and if you haven't had enough, here is the video of the saving of the worm farm! WARNING - I am a horrible, shouty (sic) mother.
Sunday, September 23, 2018
meanwhile, back at the farm :D
check out this video if you are NOT squeamish, just LISTEN to the maggots YUK!
and if you haven't had enough, here is the video of the saving of the worm farm! WARNING - I am a horrible, shouty (sic) mother.
and if you haven't had enough, here is the video of the saving of the worm farm! WARNING - I am a horrible, shouty (sic) mother.
Saturday, September 22, 2018
Eisenia fetida
I don't know if it is normal to feel excited about a worm farm, surely I am not alone? A quick search on the net will show you otherwise. Here is one example. Voici un exemple.
I am uploading videos of the worm farm for your pleasure - and possibly disgust depending on your sensibility.
I don't know what you did this morning before lunch, but I fought off an invasion of larvae of the Black Soldier Fly from the worm-bin. Click on the link for a quick idea of what they are. And click on this link too to see how to free your farm. I had a larvae blocking the exit for the worm tea! Have a close look, you can see the larvae sticking out...
According to a few minutes research (as time is precious), if I want to be rid of these larvae then I can pick them out! I need to know if the (apparently easy for the moment) co-habitation of the two species in the worm bin is going to be a problem in the future - will they kill my worms? In the meantime, it was great watching the chickens enjoy their treat - video to follow. More research to be done.
I am impressed with the worm farm so far. On 23rd July I added the third and final layer - I only added the second layer a couple of weeks before that and have 'harvested' a fair amount of worm tea - I'm afraid that when I first took out the bottom layer, once the worms had moved up a layer, I discovered sludge instead of the rich dryish manure expected - I simply watered it down and poured my first lot of home made lombricompost (worm poo to us peasants) around the garden, I don't think it smelt too bad.
I am thinking about adding the lombricompost to the carrot box which has duly been filled with sand thanks to Patrick the tree grafting man. I haven't had time to mix the sand with any soil or earth yet, so am gradually adding the coffee grounds recuperated from the local café , which comes highly recommended, and some straw from a local farmer (who also sells wine). Yipee, the straw has utterly transformed the garden, making it look great and hopefully, amongst other advantages, protecting it from the worst of the hot summer sun damage which could potentially be a problem for the trees. Indeed, two of the trees are already suffering, both commercially bought, not from the local guy! One of them came in a pot, the other with naked roots - racine nue in French, I am unaware of the English equivalent.
We are eating meals almost entirely from the garden, the salads are fantastic even if I say so myself :/ or they were at the beginning of the summer, they are sorely missed at the moment! I am happy with our garlic and onion harvest. The potato plants have suffered from a blight - almost all the plants are affected, and I have been too busy with other parts of my life to treat them as I would have liked, for example using nettle tea. I am sure the plants could have battled on for longer. Actually we have more than enough potatoes, so I am not worried. I will buy more resistant varieties next year, and maybe will have more time to prepare my concoctions. I have noticed that the potatoes planted individually and isolated from other potato plants are not affected - as expected. The potatoes are 'Monalisa', 'Bintje' - for oven and chips plus a few 'Ratte' for posh meals. Here is a link to the European database for varieties, but be warned, there are no photos.
With help from a couple of American friends who are hoping to settle not too far from Fa, we have reclaimed a couple of sections of the garden, ripping out the ivy (do people really BUY this plant?) and replacing it with jasmine and rosemary cuttings that I took some time ago. And of course surrounding everything with straw. Mulching. Much mulching :)
The Chinese Gooseberries (shhhh aka Kiwis) have suffered, again they are commercially bought, not local, and they are probably used to lots of water and will have to acclimatise to a drier environment. The grapes too, but they have fruit on them.
Summer has not been too harsh on the trees, we seem to have managed with help from friends to keep them going on this their first year - fingers crossed.
After a wonderfully hectic summer, as we head into another school year, the harvesting becomes paramount. I would like to see how long I can make the garden produce last - there is a wall of aubergines crying out for my attention, the peppers are hanging heavily on their plants too. I have already managed to preserve one lot of each of those fruit, plus a single load of pesto too. I will do one more load each this year hopefully.
