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... the sky is baby blue, and the just-unfurling leaves ...
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Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2501
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Mon Sep 17, 18 8:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Thinking about Chinese quinces for preserves. There's a new parks department horticultural manager. Politely sent an email saying I used to gather a few fallen fruits, may I do so again. And got a prompt reply that arboretum visitors are not allowed to do this. So even if I had permission in the past I may not do so this year.

Right. Better to let them rot on the ground I suppose.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 18 5:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I suppose it is because some people might take them from the trees/bushes and damage them, but it seems a bit silly. Better to let a few people have them, or collect them and sell them.

I have a quince tree that is full of fruit this year. Just hoping the high winds at the moment don't do any damage as it is really well laden. The weather forecast is useless about wind at the moment, and I haven't worked out how to use the Met Office one. The BBC, for some reason, seem to have taken wind speed off theirs recently. Perhaps we all live and work inside so we don't need to know.

Managed to get the rest of the onions in and finish digging one of the potato beds. Both really rubbish as didn't grow at all well because of it being so dry. Got good cabbages, runner beans and squashes though, so at least some crops.

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2501
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 18 2:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

The Chinese quince are not near a path, can only be found if you head off, down hill, and towards the boundary fence. I had been told, previously, to collect discretely and was only allowed to collect fallen fruit. Bah humbug. Very annoying - here I tried to be polite and courteous, feel like I got my hand slapped.

Two hour power outage yesterday morning, another - no idea of duration but think it was brief - overnight. Less than an inch of rain so far, but supposed to arrive as a deluge later today.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Tue Sep 18, 18 2:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I was only joking when I said about the drawbridge, Jam Lady. Sometimes though, I thought my mother could have done without the college holidays. With me and her parents she had a lot on her plate. I used to go to a farm to work when on holiday from the agricultural collage I was studying at, but slept at home. My mother had me and a brother pulling in one direction and her parents pulling in the opposite direction-mother being in the middle!

Your new neighbours sound as though they are very good people indeed. To have such docile chickens to hand, and be able to lend them out is an asset in itself. I think here in the UK we should have more farmers to 'meet the people' sessions in order to show those who complain about farmers the things that farmers have to put up with, and why they hold traffic up when harvesting-it's to produce their food at the end of it all!
Like MR., I too haven't heard of Honeycrisp apples. I used to grow a large selection but that was not one them. But Worcester, Discovery, James Grieve and Bramleys featured in my orchard along with a few I can't remember. I had an orchard when I was married of 90 fruit trees, with apples, pears, plums and damsons, and I grew most of our vegetables, Keeping a few sheep for meat in the winter off the paddock, and having hay in the summer off the sheep field for winter fodder. I was not self sufficient, but around 40% I guess. I bought in cauliflowers and cabbages, selling them at work too!

I guessed you were engaged in other things MR, when you were not around. Dorchester is an interesting place. My claim is that I went there to visit a friend for a weekend and landed up visiting the prison with his friends who were doing a rock concert for the prisoners. A prison officer took our name as we went in, no problem, but he had gone home when we wanted to come out at the end of the concert. So no-one had a record of who was who-oops! I am here to tell the tale 45 years on! The friend had a Duchy farm, with the main farm the other side of the bypass, and the dairy part in the town/city so to speak. Corn and conserved grass was in the"country", being accessed via an underpass. A great w/e, I don't remember too much about it.

I have just done the dentist who has given me another appointment, for even more work; just had a filling and scale and polish this time. Next job is to try and join a tooth which it splitting-not looking forward to that-it doesn't give me any trouble, but my Bulgarian dentist knows more than me.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Wed Sep 19, 18 5:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

That is rather annoying about the quinces Jam Lady. Unless they have another use for them, it is far better for you to have them than for them to rot.

There are 'Open Farm' weekends in this area Gregotyn. Usually in the spring so that children can see the lambs. We have done one at one of our outlets a couple of times, but they didn't have one this year because of some work they were doing.

Hope the next appointment at the dentist goes well Gregotyn. I am glad to say my dentist leaves well alone unless something really needs doing, so just a 6 month check up usually.

Husband and son busy with firewood loads at the moment, so I did the shopping yesterday, including taking sawdust to the farm shop for smoking the bacon.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Thu Sep 20, 18 2:22 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Weather has turned wet-not heavy, but the kind of rain that is relentless and soaks you even for a dash of 20 yards into Tesco.

