May felt properly like summer, and we spent a lot of time outside. The garden is starting to take shape. The veg patch The big project for the month was to create a veg patch, fenced in to keep chickens (and hares and sheep) out, and easy to maintain, ultimately with a no dig system. I picked a spot, nine metres by nine metres, in the sunniest part of the garden, and we put up a fence. It's pretty exposed, and having this area fenced in also gives us the option of adding wind proof fabric round the outside while our edible windbreak establishes. Over the course of the month, popping out for a few hours each evening, we cleared the grass and edged the beds with stone. This has been a lovely project - not too arduous, and we could just do little bits, half an hour here and there, and could easily see the progress we were making. As each bed was edged, I filled it with mulch, mostly home made compost. Not all the beds have compost underneath, as I didn't have enough. We wondered whether to buy in either gravel or wood chip for the paths, but have settled on a longer-term (and cheaper) option of producing it ourselves. We acquired a garden shredder from Freegle a while back which we'd not used, so that was pressed into service. We don't have many trees here, but we're collecting branches when we can, and we'll do a bit of pruning in the coming weeks, and slowly we'll amass enough to cover the paths. June's job is to finish placing the stones round the beds and round the outside of the fence, get everything mulched, and fit gates to keep the chickens out. They won't be impressed. Seedlings May was the month that most of my seedlings got properly started - rather late for those in warmer climes but pretty usual for us up here (especially with my lazy sowing habits). By the end of the month, the greenhouse was starting to look rather full, and several plants like they might eventually be able to survive outside. We had plenty of apple blossom this year, and it didn't get blown away, so I have my fingers crossed for a decent crop. I finally got round to buying some paint pens for drawing on stone, and created some extremely cheerful plant labels so I can remember what's what. The weather May has mostly been filled with sunshine, but we didn't have our last frost until the 14th, and there have been some epic winds, and even a dramatic thunderstorm. Between all that, I was quite glad all my seedlings were still in the greenhouse (in fact today is the first day I've started acclimatising some of them to outside - and now we're in the middle of a downpour). Clearing the drains I mentioned this in my last post - towards the start of May the farmer noticed that part of our field was rather lush and there was a suspicious whiff... He kindly loaned us his bag of rods, and used his digger to find our pipe (which I was VERY grateful for - how long would I have had to dig to find that by hand??) As it turned out, most of the pipe was blocked, so we stood at the end pushing rods into it until eventually we got to the other side of the blockage, and first thick black gunge, and then water, came gushing out. Once it was flowing freely again, we pulled the rods out, all still connected, so we could see how much pipe we'd had to unblock. It was quite a lot. It's a strange business, doing something like this. I've unblocked the u-bend under the sink, and the drain outside the kitchen, by hand, but faced with a blocked septic outflow pipe I confess even my first thought was 'how much is that going to cost to sort out?' But our farmer neighbour (thank goodness) is far more experienced than me and explained what we needed to do, and gave us some rods, and once we got going, it was indeed pretty straightforward. We'll definitely keep an eye on it from now on though - I don't really want to have to unblock it too often. There's not much else to report for May on the homestead. There's still no progress on the kitchen, although we have at least laid some tools out now, which I suppose is a start. The weather was far too nice for most of May to want to be inside much, and our local DIY shop was closed for much of the time anyway. I suppose we'll have to turn our attention back to it at some point though - we've been using our little temporary kitchen space for eight months now, and the novelty has very much worn off.
So by the end of June, I'd like to have the veg patch finished, and much of the seedlings planted out. I want to sort out the edible windbreak area, which is looking extremely overgrown. It would be good to make some progress inside - although now we're allowed to see people again we'll have less time I imagine. And who knows what will have happened in the world by the end of June?