The old garden is not forgotten, Ivor and I were suitably impressed by the work that Jonny has done - do keep up the good work - we will have loads of fruit! The garden will show itself again! There must be thirty odd fruit trees up there.
Ivor and I cleared around a tree that had previously been rescued by Alex in the spring. It was fun hacking our way around to meet on the other side - brambles and clematis beware - yes, it was that bad!
This photo shows the tree in the middle of the jungle...
The treasure for our hard work was the several apples that the tree produced for the first time - it is an apple year apparently, and it's true that some of the trees that have never fruited before have done so pretty spectacularly - I just hope we have the time and energy to transform or simply eat them all! I can already see me using the local cooperative fruit processing unit to make jam and juice. In the meantime, here is a picture of Ivor helping to juice in preparation for some jam:
The pear tree in the new garden that we discovered when we arrived was laden this year! I have only picked the windfalls.
And just for fun, for those of you who made it thus far, here is a video of the hard working nephew and sons as they planted the orchard - a historic moment, 17th December 2017. Reuvan wanted to measure the size of the hole he was digging (we know a song about that!) so he decided to lie down as after all, he knows how tall he is :)
And here are Salix and Noah cleaning out the cupboard under the stairs - a scary job...
And here is a picture of some of the jam...
Sunday, May 13, 2018
So Fa so good
The project moves on, with help from so many different sources. We will need to choose a name soon.
The trees are growing and some are being allowed to produce a few fruit - just the older trees.
We went to buy a trailer load of lombricompost - here's a link, as I recommend this compost, high in nitrogen and potassium.
I couldn't resist buying a loads of worms (who could?), and, when we got back, putting some into the worm farms Ivor and I had dotted around the garden, plus into the compost. Can you see the wriggly writhing worms?
Since then, we have acquired a 'proper' worm farm - from here, and are hoping that they will proliferate. After all, the worms do all the dirty work for us in a no-dig garden.
The farmer we bought the worm compost from buys in organic manure, and the worms do their job, leaving behind what I call 'black gold'. Before we started the garden I did test the soil, and there was no nitrogen (see previous posts) which will be amply provided by the worm compost.
Here is a link to the Royal Horticultural Society's pages about lombricompost click here
I have also prepared some nettle 'tea' for the garden - and will be adding comfrey to it too (see photo).
Any progress made on the project is thanks to our helpers. Rose and Jim deserve a special mention this post, not only are they our biggest sponsors so far, but they have visited and helped out at the farm too.
New beds have been created, this one is named 'Jim's bed' for the moment ;) Here are the men creating the walls. (photo left)
and here is the still to be filled in carrot bed (Hi Rose 😊)
The asparagus have been planted too. They are funny looking things, like the octopus man out of The Pirates of the Caribbean - photo left.
and here is proof that the 17 year old Fabien is able to help -with a smile- ;) photo right. I know you can't see his smile, but I think it was there.
The chickens must love their new, automatically opening and closing door, (see photo, right) they are out early into their amazing, orchard-encompassing 'coop' (don't worry, they are certainly not cooped up!), and we only have to visit them once or twice a day, instead of three or four times. Ivor and I and Alex watched said door close at 9.30pm, Ivor being allowed to stay up especially - it was 'epic, but scary' he must've used the word weird too, as that is his favourite, overused word at the moment. The water recuperation system is being installed, we should find out if the underground reservoir we found is water-tight or not. Oh, and the fencing! The deputy mayor popped round to see if the greenhouse is legal (he reckons it is and that is good enough for me) and was properly impressed by the fencing! A very professional job apparently.
It was great to welcome an old friend, a Wwoofer from the Funny Farm, Lucy and her two children to the new project. Look at the bed we filled while you were here, those onions look fine don't they? The sweetcorn are also on their way, following a lovely spring of rain alternating with some sun.
Jim, Rose and family, the leeks look lovely in Jim's bed :D
There is also green and red basil, courgettes, thyme and two varieties of parsley in the bed now, which has been given a layer of lombricompost after being filled with soil from the garden. The mulch on top is the remains of a rotten hay bale (hopefully not too many seeds will germinate) donated by Lolo.
and here is the verveine, do you remember Jim? I wanted to show you how to take a soft-wood cutting and I used the tip of the verveine (Verbena) plant... as a wise man once said (your dad apparently) cut it off, stick it in and give it three taps and you're done. Well, he was right and the verbena plant has taken - so then there were three in the garden! The small plant next to it is a basil just germinated.
