Far Lands

The pluckers came back on Xmas Eve to finish the job. Sarah explained each stage, I demonstrated each stage and then everyone got stuck in . . . Minor hiccups included not getting physical enough with the neck and missing a kidney . . . but between us we managed. One of the results . . . If YOU fancy joining Turkey Club 2016 (learn how to pluck and gut a turkey and take it home afterwards) then please get in touch. Best wishes for 2016.

The first part of Turkey Club took place yesterday.  The five birds were plucked in under an hour, and if anything the process seemed easier than last year. The only negative was that the chickens (watching from their paddock) decided not to lay. Avian solidarity? 

Since my last blog it has not stopped raining, or at least it has felt that way. We've had a few leeks including one at the back of the house. The problem was a blocked gutter. Wearing my head torch and fiddling around at height in the dark took me back to some of my mountaineering experiences. The sensation of cold water streaming down my sleeve and under my coat and under my trousers and then re-appearing at the top of my boot was very similar too.  The leeks in the veg garden are a more positive story; we still have over a hundred in the ground. So enough for the next couple of months. I have always thought that the leek is a bombproof vegetable - able to withstand sitting snow, resistant to slugs, not attacked by birds, easy to grow from seed. A must for any self-sufficient wannabe. But . . . . . . talking to my mother last night who lives in Surrey, leeks do have an achilles heel. Leek moth. According to the RHS 'leek moth is mainly a problem in southern Engl...

Coverage of the weather in Cumbria has been shocking, and in comparison we escaped very lightly. Although the wind blew here as if it was the War of the Worlds and we have had a lot of rain, we have not had an unprecedented amount, and Hayfield copes quite well. We did lose most of a shed roof, however.     Sarah and I looked at this differently. I just wanted to put it right. Sarah saw it as an opportunity to raze the shed, and the other shed, and build something far bigger and better. A super-shed. Running water, electricity. Probably even a chair. Chairs are for the house.

It's the 1st of December and the official start of Winter. So far, it's not been that cold but it has been wet. The last couple of years we have lost both our asparagus and our globe artichokes to the Winter and, I suspect, to the wet in particular. Both are perennials and should survive. So, this year, and with the adage 'if you keep doing the same thing, you will keep getting the same result' ringing in my head, I decided to try something new. I was prompted by an RHS gardener in Scotland saying that he and his team spent the whole of November bubble-wrapping plants. The photo shows my effort for the globe artichokes. After weeding and manuring the artichokes' plot, I bent the half-metre plants over and covered them in straw. Then I borrowed the shower door from our bathroom and popped it on top. Fits perfectly. We will see if it works when we get to Spring. And, until then, without a shower door, we will just have to take baths.