Acorns, Froggies and Three Pronged Implement

I thought I would show you the front field / garden. Not much really, but at least it is tidier than when we arrived this time last year and there are loads of flowers waiting to spring into bloom when they decide to stop being lazy.



A wet start to the day. No matter. Rain is good. Can dig later on when it has stopped. Into office, then. Me to write, and Head Gardener to do things. Like open his seed box and have a sift through his copious amount of seed packets to see what else we can get planted. Bless.

And then a search on the Internet, and instructions sent over to me about gathering acorns, shelling acorns, preparing acorns, and cooking acorns. "A project for the autumn" he said with a smile.

I kept on writing. Acorns are hard work. They have to be washed a hell of a lot to get the bitterness out of them before you can eat them. Methinks I will conveniently 'forget' that 'let's do' project from HG until we are in the house and sorted out, memories of jam making last year and the megga stickiness that ensued still being fresh in my mind.

Rain has left the soil damp. Not wet. Just damp. But enough to get some digging done. So. Two dig-plots out front. Which one to do. Ah. Do both. Right. So: if I do one hundred whacks with the three pronged implement which is used in a similar way to a pickaxe in that it is a swing-over-the-shoulder action but is not so hefty as the pickaxe which I have trouble lifting off the ground let alone heft over my shoulder. No, this implement I can do a nice arcing swing with which is very good for the bosoms and upper arms. As I was saying, if I do one hundred whacks into the soil on each of the two dig-plots then that will loosen the soil and roots interred therein. Then later on I can go over the soil with the fork and spade. Good plan.

Plot one. One hundred whacks. A bit puffed out, but carry on. Over to plot two. One whack. Two whack. ........fifteen, and ....what was that that just flew through the air! Boolies races to investigate.

Intent on the effort of getting to the next hundred before I could stop for tea and cake, I had only inadvertantly sent heavenwards a froggie-type being. Literally. Up into the sky it sailed as I plunged my implement into the clods of grass. I must have somehow hooked the prongs underneath its little body and flicked it upwards.

All effort stopped. Bool's sniffed expectantly, hoping I would toss it into the air again for him to go chase. Like a ball. Was frogs dead? No, it gave a gasp of air. I picked it up. After a minute it gave a squirm. There was no blood.

So I took in over to the hedge which is not likely to be disturbed for ages, if ever, and gently put it down with a blessing. I don't suppose it was much fussed with being made to take a trip through the air, so I hope its day improves and the worst that can happen is over with at least for today.

Things I have learnt today: That it is fun investigating new avenues of food production and that acorns are worth a try if not in 2009, then perhaps 2020, which is something to look forward to. That perhaps it is wiser to listen to one's back when one is intent on breaking one's record, of one hundred whacks by trying to achieve two hundred whacks, with the three pronged implement. That Hubs and a tube of muscle rub can work miracles. That Sundays are meant to be full of thinking about the week ahead and not full of trying to get loads of things done right at this minute. That I am sorry for trying turn a little froggie into a flying machine.