The black currant plants that we potted-up are looking great too. (photo right)
Here is a photo of some of the sponsored trees - thanks to Gabi too, yours is the second one along - Reinette de Brive. (photo left)
The greenhouse has provided a haven for the seedlings, which as the frost is over will be soon finding a home in the garden - some having already been evicted. Being able to plant out early is a great advantage, the tomatoes and aubergines in the greenhouse are already flowering, and have probably set by now - Gardener's Delight, Andine Cornu, and Pinapple tomatoes in there (gotta try everything at least once eh?).
Here are the tomatoes, looking strong! (right)
and the newly planted capsicum and cucumber (left)
The leeks are in, about 100 of them, and today I planted out the Queensland Blue (seeds all the way from Australia), and some other pumpkin varieties, plus a couple of courgettes and cucumbers. I also split the yarrow plant that I planted last year, as it is a good companion plant. Lots of seeds are coming up, I guess it must be spring time!
A special shout out to mum, who came and supported us for a week or so, and is official egg taster for life, here she is trying Xandrija's recipe, although I believe she was supposed to have avocado with it - next time eh!
and here are two intrepid explorers having successfully caught a couple of mating frogs
And here is Ivor bucket head :D
and here he is again, proudly carrying the flowers for the 8th of May ceremony in our village
And finally, who can name this alien-looking creature hiding amongst the chives - if you can spot it :D
The trees are growing and some are being allowed to produce a few fruit - just the older trees.
We went to buy a trailer load of lombricompost - here's a link, as I recommend this compost, high in nitrogen and potassium.
I couldn't resist buying a loads of worms (who could?), and, when we got back, putting some into the worm farms Ivor and I had dotted around the garden, plus into the compost. Can you see the wriggly writhing worms?Since then, we have acquired a 'proper' worm farm - from here, and are hoping that they will proliferate. After all, the worms do all the dirty work for us in a no-dig garden.
The farmer we bought the worm compost from buys in organic manure, and the worms do their job, leaving behind what I call 'black gold'. Before we started the garden I did test the soil, and there was no nitrogen (see previous posts) which will be amply provided by the worm compost.Here is a link to the Royal Horticultural Society's pages about lombricompost click here
I have also prepared some nettle 'tea' for the garden - and will be adding comfrey to it too (see photo).
Any progress made on the project is thanks to our helpers. Rose and Jim deserve a special mention this post, not only are they our biggest sponsors so far, but they have visited and helped out at the farm too.
New beds have been created, this one is named 'Jim's bed' for the moment ;) Here are the men creating the walls. (photo left)
and here is the still to be filled in carrot bed (Hi Rose 😊)
The asparagus have been planted too. They are funny looking things, like the octopus man out of The Pirates of the Caribbean - photo left.and here is proof that the 17 year old Fabien is able to help -with a smile- ;) photo right. I know you can't see his smile, but I think it was there.
The chickens must love their new, automatically opening and closing door, (see photo, right) they are out early into their amazing, orchard-encompassing 'coop' (don't worry, they are certainly not cooped up!), and we only have to visit them once or twice a day, instead of three or four times. Ivor and I and Alex watched said door close at 9.30pm, Ivor being allowed to stay up especially - it was 'epic, but scary' he must've used the word weird too, as that is his favourite, overused word at the moment. The water recuperation system is being installed, we should find out if the underground reservoir we found is water-tight or not. Oh, and the fencing! The deputy mayor popped round to see if the greenhouse is legal (he reckons it is and that is good enough for me) and was properly impressed by the fencing! A very professional job apparently.
It was great to welcome an old friend, a Wwoofer from the Funny Farm, Lucy and her two children to the new project. Look at the bed we filled while you were here, those onions look fine don't they? The sweetcorn are also on their way, following a lovely spring of rain alternating with some sun.
Jim, Rose and family, the leeks look lovely in Jim's bed :D
There is also green and red basil, courgettes, thyme and two varieties of parsley in the bed now, which has been given a layer of lombricompost after being filled with soil from the garden. The mulch on top is the remains of a rotten hay bale (hopefully not too many seeds will germinate) donated by Lolo.
and here is the verveine, do you remember Jim? I wanted to show you how to take a soft-wood cutting and I used the tip of the verveine (Verbena) plant... as a wise man once said (your dad apparently) cut it off, stick it in and give it three taps and you're done. Well, he was right and the verbena plant has taken - so then there were three in the garden! The small plant next to it is a basil just germinated.
