I thought that my mortgage paying days were over, but I might have to take one out to fill the van with diesel….cheers Trumpy. On Friday I managed to get some in Bury for 164.9, which is quite a hike compared to a month ago, but up the road at Stanton it was 189.9! With Iran seemingly still in control of the Straits of Hormuz, and now the Houthi rebels in Yemen are getting involved and are threatening to disrupt other important shipping routes through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, so things are not going to improve in the near future. The extra costs will inevitably be passed on to the good old consumer, and I am just waiting for a communication from my suppliers to say that a surcharge will be applied to delivery charges, as they did at the outset of the Russia/Ukraine conflict. The thing is, once the prices go up they never seem to come down again, even once the markets have stabilised. As a consequence I will be cutting more logs for the woodburner at home to conserve the heating oil in my tank, and will wear a tartan picnic blanket on my lap while I am watching the telly in the evening.
It’s funny how the human brain works, or at least how mine works. Last evening I was preparing dinner in the kitchen when I spontaneously burst into song. That’s not the funny thing, I do that often. No it was the song that nonplussed me. From the deep recesses of my mind I dredged the lyrics and tune of Bonny Bobby Shafto and belted it out. Now I can’t remember when I last sang it, perhaps as long ago as my primary school days where I learned it, certainly not since Emily was a scrap more than 35 years ago. Why? How? What was the trigger? I’m blowed if I know. To refresh your own memories here are the lyrics for you to sing whilst rustling up the Sunday roast today.
- Bobby Shafto’s gone to sea,
- Silver buckles at his knee;
- He’ll come back and marry me,
- Bonny Bobby Shafto
- Bobby Shafto’s fat and fair,
- Combing down his yellow hair;
- He’s my love for evermore,
- Bonny Bobby Shafto
He sounds like a real catch that Bobby Shafto. Fatty Bobby with his combed down yellow hair. I wonder if he did come back?
The photo below shows tiny baby peaches forming even before the flowers have dropped. The outdoor peach has just come into blossom too.
It was a busy week out in the garden, with lots of muck spreading and cultivating. Conditions were pretty good, so I didn’t do too much harm to the soil by running the tractor on it. it’s only a tiny 27 horse power machine, so there’s not too much weight to it. I’ll tell you what though, a day of loading and spreading muck with a hay fork is tough work when you haven’t done it for a while, and it had me craving a long soak in a hot bath. To paraphrase a Leonard Cohen lyric “I ached in the places where I used to play”. I also did some more clearing in the greenhouse to make way for the tomato and cucumber plants that will be transplanted in the next week or two.
You will notice that the shelves in the shop are beginning to get a little depleted as the hungry gap begins to take a grip. There is less availability, particularly of UK grown produce, as the dreaded gap between growing season is bridged by fruit and vegetables imported from Europe. However, prices from there are on the increase because of repercussions of the war, plus adverse weather conditions in southern Europe this year. We will muddle our way through until homegrown produce comes on stream. As in the past couple of years, I will once again be halting deliveries for 2 or 3 weeks, probably from the beginning of May when things are at their worst, and will concentrate on growing at Moyns Park. I will update you on that closer to the time. As for those shelves, well there are still leeks, parsnips, carrots, onions and beetroot. there is purple sprouting broccoli (but no Calabrese), spring greens and kale. Lane late oranges, Primofiore lemons from Italy (Sicily actually), small Avocados, and Blaze apples are the fruit options. Sweet and juicy celery from Spain can also be procured.
Did you know that the County Cricket season starts on Friday? Better them than me. Unless it warms up significantly I would really not want to be standing out on a windy field for the best part of 8 hours in cricket whites. And imagine that hard ball coming towards you at great speed, knowing that when it impacts your icy cold hands (mine are always cold) it’s going to hurt like hell. A balmy afternoon in mid summer would suit me much better.
It’s Easter this week, but that makes no difference to me. If you have a Thursday delivery you will still receive it on Maundy Thursday, and if Friday is your day you will get it on Good Friday. The only difference that it makes to me is that the roads will be nice and quiet, and I won’t have to contend with pushy parents on the school run in their gas guzzling Chelsea tractors, or the bin men in Bury hogging the roads. I am expecting the market to be very busy on Saturday, so I suggest visiting early (certainly before 10.00) if you want a decent parking spot and plenty of choice from the stallholders.
Okey dokey, that’ll do for now. Have a good week and a lovely Easter. Not too much chocolate though, or you risk going the same way as Bobby Shafto.
Phil