Spanner in the works

That time of year again when blog posts become scarce. All the usually gardening and poultry tasks to be attended to, plus the allotment and bees to see to. Been thrown some curved balls by the weather too to deal with. There’s quite a bit of other “stuff” going on too round here at the moment just to keep us on our toes.

Last week when I checked the bees I took my guru along (after sales service he called it). Hive full of bees all looking very happy and healthy, brood, egs, feed, pollen, queen etc. No signs of swarming.

Today when I checked – hive full of bees, starting to bring in some honey, pollen, capped brood, erm, no queen (not unusual – she goes for flights and sometimes just has too many attendants to spot her), but wait, no eggs either. Bugger.

A quick call to the guru confirmed what I suspected – leave the hive alone for 2 weeks and they’ll rear a new queen. Bit of a pain as it’ll set the hive back about a month and I was hoping to make a second colony with a controlled swarm, but they’ve already started raising there new monarch and with no eggs in the hive she’s unlikely to swarm, so fingers crossed.

All part of the learning curve.

Client rant

So here I am for the second consecutive night, working until stupid o’clock to pull the sorry arse of the most disorganised client in the world out of the myre YET AGAIN! The phone goes. “Is the TMDCINTW chasing me?” I think. Well yes, it is said client, but not chasing me, no, he wants to know if I think this strawberry plants are acting normally for the time of year.

At this point, I should admit my first thought was “you jammy bugger – strawbs on your plants when we have frost!!!”, but i won’t!

Excuse me? It’s fucking 11.30pm, you’re in serious danger of not having your own literature at your own exhibition and you’re phoning the only person who can help you out of the shit to ask about your strawberry plants? Not got a grip springs to mind.

So later, when I phone him, his response is “it’s party time here, we’ve got a 10CC CD on and the Stella out…” O.M.G!!! I refrained from letting him know I wouldn’t touch that gnat’s piss with a bargepole and that I had in fact poured myself a large glass of something single and malty long ago to make it through the worse-that-extracting-teeth pain of working for him.

But hell, it made me laugh!!!

A plastic challenge

I was very interested to to see this earlier today.

Packaging, or rather over-packaging is one of my bugbears, but his article really made me think. Is it realistic to think we could live without plastic anymore?

I think we could cut down on the amount we use and accept, but I’m not sure all of the article is really behind a reduction in plastic use. The bit about meat made me laugh:
“Meat is a prime example, he says, with so-called “modified atmosphere packaging” – gas-filled supermarket packs which delay deterioration – meaning that packaged cuts last as much as two weeks longer than the same product bought from a butcher. “

Who buys meat and keeps it (unfrozen) for more than a few days?

I think if we really gave up plastic we’d end up with very few options. Is it OK to pick up a packet of tea and think “this is OK cos there’s no plastic” and conveniently ignore the fact that the “outer” was probably plastic wrapped? As I’ve mentioned recently, my involvement in a local-ish food co-operative has really made me aware of how much packaging the consumer never gets to see (whether it’s cardboard or plastic) and how buying in bulk doesn’t always help – after all, everything has to be packaged in something, whether you buy it by the 100g or the 1kg.

If we think back to a time pre-plastic, lives were very different. It was rare for both people in a relationship to be working full time. Things do change, but, as some people discovered when they were forced to reduced their car use because they couldn’t afford the petrol with recent price hikes, it is possible for us to still change. We can reduce our use of things current seen as “essential” without “returning to the dark ages” as some put it. “Why should I have to” is something I hear all too often for my liking. Those trotting that out don’t usually like the reply of “because you bloody have to”.

Some people can’t see beyond the convenience and speed at which life is lived today. “Why should I go back to only having one telly in the house? I can afford 5!” What would happen if there was only 1 TV? Would the family actually be forced to sit down together? Oh no! That would be a travesty! A total disaster! Can you imagine what would happen if there was no TV at all? Bloody hell, that would mean families might have to actually talk to each other, play games maybe. What on earth would they do with all that time if they couldn’t sit in front of the TV from 6pm-11pm? 5 hours a day extra to fill.

God, I’d love another 5 hours in my day.

A quick update

Not posted recently due to:
a) Time of year – too many jobs to do in the garden and about the house
b) Been on holiday
c) Clients realising I won’t be around for a week or so piling on work at the last minute
d) Clients saving up work while I’m away and expecting it all to be done the moment I’m back

Currently cropping from the garden:
Peas (polytunnel)
Broad Beans (polytunnel)
Cucumber (polytunnel)
Baby carrots
Radish
Salad leaves
Turnip (the white and purple, not the Scottish neep)
Spring onions
New potatoes (in pots that were started in the greenhouse. Witchhill was the earliest)
Herbs (mint, parsley, coriander, chives, sage, tarragon, rosemary)

Pre-breakfast jobs

Working from home has many advantages – none of which I’m going to go into just now (as I really should be working). It does lead to so very strange situations though. Today is no exception.

Last night we bought some guttering and water butts for the greenhouse. With the forecast for rain today, being the practical folk we are, we thought we’d get it done ASAP.

So, having got up and started work at 5am (that’s the boring, paid kind of work) I stopped about 8.30am and cracked on with the guttering. The OH helped, as did the cats and the dog. It all went remarkably smoothly and having retrieved the cat from inside the water butt before putting the lid on there was even enough time for a spot of “Who’s line is it anyway” (think the strange object round) with various bits of downpipe and lids. I think we were being remarkably inventive for that time in the morning – submarines, shield, shields with built in pea shooters, hockey sticks and at one point I think the whole of Jethro Tull turned up (like this mostly).

By 9am we were back inside for breakfast. The rain started at 9.10am! For everyone who commutes to work – enjoy!!!