The black currant plants that we potted-up are looking great too. (photo right)Here is a photo of some of the sponsored trees - thanks to Gabi too, yours is the second one along - Reinette de Brive. (photo left)
The greenhouse has provided a haven for the seedlings, which as the frost is over will be soon finding a home in the garden - some having already been evicted. Being able to plant out early is a great advantage, the tomatoes and aubergines in the greenhouse are already flowering, and have probably set by now - Gardener's Delight, Andine Cornu, and Pinapple tomatoes in there (gotta try everything at least once eh?).
Here are the tomatoes, looking strong! (right)
and the newly planted capsicum and cucumber (left)
The potatoes look amazing, even if I say so myself! So far no sign of the potato beetle, but we are
keeping an eye out. This year we have planted Mona Lisa, Bintje, and Ratte potatoes, oh, and some violet blue variety that I found in an organic shop in Carcassonne. Mona Lisa is supposed to be a hardy, resistant to all diseases variety, whereas the Bintje is a sensitive plant, but Salix the chef-son said they are one of his favourite. The Ratte potato is quite hard to come by and is particulary nice.
The leeks are in, about 100 of them, and today I planted out the Queensland Blue (seeds all the way from Australia), and some other pumpkin varieties, plus a couple of courgettes and cucumbers. I also split the yarrow plant that I planted last year, as it is a good companion plant. Lots of seeds are coming up, I guess it must be spring time!
A special shout out to mum, who came and supported us for a week or so, and is official egg taster for life, here she is trying Xandrija's recipe, although I believe she was supposed to have avocado with it - next time eh!
And here is Ivor bucket head :D
and here he is again, proudly carrying the flowers for the 8th of May ceremony in our village
And finally, who can name this alien-looking creature hiding amongst the chives - if you can spot it :D
Sunday, March 18, 2018
Grafting fruit trees
Today, Sunday 11th March 2018 I grafted about 15 fruit trees. Talk about feeding future generations! I have waited so long to try this out, and it has fulfilled all my expectations. Of course, it will take a couple of weeks to see if they have worked or not, but I have everything crossed and well, why shouldn't they!
So Patrick the local lad mentioned in other posts accompanied Ivor and me to the old farm, where there are plenty of wild cherry trees and almonds that have grown from seed.
One day when we had a load of wwoofers and helpxers I sent them off almond picking and they came home happily showing off a trunk full of almonds (literally). However, I had omitted to remind them of the bitter almond. So we were faced with trying each almond, or throwing the lot out. After poisoning myself with cyanide a few too many times, I threw them onto the garden in several spots thinking to myself that maybe some would grow. And they did. And now I am grafting onto them. So perfect. Lesson to be learned, when picking almonds always try one from each tree as bitter almonds are rightly named.
The cherries have grown from seed too, either from cherries we ate or perhaps wild animals. The two older boys argue over who spat out the seed that grew into the cherry tree next to our old kitchen hut - it bears tasty cherries - and today I grafted from that tree onto one of the wild cherries. It may be our very own variety - we will have to name it! sabien? fabix? random spit cherry? ha ha.
Patrick has suggested that we leave the rootstock that we have planted this year to establish themselves and then we can graft them next year. I still plan on visiting the apple trees in my mum's back garden to take grafts!
Today we also grafted pear and apple onto hawthorn! Excellent stuff. Oh, and apricot onto almond too.
Most of the photos show the crown graft, but we did try one chip bud graft (at least I think that is what it is called in English, will check):
Doesn't look like much, but apparently they are the most successful grafts!
Wednesday 14th March, son number two's 17th birthday, I grafted all on my own. Well, Alex and Ivor came with me, Alex attacked the clematis and brambles, freed a couple of trees and cleared where the old sheep tunnel was, and Ivor filled the water butts from the source, and 'helped' generally.
I only cut myself twice! I grafted cherry onto wild cherry, and then just for fun, onto one wild cherry with three trunks just behind where the old kitchen used to be, I grafted cherry, almond and apricot (from left to right in the photo)! Makes me shiver.
