Far Lands

As many of you know, I like to recycle and reuse stuff whenever I can. Especially when I am building things around the garden / smallholding. My latest project has been a cold frame. My working design (in my head) was my grandfather (PomPom to those who knew him!) 's cold frame. A recent trip to a kitchen suppliers on the pretext of a new kitchen provided a good opportunity. The salesman finished his hour-long spiel with "So, any more questions?". "Well, just one", I began, "you know your skip outside the shop...?!" 30 minutes later we left not having ordered a kitchen and a car full of window frames and wooden doors. So, success on all counts. The result with the addition of £2.19 hinges from Wickes is this:- The Broad beans love it!

I have now finished the planting, pruning and mulching of all the (appropriate) fruit bushes and fruit trees. This included a couple of blackberries which I know must seem like 'coals to Newcastle'. But, apples aside, they are the ultimate fruit. Decided I am going to be a Blackberry Magnate! I've started with a Himalayan Giant and a Loch Ness. My (Magnate) plan (well, today) is to plant at least one every year. Then to develop my own varieties...discover that the juice is a cure for cancer...that kind of thing... The Himalayan Giant Blackberry...not really Giant so far! It does not look much, but it's budding nicely and is in a v comfy bed of well rotted pooh.

More trees down yesterday. I used the same tree surgeon as previously and the same method - he climbed the trees and I acted as his 'ground man'. We got a lot done this way:- felled three sycamores in the orchard (including the massive triple-trunker), and crown-lifted some of the others (all to improve fruit production in years to come!), took down a dangerous silver birch and some branches that all were overhanging the BT wire next to the river. He's gone home now, but I have about six months work clearing up (and three or four years of wood). Before... ...and...after... ...the mayhem.

The beekeeper has been to visit again, and he was (thankfully) surprised again! The bees have found pollen which is a good sign (full yellow sacks on their legs going back into the hive). And, we found brood (eggs, capped cells containing larvae) - the Queen is laying. The colony seems to be reasonably strong. Motivated, I have now finished building our beehive and put it on our new two-hive site! And I have been reading my books, and contemplating a course. One crucial point I think is that there is not a lot of food around here (not many gardens, not much arable farming). So, we will be planting suitable flowers over the next few years...and possibly a wild meadow.

Spring is coming! The snow drops are out, the daffs are just showing. The rhubarb and Autumn-planted garlic are beginning to show, and it's warmer. Like a bear who emerges from a cave after hibernating, I've come out of the loft! Consequently, I am making some progress in both house and garden. The dining room is almost done - I made (with a little help from Jim) this mirror (out of spare floorboards), and surprised Sarah with it for Valentine's. Hanging it was definitely a two-person job (I picked up the MO from our recent trip to the Fitzwilliam Museum - they hang their big stuff using small brackets at the bottom to take the weight). In the garden I have pruned and mulched the fruit trees, dug and manured some of the veg beds, and I am continuing to remove the grass / lay chipping in the veg garden. And I have checked over the chainsaw and lawnmower. Meanwhile Sarah went back to Qatar. To get me some fab figs (and conduct a little business to allow for further ...

The beekeeper has been to visit, and together we inspected the hive. Good, and surprising news - the bees have survived the Farlands Winter (the hive was probably warmer, and certainly had less condensation than our house). There are about 30 000 of them, they are 'Queen-right' ie she survived and looks healthy. No obvious disease. The concern, however, is that she is not laying (it takes about three weeks from egg to new worker bee, so if this situation persist then we will not have an increasing population which is essential at this time of year). So, we fed them a fondant (like a malleable slab of Kendal Mint Cake), and will re-inspect them in a week or so. Meanwhile I have built a two-hive bee platform (in a slightly sunnier place). And I am moving the hive in stages towards it. Paradoxically, despite their oft-reported intelligence, bees get lost if they are moved more than three feet or so. So, the rule is move them '3 feet or 3 miles'. Other distances have to b...