I can't say I have seen any weekend farm visits advertised in this part of Wales, probably because many of us are connected to agriculture one way or another, and the main viewing would be sheep and steep hills.
Strange that the dentist I go to is good to me, but my friend who goes to the same dentist has had nothing but grief from him, and is having an on going battle now over a rough edge he has left on his tooth which is giving him some grief on his tongue.

I am in the same boat as you in that I am building stock as fast as I can, I have picked up a new summer let cottage to supply in handy packs which she sells to each set of people who rent-I would have thought that for the amount it is she would have given the wood to the in coming people and just added a bit on to the rent! I try to chop 2 nets a day, that way I cover the bulk of the winter and any summer need. And I am getting new customers all the time, thanks to a neighbour who seems as though she has made me into her "project"; I suppose it stops me playing trains and keeps me productive!

Work wise we have lost our senior storeman, who has bought out a competitor-well the business, they are renting the premises off the previous owners. The building was built a short time ago and when it came to the valuation, it was valued at half the cost of building it and the owners would only rent that to them as they couldn't afford to loose so much of the cost of the building, which I think was around half a million!

Had a long morning at work today I like to be early and got in at about 5.30, then the boss wanted me to dig out an old tractor new hitch about half an hour before I normally go so that put an hour and a half of extra time as I had to put all that I moved back again! I'm tired now, but still got wood to cut and chop after I have made a delivery!
See you all tomorrow.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Fri Sep 21, 18 5:47 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Have been away to the APF show, the big forestry show held every couple of years. Just got back an hour or so ago, so slightly brain weary. There was a seminar about the Defra consultation on particulates which I had to attend this morning. I am trying to gather my thoughts on this as well as everything else, so will leave anything else until tomorrow.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Sat Sep 22, 18 9:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Not sure what they are all about with particulates, is this in relation to small floating particles in the atmosphere-pollution? We are not able to control most of them as the majority are probably natural rather than man made, but I don't know. You will have to cut trees down with water or lazer jets. Then where will I get my sawdust from to sop up the spilt oil or smoke the salmon? I went to a do in Eire a long time back now, was that the same thing? I only saw machinery there being demonstrated. Maybe I missed some of the good bits of the demo. where I went.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Sun Sep 23, 18 9:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

According to the powers that be, we are all being affected by small particulates that get into our blood stream and may kill us early. Not sure how that went with an ancestor of mine in the 17th/18th century who lived to 95 or one of husbands in the 19th who lived to 100. They must have lived in houses full of particulates from fires, but of course not cleaning fluids or from made up roads, vehicles etc.

I can understand this to some extent, as some people do have major problems with lung conditions, although that again is very variable. One of our customers had a son who was waiting for a heart and lung transplant, and the only way she could heat her house to help him was burning wood.

Anyway, we are assured that this is not going to put small businesses like ours out of work because of costs, restrictions etc. but fear the law of unintended consequences. If we are not allowed to take timber for firewood etc. than it will sit and rot in the wood increasing the fertility of the soil and destroying the flora, or we won't be able to afford to manage the wood.

Hope the weather hasn't been too bad with you, and won't over the next day or so. I think we are promised breezy with heavy rain, but it is pretty breezy here at the moment, although not gale force.

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Mon Sep 24, 18 6:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

The garden survived the winds; only a few quinces down and the runner bean sticks, which were pushed over a bit by the last lot, still intact. We have a large branch down over a public footpath in the woods, but that didn't come down until Saturday/Sunday night as far as we know, so has to be cut up today.

Hope the rest of you are all right.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Tue Sep 25, 18 2:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

We have had no serious weather for the last few days; it rained a bit not a downpour, but like gentle showers yesterday, but that didn't stop the wood chopping in the afternoon. And we seemed to have dodged the wet and wind at work too today. Right now there is sunshine and it is even warm. I thought I had a dental appointment this afternoon, but it is next week, so that is good. My home stock which I have had for years will be starting to diminish as I don't get as much from work as I would like. I do like to supply quality and that from where I work is generally poor, home grown normally is ok, but when it is fresh it is not so good for kindling, so it sits for a year or two until dry and well seasoned.
I will be going home to get organised with even more wood cutting.
I hope all went well for you with the branch over the footpath.

Right now the weather is very sunny, windy and a cloudless sky!

The place in Eire where the wood demonstration was held was at Burr Castle in the Irish Midlands. A beautiful place and a good demo setting. Basically it was a 'how to cut timber' with mechanical harvesters all over the place felling timber, the first time I had ever seen such machines. And there was the inevitable followers on with chainsaws and everything associated clothing for the woods. etc. etc. Also the first time I ever saw a stump grinder, and working too! I guess in the early 2000's or a little before.