So Patrick the local lad mentioned in other posts accompanied Ivor and me to the old farm, where there are plenty of wild cherry trees and almonds that have grown from seed.
One day when we had a load of wwoofers and helpxers I sent them off almond picking and they came home happily showing off a trunk full of almonds (literally). However, I had omitted to remind them of the bitter almond. So we were faced with trying each almond, or throwing the lot out. After poisoning myself with cyanide a few too many times, I threw them onto the garden in several spots thinking to myself that maybe some would grow. And they did. And now I am grafting onto them. So perfect. Lesson to be learned, when picking almonds always try one from each tree as bitter almonds are rightly named.
The cherries have grown from seed too, either from cherries we ate or perhaps wild animals. The two older boys argue over who spat out the seed that grew into the cherry tree next to our old kitchen hut - it bears tasty cherries - and today I grafted from that tree onto one of the wild cherries. It may be our very own variety - we will have to name it! sabien? fabix? random spit cherry? ha ha.
Patrick has suggested that we leave the rootstock that we have planted this year to establish themselves and then we can graft them next year. I still plan on visiting the apple trees in my mum's back garden to take grafts!
Today we also grafted pear and apple onto hawthorn! Excellent stuff. Oh, and apricot onto almond too.
Wednesday 14th March, son number two's 17th birthday, I grafted all on my own. Well, Alex and Ivor came with me, Alex attacked the clematis and brambles, freed a couple of trees and cleared where the old sheep tunnel was, and Ivor filled the water butts from the source, and 'helped' generally.
Sunday, March 11, 2018
Never a dull moment
We fast approach the exam period and as quickly as spring starts to make itself felt and the snow melts from the mountain side so my students lose any desire to work they may have nurtured! I hope we make it up to the snow one more time at least this winter.
Photo taken on a day racket walking (snow shoes), Domaine de Choula, Le Roc.
I arrived home last night (Thursday 8th March) to an injured Ivor, who, on hurtling home on his bicycle had a head-on collision with a mother cycling to school to pick up her child. Ivor went flying after having totally bent the front forks of the woman's bike then apparently picked both himself and the bike up and walked home.
He is a lucky boy, since he was cycling on the wrong side of the road (no, nothing to do with the fact that he is 'English', as he has never lived in the UK). He suffered a nasty graze on his chin and his jaw hurts (not enough to refuse chocolate). He got away lightly.
So begins the 'I don't want to go to school tomorrow' story. No chance mate! You have to be in bed with a fever and vomiting before that happens.
Too early the next morning he calls me from his bedroom - just once. As soon as I am within earshot: "Mum, I can't go to school today............. my jaw hurts............ I can't speak....... French."
HA HA HA! Too Funny. I could see realisation dawn on him - that he was speaking to me.
Bless him. He went to school of course.
Today, Saturday 10th March, I did my first practice graft! Thanks a million to Patrick, the local lad that is teaching me. The cherry laurel (I think) hedge has been subjected to scientific experiment. Happy and lucky me.
I am sure it is obligatory - I did cut myself, just the once.
Photo taken on a day racket walking (snow shoes), Domaine de Choula, Le Roc.
I arrived home last night (Thursday 8th March) to an injured Ivor, who, on hurtling home on his bicycle had a head-on collision with a mother cycling to school to pick up her child. Ivor went flying after having totally bent the front forks of the woman's bike then apparently picked both himself and the bike up and walked home.
He is a lucky boy, since he was cycling on the wrong side of the road (no, nothing to do with the fact that he is 'English', as he has never lived in the UK). He suffered a nasty graze on his chin and his jaw hurts (not enough to refuse chocolate). He got away lightly.
So begins the 'I don't want to go to school tomorrow' story. No chance mate! You have to be in bed with a fever and vomiting before that happens.
Too early the next morning he calls me from his bedroom - just once. As soon as I am within earshot: "Mum, I can't go to school today............. my jaw hurts............ I can't speak....... French."
HA HA HA! Too Funny. I could see realisation dawn on him - that he was speaking to me.
Bless him. He went to school of course.
Today, Saturday 10th March, I did my first practice graft! Thanks a million to Patrick, the local lad that is teaching me. The cherry laurel (I think) hedge has been subjected to scientific experiment. Happy and lucky me.
