pré de la Forge said...

Looking at the satellite view, you got a very good watering over the w/e....
there were lots of red areas [more than 10mm per hour]coming away from the Pair'o'knees...
all we got was a smattering...
a spluttering...
a mere dribble...
but it saved us from the tea'd'ee'um of watering!!
For a couple of days anyway...
a rest is as good as a change!

I must grind up some of our dehydrated courgette as a thick'ner!!
I made courgette crisps in the Excalibur last year...
very tasty...

Tim

Diane said...

I just cannot believe how dry it is. Our beans are a total waste of time, the chard, tomatoes and courgettes are OK and at the moment so are all the pumpkins and squash. The chillies and peppers are holding their own. It has though taken a lot of water to keep them going, if only we had a well. The trees as you say are dropping their fruit and even the laurel hedge is looking sad. We have had 1mm in the past 6 weeks! With temperatures so high everything is just lying down. Maybe we will thing about a dehydrator for next year, but this year all is dehydrating before it is ready! We go back to the UK in December so maybe we could bring one back with us. Keep cool Diane

Kerry said...

We've had a dribble of rain today but not enough for the veg patch. I had wondered why our fruit and nuts were falling early, now you've answered the question, not enough rain. Fingers crossed we will all have lush gardens again soon.

Vera said...

TIM, we did indeed have a drop of rain, but then the sun came out and dried it all up again!

DIANE, our well has kept the veg garden going this year but is now starting to give less and less water with each pumping. Good idea about getting the dehydrator from the UK when you go back at Christmas....at least you will see what you are getting.

Kerry, August is normally a dry month in France, so we do not hold out much hope for a good downpour, but perhaps it will be different this year so let's keep fingers crossed that the heavens give us a drenching!

Le Pré de la Forge said...

What news?
Stop spinning around under a tree....
and untangle yourself from those skeins of wool!!
Nudge, nudge!!!
Tim

Vera said...

Tim...............................nudge taken! Vx