Far Lands

Reports (so far, do let me know) are very positive, and Christmas-lunch discussion in our house included building a new turkey house in 2017 for 10 birds! Turkey Club goes global! Best wishes for 2017!

Yesterday, Turkey Club had its first meeting of the year. One plucker commented on the old plucking magic coming back, another that she wished she had not added Vaseline to her lip beforehand as feathers kept getting stuck.

We have decided to enclose our veg plot (the main area we grow veg in our badger-proof potager) with sleepers and create one huge raised bed. Ever since we moved here we have fought with the grass in the potager as it is difficult to mow / scythe / strim for fear of damaging the fence or the veg. This way, at least, I will be able to strim against the sleepers. We chose ex-railway sleepers made of tropical hardwood which are supposed to last 100 years. A guarantee that we will not be able to check, unfortunately. Last week they landed on the drive. The veg garden is perhaps 50 or 60 metres away, down a slippery slope. The packing sheet showed a delivery of 26 sleepers weighing 1.95 tonnes. Sparing your blushes, that is 75 kilos a sleeper. Just me on my lonesome. I tried picking one up. No way, Jose. Problemo! Ideas?

The digging (see blog 300) had been going so well, and I had almost finished the second cordon. But nothing for nearlies - 8/11 dug and I hit a large rock. Himalayan-sized. A Rock of Gibraltar piece of rock. You get the picture. And here is a picture: I have removed large rocks before but this one was not moving at all. I wondered about just putting compost on top of it - no-one would know. But the fruit trees would, and 5 or 6 years down the line, poor growth would be the tell-tale. I wondered about dynamite, re-siting the cordon (no way!), a digger . . . In the end I settled on this:- A roadworks-type breaker and a compressor to power it. Hard work but effective, and I've now got enough stone to patio the lawn.

This week I planted a jostaberry. I can't think why I have not done so before, as it is a hybrid between a blackcurrant and a gooseberry. The berries look like large blackcurrants and the taste is similar too. Seems almost too good to be true. However, they are, according to my colleagues at the Northern Fruit Group 'big, thuggish plants that can take over.' We will see how it copes at Farlands. Meanwhile, Christmas is coming!