Category Archives: Environment

Well this is quite unexpected

Posted on November 29, 2021 by james

This is a photo of some of this winter’s purple sprouting broccoli plants taken on 26th November. They’re starting to flower! The plants weren’t sown or planted out particularly early. In fact possibly later than the instructions on the packet … Continue reading →

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

AAG rain gauge repaired

Posted on November 22, 2021 by james

Well, I hope so, at least. A new reed switch arrived and has duly replaced the old one. That turned out not to be too tricky. After unsoldering the original switch I bent the leads so the body of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Projects | Tagged | Leave a comment

AAG 1-wire rain gauge (TAI-8575) circuit diagram

Posted on November 18, 2021 by james

I’m not going to claim this is absolutely spot on as I’ve reverse-engineered it from the PCB traces which aren’t always easy to make out, but below is my best current idea of the circuit diagram for the PCB inside … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Projects | Tagged | Leave a comment

The rain gauge dismantled

Posted on November 18, 2021 by james

I’ve now got the rain gauge down and taken it apart. Possibly I’ve posted photos before, but this is what the guts of it look like: After ungoo-ing the PCB, I’ve come up with a first approximation of the switching … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Projects | Tagged | Leave a comment

My rain gauge died again :(

Posted on November 18, 2021 by james

A short while ago my AAG 1-wire rain gauge stopped telling me that rain had fallen at all. The 1-wire device still shows up in Linux and is readable, but the 1-wire counters never change. I’ve checked by dribbling water … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Projects | Tagged | Leave a comment

On the strange weather patterns that afflict us this year

Posted on May 18, 2021 by james

So many of the things I planned to do over the 2020/21 winter failed to happen because the ground was so wet and the weather sufficiently unpleasant that they became impossible. The clogs I wear outdoors became lethal because they … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment | Leave a comment

Unusual fungus

Posted on December 9, 2020 by james

I found this fungus growing in the polytunnel a couple of days ago. I think it’s possibly growing on some of the wood chips, but I’m not sure. I’ve no idea what it is. I don’t think I’ve ever seen … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment | Tagged | Leave a comment

Another visit from the roe deer

Posted on December 3, 2020 by james

It seems to be getting quite relaxed here, though prefers to back off to a distance when humans are clearly in sight. But as long as we stay out of the way it appears very happy just to sit around … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment | Tagged | Leave a comment

Tasty apples, obviously

Posted on December 1, 2020 by james

I’ve seen footprint in the compost in the veggie plot and even seen the animals themselves at a distance, but it seems that one relatively young roe deer couldn’t resist coming a little closer to the house yesterday afternoon to … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment | Tagged | Leave a comment

It really has been a poor summer

Posted on October 5, 2020 by james

This photo was taken on 16th August, still summertime by all accounts. But late in the evening a thick fog settled in the valley below us and gradually crept up to envelope us. Surprising to think it can be so … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment | Tagged | Leave a comment