This particulate thing we are dying from is interesting. It cannot be affecting us all in the same way. Lots of my aunts and uncles lived variable lengths of life. Auntie Bessie lived to 92, Born the eldest of 9 she out lived the rest of her siblings. My father, the youngest, dying at 46.
Got to go now will explain in a few minutes.

I am expecting

Last edited by gregotyn on Tue Sep 25, 18 2:39 pm; edited 1 time in total

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Tue Sep 25, 18 2:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Just a hiccup, had to change computers in order to get the extra hour; a 'machine' at the desk HQ is not working, so we all change computers! I have just read through the previous post and find I am very dis-jointed today, I must start going slower and getting it right first time. As you can see that after the "I am expecting" my computer went down, and I am now round the corner on no.4. Blank wall, no window!

Dad, however, was a works engineer, which in his case meant a hands on job day and night as he was the only one in his department in a managers role. There were maintenance men, but unless my dad said so, they didn't do repairs-oil and grease were their remit. Father had angina, smoked Players un-tipped, and in his spare time played the double bass in an orchestra, repaired the car, did DIY in the house and umpired cricket matches-Yorkshireman! I hated cricket and music, but had to learn the violin and from early times I just wanted to be a farmer...

Mistress Rose



Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15539

PostPosted: Thu Sep 27, 18 6:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

I wonder if the older ones in the family got all the strength that was going Gregotyn, because my mothers family was the same. She and her two elder brothers outlived the rest of the family by many years, but in their case I think it was probably bad luck because they died of diseases that would be treatable today. MIL is the eldest of her family and has lost two 3 younger brothers, although her two very much younger sisters and another brother are still going strong.

Not sure about the reason for this particulates thing. The reasoning and science behind it is very muddled, so think it must be Gove with a bee in his bonnet again. Alternatively, it could be a diversion from various other things like fracking, Brexit, and anything else that is vastly divisive or unpopular.

Husband and son got the tree cut out of the way all right. There was apparently another one came down over a by way to the north of the woodland complex we were in. The County Council phoned me up about it, as for some reason they had me down as the land owner. I told them who to contact, as I am not, and they were going to deal with it, so probably cleared by now.

We are currently busy with log loads and log sacks, but had another small order for charcoal yesterday from a local shop. We have some in stock from the last firing, so can deliver that within the next day or so.

gregotyn



Joined: 24 Jun 2010
Posts: 2201
Location: Llanfyllin area
PostPosted: Thu Sep 27, 18 1:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

One of my great aunts in Sheffield lived to 96-born the same day as Churchill-she was the reason for my agricultural leanings-and pleased she outlived him, but I'm not sure why it would make her happy!- I have probably mentioned this before!

I am cutting wood like mad ready for the next trip to the kindling machine, which I hope will be on Saturday pm. I also broke a large pallet this morning at work which needs to get the chop this pm. I am finding that if we store pallets at work for any length of time the wood seems to get a funny mould like covering. I am wondering if it is to do with condensation of the roof or moisture in the wood. Either way it makes the wood look bad in the nets, but as yet no-one has said anything. I am going to have another go at logs this year too, and have a lot of ready cut on a trailer that a friend deposited with me. My plans are to be at home more in the winter at weekends and see what happens, but now is the time to start bagging them! They have been on this trailer for a few years, so well seasoned but wonder if they are too far gone, I haven't checked for some time.

Did the name Burr Castle World Wood Fair spark any memories for your Irish trip, MR?

We have had 2 visits from school children here in the library for my last 2 days here. and they are very noisy-a long way from the library of my youth, when whispers were the order of the day or you were politely but firmly asked to leave; on which note I will go have a look around!

Jam Lady



Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2501
Location: New Jersey, USA
PostPosted: Thu Sep 27, 18 3:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
    

Mr Jam Lord is busy splitting firewood. As we are all set for the coming winter this will be for the next one. Autumn, "season of mists and fruitfulness," as Keats wrote.

Trees are no longer quite as green as in summer. Goldenrod and roadside Michaelmas daisies (wildflowers, over here) in profuse bloom.

I have been off on several garden visits, and at the annual Fungus Fest. Nice.

Made some plum butter with Stanley plums, port, honey, and clementine peel. Delicious. But for the first time ever one jar broke while processing in the water bath. Irritating, to say the least.

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