I am sure it is obligatory - I did cut myself, just the once.
My first ever experimental graft, Patrick called it a crown graft (greffe en couronne)
He showed me two other types of crown graft too. Very exciting. Plus tomorrow we are off to the garden to do some wild grafting on the wild trees - cherries and hawthorn. Any pip onto any pip and any stone onto any stone.
Meanwhile the boys helped create a potato patch
and the chicken palace II is coming along nicely
and the new seed/planting area in the greenhouse too
Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Planting an orchard in two days
Well, life is never dull around here, I can tell you. To go in one weekend from watching the rain fall and thinking the trees were not going to be able to be planted as planned, to spending a night (got to bed at 5am) driving to a hospital over an hour away, to planting 40 odd trees and cooking a quiche for the school fête, oh, and trying to accomplish all the normal, everyday chores, I certainly am not a bored person.
So yes, the most important news is that with the help of several members of my wonderful, blessed family all the trees have been duly planted. On Friday under or between the showers of rain three helpers went poo picking - oh I'm sorry, I mean picking horse manure - I just like to say it how it is. A trailer full of sand was also collected.
Saturday morning Ivor and I went to pick up the 36 trees from the local producer - organic and rustic varieties. We already had a conference pear to plant. We also did a round trip via several shops so the planting finally started in the afternoon of the 16th December 2017. The first 8 of those 36 were duly planted before night fell, with three spaces prepared for the next day.
After a night of celebration cut short by the birthday girl's (Tana, 52 years old :) little finger being squashed inadvertently and exploding needing a night time visit to hospital plus 6 stitches and a 250km odd round trip on my part resulting in a 5am bedtime (I am stifling a yawn as I type, but it is so important that I write this), I woke after dreaming of Gravenstein trees raring to go.
So today, 17th December 2017 the rest of the trees have found their home. A massive shout out to the helpers - Nigel, Salix, Fabien, Ivor and Reuvan.
Highlights of the day - Reuvan lying down on the ground trying to work out how long a meter is.
Ivor managing to not hit anyone with his tool.
Salix having a tool handle snap on him.
Reuvan and Fabien listening too loudly to reggae music as they dug the last few tree holes.
The rain starting just as the last tree went in and I managed to walk around the new orchard (oooh, I can actually use that word now can't I?) to put all 50 trees on the plan. Which I shall share as soon as I have digitalised it.
The soil is fantastic, easy digging, grass and grass roots removed, each tree dipped in a watery mix of soil and rotted horse poo before being placed lovingly in a hole. After much consultation and discussion we have decided to go for the horseshoe swale around each tree, to try to minimise watering. The good news is that Kirsty and John and Nigel, whilst taking a walk around the land 'discovered' another reservoir for water collection, which looks somewhat like a well... We shall see.
A leap forward
Mark the date!
Yesterday the greenhouse went up! With the help of an amazing crew, we have extended our growing season by several weeks! It has taken a few days, the success of such a venture being reliant on good preparation.
From choosing what kind of plastic to put up, to measuring the arches, which as it turns out are not all exactly the same, to having trenches dug, to refilling in trenches and re-digging them by hand, great fun was had by all. Some strenuous effort, some brain work - what position as regards the sun, the prevailing or the dangerous wind - your choice. Best part? The moment when you realise that it's really time to start throwing, raking, shovelling earth onto the edges of the greenhouse plastic :
There was a competition over which side would end up with the least creases... We definitely won :D
The greenhouse is a great environment to work in and with. It's exciting to be planning the ground design, one aisle or two? Having been to visit a few and had my own this takes some thinking!
Here is a photo of the greenhouse in 2008, at the Funny Farm:
and again:
and here is the new one - shall we play spot the difference :D
As I seem to only manage to post every few months, here is a quick run down - yes, I have left things out - of our activities end 2017 beginning 2018.
One of my favourite pastimes is taking cuttings and growing them on (I am looking forward to my grafting lessons) and of course the greenhouse is a great place for this. This spring will see an increase in transplanting from the old garden up the hill. The old garden is helping fill the new one. We have already brought down a good number of cuttings from established plants, amongst others some from the gooseberry plant that I brought from my mum's garden in London! The boys dug up a couple of plants too - black currant, gooseberry, and a rose. The cuttings I brought into the house are looking splendid.
