The funeral that I attended on Friday was for Roger, my brother-in-law. He was married to Pam, Jennifer’s sister, who died suddenly 3 years ago on the 12th March – the anniversary falling one day before we said our goodbyes to Roger. Because of the timing it was a particularly emotional day for my niece, and two nephews, and their own children, but the service that they planned was actually very uplifting, with wonderful eulogies from both of the boys, and a beautiful poem written and read by granddaughter Annabelle. The wake at the pub afterwards was a joyful occasion filled with chatter, reminiscences and laughter, sometimes tinged with sadness, but a lovely family reunion. After Pam died Roger’s constant companion was their German Shepherd Molly, to whom he was devoted. Following Roger’s death Molly went to live with one of the boys, and had seemingly settled in with the family. On the Saturday, two weeks after Roger’s passing, the family took Molly for a lovey long walk, during which she was playful and full of beans, but the following morning they came down to find that dear Molly had died in her sleep. Blimey, that was a tear jerker!
As you know, because I was out of action on Friday, I was not able to prepare for the market, so I decided to give it a miss yesterday. I was looking forward to a rare Saturday off, and had planned to do this and that and to generally have a nice chilled day. It all started so well. I woke at 6.30 to a bright frosty dawn, and after letting the hens and ducks out I took Nellie for a really lovely walk for the best part of an hour. Upon returning I made myself some porridge and set out to buy bread and some nice bits for lunch at the local farm shop. I was also going to call in at Moyns Park to check on the seedlings and to do a few bits and bobs before returning home for elevensies. Well I hadn’t driven more than half a mile from home before it started, the unmistakeable onset of a migraine. I made it to the bakery but knew that I just had to get home and into the dark, which is exactly what I did. I was back in my bed soon after 9.30. I hadn’t had a migraine for years until the one I had a few weeks ago. I do hope that it’s not going to become a regular thing. Back years ago when I had them more regularly they would invariably hit me at the weekend when I was relaxing, and so it was yesterday. Today I have got that Migraine +1 feeling – a bit hungover, with my eyes still sensitive to the spitefully bright light this morning, but at the moment there is no headache, which is why I have started writing this nice and early, in case I can’t later.
This week it starts. I am of course talking about the wild garlic pesto season. It has now put on sufficient growth for me to head to the woods with my Little Red Riding Hood basket to gather those punchy garlicky leaves of loveliness. But hang on, there is a caveat. The production line will only chug into life if the vegetarian Parmesan style cheese that I ordered much later than I really should have done arrives by Wednesday. The farm that I buy it from is usually good at despatching orders promptly, so I have every confidence that all will be well. The only other thing that I need to do is to locate my hairnet.
Whilst one treat finds itself onto the shelves of the shop another disappears. Sadly I have now sold all of last season’s apple juice. It has just been too popular for its own good, so there is now the long wait until early autumn for the next batch. Let us hope for a bountiful apple harvest this year so that I can lay down a good lot of bottles in the cellar.
It’s all systems go on the propagating front, with a regular cycle of seed sowing, and now pricking out. Most of the tomatoes and peppers have now been advanced to larger cell trays, and chard, spinach, cabbage and lettuce are at that stage too, with successional sowings of each following on. The first batch of cucumbers are at the first true leaf stage, so within a couple of weeks I should be planting them in the greenhouse. Because they only last so long after an intensive period of cropping I will start a second lot some 6 weeks after the first to hopefully extend the picking season.
The contents of the shop reflects the time of the growing season, with choice becoming more limited by the week, so there will be an increased reliance on European produce to fill the hungry gap, but we are some way off it being at its worst. For now there is purple sprouting broccoli, spring greens and curly kale, supplemented with calabrese from Spain. There are leeks, mushrooms, beetroot, parsnips, swede, sweet potatoes, red cabbage, carrots and onions. There will be ‘Blaze’ apples, ‘Lane Late’ oranges and ‘Fino’ lemons.
As I have mentioned before, I get quite a range of creatures turning up at my bird feeding station on a daily basis. As well as the small wild birds that the seed is intended for, other regular visitors include pigeons, crows, greater spotted woodpeckers, jackdaws and of course gymnastic squirrels. Well to add to the list, in the past week or two a pair of honking great Canada Geese are coming daily demanding their share. My bird seed food bill is becoming beyond a joke, but I am the softie that can’t say no.
There have been lots of bumblebees in the greenhouse, so I have not had to resort to using ‘my’ makeup brush to pollinate the peach tree. There is not as much blossom on it as in previous years, but I did have to do some fairly drastic pruning this year to maintain its fan shape.
So everything is back to normal this week – deliveries will be on the usual days and I will be back at Wyken on Saturday. It looks like being a decent week ahead, so enjoy the sunshine and the spring blossom.
Phil