The clocks went back last night, and while I'm not looking forward to the darker evenings, I'm enjoying the early morning light today. I've had a rather busy and stressful few weeks at work, and now that the worst is over, I feel like I'm emerging, blinking and stumbling, back into real life. I feel like I've forgotten what to do with my evenings. I've been working until 7 or 8, having tea, then being so tired I'm asleep by half 9 some nights, so there's been barely any time to do anything else. What did I used to do in the evenings? This week I'm going to try to remember. I've (mostly) not been working weekends though, so regular cafe trips have remained, thank goodness. This weekend we tried a new (to us) place which was cheerful enough and will likely become our new haunt when we're over that way. And of course we've not been forgetting our old favourite cafe. Aside from that, though, I couldn't really tell you what I've been doing at the weekends. Sleeping. Hanging out with the chickens. Looking in despair at the state of the garden. Last weekend the Permaculture Association held its annual convergence, online this year, of course. I signed up, and spend several hours watching sessions while I did a bit of knitting. It was nice, and felt relatively normal. I've still got a few more sessions to watch. At the minute the desire to watch them is outweighed by the desire to not stare any more at a computer screen, so maybe that's not a job for today, although listening while staring out of the window isn't a bad compromise. Yesterday I had a day of gentle pottering, not doing anything that needed doing, except slowly restoring my body and soul, which of course is really the most necessary thing. I had a long bath with an escapist book. We went to a cafe, and a charity shop, I had several long conversations, and I raked some leaves into a pile, which the chickens promptly spread back out. It was a good day. Today it's not raining, so I want to spend some more time outside, maybe doing a bit of weeding (although we're already straying into 'ticking things off the internal to-do list' territory there). Perhaps a cafe breakfast, although at the minute it's 8.30am, which of course feels like 9.30am, and the cafe doesn't open til 10am, so I might have to have pre-breakfast first.
I want to spend some time thinking about this list of ways to thrive during the pandemic. Kt was my tutor for my permaculture diploma for a while, and through her own illness has gained a lot of insight into ways to live a good life when you can't do all the things you would usually do. I love her work, both written and drawn, and today plan to spend some time pondering, reflecting, and seeing how I can build some of her tools into my days. One thing I have started doing recently is keeping a small jug of flowers on my desk. It reminds me I have a life outside of work, and that there are cheerful things outside if only I step away from the screen for long enough to see them.
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Ah September. Some years I love the back-to-school feeling, but this year I just feel like the sunshine has been stolen and I'm spending all my time indoors, and I don't like it. A few things have been ticked off the list though. 20 things mended (9/20) I don't think I mended anything in September, although I have identified a few things that need mending so hopefully the total will increase in October. 19 letters written (14/19) Two short letters this month, to accompany parcels sent to friends. I've got a few to reply to now though so I might allocate an evening for letter-writing. I'm struggling to find writing paper locally, and have been using old fairly random bits I'm finding in the house, but that's all nearly gone now. I'm not averse to just sending letters on normal A4 paper but it's nice to have something a bit more special sometimes. 18 days without internet (6/18) One more added in September, and I can see I'm going to have to add a few more in October, else I'm going to end up having to forego the internet for the whole of the last week of the year at this rate. 17 books read (achieved in March) Still reading, rediscovering old favourites, using the Kindle app to find new things. 16 household items or pieces of clothing made (14/16) Just one more this month, a small make up bag, after mine disappeared. As I started making this, it occurred to me that I've never made anything with a zip before! All the sewing I've done, and I've always managed to avoid zips. Considering that, I don't think I did too badly, although it's certainly not going to win any awards. My sewing machine needs a good clean, it's skipping slightly, and I couldn't find a zipper foot and made a bit of a hash of going round the zip. Still, it works, and used up some old bits of fabric I've had knocking about for years. 15 meals with friends (achieved in August) Total already achieved, but more in September, although they're starting to slow down now the nicer weather is going, which is a shame. We did have a glorious day for some lunch a couple of weeks ago though, and I hope our garden shelter can keep us going a bit longer into the autumn. 14 meals from home grown produce (stopped counting in September) I confess I've stopped counting with this one. I've not had any entire meals with only home produce, and I can't see myself wanting any, given what we've grown (turnip omelette, anyone?) I'm declaring this one achieved in spirit though as we're eating plenty of kale, eggs, turnip etc just mixed in with our normal meals. 13 evening lectures (2/13) I've finally made a start on this one! A local organisation has been running some online seminars - I've not made it to any live ones, but I've now watched a couple of recordings - one about biodiversity in the local area, and another about a community garden. Both were interesting and enjoyable, and I have a few others lined up in October. 12 donations to the foodbank (7/12) Another online donation, although I did see that a local supermarket had a trolley full of brown paper bags designed as food bank donations with prices written on the side. I didn't have time to rummage through, but I did think it was a good idea. 11 solo days out for me (1/11) No more this month. 10 loaves of bread made (0/10) Still not a single one - I wonder if I'll even make one before the end of the year? 9 bike rides (achieved in July) I don't think I went for a bike ride at all in September! My big bike got another puncture, just sitting in the coal shed, which I've still not fixed. I did take my folding bike to cycle round the city when I took the car to the garage though. 