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I found this postcard recently in a stash of photos from my university days (was that really twenty years ago?!) It feels as apt now as it did back then, and I've been digging through the comfortable complacency that's settled on me in the intervening decades to rekindle my sense of outrage. There is, after all, plenty to be outraged about. May was another month that seemed to both fly by and last forever. Most places still in lockdown, outcry in the UK about Dominic Cummings breaking the rules, and George Floyd's murder sparking protests and long-overdue questions and reflections and awareness of systemic racism across the world. Everything feels up in the air. At home, May saw my first lockdown trip to a big supermarket on my own - so far I've been waiting in the car park while Peter went in. It was surprisingly uneventful - not too many people, not too long a wait, and everything pretty well stocked. I'm not sure I'll ever get properly used to wearing a mask, but hopefully it won't be for too long. So. An update to my 20 in 2020 list - although with so many things still impossible it does feel rather futile. Still, I do like to keep track, so here we go. 20 things mended (7/20) May was a month of mending outdoor things. First, and most dramatically, the septic tank overflow pipe. The farmer who uses our fields for his cows noticed a suspiciously lush green patch of grass (and a bit of a smell), and suggested we might want to check our drains. He was right (he usually is) - the pipe was completely blocked. We borrowed a set of rods, and spent a sunny afternoon shoving them into the pipe until the gunge poured forth. It wasn't quite as grim as it sounds, and I'm always pleased when I can do something myself rather than having to pay someone else. The second outdoor thing I mended was this wall. Not strictly what I had in mind when I started this list, but if I hadn't fixed this, the cows would have broken into my hay meadow. I'm trying to get the hang of quickly fixing a gap in a wall like the farmers do, rather than spending months trying to make a perfect new section. 19 letters written (7/19) Just one more in May, although I've now had three back from people I've written to this year. I do like letter writing, and getting hand written letters in the mail is one of my favourite things. 18 days without internet (2/18) I didn't make time for one of these in May, and I really do need to in June. The rate I'm going I'll have to have half of December without the internet to make up for the rest of the year. 17 books read (35/17) I contemplated whether I should stop keeping track of what I've read, given that I passed my target before the end of March, but I think it would be nice to look back on a whole year's worth of reading so I'm going to keep going (for now, at least). Lots of audio books again, but I've started using the tablet for ebooks as well (and there are still some paper books too).
I've never really thought much about how I choose what to read, but there are patterns. It seems I don't read much fiction, and I read far more what can only be described as 'self-improvement' books than I would usually like to admit. In some senses I'm easily influenced, and this year especially have found myself down rabbit trails suggested by the library app (see February's running-themed list, for example). I like non-fiction books about people doing things that I like doing (gardening, walling, knitting), and I'm increasingly enjoying nature writing. I'm still working my way through the local library's rather eclectic selection of things, making an effort to read more explicitly anti-racist stuff, and returning to some old favourites occasionally too. I rarely buy new books, but my usual charity shop line of book procurement has been out of reach for a while now, and I have bought some new (mainly work-related, which I have mixed feelings about). I quite like this not-very-organised approach. 16 household items or pieces of clothing made (13/16) None in May. 15 meals with friends (5/15) Also none in May (but we have had some in June, most exciting!) 14 meals from home grown produce (0/14) Also none - and we're not even getting many eggs at the minute either, oh dear! 13 evening lectures (0/13) Again none, although we have done what feels like eleven million quizzes and a murder mystery. I've noticed the local Transition Towns group is putting on a series of evening seminars though so I might join one of those in June. 12 donations to the foodbank (3/12) Much of April's commuting costs went to the foodbank again. It feels a bit odd writing this here, as I don't tend to list what else I've donated to, but this was originally set as an intention to donate a physical bag of food to the collection point, but that's been impractical for the last couple of months. 11 solo days out for me (0/11) 10 loaves of bread made (0/10) 9 bike rides (1/9) Yes! Finally! Just a couple of miles round the block, and my brakes and gears were clunky and my seat kept twisting as I was riding, but it felt SO good to get out on my bike! Now we're allowed a bit further I might head to the flat railway trails again soon. I'm not a big fan of hilly cycling on narrow lanes, and without the trails, that's what I'm left with round here. More bike rides soon! More things not done...
8 organised runs (2/8) 7 new places visited (1/7) 6 attempts at cheese making (0/6) 5 'No Quibble' weekends away (0/5) 4 pairs of socks made (0/4) 3 days volunteering (0/3) 2 LAND centres visited (1/2) Yes! Well, not in person, of course, but Those Plant People did a lovely video tour of their place which I watched with great enjoyment, and I'm counting that as a visit, since it seems as close as we'll get this year. 1 holiday (0/1) Er, no. This one isn't going to happen this year now. So there we are. It seems from this list that I've been doing nothing but reading, household chores and watching videos of other people's gardens. I have, in fact, spent quite a lot of time working, and an awful lot of time in the garden (I'll do a proper garden update soon - possibly later today if it keeps raining). We're almost half way through June now and I'm going to make a real effort to do make a start on some of the things on this list that are being neglected. I'm sure I can manage another bike ride, and I must get a pair of socks on my knitting needles soon too. |
Hello!Sit down and make yourself comfortable. I'm Jenni, and I write here about our new foray into country living, which includes growing food, knitting, baking, wandering around the fields, and seeing which local cafe serves the best cake. Categories
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