Emergency rations

 

It looks cold, and it was cold.

 

....which is why Lester was having a bowl of porridge.

 



 

Now you might think it strange that he was standing out in the cold eating porridge,

and I would also think that if I were not his wife,

because I had taken the porridge to him,

so that the chill would keep out of his insides.

 

 

.......So what he was doing was keeping an eye on these:

 

 

..... our flock of sheep, who had been let out for an hour of grazing

on the back field, around where the veg plots are.

They can't stay there all day because they would eventually take themselves out on the lane.

They do like to roam.

But they do need some green grass to supplement the hay they are now on,

so this is the first day of the 'hour a day of back field grazing'.

 

This morning we had to bypass breakfast because unfortunately we were running late.

My fault.

I had gone back to bed instead of staying up,

which meant that 'tea and porridge' had not been handed out to Lester

before he went milking, and then on to his morning chores.

 

What to do to squash my guilt about going back to bed.....

aha.....I know, ..... take him out a bowl of porridge!

 

 

.... by which time the sheep had grazed their fill, and were headed back to Lester.

 

Job done.

Back to the main field they went,

and Lester came indoors to defrost.

 

A couple of hours later we were in bed for an afternoon snooze,

with the electric blanket on of course!

We can do that because we are hibernation mode!

Well it is winter,

and we are still getting over the flu.
(PS. How long can I use 'getting over the flu' as an excuse to be slothful?)

 

So, taking the opportunity of wishing you a happy and successful 2017,

bye for now,

 

Vx

Tiptoe-ing back to Blog Land!

So OK, I am soooo sorry for not posting up a blog for a while, but lots has been happening, some in my head, some to do with what we are planning for next year, and some to do with me and Lester having a jolly hefty dose of flu which very efficiently flattened both of us. Even now we are still quite weak, which is a good excuse for going to bed and having a lovely long sleep in the afternoons.

 

Anyway, I hope you had a good Christmas.

Ours was excellent.

Spent most of it in bed.

 

But I did manage to put together a Christmas dinner.

Fortunately I had seen a pair of cockerel legs sticking up from amongst the piles of frozen meat

when I was on the hunt for something else,

so he was cooked up.....boiled first, then roasted.

 

 

 

He doesn't look very elegant, but he was delish.

I felt a fondness for that lad,

and blessed him profusely as he was cooked and eaten.

 

The things that are going on in my head are mostly to do with writing a new website for my work,

which is taking me an age because I don't have a clue what to put on it.

Actually, that is not true, I do know what the website has to carry,

but it is the lay out, graphics, and topic content, which is scrambling my head.

Not to worry, I shall persevere.

 

It has not been helpful that the flu has robbed us of any energy to keep motivated with our plans to open a market garden shop next year.

The poly tunnel still has not been ordered, and the land it is supposed to go on has still not been cleared of hedging along one side. The three vegetable paddocks have been tilled by the now deceased pigs, ( will tell you about that another time), but will need some ploughing over which can't be done because the soil is too dry.

The raised beds in the courtyard have still not been started, although progress about clearing the space has at least been done.

The Chicken Hut has still not been done, so we still don't have any chickens, but we have finished the fencing of the chicken run, and the two gates have been made although not painted.

All in all, the Market Garden Project is likely to have a very slow moving start in 2017!

 

..... and back in October, here is the fig tree in all its glory...

 

 

(sorry about the photo not being very good, but the fig tree is the green lump in the middle)

However, very disappointingly, it has deemed it beneath itself to give us a harvest of figs for the last two years, and instead has converted its energy into growing bigger by the day.

 

This is not good, so......

 

....with chainsaw in hand, Lester has severely pruned the fig tree,

and would have dispatched it altogether if I had not said that we need the figs from it

so give it a chance.

 

The area around the fig tree is where the raised beds are going to be.

I also hope to have a bit of space to put a sunbed up so I can lie in the shade of the fig tree on hot summer days.

This has been a fantasy of mine for the last nine years.

 Preventing me from doing so thus far has been the fact that the chickens have been in residence in, on, and around, the tree, filling the area with chicken paraphernalia  such as feathers and poo,
making it not an area one would wish to spend any time in,
especially when temperatures are high.
Perhaps this year, then, I shall get to indulge myself.
I can only hope.
 

Anyway, nice to have a chat with you, and hope your Christmas is proceeding gaily along.

 

 

And our Christmas Day supper.

It was all DIY produced apart from the bread flour and yeast,

all the rest...the jam, cheese, butter, were DIY.

 

 

Not very festive, but blame the flu for that!

 

Bye for now

 

Vx