The trees in the newly planted orchard are closely surveyed, flowers are appearing, one of the almonds is budding furiously - the blossoms will burst out soon, but for the moment all is stagnant as we pass through a cold snap.
The grape vine near the pool has been hacked at - oh, I mean pruned (heavily) - we shall see what we shall see and five new vines have been planted by Noah and Fabien. (Table grapes of varying varieties)
And the cherry was the first to explode into life:
I think we pick an average of five eggs a day and the 8 hens have been joined by a cockerel generously donated by Lolo so it looks like we shall be having chicks in spring. much to Ivor's delight I predict. Having spent so much energy on the amazing Chicken Palace The First, the reality is that the position is not the best (it stinks), so Chicken Palace II is on its way, a whole new design for our girls (and cock).
Also over the last month or so a local lad put up a chicken-proof fence between us and the neighbours - the garden is now completely secure from donkeys or any such-like orchard destroyer. While he was here he couldn't resist swiftly rebuilding this dry-stone wall! He made it look so easy.
An important part of modern farming imho is water recuperation. So the brains of the operation have been busy researching ways of making this a reality reusing one 1000l container from the old farm, plus two 'new' ones bought through the internet.
Music to my eyes. I believe in watering an absolute minimum, and I believe that water is becoming increasingly scarce. So recuperation, storing and minimal use are in order.
Here are my favourite surreal photos of the project so far:
Yesterday the greenhouse went up! With the help of an amazing crew, we have extended our growing season by several weeks! It has taken a few days, the success of such a venture being reliant on good preparation.
From choosing what kind of plastic to put up, to measuring the arches, which as it turns out are not all exactly the same, to having trenches dug, to refilling in trenches and re-digging them by hand, great fun was had by all. Some strenuous effort, some brain work - what position as regards the sun, the prevailing or the dangerous wind - your choice. Best part? The moment when you realise that it's really time to start throwing, raking, shovelling earth onto the edges of the greenhouse plastic :
The greenhouse is a great environment to work in and with. It's exciting to be planning the ground design, one aisle or two? Having been to visit a few and had my own this takes some thinking!
Here is a photo of the greenhouse in 2008, at the Funny Farm:
and again:
and here is the new one - shall we play spot the difference :D
As I seem to only manage to post every few months, here is a quick run down - yes, I have left things out - of our activities end 2017 beginning 2018.
One of my favourite pastimes is taking cuttings and growing them on (I am looking forward to my grafting lessons) and of course the greenhouse is a great place for this. This spring will see an increase in transplanting from the old garden up the hill. The old garden is helping fill the new one. We have already brought down a good number of cuttings from established plants, amongst others some from the gooseberry plant that I brought from my mum's garden in London! The boys dug up a couple of plants too - black currant, gooseberry, and a rose. The cuttings I brought into the house are looking splendid.
The trees in the newly planted orchard are closely surveyed, flowers are appearing, one of the almonds is budding furiously - the blossoms will burst out soon, but for the moment all is stagnant as we pass through a cold snap.
The grape vine near the pool has been hacked at - oh, I mean pruned (heavily) - we shall see what we shall see and five new vines have been planted by Noah and Fabien. (Table grapes of varying varieties)
And the cherry was the first to explode into life:
I think we pick an average of five eggs a day and the 8 hens have been joined by a cockerel generously donated by Lolo so it looks like we shall be having chicks in spring. much to Ivor's delight I predict. Having spent so much energy on the amazing Chicken Palace The First, the reality is that the position is not the best (it stinks), so Chicken Palace II is on its way, a whole new design for our girls (and cock).
Also over the last month or so a local lad put up a chicken-proof fence between us and the neighbours - the garden is now completely secure from donkeys or any such-like orchard destroyer. While he was here he couldn't resist swiftly rebuilding this dry-stone wall! He made it look so easy.
An important part of modern farming imho is water recuperation. So the brains of the operation have been busy researching ways of making this a reality reusing one 1000l container from the old farm, plus two 'new' ones bought through the internet.
Music to my eyes. I believe in watering an absolute minimum, and I believe that water is becoming increasingly scarce. So recuperation, storing and minimal use are in order.
Here are my favourite surreal photos of the project so far:
yes that is a gate in the middle of a field
and yes that is a heater in the middle of the greenhouse!
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