This was the scene last Sunday when a thatched cottage was devastated by fire after sparks from the flue of a wood burning stove ignited the thatch – at least that is what is suspected of causing the blaze. The cottage is just across the lane that skirts the eastern boundary of Moyns Park. I passed it on Friday and was horrified by the state of the property. Scaffolders were at work, which suggests that the building (Grade 2 listed) can be saved, which is very good news, but one feels deeply for the elderly couple that owns it, their lives have been turned upside down. I can only imagine how terrifying that It must have been for them.
It was a good week to be ‘doing’ in the garden – dry, mostly bright, and very warm on Wednesday and Thursday. I even wore my shorts, which no doubt traumatised the wildlife, but it was nice to feel the breeze around my legs. However, on Friday afternoon I was regretting my wardrobe choice because the sun stayed hidden, the breeze picked up, and I felt distinctly chilly. I might be back in long trousers this week. It’s forecast to be back up to 18° on Wednesday, but that’s when I have my annual organic audit by the Soil Association, so I will mostly be stuck inside the cool shed.
Anyway, going back to last week’s activities in the garden, I managed to do some cultivating, grass cutting, bramble slashing, I even did a bit of pruning in the orchard, but bestest of all I planted the first early potatoes. I would have left it another week or two, but conditions were so good that I didn’t want to miss the opportunity, because it might have started raining and not stopped for a month, such is the screwy nature of our weather. As it happens I don’t think that will happen, but you never know. Less good news is that I think that the row of broad beans that I sowed 2 or 3 weeks ago is a gonna. It looks like every seed has been dug up – I’m blaming the pheasants…..the same pheasants that I feed every day! There’s gratitude for you. Not only that, I had also sowed a load in module trays in the greenhouse, and with the temperature as it was I put them outside during the day to harden off before transplanting them. Well on Friday I forgot to put the crates they were in back in the greenhouse overnight, and on Saturday I discovered them all with their growing tips pecked out and many of them pulled out of the module trays. Why does everything have to be so difficult?
I am now not only feeding the songbirds and the pheasants, there is a pair of Mallards hoovering up directly underneath the feeder every day now as well. My semi tame cock pheasant is forever hanging around the shed door demanding treats between meals. It’s becoming like a ruddy zoo! In the past week a baby rabbit has joined the party too. it seems to have taken up residence in the open fronted boiler house, popping out to eat but scuttling back in there whenever I disturb it. I have only seen the one, so I am assuming that something nasty befell it’s family and that it is orphaned.
Meanwhile out in the parkland I watched the Barn Owl tacking across the grassland the other evening in search of supper, and at dusk on a different day I counted a herd of deer numbering a minimum of 38 individuals. That’s just one herd, there is at least one other that includes the white buck.
I will be cutting chard and spring greens from the greenhouse this week, and there will be calabrese, kale and purple sprouting broccoli. I am buying in some celery for a restaurant customer and there will be a very limited number of heads available surplus to their requirements, so if you want any you will have to be quick off the mark because it will be first come first served. The citrus are all back this week, so oranges, lemons, mandarins and blood oranges are in the shop. Apples are spartan again. Potatoes are Allouette and Cara.
I will be foraging wild garlic for the first time this year for pesto making. It is only just about ready so I am hoping that there will be enough for me to make a decent sized batch. Please don’t go crazy for it, the season will last for 6 weeks or more, so there will be plenty of opportunity to stock up as it becomes more plentiful. Later on I hope to have some for sale in bunches.
I made a cock-up on Friday when I was delivering. Yes I know that it’s hard to believe, but I am only almost perfect. I confused two customer’s boxes and they received each others. I only learned of this when one of them phoned me to inform me of my error, by which time I was over the hills and far away. Fortunately the two were only a mile apart and good old Marion went and did the swap, for which I am very grateful. I will try harder this week.
Right, I’m off to dig out invoices and records for Wednesday’s grilling, I may be some time. Have a good week won’t you, and don’t forget that the clocks change next weekend, so get to bed early on Saturday, otherwise you will get tired and emotional on Sunday.
Phil