Far Lands

I've been strimming the orchard and after a week at it (on and off) I found my reward. A second fairy ring of St George's mushrooms. So-called because they are meant to pop up on St. George's Day. Up here they are always a month or so late. Our first ring is under the horse chestnut tree and has supplied us with mushrooms since we got here. However, we now have a second supply. This second ring straddles the fence line of the orchard which is close to the Cottage. After finding them I dug out all my mushroom books and checked their identity. Although there is not much to confuse them with at this time of year I only nibbled some that evening. However, I got up the next day and picking has now begun in earnest. I pick them, slice them and dry them on top of the boiler. They then keep in jars for years.

Remember this (post 223)? It's my drainage project for the orchard that I started digging in 2014. It didn't work! The orchard was not as wet as I thought it was; half a metre down it was really quite dry. And my idea to use pea shingle and pipe with holes in it did not work to collect water. So, I have filled it all in. However, before I did I replaced the pipe with holes in it to pipe without holes in it. Now I have a pipe from the top left of the orchard into the bath / pond at the bottom. If I discover water I am ready! And I can now move back into the marital bedroom!

Did you have to stop and think? Most apple blossom petals are pink when the flower first blooms but they fade to white as the season progresses. (In contrast, most plum and pear blossoms are white and remain white.) Our Bramley Seedling (LHS) and Katy (RHS) trees are now at pink bloom stage (stage 4 of the 6 stages of fruit development) . . .  Chicks continue to amuse and develop . . . Otherwise, it's happening on all fronts . . . I've mowed the lawn for the first time this year! I've been bitten by a few midges and my annual battle with the weeds and slugs and cabbage whites has begun.

A week may be a long time in politics but it's also a long time in the garden. Snow only a week ago but the last couple of days have felt like high Summer. The smallholding (and the smallholder) is responding well. In the turkey house the two chicks are growing fast. The pear trees are in blossom and the apple trees are moving again. Katy is at mouse ear (stage 2) but has been overtaken by the Bramley which is now at green cluster (stage 3) (left and right photos, respectively). How has the smallholder responded, you may be asking? He's taken off his Winter thermals (made, of course, from squirrel and hare pelts).

Trying to be self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables means that we have periods of scarcity and periods of excess. The plum harvest for example can be 100 kilos and all comes within a few weeks. Similarly, we can be inundated with rhubarb or eggs. On the other hand May can be a hungry month, stored apples having being eaten and new veg still struggling. Freezing stuff helps. But while I was having my haircut the other day I had another idea. Bartering. Bartering is thought to have originated in 6000BC with the trading of both good and services including food, weapons and tea. Although money now dominates, bartering and other alternatives such as gifting, LETS (Local Exchange Trading System) and local currencies such as the Totnes pound have developed and become surprisingly popular. Why not, I thought as the barber chipped away at my fringe, try it in Glossop? And, no time like the present, I began to steer the conversation. As it turned out, the barber was thinkin