Author Archives: james

More firewood production

I spent most of today playing chainsaws in some quite awkward places. First to be felled was this tree, which I was hoping would fall a little more to the left, but as it would naturally have fallen entirely the … Continue reading

Posted in Smallholding | Tagged | Leave a comment

Memory Lane, 11th October 2022: Pears going bananas

To prevent losses to the chickens (there have already been a few), today I picked all the remaining pears from the tree in their run (Concorde is the variety as far as I recall). Now I just have to work … Continue reading

Posted in Orchard, Smallholding | Tagged | Leave a comment

Firewood for next winter

Bit of a sluggish day today, in part thanks to drizzle on what was forecast to be a dry day. Tree work really needs to be getting done though as buds are breaking on some already. So, this morning I … Continue reading

Posted in Smallholding | Tagged | Leave a comment

Memory Lane, 10th October 2022: Old bed, new frame(s)

My “double-decker xylophone” filled up rapidly and I needed more storage for beehive frames, but where? Pootling about the workshop my gazed fell upon the remains of the bed frames that I’d used to make the afore-mentioned xylophone — the … Continue reading

Posted in Bee-keeping, Smallholding | Tagged | Leave a comment

No dig diary, 19th March 2024

This morning there was proof that slugs and/or snails have been at my lettuce seedlings. In a try next to the lettuces were some coriander seedlings. This morning I found one with the leaves on the compost, detached from the … Continue reading

Posted in Smallholding, Veg plot | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

It’s getting very tempting to inspect

A few warm days and the bees at home are flying far more. I’ve seen a few visiting celandines, but I’ve no idea where most of them are going at the moment. I’d not be surprised if they’ve found willow … Continue reading

Posted in Bee-keeping, Smallholding | Tagged | Leave a comment

Strange women … distributing swords

is no basis for a form of government, so Monty Python would have us believe, but some people apparently believe that Penny Mordaunt’s ability to hang on to a sword at Charles III’s coronation is worthy of her becoming the … Continue reading

Posted in Random | Tagged | Leave a comment

Oh! The irony!

Donald Trump can’t raise a $434 million bond so he can appeal his fraud sentence: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-68600093 Meanwhile, Ethiopians are able to withdraw far more money than they have from their bank accounts: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-68599027 Anyone seen Trump attempting to book a … Continue reading

Posted in Random | Tagged | Leave a comment

Memory Lane, 8th October 2022: Getting a bit chile

The weather is definitely starting to feel autumnal now and it’s time to harvest what I can from the polytunnel as and when it’s available. So these may be the last of the cayenne peppers, or if it’s mild I … Continue reading

Posted in Polytunnel, Smallholding | Tagged , | Leave a comment

No dig diary, 18th March 2024

I thinned out some of the lettuce and brassica seedlings that I sowed a few weeks back today. The lettuces haven’t done very well in terms of germination. I’m wondering if slugs/snails might be to blame. I found a snail … Continue reading

Posted in Smallholding, Veg plot | Tagged | Leave a comment