8 organised runs (2/8) No more running at all in September. Funny how things change - at the start of the year I was running a lot, then I switched to cycling, and I've not done any of either for several weeks now. Me and my sister were meant to be walking the virtual London Marathon today, as it happens, but between a local lockdown and lack of training we made an uncharacteristically sensible decision not to. 7 new places visited (4/7) One new place added in September - Chrome Hill, which is pretty close but which we've never been up before. It's been on my list of things to do since we moved here though so it feels good to have it ticked off finally! 6 attempts at cheese making (0/6) 5 'No Quibble' weekends away (0/5) Still no progress on either of these. 4 pairs of socks made (0.75/4) Some sock progress though! One sock is finished and the other is almost half way there - I got quite a bit done this morning while watching the elite marathons on the tv. Sadly I seem to have done one section wrong on the first sock, and right on the second, so they do look quite different. Sigh. I've made this pattern several times now - it's very straightforward, but I do seem to do something different each time! Next time I'm going to learn from Lucy at Attic 24, who has bought a second set of needles and knits both socks at the same time - one row on the first sock, one row on the second. This is a genius idea, as the only thing I hate about sock knitting is finishing one and having to do the same again before you wear them. I won't be going as far as Lucy in matching the patterned wool though. 3 days volunteering (0/3)
2 LAND centres visited (1/2) 1 holiday (0/1) No, no and no (again). Hey ho. Some things seem to be going nowhere. There certainly won't be a holiday this year, and I suspect not even a weekend away. Probably no volunteering or organised runs - certainly no races. Bread and cheese are more likely, although not at the rate I'm going. I can certainly make more progress on some things though - mending, making things for the house, letter-writing. I'm going to aim for at least a couple of evening lectures in October, and a couple of days without the internet too. And maybe I'll even get to the end of my second sock! As I predicted at the end of my August post, September has been rather busy work-wise, and so the homestead has been rather neglected, especially as the nights have been drawing in, and some days I've not been finishing work until seven, by which point it's too dark to do anything useful outside. Still, as usual, some things get done anyway. The little garage This is the most exciting thing, which we'd been planning for over a year but never quite got round to - we had a little garage removed. This little garage, made of asbestos and falling apart, sat outside our front gate, banging in the wind, blocking the view, and generally good for nothing except storing rubbish on the way to the tip. Finally we got some nice people to come and take it away, and I am delighted with the difference it's made. We can see the trees down in the valley, and there's so much more light in the front garden and the living room. Not entirely sure what we're going to do with the concrete base yet. The men who removed it suggested a hot tub. Someone else suggested a BMX ramp. Personally I'm favouring a bench and some flowerpots, but in reality it'll likely just sit there like that for the whole winter, which is fine. The veg patch I've not done much with the veg patch this month other than a bit of light weeding and some harvesting. I've picked all our damsons for gin (they're currently in the freezer), and we're having regular harvests of kale, chard, turnips, and a few flowers. I keep meaning to dehydrate more calendula (and then think of something to do with it once it's dried). I've also been down to the bottom field a few times and harvested some blackberries, also now in the freezer. The bottom field was the site of the other exciting (and not planned this time) happening of the month. The dramatic cow rescue The local dairy farmer uses our fields for some of his pregnant cows, and one cow, having recently given birth, slid down this slope and couldn't get back up again. Fortunately, the farmer was on hand with medication, encouragement, and finally a digger, and after a rather undignified episode, the cow was retrieved and wandered off, unperturbed. Her calf, however, had found itself a cosy spot in the long grass on the wrong side of the electric fence, but we didn't discover this until the farmer had left. Since we are a long way from being expert cow-wranglers, it took us a long time to persuade it back to the rest of the herd. What else? No DIY of course - I've spent far too much of my time staring at a computer screen this month. And I've still not rebuilt the wall that fell down - that will have to wait as well. I have done a bit more scything though. Endless scything One day I'll get to the end of the field, but then I suspect it'll be almost time to start again from the beginning. The new chickens like to 'help'. I can't scythe while they're standing near, of course, and the old chickens are so pesky I won't scythe if they're in the same field, even if they're on the other side of it. But the new ones are a little more wary of me, and so they keep their distance, so I don't mind if they rake through the long grass while I'm cutting, as long as they're in front of me and I can see where they all are. Sometimes they get a bit close, and then I have to sit down with them and inspect the bug situation until they get bored and wander off, and then I can start again. Other things Other things are ticking along. I finally tackled this bush, which was threatening to swallow the postman each time he came to the front door. I haven't taken an 'after' photo though, and the cuttings are still (after several weeks) just lying on the ground outside the window, so I'm not sure we can count that as a success.
Other things, more long-term, are in the plotting stages too. We've got someone quoting (hopefully) to replace the roof of the stable block, which is full of holes, and if we don't do it now the rot will set in and it'll be much harder to rescue. If we do that, we can use the stable for storage, and free up the garage nearer the house for use as a workshop. And, even more exciting, a different man came to talk about some trees... I'm not going to say any more until things have been properly agreed, but if we can pull this off I shall be pretty darn pleased. So again, I'm not making any plans for next month, aside from trying to harvest what's actually growing in the garden, and trying to cook and process most of what we've harvested. And a bit more scything, of course, and maybe some DIY, maybe not. We'll see. |
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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